However, on this journey, we have learned something that I have come here to share with you: that is that no state can defeat an enemy that knows no borders by acting alone. The weapons that reach our streets, across several countries, the money that finances mafias is laundered far from where the crimes are committed, the routes of drug trafficking and people trafficking and illegal mining, across continents. Criminals have already globalized their cooperation. They share routes, logistics, finances, and technology without red tape, distrust, or delay. It's unacceptable that criminal organizations cooperate with one another more effectively than states do. This is the reality that the United Nations must recognize and rise to. For a long time, organized crime was dealt with as a law enforcement matter, but today we know that it's more than that. When it controls territories and infiltrates institutions, replaces legitimate authority, erodes the rule of law, and destabilizes an entire society. And when this happens in several countries at the same time, it's no longer just a domestic issue; it becomes a threat to international peace and security. I want to say this very clearly: we're not calling for other actors to act instead of states. We're calling for cooperation, with full respect for the sovereignty of each nation, and with results that we can measure. This is why Ecuador today is proposing three concrete actions. First of all, an international mechanism within the framework of the UN to trace and freeze the illicit financial flows from transnational organized crime. The money is the fuel of these networks, so let us stop it in its tracks. Second, a permanent platform of information exchange between police forces, prosecutors' offices, and financial intelligence units that enables states to anticipate rather than react once it's happened. And the third concrete action: that the UN80 initiative include transnational organized crime as a priority for conflict prevention, and provide the organization with the capacity to support states that request it. These are proposals that Ecuador is prepared to support and drive forward alongside all countries that wish to join us. Excellencies, security is not an end in itself; it's a condition for a country to be able to flourish. And today we are experiencing a crisis, a profound crisis. And recovering security means giving people back their future, for a young person to be able to choose university rather than being trapped by a criminal gang, for a family to open a business without fear, for a company to invest and create jobs, and for institutions to respond to the needs of citizens and not to illicit interests.

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The NATO action in Libya significantly worsened the security, political, humanitarian and human rights situation in our region through in particular, the spread of terrorism and violent extremism. Now, faced with this reality, it is legitimate to question the effectiveness of the tools available to our organization. It is for this reason that we welcome the Strategic review of the United Nations Regional Office for West Africa and the Sahel, which should lead to an approach better aligned with the realities and concerns of the people impacted. The government of Mali reiterates its strong condemnation of international terrorism and its foreign state sponsors, who finance arm, provide logistical support and intelligence to this organized transnational crime. Following Ukraine's initial statement in 2024, in which it acknowledged support for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel, that country publicly reiterated the highest level of state interference in Africa. And beyond our states, other independent sources also corroborate these unacceptable actions by Ukraine. Here we have a country which claims to be protecting its territorial integrity, where, as in Africa, in the Sahel, it provides clear support to terrorist groups and other harmful groups which undermine the territorial integrity of our countries. Given our history, the international community in particular Africa, cannot just remain silent in the face of what it was being done by Ukraine. It has enormous consequences for African countries, and it goes beyond that. We understand very well that Ukraine is just a visible part of the iceberg, which is trying to destabilize our country, to break our determination to throw off the colonial yoke. Terrorism, which is nurtured and supported from outside, does it in three ways. First, in the armed way. We know that it's attacking civilian populations. It's a security crisis in the economic way, which impacts our countries and through the media notably through us, organized and systematic disinformation campaigns and certain media outlets nostalgic for colonial past play a role in these. The coordinated attacks of 25th April and 4th of July 2026, and several locations in Mali caused numerous casualties, and they demonstrate the existence of the dangerous connection that we're becoming increasingly aware of. So the scenario we witnessed in 2012 is repeating itself now with terrorist groups and so-called separatist armed groups now forming openly terrorist coalition against Mali institutions and populations. Regional and international responses, including the deployment of international forces, have failed to halt these complex security crises and massacres affecting Sahelian populations.

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The Malian delegation fully endorses that statement that will be delivered by His Excellency Mr. Traore, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, on behalf of the Confederation of Sahel States, which brings together Burkina Faso, the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Niger. Malian forces on their own and also within the AES unified force and with the support of the Russian Federation, are today on the front line against imposed terrorism. I would even go so far as to say, as a hybrid war by proxy, whose implications extend beyond our region. I also salute all partners who continue to support Mali and the countries of the Sahel in this difficult context. Victory against terrorism this global existential threat requires pooling efforts and resources, but above all, it requires a shared understanding of the phenomenon of terrorism itself. Because contrary to what some would have us believe, there is no such thing as a good terrorist and a bad terrorist. The three AES member countries remain open to cooperation with all partners who respect our main principles governing our countries, namely respect for our sovereignty, territorial integrity. The respect for our strategic choices, including our choices for partnership, and also taking into account the interests of our populations. And we do not accept dictates here.

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And I call that overarching purpose the Patria Milagro, the miracle nation. The first step is a basic one restoring security. For far too long, Colombians have had to live alongside situations that no society should accept as normal. A rural farmer having to ask permission from a terrorist group to work on his land, a shopkeeper having to hand over part of the fruits of his labor to extortionists, a mother increasingly gripped by fear every time their child goes out to play in the park. That is not, and it cannot become the norm. Consequently, from the very beginning of my government I gave the security forces one clear instruction to regain territorial control, to fully restore the state's authority and to confront the structures using terrorism. My government is determined to do away with euphemisms. Organizations that murder, that kidnap, that use explosives, that recruit children, and that deliberately resort to terror to subjugate a society are terrorist groups. That is what we call them, and we are facing up to them with the full, legitimate force of the state, within the Constitution and within the law. But there is another reality that is very often overlooked. The illicit drugs produced in Colombia don't end up in Colombia. Drugs trafficking is a transnational criminal enterprise. Its routes cross borders. Its money moves through international financial systems, and its networks operate across numerous countries. I will do everything necessary to combat that scourge, but a transnational threat requires the international community to play its part as well. Security, while essential, is not enough. A territory that provides no opportunities remains vulnerable.

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This organization has done significant work here. Since 1963, the international community has developed 19 universal legal instruments aimed at preventing different terrorist acts. However, after decades of discussion, there is still no legal definition of terrorism that is universally agreed by member states. The UN Office of Counterterrorism itself has recently flagged that the lack of a universally agreed definition begets legal uncertainty, discrepancies among national laws and causes difficulties in international cooperation. The Republic of Colombia believes that the time has come to move ahead. We need a common international definition that is sufficiently clear and precise, compatible with international law and fundamental safeguards, but also useful enough so that states can cooperate effectively in combating acts of terrorism. A serious definition should avoid two extremes. On the one hand, a political disagreement being arbitrarily characterized as terrorism, and on the other hand, allowing an organization to hide murders, kidnappings, bombings, or deliberate attacks against civilians behind a political label in order to evade the legal consequences of its actions. Terrorism must be condemned regardless of the perpetrator, where it is committed or the cause they invoke. The United Nations has repeatedly reaffirmed that terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, represents one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. Now, a better definition is not enough. States need better tools to combat this phenomenon. We need faster mechanisms for exchanging information and intelligence. We need better judicial cooperation, effective tracing, freezing, seizing instruments for assets related to terrorist financing. And we need closer cooperation to deal with networks that operate simultaneously across different countries. Colombia stands ready to participate actively in that discussion. My country wants to see United Nations, where the effectiveness is measured less by the volume of documents it produces, and far more by the results that it delivers. A UN that is less inclined to multiply processes and more determined to translate international cooperation into concrete action. That is the sort of multilateralism that Colombia is ready to defend, one that respects the sovereign equality of states as the charter itself provides, but one that is also capable of acting effectively when threats recognize no borders. Drug trafficking, terrorism, transnational organized crime and illicit economies are precisely those threats.

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Allow me to share with you, ladies and gentlemen, some of the most pressing challenges that Peru is currently facing. The first major challenge we face is the frontal assault we must wage on our organised crime and petty crime. Peru is located on a continent in which there are no wars between nations. However, we are faced with another type of war that is, that declared by transnational criminal organizations, organizations that have sowed terror among our people. In this war, there are no battlegrounds, no fronts. Indeed, no fronts have been defined. There are no international rules governing these conflicts. The enemy does not wear a uniform. The enemy hides among our people. There is no possibility to secure surrender or to sign peace treaties in this context. Confronting this war as an isolated problem to be dealt with by each nation alone is not only mistaken thinking and a mistake that we've been making. Rather, it is an act of giving the advantage to transnational organised crime. To make that mistake allows them to grow stronger. They have huge economic and war mongering power, and they get that through crimes and illegal businesses that range from smuggling, illegal mining, drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion and killing. Consequently, the first thing we must do is isolate or pinpoint and identify the enemy. These organisations, these enemies are terrorist groups and they must be tackled for what they are. They are enemies of a democratic state and of fine, upstanding citizens. Clearly defining who the enemy is and establishing a normative framework will allow the armed forces in supporting the National Police to act with resolve and tackle the threat to the domestic order posed by these organisations. Moreover, in addition to actively participating in the regional Santiago Commitment, Peru recently joined the Shield of the Americas. That was a demonstration of its decisive commitment to working together and in concert with our partners in this challenge, which is of the utmost priority for Peru. In Peru, we will pursue crime and prosecute. It will go after the man that commits the crimes and go after the network that supports him. We will not waver in the face of those that attempt to impose terror over and above the law, suppressing, repressing. These organizations will do that with the full force of the law. But doing that is not enough if at the same time, we do not tackle the challenge that is developing a better educational system. There need to be effective opportunities for learning for our children and young people.

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I remember those words as if it was yesterday. We're going to win. We have no other choice. And when we did, nine years later, Palestinian terrorists hijacked a passenger airplane headed for Israel. They took it to Entebbe, Uganda. Like the Nazis, the terrorists selected the Jewish passengers men, women, children, babies. They threatened to kill them all if Israel did not release Palestinian terrorists. And then on July 4th, 1960. Sorry. On July 4th, 1976, the bicentennial of the United States in one of the most dramatic rescue missions in modern times, Yoni led his brave soldiers to the heart of Africa. Miraculously, they rescued 103 Jewish hostages and brought them all home. Every single one of them. My brother, the commander of the storming party, was the only soldier killed in this mission. I want to thank Uganda again for recently erecting a statue of Yoni in the place where he fell. My friends, Yoni's words are as true today as they were more than half a century ago. We're going to win. We have no other choice. At no time was this demonstrated more clearly than on October 7th, 2023, the darkest day in Israel's history. On that horrific day, thousands of Palestinians terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza. Now, I want you to know there wasn't a single Israeli then in Gaza. Not a civilian, not a soldier, not one. But it didn't matter one bit. The Hamas terrorists committed the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. They went house to house, shooting Israeli civilians point blank. They did so with fiendish glee, with sadistic joy. They live streamed as they murdered. And who did they murder? The very Israelis, their neighbors. Who gave them jobs, who picked up Palestinian children at the Gaza border and drove them to Israeli hospitals for cancer treatment and then brought them back. Can you imagine such monstrosity? This these Hamas monsters, they slaughtered Holocaust survivors. They burned babies alive in front of their parents. They beheaded our men. They brutally raped our women, and then they murdered them. Altogether. They slaughtered 1200 Israelis that day. I want to give you an idea of what this means for a country of 10 million. Proportionately, this is equal to 40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours. That's 16 times nine, 11 16, nine, 11. That occurred not very far from here. On that darkest of days.

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Every day they try to murder our people. And in particular, they try to murder our people in our historic homeland in Judea. By the way, that's where the word Jew comes from. Judea. That's our land. They try to murder us. Thousands of attempts per year on families, peaceful families driving along the roads. They shoot at pregnant women. They shoot entire families. Of course, none of this is covered in the international press or in the social media. None of it. What they cover is a handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number who go, who throw stones who chop down olive trees. Occasionally they do. They fire up. They lit some fires. I can't stand that. I won't stand for vigilantism. We're a country of law. So we put our Shin Bet on them. But that's what they call settler violence. And the number of casualties a year, maybe two. Three in the total time that this is being discussed, maybe 2 or 3 dead compared to the thousands of terrorist attacks against the peaceful settlers, honorable people, law abiding people. What a distortion. It's an obsession. I hear this discussion here. I mean, leaders of countries seriously talk about that. And they say it with such importance. We can't stand settler violence. You don't know what you're talking about. And listen, two days ago, two days ago, two days ago. I say this to my colleague Emmanuel Macron. Two days, three days ago, a French citizen, Netanyahu shukran, a father of six, was gunned down when he visited a spring with his 16 year old son and a Hamas terrorist in Judea. Samaria comes and fires point blank at him in the last words he uttered flee, flee, son, save yourself. That was three days ago. Two days ago, in Judea, Samaria, a reserve officer, a reserve soldier near your leader was mowed down by a drive down terrorist Palestinian terrorists. He's fighting for his life now in a Jerusalem hospital. I visited the family right before I boarded the plane to come here. Najjar, a father of four, is the son of Yechiel Leiter, our brilliant ambassador to the United States. Three years ago, Israel's oldest son, Moshe, a father of six, was killed while clearing a booby trapped building in Gaza. You killed my brother. Your pain is immeasurable. The entire people of Israel and many outside of Israel are praying for Neerja's life. But despite the pain, despite the agony, we do not give in. In a recent post before he was attacked, Najjar wrote this. Listen to this. We have no other country. It's a privilege to defend it to an area and to all the heroes of Israel. I pledge a sacred vow. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.

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Confidence in international institutions is under strain. For small developing states such as ours, trust depends on institutions applying agreed rules, consistently honoring commitments, and ensuring that those most affected by decisions have a meaningful voice in shaping them. Transnational organized crime continues to pose a serious threat to the security and development of small island states. Small states face serious challenges from sophisticated criminal networks that move people, that move weapons, that move narcotics and illicit finance across national borders. For Trinidad and Tobago, this is not an abstract threat. These networks directly endanger our citizens. They endanger our institutions and endanger our development. Restoring trust and managing transformation, therefore, must ultimately be about results.

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Although the region does not manufacture these weapons, the availability fuels gang violence, organised crime, drug trafficking and loss of life across our societies. While serving on the council, Trinidad and Tobago will advocate for greater international cooperation to address the sources, movement and diversion of illicit weapons, stronger tracing mechanisms, information sharing border and maritime cooperation and deeper cooperation among source transit and destination countries to disrupt weapons, narcotics and international financial flows. Trinidad and Tobago will bring the experience of the Caribbean to the council, where the impact of illicit firearms demonstrates how transnational organised crime can threaten the security and stability of states, even in absence of traditional armed conflict. On the priority area of superintelligence and global security, Trinidad and Tobago encourage a greater consideration of the implications of SI and emerging technologies for international peace and security, including cyber attacks, disinformation and deepfakes, autonomous weapons, criminal misuse of SI, and threats to critical infrastructure.

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It is with my heart full of the memory of thousands of children women and men from Burkina Faso Mali and Niger, innocent victims of terrorism that I am taking the floor here this morning. But it is also with a sense of pride, inspired by the resilience of the populations of the Sahel and the hope of the bravery of the defence and security forces of the Confederation, as well as the crucial role played by volunteers for the defense of the homeland that I am speaking here and having the noble mission of delivering this statement, I also wish to pay tribute to the families in mourning, to the long suffering communities and all of those whose lives have been affected by terrorist barbarism. For more than a decade, this blind and sustained violence has been sustained, armed, financed and instrumentalized by criminal networks and their supporters intent on subjugating the Sahel through fear. But they must understand that they will never succeed here. I bow down with profound respect before the memory of the Defence and Security Forces of the Confederation of Sahel states. Our volunteers, defence volunteers working for the motherland and all patriotic forces who have fallen in the field of honour. Evoking their memory, I spare a thought and pay tribute to Army general Sadio Camara, who was assassinated, murdered, cowardly on the 25th of April 2026, and pay tribute to his commitment to peace and to Mali and the Sahel.

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It's in light of this and what's taking place in the Sahel that we are taking part in these deliberations. For the Confederation, rebuilding trust must go hand in hand with the immediate interest of dealing with state support for terrorists, because terrorism must not continue to be a tool of foreign policy on the part of certain powers. The Confederation of Sahel States does not just face a simple sum of isolated terrorist groups. We face a persistent enterprise of destabilisation, supported by considerable means and focused against the right of our peoples to live in peace, to choose their leaders and to have control over their resources and fully exercise their sovereignty. The terrorist attacks, in particular the ones perpetrated on the 25th of April and 4th of July in 2026, in the Republic of Mali, on the 18th of June, and the 29th and 30th of August 2026 in the Republic of Niger, fully illustrate this phenomenon. And let us call a spade a spade and say things clearly. The supply chains, the technical capacities and coordinated use of conventional means do not come out of nowhere. Behind the murderous acts of these terrorists, there are structured support, including state support. And we call on the international community to look at this clearly, to investigate seriously, and to condemn without any geopolitical calculations, all actors that finance arm and provide intelligence to and protect terrorists.

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We are moving our relationship with our strategic partners to a new phase moving from military cooperation to economic and development cooperation in service of our common interests In this manner, we add to Iraqis victory over terrorism, a redoubled determination and momentum to finish building our military and security capacities in order to protect our country, our people, and our sovereignty. In order to sustain integration with our international friends, we call on all partners to exercise border control, address gaps and remain constantly vigilant in order to prevent the formation of an environment conducive to extremism. Ladies and gentlemen In the context of institutional reform, our government is fighting a battle against corruption and for the protection of public funds. We are moving forward with sustainable core solutions in order to increase performance efficiency and improve providing services.

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In terms of risks, we continue to confront organized crime by cooperating with all friends. To repel the dangers of organized crime and to abort the cross-border drug trade. We call for more information sharing and international coordination to ward off this danger that threatens societies Amid these challenges, the well-being of the Iraqi people remains our ultimate objective and the focus of all of our efforts. Given the high proportion of young people in our society.

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Mr. president, development also requires peace and security. For Jamaica and our wider Caribbean region, transnational organized crime remains a serious threat. Last year, from this very podium, Prime Minister Andrew Holness called for a global war on gangs, a coordinated international effort capable of matching the reach, financing and sophistication of transnational criminal networks. Jamaica reiterates that call today. Illicit firearms do not manufacture themselves in our communities. They cross borders. Criminal money crosses borders, criminal networks exploit technology and operate across borders. Our response must therefore also cross borders. We call for stronger cooperation in firearms tracing and interdiction, intelligence and information sharing, financial investigations, and law enforcement capacity building. We also urge major arms-exporting states to strengthen export controls and post delivery verification. At home, Jamaica has invested heavily in our security forces, strengthened legislation, enhanced intelligence gathering oversight and transformed policing. The results are remarkable by any standard. In 2025, Jamaica recorded its lowest number of homicides in more than three decades. And in 2026, with even further reductions, the Global Peace Index ranked Jamaica the most peaceful country in the Caribbean. We recognize that there remains work to be done, but the direction is clear and our objective is not merely fewer crimes. It is a durable ecosystem of peace in which every Jamaican can feel safe, raise a family, do business, and fulfill his or her potential, and retire in Paradise. Mr. president, nowhere in our region is the challenge of criminal gangs more devastating than in our CARICOM sister nation of Haiti. Jamaica stands firmly with the Haitian people.

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For 53 days there were blockades of roads in Bolivia, blocking access to healthcare and education. More than 20 people died. And this was financed by narco terrorism and by drug trafficking and a helpless, defenseless state that was unable to generate economic and human resources to be able to fight that narco terrorism, narco trafficking, which was financing it. Protest and the right to demand a better life is one thing, the right to demand a decent life, better healthcare, education and infrastructure. It is quite another thing to want to break the constitutional and democratic framework of our nations. That is why those mafias that do not have constitutions, that do not have laws and do not have to report their resources. They are mafias that are using organized crime and using resources, be it drug trafficking, smuggling, or gold. It doesn't matter the source of that money. What is important to them is destroying constitutions, destroying democracies, and destroying social stability.

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Ladies and gentlemen, there are other challenges which I believe to be inseparable from the future of our nations, the fight against organized crime, as I have already said. Organized crime has various different sources of financing. To finance myself, I had to ask multilaterals. I have to ask for resources that come late or sometimes never arrive, because the slow procedures that those multilateral organizations have mean that organized crime has an advantage when it comes to getting resources from drug trafficking, drug terrorism, or the smuggling of gold to then destabilize our democracies.

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Mr. president, Brazil does not underestimate the challenge represented by organized crime. We are ready to face the criminal organization that terrorize our local communities. Workers are robbed. Mothers lose their children. Police officers do not make it back home. People are tired of violence. But we will not outsource the responsibility of defending its borders and guaranteeing our population the right to live without fear. We do not need aircraft carriers guarding our waters. We need cooperation to block the flow of weapons and money that feeds crime, organized crime. That's the spirit of the proposal that I personally handed to the US president. We want to fight money laundering carried out by Brazilian criminals abroad. For a long time, Brazilian states acted each in their own way. Crime made the most of the lack of coordination. But this is changing. In Manaus, a city of the Amazon state, we created the Amazon International Police Cooperation Center, bringing together public safety authorities from nine Amazon region countries. In 2025, we carried out the biggest operation against organized crime in Brazil's history. We broke records of drug seizures as well as unlawful assets and resources. We are facing all levels of crime, including the crime tycoons. The anti faction bill that we just have passed establish heavier sentences for organized crime than those carried by terrorism. Organized crime and corruption walk hand in hand. The fight against corruption shall remain relentless, no matter who it hurts. No one is above the law.

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As a frontline state in combating the menace of terrorism, we have fought terrorists in our own cities, in our own mountains, and along our frontier. Pakistan sacrificed almost 100,000 precious lives and suffered economic losses exceeding $150 billion. The world is safer today. And let me say this in all humility, the world is safer today, thanks to the valuable sacrifices of our valiant armed forces and brave civilians who took on these terrorists and mercenaries. The peace loving world must never forget this reality. Afghan territory continues to be exploited by the TTP, Fitna al-Khawarij, and the BLA, Fitna al-Hindustan. These foreign funded groups operate from sanctuaries inside Afghanistan with the aim of destabilising Pakistan. All such attacks, including incursions from the territory of Afghanistan, must come to a grinding halt. The Afghan authorities must fulfill their international commitment and take verifiable, decisive action to ensure that Afghan soil is never again used against Pakistan or any other country. Fundamental rights of the Afghan people, especially women and girls, must be respected under all circumstances. Mr. president, United Nations peacekeeping remains one of the strongest expressions of collective security. For decades, Pakistani men and women have served under the blue flag, protecting civilians and helping countries emerge from conflict.

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And in this regard, I would like to welcome the stellar cooperation that Cameroon has with the United Nations in this area, and I thus reaffirm the determination with which Cameroon will work, along with other member States of the Lake Chad Basin Commission. We will continue to fight tirelessly against terrorism, and we will engage in stabilization efforts in areas affected around the Lake Chad region. On a domestic level, the government of my country is working to ensure a return to normality in our northwest and southwest regions. Our government's efforts when it comes to fighting insecurity and social reintegration of those people that are willing to set aside violence, are already delivering tangible and observable results on the ground.

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Mr. President, for Benin the issue of security has a very concrete, very tangible dimension. Terrorism has hit our subregion. It seeks to exploit our vulnerability, to take advantage of our borders, and to progressively extend its clutches to new areas. Benin understands full well just how grave this threat is. On this note, I would like to solemnly commend the bravery and commitment of our defence and security forces, as well as the resilience of the people of Benin. Our response is resolute. We are strengthening our defence and security capabilities. We are bolstering the surveillance of our territory and our borders. We are also stepping up our cooperation with our neighbours and our partners. However, our region's experience has taught us one very important lesson when faced with the fast evolving threat, we must act very quickly before that threat becomes a crisis. For that reason, prevention, early warning and upstream action should all be part and parcel of our security policy. This requires better intelligence sharing, strengthening cross-border cooperation, improving coordination between national, subregional and continent wide mechanisms. Inter-State solidarity, regional cooperation, the action of the African Union, the support of the United Nations, we need all of the above to be better coordinated.

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In just 22 months, the 22 months to July 2026, intentional homicides declined by around 51%. This is the result of a national security strategy that is being strengthened thanks to international cooperation on shared challenges. And that, respectfully, um, I'd like to respectfully recall, is grounded in four principles one respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. Two, shared but differentiated responsibility, three mutual respect and trust, and four, cooperation without subordination. This milestone was not achieved through war, nor by renouncing human rights or through reliance on force as the sole response. Mexico combines education and employment for youth with intelligence investigation, strengthening institutions and boosting the presence of the state where before it was absent. Today we can say proudly that our progress in security really make Mexico stand out on the international stage. That's why we wish to, um, put forward a truth to this assembly, um, a truth that is valid for all peoples, that peace cannot be decreed or imposed.

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These directions bode ill for the aims and objectives of the United Nations. A persistent threat to peace has been the scourge of terrorism. That this could be state sponsored with cross border purpose makes it a direct affront to the global order. Governments indulging in such practices must be held accountable. There must be no dilution in our zero tolerance approach towards terrorism. Its financial aspects in particular should be exposed and should be countered. Mr. President, yesterday a serious practitioner of terrorism misrepresented facts. Before this assembly, arguments were invoked to normalise terrorism and claim immunity from its consequences. That will not stand. Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised. Mr. President, friendship and goodwill cannot coexist with terrorism, and understandings premised on that will naturally be called into question. It is for the perpetrator of terrorism to mend its ways.

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Two days ago, Abu Dhabi also hosted the opening of the 15th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which highlights the need to keep pace with the rapid technological advancement and to protect societies from the impacts of crime, violence and exploitation. At the same time, we are investing in the values of tolerance, peaceful coexistence and inclusion through partnerships that bring together diverse nationalities and religions. We are building a society in which women participate fully, equally and meaningfully, and in which young people are genuine partners in shaping their future. In conclusion, Mr. President, my country will remain committed to the path of moderation, the rejection of violence and extremism, and the investment in people and in the vast potential with which our region is so richly endowed.

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President, international peace and security are facing increasingly complex threats. Transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, weapons smuggling, asset laundering, cybercrime and illegal mining transcend national borders and undermine democratic stability, development and the rule of law. Costa Rica has first hand experience of these threats. Illegal mining, spearheaded by transnational criminal organizations on our border with Nicaragua, has wrought havoc on the environment and is producing risks to public health, the economy, and regional security. These organizations dispute territory. They fuel illegal economies. They wage attacks against democratic institutions and directly affect the rights and dignity of persons.

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As a current member of the United Nations Security Council Liberia is putting these principles into practice while confronting evolving threats across West Africa, including transnational organized crime, cyber war and illicit narcotics trafficking along the maritime corridors in the Gulf of Guinea. Through our joint security forces, we are tightening the vice on transnational drug cartels. No nation can police global criminal network alone, so we call on international partners for targeted support in Coast Guard surveillance, intelligence sharing and port security technologies. Sustainable development and reforming the international financial system.

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It's not done by the Trump administration. Zero. As a result, last year we achieved the largest drop in violent crime ever recorded. The murder rate has plummeted to its lowest level in 125 years. Since the year 1900. I sent our crime busters into Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and crime in each place went down over 80% and will go down still further. More importantly, when I arrived on January 20th of last year in Washington, D.C., it was riddled with crime. And now crime is down 87% and we're going for 100. Tourism is, if you take a look and I guess a lot of you have been there.

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For decades, other administrations allowed much of this region to be dominated by vicious gangs and bloodthirsty drug cartels, destabilized by uncontrolled migration and infiltrated by hostile foreign adversaries, foreign sick, demented adversaries. But not anymore. We are reasserting American power, including American military power, where necessary in our region and around the world, to create a safer future for all of us. It's happening, and it's happening quickly. Upon taking office, I designated the drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and unleashed the United States Armed Forces to eliminate them. The cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere, not good people, they're enemies at war with civilization using murder, rape, torture, and extortion as instruments of terror. Like ISIS. They should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we're doing. To that end, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats, destroying 97% of the drugs coming into the ocean and sea. You've seen it. They disappear very quickly, and we're down 90%. They're down 97%. Nobody thought that was possible. It was a big source of delivery. And three months ago, we terminated the leader of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Mexico is the epicenter of the cartel violence. Unfortunately, it's unacceptable for the United States to share a 2000 mile border with a territory controlled by cartels, so Mexico must reclaim control of its soil from the enemies of humanity.

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Our message is simple innovation must serve humanity. Technological transformation is only one dimension of a rapidly changing world. Old threats are also evolving, and new ones are crossing borders faster than ever. Mr. President, terrorism and extremism, cyber crime, illicit trafficking in arms and narcotic drugs, organized crime these threats know no borders. Our response must be equally united. Therefore, the Dushanbe Process on Countering Terrorism and Its Financing has become an important platform for international and regional cooperation. We will continue this engagement, including by convening the next high level counter-terrorism conference in Dushanbe in 2027. Mr. President for our region, lasting security and sustainable development are also closely linked to Afghanistan.

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Today that is exactly what we're doing. We are equipping and strengthening our national police force and our armed forces. We're doing this because transnational organized crime does not respect borders. Drug trafficking networks and gangs operate in several countries at the same time, and no country can vanquish them alone. It is a matter of shared responsibility. Every nation must do its part. Democracies whose interests are aligned must unite and act together, quickly and with resolve. It is only in so doing that we will enjoy security and prosperity in our hemisphere.

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Somalia also continues to confront international terrorism with determination and with the support of our international partners. We are strengthening our national security institutions, improving force generation, developing intelligence capabilities, and expanding security cooperation with our neighbors and the rest of the world. But the fight against terrorism in Somalia must not be understood as a Somalia's responsibility alone. We stand on the front line for a struggle that directly affects regional and international security. We therefore call for a predictable, sustainable support for Somalia's security transition, including an adequate financing for African Union mission in Somalia. The transition towards full Somali security responsibility must be properly resourced, phased and firmly anchored in capable Somali institutions. Following debt relief, Somalia's economy continues to grow on the foundations of strong reforms. Our real GDP growth this year is 3.1 despite all the global shocks we are experiencing.

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Mr. president, in pursuit of a stronger and safer region, Guyana is honoured to be a founding member of the Shield of the Americas, launched by President Trump in March 2026. Since the founding of this initiative, Guyana has worked closely with the United States and 13 other like minded nations that believe in building a Western Hemisphere that values freedom, peace, economic prosperity, and a shared responsibility and commitment to fighting transnational crime and criminal networks. It is our collective responsibility to never allow our region to be overtaken by gangs or criminal networks. We understand that it is only through partnership, shared intelligence and cooperation that we can effectively tackle the threats they pose to our economies and the livelihoods of our citizens. This week, I am pleased to join members of the Shield of Americas in adopting a joint communiqué, which underscores our collective resolve to strengthen the resilience of our region in economic, security and multilateral coordination.

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Criminal networks do not recognize borders. They are linked through drug trafficking trafficking in persons, illicit arms trafficking, smuggling, extortion, money laundering, environmental crime and other illicit economies. They exploit institutional weaknesses, inequality, and a lack of opportunities. Wherever the state is weakened, these structures seek to replace it, intimidate it, or bend it to serve private interests.

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We must also work together on prevention. Lasting security cannot be achieved through law enforcement alone. It requires education, decent work, resilient communities, accessible institutions and opportunities for young people. It requires us to reduce the social, territorial and economic spaces that criminal structures exploit to recruit, exert control and supplant the state.

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Nigeria's prolonged struggle against Boko Haram, ISWAP and other armed groups has taught us that military victories require enduring foundations in education, economic opportunity accountable governance and communities whose rights and dignity are protected. Development cannot take root, while violence repeatedly uproot livelihoods and peace cannot endure, while injustice and exclusion replenish the ranks of those who threaten it. Our common security therefore, demands cooperation equal to the reach of the threats before us. We must exchange intelligence, strengthen institutional capacity, interrupt the financing of violence, and prevent weapons from crossing borders that our responses too often fail to cross.

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In both cases, our responsibility is to make dialogue possible and progress achievable. And when threats cross borders, responsibility must be shared more widely. My country has stepped up efforts on prevention and suppression of narcotics through our partnership with the UNODC, other regional and international organisations, as well as neighbouring countries, and through the Global Partnership Against Online Scams, Thailand is bringing all the relevant stakeholders together to prevent these crimes. Mr. President, 80 years ago, in our first address to this Assembly, the Kingdom of Siam affirmed that it followed the path of peaceful settlement and friendly cooperation.

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Transnational criminal networks are using our ocean as a highway for illicit drugs, undermining our sovereignty and national security, destroying young lives and tearing at the fabric of our communities. Behind every statistic stands a family, a community, a young life robbed of its promise. We will not allow criminal networks to profit from the vulnerability of our people. We are amending our Dangerous Drugs Act to introduce stiffer penalties as a deterrent, and we are strengthening law enforcement to prevent and detect these crimes and to hold perpetrators accountable. In August this year, Solomon Islands acceded to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, a clear demonstration of our resolve to confront this threat. These are costly and demanding undertakings, and no Pacific country can win this fight alone. We call for stronger international cooperation, greater information sharing, sustained investment in the capacity of our law enforcement agencies, and the support for prevention and rehabilitation. Our vision of a peaceful and secure Pacific extends beyond transnational crime. As enshrined in the Ocean of Peace declaration, our region must remain free of nuclear weapons and free from destabilizing external influence.

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Chile is a safer country. In Chile, in the first six months of this year, the rate of homicides decreased to the tune of 11.5%, and we are now approaching pre-pandemic homicide levels. Our borders are under better control. We have our border shield plan, and that has made it possible to reduce irregular entry by 86%. And we have deported 50% more people than we did last year. People do not come in through the window. They come in through their ports with all their documents in order. In the same vein, we have the Santiago Accord. And here I thank our Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was the person who spearheaded that initiative. And this is a security initiative. Many South American nations have acceded to it so that we can coordinate to effectively combat transnational organized crime. Our work is not yet done.

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Our most pressing threats are already reaching our shores. Transnational crime illicit drugs, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, cyber threats and unresolved consequences of nuclear testing and radioactive contamination remain. In this respect, our region is committed to directly utilising innovative technologies and working closely with our trusted security partners to address our security challenges. We are committed to protecting the rights of marginalised people and ending violence against women and young girls. This year, Tonga ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, reaffirming our commitment to the dignity and the equal participation of persons with disabilities.

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A lasting maritime security in the Red Sea, Bab el Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden cannot be built, while a non-state armed militia remains on the shores. Nor is the threat confined to Yemen and the Red Sea. International reports have exposed growing cooperation between the terrorist Houthi militias and terrorist organizations, including in the Horn of Africa, through networks linking militias, terrorist groups, smugglers and organized crime networks, thereby undermining states and threatening security and stability. Ladies and gentlemen We say with full confidence, and we firmly believe that restoring the Yemeni state and restoring the security of Bab el Mandeb are inseparable.

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I am now thinking specifically here of the fight against terrorism. It must be a common struggle because the scourge of terrorism is cross border by its very nature. The Sahel must not be abandoned to its desolate fate. Its stabilization must be pursued. Of course, there are worsening health crises. The Ebola epidemic is an example of just that. Global inequalities are increasing. The climate urgency has become an even more bitter reality.

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In Cabo Delgado, we have made progress in fighting terrorism and strengthening security, thanks to the efforts of the Defense and Security and the support of SADC, the European Union, Rwanda, and Tanzania. However, the stabilization remains incomplete and requires a concerted response and greater international cooperation for the fight against terrorism. We are grateful for the solidarity we have received, and we call for more predictable and coordinated international support to consolidate security, stabilization, reconstruction, and development in the affected areas, where the local force is still doing the work in the fight against terrorism.

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Investigations and prosecutions continue to progress without political interference. Substantial progress has been made in strengthening the independence of institutions responsible for investigating and prosecuting bribery and corruption. My president, who addressed this Assembly last year, also highlighted how narcotics and related organised crime have become a menace for many countries, as well as our government's comprehensive efforts to address this menace. One year on, our United as a Nation Anti-narcotic national programme has made significant progress, including through the arrest of key figures in the narcotics supply chain.

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Equipment is needed, and one needs to resolve to see the effort through. However, there is another security challenge that should compel us all collectively to act. The illicit trafficking in weapons and ammunition. These are weapons that are killing Haitians, that are sowing terror in our neighborhoods and cutting down innocent lives, and they're not being produced in Haiti. They are arriving here through transnational criminal networks that are fueling insecurity and strengthening the capacity of gangs to act, while threatening stability of our entire region. For as long as this traffic prospers, violence will find ways to perpetuate. Dismantling this traffic is a shared responsibility. We therefore need to move beyond advocating for Haiti.

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But no country can succeed alone. Criminal networks operate across borders and require stronger international cooperation. This week, Cambodia has successfully hosted an International Conference on Combating Online Scams, co-sponsored by UNDOC and INTERPOL, among others. The conference called for a collective and coordinated action at national, regional and global levels to disrupt and eradicate this crime.

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We don't make these weapons in the Caribbean. They are manufactured in industrial nations and smuggled across borders into our region, into our countries. We therefore call upon all countries to take decisive action to stem the illicit flow of weapons and ammunitions across borders and into the Caribbean. Mr. President, Cuba has long been a valued member of our Caribbean family.

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Algeria views the Saharawi Sahel region as a single space, where the challenges of security, development and stability intersect. As president of the Republic, His Excellency Abdelmadjid Tebboune has stated terrorism cannot be approached through a purely security based method, nor can poverty and marginalization be effectively tackled in isolation from a security environment that enables terrorist groups and organized crime networks to expand and spread and take root. Security and development are not parallel tracks.

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This year's session, however, takes place 25 years after the terrorist attack that destroyed the Twin Towers in New York and struck other targets on the American territory, causing thousands of civilian deaths, injuries, some of whom continue to bear physical and emotional scars to this day. I'd like to take this opportunity to once again condemn terrorism in all its forms, wherever it occurs.

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