US Mission Geneva

President Obama is committed to a more peaceful world by seeking a world free of nuclear weapons. He cautioned that achieving that goal will take patience and persistence. But in setting the destination, President Obama also mapped out the concrete steps we can take to get there, making the journey far less daunting.

As we have witnessed the dramatic events unfolding in parts of North Africa and the Middle East, we again call upon governments to promote and protect human rights in the context of peaceful protests – thus honoring obligations that are clearly reaffirmed as universal in the VDPA. We are deeply troubled by the continued use of violence by some governments to quash universal rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Since 1992, the United States has observed a unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosive testing. This moratorium is based on our national security assessment that the United States does not need to conduct nuclear explosive tests in order to ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of the nuclear forces we maintain to deter nuclear attacks on the United States, our allies and partners.

Our engagement at the UN is remarkably profitable and makes enormous sense for American businesses and the workers they employ.

Now more than ever, the United States stands with the people and Government of Tunisia as they chart a course towards greater political inclusiveness, socio-economic development and responsible participation in the international community.

We remain deeply troubled by ongoing reports of human rights abuses, including: arbitrary arrests and detention of journalists; restrictions on freedom of assembly; and ongoing violence with impunity in Darfur. We are also troubled by the restrictions on humanitarian access and assistance in Southern Kordofan and the Blue Nile.

The U.S. congratulates the Hungarian delegation on the adoption of its UPR report. We welcome Hungary’s agreement to support many of the recommendations presented during the UPR Working Group session in July

As a founding partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the United States announced an unprecedented commitment to this issue and to solving it at a global scale: more than $50 million over the first five years. Every U.S. federal agency is meeting or exceeding its commitments towards diplomacy, applied research, capacity building, stove testing, and field implementation and evaluation. At the one year mark, the United States announced up to an additional $55 million for the Alliance, bringing the total commitment to up to $105 million.

The chickpea might be the key to greater agricultural production and improved food security in Ethiopia. A plan to increase chickpea production is being developed to that end by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the PepsiCo Foundation.