Aufgabe HT 4 · Abitur NRW Sozialwissenschaften GK · Haupttermin · bilingual Englisch 2022

Topic: International cooperation – at the crossroads?

Heiko Maas

Speech by Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at the 75th General Assembly of the United Nations

“The survivors were immune, the others dead.”

This is the rather pithy 1 description of the end of the Spanish flu 2 one hundred years ago by a German medical historian.

5 So pithy in fact that we recoil when we consider the pandemic that has a firm grip on our world today.

Thirty million people have already been infected by coronavirus.

Almost one million people have died.

And its longer-term impacts – hunger, poverty, displacement and conflicts – are beginning to reach us only now.

10 And yet 2020 isn’t 1920.

History doesn’t repeat itself – at least, if we don’t allow it to.

We have a choice, ladies and gentlemen, and few things illustrate this more clearly than the experiences that we have made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the one hand, they show that a lack of transparency, coupled with disinformation and 15 conspiracy theories, can kill.

On the other, they point to a path out of the crisis.

It is the path of reason that is founded on scientific expertise.

The path of cooperation that is based on common rules.

Rules all of us have to abide by. And that is why I’m speaking to you today from quarantine 20 at home, having come into contact a few days ago with someone who tested positive for the virus. […]

Ladies and gentlemen,

This crisis also shows that international cooperation is neither an ideology nor an end in itself.

On the contrary, it delivers results.

25 Far beyond the actual pandemic.

Such as in Ukraine, where the negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany have helped to bring about the longest ceasefire since the beginning of the conflict.

[…] This is grounds for hope for a genuinely permanent solution to the conflict.

30 We will take this hope as the basis for intensive engagement in the Normandy format 3 in the coming months, including at high-ranking political level.

In Libya, too, we are focusing on cooperation with the United Nations in order to implement the decisions of the January Berlin Conference 4 to the letter. 5

The rapprochement 6 between the government in Tripoli and the forces in the east of 35 the country that has taken place in recent weeks is a major step forward. […]

Ladies and gentlemen,

Despite all the progress made in recent weeks, we’re still a very long way from a new global attitude. The Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire, which was adopted in the Security Council under Germany’s Presidency in July, is falling on deaf ears in many places.

40 This is not only a problem as far as credibility of the Security Council is concerned.

It is, first and foremost, a disaster for millions of people in war and crisis areas who are utterly defenceless in the face of the pandemic. […]

There’s another thing that is necessary for lasting peace, namely justice.

This is why we will continue to ensure that those responsible for the worst crimes against 45 humanity – for murder, torture and rape – are held to account before German courts and why we will support the UN mechanisms for investigating these crimes with all our might.

This is by no means just about Syria, however. Those who don’t clearly distinguish between perpetrators and victims, who blur the line between right and wrong, shake the very foundations of our rules-based order. Such people jeopardise our peaceful coexistence itself.

50 This applies to those who stand in the way of the work of institutions such as the International Criminal Court.

This applies to those who block the Security Council with one veto after another and who prevent its urgently needed reform with constantly new delay tactics.

And this especially applies to those who contravene international law, although, as 55 permanent members of the Security Council, they bear particular responsibility for upholding it. […]

Ladies and gentlemen,

We can watch human rights being hollowed out and trampled underfoot, even though all of us have committed to uphold them.

60 Or we can stand by the side of those who are suppressed, abused and persecuted – such as the peaceful protesters in Belarus.

We have called on Lukashenko 7 time and again to support a national dialogue, mediated by the OSCE 8. However, he has rejected all offers and is continuing to tread the path of violence and suppression.

65 And this must also have consequences if we are serious about our values and our international agreements. We’re discussing this in the European Union.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Courageous decisions are needed especially in times of crisis. […]

Today, in the midst of the pandemic, it is our generation that faces a choice.

70 Either we go it alone, without taking others into consideration, and throw this multilateral legacy to the winds.

Or we renew this legacy and show that the right response to the crises of our age is “more solidarity” – “more cooperation” and “more justice”.

Germany is prepared to do just this.

75 Together with you – as genuinely united nations.

Thank you very much – and stay healthy!

About the speaker:

Heiko Maas, born 1966, is a German politician (SPD) and was the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany from 2018 to 2021.

1 pithy: concise

2 Spanish flu: influenza pandemic, lasting from 1918 to 1920, which infected 500 million people

3 Normandy format: regular meeting of leaders and ministers from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine

4 Berlin Conference: peace summit in Berlin in January 2020 concerning the conflict in Libya

5 to the letter: giving great attention to every detail

6 rapprochement: re-establishment of relations

7 Lukashenko: president of Belarus since 1994

8 OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe): The OSCE is the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its 57 participating countries are located in Europe, northern and central Asia, and North America.

2. a)

Analyse the speaker's stance on both the effectiveness and the difficulties of international cooperation. (36 Punkte)

2. b)

Explain what the speaker means when he claims that “those who block the Security Council with one veto after another and who prevent its urgently needed reform with constantly new delay tactics” (ll. 52 – 53) “jeopardise our peaceful coexistence itself” (l. 49). (10 Punkte)

3.

Discuss, with reference to two global challenges, whether the European Union (EU) ought to advocate stronger international cooperation. (30 Punkte)