Middle East Situation Driven by Human Insecurity: Poverty, Dashed Hopes, Democracy Deficit, Lack of Good Governance, Secretary-General Tells Security Conference

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s address to the Munich Security Conference, in Germany, 5 February:

Good morning. Guten Tag. Guten Morgen. It is a great pleasure and honour for me to participate in this very prestigious forum to discuss our security — world security. Your participation in this Munich Security Conference is a measure of its enduring importance. And this year, I think you will agree: your gathering could hardly be better timed. Together in partnership, we are the world’s vanguard for collective security — security in all its aspects: military; political; economic; social and environmental.