Leonid Kuchma

Leonid Kuchma in 2019

Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (Ukrainian: Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма) (born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005.

Quotes

Speech at the 49th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (1994)

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• The history of mankind testifies that peace and development, democratization and the humanization of the world community are integral components of the general global process.
• Peace and stability are impossible without development, as they cannot exist in societies whose nature provides for violence and disrespect for fundamental human rights. It therefore follows that democracy which is declared but not supported by development is doomed to failure. The inability to ensure the development of a society in all its dimensions inevitably provokes disillusionment in the ideals of democracy and ruins social stability.
• An old truth asserts that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
• One of the important links between peace and development is the process of arms control and disarmament. The reduction of armaments and armed forces and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, unequivocally promote a decrease in the level of military threat, thus creating favourable external conditions for the existence and development of all members of the international community.
• It is time for everyone finally to realize that sustainable development is not only necessary for maintaining the existing security systems at the global, regional and national levels, but is also an objective condition for the existence and development of our entire civilization.

Speech at the 50th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (1995)

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• My pride is for the wisdom and far-sightedness of the founders of the United Nations, who actually laid the foundation of a new world order. Challenging history itself, they attempted to establish peace ableness and mutual assistance as forces to oppose hostility and intolerance, and for the first time this was done successfully. Thus, the peoples of the Earth received a unique instrument for consolidating mankind as a single universal organism in its efforts to survive and build a better world.
• With the era of great ideological confrontation behind us, mankind has managed to decrease the threat of self-destruction by nuclear conflagration and to establish sufficiently reliable mechanisms of international security.
• The disappearance of a world divided into antagonistic systems is related to profound internal transformations in post-socialist countries. I am convinced of the need to establish the most favourable regime possible for those countries’ integration into the international community.
• The United Nations was established by people who realized that nations, peoples and States are interdependent and complementary components of a single entity called humanity. The presence of an unprecedented number of world leaders here today is convincing evidence of their support for the United Nations at this crucial stage of its development. The most important task for the United Nations today is to define itself under these new conditions and to follow the road indicated by the real circumstances of our existence. To do this would constitute a source of strength, longevity and moral health for the United Nations.

Speech at the 52nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (1997)

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• Ukraine has become a democratic State with a policy aimed at ensuring the needs and rights of its citizens, and at establishing a civil society. There is every reason to conclude that during our six years of independence we have laid the foundation of further State-building.
• Ukraine has consistently conducted, and is determined to continue, a policy aimed at strengthening security and stability throughout the world.
• It is generally acknowledged that the future of the European security architecture as an important element of global security should be based on principles of comprehensiveness, indivisibility and partnership, and, in the long run, on collective rather than unilateral action.
• The future of the world order, of the United Nations and of every country, is our common future. Thus, while deciding today on the fate of the United Nations, we should be aware that we are also determining our own destiny.

Speech at the 55th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (2000)

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• Like every people on earth, my compatriots want to live in a democratic country, without fear for their future and the life and destiny of coming generations.
• I am convinced that nuclear weapons are useless and unpromising as an instrument of State policy. It is necessary to do everything possible to make sure that in the new millennium mankind gets rid once and for all of the fear of devastating nuclear disaster.
• Unfortunately, criminals and malefactors have been increasingly enjoying the advantages of the information revolution. I would like to invite you to consider the appropriateness of working out an international instrument to combat computer terrorism.
• The best and most reliable weapon of peace is steady economic development. For developing countries and countries with economies in transition, the main factors for success in economic reforms and poverty eradication programmes consist in obtaining free access to world markets, in liberalizing trade and resolving external debt problems.
• Time requires of all of us to act in unity with resolve and to assume the responsibility for the future of the United Nations.

Speech at the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (2003)

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• Mobilizing the efforts of the various strata and sectors of our societies could become a powerful driving force for progress in the fight against the AIDS pandemic.
• Apart from the purely medical consequences of the AIDS pandemic, another concern is the psychological aspect of the problem, manifest in the way society responds to HIV-positive people. We must work together to avoid isolating HIV-infected people from everyday social life. A top priority for us all must be protecting the social and economic rights of individuals and preventing discrimination against them.
• In the past two years, the world has seen how true that is and has come to see this approach as the right one. Let us remember the old truism that prevention is better than cure. This is how we can finally triumph over the HIV/AIDS pandemic.