Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 20 September 2016: Theresa May’s first speech at UN General Assembly

On Tuesday, 20^th September, Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May gave her first speech at UN General Assembly in New York. She presented the UK as a ‘confident, strong and dependable partner internationally’ despite June’s vote to leave the European Union. In her speech, the PM focused on the issues of terrorism, international governance, migration and modern slavery. She also called for increased humanitarian aid while touting Britain’s accomplishments in this matter.

On refugees, Mrs. May called for increased support for host countries, while maintaining distinction “between refugees fleeing persecution and economic migrants.” Finally, she argued that “all countries have the right to control their borders” in order to better manage economic migration.

A large portion of May’s speech was devoted to modern slavery perpetrated by mentioned criminal groups that are working across borders and jurisdictions. She called for increased international cooperation in law enforcement to combat this phenomenon and cited UK’s actions in this regards as a model to follow

Regarding the problem of terrorism, the head of the British government urged the international community to cooperate not only in the prevention of conflicts, but also to work together in the destruction of the international terrorist networks that are used to finance their operations and engaging in their ranks of other people.