--- description: President Barack Obama on Tuesday delivered his final address to the United Nations General Assembly. Read his full remarks title: Read Barack Obama's Final Speech to the United Nations image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0ab912f360afafb/6988a6e5bc6cfc3a3d3dea6e/barack-obama-united-nations.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read Barack Obama's Final Speech to the United Nations as President  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 20, 2016 8:31 PM CUT  U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters on Sept. 20, 2016 in New York City. U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters on Sept. 20, 2016 in New York City.Drew Angerer/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 20, 2016 8:31 PM CUT President Barack Obama on Tuesday [delivered his final address](http://time.com/4501214/barack-obama-donald-trump-united-nations/ "undefined") to the United Nations General Assembly , calling on leaders to work together and criticizing those who seek a “simple rejection of global integration.” “I do not believe progress is possible if our desire to preserve our identities gives way to an impulse to dehumanize or dominate another group. If our religion leads us to persecute those of another faith, if we jail or beat people who are gay, if our traditions lead us to prevent girls from going to school, if we discriminate on the basis of race or tribe or ethnicity, then the fragile bonds of civilization will fray,” Obama said. “The world is too small, we are too packed together, for us to be able to resort to those old ways of thinking.” Here are his full remarks from the United Nations headquarters: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4501910/president-obama-united-nations-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4501910/president-obama-united-nations-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Barack Obama's Final Speech to the United Nations as President","datePublished":"2016-09-20T20:31:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:43:23.771Z","description":"\"Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself\"","url":"https://time.com/4501910/president-obama-united-nations-speech-transcript/","keywords":["Barack Obama","United Nations","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0ab912f360afafb/6988a6e5bc6cfc3a3d3dea6e/barack-obama-united-nations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0ab912f360afafb/6988a6e5bc6cfc3a3d3dea6e/barack-obama-united-nations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"World Leaders Gather In New York For Annual United Nations General Assembly","caption":"World Leaders Gather In New York For Annual United Nations General Assembly","creditText":"Drew Angerer/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4501910/president-obama-united-nations-speech-transcript/","name":"Read Barack Obama's Final Speech to the United Nations as President"}}]}] ```