Our President, Mr. Álvaro Colom Caballeros,
participated in the High-level Plenary Meeting on the
Millennium Development Goals (see A/65/PV.3) but
had to return to Guatemala owing to commitments
related to his high office. Similarly, our Minister for
Foreign Affairs, who unexpectedly had to leave New
York yesterday. It is for this reason that I have the high
honour of presenting this message, which was prepared
to be presented today by the Minister.

10-55276 40

 Before proceeding, I should like to express our
profound gratitude to Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki for his
outstanding performance in heading the General
Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. Likewise, Mr. Deiss,
we wish you every success as President for the current
session. We have no doubt that with your vast
experience you will guide our deliberations and
enhance the work of the General Assembly as the main
policymaking organ of the United Nations.
 We have just concluded our review of the
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals,
adopted 10 years ago in an international environment
that was perhaps more encouraging than today’s. As
has been highlighted in recent days, the results reflect
both light and shadow, with some countries showing
impressive gains, and others even suffering setbacks.
The majority have made progress on some of the Goals
but not in others, or have made advances whose
benefits have been distributed very unequally among
different segments of the population.
 In addition, today’s international environment is
far less encouraging than that of 10 years ago. The
previous decade began with the attack on the twin
towers in this very city, placing counter-terrorism
squarely as a priority on the international agenda. It
continued with a military confrontation that was not
sanctioned by the Security Council, with all its
consequences, and concluded with three simultaneous
crises — food, energy and, especially, financial and
economic — from whose effects we have yet to recover.
 Further, after building up a cumulative body of
scientific evidence that no longer allows any room for
doubt, we have confirmed that the very effects of
technological progress have brought with them
devastating consequences for our common habitat —
this planet — and that the destruction wrought by
climate change is palpable and dramatic. On another
matter, in the current decade we have witnessed very
clearly that organized crime does not recognize borders
and tends to spread to those countries with the least
capacity to confront its considerable resources.
 My own country has been a victim of some of
these phenomena, which nullify or at least mitigate the
considerable efforts we have deployed, especially since
the Administration of President Colom took office
early in 2008, to stimulate development, achieve higher
levels of well-being for the disadvantaged sectors of our
population, and strengthen our democratic institutions.
Here again we see both light and shadow: in spite of an
unfavourable international environment and as President
Colom noted in this very Hall on 20 September, we have
achieved progress is addressing some of the pressing
problems faced by the our country’s most vulnerable.
 But the shadow is still present. Its origin lies in
phenomena that are totally or partially out of our
control. I highlight three of them. First, the financial
and economic crisis had a sharp adverse impact on our
economic performance. Gross national product grew
less than 1 per cent in 2009, with declining exports,
shrinking family remittances and collapsing foreign
direct investment. This had an extremely negative
impact on our tax revenues, in spite of the many
Government initiatives to raise tax rates to deal with
increasing demands for social services and public
security. Although we have seen a modest recovery this
year, its strength will depend to a large degree on
uncertain developments in the international economy.
In other words, the international economic environment
has not been very conducive to meeting our economic
growth goals, in spite of the official cooperation that
we have received, which we sincerely appreciate.
 Secondly, in the last decade a array of unlawful
activities related to organized crime have taken root in
our country. Trafficking in persons, arms and narcotics,
and money laundering have expanded to a worrisome
extent, given the dual abilities of organized criminal
groups to co-opt and intimidate. Above all, drug
trafficking has undermined our democratic institutions.
In response, we have associated ourselves with the
United Nations and friendly countries, through both
bilateral and multilateral cooperation. This can be seen
mostly clearly in the International Commission against
Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), to which I will return
later. Furthermore, recognizing that the struggle against
illegal activities and organized crime — a basic
responsibility of all States — has today assumed a
clearly transnational character, we have joined our
neighbours in Central America and Mexico in
combating regional criminal networks.
 Thirdly, as if what I have already said were not
enough, we have also fallen victim to natural disasters
with an unusual frequency, which highlights the
extreme vulnerability of Guatemala to the effects of
climate change, given its location in a tropical area. We
had not even begun to recover from the effects of
tropical storm Stan of late 2005 when we were hit by a
serious drought in 2009 and, over the past few months,

41 10-55276

the eruption of the Pacaya Volcano, which caused
extensive damage to agriculture, followed by tropical
storm Agatha in June, which affected some 330,000
persons, killed approximately 100 and caused material
damage totalling an estimated $1 billion. These
estimates in human suffering and material losses have
continued to grow with the unprecedented levels of
rainfall during the past month, which has contributed
even more human victims and material damage.
 The Government has done all within its power to
address the situation and has appealed for international
assistance. I commend the fact that the United Nations
was among the first to respond to our call, and I
therefore express our appreciation to the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the
Administrator of the United Nations Development
Programme.
 To date, we have been focused on the emergency
phase, but it is imperative that we move on to
reconstruction and recovery as soon as possible. The
Government has drawn up a detailed plan to address
those goals, and we will convene an international
conference to present the plan to our partners in
Antigua in Guatemala on 11 and 12 October.
 I shall now make some brief remarks on our
Organization and its agenda in the immediate future. I
begin by reiterating our support for multilateralism in
general and for the United Nations in particular. We
have enjoyed strong, continuous support from the
Organization, in supporting our peace process,
facilitating development cooperation and providing
assistance when we have faced emergencies, as at the
present time.
 The latest example of that fruitful and innovative
cooperation is the International Commission against
Impunity in Guatemala. In only three years, the
Commission has shown that it is indeed possible to
combat impunity and strengthen the rule of law. We
value this cooperative effort between the Government
of Guatemala and the United Nations, and we will
continue to support it.
 We also value the work of our Organization in the
area of peacekeeping. We have participated in several
operations, principally in Haiti and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. We support the work of the
United Nations in the area of peacebuilding, and we
hope to participate in the Peacebuilding Commission as
a full member as of next January.
 We welcome the decision of the General
Assembly to establish the United Nations Entity for
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and
we are pleased that its first leader will be Ms. Michelle
Bachelet. We also commit ourselves to continue
supporting initiatives aimed at achieving greater
system-wide coherence.
 At the same time, we harbour the hope that, in the
coming year, some tangible progress will be made in
the long-delayed reform of the Security Council. We
believe that it is crucial to provide greater legitimacy to
that body, which would benefit all of the main bodies
and the Organization overall. In the meantime, we have
announced our candidature for one of the seats
allocated to our region in the Security Council for the
biennium 2012-2013, in the hope of continuing to
contribute to its work.
 We reiterate our profound commitment to
achieving significant progress during the next
Conference of the Parties of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held
in Cancún. We have participated actively in the
preparatory work, based on the understanding that
rarely has humanity faced a larger challenge that
affects all countries and communities on the planet.
 In rejoining the Human Rights Council, we
reiterate our commitment to the full respect of human
rights in all their aspects, including the responsibility
to protect our respective populations from genocide,
war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against
humanity.
 It is commonly held that without peace there can
be no development. Promising signs have been seen in
various parts of the world, which, we hope, may lead to
the resolution of long-standing tensions. We trust that
the direct negotiations recently begun in the Middle
East will be fruitful and lead to a Palestinian State that
can coexist with Israel in peace and harmony, within
borders that are secure for both parties.
 We also applaud the engagement and growing
climate of cooperation being generated between the
parties separated by the Taiwan Straits.
 Finally, I am pleased to announce that we have
achieved a major step forward in addressing the
International Court of Justice, together with Belize, to
seek a juridical solution to the age-old territorial
dispute between us. That step required the approval by

10-55276 42

our Congress of the Special Agreement signed with
Belize in December 2008, which cleared the path for a
popular referendum, as provided for under that
Agreement. We hope that the Belizean Parliament will
also authorize as soon as possible the referendum to be
held simultaneously in both countries, as the final step
that allows both parties to present themselves to the
Court.


Mozambique
associates itself with previous speakers in
congratulating you, Sir, on your unanimous election to
preside over the sixty-fifth session of the United
Nations General Assembly. Indeed we feel confident
that your wisdom and diligence will provide positive
leadership and success for our deliberations. We
reaffirm our commitment to support your presidency
and pledge to fully cooperate with you and all the other
members of the Bureau in the discharge of your noble
mission.
 We wish to express our gratitude to your
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki
of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, for his commitment to
our Organization and for his strong leadership in
carrying out the work of the United Nations, both
productively and effectively during the previous
General Assembly session.
 Equally, I would like to commend the Secretary-
General, Ban Ki-moon, for his engagement in
promoting peace and justice and, in particular, for his
tireless efforts to mobilize the United Nations family to
adequately address the global challenges facing the
world and humanity through concerted multilateral
approaches.
 Recognizing the steering role of the United
Nations in global governance and highly appreciating
the wise choice of reflecting this important and timely
item during the present debate, I request your
indulgence to seize this opportunity to share some
information about developments in Mozambique. As
we move steadily towards strengthening the democratic
institutions in Mozambique, we are proud to see that

49 10-55128

there have been significant achievements in both the
political and the socio-economic spheres of the
country.
 Indeed, thanks to the strengthened political
stability that Mozambique currently enjoys, the
Government is undertaking a comprehensive public
sector reform and decentralization process in the area
of public administration. Similarly, political and social
stability and good macroeconomic management,
supplemented by the attractive investment legislation
already in place, have contributed immensely to
creating conditions conducive to promoting economic
growth and sustainable development.
 Our main goal is to eradicate poverty, as it is one
of the major challenges facing our people in their
efforts to improve their living conditions. We are fully
aware that in fighting poverty we need also to
simultaneously address other related challenges,
namely, climate change, the energy crisis, food
insecurity and the global economic and financial crisis,
whose impacts constitute an enduring challenge,
especially for developing economies such as that of
Mozambique. All those challenges are interrelated and
have multiplier effects on our competitiveness and
growth efforts.
 The threats posed by the negative impact of
climate change on our environment need to be
continuously dealt with as a priority and should be
comprehensively addressed at the national,
subregional, regional and international levels. The
devastation due to problems originating in climate
change is degrading our environment at an astonishing
pace. In fact, Mozambique and many other countries in
sub-Saharan Africa are being ravaged by cyclical
natural disasters that destroy major arable lands and
thus reduce land productivity.
 There is no doubt that small island developing
countries face the risk of disappearing from the world
map. At the same time, it is also important to recognize
the plight of coastal developing countries like
Mozambique, which are suffering from the rise in sea
levels.
 The heavy burden resulting from the adverse
effects of climate change constrains the ability of our
Governments to allocate the necessary financial and
human resources to decisively address problems related
to the environment. Hence, developing countries,
particularly sub-Saharan countries, do not have the
required financial resources to undertake the necessary
steps to mitigate the impact of climate change. To that
end, we are committed to continue working in a
concerted manner with international development
partners, especially the United Nations and other
stakeholders with a focus on creating conditions for
adaptation and local community resilience to the
impact of climate change.
 Bearing in mind the principle of common but
differentiated responsibility, we would like to underline
that our association with the Copenhagen Accord on
climate change is based precisely on our understanding
that the global nature of climate change demands a true
multilateral response. In that regard, we look forward
to a successful outcome of the sixteenth Conference of
the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change — COP 16 — to be
held in Cancún later this year. We commend the active
role of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to
ensure a meaningful result of the climate change
negotiations.
 In addressing all the aforementioned challenges,
strong and able global governance is of utmost
importance to ensure the spurring of the political will
needed for concrete actions. The United Nations is the
only intergovernmental organization with a universal
character and the ability to mobilize such a capacity.
That is why we believe that concrete steps to
strengthen the central role of the United Nations in
global governance are required, through providing it
with the adequate resources and authority
commensurate with its global responsibility to fully
respond to the growing global needs.
 Mozambique will remain engaged in the ongoing
process of reforming the United Nations to ensure its
efficiency and effectiveness, to increase its credibility
and legitimacy as a representative of the people of the
world.
 In that regard, the revitalization of the role and
the authority of the General Assembly as the most
representative and legitimate organ of the United
Nations cannot be overemphasized. It is here where
everyone is represented and every vote counts in deciding
on matters of common interest. So it is here where all the
most important decisions should be taken — from issues
related to the maintenance of peace and security, the
promotion of economic cooperation and social and
humanitarian matters to the promotion of human rights.

10-55128 50

Everyone should abide by and implement all decisions
and resolutions taken here. Therefore, we need a strong
General Assembly, well resourced and with the
necessary authority to assume its responsibilities on
behalf of the international community.
 Another important track of reform that we are
very much attached to is the reform of the Security
Council. Although there is no agreement yet on the
level of attainment, we all agree that reform of the
Council should be a priority in the whole United
Nations reform process. It is clear that we need a more
balanced representation in the Council. Moreover, we
are of the view that a Council that is more fair and
democratic in its decisions and actions would
adequately meet the security necessities of the
international community.
 For a meaningful reform of the Security Council,
it is imperative that the historic injustice with regard to
the African continent be corrected. Indeed, today it is
no longer acceptable that a continent that represents
almost 30 per cent of the whole United Nations
membership and whose concerns constitute more than
60 per cent of the Council’s agenda is not represented
in the category of permanent member. In that light,
Africa deserves to be allocated permanent seats in any
Security Council reform, based on the Ezulwini
Consensus.
 There is also a need for a more coherent and
effective United Nations system, capable of efficiently
addressing and advancing durable solutions for the
pressing economic, social and humanitarian problems
currently facing the world. Member States should also
continue to discuss and find measurable solutions on
how to ensure coherence between policy decisions and
the implementation of commitments agreed in United
Nations international conferences and summits in the
field of development.
 In that regard, Mozambique is proud of the
progress made by the General Assembly on system-
wide coherence. In particular, we commend the
Assembly for its recent major step in the establishment
of UN Women. I seize this opportunity to reiterate our
congratulations to Her Excellency Ms. Michelle
Bachelet on her appointment as Under-Secretary-
General of the new entity and pledge our full support
for and readiness to collaborate on the successful
accomplishment of the task of bringing gender equality
and the empowerment of women to the forefront of the
United Nations work.
 It is also a fact that, although we are open to
seeing the result of the independent evaluation of the
One United Nations pilot country initiative, it is our
strong belief that the progress made so far in the
implementation of that initiative is extremely
encouraging. Therefore we call on the United Nations
to support all countries that voluntarily decide to
embark on the process of making the United Nations
system work in a more coherent manner at the country
level.
 With regard to the maintenance of international
peace and security, Mozambique is committed to
continuing to share its experience in the peaceful
resolution of conflicts, particularly in southern Africa.
In our subregion, we share important responsibilities in
the promotion of peace and security, as well as with
regard to regional integration as part of subregional
and regional efforts to promote international peace and
security and sustainable development.
 We advocate international peace and security
because we truly believe that they are part of the
enabling conditions that allow countries to concentrate
their attention on dealing with other pressing needs,
such as the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases, the fight against international crime and drug
trafficking, addressing poverty-related problems and
the promotion of sustainable development.
 It is worth noting that the political situation and
stability in Southern Africa have improved. Indeed, the
process of implementing the Global Political
Agreement in Zimbabwe has made significant strides.
We also remain committed, under the auspices of the
Southern African Development Community, to finding
a peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict in
Madagascar.
 We are encouraged by the progress being made in
stabilizing the political situation in Guinea-Bissau,
especially the ongoing reform of the armed forces and
the public administration. I take this opportunity to call
on the international community to continue supporting
the ongoing efforts of the Community of Portuguese-
speaking Countries and of the United Nations to find a
sustainable and lasting peace in that sister country.
 Mozambique reiterates its support for the efforts
of the international community to find a lasting

51 10-55128

solution to the problem of Western Sahara, and for the
right of that country’s people to self-determination.
 Mozambique is concerned that despite all
continued international efforts, it has not been possible
to bring about peace and stability in the Middle East.
Mozambique is deeply concerned about the volatile
situation in that region, where the conflict between
Israel and Palestine continues to deprive the
Palestinian people of the realization of their
fundamental human rights, including the right to their
own land and resources and to live in peace with all
neighbouring countries, including, obviously, Israel.
 We need a strong United Nations that can play a
central role in mobilizing Member States and the
international community at large to commit and fully
contribute to regional and international peace and
security and to an enabling environment for the
promotion of sustainable development.
 That is why we believe in multilateralism. We
reiterate our commitment to work in collaboration with
all States Members of the Organization in the pursuit
of our common goals to make the world a better place
for all humanity.


History has shown us that words can change the face of
the world. It has proven that the spoken word can
influence the future, but only when they go beyond
rhetoric. What is our global governance worth if it does
not go beyond the expression of ambitions and
intentions? Words remain ineffectual if they are not
followed up with action. We must therefore act. I say
“we”, the nations united, because no country, no matter

47 10-54833

how large, can respond alone to the great challenges
facing humanity. I say “we” because no large-scale
problem is limited to a single country, leaving
untouched the lives of those who live elsewhere. The
obligation to act is a shared, global responsibility.
 That is why today my message is about
responsibility and increased accountability.
 At the heart of any form of governance lies
responsibility, be it global or local, national or
international. But this is not enough. Indeed,
governance is not only about behaving responsibly; it
is also about being accountable. This applies not only
at the level of the single State, but also at the level of
our United Nations.
 Human rights, security and development are at
the core of the mandate of the United Nations. Former
Secretary-General Kofi Annan pointed out the fact that
the three are inextricably linked when he said:
 “There will be no development without security
and no security without development. And both
development and security also depend on respect
for human rights and the rule of law.”
(A/59/2005, annex, para. 2)
It has indeed become common knowledge that human
rights are unlikely to be protected in an insecure and
underdeveloped environment and that economic
development cannot be durably sustained in a society
where there is no rule of law.
 Accountability in international affairs is about
respecting international law — the rules that govern
relations among States. Without a solid legal basis,
international cooperation remains optional and falls
short of the necessary transparency and long-term
sustainability. Important steps have been taken to
uphold the rule of law at the international level over
the past decades.
 Belgium pleads for the universal acceptance of
the competence of the International Court of Justice
and the International Criminal Court. If all countries
were willing to follow up on this appeal, we would be
a step closer to having an effective and accountable
international system.
 Meeting our responsibilities in the field of human
rights means ensuring efficient means and mechanisms
to ensure their protection. We need to instil more
coherence to our action. Unfortunately, today we focus
our attention all too often on how to react to human
rights violations while we should focus more on
prevention and on the root causes of those violations.
 Human rights are universal. My country strongly
opposes any form of relativism in this respect.
 International and regional human rights
instruments need to be strengthened. The evaluation
within the Human Rights Council in 2011 should give
important momentum to that strengthening.
 There is also a need for increased accountability
in the field of security, another pillar of the United
Nations. Over the past year, important progress has
been made. The Review Conference of the Parties to
the Non-Proliferation Treaty came to a substantial and
balanced result. Respect for Non-Proliferation Treaty
provisions and cooperation with the International
Atomic Energy Agency are accountability in practice.
Unfortunately, the non-acceptance or non-respect of
these provisions by countries like North Korea and Iran
threatens the international non-proliferation regime.
 In particular, Belgium welcomes the entry into
force earlier this year of the Convention on Cluster
Munitions. The prohibition of the production and use
of cluster munitions has become the international
standard. I am pleased and proud to announce that
Belgium has recently destroyed its entire stock of
cluster munitions.
 The Millennium Development Goals and climate
negotiations are at the top of our twenty-first century
agenda, and rightly so. We are all responsible for our
planet. In fact, we are all accountable to current and
future generations, especially in the field of poverty
reduction and environmental protection. Let us not
forget the ancient Native American saying: “We do not
inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from
our children”.
 Creating a world that is equitable, a world that
will last, is our common responsibility. Belgium is
doing so by spending 0.7 per cent of its gross domestic
product on development cooperation.
 If we indeed accept the need to be accountable
for the results we do or do not obtain, we should have
the courage to evaluate and adapt the institutions and
instruments at our disposal. In that respect, Belgium
fully supports the efforts of the European Union to

10-54833 48

participate in a timely and effective manner in the work
of the General Assembly.
 If it is to contribute effectively to global
governance and to take up its global responsibility, the
United Nations needs to continue its efforts to become
more representative and more efficient. The creation of
UN Women was a welcome development, and it has
my country’s full support. Of course, gender will need
to remain a mainstream theme influencing the actions
of each and every United Nations institution.
 Important discussions on the reform of the
Security Council have been ongoing for quite some
time. Belgium hopes that the negotiations will soon
lead to concrete results.
 I have talked about institutions, and concerns
about institutions are, of course, legitimate. But they
should never lead us to forget that the first
accountability of humankind is not created by
abstractions or institutions, but by the face of a person
in dire need; of the man, woman or child who is the
victim of violence; of those who suffer the violence of
nature, or from violence perpetrated by other men.
 When it comes to humanitarian protection and
aid, responsibility and accountability have never been
more necessary. That is why United Nations
peacekeeping missions with strong mandates,
especially in the field of the protection of civilians, are
important and should be given the necessary
instruments, not least in the context of the fight against
sexual violence. In this context, Belgium strongly
supports Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and
its goals of ensuring the participation, protection and
promotion of women in peace and security.
 The concept of sovereignty cannot be used as a
justification for human rights violations against the
citizens of any country. On the contrary, sovereignty
implies the responsibility to protect, and we support
the efforts of the Secretary-General to further put this
principle into practice.
 My key message of increased responsibility and
accountability also applies to certain situations in the
world that I would like to address briefly: the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
 The fiftieth anniversary of the independence of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been an
opportunity to measure the unquestionable progress
made over recent years. What is important as we move
forward is the consolidation of peace and democracy in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Belgium is
pleased that the mandate of the United Nations
Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo has incorporated the element of
peacebuilding alongside that of peacekeeping.
 The elections in 2006 allowed the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to choose the path of
democratization. The Congolese authorities have
expressed their determination to persevere on this path
in confirming their intention to hold elections in 2011.
That deserves our full support.
 Despite all this progress, it is clear that many
challenges remain. In spite of the rapprochement
among its neighbours, the situation in the East of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo remains worrisome.
We were reminded of this by the shocking reports of
widespread rape in Luvungi.
 The fight against impunity, which is crucial to my
country, hinges first and foremost on the strengthening
of the rule of law. It is one of the primary
responsibilities of the authorities, but here, too, the
support of the United Nations and the international
community is crucial. Belgium calls on the
international community to continue to assume its
responsibility. Like in every country, the Afghan Government is
held accountable by the Afghan people. We hope that
last weekend’s elections contributed to this. However,
the Afghan authorities do not stand alone. The
international community, with a central role for the
United Nations, assists the Afghan Government in
enhancing the level of accountability to its population.
Gradually, the Afghan authorities need to take on more
responsibility, especially in the field of security. This
transfer is welcome, but rather than being calendar-
driven, it should be results-driven.
 The Belgian Government has decided to extend
its current military and civilian presence until the end
of 2011. We believe that 2011 will be of crucial
importance in transferring further security

49 10-54833

responsibilities. The focus of the Belgian presence
beyond 2011 will therefore likely be more and more on
civilian assistance.
 Nobody can remain untouched by the devastation
and human suffering caused by the floods in Pakistan.
As members of the international community, we have
to take on our responsibility. This “slow-motion
tsunami”, as the Secretary-General called it, demands a
long-term and strategic answer. Belgium therefore
welcomes the three-step approach — the meeting last
Sunday in New York, the meeting in Brussels next
month of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan, and the
donor event in November — which clearly sets out the
framework for reconstruction.
 We have to move beyond the stage of emergency
aid. In this respect, I am glad to say that the European
Union last week took the firm commitment to improve
market access for Pakistan as a concrete measure to
reinvigorate Pakistan’s economy.
 Allow me to conclude by recalling John F.
Kennedy’s observation that the only reward for a
politician is a good conscience. It may be true that not
many other rewards should be expected for politicians.
But even so, the conscience of a politician cannot free
him from the obligation of being accountable to those
he wants to serve, to the people he wants to represent
and to the country he wants to lead.


Each year, the great family of nations comes together
to assess what the Organization has achieved and to
consider together ways to respond to the problems
facing the world and to acknowledge what unites our
nations and what still divides them.
 For 65 years, the General Assembly has carried
out this both difficult and noble mission. That mission
was summarized very well by the first speaker at the
first session of the General Assembly, on 10 January
1946, as the maintenance of peace and security and the
establishment, through cooperation, of those conditions
of stability and well-being which will ensure peaceful
and friendly relations, based on the principle of equal
rights and self-determination among the nations of the
world.
 Since then, the General Assembly has changed.
The number of Members has almost quadrupled, major
decisions have been made, historic documents have
been adopted, old problems have given way to new,
and the scope of responsibilities of the General
Assembly has greatly increased as it has opened itself
to new challenges in international security,
non-proliferation, disarmament, respect for human
rights, poverty, terrorism, global warming, the financial
crisis and many other issues.
 In short, many things have changed, including the
century.
 Nevertheless and despite the developments that
have marked recent decades, the situation in the region
where Armenia is situated prompts me to return to that
day, 10 January 1946, which is so distant yet so close,
given the objectives that were put forward then and
which continue more than ever to underpin our actions.
 How is it possible to maintain peace, security and
stability when we keep raising defence spending and
regularly threaten to use force and to start wars? How
can we promote friendly and peaceful relations
between peoples when we promote intolerance and
hatred and impose blockades and closed borders? How
can we assure the principle of the equal rights of
peoples and their right to make their own decisions
when we reject the fundamental principle of
international law — the right of peoples to self-
determination?
 I would like to hereby touch upon the conflict
between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. The
people of Nagorno-Karabakh exercised their right to
self-determination two decades ago. They fought for
their right to freedom, withstanding the brutal war
unleashed by Azerbaijan, which had suppressed them
for 70 years and attempted to cleanse them from their
ancestral home. For that purpose, it even resorted to
the use of mercenaries closely linked to international
terrorist organizations. The people of Nagorno-
Karabakh had to pursue their right to self-
determination as they were being denied their right to
existence.
 The right of peoples to self-determination is a
fundamental and indispensable right enshrined in the

29 10-55109

Charter of the United Nations. The advisory opinion
issued by the International Court of Justice in July
reaffirmed the wisdom of the founders of this
Organization, who made sure that one of the
fundamental principles for maintaining peace and
stability in the world — the right of peoples to self-
determination — could not be underrated in any way
compared with the other principles of international law.
 Let us be realistic. One cannot say each and every
time that this is the last self-determination case. No
one is able to stop the progress of history; otherwise,
there would not be 192 Member States in this
Organization instead of 51, as there were at the time of
its founding.
 The Nagorno-Karabakh peace process moves
forward with the internationally mandated mediation of
the Co-Chairs of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, who
continue their persistent efforts aimed at the peaceful
settlement of the conflict based on the fundamental
principles of international law: the non-use of force or
threat of force, the equal rights and self-determination
of peoples and territorial integrity.
 On 17 July, at the margins of the OSCE informal
ministerial meeting in Almaty, the Minsk Group
Co-Chairs issued a statement in which they reiterated
that the proposed principles and elements have been
conceived as an integrated whole and that any attempt
to select some of them over others would make it
impossible to achieve a balanced solution. Armenia
fully shares this vision and will continue the
negotiations on that basis in search of a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
 Unfortunately, Azerbaijan rejects two of the three
principles mentioned and is attempting not only to turn
upside down the essence of the negotiation process, but
also to distort the nature of the conflict in various
international forums, including the General Assembly,
as happened here about two weeks ago and again two
days ago. That country is attempting to mislead the
international community, presenting the consequences
of the conflict as its causes.
 Azerbaijan’s unabated war rhetoric, growing
violations of the ceasefire regime, and unprecedented
military budget increases only exacerbate the situation,
raising concerns about the already fragile stability in
the region. Azerbaijan continues to reject proposals to
come to an agreement on the non-use of force or threat
of force, as well as calls for the consolidation of the
ceasefire. Azerbaijan’s attitude thus represents a threat
to regional peace and security. The money it derives
from oil revenues is being directed at funding new
military ventures. We all know the potential results of
such adventurism.
 Azerbaijan should refrain from its continuing
attempts to remove the settlement process from the
Minsk Group format and framework and from making
provocative and bellicose statements and actions, in
order that the negotiation process may proceed more
constructively and effectively.
 In an era when the protection and promotion of
human rights are considered essential in the civilized
world, intolerance for the values of others and acts that
intentionally, consistently and repeatedly damage or
destroy the cultural or religious heritage of other
civilizations must be condemned with the same resolve
and determination as violence against people.
 The destruction by Azerbaijanis between 1998
and 2005 in Nakhichevan of thousands of cross-stones
delicately carved by Armenian masters in the ninth to
the sixteenth centuries is a vivid example of such a
crime. Under the Azerbaijani Government’s watchful
eye, thousands of these gigantic medieval sculptures
were bulldozed and the area turned into a military zone
in a Government-sanctioned operation. A resolution at
the sixteenth General Assembly of the International
Council on Monuments and Sites stated regretfully
with regard to this act of vandalism: “… this heritage
that once enjoyed its worthy place among the treasures
of the world’s heritage can no longer be transmitted
today to future generations”.
 Armenia’s initiative for the normalization of
relations with Turkey without any preconditions was
fully supported by the international community. Last
year, after intensive negotiations, we achieved
agreement and finally signed the Armenian-Turkish
protocols. We made a confident investment in a durable
rapprochement, while Turkey, unfortunately,
backtracked from its commitments and not only
refrained from ratifying the signed protocols, but
returned to its initial language of preconditions.
Consequently, the Armenian-Turkish border continues
to remain the only closed border in Europe. Good
intentions must be proved in deeds, not just words.
Armenia is ready to move forward when Turkey will

10-55109 30

once again be prepared to normalize relations without
preconditions.
 While we are discussing all possible ways to
create a more prosperous and safer world for our
peoples, we would be remiss if we did not speak about
the responsibility to protect. As a nation we survived
the most heinous crime against humanity, genocide,
95 years ago. We attach the utmost importance to
furthering all international efforts aimed at the
prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity. It
is encouraging that further discussions of the
Secretary-General’s report on early warning,
assessment and the responsibility to protect (A/64/864)
are being held in the General Assembly. This will
enable us come up with a formula that will allow us to
act in a timely and coherent manner, utilizing all the
United Nations system resources and capabilities for
early warning, assessment and prevention of situations
that could lead to genocide, war crimes or crimes
against humanity.
 To bolster United Nations capacity to deal with
current challenges and those ahead, we need to
increase our efforts to further the process of United
Nations reform, making more efficient and effective
use of existing resources, making the “One United
Nations” policy work, and better utilizing regional
capacities to complement our global actions.
 Today, the world is evolving faster than ever. To
meet security, political, economic, social,
environmental and other challenges we simply have to
put our efforts, resources, and political determination
together to deal with them and move the international
development agenda forward.


Let me begin by
congratulating the President of the Assembly on his
election to lead the Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. I
trust that he will, with his outstanding experience and
excellent diplomatic skills, steer this Assembly to a
successful conclusion. I also wish to thank his
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki,
for the efficient and able manner with which he
presided over the Assembly at its sixty-fourth session.
 Ghana subscribes to the declaration by the
African Union Assembly of Heads of State and
Government that designated 2010 as a year of peace
and security. Ghana will, therefore, continue to engage
other member States in the search for peace and
security in places on the African continent that have
known no peace, and we will contribute to renewed
global efforts to prevent conflicts through preventive
diplomacy, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
 As we witness a decline in the number of the
violent conflicts that afflicted many countries over the
past decade or more, it is time to renew our
commitment to the work of the Peacebuilding
Commission in order to ensure that countries emerging
from conflict do not relapse into violence. Ghana was
privileged to have served on the organizational
committee of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC)
and will remain actively involved in the pursuit of the
attainment of the strategic objectives set for the post-
conflict countries on the agenda of the Commission’s
country-specific configuration. In this regard, Ghana
supports the steps being taken to also place Liberia on
the agenda of the Commission.
 As agreed by world leaders in 2005, Ghana
strongly supports the principle of the responsibility to
protect as the normative framework to prevent and
deter the occurrence of genocide, war crimes, crimes
against humanity and ethnic cleansing, which have
occurred in many countries that were emerging from
conflict. While the fear of its abuse does not take away
the intrinsic value of the principle of the responsibility
to protect, caution must be exercised in order to avoid
its abuse. The principle is not intended to undermine
the sovereignty of States; on the contrary, it is to
ensure that sovereign responsibility is exercised in a
manner that will prevent a repetition of the mass
atrocities that were experienced in places like Rwanda,
Srebrenica, Cambodia and Sierra Leone, with
devastating impacts on neighbouring countries.
 Sadly, in many places, some of those conflicts
persist in varying degrees of intensity. The
international community must be ready and willing to
assist national authorities who request such assistance
with a view to developing or enhancing the capacity of
countries that are manifestly unable or unwilling to
uphold this responsibility to do so. To that end, we
welcome the Secretary-General’s proposal to establish
a joint office to coordinate United Nations system-wide
efforts to strengthen early warning mechanisms aimed
at ensuring timely and decisive preventive action
and/or intervention in appropriate cases, in accordance
with the United Nations Charter.

10-55264 22

 While the reduction of extreme poverty and
hunger is a major development challenge for Africa,
most countries in the region are also grappling with the
problems of climate change, a high disease burden,
poor infrastructure, brain drain and the lack of
development of productive capacity. In the last few
years, African countries have had to deal with the
effects of rising food and energy prices and the
complications arising from the global financial and
economic crisis. Those multiple crises have not only
reversed impressive recent progress in economic
performance, but are also jeopardizing efforts by
African countries to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
 It is gratifying to see that the interests of the
international community in climate change have
increased markedly in recent times, especially after the
adoption of the Bali Action Plan in 2007. We need to
sustain that interest and build on the common ground
that was first found in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, with the
establishment of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, and was subsequently
built on in Berlin, Kyoto, Marrakech, Bali,
Copenhagen and, soon, Cancún.
 There are issues that need to be addressed for
progress in Cancún and beyond. What is missing is a
demonstrable political will. Without that, countries will
not see the need to raise their ambitions to cut
emissions. Industrialized countries have made pledges
to cut emissions by 2020. However commendable those
commitments may be, they fall short of the 25 to
40 per cent cut that the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change says will give the world a chance of
staying below the recommended two-degree average
global temperature rise.
 We need to preserve the Kyoto Protocol, which is
currently the only existing international agreement
with legal status to verify emission reductions. That is
why it is critical for all parties to work together to
address the divisions over a second commitment period
for the Kyoto Protocol and ensure its continuity after
2012.
 Just as there was “aid fatigue”, developing
countries may soon be experiencing “promise fatigue”.
We must get the numerous pledges out of the fine print
and make them work for humanity. I am simply
appealing to industrialized nations to fulfil their
funding pledges, including the $30 billion in fast-track
financing for developing country adaptation and
mitigation efforts through 2012, and the pledge to raise
$100 billion a year by 2020. For developing countries,
the early delivery and transparent allocation of that
money will boost our confidence in the dialogue and
show that industrialized countries are truly committed
to progress in the broader negotiations.
 We have made progress in the implementation of
the MDG agenda. However, keeping the solemn
promise we made in 2000 and achieving the Goals by
2015 will require intensified efforts, much more
resources and effective cooperation. No one should be
oblivious to the enormous challenges African and other
developing countries face in their efforts to achieve the
MDGs.
 Ghana will not compromise under any guise in its
pursuit of good governance and the promotion of the
rule of law, as these are important prerequisites for
achieving sustainable social and economic
development. African countries themselves have come
to acknowledge that part of the reason for their
impoverishment could be ascribed to poor post-
independence governance practices. That is why most
African countries have taken steps to consolidate their
governance institutions, including strengthening the
electoral system.
 Food security is a national priority for Ghana. For
most Ghanaians, getting enough good-quality food at
affordable prices is a major concern. The Government
is therefore implementing a progressive agricultural
policy that will ensure increased production, especially
in staples and other food crops that our climate and
land can efficiently support.
 Ghana will soon become an important producer
of oil and gas. The focus of the Government is to
ensure that Ghanaians will derive the maximum benefit
from oil production. Although oil revenues will start to
flow around the fourth quarter of the year, the
Government is taking measures to ensure
accountability and transparency in the management of
revenue from oil production. To that end, an oil and gas
revenue management bill has been submitted to
Parliament for approval. In addition, the Government is
holding a series of consultations with several countries
and private operators who have expertise and
experience in the field so that their knowledge can be
tapped and best practices adopted.

23 10-55264

 In our efforts to create wealth and prosperity for
our citizens, Ghana has made attracting foreign
investment an important pillar in its development
strategies. We will continue to pursue such policies in
the belief that our efforts will be supported and
rewarded with genuine partnership.
 Africa is tired of the misery and poverty arising
from resource-induced violent conflicts. Africa wants
to use its oil and natural resources to create wealth for
its citizens. We call on the United Nations and
well-meaning development partners, including the
international business community, to support our
efforts to nip the so-called resource curse in the bud
and exploit our God-given natural endowments for
development.
 Whereas the international environment for
growth in Africa is still favourable, the risks posed by
global imbalances and external shocks, such as the
recent financial crisis, call for increased international
policy coordination. We need a renewed spirit of
solidarity and commitment for a comprehensive global
response if we are to confront the challenges of our
time.
 It is in that light that Ghana wishes to reaffirm its
commitment to the ideals of the United Nations and
continue to live up to its Charter obligations, including
playing an active role in international peacekeeping, in
order to assist the Organization in its task of
maintaining global peace and security and promoting
fruitful and beneficial cooperation among Member
States. We must resolve to muster the political will to
strengthen the United Nations so that it can function
effectively and redeem the majority of our peoples
from wars, diseases and poverty by providing the
financial and material resources required to discharge
those onerous responsibilities.
 It is only when we measure up to those
responsibilities that we can give meaning to the phrase
“We the peoples of the United Nations”.


Our world continues
to change in profound ways. Technological advances
have accelerated globalization, bringing diverse
challenges and new agendas. The magnitude of today’s
threats requires holistic solutions with a multilateral
approach. No one country, however powerful, can meet
them on its own. Nations of the world need to work
together to forge a coordinated approach. It is a shared
responsibility, and the problems will be solved
successfully only through effective collaboration.
 To meet the challenges, a vibrant institution that
is up to the task and responds to the imperatives of our
time is required. Sixty-five years ago, the world
created the United Nations as the legitimate authority
for our collective peace and security. International
cooperation and solidarity formed the bedrock of its
existence. To this day, the United Nations provides the
only viable framework and legitimate authority for
acting globally to address issues that transcend national
borders.
 As a world institution, the United Nations needs
to pay attention to its ability to offer itself as a safe
place, not just for its traditional stakeholders — the
Member States — but also for international
organizations, the business community and civil
society. Partnerships with those sectors of society are
an important vehicle through which the United Nations
helps the development of individual countries, and they
allow our Organization to achieve, in large measure,
the key objectives of its mission.
 Our Organization is not without shortcomings,
and that is why we must constantly redefine its role
and adapt it to respond to the needs of the world that it
exists to serve. That is why, with regard to Security
Council reform, Samoa has not wavered over the years
from its principled support for an expanded Council in
both the permanent and non-permanent memberships.
The economic and political liberalization has changed
the contemporary geopolitical realities and landscape,
and the therefore enlargement of the Security Council
in both categories is essential for true multilateralism
and for the Council’s integrity and credibility.
 Equally vital is the ongoing reform to give
prominence to the General Assembly as the truly
deliberative and representative body in the global
decision-making process, giving voice and
representation to all Member States, irrespective of a
country’s wealth and might. That was the basis for
Samoa becoming a Member of this world body over
30 years ago.
 The threat of climate change is grave, having dire
implications for global peace and security. It threatens
to intensify existing drivers of conflict in a way that
could roll back development across many countries.
The causes of climate change and those responsible for
them, the multifaceted threats it poses and the solutions
to mitigate and adapt against its negative impacts are
well documented and duly validated by science and
real life experiences.
 A new climate change instrument is currently
under negotiation. Progress has been painfully slow,
which contradicts the gravity and urgency of the
problem. Sadly, vested national interests are taking
precedence over concern for a global and just solution.
Intransigent positions are being advanced to force
concessions and to frustrate progress. For a privileged
few, their fortunate geographies and resource
endowments may persuade them to feel that climate
change is not an urgent priority and that they can
afford to wait out the negotiation of a legally binding
climate change agreement for as long as it takes.
 There is no such luxury for island nations, which
paradoxically are at the front line of the destructive
impacts of climate change but are least responsible for
its causes and often least able to respond and adapt.
Indeed, for some island nations, climate change
threatens their very existence and survival as sovereign
States.
 With the stakes so high, climate change is
unquestionably an immediate and urgent priority for
the world. It would be a big mistake for any country to
think otherwise. Similarly, it would be unhelpful to
view climate change simply as an environmental issue.
Climate change is cross-cutting and endangers
economic and social development, with serious
implications for the peace and security of our

27 10-55122

communities, whether its impact is national or
transborder.
 Any new climate change treaty, no matter how
ambitious, comprehensive and binding, will be
ineffectual without full membership and the
participation of all United Nations Member States,
especially those with the obligation to participate.
Inaction should not be blamed on the absence of
solutions to reverse the impacts of climate change but
rather on the unwillingness of some countries to be part
of a unified global solution.
 The much publicized fast-track funding
announced in Copenhagen to meet the adaptation needs
of the most vulnerable countries has become a best-
kept secret. Information on how much of the pledges
have been honoured and disbursed, and to whom, has
been scarce. When available, the information is vague
and seems bereft of coordination. Yet the fast-track
resources were commitments made at the highest
political level, in recognition at Copenhagen of the
pressing need for an interim measure to help the most
vulnerable countries avert further harmful effects of
climate change, pending the conclusion of a negotiated
agreement.
 The uncertainty as to the legal form, content and
completion date of a new treaty makes it a moral
imperative for the promised fast-track resources to be
made available without delay and with clear, simplified
guidelines to ensure that the intended recipients do
indeed secure assistance.
 Between now and the conference in Cancún,
States parties should move beyond rhetoric and commit
to reaching an agreement, as a minimum, on those
building blocks of the Bali Action Plan where
negotiations have reached a level of maturity and
convergence on agreed compromises. We cannot
continue to defer making the hard decisions. We need
to reclaim the credibility of the process. Every day of
indecisiveness disproportionately increases the risks to
vulnerable countries that are experiencing more
frequent and severe climate change impacts.
 We cannot afford to leave Cancún empty-handed.
Concrete results must be achieved, not only to give our
people confidence that there are substantive responses
to protect against climate change, but at the same time
to strengthen our belief that our United Nations can
deliver a legally binding agreement.
 Our global security is at risk. Terrorism
transcends international borders in its attack on
universal values. Like other international threats,
terrorism is an area of mutual concern that demands a
collective response. Terrorist acts committed under
whatever pretext are deeply deplorable and should be
strongly condemned. Those who find self-glorification
in the atrocious crimes that they commit should not
expect any sympathy or be provided safe havens to
hide.
 The non-proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction and the risk of their acquisition by
terrorists, criminals and others should continue to be a
top priority of the United Nations. Nuclear terrorism is
one of the most challenging threats to international
peace and security. A world without nuclear weapons is
a safer, more secure and prosperous place to live.
 We have heard from this podium of the renewed
efforts of the major nuclear-weapons Powers to restart
the reduction of their nuclear arsenals. That is
encouraging, but we believe that the only absolute
guarantee against the use and threat of use of nuclear
weapons is through their total elimination. In that
connection, we are comforted by the announcement of
the United States Government earlier in the year that it
was moving towards ratification of the Pacific region’s
nuclear-free-zone treaty.
 The peacekeeping work of the United Nations
contributes, in large measure, to the stability of
countries and regions where it has a presence. It is one
of the Organization’s growing and most visible
mandates and has the full support of my Government.
Samoa’s policewomen and policemen are serving side
by side with officers of other contributing countries in
peacekeeping missions in Timor-Leste, the Sudan and
Darfur. In our Pacific region, we continue to honour
our commitment to the Regional Assistance Mission to
Solomon Islands, under the aegis of the Pacific Islands
Forum, through our police contingents.
 Samoa welcomes the recent initiative, brokered
by the United States, for direct negotiations between
the leaders of Israel and Palestine to advance the two-
State solution, with the nations of Israel and Palestine
living alongside each other in peace and security. We
remain hopeful that with the genuine support and
understanding of other leaders in the region, this will
not be another missed opportunity.

10-55122 28

 This Wednesday marks the first anniversary of
the tsunami that devastated my country, resulting in a
heavy loss of life, injury and destruction of property.
Life will never be the same for the survivors and those
who lost loved ones. However, a sense of normalcy has
returned and stability has been re-established.
 With the generous support of our development
partners, the reconstruction phase is progressing well
and the families and villages affected have been
resettled on higher ground inland, away from the coast.
The necessary infrastructure and utilities for the new
settlements are well on their way towards completion.
The progress achieved would not have been possible
without the kindness and understanding of Samoa’s
development partners and the international community.
 Of significant importance to Samoa in its efforts
to reinvigorate the economy following the dual impacts
of the tsunami devastation and the financial crisis is the
recent Assembly resolution (resolution 64/295)
granting Samoa three more years, to 2014, to put in
place a transition strategy to guarantee the
sustainability of its economic performance after its
graduation from least developed country (LDC) status
in that year. Samoa’s post-tsunami experience and the
passage of the consensus LDC resolution are important
demonstrations of the close and warm relations that my
country enjoys with United Nations Members.
 At the bilateral and personal level, my
Government has already acknowledged the timely and
tremendous support of all who contributed during the
emergency and in the recovery and rebuilding phases
in the aftermath of the tsunami. The United Nations
membership was similarly thanked when our LDC
resolution was adopted. Nevertheless, on behalf of the
people and Government of Samoa, I would like here in
the General Assembly to again convey our sincere
appreciation to all our development partners, including
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the People’s Republic
of China, the European Union, the United States of
America, our Pacific neighbours, the United Nations
and its related and specialized agencies, and others too
many to mention for their generosity and kindness to
Samoa. We are very grateful.


The
nature of the discussions and decisions taken at the
High-level Plenary Meeting has clearly demonstrated
that the various problems, challenges and threats we
face, however difficult and dangerous they may be, can
only be overcome if we work together. The world has
changed significantly over the past 10 years, and our
capacity to make peoples’ lives in all continents better
and safer has been broadened. We have seen the change
in international relations. There has been an
enhancement of constructive, mutually respectful
dialogue between States, and a new global partnership
is forming. All the preconditions exist so that at this
session we can establish a road map of international
cooperation on all strategic issues referred to in the
Outcome Document of the Summit. Particular attention
should be given to the financial economic sphere,
because it is directly linked to achieving the
Millennium Development Goals. We can achieve those
Goals, even in the current situation, if the necessary
financial resources, skills and technologies are used to
support development. What has been done so far is
insufficient. If we analyse the current situation in an
objective way, we see that the largest developed
countries have spent trillions of dollars on supporting
their economies. This has given some results, but the
backdrop of this is that it has become clear that
providing resources for official development assistance
and international technical assistance continues to be
below the real needs of developing countries and
countries in transition. Developed countries have
adopted protectionist measures. There has been price
pressure on small and medium countries for many
sensitive categories of goods. In such a context,
progress towards the Millennium Development Goals
cannot be smooth.
 In general terms, Belarus supports the work of the
Group of 20 (G-20) and the Group of Eight (G-8) to
overcome the world economic crisis, but we must
assume that the major countries in these clubs will first
and foremost promote their own interests. The General
Assembly must take the necessary measures to improve
the economic toolbox of the entire United Nations
system. Otherwise our Organization will not be able to
play an important role in global economic management
and small and medium-sized countries will have no
leverage on these processes.
 First of all, we must continue the process of
updating the work and enhancing the potential of the
Bretton Woods institutions and increase the role of
developing countries and countries with transitional
economies in decision-making in their governing
bodies. The General Assembly, although it might not
be able directly to influence this process, must raise its
voice on this issue. We refer here to those bodies where
all countries, without exception, can put forward their
positions and submit appropriate proposals.
 In 2005 and 2006, significant efforts were made
to improve the work of the Economic and Social
Council, converting it from a body that coordinates the
work of thematic commissions and committees in the
economic and social spheres to a body that adopts
political decisions and recommendations in those areas.
Some progress has been achieved here, of course; but it
is insufficient if we want to reach by 2015 good
indicators with regard to implementing the strategic
tasks under the Millennium Development Goals. The
Economic and Social Council is still the same: it has
not become a full-fledged economic organ of the
United Nations. We suggest in the remaining five years
that the Council should give special attention to each
of the Millennium Development Goals and make
appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly
and to Member States.
 Belarus, which has submitted its candidature for
membership of the Economic and Social Council in
2011, is ready to work actively in this regard.
 We cannot attain the Millennium Development
Goals unless we establish a genuine, strong structure of
United Nations operational activities. Here, we
welcome the increased intergovernmental dialogue on
enhancing coherence in the operations of United
Nations agencies and the measures that have been
taken to reform the United Nations gender architecture.
Besides enhancing the institutions, the financing of
bodies that undertake operational activities needs to be
improved. In this Hall, we have heard many addresses
with regard to the work of the G-8 and the G-20 and their

23 10-55276

initiative to find innovative approaches to financing. We
have heard of the intention of the European Union to
monitor the Union’s respect for its commitments with
regard to official development assistance. We hope that
those measures will indeed be implemented.
 Belarus, like many other delegations in this room,
is concerned at the status of the Doha multilateral trade
talks, particularly given the recent trends towards a
tougher position by developed countries. Developing
countries in particular suffer from this, as do medium-
income countries. For more than 10 years, talks have
been under way on membership of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) of about 30 States. Is this a
normal situation if we are talking about the need to
ensure that States move forward on achieving the
Millennium Development Goals and a genuinely
multilateral trade system? This is genuine
discrimination against certain States. Therefore we
believe that the rules for WTO membership by these
countries should be reviewed and simplified.
 If we are now serious about United Nations
management of global processes, then General
Assembly resolutions on the role of international trade
in stimulating development should be more targeted
towards achieving long-term results. What is most
important is to make recommendations on urgent
collective measures to establish a multilateral trading
system that meets the needs of today’s world.
 The General Assembly must send an unequivocal
political signal to parties to the upcoming Cancún talks
on developing a new post-Kyoto international
agreement on limiting emissions of greenhouse gases.
This year we have seen that the measures that have
been taken have been inadequate. The virtual absence
of targeted collective measures by the international
community could lead to irreversible consequences. If
States are ready to demonstrate genuine partnership in
order to avoid the worst-case scenario, then the
General Assembly must adopt a resolution on the
problem of climate change and offer relevant
recommendations and proposals before the
29 November opening of the sixteenth Conference of
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change.
 It is time to end competing ambitions with regard
to climate change. Belarus has direct experience of the
low level of cooperation between countries and the
level of their respect for each other’s interests. This has
meant that our attempts to adopt the most stringent
voluntary quantitative limits under the Kyoto Protocol,
and thus to make our contribution to the common goal
of protecting the climate, have so far been
unsuccessful. Belarus’s amendment to Annex B of the
Kyoto Protocol has not yet entered into force.
 Closely related to protection of the climate is the
issue of a reliable system of global energy security and
the development of so-called green economies. Many
States already have considerable experience in
establishing sustainable, low-carbon economies. Many
States still do not have clean technology, and this puts
a brake on their development. Of course, neither the
United Nations system nor any other international
organization can immediately resolve this problem on
its own. Establishing a promising international
mechanism of cooperation in order to enhance access
to cutting-edge energy technologies, including
technology for new and renewable energy sources, is
possible only on the basis of a genuine partnership,
with leadership from the United Nations and from
States that have been most successful in developing
green economies.
 Belarus has already made a significant
contribution to establishing such partnerships. We have
established an international laboratory for renewable
sources of energy based at the Energy Institute at the
National Academy of Sciences. This is first and
foremost a platform for exchanging experiences with
regard to renewable energy. This is no less important
than addressing the climatic conditions in our
countries; it will provide an experimental basis for
developing and testing effective uses of green
technologies. Without any doubt this will make a
significant contribution to developing global renewable
energy. We can only imagine how much progress the
international community would make if each State in
the world would, within its means, contribute resources
to the development of renewable energy, aimed not
only at its own domestic needs but also at exchanging
experiences with foreign colleagues.
 The MDG Summit confirmed the need for the
international community to find longer-term solutions
to problems. By following such an approach, States
Members of the United Nations will, as the Secretary-
General has said, be able to provide a better future for
all. Achieving this was the aim of the declaration by
the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus on
establishing a partnership with young people to protect

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them from social decline; the theme of this partnership
is helping future generations prosper. The theme of
young people is not new in itself, and it has often been
discussed in various forums. But implementing this
idea would enable us to take a qualitative step forward
in establishing a reliable basis for sustainable human
development. We are convinced that Member States
will support the Belarus initiative to convene a
thematic General Assembly debate on supporting
talented young people and protecting the coming
generation from social decline.
 In April next year we will mark the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. In the varied
spectrum of contemporary challenges and threats the
issue of Chernobyl has unfortunately become a low
priority. But the objective situation is that the
consequences of that massive man-made disaster are
still being felt, which means that implementing the
United Nations 10-year plan for recovery and long-
term development of the affected regions is still an
urgent task. That is not just of concern to Belarus,
Russia and Ukraine; the successful mitigation of the
consequences of Chernobyl is in the interests of the
entire international community.
 Given that situation, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine
intend to prepare a draft resolution on enhancing
international cooperation and coordination of efforts in
order to study, mitigate and minimize the consequences
of the Chernobyl disaster. That is intended to further
intensify measures to implement a plan of action and
draw the attention of the international community to
the memorial events planned for 2011 in the capitals of
the States most affected by the Chernobyl disaster. We
call for support for that draft resolution on Chernobyl
in the General Assembly and for the traditional
solidarity with the most affected countries.
 This year the Republic of Belarus for the first
time became a participant in and donor to United Nations
peacekeeping operations. That again demonstrates that
Belarus not only shares the purposes and principles of
the United Nations Charter but is making a tangible
contribution to strengthening international peace and
security.
 In conclusion, allow me to assure the Assembly
that our country will continue to play its part in
enhancing the authority and increasing the institutional
capacity of the United Nations. Given its universal
nature, the United Nations should guard and enhance
its paramount role in the global management of peace
processes, improve people’s lives and protect them
from the threats and challenges of our unstable times.


I bring to all delegates at this
sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly the warm
greetings of my Government and people.
 The United Nations was founded out of the ashes
of war and violence. Its noble ambitions, grounded in
the timeless values of peace, equality and justice, seek
to create a better world for this and future generations.
But if those values are to mean anything, the United
Nations must not be merely about a statement of
aspiration. Instead, we must strive until the United
Nations provides the framework where the timeless
values I speak of can be given life through meaningful
and practical responses to the contemporary challenges
our peoples face.
 The challenges are many, but this week has drawn
three of them into particularly sharp focus: first, our
global efforts to halve poverty and achieve the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015; secondly, a
global financial crisis that threatens to undo much of
the progress we have made in lifting people out of
poverty; and thirdly, a climate crisis that carries the
risk of planet-wide disruption that endangers entire
nations and the continuation of much of what we take
for granted today.
 Those challenges are all a function of the
dominant characteristic of the modern world: our
interconnectedness as a global community. And we will
meet the challenges only if we adopt an interconnected
response. The notion that we can protect our national
and global interests through inward-looking national
responses is no longer valid. Instead, it is in all of our
interests for the United Nations to provide the platform
that facilitates global, interconnected responses.

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 But I think we have some way to go if that
platform is to be created. When it comes to the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), although
progress has been made, we have not connected the
rhetorical support for their achievement to actual
delivery. When it comes to the financial crisis, we have
not connected the benefits of globally open financial
systems to measures that protect against the risks that
those systems create. And when it comes to the climate
crisis, we have not connected the scientific evidence to
global policy responses that mitigate the worst
extremes of climate change.
 We could choose to continue in this vein, but it is
clear where that would lead us. Or we could choose to
ask ourselves if we are prepared to be held accountable
for carrying our share of the responsibility.
 My country recognizes that we must deliver our
part. We are on track to meet most of the Millennium
Development Goals, especially in the areas of
education and health. We are doing all we can to
weather the financial crisis with the minimum suffering
for our people. And we recognize that we must do more
than just complain about climate change. We have
created our Low Carbon Development Strategy, which
sets out a long-term path to protect our 16-million-
hectare rainforest and move our entire economy onto a
low carbon trajectory.
 But there are times when it feels as though the
international system sets out to put hurdles on the path
to overcoming the challenges. Inconsistencies and a
lack of coherence among aid, trade and climate policies
in the developed world, to name just three areas, often
create difficulties for developing countries who seek to
make progress.
 The United Nations can help to change those
realities, and provide the framework for global
responses that match the ambition of the institution.
But at the core of that framework must be an enhanced
understanding of the concept of accountability.
 As countries like mine fully embrace our need to
be accountable for the actions we take to support a
global response to the MDGs, financial instability and
climate change, so too developed countries must
recognize their responsibilities and the need to take a
holistic approach to their dealings with the rest of the
world. Aid flows are appreciated and valuable, but they
sometimes pale into insignificance when those
countries that promote how their aid is helping the
achievement of, for example, the Millennium
Development Goals are also pursuing unjust, narrow-
minded trade or climate policies.
 I therefore call on the United Nations to establish
a set of global accountability indicators with which we
can transparently monitor whether the members of the
international community are pursuing policies that, in a
holistic sense, help them discharge their global
responsibilities, not just through the provision of aid
but also through the avoidance of unfair trade and
climate policies. Through the Millennium Development
Goals, we have started to develop some of the
indicators we need. As we enhance them further, I
believe we will see that better accountability, properly
understood, can help us rise to the challenges we face.
 I would like to highlight the centrality of the need
to protect and preserve our environment. While each of
the issues I have mentioned is a global one requiring a
global response, the environmental challenges we face
mock those who think we still live in a world where
global collective action is somehow a matter of choice.
 The destruction of a natural habitat anywhere in
the world removes life forms that could have been the
bedrock of future medical advances for citizens
everywhere. A ton of carbon emitted in Africa or Asia
threatens the citizens of the smallest village in North
America. When those who seek to represent their
citizens deny that that is true, or fail to understand its
consequences, they threaten their own national
interests and the wealth and security of their nation.
 Therefore, failure to appreciate the need for an
interconnected, global response to climate change and
loss of biodiversity is not just an abdication of
responsibility to some intangible global good or to
people on the other side of the world. It is a very real,
measurable threat to citizens in every village, hamlet
and city in the world. History will not judge kindly
those who were too blinkered or ignorant to realize
that. So a step change in our efforts to avoid
catastrophic climate change and protect biodiversity is
needed.
 When we met here last year, many hoped that the
United Nations would facilitate agreement on global
action to stabilize our planet’s climate at the meeting of
most of the world’s leaders in Copenhagen in
December. Not only did the global community fail to
accomplish that, we are now in real danger of suffering
from a catastrophic drift in ambition, where we no

17 10-54965

longer even try to connect the scientific evidence on
climate change with the necessary global action to
avert it.
 This drift in ambition must be stopped. It is a
consequence of choices we make; it is not
predetermined. So we must rededicate ourselves to
crafting a shared response to shared climate threats.
Most progressive countries now realize this, and are
committed to temperature rises of a maximum of 2°
degrees C or lower. They feel that this will require
global economic growth powered by efficient and clean
energy, new green industries, and a new, less carbon-
intensive approach to forestry and agriculture.
 But despite knowing this, the international
community continues to fail to put in place the
measures that will enable the economic transformation
that we claim we want. This is in large part due to the
absence of a global agreement that puts a price on
high-carbon activity and rewards low-carbon
innovation. We need this to change. To that end,
Guyana continues to hold that the international
community needs a legally binding global climate
treaty that would first facilitate the emission cuts
needed to stabilize the planet’s climate, and then
enable us to move on from seeing climate change
purely in terms of its costs, while also allowing us to
see how it can catalyse a once-in-a-lifetime global
economic transformation that can benefit people
everywhere. This cannot happen without deep, binding
emission cuts in today’s developed world, which could
stimulate the financial flows that can address
mitigation and adaptation across the developing world.
 We recognize that such a global treaty may not be
achievable this year, but we are not powerless to act
now. The international community can do three things
even in the absence of a treaty, and we can achieve
breakthroughs in each when we meet in Cancún.
 First, we can hold the developed countries
accountable for the commitments they have made to
the immediate short-term ramping-up of financing for
climate action in the developing world. The existing
commitments of a total of $30 billion by 2012 and
$100 billion per year by 2020 can be agreed to in
Cancún. Secondly, we can solve the vexed issue of an
effective financial transfer mechanism to ensure that
the funds flow both to adaptation and mitigation
actions. Thirdly, we should look at ramping up
meaningful sectoral responses that work in the short
term. Specifically, in Guyana we believe that action on
deforestation and forest degradation is one of the
efforts that can be made quickly and with maximum
impact. I want to emphasize that none of this is about
asking the developed world to provide us with aid.
Instead, it is about ensuring that the capital for
addressing climate change is allocated where it can
have the biggest impact.
 In addressing these matters, I want to raise a
sensitive subject: the Copenhagen Accord, which was
the only tangible outcome of last year’s climate
Summit. I know that many countries here today
associated themselves with the Accord reluctantly, and
that some did not associate themselves with it at all.
But I believe that reluctant or no association with the
Copenhagen Accord, and strong support for some of its
provisions, are not mutually exclusive. Even countries
that did not associate themselves with the Accord
should hold the developed world accountable for its
commitments.
 We have long said in Guyana that if the
international community is prepared to be held
accountable, we will not be found lacking. Three years
ago, we said that notwithstanding the immense climate
challenges in our country — in 2005 floods caused
damage equivalent to 60 per cent of our gross domestic
product — we were prepared to do our bit. We have
determined that, as a country more than 80 per cent of
whose territory is rainforest, we can make a
disproportionate contribution to solving climate
change. So we have looked at the contribution we can
make in two ways: first, by creating a financial
mechanism whereby we can put our entire rainforest
under protection; and secondly, by using the resources
we receive for the climate services we provide from
our protected forest to reorient our economy on a low-
carbon trajectory.
 As a consequence, after one of the most
comprehensive national consultations on climate
change anywhere in the world, we have started to
implement our low-carbon development strategy. We
have identified how we can cumulatively save forest-
based emissions of 1.5 gigatons by 2020. We have a
deal in place with Norway on reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation, and because of
this we are in the process of creating a climate finance
fund that will amount to between $300 million and
$500 million between this year and 2015. We have also
identified how we can use this climate financing to

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invest in education and health care; to catalyse private
finance to move virtually our entire economy to clean
energy; to open up non-forested land for new economic
activities; to invest in climate adaptation needs and to
support our indigenous people in the economic and
social transformation of their communities. We
therefore hope that we are demonstrating the value of
action on the three interlinked financing commitments
I spoke of, and I hope that we are starting to show how
interconnected global responses can deliver globally
valuable results.
 The United Nations is, despite its many
limitations, our best hope for the advancement of
humanity. Its universality allows the Organization to
play a central and catalytic role in balancing the
differing interests of Member States and in generating
consensus on the issues that divide us. We must
therefore commit fully to the principles and purposes
of its Charter and to the improvement of its structure.
On behalf of my country and people, I wish to assure
the Assembly of our full support for the Organization
and for strengthening its capacity to better fulfil the
many mandates entrusted to it.


At this sixty-fifth session of
the General Assembly, it is right that we re-examine
the role of the United Nations in global governance, as
we strive to help it adapt as fast as our times are
changing, so that it serves all its Members equally.
 In my understanding, global governance
recognizes the inevitable and welcome
interconnectedness of nations, the unique
circumstances and contributions of each and the
principle of mutual respect. I say “welcome” because,
as we have seen, major threats of a global scale — like
the financial crisis, climate change, terrorism, poverty
and other challenges to world peace — need the
concerted efforts of all nations if they are to be
addressed effectively.
 The just-concluded High-level Plenary Meeting
on the Millennium Development Goals has provided us
another opportunity to assess the role of the United
Nations, measure the progress we have made and
consider the hurdles that remain in meeting the various
Goals we set for ourselves. It is evident that the United
Nations is uniquely placed to play a crucial role in
mobilizing and galvanizing all nations for the common
good, driving forward our collective initiatives and
coordinating actions that foster the social and
economic development of all.
 Still, the United Nations is the sum total of
Member States, and it can only be as good as the
constituent Members want it to be. If there were a
common understanding and shared values among all
Member States, the Organization would deliver more
efficiently on its mandate. But it has become clear that
the United Nations has evolved into a two-tier
organization, reflecting a world that seems to be
divided into two major categories: one considered to
have inherent, laudable values, rights and liberties, and
another that needs to be taught and coached on those
values.
 My country and many in the developing world
seem to fall into that second category. Not only
marginalized and disenfranchised, we are also
considered chronic violators of our own human rights.
The implication is that the United Nations holds a
certain standard for some countries, and another for
others, especially on international issues concerning
which every single Member should be treated equally
under the law.
 In my view, a debate between those two
categories is urgently needed within the United Nations
membership so as to regain the noble founding ideals
of the Organization. No entity is better placed than our
common United Nations to bring equality and respect,
despite disparities in economic status.
 The same situation pertains in the realm of
international justice and the rule of law. Rwanda
subscribes to the principle that everyone and every
State is accountable to laws and that the rule of law
should govern us all. But these laws must truly be
equally enforced and independently adjudicated.
 Reaffirming the role of the United Nations in
global governance presupposes strengthening and
reforming it to make it more effective and efficient in
its response to global challenges. The impetus to
reform our global governance structures, however, is
the desire to ensure that they are equipped to deal with
those challenges and secure a brighter future for all the
citizens of the world.
 When there are no avenues for appealing
international rulings, when there is an accountability
deficit in key global institutions and when ordinary
citizens feel that the United Nations cannot deal
adequately with the issues affecting their daily lives,
the United Nations cannot be seen as credible, relevant
and democratic. We should make sure the Organization
does not become a tool for the powerful to protect their
interests and enhance their influence or use it in
subjugating others.

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 Rwanda believes in multilateralism and
understands that global challenges can be effectively
resolved only through international cooperation. The
United Nations must continue to be at the centre of that
agenda and play its role without bias or prejudice.
 As we in Rwanda continue to rebuild our country,
we have become acutely aware of the need for lasting
peace and security in our region and have worked hard
to achieve it. We know that stability is the key
prerequisite for our development and the improved
lives of our citizens and our neighbours, and we have
unreservedly committed ourselves to attaining it. We
will continue to work in partnership with our
neighbours, international and regional organizations
and the African Union to ensure that peace and security
prevail and that Africa fully realizes its potential.
 Lastly, let me say that each of our countries,
separately and collectively, has a duty to the people of
the entire world, especially the most vulnerable.