Mr. President,
allow me, on behalf of the Government and people of
Papua New Guinea, to offer our warmest
congratulations on your assumption of the presidency
of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. We
pledge support for your statement highlighting the
success of global endeavours that are founded on the
principles of partnership, justice and responsibility. I
also thank your predecessor, Mr. Joseph Diess, for his
invaluable contributions to the United Nations, and I
wish him well.
 I also wish to congratulate the Secretary-General,
His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his
reappointment for a second term, and to thank him for
attending our recent annual Pacific Islands Leaders
Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand. His attendance at
our regional meeting was the first by a United Nations
Secretary-General and is testament to the strengthening
ties between the United Nations and the Pacific region.
We particularly note his heartfelt comments when
describing his experiences on witnessing the adverse
effects of climate change on low-lying atolls in the
Republic of Kiribati and the various other development
challenges faced by many small island States in our
region.
 Allow me, like other speakers, to take this
opportunity to welcome our newest member of the
United Nations family — the Republic of South Sudan.
 Papua New Guinea continues to benefit from a
strong United Nations presence through its delivery of
various development programmes. Papua New Guinea
welcomed and formalized the “One United Nations
Initiative: delivering as one” concept in 2006. That has

11-51372 4

unified all the efforts of the various United Nations
agencies under one budgetary framework, monitoring
and evaluation process.
 The concept will enable a more effective and
efficient way for the United Nations to deliver on its
mandate, particularly the new country programme for
Papua New Guinea, to be rolled out at the beginning of
January 2012. It will target the areas of governance,
social justice, health, education, gender, the
environment, climate change and disaster management.
 That new country programme is part of our
overall efforts to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). Since the inaugural MDG report was
published in 2004, Papua New Guinea has produced
two MDG progress reports. The first, in 2009, was a
summary report and the second, in 2010, a
comprehensive report. They showed that we have been
able to achieve some of the national MDG targets,
especially on poverty reduction and child mortality.
 In terms of universal primary education, Papua
New Guinea is progressing well, with the enrolment of
children in grades one to six increasing significantly —
by 53 per cent. That is a marked improvement and will
increase the literacy rate in the long term. Our
Government recently announced a policy of free
education from the elementary level to year 10 and
subsidized education from grade 11 to university,
commencing 2012.
 We are also revamping our national health system
to improve immunization programmes, to provide a
clean and safer water supply, to centralize the purchase
and supply of medical drugs, and to reduce maternal
and child mortality and the incidence of malaria,
HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. The
recent important summit on non-communicable
diseases, attended by our Minister for Health,
reiterated our equal responsibility for our own, our
families’ and our communities’ health and well-being.
 Our Government remains committed to achieving
the MDGs, and we are now scaling up progress in all
relevant sectors. Our new Development Strategic Plan
2010-2030 and Medium Term Development Plan aim
to develop and foster key enabling environments,
which will raise Papua New Guinea to a middle-
income country and improve its Human Development
Index ranking.
 We call on all our development partners to
complement our efforts to achieve the MDG targets in
line with our national development plans and policies. I
believe other developing countries will support our
call.
 We are also investing heavily in the rehabilitation
of our major transport infrastructure, including roads,
airports and seaports. Aside from that, we are also
rolling out rural communication systems and rural
electrification. As we are all aware, improved
infrastructure will enable effective service delivery.
 Women play critical roles in all facets of our
development. Our Government is conscious of the need
to have more women participate actively in the affairs
of state and in the economic life of our country. I am
pleased to report that we have recently passed the first
vote on a parliamentary bill that will provide for
22 seats reserved for women to contest in the coming
elections in 2012. That provision does not stop them
from contesting any of the existing seats.
 We also appreciate the push by multilateral
partners like the Asian Development Bank and the
World Bank for gender equality. In the same breath,
however, we urge them to support our financial
institutions by specifically allocating funds without
risk to be lent to women entrepreneurs to develop
business opportunities.
 We note the recently adopted San Francisco
Declaration by the countries member of the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) last week,
under the leadership of the United States of America.
That is a major step forward in supporting women in
business and is a powerful tool for women of the APEC
member countries. We will encourage our women in
Papua New Guinea to take advantage of the
opportunities created by that Declaration.
 There remain many other global challenges that
continue to affect the development aspirations of many
of our countries. One is nuclear non-proliferation. The
Pacific remains a nuclear-weapons-free zone. We call
upon other Member States who are not yet signatories
to sign and ratify the Rarotonga Treaty.
 The illegal use, abuse and the dangerous
proliferation of small arms and light weapons continue
to hamper the development aspirations of many
developing countries. We therefore call upon the
international community to deal seriously with

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outstanding issues such as the illegal supply of and
trade in small arms. Our Government will do all it can
to accelerate the implementation of the
recommendations in our own Gun Summit Report.
 On transnational crime, Papua New Guinea
remains committed to working closely with other
Governments and relevant international law
enforcement agencies to curb drug trafficking, human
trafficking and money-laundering.
 As one of the top five remaining rainforest
nations, we are committed to addressing the many
challenges of climate change, biodiversity and
sustainable development of our forests. We continue to
maintain dialogue with all stakeholders, being mindful
that issues confronting many nations on climate change
are very complex.
 In the matter of United Nations reform, we
support and encourage the reform of the United
Nations, its agencies and its Secretariat, to make them
more responsive to and active in responding to global,
regional and national challenges. We reiterate our call
for an expansion of membership in the permanent and
non-permanent categories of the Security Council,
which must take into account the geopolitical realities
of today’s world.
 In terms of our contribution to the maintenance of
international peace and security, I am pleased to
announce the deployment of our uniformed personnel
as military observers. That is history in the making for
our country, and we thank the United Nations for
giving us the opportunity for our security personnel to
participate in international peacekeeping duties.
 On regional issues, tuna is an important source of
food and is, along with tourism, an economic resource
for the Pacific island States. Papua New Guinea and
countries that are parties to the Nauru Agreement are
determined to process tuna onshore to add value and
create employment for our people. We encourage
investors to invest in onshore activities.
 At the Pacific regional level, we are conscious of
our obligation to conserve fisheries through sustainable
fishing. The parties to the Nauru Agreement have
introduced the Vessel Day Scheme to limit the total
catch for conservation purposes. In addition, Papua
New Guinea continues to make funds available to the
South Pacific community to tag tuna species so that we
are can quantify and assess the tuna stocks for the
future.
 Over the past nine years, Papua New Guinea has
continued to experience unprecedented economic
growth levels of 6 to 8 per cent per annum. That has
been largely attributable to significant increases in
foreign investments in our mineral and hydrocarbon
sectors and to the high prices of our agricultural
commodities. Those economic growth levels have
positioned Papua New Guinea to become a significant
development partner within our region.
 Papua New Guinea greatly values the objectives
and principles of the United Nations Charter. We
reaffirm our support for the maintenance of
international peace and security, the development of
friendly relations among nations and working together
towards the achievement of the aspirations of all of our
peoples.


I congratulate you, Sir, on
your well-deserved election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. My delegation has
full confidence in you, and we assure you of our full
support and cooperation. I also thank and congratulate
your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss, for
very ably steering the affairs of the sixty-fifth session.
A lot has been achieved, which, I have no doubt, you
will consolidate and advance.
 Allow me also to take this opportunity to extend
my heartfelt congratulations to our illustrious Secretary-
General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, on his well-
deserved second mandate. His reappointment reaffirms
the trust that we have in him and in his leadership skills.
It is also recognition of his dedicated service to the
United Nations and humankind as a whole.
 Once again, I congratulate and welcome the
newest member of the United Nations family, the
Republic of South Sudan, and assure them of
Tanzania’s continued friendship and cooperation.
 This year the United Republic of Tanzania, which
is a union between two sovereign States — the
People’s Republic of Zanzibar and the Republic of
Tanganyika — will celebrate 50 years of the
independence of Tanganyika. We will also celebrate 50
years of our membership in the United Nations. I stand
before the Assembly today, 50 years later, to reiterate
that same faith in, and that same commitment to, the
United Nations as expressed by the founders of our
dear nation. I am proud that Tanzania has remained
faithful to the ideals of the United Nations, and is a
proactive Member of this body. We promise to stay the
course for the next 50 years and beyond.
 The people of Tanzania are happy to have had the
opportunity to contribute to maintaining peace and
security in Africa and other parts of the world. We have
always believed that mediation, conflict prevention and
pacific settlement of disputes are the best means of
resolving conflicts. As a result, Tanzania has been in
the forefront of mediation efforts to resolve conflicts in
the countries around us, in our region and elsewhere on
the continent.
 Our country also has been contributing troops,
police, corrections officers and civilian personnel to
United Nations peacekeeping missions and through
regional and sub-regional arrangements. We promise to
continue to do so wherever and whenever asked. More
important, we are humbled to have had the rare
opportunity to pioneer the efforts, together with
Denmark, that lead to the creation of the Peacebuilding
Commission in 2006.
 We are also proud to have had, in the 50 years of
our membership in the United Nations, the opportunity
to contribute to the decolonization of Africa and other
parts of the world. At independence, the founding
father of our nation, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere,
said that the independence of our country was
incomplete until all countries of Africa were free.
 That guided Tanzania to strongly oppose all
forms of colonialism, apartheid and racial
discrimination on the African continent and elsewhere.
It also informed our resolve to help our brothers and
sisters who were fighting for their independence and
freedom in Africa. We had the honour of hosting the
headquarters of the African Liberation Committee in
Dar-es-Salaam until colonialism, apartheid and
minority rule had been dismantled.

5 11-50865

 We gave sanctuary as well as moral and material
support to almost all the liberation movements of
Southern Africa. Here at the United Nations, Tanzania
was afforded the rare honour of chairing the United
Nations Special Committee on Decolonization from
1972 to 1980. That was the critical phase in the
decolonization of Africa and in the struggle against
apartheid and minority rule. It is heart-warming indeed
to see our efforts, sacrifices and contributions being
rewarded so handsomely with the independence of all
African countries and with apartheid having been
dismantled in South Africa.
 Only Western Sahara remains outstanding. I hope
the United Nations will expedite the process so that the
Saharawi people can determine their future peacefully.
 We believed at independence, as we believe now
and always will believe, that all human beings are born
equal and deserve equal protection of their civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights, as
outlined in what has come to be known as the
International Bill of Rights. This guides what we are
doing at home, with regard to promoting democracy,
the rule of law, human rights, including personal
freedoms, among them the freedom of expression.
 It is in this spirit also that I wish to reaffirm our
solidarity with the Palestinian people in their rightful
quest for an independent homeland. Our plea is for the
fulfilment of the vision of two States: the State of
Israel and a sovereign, independent, democratic and
viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace
and harmony. That is why we also remain in full
solidarity with the people of Cuba in demanding the
end to the embargo. It is perhaps the longest-lasting
embargo in history. The people in these three
countries — Israel, Palestine and Cuba — have
suffered for far too long. It is time their burdens are
eased.
 Our other goal was and still is the attainment of
African unity. We believe in the strength of unity for us
to be able to effectively face up to and overcome the
daunting political, security and development
challenges facing our continent. It was in pursuit of
this ideal that on 26 April 1964, Zanzibar and
Tanganyika merged to form the United Republic of
Tanzania. We will never tire in our efforts towards the
realization of the dream of the founding fathers of a
United States of Africa. However, we are mindful of
the fact that this will be a gradual process and regional
economic integration and regional groupings will be its
foundation and the building blocks.
 After 50 years of independence and 50 years of
our membership of the United Nations, Tanzania
remains a firm believer in the indispensability of
multilateralism. It is through multilateralism that we
can bring all nations and therefore all peoples together
to shape their common present and future and that of
the world they live in. It is through multilateralism that
peace and development will be guaranteed for all
nations, through the pursuit of common values. It is for
these reasons that I believe the United Nations is
relevant today, as it was 66 years ago. It is for the same
reasons that the world needs the other multilateral
institutions for global economic, social and political
governance.
 Despite acknowledging the importance of various
multilateral institutions, Tanzania is of the view that
they need to undergo serious reforms to overcome the
serious governance deficits within them. We need
reforms that will make them more representative — in
particular, reforms that will increase the voices of the
developing countries. The original structures have
ignored us. We should not allow this to continue. It is
for this reason that Tanzania supported the calls for
reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions, the United
Nations, the World Trade Organization and the other
multilateral institutions.
 With regard to the United Nations, we should
expedite the process of reforming the Security Council,
in both categories, and in doing so include developing
countries, particularly those from Africa, Asia and
Latin America. It is sad to see that no serious progress
has been made for close to two decades. Now is the
time for us to start serious negotiations, negotiate in
earnest and conclude at the earliest possible time.
 Promoting development, particularly shared
growth, has been one of the core functions of the
United Nations. It is pleasing to note that the United
Nations has remained steadfast in its discharge of this
function through its agencies and through a number of
initiatives undertaken by the United Nations
Headquarters itself. United Nations leadership has
always been noticeable in all the major socio-economic
challenges facing the world: sustainable development,
health care, maternal and child health, poverty, food
security, education, and so on. This involvement and
leadership underscores the relevance of the United

11-50865 6

Nations today and the United Nations tomorrow and
the day after tomorrow.
 However, the good intentions of the United
Nations have not been fully realized. Some of the
developed countries have not met their commitments of
allocating 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product
to official development assistance. Let me use this
opportunity to join all those who have spoken before
me in repeating our appeal to developed countries to
honour their commitments.
 I believe that if this had been done, we would
have been on target with the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals and many other
important global matters. I would also like to use this
opportunity to thank and commend those few
developed countries that have kept their promise. May
the examples of these countries inform and encourage
the others to do the same.
 We meet at a time of great uncertainties over the
global economy. Economies are still weak,
characterized by low growth in many major economies,
high levels of inflation, unemployment, increasing
food and fuel prices and nervous financial markets. In
a globalized world, ripples of economic and financial
crises in the developed economies affect all of us in the
world. And for us from poor developing countries,
matter get even more complicated.
 As we all call for concerted global action to
maintain economic stability and ensure that we do not
head into another global recession, I appeal to the
United Nations to remain seized of the situation and
exercise its traditional leadership over global issues.
 This is a matter of great concern to us in Africa, a
continent that has experienced extremely challenging
economic, social and political situations, but a
continent that is now poised to go to the next level:
from despair to hope and from lost decades to decades
full of opportunities.
 Democracy is steadily on the march in Africa and
the Arab Spring has capped it all. Peace is reigning
almost all over the continent. There are no serious
conflict situations except for Somalia, where the
serious involvement of the United Nations, the African
Union and the world community is still needed. All
that Africa needs now is continued support to build the
institutions of democracy and governance, to build our
economies and to overcome social challenges.
 Among the challenges demanding the serious
attention of this body and the international community
at large is the continued drought in the Horn of Africa
and some countries of East Africa. The problem has not
abated and its consequences are momentous, as
exemplified by the ongoing famine in Somalia. It is
high time for more attention to be given to the situation
in this part of Africa, for there is every indication and
every reason to believe that the problem is escalating
and involving more countries. Tanzania is already
feeling the pressure of the crisis.
 Piracy is the second problem in our part of the
continent that I would like to mention here today. The
problem of piracy still lingers on and it is, in fact,
expanding. We are now witnessing more and more
attacks taking place further to the south of Somalia.
They used to take place in the Gulf of Aden, but now
the attacks are moving southward, as far as Tanzania,
Mozambique, the Comoros and Madagascar. Since last
year, when piracy activity moved to our territorial
waters, 13 ships have been attacked and five of them
were successfully hijacked. These attacks have caused
an increase in the cost of shipping to our ports. If we
do not succeed in stopping them, they may disrupt
shipping services and impact negatively on our
economy. We need the support of the international
community to help us build capacity to fight piracy. We
welcome the Assembly’s readiness to assist us to
improve our courts and prisons to try and punish the
pirates. But if a similar gesture were extended to us to
build capacity to prevent attacks, there would be fewer
pirates to bother us.
 Controversies continue to prevent progress on the
draft comprehensive convention on international
terrorism. The more we delay, the more sophisticated
international terrorism becomes in its strategies and
tactics. We recently witnessed events in Abuja in which
the United Nations was attacked. Tanzania condemns
these cruel acts in the strongest terms possible and
expresses solidarity with the people of Nigeria and the
United Nations. It is clear that the struggle against
terrorism must remain a high priority for the United
Nations.
 I would be remiss if I concluded my statement
without acknowledging and thanking the Secretary-
General for the honour he accorded me and my
country, Tanzania, last year when he formed a
Commission on Information and Accountability for
Women’s and Children’s Health. He appointed me and

7 11-50865

Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada to co-chair
the Commission. It was an honour to serve on the
Commission, and I hope that the recommendations we
made will help to advance the cause of the noble work
that we are all doing to save the lives of millions of
innocent women and children who are dying from
causes that can be prevented.
 I end as I began, by reaffirming our faith in the
United Nations, a true embodiment of humanity. We
dedicate ourselves to respect the values and principles
enshrined in our Charter and we shall continue to
play — as we have always have done during our first
50 years as an independent State — a full, honest and
constructive part in the work of the United Nations.


As this is the first time I
have stood at this rostrum as Prime Minister of Tuvalu
and participated in the general debate of the General
Assembly, I am delighted to convey the warmest
greetings and best wishes of my people and my
Government, and I am honoured to speak today on
their behalf. Let me first extend my special thanks and
sincere appreciation to the Government of the United
States of America, as the host country, for the warm
hospitality and special protocols accorded to my
delegation since our arrival.
 Ten years ago, Tuvalu established and opened its
Permanent Mission to the United Nations here in New
York, with a mandate to engage more closely with
nations of the global family. Despite our limited
resources as one of the smallest Member States, our
presence is a simple testimony of our hope and trust in
collaboration with Member States in the pursuit of our
destiny. This further reflects our continued
commitment to uphold the maintenance of international
peace and security, development and human rights as
fundamental pillars of the United Nations, as enshrined
in its Charter.
 Tuvalu warmly welcomes and fully supports the
four main areas of focus of Mr. Al-Nasser’s presidency,
including the peaceful settlement of disputes, United
Nations reform and revitalization, improving disaster
prevention and response, and sustainable development
and global prosperity, which he clearly identified
during the opening of the session. In particular, the
theme that he proposed for the general debate — “The
role of mediation in the settlement of disputes by
peaceful means” — is timely, considering what is
happening around the world today.
 In this context, I wish to express our belated
tribute and respect to the people and the Government
of the United States in commemoration of the recent
tenth anniversary of the events of 11 September 2001.
Tuvalu strongly condemns such terrorist acts and all
similar incidents worldwide, and our prayers are with
those who have lost their loved ones. Tuvalu further
salutes those who have lost their lives for the cause of
justice and peace.
 As a peace-loving nation, Tuvalu fully supports
the role of the United Nations in the maintenance of
peace and security across the globe. However, at the
same time, the integrity and sovereignty of countries
should be respected at all costs. Tuvalu firmly believes
that military and violent action should not be used as a
means for the settlement of disputes. Instead, the
parties concerned should be encouraged to discuss and
understand the root causes of their differences and try
to listen to each other in a more peaceful manner.
 Today the world is undergoing profound changes
without any boundaries through the unprecedented
impacts of globalization and other related global
events, which have critical implications for Tuvalu.
This has been further exacerbated by the continued
severe impact of the global financial and economic
crisis, which has had an enormous and critical negative
effect on Tuvalu’s economy. In particular, the Tuvalu
Trust Fund, which is the main source of revenue to
stabilize our recurrent budget, has been severely
affected. As a consequence, my Government has no
other option apart from streamlining and containing its
national recurrent budget to a sustainable level so as to

15 11-51360

enable the provision of basic services to its people
during these difficult times.
 In this regard, I humbly call upon the
international community and development partners to
urgently fulfil their commitments to assist the least
developed countries (LDCs), including Tuvalu, through
the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of
Action, adopted at the fourth United Nations
Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in
Turkey earlier this year. The Istanbul Programme of
Action is a living document that needs to be
implemented vigorously and collectively by LDCs and
the international community during the next 10 years.
In that regard, I am pleased to confirm that the main
thrusts of that Programme of Action will be integrated
and mainstreamed in the Tuvalu National Sustainable
Development Strategy, during the Fourth United
Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries
scheduled for next month.
 Furthermore, as a least developed country, Tuvalu
is most vulnerable to global economic shocks, the
impacts of climate change and outbreaks of disease,
including non-communicable diseases. Tuvalu
continues to call on and appeal to the United Nations to
take those vulnerabilities seriously into consideration
when addressing the question of the graduation of
LDCs. Despite the ambitious target of the Istanbul
Programme of Action for 50 per cent of LDCs to be
graduated within the next decade, Tuvalu firmly
believes that its economic and environmental
vulnerability, coupled with its continuous dependence
on official development assistance, cannot be totally
ignored. In that context, the graduation criteria need to
be reviewed to reflect and recognize our vulnerability.
 Last month, Tuvalu published its second
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Progress
Report covering the period from 2010 to 2011, which
highlights the progress we have made to date towards
achieving those goals. Despite the ongoing impact of
recent global crises, which Tuvalu continues to face, it
is encouraging to note that five of the MDGs are likely
to be achieved and three will have mixed results by
2015. As alluded to earlier, while we have made
progress in achieving the MDGs, such progress can be
reversed overnight because of our particular economic
and environmental vulnerability.
 The ongoing process and inter-governmental
negotiations at the United Nations to revitalize and
reform the General Assembly and the Security Council
respectively are fully supported. However, while we
recognize the importance of the reforms being
undertaken by those United Nations bodies in order to
update their mandates, we are concerned that the time
taken to conclude such undertakings is far too long. In
that regard, we look forward to a more realistic
timetable to complete those negotiations in the near
future, once and for all.
 Our collective efforts to strengthen and maintain
peace across the globe will be meaningless, if the
United Nations continues to turn blind eyes and deaf
ears to Taiwan’s contribution and efforts toward those
common goals. Furthermore, Taiwan’s continued
contribution to the international community as one of
the committed development partners cannot be
overemphasized. In that regard, Tuvalu strongly urges
the United Nations to recognize those contributions
without any reservations. In particular, Tuvalu calls
upon the United Nations subsidiary bodies, especially
the World Health Organization and the International
Civil Aviation Organization, to allow Taiwan to
participate fully and meaningfully in their meetings
and activities, including in United Nations meetings on
climate change.
 Climate change is a priority global issue of the
twenty-first century and beyond and therefore requires
a global solution. Climate change impacts countries
unequally and not all countries possess the same
capacity and resilience to adapt and respond to such
impacts. For a small island developing State like
Tuvalu, climate change is without a doubt a security
issue that threatens our survival. At the end of this year
parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change will be meeting in Durban to
advance our work on climate change. It will be a
critical meeting, as time is fast running out for highly
vulnerable countries like Tuvalu. My country believes
the meeting in Durban must deliver key outcomes.
 First, we must adopt amendments to the Kyoto
Protocol, so as to allow for a second commitment
period. It will be necessary to adopt a decision that
includes provisional entry into force of those
amendments to avoid any gap between the first and
second commitment periods. That is necessary in order
to ensure that the clean development mechanism
continues without any complications and that the
mechanism continues to provide financing for the
Adaptation Fund.

11-51360 16

 Secondly, we must make rapid progress in
developing an international mechanism to address loss
and damage. For highly vulnerable countries like
Tuvalu, that is vitally important. We need an
international mechanism to spread the burden of
rebuilding after major weather catastrophes. Thirdly,
we must re-focus our work on reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation. To properly
reduce global deforestation we must put in place
appropriate measures that effectively address its
causes. We must look at this from the demand side and
explore all means of regulating the trade in products
that is driving deforestation.
 Finally, we believe that all major emitting
countries must take more decisive action to reduce
their emissions. The current pledging system found in
the Cancún Agreements is inadequate. We will be
seeking a mandate in Durban to commence
negotiations on a new, legally binding agreement for
those major emitting countries that have not taken
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. That
agreement should complement the Kyoto Protocol, but
not replace it.
 As we make progress towards the Rio+20
Conference next year, we must ensure that there is a
focused section dealing with the needs of small island
developing States. In considering the theme of the
green economy, we must explore carefully how we can
redirect the current international trading system to
properly reflect the needs of small island economies.
We need accessible and affordable technologies that
take advantage of renewable energy and energy
efficiency, we need help to protect our blue economies
and our oceans, and we need to explore new
preferential trade arrangements to overcome our size
disadvantage.
 In conclusion, let me reiterate the severe impact
of the recent financial and economic crisis and other
ongoing global crises, which continue to affect my
country’s economy and its overall social and economic
development. As a small island developing State and a
least developed country, vulnerable to such crises and
dependent on overseas development assistance, Tuvalu
appeals to the international community to urgently
honour and fulfil their commitments and obligations
outlined in the Istanbul Programme of Action and other
international platforms. We firmly believe that with our
continued cooperation and strong partnerships at all
levels, we can successfully overcome those problems
for the sake of our people and humankind.


We praise Almighty
God for making another gathering of world leaders
possible. Allow me to warmly congratulate
Mr. Al-Nasser on his election as President of the
General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. His proven
leadership and competence will certainly be in great
demand as we collectively confront some of the
daunting challenges of our time. My delegation also
views his election as a demonstration of the strong
commitment of the brotherly State of Qatar to the
fashioning of a stable and just world order. He will
have our full support in the discharge of his mandate.
 His predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss of Switzerland,
also deserves our praise for the sterling work he did as
President of the General Assembly. We wish him well
in his future pursuits. We also congratulate Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon on his reappointment and wish
him a fruitful second term. My delegation will render
him all the support he will need as he helps to tackle
the issues that are dear to us, especially the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and the resolution of conflicts in Africa,
among others.
 The United Nations was founded as a world body
primarily to maintain international peace and security.
For this reason, the theme chosen for this General
Assembly — “The role of mediation in the settlement
of disputes by peaceful means” — is particularly apt.
My delegation is a strong believer in the role of
mediation as a conflict resolution mechanism at both
the national and international levels. We can all agree
that mediation produces results. That is what our
experience in West Africa, my own part of the world,
tells us. At the national level, for example, in the
Gambia we have instituted the alternative dispute
resolution mechanism, among other mechanisms we
have in place, with a view to settling disputes between
and among our peoples and institutions.
 For us in Africa, the mediation of conflicts,
particularly with a view to amicably resolving them,
has always been part and parcel of our rich cultural
heritage and customary law. We must revive those
time-honoured dispute-resolution traditions of our
forebears. Experience has also shown that with strong
regional and subregional leadership many of the
intractable civil, political and electoral conflicts that
beset and plague Africa could certainly be resolved
through mediation.
 Regional ownership of mediation processes is
also essential. For example, recent conflicts in Guinea
and Guinea-Bissau were all resolved through a
combination of interventions by the Economic
Community of West African States, the African Union
(AU) and the United Nations. We must therefore
always give mediation a chance before resorting to the
use or threat of the use of force. The international
community must give priority to mediation in any
conflict before it threatens military invasion or outright
military intervention without giving mediation a
chance. It costs less to mediate — we all agree — than
to launch a full-scale military intervention, only to
have to come back again and rebuild and reconstruct.
 Over the past decade, the leadership of West
Africa, in close collaboration with the international
community, has invested great material and human
resources to bring the conflicts that affected that region
to peaceful ends. Today, the region enjoys relative
peace, but that does not mean that spoilers have given
up attempts to derail the peace. We must be vigilant at
all times. For example, the evils of drug trafficking,
piracy, and the trafficking of illicit goods and arms
have reared their ugly heads across our subregion of
West Africa. The nature and extent of those crimes call
for swift international action to nip them in the bud
before it is too late.
 All these crimes feed on each other and sow the
seeds of terror, economic sabotage and indeed the
collapse of social order. We must therefore pool our
resources in the areas of detection, surveillance, law
enforcement and prosecution in order to deny the
culprits safe havens. In order to do that, we must come
together and agree on a framework for cooperation, of

15 11-51384

course with the support of the international community.
We look forward to greater United Nations engagement
with regional and subregional leaders and
organizations in stamping out those menaces.
 The Gambia will always be an agent of peace
through mediation and shuttle diplomacy in West
Africa and beyond. As we have done in the past, we
will support all efforts aimed at the peaceful resolution
of conflicts and disputes within our subregion. We will
also continue to contribute to United Nations
peacekeeping missions around the world, as we have
already done.
 With strong African leadership, we continue to
witness the amicable resolution of many civil conflicts
that plague the continent. The key lesson in most of
those situations is early intervention by leaders who
mediate between stakeholders. Regional leaders should
always be put at the forefront of mediation efforts.
 For that reason, we salute the untiring leadership
of the African Union in bringing about peace in the
Sudan. We equally salute the leadership of the Sudan
for its magnanimity in implementing the
Comprehensive Peace Accord, which led to the
independence of South Sudan. My delegation
encourages both sides to invest in their shared future
through a negotiated settlement of the pending issues.
 Let me also take this opportunity to encourage
our brothers in Guinea and Niger, after successful
democratic transitions, to bury the hatchet and move
forward as united peoples. National reconciliation
efforts should be diligently pursued by all stakeholders.
We therefore call on the international community to
render them all the support they need as they try to
bring peace and development to their countries.
 As a developing country, like all others we have
our eyes set on the countdown to 2015, a landmark
year for all of us. The Gambia and the entire
international community have only a few more years
before we can tell how many of the MDGs we have
met. What is evident from all the reviews, however, is
that we are surely on track to meet some of the MDGs
but still struggling to meet others. We know for certain,
for example, that the critical element for achieving all
MDGs on the target date will remain international
donor support and collaboration. We have just
embarked upon our new programme for accelerated
growth and employment, which is our blueprint for
development in the Gambia for 2012-2015, which we
earnestly believe will be generously supported by all
our development partners and friends.
 It is no secret that the ongoing financial and
economic crisis, worsened by market volatility, is
taking a huge toll on the meagre economic gains of our
fragile economies. In view of our situation as least
developed countries and of the vulnerabilities that we
continue to encounter, it is urgent that we all support
the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of
Action. We must not allow it to suffer the fate of its
predecessor, which suffered from weak
implementation.
 It is our hope that our partners from the North
will do all in their power to support the enhancement
of our productive capacities. We also call on the
emerging economies of the South to enhance their
cooperation with us in ways that will render true
meaning to South-South cooperation. My delegation is
ready at all times to forge meaningful partnerships
across the North and South in order to bring food
security to our people, tackle youth unemployment
through education and skill development, and enhance
the quality and coverage of our health-care delivery
systems.
 In addition, we have to revisit the various
programmes and strategies adopted by the Food and
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and
other global forums in order to comprehensively
address the food security needs of developing
countries. The small-scale farmer — including the
female farmer — must be placed at the centre of the
new Green Revolution.
 The impact of climate change continues to pose a
formidable challenge to all of us. The solutions to
reversing the negative impacts of climate change
through adaptation and mitigation initiatives are well
known. Our problem today is the refusal of the biggest
polluters to assume their responsibilities in reversing
the negative trends of climate change occasioned by
human activity. We cannot afford to be in denial for
long. The science is solid and there for all to see, and
the solutions are very clear, so let us embrace them by
fulfilling our international obligations.
 The 2012 United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (Rio+20) should be about the
implementation of commitments and not about
reneging on them. It should also be about the
announcement of workable initiatives and not about the

11-51384 16

repackaging of previous unfulfilled commitments.
Rio+20 should ultimately be about binding
commitments. Let us bequeath to our children, and
their children an Earth that is resilient and a better
world for them.
 My delegation would like to congratulate the
delegation of Libya, especially the leadership of the
National Transitional Council, on being steadfast in
their drive to rescue Libya from the brink of the abyss.
We have faith in that leadership and are convinced that
it will institute the necessary reforms that the Libyan
people have so valiantly fought for. As Libya embarks
on the crucial task of reconciliation, reconstruction and
nation building, we — as the first African country to
have officially announced its recognition of and
support for the National Transitional Council — would
like to assure the Libyan leadership of our full
collaboration and solidarity at all times.
 The conflicts in the Middle East, both recent and
long-standing, require fresh and honest mediation
efforts with a view to stabilizing the region once and
for all. The disorderly change that is sweeping across
the region is a cause for concern as livelihoods are
shattered and industries like tourism are destroyed,
thereby creating more unemployment and entrenching
endemic poverty. With regard to the Arab Spring, my
delegation fully supports and hereby salutes the
leadership role of the League of Arab States, the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf
Cooperation Council in finding peaceful resolution to
those conflicts through mediation, diplomacy and
brotherhood.
 In the same vein, we salute the role the AU has
been playing in bringing to an end some of the most
violent conflicts in human history on the African
continent through mediation and in some cases through
military intervention as a last resort. We have used
former Heads of State as mediators in Africa and in
councils of the wise, and some of those efforts have
proven to be very successful.
 One of the most intractable conflicts of our time
is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The sad reality is that
numerous United Nations resolutions continue to be
flouted. The daily killing, collective punishment and
humiliation of Palestinians are going on unabated.
Denial of humanitarian assistance, essential medical
supplies and construction materials to Palestinians has
become the norm. For that reason, my delegation not
only supports but recognizes an independent and
sovereign Palestinian State within the confines of the
1967 borders. An independent Palestinian State with
full rights and privileges like any other is long
overdue. That is the only guarantor of lasting peace in
that region.
 The Islamic religion, which is synonymous with
peace, is misunderstood and misrepresented in some
quarters. We condemn those who turn themselves into
suicide bombers to kill innocent people or conduct
inhuman behaviour in the name of Islam, as such acts
are contrary to Islamic values and teachings. Muslims,
Christians, Jews and peoples of other faiths must all
join hands, for once, in fighting terrorism of all shades.
We must also be tolerant and indeed respectful of each
other, no matter our beliefs, and live side by side in
peace and harmony as one human race and one human
family.
 In the case of Syria, we call on the international
community to encourage and support the Syrian
Government and people to resolve their internal
problems through diplomacy and peaceful means.
Poverty should not be a pretext for violent and
disorderly change of Government in developing
countries.
 The need for constructive dialogue in finding
lasting and timely solutions to transboundary problems,
wherever they exist, is more urgent today than ever
before. Let us avoid postponing the search for a
permanent solution to the decades-old conflict in the
Nagorno Karabakh region. It is the responsibility of the
international community to work with a greater sense
of urgency to address the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
without further delay.
 The developments in Cuba continue to
demonstrate to the world the inhumanity of
maintaining the decades-old embargo imposed on that
friendly country. The embargo is a manifestation of
intolerance of other people’s right to a political system
of their choice. There is universal agreement that the
embargo needs to come to an end without precondition
and be replaced with good-neighbourliness, tolerance
and respect for the legitimate right of Cubans to have a
political system of their choice. We therefore once
again call on the United States of America to lift the
sanctions and embargo on Cuba now.
 The case of Taiwan deserves better scrutiny by
the international community. Taiwan, with a population

17 11-51384

of 23 million people, continues to play an active and
positive role on the international stage. In a highly
integrated and interconnected world, almost all issues
demand the full participation of and cooperation
among all nations. Taiwan’s efforts in promoting peace,
particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, deserve
commendation and further encouragement by the
General Assembly.
 For example, over the past three years, Taiwan
has engaged mainland China in dialogue on a wide
range of issues ranging from agriculture and health to
intellectual property rights and economic and
commercial cooperation, among others. Furthermore,
since 2009 Taiwan has been invited by the World
Health Organization to attend the World Health
Assembly (WHA) as an observer. That practice and the
related arrangements have established what has been
termed the WHA model, which sets a useful precedent
for Taiwan’s greater participation in the United Nations
system generally.
 Given that Taiwan is today one of the leading
technological and economic powerhouses of the world,
its participation in global affairs is quite relevant,
bearing in mind the numerous issues that we
collectively confront. We must give it the prominence
that it deserves. Issues such as natural disasters,
terrorism, climate change, epidemics, financial
meltdowns and many others require the engagement of
every member of the international community,
including Taiwan. We therefore urge the United
Nations to find a suitable way to allow for Taiwan’s
meaningful participation in the specialized agencies
and mechanisms of the United Nations system,
including the International Civil Aviation Organization
and the United Nations Climate Change Conferences
immediately.
 Reform should be a permanent feature on the
agenda of all international organizations. Cosmetic
reforms or the deliberate stalling of overdue reforms
seriously undermine the effective responsiveness of
organizations. In 2005, as we all remember, a draft of
reform measures was introduced by the General
Assembly, which led to reforms in management of the
Secretariat, human resources administration, the
creation of the Human Rights Council, the
Peacebuilding Commission and the elaboration of new
norms.
 The then Secretary-General remarked that no
reform of the United Nations is complete without
reform of the Security Council. Let us not delude
ourselves. The Security Council urgently needs
comprehensive reforms. A major element in the reform
of the Council is the glaring underrepresentation of
Africa, for example, in all its categories of
membership. Africa certainly needs to be adequately
and properly represented, and we will not give up on
what is a legitimate demand. What is even more
appalling is that negotiations are progressing at a
snail’s pace. Although we are mindful of other
positions, we are convinced that negotiations must lead
to a just outcome. Security Council reform is long
overdue, and the lack of it is undermining the
credibility of our Organization and the legitimacy of
the Council’s decisions.
 In conclusion, my delegation would like to repeat
what we said before. Reform of the United Nations
must recognize the geopolitical realities of the African
continent and its peoples. Africa is no longer the
colony of any country and must be respected and
treated as such. The system of veto power and flawed
representation in the Security Council is not
acceptable, can no longer be tolerated and in fact runs
counter to the spirit and letter of the basic principles of
equality and fair play as enshrined in the United
Nations Charter.


This new session of the Assembly of the United
Nations brings us together at what is no doubt an
historic time of great importance, as has been said in
one way or another by the various leaders who have
preceded me at this rostrum. These are certainly critical
times that should lead us to adopt an attitude that goes
beyond addressing the specific questions of the
moment, because this is a moment of change in the
history of humankind. On the economic, social and
geopolitical levels there are many signs indeed that
show us that the world is changing and that the
transition towards something new, even if still
undefined, is already under way and will follow its
course, whether we are able to understand it or not.
 That is why our peoples desire political
leadership that is able to respond to this time of
uncertainty. Our societies demand of us that we be
able, first of all, to understand and explain to them
what is really going on. They also demand of us that
we listen to their needs and satisfy those needs and,
above all, that we reach a new international consensus
in order to make that necessary qualitative global leap
in order to achieve a planet of greater justice, stability
and safety.
 This is, therefore, an opportunity to reconsider
our policies, to review and change paradigms that seem
to be frozen, to renew the international debate and to
be ambitious in our aspirations as a global society.
Members know that nothing undermines the morale
and spirit of our peoples more than fear, uncertainty
and distrust. It is those evils that are affecting our
planet currently. We are suffering from fear in its
various guises. Millions of demoralized, unemployed
people live in daily uncertainty, not knowing whether
there is a future for them and their children. Entire
countries have seen their economies stumble because
of that lack of confidence. Hundreds of thousands of
families every day face the fear that takes the form of
political instability, natural disasters, the lack of urban

11-51185 12

safety, and poverty. All those people demand that their
leaders give them the inspiration to overcome that fear,
to regain a sense of collective self-esteem and to
believe in a different and better future. That is the great
historical challenge that we must shoulder with
responsibility and courage.
 We must forge a new international agreement that
will allow us to overcome such fears and lack of
confidence in order once again to stride forward.
Therefore we must not allow that fear to be translated
into timid or cowardly political and economic
decisions that would deprive us of an opportunity to
undertake the changes that our people are calling for.
We must not betray their historic will for
transformation and development. It would be
unpardonable, unforgivable, if we were to allow
ourselves to be lulled by old political and economic
dogma and continue repeating once again the same
mistakes, while overwhelming majorities in every city,
in every State, on every continent, have clearly
expressed their desire for a new, audacious and creative
policy.
 Over the past 30 years, while the economy has
grown exponentially, so has the root cause of many of
our misfortunes, and here I am referring to injustice.
Daily injustice has a most significant effect on our
peoples. It affects their options for health, education
and social development in very tangible ways. That
inequality has disastrous consequences, which has been
tried, tested and understood by some of the wealthiest
entrepreneurs, who are in favour of paying more taxes,
as they are aware that adopting any other position
would sentence us to a harsh future, even for those
living at ease.
 The fight against poverty and inequality, as was
recalled at the inaugural meeting of this session of the
General Assembly by the President of Brazil, Dilma
Rousseff, has proven to be the strongest economic
policy in these difficult times. Therefore, it is time that
we no longer see our future in terms of macroeconomic
data but that we start to focus our political debate on
our peoples’ needs and on social justice, which is what
the debate should always have focused on. Any other
debate would be sterile and would only lead us away
from the common objective that should govern all our
policies, namely, the objective of the common good.
 The unstable reality that we have experienced
also takes the form of conflicts which, increasingly,
call upon the indistinct arbiter, who goes by the name
of the “international community” and which is
represented here in the General Assembly better than
anywhere else. In that regard I welcome the fact that
one of the central themes of this session is the search
for the peaceful settlement of conflicts and prevention
strategies to cope with situations of instability. This
shows us that the arbiter is growing stronger, as are the
possibilities to prevent injustice and human rights
abuses wherever they occur. The United Nations arose
out of the global desire to avoid a new major conflict,
and that spirit of peace and harmony must continue to
guide us in our actions, even when the conflicts that we
face currently are very different from the conflicts of
the twentieth century. Indeed, we are living in a most
diverse and complex world where there are no magical
formulas or quick fixes but common responsibility,
which is committed to finding new avenues for
peacemaking and justice extending beyond our national
borders.
 That resolve must also translate into our quest for
solutions to what is one of the oldest conflicts on this
planet, and I am referring here to the Arab-Israeli
conflict. As members know, my country recently
decided to recognize the Palestinian State. This in no
way seeks to undermine our good diplomatic relations
with Israel. We are of the view that both peoples have
the right and duty to coexist. Recognizing Palestine as
a new State within the United Nations is, in my
opinion, the right way to contribute to resolving the
conflict. With this firm belief we support all diplomatic
efforts that are aimed at achieving a peaceful
settlement of this long-standing conflict. We firmly
believe that dialogue is the only possible solution, and
our actions have always been guided by that principle.
 Now I should like to refer to the main enemy, not
only of my country and Central America but of a large
portion of the American continent. I am referring here,
of course, to organized crime and drugs trafficking. As
was rightly stated by President Calderón of Mexico
following the terrible attack that occurred in a casino in
Monterrey, we are facing a veritable phenomenon of
terrorism that threatens the viability of our countries,
has taken more lives than many wars, and which
endangers the present and future of our peoples. Many
Latin American countries represented here have
become, against their will, true corridors for illegal
trafficking, thus becoming nations increasingly
affected by violence, with institutions that are

13 11-51185

susceptible to corruption. Because of their poor
economies of scale, their lack of development and the
weakness of their productive machinery owing to
widespread poverty and high levels of inequality, poor
States are threatened by this new form of terrorism that
has forged a strong economic network. All of the
cartels that are operating in the Mesoamerican
region — Mexico and Central America — possess
more money and influence than our countries do.
 It is true to say that we are the true victims of
organized crime. It is our territories and peoples that
suffer from this violence and who weep for their dead.
These are not mere empty statements. Studies have
shown that violence and crime are 100 per cent more
likely in regions that facilitate illegal trafficking than
anywhere else on the planet. Our countries are
suffering as a result of this. El Salvador and all of
Central America are undertaking significant efforts to
deal with this fact but the figures are not on our side.
We are speaking of a drug-trafficking route that moves
$100 billion a year and which leads to the largest
market in the world, as well as the largest consumer of
these substances, the United States. Consider this:
$100 billion across our territories along with a
veritable arsenal of weapons to protect this amount.
That means $100 billion dollars that can corrupt public
and private officials, destroy our social fabric and
leave behind them a daily wake of chaos and death.
 How therefore can countries such as El Salvador
with a gross domestic product of about $22 billion, or a
country such as Honduras with roughly $15 billion, or
Guatemala which barely reaches $40 billion, deal with
this enemy? Not even a large country such as Mexico
can successfully wage this battle on its own in dealing
with this terrorist strength. It is not scepticism that
leads me to speak this way but rather a sense of realism
in keeping with the reality experienced by Central
American peoples on a daily basis.
 I wish to draw attention to this. The international
community must understand that it is also affected by
this problem. No nation on this planet is spared this
problem. There are drug users in every nation in the
world, who get their drugs from the criminal drug-
trafficking networks. That means that the fight against
organized crime is a common struggle and, in that
regard, I wish to make a special and hopeful call upon
the people and Government of the United States
resolutely to lead us in this the good fight against drug-
trafficking and organized crime. I believe that the
Government of the United States must lead us in the
struggle with great resolve. It must make the
commitment and apply all its economic, human,
technological and political resources in waging the
struggle, which is indeed the harshest war to affect our
continent.
 The violence that is fuelled by drugs trafficking
and by its machinery of death has taken more lives in
Mesoamerica than conflicts that occur elsewhere on
this planet. That is why I wish to draw attention to and
invite all Members to focus on this shocking fact. We
require the firm resolve of our great North American
neighbour in order to strike the necessary blows to
weaken and end this criminal phenomenon. Naturally,
that does not mean that our countries will in any way
shirk their share of the responsibility. We shall
continue to strengthen our institutions, to reform our
security forces, to strengthen our presence on the
ground in order to protect our young people from
criminal gangs. At the regional level we are working
together and have undertaken significant steps in a
common undertaking by sharing strategies and tasks
with Mexico, Colombia and the United States.
 Of course, these are truly difficult challenges that
lie ahead. Many of these challenges were referred to by
the President of Mexico — the fight against money-
laundering, disarmament, crime prevention, an
effective judiciary — and will require the reform of our
judicial organs. Inevitably, organized crime has
infiltrated the organs of the State, in particular the
judiciary and the police forces. That is why we must
wage a strong fight in order to clean up those
institutions.
 But the consumer countries, in this case chiefly
the United States, are morally responsible in this
struggle that must be seen not only as a criminal
problem but also as a matter of public health. While
drugs consumption and narcotics use grow, the
business of drugs trafficking will remain powerful. In
short, we call once again for North American
leadership in this common struggle that we are waging
alongside Mexico, Colombia and all of Central
America.
 Struggles such as these, which are being waged
across the American continent, once again show how
important it is to have a strong and united America.
Unity is a necessary prerequisite in order to meet our
common goals. Given this need, I now wish to refer to

11-51185 14

the blockade against the Republic of Cuba. We believe
that this blockade is an anachronism from a past page
of history that we wish to turn once and for all.
Essentially a blockade against Cuba is a step towards
disunity. It is a stumbling block on the road of history
that weakens us as a continent.
 At the start of my statement I spoke of the
leadership that our peoples expect from us in these
difficult times, of the courage that we need in order to
face the challenges that extend beyond our borders and
also of this great opportunity before us now. Let us
show that leadership, from the smallest country, such
as my own, to the great Powers. Let us show an
unequivocal will to achieve peace, social justice and
the well-being of the men and women who place their
faith in us, in particular in times such as these when
crisis once again threatens our peoples. Let us not fail
them once more. We should not favour those in power
who triggered the crisis but rather the weakest, who are
affected by it.


It is of course a great
honour and a profound responsibility to address the
sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly on behalf
of my people.
 The United Nations is the international
community’s great legacy of the past century, an
institution resulting both from history’s most
outrageous crimes and from humankind’s capacity to
confront, reckon with and overcome the consequences
of such crimes. Such human contradictions — “the
highest heaven and the deepest abyss”, to quote
Friedrich Schelling — are symbolized by the two
remarkable anniversaries we commemorate this year. I
am surprised that no one in the Hall has mentioned that
this year marks the twentieth anniversary of the
collapse of the Soviet Union, which freed captive
nations and emancipated oppressed peoples, unleashed
the dreams of millions, put an end to decades of cold
war and an apocalyptic nuclear race and heralded a
new era of international relations. It was clearly not, as
one nostalgic leader put it, the biggest geopolitical
catastrophe of the twentieth century. Nor was it, as
some analysts and diplomats dreamed, the end of
history.
 Ten years later, in this very city, another major
event took place, this time a real catastrophe. It
reminded us in the most horrific way that history was
not over and that it remained tragic. On that terrible
day, even those who had failed to pay heed to a decade
of grim wars in the Balkans and the Caucasus, in
Africa and in Afghanistan, had to abandon their
illusions that a new world order free of conflicts had
emerged for good.
 The attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.,
were not aimed at a single country, but instead targeted
a set of values and a way of life — freedom and
democracy. That day, 11 September 2001, reminded us
that the world remained a true battlefield — a
battlefield not among religions, as many people claim,
or of nations, but a battlefield within every religion,
every nation and every culture; a battlefield between
those who try to build and those who seek to destroy,
between those who choose freedom and those who
pledge to eradicate it; a battlefield between nihilism
and the very idea of civilization.
 Ten years later, the remarkable upheavals in the
Arab world have offered us yet more proof that there is
no end to history, nor is there a clash of civilizations.
Instead, a universal call to freedom is rising even in
places where some doubted it could ever rise. It is
being met by a monstrous effort to quell it. As we
speak, the highest heaven and the deepest abyss are
once again in conflict. It is our duty as leaders to weigh
in and speak out, to decide and to act.
 The first anniversary I evoked earlier — the fall
of Soviet tyranny — continues to reverberate today in
important ways. When the moment came 20 years ago
for us, the former subjects of the Soviet bureaucracy —
students, artists, dissidents, workers, men and women,
old and young — it was hardly the end of history; on
the contrary, it was a new beginning of history.
Communism had frozen our will in a cold and closed
museum. When it collapsed, the doors of history swung
open again. We found ourselves confronted at once by
both the best and the worst. The best transpired for
those nations quickly integrated into the European
Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The
others — like the people of my country, Georgia —

7 11-50871

were left to the mercy of failed States, civil unrest,
wars, ethnic cleansing and foreign occupation.
 Two years ago, from this very podium, I
suggested that there were two ways to leave
communism behind and to re-enter history — the way
of Vaclav Havel and the way of Slobodan Miloševic,
the way of liberal democracy and tolerance, on one
side, and the way of authoritarianism and ethnic
nationalism, on the other. There are, in other words,
men who embrace freedom and men who erect mental
and physical walls against it.
 To the latter, who still see the extension of the
European Union and NATO as a threat, I would like to
say that the Cold War ended in December 1991 and
that they should not be afraid of having democratic
neighbours who wish to join wider democratic clubs.
There is no hidden agenda or secret plot in any of those
capitals to undermine the sovereignty of big nations.
The Cold War ended 20 years ago and, slowly — too
slowly — new rules are emerging. And even those
rules are still too rarely applied.
 Little by little, tyrants are beginning to fear that
they could one day be held accountable for their
crimes. I am convinced that there will be less and less
tolerance for the ethnic cleansing and other war crimes
that have stained my country and so many others. That
is the very reason for the existence as the United
Nations, is it not? The United Nations exists to make
the world a little better, to finally enforce the rules,
charters, laws and principles upon which we have all
come to agree.
 It is time to understand that the world has
changed and that an army, as powerful as it might
seem, cannot ultimately deny the will of the people;
that a Government, as strong as it might look, cannot
unilaterally and freely dismember sovereign nations;
and that we are not in 1938 or in 1968, but in 2011.
 As I speak, the Russian Federation militarily
occupies 20 per cent of sovereign Georgian territory, in
violation of international law and the 12 August 2008
ceasefire agreement. As I speak, almost 500,000
internally displaced persons and refugees in a country
of less than 5 million people continue to suffer because
they are denied their right, a right reaffirmed over a
dozen times by this very body, to return to their homes
and villages. They cannot go back because, in Moscow,
a foreign leader has decided that their home is no
longer their home.
 To such cynicism and brutality we respond with
calls for justice and commitments to peace. Last year,
on 23 November, I addressed the European Parliament
and solemnly pledged that Georgia would never use
force to liberate those of its regions currently occupied
by the Russian Federation. Even though the United
Nations Charter gives us the authority to do so, as we
well know, we definitively renounced military means
to restore our territorial integrity. The commitment I
made before the European Parliament is legally
binding; I have sent relevant letters to the Secretary-
General of the United Nations and to other
international organizations.
 It will soon be one year since Georgia renounced
the use of force. One year has passed, and we are still
waiting for Russia’s leadership to reciprocate this
gesture of peace. Unfortunately, instead of dialogue,
the response we have received has come in the form of
a dozen terrorist acts targeting Georgia, attacks directly
organized and supervised by confirmed officers of the
Russian secret services, which has been authenticated
by different international actors.
 The Cold War is over, but some leaders have yet
to realize that fact and stop reasoning in terms of
spheres of influence, near-abroad domination and zero-
sum games. The Cold War is over, but embargoes,
blackmail and brutal diktats are still used against
Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. The Cold War is over,
but even the Baltic States have to deal with
manipulation of their democratic political landscape
and neo-colonial games with their minorities. The Cold
War is over, but the old Soviet habit of playing on
ethnic and religious hatreds is still alive. That is
especially true in the black hole that the North
Caucasus has become, with brutal violence,
displacement and the killing of hundreds of thousands
of inhabitants.
 Georgia is responding to these brutal and
dangerous policies by opening its borders, inviting
people to come to engage in exchange, debate and
dialogue, by trying to overcome the information
blockades, by trying to rebuild bridges between
nations — those essential bridges that others are
systematically trying to destroy. Georgia is responding
to military build-up with programmes to lift children
out of poverty through access to modern technologies —
computers, the Internet — and with new hotels and
new boulevards and cycling paths. Georgia is
responding to methods of the past by embracing the

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promises of the future, and many others as well — new
health-care systems, hundreds of new hospitals,
advanced programmes to deal with communicable and
non-communicable diseases, and insurance for all.
 The end of the Cold War launched an era of
opportunity and turbulence, liberating local dynamics
in ways both tragic and exultant, and leading to a
constant flux in the world order. It has unleashed
hatred, ethnic conflict, mass terror, genocide and many
other human calamities. But it has also generated
fantastic emancipations.
 Think of the “coloured” revolutions in Eastern
Europe, the dazzling development of Asia, the progress
of democracy in Africa or, more recently, the Arab
Spring; none would have been possible if the Soviet
Union still existed as a global player and a global
threat to all the continents, including Africa, Asia and
Europe alike. Since 1991, history has become more and
more unpredictable, swinging violently between the
highest heaven and the deepest abyss that Schelling
referred to. Indeed, who could have anticipated the
global consequences of a desperate act by a 26-year-
old Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, in the remote town
of Sidi Bouzid?
 One poor man, in an unknown place, was denied
his rights by an imperious police and, like a distant
echo of the Czech Jan Palach in front of the Russian
tanks in 1968, he immolated himself. This breathtaking
act of despair has literally turned the world upside
down.
 Some dictators are jailed or on the run; regimes
considered untouchable have collapsed; new
constitutions and orders are being born. An entire
region and culture derogatorily labelled as unfit for
democracy by some people in more developed
countries has given the whole world, including the
developed world, a lesson in freedom.
 Such historical eruptions always come as a
surprise. They require from us all the radical
astonishment that Aristotle considered as the very
beginning of philosophy, the first step towards true
wisdom and a radical emancipation from our prejudices
and dogmas.
 Very few predicted the revolutions that swept
across Eastern and Central Europe in 1989, or the
“coloured” revolutions that followed 15 years later.
Even fewer predicted Tunis, Cairo, Benghazi and
Tripoli. The popular call for freedom that has shaken
the world in 2011 is the best and most definitive
answer to the hatred that motivated the attacks against
this very city 10 years ago.
 When aspiring populations are free to live their
lives, practice their trades, raise their children, voice
their ideas and press their grievances, the space for
terrorists to recruit or demagogues to sow ethnic hatred
starts to evaporate.
 International police, military and intelligence
cooperation in the war against Al-Qaida over the past
decade have been, and still are, essential in protecting
our freedoms. I am proud that Georgia has borne more
than its share in the international effort in Afghanistan.
I am proud of our thousands of soldiers who risk
everything in order to defeat the international
movement of hatred — and I want to pay tribute to
those who have died on the battlefield. I am proud of
our police who are engaged in the struggle against
nuclear trafficking. I am proud that Georgia has
become a provider, not just a consumer, of
international security.
 I am proud of all of this, but I am also very aware
that extremism will not be defeated and terrorism will
not be eradicated by military and police means alone.
Terrorism and extremism can be defeated only if
freedom, democracy and prosperity extend their reach
in the world.
 This is why we welcomed so genuinely the
efforts of President Obama and President Rousseff in
launching the Open Government Partnership. The
world has to respond to the universal call for freedom
and justice, and only a coordinated response to this call
can guarantee our common long-term security.
 Georgia is ready and willing once again to take
on more than its share in this international effort. Our
experience of radical post-revolutionary transformation
over the past eight years could very well be useful for
the newly liberated lands.
 We were not always free. We were a totally failed
State, a dying economy, a country destroyed by
corruption and authoritarian structures. In 2003, a
peaceful, popular revolution brought to power a young
team of reformists. From one day to the next, we were
in charge of a fragile country in a hostile geopolitical
environment. We discovered quickly that the slogans,
roses, flags and other tools we used as opposition and

9 11-50871

civil society leaders would no longer suffice. We
discovered, in fact, that revolutions are not only, and
not even mainly, about the crowds gathered in the
streets, but that they consist essentially of the long and
difficult process of reform that follows the uprising.
 This is the main challenge that Tunisia, Egypt and
Libya now face. The uplifting images of people
celebrating liberation in Tahrir Square, or Libyan
citizens dancing in Muammar Al-Qadhafi’s palaces, are
already in the past. The success of those revolutions
will depend on what happens after the legions of
reporters from CNN, the BBC and Al-Jazeera have left.
 This is precisely the moment when our Georgian
experience — both successes and shortcomings —
could prove useful. Of course we hardly succeeded in
everything, and we made many mistakes. But we have
also had astonishing results.
 In the aftermath of the Rose Revolution, we fired
100 per cent of our entire police force. Georgia lived
for three months without a single policeman.
Amazingly, during that period, crime rates went down
dramatically. Why? Not only because the police were
responsible for a large part of our crime rate, but also
because there was a shared feeling that our citizens
finally had a stake in their country and that they were
living actors in a very specific moment of our nation’s
history — a moment when everything seemed possible,
when values became the basis of politics and when one
had the feeling of inventing one’s own future. This
feeling is the true engine of history and our best ally
against extremists. But it is a fragile feeling that has to
be nurtured and sustained.
 In Georgia, we have managed to keep this feeling
alive until now by a permanent process of reform with
clear benchmarks. Thanks to radical changes in our
police force, customs, tax service and bureaucratic
structures, and thanks to the widespread feeling among
people that they own these transformations, we have
made greater progress on Transparency International’s
Corruption Perceptions Index since 2003 than any
other State in the world. We are the second or third
least corrupt State in Europe, according to the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) survey.
 We have built a highly favourable investment
climate based on efficiency, transparency and the rule
of law. As a result, we are now ranked as one of the
easiest places in the world to do business. The World
Bank ranked Georgia, based on five years of records,
as the world’s number one economic reformer. No
other country has progressed in that five-year period as
we did. We are ranked first in Eastern and Central
Europe in terms of business, as I said, as one of the
easiest places in the world.
 The 2011 EBRD survey on countries in transition
singles out Georgia as the most successful country in
our region in terms of institution-building, on par with
developed European countries.
 There is still a lot to be done, obviously. We are
more committed than ever to pursuing our path of
reforms and to continuing to build our democracy, even
as the barrels of hostile tanks point at us just
40 kilometres away from our capital.
 Of course, the path to efficient democratic
Government is difficult, but it is the only path. Of
course, people will be impatient and disappointed, but
there is no alternative to the success of this call for
freedom. This is why it is so important to support this
call and to deter those who want to suppress it.
 This is why we supported the NATO-led
intervention in Libya at the initiative of the United
Kingdom, France and the United States. The very fact
that the National Transitional Council is now sitting
here, in the Hall, and that Al-Qadhafi can no longer
speak from this rostrum should give hope for the future
to all of us. The very fact that this effort was approved
by the Security Council has shown that that institution
can actually be the essential framework for the defence
of human rights.
 The two anniversaries we are marking — the
anniversary of the fall of the Soviet empire and the
anniversary of 9/11 — continue to confront us with this
central question: how can we ensure that the new
spaces that have opened in our world in the past
20 years thanks to the fall of dictators and thanks to the
spread of new technologies are filled by peace rather
than violence, by tolerance rather than extremism and
by freedom rather than new forms of enslavement?
 History will judge our generation by how actively
we help to answer this question, particularly in a series
of pivotal arenas, in what people call abusively frozen
conflicts in and near my own region, in the many
countries in the international community that remain
under tyranny’s yoke and in the places like those Arab

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States that have achieved a new spring of freedom and
are starting the difficult work of reforms.
 Wael Ghonim, the young Egyptian Google
executive who helped connect and mobilize so many of
his country’s people to stand up for freedom, recently
said that the new revolutions, like the one his country
experienced, are a little like Wikipedia: they are grand,
open projects to which everyone can contribute.
 The need for participation applies to us as well.
As national leaders and as key decision-makers, we can
contribute and we must contribute. Let us rise to that
historical imperative. Let us all make our contribution,
so that, together, we may avoid the deepest abyss and
strive instead for the highest heaven.


I wish at the outset to congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
on his recent reappointment as Secretary-General, and

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you, Mr. President, on your election to preside over the
sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.
 In this meeting of the United Nations, a
multiplicity of countries and ethnicities, cultures and
languages, religions and creeds converges. All are
increasingly connected in this globalized world,
because over and above our legitimate differences, we
all live on the same planet, all breathe the same air and
are all warmed by the same sun. As inhabitants of
planet Earth, we share the same future. We share
similar challenges and opportunities. All of us have the
same desire for peace, freedom, justice and prosperity
for our peoples and nations.
 I come before the Assembly to express, with
humble conviction, what my country has to say to the
international community. But I have also come to
listen, carefully and respectfully, to what other
countries have to say to our country. Chile is, and will
always be, proud to defend and promote dialogue as
the best mechanism for dealing with and settling
disputes. Chile profoundly believes that all nations,
cultures, traditions and creeds have something to teach
us. But we also believe that we all have something to
learn from others.
 There is no doubt that we are facing a new
world — very different from the one we, or our
parents, have known and which emerged forcefully
during the past decades: a new world born of the
revolutions of knowledge, technology and information
that has created, and will continue to create, enormous
opportunities for material and spiritual progress for
billions of people throughout the world —
opportunities the world has never known.
 It is also certain that this new world presents us
with new risks, challenges, threats and opportunities
that exceed any Government’s individual potential and
can only be addressed successfully through joint
action. For example, financial crises, in addition to
becoming more frequent each day, have increasing
regional and global implications that cannot be
ignored. The evils of modern society, such as terrorism,
drug trafficking and organized crime, have for a long
time ceased to heed borders, territories or jurisdictions.
Any attempt to deal effectively with global warming,
environmental protection, natural disasters, health
emergencies, hunger and extreme poverty will most
certainly require greater concerted and effective action
from the community of nations and international
bodies if we truly want to begin to change the course of
history.
 Consequently, today it is urgent that we
reposition ourselves and reshape each international
organization, many of which emerged in a very
different world, during the post-war period. Today, as
we all know, they lack the ability to provide the
necessary effective responses to the realities,
challenges and opportunities of the present, as well as
those of the future that are beginning to emerge. There
is no doubt that we have achieved significant progress,
but we understand that it has been too slow and
insufficient. We cannot pretend to lead this new world
with old institutions. One day our children will ask us
how to face these challenges. In the end, these are our
challenges and we must deal with them now. If we do
not, then who will? If not now, then when?
 While it is true that this revolution of knowledge,
technology and information is not the first revolution
the world has faced, all of us know that it is the most
far-reaching in magnitude and breadth, both in terms
challenges and the opportunities it has provided. But
like the revolutions of the past — of metals, agriculture
or the industrial revolution — this twenty-first century
revolution will be very generous vis-à-vis the countries
with the desire to embrace it enthusiastically. But the
revolution will continue to be indifferent, and even
cruel, to those countries that decide simply to ignore it
or let it pass by. It will therefore depend on us whether
it will become a factor for freedom, unity and progress
and a bridge to span the gap between developed
countries and emerging nations or, on the contrary, a
new factor of division and a new wall further
separating those countries in the world of opportunity
from those in the world of frustrations.
 Certainly, the primary responsibility for rising up
to greet this revolution that is already knocking at our
doors lies with each country. But it is also a
responsibility for the international community. In the
case of the emerging countries, which include all those
in Latin America, including my country, Chile, this
signifies, in addition to a huge responsibility, a unique
opportunity to re-identify with our past. Most
important, it is an opportunity to meet up with our
future. It is clear that Latin America — now
celebrating 200 years of independence — has
everything it needs to overcome poverty and
underdevelopment. We have a large and fertile
territory, abundant natural resources, two closely

13 11-50865

related languages and, most important, peoples who
have demonstrated, with solidarity and vigour, their
ability to overcome any obstacle placed in our way by
nature or by Providence. We have not had wars such as
those experienced by Europe in the past century, or
ethnic or religious conflicts such as those affecting
other regions of the world.
 Nevertheless, because we did not know how to
join the industrial revolution in time, our continent
remains underdeveloped, with more than one third of
its population living in conditions of poverty. However,
Latin America has learned the lesson and is today
becoming integrated with enormous conviction into
this new revolution of modern society, science,
technology, knowledge and information. This
integration will be successful only if we are able to
promote and expand what has been, and continues to
be, the inexhaustible source of progress for
humankind — freedom.
 Freedom is an integral concept that cannot be
divided or compartmentalized. Freedom must be
expressed in all spheres of human life. In the political
sphere, it requires us to revitalize and deepen
democracy and the defence of human rights to the
farthest corner of the planet and at any moment in time.
In the economic sphere, this means fostering creativity,
entrepreneurship and innovation among human beings,
who are the only truly inexhaustible and renewable
resource we possess. We must demolish all of the
obstacles that are preventing many emerging nations
from fully integrating themselves into the newly
emerging world. In the social sphere, freedom means
promoting peace and helping States to become ever
more efficient and effective in the fight against poverty
and in the creation of real societies that provide equal
opportunities for all.
 Chile has undoubtedly made, and will continue to
make, important contributions to each of those areas.
As well as strongly supporting the cause of democracy
and defending human rights in all countries of the
continent and of the world, where necessary, Chile has,
at the regional level, been a tireless and steadfast
advocate of improving the Inter-American Democratic
Charter and of finalizing a protocol on the preventive
protection of democracy within the Union of South
American Nations.
 In addition, we continue to actively participate in
the negotiations on the reform of the Security Council
to increase its permanent and non-permanent members
in order to make it more representative of the realities
of the new world order. We have also supported the
reform of the Human Rights Council, to which Chile
was recently re-elected.
 With regard to economic issues, Chile is a
country that has integrated into the world and has
concluded free trade agreements with more than 58
countries on all continents, representing more than
80 per cent of the world’s population. However, our
commitment to free trade does not stop there. We have
been strong supporters of the Doha Round of the World
Trade Organization so as to make progress, once and
for all after decades of stagnation, towards the
liberalization of world trade, because protectionism is a
poor response and is even worse when we face the
threatening crisis conditions that we are experiencing
today.
 Moreover, with regard to the promotion of world
peace, Chile has recognized the Palestinian State, a
country that we hope to welcome to the Organization
very soon. We have resolutely supported all
international efforts to achieve a just, legitimate and
lasting settlement in the Middle East. Chile is firmly
convinced that the Palestinian people have the right to
a free, sovereign and democratic State and that the
State of Israel has the right to have recognized, secure
and respected borders. Only thus will Palestinians and
Israelis be able to coexist and move forward in peace
and harmony.
 With regard to social development and the fight
against poverty, hunger and pandemics, we are
strengthening South-South cooperation. Such
cooperation is certainly triangular, but it neither
replaces nor substitutes the need for North-South
cooperation. We have set up and are implementing a
Chilean fund to combat hunger and poverty in Africa.
We have also made significant contributions to the
United Nations International Drug Purchase Facility in
order to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis,
which still wreak havoc in many parts of the world.
But we wish to go even further, and we are
implementing mechanisms that will enable us to
unilaterally reduce duties in order to promote our
imports from relatively less developed African
countries.
 We were also very proud to strongly support
UN-Women, an entity headed by our compatriot

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Michelle Bachelet, whose principal goal is as strong
and as far-reaching as to ultimately ensure that, as
women and men, we have the same rights and the same
opportunities in this world, which belongs to us all.
 However, in this new century and this new
knowledge and information society, as well as relying
on robust democracies, with open, competitive and
integrated economies, and effective States to combat
poverty and for greater equality of opportunity, we
must recognize that those are merely old pillars that are
necessary but completely inadequate today. As
emerging countries, we must commit to building new
development pillars. Those are investment in science
and technology; the promotion of innovation and
entrepreneurship; the building of more flexible
societies that can adapt to a world in which change is
the only constant; and, above all, making a huge effort
to improve our human capital, the education of our
young people and the training of our workers, as that is
surely the major source of wealth and primary resource
for leaving behind underdevelopment.
 There is no doubt that we must win the race for
development and the battle for the future in the
classroom by giving each and every one of our children
quality education. We have said it many times:
education is the true mother of all battles.
Unfortunately, it is also the Achilles heel of many
emerging economies. In my country in recent weeks,
thousands of young people have taken to the streets to
demonstrate for a noble, great and fine cause, namely,
giving all children and young people quality education
that enables them all to be actors in, and not mere
spectators of, their own destiny and participation in
this knowledge and information society.
 Our Government has shared, and consistently
shares, that goal. It is ready for the greatest reforms
and has committed the largest economic, human,
professional and technical resources in order to bring
about fundamental change in our education system that
seeks to substantially improve the quality of education
and to increase coverage, in particular in the education
of children from minorities and the most vulnerable so
that they participate in education soon, not when the
years have made it irreversible. We must also
substantially increase funding and access at all levels
of education in order to ensure something as simple as
quality education for all, free education for all those
who need it and adequate funding for all others in
order to realize the dream that no bright child or young
person remains excluded from higher education owing
to the socio-economic situation of their family or to
scarce resources.
 We want to appeal to all Latin American
countries, in the context of the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States, to establish a true
strategic partnership that will engage the heart and soul
of our Governments in that extensive reform of our
educational systems, which will be our greatest
possible contribution to the overall development of
people to enable them to utilize their talents to the full,
and to the growth of our economies, while enhancing
peace and strengthening our democracies.
 That is why I would also like to mention what the
President of Bolivia said yesterday when he referred to
his country’s claim to obtain sovereign access to the
Pacific Ocean through Chilean territory (see
). In that regard, I wish to reiterate that
there are no territorial issues pending between Chile
and Bolivia. They were settled once and for all by the
Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904, that is to say,
concluded more than 100 years ago now. That Treaty
was lawfully negotiated more than 20 years after the
end of the conflict between the two countries.
Moreover, the parties agreed to it; their Parliaments
ratified it; and, as Bolivia itself acknowledged, the
Treaty was the outcome of free and consensus-based
negotiation. Therefore, in accordance with
international law, both Chile and Bolivia are obliged to
respect and implement it in good faith.
 Chile has fully implemented in a timely way each
and every clause of that 1904 Treaty of Peace and
Friendship. Furthermore, the facilities that Chile
granted exceeded the Treaty provisions, including
going far beyond those that the United Nations itself
established in the Convention on Transit Trade of
Land-Locked States. Our country has been, and always
will be, willing to engage in dialogue with Bolivia on
the basis of full respect for the treaties and
international law. We are sure that, through such
dialogue, we will have the best possibility of agreeing
with Bolivia concrete, feasible and useful solutions for
both countries.
 All of us here have not only the right but the duty
to speak and act in defence of the interests of our
respective countries and peoples. However, we cannot
fail to note that, for that to be fruitful, requires that we
work on the many things that unite us rather than on

15 11-50865

what legitimately divides us. When all is said and
done, whether we like it or not, responding to the risks
and the storm clouds that we see looming on the
horizon — but also the challenges and the
opportunities that we are getting ready to confront, and
the responses and the solutions that together we shall
have to implement, will only be fruitful and efficient if
we do so with unity and goodwill. Some might believe
that, acting alone, they will be able to move forward
faster, but history will never cease to remind us that it
is only when we act with unity and goodwill that we
will be able to build on solid bedrock and not sand;
only that will allow each country — and the world as a
whole — to go far in fulfilling our tasks, achieving our
goals and overcoming our challenges.