Since we last gathered in
this great Assembly one year ago, we have witnessed
developments of historic dimensions. There has been
democratic protest and democratic reform across the
Arab world, as we discovered afresh that freedom is
the right of all, not just of the few. Also, a global
economic crisis is rolling on, as we enter a new and
dangerous period that threatens the jobs and
livelihoods of working people everywhere.
 And while rarely making the front pages, the
other great global challenges that have been with us
now for too many years continue their almost
alarmingly silent advance — challenges of grinding
poverty, environmental degradation, the continued
proliferation of nuclear weapons, the enhancement of
human rights, all of which compete for attention on an
already crowded international agenda.
 Our global institutions are struggling to
comprehend, let alone effectively respond to, this vast
array of challenges that now confront us — challenges
that arise as the inevitable consequence of what we
now simply call globalization. Put simply, the dilemma
is this: the challenges we face are increasingly global
while the institutions at our disposal are still primarily
national. Or put more crudely, for those engaged in
democratic politics, the answers may lie abroad, but all
the votes lie at home.
 Three years ago, when I first spoke at this
podium, I spoke of the storm clouds gathering across
the global economy. It seemed as if we were in free fall
as we all stared into the abyss, with the very real
possibility of a second global depression in a century.
Through coordinated intervention in 2009, we broke
the fall. Yet three years on, the crisis in the global
economy continues, still with a capacity to engulf us
all. Recovery is stalling. Unemployment is rising.
Confidence is waning. There are growing concerns
over sovereign debt levels, and there are concerns also
over the national and international political will to deal
with these challenges.
 This week, the International Monetary Fund
issued a stark warning for the global economy,
highlighting that we have entered a new and dangerous
phase. So what then is to be done?
 First, reforms to the financial system should be
implemented and taxpayers should no longer be asked
to bail out the irresponsible behaviour of particular
financial institutions. Secondly, all major economies
need to find a credible path back to surplus over time,
consistent with the Group of Twenty’s Framework for
Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth. Thirdly, we

11-51179 2

must prevent a further outbreak of protectionism and
we must conclude Doha, as history will condemn us if
we repeat the job-destroying protectionism of the
1930s that transformed a financial crisis into a full-
blown depression.
 Fourthly, for international trade to grow and
Chinese domestic demand to make a greater
contribution to growth in economies around the world,
we must also see currency reform, particularly with the
appreciation of the Chinese yuan. And finally, we must
with clarity of leadership and resolution of purpose
define and deliver a range of other new innovative
drivers of global growth. These include innovative
public-private financing for the new infrastructure
revolution needed for power, water, agriculture,
transport and communications. The jobs potential for
the green energy revolution must be fully harvested by
carbon pricing, and women and youth must participate
fully in the economies of the developed and the
developing world.
 These are not just useful social policies. These
are not just useful environmental policies. They are
now necessary economic policies to generate the next
missing increment of global economic growth. What is
required, therefore, is global and national political
leadership capable of looking beyond the next electoral
cycle — to look to the long term over the short term, to
look to the strategic rather than the tactical, and to look
to the necessary over the urgent.
 Over the course of the last decade, we have seen
an acceleration of the shift of economic power to Asia
marking Asia’s re-emergence as the centre of global
economic gravity after an interruption of more than
200 years. In the year 2000, China was a mere 3.7 per
cent of global GDP and India was less than half that.
By 2030, they will account for more than 20 per cent
of global GDP, and that will rise further. Asian
countries held 16.6 per cent of global foreign exchange
reserves in 2001. Now they hold 39 per cent.
 Therefore, what happens in Asia is now of
fundamental relevance to the world, not just to the
region itself. Asian economic growth has been
overwhelmingly good for the global economy.
 But Asia has also seen an exponential increase in
military expenditure. Over the last 20 years military
expenditure in East Asia grew by nearly 150 per cent.
During the same period the United States’ military
expenditure grew by 36 per cent. Asia, with its many
unresolved territorial disputes and military tensions,
has become the new global arms bazaar.
 One of the big spenders, despite the poverty
afflicting its population, is North Korea. North Korea’s
nuclear weapons programme and its long-range missile
programme represent a direct threat to the security of
our region, including Australia.
 To deal adequately with those and other security
challenges in Asia, we need strong regional
institutional architecture, as a complement to the
United Nations, to help build transparency, cooperation
and, in time, a sense of common security in our region.
 For that reason, Australia has promoted the
concept of an Asia-Pacific community. Collectively,
regional countries now have an opportunity to realize
the idea of such a community through the expanded
East Asia Summit (EAS), which for the first time this
year will include the Presidents of the United States
and of the Russian Federation. Over time, a stronger
EAS can promote the type of rules-based order
regionally for which the United Nations strives
globally. This task is critical to avoid damaging
strategic miscalculation in the Asia-Pacific region,
which would also undermine global economic growth.
 I say again: what happens in Asia now matters
not just for Asia, itself, but for the world.
 In Australia’s more immediate region in the South
Pacific, we are bound together by the common bonds
of democracy and the responsibility we all have to
develop those economies and protect their natural
environment.
 We thank the Secretary-General for his visit to
the Pacific Islands Forum — the first ever by a United
Nations Secretary-General. His commitment to our
region is an important signal of the international
community’s interests in the Pacific’s prosperity, its
sustainability and its democracy.
 Global events since the last session of the
General Assembly have highlighted that the human cry
for freedom and for democracy is both indivisible and
universal. Australia stands with the rest of the
international community in applauding the courage of
those citizens seeking what is naturally theirs in
Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, and now in Syria.
 In Egypt, we are now supporting improved dry
land farming and assistance with urban employment

3 11-51179

programmes as Egypt moves to critical parliamentary
and presidential elections. In Tunisia, we are providing
agricultural and electoral assistance. In Libya,
Australia was among the first to campaign
internationally for a no-fly zone to protect civilians at a
time when Al-Qadhafi seemed destined for victory. We
are proud of the fact that since the Libya conflict
began, Australia stands across the world as the third
largest humanitarian donor to the long-suffering people
of Libya. We also stand ready to assist with institution-
building in the new Libya of the future.
 What challenges us now is the ongoing brutality
in Syria. The Syrian regime should heed the lessons of
Libya. We call on Bashar Al-Assad to step down now,
for political reform to begin now, and for the
international community to intensify its pressure on
Damascus to respond to the voices of the Syrian people
demanding their legitimate freedom.
 Twelve months ago, we had no expectation of
change in Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. But we did hope to
see progress in the historic process to bring permanent
peace to the peoples of Israel and Palestine. Sadly,
there has been no progress. Australia remains
committed to a negotiated two-State solution that
allows a secure and independent Israel to live side by
side with a secure and independent Palestinian State.
 Over the past 10 months I have travelled three
times to both Jerusalem and Ramallah, where I have
met on each occasion with Prime Minister Netanyahu
and President Abbas. I have urged both parties to
engage in direct negotiations. I have argued that they
should be held on the basis of the 1967 boundaries plus
appropriate land swaps. I have argued that the
remaining final status issues — the right to return, the
status of Jerusalem, the Holy Sites and the provision of
external security — be resolved through such direct
negotiations.
 My fear is that if we do not see these matters
concluded in the near term, the rapidly changing
geo-politics of the region will make the prospects of a
lasting settlement remote. We have already seen
tension between Israel and Egypt. We have already
seen the fracturing of the relationship between Israel
and Turkey. We do not know how long the current
framework of the Arab Peace Plan will remain on the
table. We are fearful of a further intifada of the type we
have seen before.
 As a friend of Israel, we are fearful that in the
absence of a negotiated settlement, Israel’s security
situation will deteriorate rapidly in the year ahead. As a
friend of the Palestinian people, we believe that the
time has come for direct negotiations to establish a
Palestinian State, one which also guarantees the
security of Israel. If we fail to achieve this, I fear the
gravity of the consequences as the ground continues to
change across the wider Middle East. I note also that
these views have been reflected today by the former
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
 Australia therefore urges both parties to seize the
day and to shape the future of a new Middle East. We
await the outcome from the weeks that lie ahead in
New York, before framing our response to any
particular resolution before the United Nations.
 Terrorism is the enemy of all civilized peoples. A
decade since 9/11, terrorism still casts a deep shadow
over the security and safety of our citizens. Many of
Australia’s finest have lost their lives in the fight
against terrorism in Afghanistan. Australia will stay the
course in Afghanistan, because we refuse to yield to
terrorism.
 While terrorism threatens thousands, nuclear
proliferation threatens millions. Australia remains
vitally committed to the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free
world and is active to that end. That is why we have
established with Japan the Non-proliferation and
Disarmament Initiative — the NPDI — to take forward
the agenda of the 2010 Review Conference of the
Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons.
 As we speak in this Assembly, we should remind
ourselves that a fifth of humanity lives in grinding
poverty. The scale of the challenge has been
graphically demonstrated by this year’s devastating
drought in the Horn of Africa. I witnessed how bad
things are when I visited the affected areas in July.
Australia has given almost US$ 100 million. We are
proud to be the fourth largest international donor to
that crisis. We will continue to give.
 Last year, we gathered to see how we were
tracking on our collective pledge to lift a billion people
out of poverty by 2015. The report card was very poor.
Most of the Millennium Development Goals are
unlikely to be achieved. Australia has doubled its
official development assistance (ODA) budget over the
past five years, and we are on track to double it again

11-51179 4

by 2015. Based on available data, that would make
Australia’s ODA budget the sixth largest in the world.
 The international community must get behind
both regional and global efforts to meet the strategic
need for food security. With a forecast global
population of 9.3 billion by 2050, an estimated
increase of 70 per cent in global food production will
be needed to feed the world.
 In food security, we should also be blunt. The
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is failing
fully to meet its mandate to the poor of the world.
Under its new management, FAO needs to set clear
priorities for the future and eliminate the unsustainable
administrative overheads it has long tolerated. If FAO
does not do so, Australia will comprehensively review
its development funding for FAO under our new aid
effectiveness criteria.
 Food is fundamental to development. So too is
the right to education. All of the world’s children must
be given a chance at life that is good for them and good
for their economies. For that reason, and learning from
both the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria and the GAVI Alliance, Australia believes that
the time has come for the international community to
consider developing a new public-private institution
with an explicit mandate for school education.
 At present, this task is shared between the World
Bank, UNICEF and UNESCO, with negligible private
sector buy-in. We should consider, therefore, a new
global fund for education that would concentrate
exclusively on the immediate task of getting nearly
70 million children into schools by 2015. Australia
would consider contributing substantially to such an
institution to bring about real results at a rate as rapid
as possible. I challenge education donors, current and
potential, to join such a fund.
 In supporting the world’s most vulnerable
peoples, we also recognize the world’s estimated
370 million indigenous peoples, spread across 90 of the
193 United Nations Member States. They remain
among the most marginalized and disadvantaged in the
world, including in our country, Australia. That is why
the Australian Government has reached beyond the
apology to the Stolen Generations to pursue
constitutional recognition for our First Peoples. And
we are committed to closing the gap between
indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
 Our hope of answering the development
challenges of the world is inextricably linked to the
health of the planet itself. The planet ultimately can
bear only so much. Scientists tell us that there are
planetary boundaries beyond which we should not
venture — in climate change, biodiversity loss,
stratospheric ozone depletion, chemical pollution,
ocean acidification and the depletion of freshwater
reserves. It is not just a matter of atmospheric limits,
but of the oceans as well.
 Next year at Rio the international community will
have the opportunity to act decisively to protect a
planet now in stress, just as we need to take effective
global action on climate change. Climate change will
not go away, even if some choose the easy path of
simply hiding their heads in the sand. If we do that, our
children and theirs will never forgive us — nor should
they.
 As the global community, we face challenges of
historic consequence — to our global economy, to
global security, to the basic freedoms of all peoples, to
our global environment, to the security of our citizens,
to our obligation to the world’s poor and to our
planetary boundaries themselves.
 While so many challenges lie before us, the past
year has proven that when the international community
does act collectively and decisively, we can deliver —
as we have seen in the decisions of the Security
Council on Libya and Côte d’Ivoire. But to be
effective, this parliament of humankind, these United
Nations, must continue to summon the political will of
Member States to make our global institutions work.
Otherwise, we will become a clanging gong, full of
sound and sentiment, but ultimately symbolizing
nothing.
 When Secretary-General Ban came to Australia
two weeks ago, he saw a country that values the rules-
based system that the United Nations embodies.
Australia today is a middle Power with global interests,
animated by deep values of freedom and a fair go for
all. This is the Australia we are proud of in its work in
the world. This is the Australia that believes in the
principles of good international citizenship. This is the
Australia that rolls up its sleeves, the Australia that by
nature wants to pitch in, the Australia that wants to
make a difference for the betterment of all humankind.


In May I visited
Tunisia, the cradle of the revolutions that have spread
across the Arab world. I spoke to many people there
who told me about their deep yearning for freedom,
about the decades during which their freedom had been
suppressed and about what the revolution meant for
their lives. One of them was Essma Ben Hamida, the
strong-willed director of a civil society organization
active in micro-finance. She said literally to me, “If

11-51390 16

democracy would mean that I lose my rights as a
woman, I do not want democracy.” In one sentence,
Ms. Ben Hamida defined one of the key challenges we
face.
 The call from the streets of the Arab world for
freedom and democracy has brought about great
change. It has inspired people around the world to
claim their rights.
 But huge challenges remain. And the severe
financial and economic crisis is threatening growth and
trade around the globe. This crisis is undermining
people’s ability to earn a living and enjoy freedom to
the fullest extent. It is thus crucial that we manage
these developments.
 The United Nations and individual Governments
must support people’s calls for freedom. Freedom is a
right for everyone, a duty for Governments and the
mission of the United Nations. Freedom must be
supported by three key pillars: first, security; second,
democracy and the rule of law; and third, prosperity.
 Lack of security is a fundamental threat to
people’s freedom. Providing security is a responsibility
of Governments and of the international community as
a whole.
 In March this year, we rose to the challenge.
Security Council resolution 1973 (2011) on Libya was
truly historic. It explicitly referred to the international
community’s responsibility to protect. It highlighted
the indispensable role of the United Nations.
 By contrast, the Council’s failure to reach
consensus on Syria has been at great human cost.
Every day we are shocked by new, horrific stories. This
very weekend peaceful demonstrators were carrying a
sign that read: “Help Syria. It is bleeding.” We need to
listen to the people of Syria. We need to stop President
Al-Assad’s Government from brutally murdering his
own citizens in an attempt to crush their legitimate call
for freedom. I urge all members of the Security
Council to act decisively and agree on targeted
sanctions against the regime.
 Freedom and security are also key issues in the
Middle East peace process. If we do want peace, we
need direct negotiations now, not new resolutions at the
United Nations. The Netherlands endorses the time
frame outlined by the Quartet and stands ready to assist
wherever it can. We are a major donor to the
Palestinian Authority. We fully support the ambition of
the Palestinian people to build a viable, democratic and
peaceful Palestinian State. However, this cannot be
viewed separately from the Israeli people’s desire to
live in a secure, internationally recognized Jewish State
in peace with their neighbours.
 It is really essential that the two parties invest in
mutual confidence, refrain from unilateral steps and
find a solution together. They should be prepared to
make the difficult and painful concessions necessary
for the fulfilment of their peoples’ aspirations. I talked
with President Abbas. I talked with Prime Minister
Netanyahu. I listened carefully to what they had to say,
and the message is simple and clear: negotiate,
negotiate, negotiate.
 Democracy and the rule of law are the best
guarantees for freedom, but they require hard work. As
Francis Fukuyama put it, democracy is more than the
majority voting in elections. It is a complex set of
institutions that restrain and regularize the exercise of
power through law and a system of checks and
balances. That is what it is about.
 I admire the tremendous courage that people,
young and old, have shown to claim their individual
liberty and democratic rights. We must support their
efforts to build truly democratic societies governed by
the rule of law. The United Nations should play a
leading role by helping with institution-building and
developing the rule of law. To that effect, Slovakia and
the Netherlands, for their part, are co-chairing the
Community of Democracies’ task force that is
supporting Tunisia’s democratic transition.
 The international community should also support
internet access that is free and uncensored. This is an
essential tool for people to exercise their freedom of
expression, and we should take great care to make sure
they can use it. Countries supporting this cause should
really unite around it.
 As Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently said,
“Countries do not become fit for democracy; they
become fit through democracy.”
 Democracy means freedom and equal rights for
everyone. It provides opportunities to empower
women. Women represent 50 per cent of the world’s
human capital. It is in every country’s own interest to
ensure that women take an active role in society and

17 11-51390

the economy as well as in the political process in the
political power structures. I am convinced that in free
and fair elections, extremists who want to take away
women’s rights will not succeed.
 Real democracy also means that the rights of
religious groups, including Christians, are respected.
Society as a whole should be tolerant towards those
with other religions and beliefs. There should be no
doubt about that.
 Freedom offers the best route to prosperity. The
ongoing global economic crisis is affecting prosperity
everywhere in our world.
 Enabling free trade is vital to economic recovery.
Market access is crucial for private sector
development. Breaking down the barriers to trade in
agricultural products can galvanize entrepreneurship in
the countries that really need it the most. The Arab
region in particular should benefit from enhanced
export opportunities to the European Union.
 The beauty of well-regulated free trade is that it
is not a zero-sum game; it benefits everyone and it is
part and parcel of freedom. This is why the World
Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round must succeed.
The world should not and cannot revert to
protectionism. The WTO has an important part to play
in preventing this. The European Union is also
ambitiously negotiating free trade agreements with
various partners. Of course, these agreements should fit
within the multilateral system.
 Free trade leads to economic growth, which in
turn should also benefit the poorest countries in this
world. To further support their growth, we should
enhance their access to education, vocational training
and microfinance for women and the poor.
 Freedom belongs to us all. Those who have
fought to gain their freedom will never give it up.
Freedom must be supported through security,
democracy and the rule of law, and prosperity. We can
achieve this through the efforts of Member States.
Since the United Nations is the international forum
where global issues and actors come together, it is here
at the United Nations that we must join forces. We are
witnessing international developments unfolding more
rapidly than ever before. The United Nations needs to
adapt to maintain its important role in international
relations.
 For that matter, the Security Council should
better reflect changing international relations and
economic realities. The Netherlands supports a modest
enlargement of the Security Council, but with a limit
on the right of veto in order not to undermine the
effectiveness of the Council’s decision-making process.
 The Netherlands supports the Secretary-General’s
drive for budgetary discipline. We have to make careful
choices about what to finance and what not to. I also
urge emerging economies to take their share of
responsibility for the sustainability of United Nations
funding.
 The United Nations has an essential role in
fostering the rule of law around the world, as well as in
preventative diplomacy and mediation. The Netherlands
will play its part, including through the role of The
Hague as the international city of peace and justice.
The Peace Palace, the international courts and the legal
institutions attest to our long tradition of international
law and active role in its practice. That tradition, may I
say, goes back to Grotius’s early seventeenth-century
Mare Liberum, which laid the foundation for
international law.
 I would like to congratulate Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon on his reappointment. I call on him to
use the overwhelming support for his second term as a
mandate to reform the United Nations. A strong and
active United Nations is essential in a world in which
no country can shape the future single-handedly. To
succeed, public support for the United Nations is
crucial. Clear and tangible results are necessary to
sustain the commitment of Governments to the United
Nations. An effective and efficient United Nations is in
the national interests of all its Member States, and is,
indeed, essential for freedom throughout the world.
 Through our efforts at the United Nations, we can
support the calls for freedom around the world. Then,
on my next visit to Tunisia, Essma Ben Hamida, a
strong-willed woman, can hopefully tell me that
freedom has brought her both democracy and her rights
and empowerment as a woman.


At the very outset, allow
me to congratulate Mr. Al-Nasser on his well-deserved
election to the office of President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. I assure him of my
delegation’s full support during his tenure. Let me also
pay fitting tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss,
for the commendable manner in which he led the work
of the General Assembly during the sixty-fifth session.
 Mr. Ban Ki-moon also deserves our heart
congratulations on his reappointment as Secretary-
General. His unanimous re-election was a true
reflection of the confidence that all Member States
have in him.
 I also wish to express my profound joy at
witnessing the Republic of South Sudan join the ranks
of the Members of the United Nations. We welcome
this new Member and extend our hand in friendship.
 This sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly
once again provides us with an opportunity to reflect
on the overall situation in the world. The world
continues to experience numerous challenges. The
target date for the attainment of the Millennium
Development Goals is fast approaching, yet the world
continues to be overwhelmed by unending hurdles on
the path towards their achievement.
 Despite globalization, the least developed
countries are yet to be fully integrated into global
markets. Rapid environmental degradation,
compounded by the effects of climate change,
continues to adversely affect ecosystems, agriculture,
water resources and energy supplies. HIV and AIDS
have not relented in decimating whole nations. The
promotion of the principles of democracy and good
governance, the protection of fundamental human
rights, and the abuse of power in international relations
continue to present challenges.
 As if this were not enough, terrorism continues to
torment us. Along with the other challenges, this is a
fight that we collectively must win. Terrorism is a

11-51360 2

transnational problem that cannot be left to one State
alone to confront. All Member States must cooperate in
addressing and eliminating this menace. The biggest
challenge that we face in the post-Cold War era is to
ensure that terrorists do not lay their hands on weapons
of mass destruction.
 In this regard, we reiterate our call for the total
elimination of all nuclear weapons. We urge the
nuclear weapon States to remain faithful to their
commitments under the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). We
further call on those Member States that have not
joined the NPT to do so without further delay.
However, it would be illogical to ask non-nuclear
States to shun the proliferation of nuclear weapons,
while States that possess them continue to perfect new
generations of such weapons and to threaten their use
at the slightest opportunity.
 Some States Members of this global Organization
continue to experience either internal or external
conflicts of significant proportions. The international
community has not been consistent in its approach to
the management of these conflicts. In some countries,
the international community, acting through the
Security Council, has been swift and decisive in
intervening militarily. In other countries, the same
international community has preferred mediation, and
in yet still others it has turned a blind eye, at best
leaving the mantle to some of its members to
unilaterally threaten the imposition of sanctions.
 It is against this background that we welcome the
theme of our general debate, “The role of mediation in
the settlement of disputes by peaceful means”. Indeed,
the relevance and appropriateness of this theme at the
present juncture in international relations is beyond
doubt. In addressing this theme, we start from the
premise that the peaceful settlement of disputes
through mediation lies at the heart of the work of the
United Nations. However, the United Nations has not
sufficiently used mediation as a tool for conflict
resolution.
 The United Nations is charged with the
maintenance of international peace and order through
the Security Council. Consequently, the Council is
expected to take a leading role in the settlement of
disputes through mediation. In so doing, the Council
must adopt the multilateral approach. Such an approach
is the only way to guarantee transparency, impartiality
and ownership of the process by the general
membership of the United Nations. Mediation must
have as its priority the peaceful settlement of disputes,
the reconciliation of the parties and the future
sustainability of peace and stability. Peace that is
imposed without consulting all parties to conflicts
cannot be sustainable. Bias and abuse of military
power to influence the outcome of mediation in
conflicts will quickly erode the credibility of the
United Nations as an honest mediator and will
reinforce perceptions of ulterior motives.
 The Kingdom of Lesotho is a strong believer in
the principle of subsidiarity. It is common knowledge
that the primary role in the maintenance of
international peace and security reposes in the Security
Council. However, cooperation and coordination
between the Council and regional organizations, in
terms of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, is
key to resolving conflicts speedily. The United Nations
must empower and support the efforts of regional
structures and organizations, which in all cases have a
comparative advantage in mediating.
 However, the Security Council can better
discharge this function only if it is more representative
of the membership of the United Nations. A more
representative Security Council will take into account
all our aspirations, and its decisions will command
legitimacy. Consequently, we continue to call for the
early and comprehensive reform of the Security
Council in order to make it more representative of the
Member States. It is simply baffling, if not appalling,
to see how this all-important issue of Security Council
reform is being deliberately stymied.
 The settlement of conflicts through mediation has
been put to the test, and its successes are well recorded
in the annals of history. The peaceful settlement
through mediation of the conflict in the Republic of
Kenya in 2007 is a typical example. It should be
recalled that, in Kenya, a group of eminent persons
from Africa worked together with the United Nations
to broker a peaceful solution to the political stalemate
that resulted from the disputed parliamentary and
presidential elections of 2007. That solution resulted in
the formation of an all-inclusive and stable
Government.
 Secondly, a specific subregional mediation by the
Southern Africa Development Community yielded
fruitful results in Zimbabwe, as did that of the African

3 11-51360

Union (AU) in Burundi. Furthermore, we witnessed a
successfully mediated solution bring an end to Africa’s
longest civil war in the Sudan.
 The world rejoiced together with the people of
South Sudan in July 2011 upon their attainment of
independence as a sovereign nation. The remarkable
mediation efforts of the African Union, with the
support of the entire international community, helped
in consolidating peace in South Sudan. Indeed, the
mediation efforts are continuing in that sister country
to ensure the maintenance of peace in the post-conflict
period.
 It is our humble but considered opinion that,
where mediation has been given a chance, lives have
been saved. The cost in resources, be they financial or
human, has been minimal, and the destruction of
infrastructure avoided. Above all, reconciliation
between the warring factions has been realized.
 Strangely, and despite having mediation at its
disposal, the Security Council has at times preferred
military intervention. I may also add that, at times,
some members of the international community have
unilaterally engaged in military interventions.
Whenever military intervention has been preferred, it
has not enjoyed the support of the general membership
of the United Nations. Needless to say, the impact of
military intervention in conflicts is catastrophic for
innocent civilians, and it destroys infrastructure and
the economies of countries.
 In this regard, Libya may be used as a case study.
The African Union developed a comprehensive road
map that would have led to a peaceful settlement of the
Libyan crisis by the Libyan people themselves. Sadly,
we witnessed the deliberate marginalization of the AU
in the resolution of that crisis. Military intervention
was hastily adopted as an option, and the results of this
kind of intervention are a matter of record for all to
see, and indeed will be with us for a long time to come.
 Nevertheless, the opportunity for all stakeholders
to work together on consolidating peace in Libya has
not eluded us. The African Union road map for peace
remains as relevant today as it was at the beginning of
the conflict. The United Nations and the African Union
must work together to bring about the consolidation of
peace, national reconciliation and the establishment of
an all-inclusive Government in Libya. The United
Nations, and not just a few countries with vested
interests, should take the lead in the reconstruction of
that country. This transparent and unbiased approach
alone can ensure that there is no relapse into conflict in
Libya.
 We must employ all assets at our disposal so as to
fully exploit mediation as a tool for conflict prevention
and resolution. The good offices of the Secretary-
General in conflict prevention and resolution are an
instrument that may be very effective in mediating
conflicts. Those offices must be strengthened and given
the human and other resources necessary to undertake
mediation early enough to prevent conflicts and to deal
effectively with those that are ongoing. In that regard,
we encourage the mediation efforts of the Secretary-
General towards the realization of a free and
independent Western Sahara.
 By the same token, we are convinced that the
solution to the settlement of the question of Palestine
will be attained through genuine mediation. The
stalemate in the negotiations is a source of grave
concern to my country. We urge all the parties involved
to resuscitate the negotiations between the State of
Palestine and Israel without any further delay.
 Similarly, we must explore the possibility of a
mediated solution to the problem between the Republic
of Cuba and the United States of America. The
international community has been unanimous in its call
for the lifting of the economic and commercial
embargo imposed upon Cuba, yet the problem persists.
Indeed, Cuba, like all Member States, is entitled to
freedom of international trade and navigation.
 I conclude by pointing out that the crises we face
today provide us with an opportunity for introspection
and to chart the way forward. The obstacles that lie
ahead of us are not insurmountable. We must build a
more robust multilateral organization that is responsive
to the modern-day needs of our peoples. A United
Nations that is able to work with its partners, including
regional and subregional organizations, and all of its
Member States will surely achieve much success in all
of its endeavours. With renewed political will and
determination, let us commit ourselves to the principles
of mediation, as enshrined in the United Nations
Charter, and to the peaceful settlement of all disputes
and conflicts.


It is an honour for me to
deliver this address on behalf of the people and the

19 11-51670

Government of Belize. It is a particular privilege to do
so with Mr. Al-Nasser at the helm of the Assembly. I
say so because Belize has the distinct pleasure of
having him as the Ambassador of Qatar to Belize, a
role in which he has distinguished himself and his
nation, much as he is doing in his role as President of
the Assembly.
 Today’s world is characterized by disputes
between neighbouring States which have resulted and
continue to result in untold damage, loss of life and
financial ruin to the feuding States. Thus Mr. Al-Nasser’s
selection of the theme “The role of mediation in the
settlement of disputes” for this year’s general debate is
a timely and appropriate one. We in Belize fully
subscribe to the view that mediation is a much more
sensible means of putting an end to disputes than the
use of force or threats of force, especially in the case of
neighbouring States whose people have to live side by
side and who are often dependent upon one another for
survival and security.
 But today’s world is also characterized by
widespread anxiety, insecurity, unrest, violence and
instability. This is manifested in our financial markets
as well as in the streets of cities in the developed and
the developing world. Threats, both natural and man-
made, appear to be proliferating. Debt crises are now
so globalized that they are dwarfing national fiscal and
policy space. Drugs, arms and human trafficking
dominate the global stage, while Mother Nature is
undergoing extreme changes, leaving death, destruction
and disaster in her wake.
 Thus far, unfortunately, international responses to
these catastrophic occurrences have been both
uninspiring and inadequate.
 Notwithstanding the armoury of human rights
that are enshrined in our own Human Rights Charter,
far too many people are still destitute, are still dying
from hunger, are still casualties of preventable or
curable diseases, are still illiterate, are still jobless and
are still marginalized and excluded from their very own
societies.
 Three years after the 2008 economic and
financial crisis, the global economy is once again
bracing for another setback, as the recovery in major
industrialized economies stutters and risks a very real
danger of reversal. Terrorism remains no less of a
global threat. Mortality from non-communicable
diseases now rivals mortality from communicable
diseases. And greenhouse gas emissions continue to
fuel global warming at a perilous rate.
 Faced with the plethora of ills that now beset our
world, we in Belize entertain no doubt that if any
institution holds the key to solving the world problems
it is this Organization, the United Nations, and its
various agencies and institutions. Belize is therefore
looking to the United Nations to lead the charge and to
partner with us in combating three of the most serious
threats that presently confront us, namely, the threat
posed by climate change, the threat posed by crime and
violence and the threat posed by chronic
non-communicable diseases.
 For small island and coastal States like Belize,
global warming poses an existential threat. We have
already been overwhelmed by the nature, scale and
frequency of the damage that extreme weather
conditions, triggered by global warming, have wrought
on our infrastructure and marine and terrestrial
organisms. While we appreciate that each of us is
primarily responsible for our own welfare and we are
taking such measures as are within our competence to
cope with our changing circumstances, climate change
is a global problem that requires a global response
based on the principle of common but differentiated
responsibility.
 The President took the Chair.
 To that end, some small island and coastal States,
including Belize, are moving resolutely towards low-
carbon and no-carbon emission economies. Today,
24 of our small island developing States (SIDS) have
become partners in an innovative, sustainable energy
initiative called SIDS DOCK, aimed at transforming
our energy sector and catalyzing our sustainable
economic development. However, in order to succeed
in our initiative we will require delivery or transfer of
the often promised environmentally friendly
technology and the new and additional funding
promised by the international community.
 In that regard, we consider the upcoming Durban
Conference on climate change of high importance. We
believe that every effort should be made at the
Conference to forge a climate change regime that will
incentivize significant emission reductions and the
protection and preservation of existing forests, while
simultaneously creating disincentives to polluting
actions. Additionally, clear, legally binding rules must

11-51670 20

be hammered out with a view to guaranteeing the
environmental integrity of our countries.
 Over the last decade, crime and violence in
Belize and the rest of Central America have escalated
drastically, resulting in some 18,167 homicides.
However, none of the arms used in those murders was
produced in Central America. Those arms are the
product of the illicit trafficking in guns and drugs
between South and North America. The transnational
nature of those crimes is exacerbated by cross-border
collaboration among criminals. Confronting that type
of criminal activity successfully will clearly require the
collaboration and cooperation of the international
community.
 We in Belize have stepped up our national efforts,
in conjunction with our neighbours in Central America,
the Caribbean and the United States, to combat those
criminal activities. But the going is difficult and
progress is slow. We need more help from the
international community. Ideally, we would need a
universally applicable normative framework to regulate
the trade in arms, such as an arms trade treaty that is
legally binding, robust and comprehensive; one that
establishes the highest possible standards for the
transfer of conventional arms, especially small arms,
light weapons and ammunition.
 I now turn to some of the silent killers that are
ravaging our Latin American and Caribbean
communities — the chronic non-communicable
diseases (NCDs), such as hyper-tension, diabetes and
obesity. In the Caribbean today, NCDs are responsible
for 62 per cent of deaths, 40 per cent of which occur
prematurely. If the current trend continues,
non-communicable diseases will account for three out
of four deaths in the Caribbean by the year 2030.
 Again, those diseases can be combated
effectively only through collaborative efforts of the
international community. In that connection, we
welcome the conclusion of the recently held High-level
Meeting on non-communicable diseases (A/66/PV.3
and A/66/PV.4), as well as the first comprehensive
global political declaration addressing chronic
non-communicable diseases (resolution 66/2). It should
serve as a template for action at all levels. We will
eagerly await the development of indicators and global
targets aimed at achieving a 25 per cent reduction in
non-communicable disease-related deaths by 2025.
That will, no doubt, necessitate close collaboration and
cooperation among Governments, international
organizations, civil society and the private sector to
facilitate access to medicines and healthy foods. Belize
is committed to supporting that initiative
unconditionally.
 Belize is of the view that, given the quantum and
scale of the problems which confront the world today
and the unquestioned need for an ever-increasing
amount of resources, the international community
cannot afford not to avail itself of every source of
assistance at hand. And in that regard, we wish to urge
that the Republic of China, Taiwan, be allowed to
participate meaningfully in the work of the United
Nations. In a similar vein, we would urge that the
embargo against Cuba, which the Assembly has
denounced for many years, be brought to a speedy end.
 Finally, while Belize appreciates the limitations
of this United Nations, we also appreciate that there
exists no better institution than this one, which is
dedicated to world peace, security, justice and
development. And even as we seek its reform, we
recognize its primacy in international affairs and global
governance. I am, therefore, pleased to assure you that
Belize is fully committed to work within this
Organization, through it and with it as it carries out its
mandates.


At the outset, I wish to
congratulate Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his
assumption of the post of President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. I assure him of the
fullest cooperation of the Latvian delegation. I also
congratulate the Secretary-General on his re-appointment
to his honourable post for a second term. I wish him the
greatest success and strength in guiding the Organization
and the Secretariat in all their complex tasks.
 I warmly welcome the State of South Sudan as
the 193rd Member of the United Nations.
 Latvia has always supported strengthening the
United Nations as the only truly universal international
organization. However, the United Nations must
change and adapt to the new realities in order to deliver
the best results and sustain its influence. The
revitalization of the General Assembly and the reform
of other principal organs are essential so that the
United Nations can keep pace with the modern realities
in the world and to make the whole of its work more
effective. That will allow consistent adherence to the
principles of sound budgetary discipline and a fair
distribution of expenses among the Member States.
 In the context of the global economic slowdown,
we welcome the initiative of the Secretary-General to
cut the United Nations budget for 2012-2013 by 3 per
cent, and we look forward to a constructive discussion
on that matter.
 The reform of the Security Council is long
overdue. We call on all partners to work sincerely on
this important issue. Latvia is ready to assume greater
international responsibility and is planning to engage

25 11-50702

more actively in the Council’s work by putting forward
its candidature for a non-permanent seat.
 This year marks the twentieth anniversary of
Latvia’s joining the United Nations, after regaining
independence. In those 20 years we have undergone a
complete transformation. From a Soviet-occupied
European country with no trace on the political map,
Latvia has re-emerged as a country with stable
democratic institutions and membership in the United
Nations, the European Union and NATO. From a
closed, regulated system we have developed an open,
liberal market economy. From a totalitarian regime we
have grown into a democratic society where the rule of
law and human rights are respected. Now we are able
to share our transformation experience by helping other
countries in their own development.
 Important changes, often called the Arab Spring,
have started in North Africa and the Middle East.
People have gone to the streets demanding democratic
reforms and influence on the future development of
their countries. The international community has to
support those aspirations and assist in building stable
and trusted democratic institutions and establishing the
rule of law.
 We welcome the timely reaction of the United
Nations to the events in Libya, such as the Security
Council’s decision to provide humanitarian and
security assistance and to refer the case to the
International Criminal Court. Latvia has recognized the
National Transitional Council of Libya and supported
the General Assembly decision to allow the Council to
represent Libya at this session. Joint action is crucial,
and we hope that the United Nations, in collaboration
with relevant regional actors, will continue to play a
leading role in Libya.
 We support the Security Council presidential
statement regarding the events in Syria
(S/PRST/2011/16) and the Human Rights Council
decision to urgently dispatch a special mission to Syria
(A/HRC/RES/S-16/1). The message is clear: violations
of human rights and the use of force against civilians
are totally unacceptable and strongly condemned by
the international community. We look forward to an
appropriate follow-up on this issue in the Security
Council.
 Today the international community has a historic
responsibility to make the Middle East a safer, more
prosperous and more democratic place to live. We must
support the Middle East peace process with the goal of
two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in
peace and security. Latvia strongly encourages both
sides to resume dialogue without delay. Sustainable
peace is possible only if the Israelis and the
Palestinians reach an agreement that takes into account
the legitimate interests of both sides. The international
community — the United Nations, the Quartet, the
Arab League and others — should act together to help
both sides to return to the negotiation table.
 Turning to sustainable development, I would like
to stress that we have a responsibility to future
generations for the preservation of the natural
environment in the world. That responsibility includes
an obligation to ensure that the resources available to
us now are used in the most appropriate ways.
 In order to address the challenges posed by
climate change, joint global action is needed with
regard to emissions reduction and global warming.
Later this year, the next United Nations Climate
Change Conference, in Durban, will take important
decisions. Any proposed agreement on climate change
action should be a reasonable compromise that is
acceptable for the majority of participating Parties and
does not exclude any of the major economies.
 In order to achieve sustainable development,
protecting the environment and preserving a healthy
society are most important. However, in the twenty-
first century we face a new challenge: non-communicable
diseases. We commend the High-level Meeting on the
Prevention and Control of Non-communicable
Diseases and the adoption of the Political Declaration
(resolution 66/2, annex). We hope that we will have an
effective follow-up process.
 The economic crisis has reminded us that we live
in an interdependent world. We are deeply worried by
the level of uncertainty and volatility in international
trade and financial markets. The primary responsibility
for prudent governance is at a national level. However,
in the current situation the international community
must once again act together and find sustainable
stabilization measures in order to prevent another
downturn in the global economy.
 My country, Latvia, was one of those hit first and
hard by the crisis but now is among the countries that
are steadily recovering. Our gross domestic product is
growing again and unemployment is falling. The
recovery of the Latvian economy can teach us several

11-50702 26

simple lessons. First is the importance of acting
quickly and decisively in adopting austerity measures.
Secondly, in order to carry out structural reforms, there
is a strong need to communicate and to engage with
society. The third and final lesson, of course, is the
value of international solidarity.
 We face a large number of transnational threats,
including terrorism. This year, we commemorate the
tenth anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks of
11 September 2001. We express our solidarity and
sympathy with the victims of 9/11 and others who have
been affected by terrorism all over the world.
 As we combat terrorism, we must also analyse its
root causes. Our aim in Afghanistan is to help to
stabilize the security situation and to build local
democratic institutions. That will empower the Afghan
Government to take over responsibility for security
throughout the country by 2014. A sustainable solution
in Afghanistan can be found only if regional actors,
including the Central Asian countries, are part of the
process. Joint action is needed to unlock economic
opportunities, to strengthen regional security
cooperation and to develop infrastructure and transport
corridors in order to connect Afghanistan with the
region and the rest of the world.
 In addition to the role of the United Nations in
maintaining international peace and security, the
importance of regional organizations is increasing. In
that context, we draw attention to the protracted
conflicts in Europe in Transdniestria, Abkhazia, South
Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Regional
organizations — in this case, the EU and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe — must continue working to seek peaceful
solutions. Good cooperation with the United Nations is
crucial.
 In that regard, let me emphasize the principled
and consistent position of Latvia and the EU in
supporting the peaceful settlement of conflicts and
values such as democracy, the rule of law and the
protection of human rights. Those lie at the core of the
EU foreign policy strategy.
 This year, we carried out the review process of
the functioning of the main United Nations human
rights body — the Human Rights Council. Latvia saw
that review process as a unique opportunity to improve
the performance and credibility of that important body.
We took note of the outcome of the review process
(resolution 65/281, annex). However, we believe that
much more could have been done to enable the Council
to live up to the expectations of countries and people.
 Latvia believes that members of the Human
Rights Council must lead by example through full
commitment to the promotion and protection of human
rights. Latvia attaches the greatest importance to that
commitment by putting forward its candidacy for the
Human Rights Council elections in the year 2014.
 Challenges to global security, development and
human rights can be overcome only by our joint
efforts. Latvia looks forward to a fruitful sixty-sixth
session of the General Assembly.


I bring warm greetings from the
people of Kiribati, on whose behalf I address the
Assembly. I wish to join previous speakers in
congratulating you, Mr. President, on your election to
the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
sixth session.
 We gather here every year as world leaders to
represent our peoples and to discuss issues of concern
to the global community. At this session our theme is
the role of mediation in the settlement of disputes by
peaceful means, which is appropriate in its reminder to
us that peace and security are indeed crucial to the
continued harmonious existence of mankind on this
planet.
 As a global community we constantly face many
challenges to our political, social and economic
stability. Natural and human-induced disasters have
caused much suffering in different regions of the
world. Countries and peoples are facing all kinds of
security threats from armed conflicts, terrorism, human
trafficking, economic recession, climate change and its
associated impacts. As a result, many communities
suffer daily from increasing poverty, hunger and
dislocation.
 But how can all this be happening in a
supposedly rational world community under the
scrutiny of this global body? Is our existing
Organization in its current form equipped to deal with
these emerging issues, or is it time to review the
structure and effectiveness of our international
governance system?
 The lack of progress on climate change
negotiations clearly demonstrates the wide divergence

11-51191 30

of positions on the issue. I believe that unless we can
approach any mediation with trust and commitment,
we will be caught in the vicious circle of starting with
our differences, in our obsession to protect what we
perceive to be our critical national interests.
 I would like to thank the Secretary-General for
his comments based on his experience during his recent
visit to Kiribati. His views are those of an independent
observer who came, who saw and who believed. His
comments are a powerful endorsement of what we, the
most vulnerable countries, have been saying over the
years, and my hope is that this will communicate the
need for urgent action to all who possess a sense of
moral responsibility. Climate change will remain the
curse of our planet. Most nations perceive it to be a
future event, but for the very few it is already reaching
disastrous levels.
 Some will argue that climate change does not fall
within the conventional definition of a security threat,
but that is simply because it may not be so for them at
this point in time. In Kiribati, many young people go to
sleep each night fearing what may happen to their
homes overnight, especially during very high tides.
The accelerated and continued erosion of our shoreline
is destroying settlements, and as I speak, some
communities are relocating on the island. I was glad
that the Secretary-General was able to understand and
feel for himself the sense of threat that our people and
those of similarly vulnerable countries experience on a
daily basis.
 In the international climate-change forums there
is ongoing dialogue and negotiation in an attempt to
find amicable solutions to this threat. But there is an
ongoing disagreement on how to address this global
challenge. The question is: how much longer must we
continue to argue about this? When are we going to do
something about it? Our people and our children,
whose lives and future are under serious threat, look to
us for leadership. The urgency of the need for action
cannot be overemphasized.
 At Cancún, it was my understanding that there
was agreement on the need for an urgent package to
address the situation of the most vulnerable countries,
which are now being seriously affected by the adverse
impacts of climate change. Next year, we will gather
again as world leaders to take stock of what we have
done since the Rio Summit in 1992. It is my fervent
hope that, in the light of current scientific evidence and
based on the experiences of the most vulnerable
countries, we as a global community will embark on
bold and innovative initiatives to address the climate
change challenge. I acknowledge with gratitude the
adoption of resolutions 63/281 and 65/159 on the
possible security implications of climate change and
the protection of our global climate for present and
future generations. And I thank those who saw and
supported the need to classify climate change as a
security issue.
 In December, there will be another United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban. I
acknowledge that climate change negotiations will take
several years to conclude, but I also believe that there
is common ground on which there is no real debate.
The urgent need for the flow of adaptation funds to
address the more urgent adaptation needs of the most
vulnerable countries is a matter on which I believe
there is general consensus. But what is the point in
consensus if no concrete action follows? Kiribati was
one of the countries that did not sign the Copenhagen
Accord because of what we saw as its serious
shortcomings, but we were subsequently persuaded to
associate ourselves with it on the premise that doing so
would trigger the flow of much-needed adaptation
funds that had been pledged. Today, we continue to
await those funds.
 We all want to achieve sustainable development.
We are grateful to those who have continued to assist
and partner with us on this journey, but our efforts at
achieving sustainable growth will continue to be
frustrated by external factors. Ongoing uncertainty in
the global economic climate and rising food and fuel
prices remain major challenges to our sustainable
development efforts. On top of all that, our increasing
preoccupation with the impacts of climate change will
progressively dominate our national agenda.
 It is no surprise, therefore, that we continue to be
off track in the achievement of most of the Millennium
Development Goals and the implementation of our
sustainable development agenda under our national
development plan. Every step we take forward we are
knocked back two or three due to the many challenges
we face. It is therefore imperative that climate change
adaptation funds be mobilized at the earliest
opportunity. Otherwise, we will be forced to divert
development resources towards the most urgent
adaptation needs. Therefore, as we move towards
Durban, it is our hope that the Green Climate Fund can

31 11-51191

be operationalized as soon as possible to allow the
most vulnerable countries to attend to their adaptation
needs from new resources.
 In the same vein, we believe that all nations and
peoples — including Taiwan — that play a role in
international affairs, including contributing to climate
change, should also be part of the solution. During
these difficult times, and facing challenges to our
existing world order, we can ill afford to isolate any
nation that has the capacity to assist in our struggles.
 I believe that, as a global community, we must be
united in our efforts to address any security threat to
international peace and security, be it within States or
between States. We need to forge consensus in our
collective action to promote and maintain our
collective security. Let us work together as a global
community to address the many conflicts and disputes
that are posing serious security challenges to our well-
being, before they consume and condemn our
civilization to oblivion.
 In closing, I share our traditional blessing of
health, peace and prosperity.


At this general debate of the sixty-sixth
session of the General Assembly, I convey to the
Assembly a Christian, socialist greeting of solidarity
from the people of Nicaragua and Comrade President
Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra. We trust that our
work will contribute to strengthening the Organization
through an appropriate focus on its purposes, principles
and possible contributions so that we can successfully
deal with the challenges before us as a community of
States, peoples and nations.
 One year ago, during our discussions at the sixty-
fifth session of the General Assembly, we extensively
addressed the serious and multifaceted international
crisis experienced by humankind. At that time we
called it an apocalyptical crisis. One year later, the
evolution of world events has confirmed our
profoundest fears that our civilization is now at a
critical stage and that peace between States and
peoples is dangerously at risk.
 Expectations that the international economic and
financial situation would improve have dissipated
before the relentless reality of a profound crisis; its
gravest effects still continue to affect deeply our
peoples. The international financial system, which is
controlled by speculators, again plunged into a tailspin.
The measures taken have had a temporary, non-lasting
effect owing to the ever increasing greed of bankers.
We are now witnessing the effects of the United States
internal debt problem, which has generated great losses
in most exchange markets.
 At present, as before, we affirm that we reject the
language of war between peoples and we reject war as
a means to resolve conflicts between States. In the light
of the events in the brotherly Arab socialist popular
republic of Libya, we reiterate our declaration of
principle and express our solidarity with the brotherly
Libyan people.
 The blunt and shameful manipulation of Security
Council resolution 1973 (2011) regarding Libya — the
illegal war being carried out by NATO members — is
the most recent example of the pathological need of
particular States to attempt to subordinate the peoples
of the world at any cost. It is the most recent example
of attacks against the sovereignty of a State Member of
the United Nations in violation of the Charter of the
United Nations.
 Nicaragua expresses its firmest rejection of the
use of the misnamed responsibility to protect in order
to intervene in our countries, bomb civilians and

11-51398 4

change free and sovereign governments. We cannot
allow the imposition of this new model of imperialist
aggression nor the continued aggression against our
peoples. Interference and intervention will not resolve
crises; only dialogue and negotiation among brothers
and sisters will resolve political crises among peoples.
 The unacceptable policy of double standards has
become a constant of those Powers, which clearly
aspire to hegemony. Where are those countries, the
supposed defenders of oppressed peoples, the self-
proclaimed civilian protection apostles, when an
attempt is being made to recognize the inalienable
rights of the Palestinian people, their right to live in
peace, their right to a sovereign State enjoying full
recognition as a State Member of the United Nations?
This is clearly an instance of double morals, double
standards. After six decades of conflict, the Palestinian
people are now to be denied their right to a State, while
a mere 10 days ago, with unheard of haste and, I must
note, a certain irony, the General Assembly recognized
a transitional council that has not yet formed a
Government.
 We reject the logic of denying the very existence
of a Palestinian State. From the moment of triumph of
our revolution in 1979 — the Sandinista revolution —
Nicaragua has been a proud witness to the noble
struggle of the Palestinian people and their substantial
concessions aimed at achieving peace.
 Before the General Assembly, Nicaragua ratifies
its recognition of the Palestinian State within its 1967
borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. We call, here
and now, for the proclamation of Palestine as the
194th State Member of the United Nations.
Recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian
people can only serve to promote Middle East peace
and stability. At present, more than ever, such
recognition must become a reality. Clearly, Palestine’s
right is linked to the existence of the State of Israel, a
State we recognize in juridical and political terms. May
both States exist, so that both peoples may live in
peace and work for their well-being and development:
That is the universal appeal.
 Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly for
more than two decades have demanded an end to the
United States of America’s economic embargo against
Cuba. They must be fully implemented. Despite
expectations, the facts confirm that nothing has
changed. Sanctions against Cuba remain intact and are
rigorously implemented. That criminal blockade
violates international law; it is contrary to the purposes
and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and
constitutes a crime against a sovereign State’s right to
peace, development and security. In its essence and its
objectives, it is an act of unilateral aggression and a
permanent threat to a country’s stability.
 Despite that criminal blockade, Cuba continues
daily to strengthen its solidarity and fraternal relations
with all peoples of the world. Cuba’s armies of white
coats and educators are ever more numerous in
demonstrating their country’s solidarity. We also echo
the call for an end to the injustice against the five
Cuban heroes who have been unjustly imprisoned for
13 years as of this past 12 September, for having
alerted their people to the activities of terrorist
organizations against Cuba.
 As unlikely as it may seem, the process of
decolonization has not ended, and there remain entire
peoples who have been denied their right to
independence and self determination. We welcome and
maintain our solidarity with the peoples of Puerto Rico,
the Western Sahara and the struggle of the Frente
Polisario and with Argentina with regard to the
occupation of the Malvinas Islands.
 Observations made in the Assembly in 2010
regarding the need to achieve a balance between
human beings and Mother Earth remain relevant; they
have even led us to conclude that, far from
diminishing, pressures on the planet have increased;
threats have escalated and real and potential dangers
have multiplied.
 Among those, the Fukushima disaster in Japan
had the virtue of bringing into view the chilling global
risk of radiation. The Japanese crisis has rightly been
described as a nuclear war without war. Its present and
future repercussions, which have not yet been fully
established, are considered by recognized scientists to
be more serious than those of the Chernobyl disaster.
 While expressing our solidarity with the
Government and the heroic people of Japan — the
victims of the earthquake that levelled their territory
and those affected by the Fukushima accident — we
vehemently call on States with nuclear reactor
installations to take all measures to avoid similar
accidents that would gravely endanger people’s health
and would harm the environment.

5 11-51398

 The upcoming Durban Climate Change
Conference and the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable
Development will provide renewed opportunities —
which we must not allow ourselves to squander — to
truly break with destructive logic and redirect
humankind towards development that is in harmony
with Mother Earth and respectful of the lives of the 7
billion human beings now populating the planet.
 We all know that we have been incapable of
achieving an accord on climate change. Although the
sixteenth Conference of the Parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
established a Green Fund and called for the
mobilization of financing for developing countries, that
accord is far from addressing the serious damage being
done to the environment and Mother Earth or the
historical responsibility of the developed countries,
which are bent on dealing a final blow to the Kyoto
Protocol so as to continue their uncontrolled emissions
of greenhouse effect gases.
 In Rio and in Durban we will be called upon to
renew our political will and adopt genuine, concrete
commitments based on previous progress and
commitments. The issue is of transcendental
importance for our planet and for human beings.
Development must not sacrifice life. We recall that the
Universal Declaration on the Common Well-Being of
Mother Earth and of humankind is an essential guide
for our debates and actions.
 Looking at other issues, Nicaragua salutes the
international community’s invitation to Taiwan to
participate in the assemblies of United Nations
specialized agencies directly related to the well-being
of the 23 million Taiwanese. We urge other
international forums to adopt similar positions.
 The global economic and financial crisis has
compounded the already serious food crisis, primarily
in impoverished countries. We know that this crisis
also has structural causes in the present capitalist
development model — a model that discourages
internal production and impedes technology transfer to
the agricultural sector of impoverished countries, a
model without available credit or technical training for
small and medium producers, which results in
production difficulties.
 Climate change has become an additional major
factor in the deepening of the food crisis. The trend
towards higher oil prices at the international level has
caused some countries with an agricultural base to
begin producing biofuel. That phenomenon has
significantly changed food supply and demand and has
reinforced the trend toward higher prices.
 From the ethical point of view, as well as
political, economic and social, it is essential to take
immediate concerted action to avoid the continuing
increase in the number of hungry people and to
develop sustainable policies for guaranteeing food
security worldwide.
 We renew our commitment to the cause of
general and complete disarmament. It is imperative
that we establish peace on Earth and provide the
7 billion human beings who inhabit it, and Mother
Earth itself, with the opportunity to survive the
destructive tendencies promoted by the dominant
economic model, so that humankind may develop in an
environment conducive to manifesting our enormous
spiritual and material capacities. No other way will
enable us to achieve a better future.
 It is therefore unjustifiable and unacceptable that
the present world continues to spend more on the
development and testing of all types of weapons and
less on protecting the life and development of human
beings. While millions of persons suffer the effects of
the economic and financial crisis, global military
expenditures have skyrocketed. Over the past 10 years,
those expenditures have increased by 50 per cent, to
$1.5 trillion today. More than 8 million small arms and
light weapons and more than 16 billion munitions are
produced every year, the equivalent to more than
2.5 munitions for every single person on the planet.
That arms proliferation causes irreparable direct and
indirect harm to peoples and their economies.
 We can end that proliferation if we decide to. It is
not true that the arms sector is vitally important to the
world economy. In fact, despite what the producers of
small arms and light weapons would have us believe,
their trade and the trade in munitions and components
represent less than 0.01 per cent of the world’s
industrial transactions.
 We are firmly convinced that because the Korean
peninsula remains a focal point of international
tension, any solution must take place through goodwill
and sincere dialogue between the parties in order to
maintain peace and stability.

11-51398 6

 The factors called new threats to security have
become an outright scourge for most of our countries.
Drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal arms
trafficking, and the trafficking of immigrants, among
others, constitute ethical, political and economic
challenges for Central America, which is stigmatized
today in some international reports as one of the most
violent regions on Earth. That stigmatization is
deliberate and carries serious consequences for our
countries. It transforms us into protagonists of the
problem rather than the victims we truly are, victims of
the lucrative businesses that constitute those new
threats. Through transnational networks they utilize our
territories as a bridge from South to North and from
North to South, in a dance of millionaires as thousands
of people are assassinated along illegal routes and
porous borders.
 The International Conference of Support for the
Central American Security Strategy, held in Guatemala
last June, exposed the seriousness of a situation that
exists not only in our region, but in all of the countries
of the world. That is why the principle of shared but
differentiated and proportional responsibility must
guide mutual commitments. It is urgent that we move
in the right direction before it is too late for us all.
 Nicaragua is going through a time of change
aimed at reversing the negative effects of 16 long years
under neoliberal Governments. We are recovering
values, restoring rights, strengthening capacities and
constructing a new model based on replacing the
neoliberal model of untrammeled capitalism with one
based on Christian, socialist and solidarity principles.
We are articulating popular democracy through the
national human development plan. Together these
constitute the backbone of a new phase of the
Sandinista revolution.
 These achievements are due in large part to
Nicaragua’s integration into the Bolivarian Alliance for
the Peoples of Our Americas, an initiative stemming
from the genius of Fidel Castro, the Commander in
Chief of the Cuban revolution, and of Commander-
President Hugo Chávez Frías. This brotherhood,
unique in today’s world, enables solidarity,
complementarity and fair trade between our peoples
and advances the historical cultural unity of our
peoples.
 At the same time, our national human
development plan is aimed specifically at promoting
the country’s economic and social health by adding
jobs and reducing poverty and inequality, on a basis of
sovereignty, security and integration. The restoration of
the human and constitutional right of all Nicaraguans
to free education is reflected in the fact that, in a
country with a total population of 6.5 million,
1,821,682 students are now enrolled in schools. This
year we are launching the battle for universal primary
education, aiming at universal sixth grade education by
2012. The goal is to achieve universal enrolment in the
third year of secondary school by 2015.
 The restoration of the human and constitutional
right of the Nicaraguan people to free health care
means providing better access to, and improving the
quality of, health services, reducing maternal and
infant mortality, paying more attention to the
development of young people, expanding community
family health services, and the first large-scale
registering of people with disabilities. Our Programa
Amor is designed for boys and girls under six years old
and for street children and adolescents, and those who
work during school terms, in order to restore to them
their fundamental rights.
 In structural areas, we are making progress in
transforming the energy matrix so that by 2017, 90 per
cent of energy will be from renewable sources and
10 per cent from fossil fuels, radically inverting the
pyramid we inherited in 2006. We are enjoying
macroeconomic stability, with gross national product
growth projected at 4 per cent or more. Our
improvement policies have increased direct foreign
investment in our country’s strategic sectors. We have
had outstanding successes in confronting drug
trafficking and transnational organized crime.
Nicaragua is now recognized as one of the safest
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the
safest in Central America. We have had indisputable
successes in reducing poverty and inequality, as has
been recognized by international financial institutions.
 We are fervent supporters of the integration and
unity of Central America, Latin America and the
Caribbean. Within the framework of the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, we are
securing our model through complementarity,
investments, fair trade and solidarity.
 With our neighbours and brothers in Honduras
and El Salvador, we are working together for the
sustainable development of the Gulf of Fonseca.

7 11-51398

Comrade President Daniel Ortega Saavedra has also
made several approaches to the Government and
people of our neighbour to the south, Costa Rica,
concerning the possibility of joint development of our
common border, particularly in terms of protecting and
restoring the environment and working on sustainable
economic and social development for the benefit of
both our peoples. Throughout this process, young
people and women have been at the forefront of the
direct democracy model that is the essence and
continuity of the Sandinista revolution.
 Nicaragua can demonstrate the profound,
concrete and verifiable economic, social, political,
legislative and cultural achievements our people are
undergoing. In the context of the serious crises that so
many countries, developed and developing, are going
through, our Christian, socialist, solidarity model is an
inspiration for an ever better future.
 We are aware of our difficulties and limitations.
We know that the weight of the historical structure that
we inherited is still a liability that we must cast off in
our national development process. The burdens of
poverty and underdevelopment require sound policies
and sustained effort and political and governing
systems that have the necessary commitment to our
people’s aspirations. I can assure the Assembly that
through our Government of national reconciliation and
unity we will achieve that and more.
 As we have said before, it is not easy for
developing countries such as ours to deal with an issue
of the breadth and depth of the global economic and
financial crisis. We have yet to recover from the harsh
effects of the last wave, while the new threat of another
and greater crisis is bearing down on us. According to
the International Monetary Fund, Central America’s
response to the previous world economic and financial
crisis was in large part successful. We were able to deal
with the situation successfully — success with costs
that in Nicaragua’s case were not passed on to the
poorest, because the measures we adopted were based
on the interests of our country as a whole.
 As we consider international developments, we
must also turn our attention to our own Organization.
Global democratization must be accompanied by
democratization of the United Nations without further
delay.
 In his book La reinvención de la ONU: una
propuesta, our comrade and friend, the former
President of the Assembly, General Father Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann — who is with us here — states
that it is urgent that we give true meaning to
democracy and independence in the United Nations, so
that the opinions of all can be heard and so that those
opinions really count in the decision-making process,
with no one being excluded.
 This proposal, adopted by our national
reconciliation and unity Government, consists of
proposals on the United Nations charter, the statute of
the International Court of Justice and the statute for the
International Tribunal for Climate Justice and
Environmental Protection, as well as a proposal on a
draft universal declaration on the common good of
mother earth and humankind.
 Reinvention and re-grounding are key concepts
that will pave the way for an international system
based on genuine multilateralism that is in harmony
with the changes the world has undergone during the
past few decades. We must restore a true political
dimension to international law and to the rights of
people.
 Developed societies are sinking into the despair
caused by unemployment, the lack of social security,
financial insolvency, the implosion of established
labour rights and an uncertain future. Global Powers
are waging wars of aggression with no moral or
political base, causing material destruction and
enormous human suffering. Economic and financial
recovery are nowhere in sight; on the contrary,
specialists foresee a recession even more serious than
the one we have recently experienced.
 Where do we find the solution we so urgently
need? Where do we regain hope in the possibility of a
different present and future world, in which there is
peace between States and nations? In which
development efforts and impressive scientific and
technological advances are equitably shared? In which,
as the Greek sophist Protagoras put it, man is the
measure of all things?
 According to many prominent thinkers on the
global reality, the final crisis of the capitalist
development model has arrived. There is no time for
reforms. As Leonardo Boff has said,
 “We need to find another way of thinking, one
based on principles and values that can sustain a
new test of civilization. If not, we will have to

11-51398 8

accept a path that leads straight to the edge of the
precipice. Dinosaurs already took that path.”
 Nicaragua is proceeding on the belief that a better
future is possible if only we are capable of steering in a
new direction, if we struggle for justice and peace, and
if we commit ourselves to the development and
defence of the common good of the Earth and of
humankind.


It is a distinct
honour and pleasure for me to address the General
Assembly at the outset of its sixty-sixth session. This
forum provides us with an unparalleled opportunity to
strengthen, through dialogue, our concerted efforts in
the quest for solutions to the mounting challenges that
the international community faces today. We, the
leaders of the United Nations, are expected to offer
guidance and find solutions.
 I am convinced that, given the extensive
diplomatic experience of the President of the
Assembly, and under his able leadership, we will be
able to make this session a successful one. I wish him
every success in his demanding duties and assure him
of my delegation’s full support and assistance. I also
wish to express my delegation’s appreciation and
gratitude for the exquisite work of his predecessor,
Mr. Joseph Deiss, who so skilfully guided our
proceedings during the sixty-fifth session.
 Let me also join others in paying tribute to the
remarkable work of the newly reappointed Secretary-
General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon. We deeply
value his eminent personal and diplomatic qualities and
look forward to working with him during his next
tenure.
 Slovakia warmly welcomes the Republic of South
Sudan as a new member of the United Nations family.
We wish South Sudan every success and, above all,
peace, security and prosperity for its people.
 Her Excellency Ms. Dilma Rousseff, President of
the Federative Republic of Brazil, opened her speech
with these words:
  “For the very first time in the history of the
United Nations, a female voice is opening the
general debate. It is the voice of democracy and
equality.” ()
President Rousseff expressed in two words the main
challenge for the coming years: courage and sincerity.
This challenge is accurate at a time of economic and
debt crisis. We have to say openly that we still do not
have adequate solutions. We are facing common risks
in economy, governance and politics.
 Citizens all over the world expect leadership and
a mutual synergy of economy and politics. The
majority of the world’s population expects economic
growth, prosperity and a better quality of life. Those
living in poverty — the millions of people without
jobs, without water and without food — expect real
answers, quick action and results from political
leaders.
 What can such a small country as Slovakia do to
address these challenges? First, it has to do its own
homework in stabilizing the economy. That means
ensuring our pension system’s sustainability through
deep reforms, and enacting a fiscal responsibility law
that will ensure that fiscal policy is responsible to
future generations and counter-cyclical. It means
labour market reforms that support the creation of the
new jobs the country badly needs, especially for some
of its vulnerable groups. It means lowering the
administrative burden and decreasing barriers to
entrepreneurship, improving the predictability of the
legal environment, and ensuring a wider use of
e-Government services. Of course, it means measures
to tackle corruption and to increase transparency, for
example through a legal act ensuring that any contract
concerning the use of public funds is valid only if
published on the internet.

11-51360 8

 The Slovak Republic is a small country, but it is a
part of the eurozone, which is in deep economic
trouble. Courage and sincerity are most needed most
these days in Europe. The financial crisis and its
negative influence upon the entire European banking
sector have clearly shown that the eurozone was not
prepared for a crisis. The chaos in addressing these
issues only deepened the general distrust and worsened
the subsequent economic recession. The majority of
European Union countries did not use the good
economic times to consolidate their budgets. Therefore,
in many cases, the consequences of the recession
shifted public debt into dangerous territory.
 We need courage in the eurozone to return to the
old principles that established the European Union,
which are necessary for successful international
cooperation and integration. We need stricter European
and national fiscal rules. We need to institute default
controls, and we need new rules for the careful
management of the financial sector.
 We need sincerity. We have to be honest with our
citizens, because we have to be very careful that the
response to forcing technical solutions to the debt
crisis is not the escalation of nationalism and populism.
There is a chance that we will save the eurozone
economically, but at the same time we must minimize
the risk of losing the project of European integration
politically and devaluing it in the eyes of our voters.
 It is not just Europe; every region in the world is
struggling today with serious economic difficulties. We
live in a global, interdependent reality in which we
cannot afford to ignore anybody’s problems. In this
regard, we believe that, as a member of the Economic
and Social Council, that body has the capacity to
contribute more significantly to our joint efforts. If it is
to do that, we feel that it is urgent to adjust its mandate
and enhance its ability to react more swiftly to the
economic and social needs of the world.
 In times of dire financial restrictions in our own
national budgets, we, as the United Nations, also need
to learn to do more with fewer resources. We welcome
every effort that the Secretary-General is making to
utilize the available resources with maximum
effectiveness and efficiency.
 Peace and security are ever harder to maintain in
these harsh crisis times. One of Slovakia’s priorities in
the fight against international terrorism remains the
endeavour to move forward the negotiations on the
comprehensive convention on international terrorism.
With regard to the United Nations Global Counter-
Terrorism Strategy, Slovakia will continue its
implementation through concrete projects, as we have
by co-organizing a special event on implementing the
United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in
Central Asia, held in Bratislava in December 2010.
Respect for international law, human rights and the rule
of law should be an integral part of the fight against
international terrorism.
 Peacekeeping missions are among the most
visible and successful activities of the United Nations
and the true expression of the commitment to
maintaining peace and security around the globe. The
Slovak Republic has been an active contributor to the
United Nations forces in Cyprus since 2001, and is
involved in the Middle East. In recent decades, we
have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of
United Nations peacekeeping missions. They have
become increasingly in-demand, their mandates are
widening and their management is becoming more
complex. Slovakia therefore supports every measure
aimed at increasing their effectiveness and efficiency
given our truly constrained budgets.
 Peace is not merely the absence of war. Peace
means safety in all areas of people’s lives, economic
prosperity, social stability, respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms, access to health care and
education, protection of the environment, and access to
water and food. There is no chance of lasting peace
without sustainable development. That is an area in
which we must still do a great deal of work and make
concerted efforts. Aid from Slovakia — a small
country — has since 2003 been aimed at the most
troubled regions of the world. Recently, Slovakia has
been providing development and humanitarian aid in
the context of 41 projects to help starving children in
Kenya, deliver food and water in Ethiopia; provide
humanitarian help in South Sudan; assist Pakistan
following the terrible floods there; help refugees, from
Libya to Tunisia; and also to provide technical
assistance for countries in the western Balkans and in
the Middle East. Slovakia is also helping to secure the
democratization process in Afghanistan through 13
new projects.
 We need to focus on eliminating the primary
causes of conflicts, not just deal hastily with their
grave consequences, which, sadly, often occur only
after too many lives have been destroyed. No effort

9 11-51360

should be spared in exploring all political and
diplomatic options to stop conflicts at their roots.
Mediation has proved to yield tangible results. I want
to stress the important role of women in these
processes, as it is often underestimated.
 Slovakia is a firm supporter of effective
multilateralism, with the United Nations playing a
central role. Concentrated efforts help create just and
lasting solutions.
 This will be yet another challenging session for
all of us. It calls for a renewed, shared commitment to
the fundamental principles and purposes of the United
Nations Charter. We cannot afford to lose the ability to
understand one another’s needs because of our own
domestic problems. In these hard times, I wish all of us
enough strength to find necessary, mutually
advantageous solutions.