Humankind faces serious,
unprecedented crises. Now is the time for us to stand
united beneath the flag of the United Nations to confront
those crises together. Japan is resolved to continue to
take on great responsibility, working hand in hand with
the international community.

The Government of Japan is expending its best
possible efforts in the fight against the Ebola virus.
The international community should come together
to address that crisis, which directly affects the peace
and security of Africa. In that regard, Japan, as one
of its sponsors, has strongly supported the adoption
of Security Council resolution 2177 (2014). Japan has
also supported the initiative of Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon, and His Excellency Mr. Sam Kahamba
Kutesa, President of the General Assembly, to establish
the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency
Response.

At the fifth Tokyo International Conference on
African Development, held in Japan in the past year,
the Government of Japan announced that it would set
aside $500 million to address health issues in Africa
and launch training programmes for some 120,000
health and medical-service providers. As a response to
the Ebola outbreak, we have sent highly knowledgeable
and experienced Japanese experts, as members of
World Health Organization missions. We have also
extended a total of $5 million in financial assistance
and will provide $500,000 worth of personal protective
equipment for health-care workers. Furthermore,
we pledge to extend additional assistance totaling
$40 million in future. We continue to be prepared to
take any other measures, including the possibility of
sending more experts to Africa and sharing a potentially
promising drug developed by Japan’s Toyama Chemical
Company and Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, which
could be effective in the post-exposure phase of Ebola.

The Middle East is in a state of unrest. In particular,
Japan regards the activities of the Islamic State in Iraq
and the Levant — which extends across national borders
and has unilaterally declared the establishment of a so-
called state — as a serious threat to international order.
What is important now is to prevent extremism from
taking root, while responding swiftly to the region’s
humanitarian crises. To assist in that, Japan will provide
$50 million of emergency assistance right away.

Placing great importance on the stability of
Ukraine, in March Japan swiftly announced economic
assistance of up to $1.5 billion, which is now being
implemented. We are also preparing new assistance
towards reconstruction of the eastern part of Ukraine.

Next year will be a momentous one for the United
Nations. We will celebrate its seventieth anniversary.
At the time the United Nations was founded, Japan
was recovering from having been reduced to ashes.
Since then, Japan has never for a moment forgotten the
horrors of war. It set out on its post-war path abhorring
the atrocities of a war that brought tragedy to innocent
people both at home and in other nations and renewing
its pledge towards peace. We have made a wholehearted
commitment to shoulder United Nations responsibilities
at home and abroad.

Japan’s future lies in a straight extension of our
history over the past 70 years. Our pledge to never wage
war will be handed down and fostered by the Japanese
people for generations to come. Peace will take root only
when conflicts are deprived of places to reside within
our hearts and our way of life. That is precisely why
Japan is working to continue taking action at the grass-
roots level around the world. Japan has been, is now
and will continue to be a force providing momentum for
proactive contributions to peace.

Moreover, I wish to state and to pledge, first of all,
that Japan is a nation that has worked to eliminate the
war culture from people’s hearts, and it will spare no
effort in continuing to do so. As early as the mid-1980s,
Japan launched cooperation in Gaza to foster human
resources. A total of more than 400 administrative
officials and technical experts have come to Japan to
receive intensive training. One of them is Mr. Najjar
Osama, a young man serving as an official with the
Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority.
He said:

“Gaza has no natural resources whatsoever.
The only thing we have is people, a situation the
same as Japan’s. What I learned in Japan is the
spirit of never, ever giving up.”
After being educated in Japan for a month, Najjar
Osama brought solar-power technology back to his
hometown, to be attached to the facility in greatest need
of a stand-alone power system. The equipment that he
and his colleagues introduced to the largest hospital
in the Gaza Strip has endured the unrest and kept the
lights on in the hospital’s emergency room.

It is perhaps more than just a coincidence that the
Somalia story I wish to tell also relates to lighting.
The most important thing for Hamidah Hassan — a
girl 10 years of age, living in the camps for internally
displaced persons in Mogadishu — was lighting to
illuminate the camp’s tents at night. A lit tent acts as
a deterrent to sexual violence. Over the past two years,
Japan has distributed to internally displaced persons,
including young girls such as Hamidah, some 2,500
small lanterns, made by Panasonic, that bank electricity
generated from sunlight during the day and convert it
to lamplight at night. Hamidah is now working hard,
dreaming that one day she will become a doctor.

We must continue to clear away anxiety and fear
from people’s hearts and cull any shoots of hatred.
Japan and the Japanese people will continue to do
our best to offer our own willingness and capacity,
knowledge and experience, in order to make that a
reality. First and foremost, we will continue to assist
in enhancing education, which will form the basis of
economic growth for those who need it, from primary
education to vocational training. Our aim, always, is
to internalize the joy of work in people’s nature. We
hope for people to keenly realize that the sweat brought
about by their labour is an investment in the future.

Expanding roads, ports and the increasingly
connected power grids, together with effective
governance that is fully in step with those improvements,
will help to bring about an affluent and peaceful society
that values human rights. When that concept receives
broad-based support, people become the owners of
their society in the truest sense of the word. To expand
that kind of society from a point to a line, and from a
line to a plane, Japan has always sought foundations of
peace. We have always focused our official development
assistance philosophy on that approach.

The banner of a proactive contribution to peace
borne by the Japanese Government is a flag planted
atop the natural development of conviction and self-
confidence that we have acquired through many years
of promoting human security, that is, working as hard
as we could for the development of a society that places
people front and centre. We will carry on with our work,
hoping to create, in time, a fair and just society that
places human beings front and centre and a democracy
that values human rights.

Seventy years ago, the United Nations proclaimed
its determination “to save succeeding generations from
the scourge of war” and to “practice tolerance”. The
United Nations must not depart from those ideals. It
is with exactly that determination that Japan aspires to
join the Security Council once again as a non-permanent
member next year, marking the seventieth year since
the start of the United Nations.

Over the 58 long years since Japan became a
Member of the United Nations in 1956, as its eightieth
Member, Japan has worked tirelessly for the causes of
the United Nations. We believe that our efforts have
been second to none. It is my wish, with the seventieth
anniversary as a turning point, that countries sharing
the same aims can all work together to finally resolve
the long-standing issue of the reform of the United
Nations in a way that reflects the realities of the twenty-
first century. In that context, Japan seeks to become a
permanent member of the Security Council and to take
on an appropriate role that the status requires.

It was on the same occasion last year that I spoke
of the significance and importance of enhancing the
power of women and appealed for us to create a society
in which women shine (see A/68/PV.12). Japan has now
begun to work towards resolving the numerous issues
we face, together with private industries, in order to
increase women’s participation in society as soon as
possible. We must foster environments in which it is
possible to balance child care and nursing care on the
one hand and work on the other. In addition, eliminating
biases about the roles of women that still exist in society
will be basic, more so than anything else.

We have just held a large-scale international
conference with an aim of promoting the dynamic
participation of women. With an eye set on economic
development and the resolution of global issues,
about 100 leaders from all sectors of society from
around the world sent out a message to the world of
their commitment to bringing the power of women to
fruition. In less than a year, the empowerment of women
has become a guiding principle that has driven Japan’s
policies both domestically and overseas. Japan has
focused on advancing the status of girls and mothers
in Africa, a region that receives emphasis within our
foreign aid.

The twentieth century had a history of profound
harm to women’s honour and dignity when conflicts
broke out. Around the globe, we still find abhorrent
circumstances in which women are denied access
to such basic services as medical care and education
merely because they were born female, thereby
depriving them of opportunities to become self-reliant.
Japan seeks to be a country that walks alongside such
women throughout the world. We intend to encourage
and support, throughout the world, the self-reliance of
women whose hearts have suffered grievous harm.

We intend to make the twenty-first century a
world without human rights violations against women.
Japan will stand at the fore and lead the international
community in eliminating sexual violence during
conflicts. Therein lies the reason for Japan to reinforce
its cooperation with Ms. Zainab Bangura’s Office of
the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on
Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Fundamental rights such as education and health
must be ensured everywhere throughout the world. It is
necessary for the United Nations and, indeed, the world
to come together as one to take action so that girls
and boys can attend school equally and that expectant
mothers can receive medical care with peace of mind.
Moreover, in order for women to lead lives full of pride
and hope, I consider it essential to develop their ability
to be economically self-reliant, above all else. I do not
have the slightest doubt that the creation of a society
in which women shine holds the key to changing the
whole of society.

Last year I pledged in my address here, before
the General Assembly, that Japan would implement
assistance in excess of $3 billion over three years,
aimed chiefly at advancing the status of women. The
amount already implemented over the past year is
$1.8 billion, more than half the amount pledged. I also
stated Japan respected the activities of UN-Women,
which is responsible for women’s issues within the
United Nations, and that we intended to become one
of its leading contributors and thus a model country
in that area. Over the past year, Japan increased its
contributions to UN-Women fivefold, and in the future
we will further increase the number of projects we
support. We are also very pleased that next year UN-
Women will open its Tokyo office. I expect that Japan
will further enhance its coordination with the United
Nations through that new office.

As we draw up the post-2015 development agenda,
Japan will continue to be as strongly involved as it
has been to date. However, I strongly urge that if we
are to truly attain inclusiveness, sustainability and
resilience, as put forth in that agenda, then protection
and empowerment of the vulnerable, irrespective of
race, gender, or age, is important.

This year Japan marks the sixtieth anniversary
of the start of its official development assistance
(ODA). Having learned from the determination of
our predecessors, who began working to extend ODA

a mere nine years after suffering total devastation in
war, the Government of Japan is now in the process of
establishing new guiding principles for our ODA. We
intend to once more emphasize as priorities objectives
such as high-quality economic growth, ensuring rule of
law and realizing a peaceful and stable society.

The objectives that Japan has continuously targeted
through its ODA over those 60 years will not change
in the slightest. There will be no change in our deeply
rooted approach in which the most important thing in the
fight against poverty is to cultivate a sense of ownership
among the people concerned and to encourage self-help
efforts. Nor will there be any changes in our efforts to
fully ensure human security. Moreover, as we pursue
enhancing women’s empowerment as the leverage
point, I consider the attainment of our goals to be that
much nearer.

Over the past 20 years Japan has sent about
9,700 people on 13 United Nations peacekeeping
operations. In the 10 years since the establishment of
the Peacebuilding Commission, Japan’s contributions
to the Peacebuilding Fund have surpassed $40 million.
In the future, we intend to cultivate still further our
human resources in terms of both quantity and quality,
to contribute to the area of peacebuilding.

As the only country ever to have suffered the
devastation of atomic bombings during wartime, Japan
is prepared to lead discussions in the Review Conference
of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons to be convened next year — the
seventieth anniversary of the atomic bombings.

With regard to North Korea, Japan will work
in coordination with relevant countries towards the
comprehensive resolution of outstanding issues,
including abduction and nuclear and missile issues.

Japan has been among the biggest beneficiaries of
the United Nations. Going forward, we will work harder
than ever to bring about realization of the principles
set forth by the United Nations. Japan is a nation that
implements its pledges without fail. With that, I will
end my discussion.


 We are
meeting at a symbolically significant time, between
the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the
seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World
War. Seven decades ago, at the end of the Second World
War, the United Nations was established. Its mission
was to form a new environment for civilization and
culture in order to prevent the repetition of the previous
tragic events of history.

The year 2015 is of particular significance
for all Armenians around the world. On 24 April,
Armenians around the globe will commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the most tragic page in the
nation’s history: the Armenian genocide. It was an
unprecedented crime, the objective of which was to
eliminate the nation and deprive it of its homeland,
and it remains an unhealed wound for every Armenian.
The 1915 genocide was a crime against civilization and
humanity, and its inadequate condemnation paved the
way for similar crimes of mass murder in the future.

Addressing the Assembly ahead of that 100th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide from this
rostrum, which I would call the podium of honour
and responsibility, I declare our profound thanks
to Uruguay, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Poland,
Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lebanon,
Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Canada and the Holy See.
We thank them for their recognition and condemnation
of the Armenian genocide, regardless of the form it
took or the language used to express it. I thank the
United States of America, the European Union and all
those personalities, State bodies, territorial units and
organizations in many countries that publicly called
things by their proper name. That is indeed extremely
important, since denial is an integral part of the crime
of genocide.

For an entire century now, Armenians around
the globe and the entire progressive international
community have been waiting for Turkey to show
courage and face its own history by recognizing the
Armenian genocide, thus relieving future generations
of the heavy burden of the past. Alas, instead, we

continue to hear ambiguous and messages with ulterior
motives, in which the victim and the slaughterer are set
on equal footing and history is falsified.

Armenia has never made recognition of the
Armenian genocide a condition for the normalization
of bilateral relations with Turkey. In fact, Armenia was
the party that initiated that process of normalization,
which in 2009 culminated in the signing of the Zurich
protocols. However, those protocols have been shelved
for years now, awaiting ratification in the Turkish
Parliament. Ankara has declared publicly that it will
ratify the protocols only if Armenians cede Nagorny
Karabakh and Artsakh to Azerbaijan. In Armenia
and Artsakh, ordinary people often simply retort: “To
hell with your ratification.” This vernacular phrase
summarizes the age-old struggle of the entire nation
and unequivocally explains to those who attempt to
bargain with others’ homeland that the motherland is
sacrosanct and they had better stay away from us with
their bargain. It is in these circumstances that, currently,
Yerevan is seriously considering the issue of recalling
the Armenian-Turkish protocols from Parliament.

The tragic events in Syria and Iraq that we are
currently witnessing demonstrate how groups whose
creed is hatred are targeting religious and national
minorities. Two days ago, on Armenia’s independence
day, the Saint Martyrs Armenian Church in Dayr
Al-Zour, Syria, dedicated to the memory of the victims
of the Armenian genocide, was mined and blown
up by the terrorists. Such barbarity is a criminal
demonstration of godlessness, which is in no way or
shape related to any faith. The catastrophic situation in
Syria and northern Iraq continues to deteriorate, and
today hundreds of thousands of people are directly in
peril. Among them are tens of thousands of Armenians
in Aleppo, Syria. It is one instance to consider in the
context of our joint commitment to preventing crimes
against humanity. Armenia has voiced on numerous
occasions the need to defend the Armenian population
of Syria and the Yazidi population of north-western
Iraq, and we are encouraged by the unified stance of
the international community in that regard.

The maintenance of international peace and
security is the essence of our Organization. In recent
years, Armenia has consistently consolidated its
peacekeeping capabilities thereby preparing ourselves
for more proactive engagement in that field. Armenian
peacekeepers will very soon be dispatched to the south
of Lebanon in the context of the United Nations Interim
Force in Lebanon. The close collaboration we enjoy
with our Italian colleagues enabled our participation in
that endeavour. I strongly believe that our servicemen
will fulfil their mission with dignity and a high level of
professionalism and will use the extensive experience
they have garnered in the last decade in Kosovo, Iraq
and Afghanistan.

It has been more than 20 years that our neighbouring
State, through its unconstructive and maximalist
stance, has thwarted the international community’s
efforts aimed at the just and peaceful settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The bellicose declarations
and various threats made at the highest level in
Azerbaijan have been completely tolerated on account
of the international community’s failure to correctly
assess them. The President of Azerbaijan has designated
the entire Armenian nation as enemy number one, and
what is considered in the rest of the world to be a crime,
in Azerbaijan is considered to be a heroic act.

Despite the fact that each conflict is unique,
fundamental human rights and freedoms, including
peoples’ right to freely express their will and self-
determination, continue to evolve as a determinant
in their resolution. The vote held a few days ago in
Scotland once again proved that nowadays referendums
are more and more widely perceived as a legal model
for the peaceful settlement of ethnic conflicts. It was
no coincidence that the right to decide one’s own fate
through a referendum is at the core of the proposal put
forward by the co-Chairs of the Minsk Group of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

While discussing the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement, I must address the four Security Council
resolutions — resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874
(1993) and 884 (1993) — adopted during the war,
which every so often are exploited by the Azerbaijani
authorities in order to justify their obstructionist policy.
Those four resolutions demand, as a matter of priority,
the unconditional cessation of all military hostilities.
Azerbaijan has failed to comply. Azerbaijan’s own
non-compliance with the fundamental demands of the
resolutions make their full implementation impossible.
The resolutions call on the parties to cease their
bombardments and air strikes targeting the peaceful
civilian population and to refrain from violating
the principles of international humanitarian law.
However, Azerbaijan has continued its indiscriminate

bombardments of the civilian population. Azerbaijan
has not spared children, women or the elderly,
thereby gravely violating all legal and moral norms
of international humanitarian law. Now Azerbaijan
cynically refers to those resolutions selectively — citing
them out of context as a prerequisite for the settlement
of the conflict. An adequate interpretation of the
Security Council resolutions is not possible without a
correct understanding of the hierarchy of the demands
set therein.

The resolutions, inter alia, request the restoration
of economic, transport and energy links in the region
and the removal of all obstacles to communications
and transportation. It is no secret that Azerbaijan and
Turkey imposed a blockade on Nagorno Karabakh and
the Republic of Armenia at the outset of the conflict.
In his statements, the Azerbaijani President even takes
pride in that fact, promising his public that such action
would remain the priority of Azerbaijan’s foreign
policy.

The aforementioned Security Council resolutions
call on Azerbaijan to establish direct contacts with
Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan has refused to establish
any direct contacts with Nagorno Karabakh, which
was a legally equal party to the ceasefire agreement
concluded in 1994, as well as a number of other
international agreements. Moreover, Azerbaijan
preaches hatred towards the people it claims it wants to
see as a part of its State.

None of the Security Council resolutions identifies
Armenia as a conflicting party. Our country is called
upon only to continue to exert its influence over the
Nagorno Karabakh Armenians in order to put an end
to the conflict. Armenia has fully complied, and due
to its efforts a ceasefire agreement was concluded in
1994. All Security Council resolutions refer to Nagorno
Karabakh as a party to the conflict.

The Azerbaijani authorities have failed to
implement the fundamental demands of the Security
Council resolutions, including abiding by and adhering
to the humanitarian norms. Incidentally, Azerbaijan has
occasionally gravely violated that demand. Azerbaijan’s
cruel and inhumane treatment of Armenian civilian
prisoners of war regularly results in their deaths,
although I imagine that no one would be surprised about
that, since Azerbaijan is the very State that suppresses
and exercises the most inhumane treatment of its own
people. A clear proof of that was the decision of the
Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to suspend its
visit to Azerbaijan due to the obstructions it encountered
in the conduct of the official Baku.

The OSCE Minsk Group is the only specialized
structure that has been dealing with the Nagorno
Karabakh issue according to the mandate granted
by the international community. While Azerbaijan
knows that it could not possibly deceive or misinform
the Minsk Group, which is well aware of the essence
of the problem, it attempts to transpose the conflict
settlement to other platforms by trying to depict it as
a territorial dispute or exploiting the factor of religious
solidarity. That is ironic, since Armenia traditionally
enjoys very warm relations with the Islamic nations,
both in the Arabic-speaking world or, for instance, with
our immediate neighbour Iran.

We highly value the indispensable role of the
United Nations in the adjustment and implementation
of the development goals. I strongly believe that,
through the new post-2015 development agenda, we will
continue our efforts to seek solutions and respond to
global challenges, in accordance with the Millennium
Development Goals.

In conclusion, I would like to underline that we
have covered a substantial part of the path towards the
shaping of the post-2015 development agenda and we
will continue our endeavours in that regard, displaying
the flexibility necessary to bring the process to its
logical conclusion.


Samoa congratulates the
President on his election and lends its full support to
the agenda that will guide our work during his tenure.
In the same spirit, I applaud our Secretary-General
and Samoan Prince Tupua Ban Ki-moon for his firm
commitment and strong leadership in steering our
Organization during this particularly turbulent and
difficult period for the world.

As members of the global family, our futures and
interests are inextricably linked. Crises with a global
reach threaten to engulf the world and affect all nations
irrespective of whether they caused or contributed to
the crisis.

Climate change is one such crisis. It is the world’s
most urgent problem and the greatest moral challenge
of our time. Known crises of global dimensions pale in
comparison to what climate change poses to our world
as a whole and to the future security of some of our
low-lying islands as sovereign States. Climate change is
indifferent to the suffering of countries touched by its
destructive reach. The victims can be rich or poor, large
or small, resilient or vulnerable, but they hardly matter.
It impacts all. For some there are already existential
implications looming. Others may consider the effect
on them to be minimal. Such complacency would be a
grave mistake and tantamount to gross negligence. If
climate change is not addressed comprehensively, the
consequences for our planet will be dire indeed and
will affect all countries.

No country should therefore stay detached and
unconcerned before the plight of the majority. All
countries must work together. Apportioning blame
for the present state of our environment is in itself yet
another human failing. It serves no useful purpose.
Being judgemental will not restore our environment.
Those who exploit the traditional divide between
developed and developing countries and ideological
and political differences do so conveniently, to mask
their own unwillingness to be part of the solution to an
impending global catastrophe.

There is too much at stake for the world to just sit
idly by. Strong visionary leadership that rises beyond
the dictates of vested national interests and political
tenures and views the world as a single constituency
where everyone must work together within the limits
of their capacity and capability to be part of the total
solution is at a premium. Governments must yield — not
to vested interests and expediency of time, but because
it is the ethical and just thing to do. Our timelines are
slipping by fast and soon we will be playing catch-up.
Yet each day lost to indecisiveness and wrangling on
petty points only intensifies the challenges we face.
The Lima and Paris climate conferences will provide
the best openings for the world to redeem itself. States

Members of the United Nations should step forward
with a sense of urgency and commitment to addressing
climate change today, not tomorrow. It should not just
be science and real life experiences that force us to act,
but also our consciences.

Against this backdrop, the Climate Summit on
Tuesday was timely. Its message was clear and simple.
Our actions to address climate change are grossly
inadequate. We are focusing more on symptoms than
on the root causes, and the solemn truth is that things
will only get worse if we do not act collectively now.
However, a ray of hope, best captured in the following
fundamental truths, is couched delicately in this
ominous prediction.

First, climate change is a societal problem
requiring decisive political leadership and a whole-of-
society approach. Every individual effort and every
national action counts because in unity we succeed,
but in division there is little we can do. Secondly, we
need a global solution if we are to succeed. The United
Nations is our last best hope. It is indispensable to a
sustainable solution that we provide the necessary
commitment to turning the tide against climate change.
Thirdly, climate change is solvable, and the solution is
firmly in our hands.

Only through enlightened leadership and the
concerted efforts of all countries, with the major
greenhouse gas emitters at the forefront, do we stand
a chance of lessening the destructive impact of climate
change and of reaching a credible post-Kyoto climate
agreement next year. Samoa calls upon those States
Members of our Organization that are in a position of
world leadership to lead the charge and to undertake
the tasks that need to be implemented quickly and
decisively so that the Paris conference can deliver
on an ambitious climate change agreement that is
effective, binding, capable of swift implementation,
and universally owned and respected by the 193 States
Members of the United Nations.

The Ebola outbreak is a deadly pandemic causing
chaos and untold suffering in parts of West Africa.
Its reach is global and if it is not treated it may prove
unstoppable. It has no respect for national borders or
Government sovereignty, and its victims are selected
indiscriminately. Born and unborn babies are robbed
of their youth, girls and boys of their adulthood, and
women and men of their productive lives, their dignity
and worth, while countries are dispossessed and
deprived of their valuable human assets.

Can we win the war on Ebola? Samoa believes that
we can and we should. That was why we were honoured
to be among the 134 co-sponsors of Security Council
resolution 2177 (2014) on peace and security in Africa,
with reference to Ebola, last Thursday. The Security
Council resolution was adopted with the highest-ever
number of sponsors and was swiftly followed the
next day by General Assembly resolution 69/1, which
unanimously approved a proposal to establish the United
Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response. Samoa
welcomes the rapid, decisive and coordinated response
of United Nations Member States and agencies, and
in particular the proactive role the Secretary-General
played in mobilizing both the political will and the
material resources necessary to respond to this grave
crisis.

The global response to the Ebola outbreak is a
powerful illustration of what is possible when States
collaborate and coordinate to assist each other in
achieving common and critical goals. Such unified
responses have tangible results and save lives. Samoa
encourages all Member States to take this spirit of
cooperation forward, and to harness and follow this
example when dealing with other critical global issues.

As we meet here at the United Nations, the
rise in extremism has a taken a turn for the worst.
Radical militants are committing unspeakably brutal
and barbaric atrocities across the Middle East, and
threatening to spread their evil brand further afield. As
a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, these threats
can seem extremely far removed from my country
of Samoa. However, in the globalized age in which
we live, all countries are threatened by challenges to
international peace and security. Developments in one
State invariably have effects in others, and this is true
of my country, far away as we are.

Global interconnectedness has brought innumerable
benefits to all countries, but it also increasingly brings
risks from distant corners of the Earth. As such, it is
imperative that the United Nations and its Member
States commit to tackling threats to international peace
and security, especially through the Security Council.
Specifically, States Members of the United Nations
must increase their collaboration and cooperation to
find solutions to challenges to peace and security, and
work diligently to implement them.

The United Nations was founded upon the values
of collective security and, for small nations, remains a
critical forum in which to contribute to the maintenance

of international peace and security, stability and
prosperity. This is particularly important for small
island developing States (SIDS), which risk a reversal
of the development gains they have made due to crises
far from home. To cement and build upon development
goals already achieved, international peace and
security must be maintained, and it is the responsibility
of all Member States, particularly those on the Security
Council, to work in close cooperation to ensure that this
happens.

Samoa belongs to the group of small island
developing States, a United Nations-recognized group
with special needs and inherent vulnerabilities, not by
choice, but by dint of factors completely outside its
control. Part of the dilemma we continually face is the
misconception that SIDS challenges are minuscule in
comparison to the needs of other special groups and
regions, and that their one and only concern is climate
change. Nothing could be further from the truth.

My country was honoured to host, on behalf of
the Pacific region, the once-in-a decade International
Conference on Small Island Developing States three
weeks ago. Our primary goal in hosting the Third SIDS
Conference was to have the spotlight of international
attention fall on SIDS, their challenges and realities.
Now that the spotlight has faded, we hope that the
increased understanding and appreciation of SIDS
issues and challenges gained at the Conference will not
be forgotten over time or sidelined by other competing
priority issues.

The international community has a very full agenda.
We as nations are being pulled in many directions.
This general debate and the sixty-ninth session of
the General Assembly will show just how packed
the agenda is. The follow-up to the SIDS Conference
will be part of that agenda. It is our hope that, despite
all the political, economic and other demands on the
countries of the world, the realities of SIDS, so clearly
spelled out in Apia and in the Small Island Developing
States Accelerated Modalities of Action — the SAMOA
Pathway — are able to retain the attention of the
wider international community. We took seriously the
commitments made to SIDS at the Conference and we
will remain deeply mindful of how those commitments
are turned into actions.

The Conference had as its theme “The sustainable
development of SIDS through genuine and durable
partnerships”. We are ready to build on our existing
partnerships. We may be small, but we are also able to
demonstrate the impact of our people and our countries
in successful, twenty-first century partnerships.
We may be small and sometimes invisible to many.
However, we know that united the SIDS are a strong
and positive group. The Alliance of Small Island States
(AOSIS) is showing its determination in a growing
range of areas and forums. Samoa, like other Pacific
islands, is proud of its place within AOSIS.

The SAMOA Pathway asks the Secretary-General
to undertake a comprehensive review of how the United
Nations system supports SIDS. This is an opportunity
to ensure that the United Nations is fit for the purpose
when it comes to supporting SIDS. There is ample scope
for improvement, and we look forward to engaging
fully in the process. The time for business as usual has
long passed. Let us work for an approach to SIDS that
shows the United Nations at its best.

The SAMOA Pathway is a well-crafted
intergovernmental agreement that has the seal and
stamp of approval of the United Nations membership.
Going forward, it falls on SIDS themselves to be
prepared to lead and own the SAMOA Pathway if it is
to be sustainable. Together with the specific entities
within the Secretariat charged with advocating and
championing SIDS causes, they should be more
proactive and assertive. Jointly, they must reposition
themselves to engage better in a more effective and
visible partnership.

Moreover, what we need to achieve is a human face
of SIDS to every issue that comes before the United
Nations, be it security, human rights, climate change,
development, gender or indigenous issues. That way,
SIDS issues will be at the forefront of the United
Nations agenda. They will remain topical and relevant
and be taken up, debated and acted upon daily, weekly
or monthly — and not conveniently set aside to be
discussed only when we have another SIDS conference
10 years from now.

Samoa continues to support United Nations
peacekeeping efforts worldwide. Small though we
are, Samoan police continue to serve side by side with
officers from other countries in places that require the
intervention of the United Nations. Within the Pacific
region, our solidarity with our neighbours in meeting
challenges means a guaranteed Samoan police presence
in the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands
and under the umbrella of the Pacific Islands Forum.

A durable peace settlement in the Middle East
continues to elude us, but that is not grounds to be
pessimistic. We should support every effort to create
conditions conducive to the successful establishment of
an independent Palestinian State alongside a secure and
safe State of Israel.

Finally, those bent on creating fear and panic
throughout the world will stop at nothing to achieve
their aims. We must not be held hostage to their devious
designs. Individually and collectively, we must step
up our efforts to combat the threat of international
terrorism in its many manifestations. No country can
succeed on its own. Only by working collaboratively
can we be successful.

As we approach the new post-2015 development
agenda, the culmination of many years of international
negotiations and agreements on sustainable development,
we must ensure that while a one-framework approach
is important, it does not equate to a one-size-fits-all
formula for purposes of implementation, monitoring and
evaluation. Indeed, the applicability of the Millennium
Development Goals and their indicators to small island
countries proved difficult, and much tailoring was
necessary before those global targets were seen as
relevant enough for us to meaningfully participate.
It is important therefore in the defining and refining
of the sustainable development goals and post-2015
development agenda that we account for groups like
SIDS and ensure that the indicators developed are also
applicable to their situations. Building on the existing
processes and experiences in the SIDS countries and
their respective regions and subregions is critical in
that regard.

Fortunately, we are on the back of a successful
SIDS Conference whose theme focused on effective
means of implementation through partnerships. We
must ensure therefore that the means to implement
the SAMOA Pathway is solidly incorporated into
the post-2015 development framework. Those
arrangements are well entrenched in the High-level
Political Forum and the review arrangements of the
Economic and Social Council. It is important that
the intergovernmental architectures of our respective
SIDS regions be included in the process, which means
working together. We cannot afford a situation where
we have intergovernmental organizations developing
separate policies and implementation arrangements
and partnerships for the same things. We must work
together.

Finally, we must break down what has been a
traditional them-and-us perception on both sides of
the divide between Member States and the Secretariat
established to serve our collective needs. It has not
served either side well; we are in fact on the same
side. I would therefore encourage any coordination
mechanisms established to ensure representation of
both in order to promote transparency and a balance
of perspectives and interests. The Inter-Agency
Consultative Group for SIDS is perhaps an arrangement
that could benefit from Member State representation
as well, where open discussions can take place around
effective implementation of the SAMOA Pathway and
the post-2015 development agenda.

Some of our development partners, traditional
and new, have reached out to help us. What they have
in common is trust and respect for our views and
needs. Bilaterally, regionally and internationally, they
are partnering with SIDS to overcome some of the
constraints imposed by limited land and narrow natural
resource bases, isolation and downward agricultural
production, sustained food security for our expanding
populations, and the need to provide a meaningful
existence for our people and communities in the rural
areas.

The United Nations was established to prevent
wars, bring peace and security, and protect human
rights through multilateralism and intergovernmental
cooperation. The architecture of the Organization
we have today is very complex, and, inevitably,
there are imperfections. However, the fact that we
have consistently met without failure at the General
Assembly each year is irrefutable proof that our
Organization works at many and different levels. It
is hard to imagine where the world would be without
the United Nations. It is why Samoa’s support for our
Organization is unwavering.


Change has become an
overriding theme in the language of today`s social and
political landscape. We speak of the need to change
behaviours, attitudes and laws. We speak of the need
to effect change in the areas of human rights and social
justice, in education and health administration. We
have come to understand the concept of change as a
constant in our lives as human beings and as citizens
of this world. But the question we are asking is, does
change automatically signify progress?

There is an old saying with which I am sure everyone
here is familiar: the more things change, the more they
stay the same. Sometimes, when I find myself listening
to reports of the many recent developments taking place
in the world, that saying comes to mind again, and I am
overcome with a strong sense of déjà vu, as though we
had been here before.

When I hear reports about the taking of hostages
and the savagery of beheadings, it is 2004 all over
again, and week after week there is news of the killing
of foreign hostages in Iraq. When I hear reports about
Israel and Gaza, it is 2005 all over again, and Israel
has launched Operation Summer Rain, immediately
followed by Operation Autumn Clouds. The resulting
death toll in the Gaza Strip was in the hundreds, and
many of the dead were children. Similarly, in the United
States, reports of police brutality against an unarmed
black man take me back to 1999, when 23-year-old
Guinea-born Amadou Diallo was shot 19 times by four
New York City police officers, or to 1991, when Rodney
King was brutally beaten by five Los Angeles police
officers. Both of those incidents caused a tremendous
public outcry, as did this year’s shooting death of
18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri,
with the singular message of “no justice, no peace”.

Do such events indicate an outright regression?
Does the uncomfortable familiarity of some current
world events mean that, despite the changes so many
individuals and organizations have worked to achieve,
we have made little or no progress? I would like to
believe that this is not so. I would like to believe those
events of recent times are merely setbacks that will
motivate us to find more sustainable solutions; they
are just slight reversals on the sinuous path toward true
progress.

Dag Hammarskjöld, who served as the second
Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 1953
until his untimely death in a plane crash in 1961, said,

“The pursuit of peace and progress cannot
end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The
pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its
errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be
relaxed and never abandoned.”
In the course of the past several months, since
the beginning of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa,
I have been reminded of both the importance and
the practicality of those words. True progress relies
on neither victory nor defeat; true progress relies on
persistence, on perseverance. Just last week, on Monday,
in my capacity as the Chair of Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS), I travelled to Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Guinea — the three countries that
have been most affected by the outbreak of Ebola. They
are nations that are recovering from conflict. The civil
wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone also adversely affected
Guinea, which shares borders with both countries.
They are nations that were struggling to rebuild their
social and economic infrastructure. Even before the
outbreak of Ebola, they were already operating with
limited resources, an insufficient number of treatment
facilities and a shortage of qualified medical personnel.

So far, there have been 5,843 recorded cases of Ebola,
including 2,803 deaths. The World Health Organization
predicts that if the disease is not brought under control,
the number of cases could easily rise to 20,000 by as
early as November. What makes Ebola so dangerous is
that the virus dares us to compromise the impulses that
exist at the very core of our humanity — our impulse
to comfort one another with love, to care for each other
with the healing power of touch and to maintain the
dignity of our loved ones even in death, with a public
funeral and a properly marked grave.

Ebola is a disease of isolation. It leaves family
members afraid to embrace one another. It leaves
health-care workers afraid to attend to their patients.
It forces the living to abandon the cultural rites of
washing, embalming and burying their dead. Instead,
the dead are zipped into a secure body bag, carried on
a stretcher by makeshift pallbearers in protective wear,
and then tossed into a freshly dug grave.

Just as individuals with Ebola are often shunned and
ostracized by their communities, the initial slowness of
response by the international community in many ways
has left the affected countries to suffer their fate alone
and in isolation. In my travels to those three countries,
although I was aware that some airlines had suspended
flights, I was shocked to find the airports completely
vacant. Ebola is not just a Liberian problem, nor is it a
Sierra Leonean or Guinean problem; it is not just a West
African problem. Ebola is a problem that belongs to the
world because it is a disease that knows no boundaries.

We cannot afford to let fear keep us away or to let
it compromise the very impulses that not only define
but sustain our humanity. We must erase the stigma. To
that end, my country, Ghana, has offered the use of its
capital city, Accra, as a base of operations for activities
geared towards the containment of the disease. I would
like to commend Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and
the Security Council for establishing the United Nations
Mission for Ebola Emergency Response. I would also
like to acknowledge and commend President Barack
Obama and the people of the United States of America
for their enormous commitment to the fight against
Ebola.

Health officials have announced numerous times
that in theory, it is relatively easy to stop the spread
of Ebola because it is transmitted through contact
with bodily fluids. It has been suggested that through
changes in our behaviour and practices the public could
potentially reduce, if not eliminate, their exposure
to the virus. Yet in reality, the Ebola virus was able
to spread so quickly throughout the West African
subregion because of the fluidity of our borders.

The free movement of people, goods and services
throughout the West African subregion is something
that ECOWAS has been promoting for the last several
decades. It allows interaction and increased trade
between our 15 member States. However, without the
proper preventive measures in place, such fluidity can
also enable the free movement of disease, drugs, arms,
human traffickers and terrorists.

Unfortunately. Africa is especially vulnerable to
terrorism because its sheer size and vast terrain offers
myriad places for terrorists to hide and create safe
havens. With over 60 per cent of Africa’s population
under the age of 35 and a significant number living in
extreme poverty, terrorists also have the opportunity to
recruit new members by exploiting the ignorance and
disillusionment of young people who lack the skills,
education and opportunity to find gainful employment.

The proliferation of technology has made even
the most remote areas of the continent accessible
through a phone call or keystroke. What that does is
facilitate communication within terrorist cells and
between terrorist organizations. It would now be far
too simplistic, not to mention myopic, for a nation
to believe that it is dealing with any one terrorist
organization, such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab. Ansar
Al-Dine, Al-Qaida, Hizbullah, the Taliban, the Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant or, recently, the Khorasan
group. Because of the assistance and cooperation that
exist among them, they have in fact become different
tentacles of a single organism. So too must we come
together as one cohesive body, united in our battle
to defend our freedoms and values. We too must
communicate within and among ourselves. We must
cooperate and lend assistance and resources to fight
and conquer the common threat we face.

Since the start of the global recession, economic
growth rates have generally declined and people have,
by and large, become pessimistic about their future.
This month, the Pew Research Center published the
results of a 44-country survey conducted in the spring of
2014 to assess public views of major economic changes
in the world. According to the results, a global median
of 69 per cent are not pleased with the way things are
going in their countries. That includes both advanced
and developing economies. The concerns expressed
cut across a wide spectrum of issues, such as inflation,
unemployment, income inequality and public debt.

My country, Ghana, is no exception. Over the
past year, the public has seen an increase in the cost
of living. Falling commodity prices led not only to a
fall in tax revenues from companies that operate in
Ghana, but they also led to a massive decline in our
export earnings. That contributed to a general sense of
macroeconomic instability and placed a great deal of
pressure on our domestic currency, the cedi.

For the past 22 years, Ghanaians have witnessed
a steady improvement in the circumstances of our
nation. With the return of democracy and the rule of
law, six successful elections and peaceful transitions
of power, Ghana became an example for other African
nations turning towards democracy and constitutional
rule. The stability inspired investor confidence and
increased growth. Soon Ghana was deemed one of the
fastest-growing economies in the world.

That did not make us immune to the economic
challenges that many nations were facing across the
globe — quite the opposite. Instability in the global
commodity markets has a direct bearing on our budgets
and hence on our ability to finance our development.
The global downturn exposed the weaknesses in our
foundation. It alerted us to the need for change, the
need to establish the proper institutions for effective
economic management, institutions that will foster
resilience and an ability to better absorb the blows of
unexpected occurrences or outcomes.

The anxieties and concerns of the Ghanaian public
are understandable. Like so many African countries,
Ghana has been through dark economic times, and our
seemingly changing fortunes, with their uncomfortable
familiarity, brought on a fear of regression. But this
was merely a setback, only a slight reversal. Already,
the home-grown measures of fiscal stabilization that
we have taken are yielding results. Only this month,
Ghana surprised its most ardent critics when it launched
its third Eurobond for an amount of $1 billion. That
successful flotation represents a return of investor
confidence in the prospects of the Ghanaian economy.
That confidence is apparent in the recent rebound of
our domestic currency, the cedi, which in the last two
weeks has appreciated significantly against its major
trading currencies.

Last year when I addressed the Assembly (see
A/68/PV.12), I explained that it is not sympathy we
want in Africa; it is partnership, the ability to stand
on our own feet. In an attempt to establish such a
partnership, we have entered into discussions with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization
that is no stranger to the process of self-assessment
and the implementation of change in the pursuit of
true progress. Indeed, both Ghana and the IMF have
evolved, and the partnership has the potential to bring
about the sort of transformation that will move Ghana
from the ranks of the low middle-income countries into
a fully fledged middle-income country.

The coming year will mark the twentieth
anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on

Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995. I would
like to note with pride that it will also mark the fortieth
anniversary of Ghana’s establishment of the National
Council on Women and Development, which has since
been renamed the Department of Gender. Ghana has
a long-held commitment to the betterment of women’s
lives, and my Administration has made it a priority to
carry on with that tradition. In fact, much, if not all, of
what we are doing falls directly in line with the areas
of concern enumerated in the Beijing Platform for
Action of the World Conference. My Administration
boasts one of the highest number of women appointed
to public office in the history of Ghana. Seven of our
Cabinet ministers are women, as are the holders of
several senior public service posts, and I hope that the
fact that they are too numerous to list is an indication
that we are reaching towards the ideal.

We have submitted to Parliament an intestate
succession bill, which ensures that if a spouse dies
without having written a will, the surviving spouse will
not be dispossessed of their marital assets. We have also
submitted to Parliament a bill on the property rights of
spouses, which ensures that spouses are entitled to a fair
portion of property acquired during the union. There
area also several other pieces of legislation designed
to offer protection for and empowerment of women,
such as the Domestic Violence Act, the Anti-Human-
Trafficking Act, an affirmative action bill and a gender
policy.

I spoke earlier of isolation. Very few nations have
experienced the sort of exclusion that Cuba has suffered
for the last several decades as a result of the United
States embargo on that country. Ghana reaffirms its
position that this embargo should be lifted. Ghana also
calls for a halt to the establishment of settlements in the
Palestinian territories. We have consistently expressed
our support for a two-State solution to the Israeli-
Palestinian question, with the two nations coexisting
peacefully.

This year the world’s attention has been drawn
to the urgency of addressing the growing problem of
inequality and the threats that it poses to our unrelenting
pursuit of peace. I would also like to draw attention
to the pervasive presence of religious intolerance. At
the root of all of the world’s major religions is the call
for compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, peace and love.
Nevertheless, the use of religious dogma and extremism
as a weapon of violence persists.

In this age of terrorism and political turmoil, of
national, regional and ethnic conflict, it may be tempting
to use the actions of a few to justify prejudice toward
many. It may be tempting to combine the faithful with
the fanatical. But those of us who envision a just and
peaceful world cannot, and should not, yield to those
temptations. Time and time again, history has shown us
that the changing of a world begins with the power that
rests in the hands of the people, ordinary individuals.
Or, in the words of one of the greatest teachers and
leaders of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, “You must
be the change you wish to see in the world’’.

Today our Jewish brothers and sisters are
celebrating Rosh Hashanah, their New Year. To them,
I say, “L’shana Tova.” Next week, our Muslim brothers
and sisters will be celebrating Eid al-Adha, the Festival
of the Sacrifice. To them, I say, “Eid Mubarak.” And,
to you, Mr. President, I say, “Many thanks for the
opportunity and for your kind attention”.


Myriam Riva, Emmanuel Riva, Dominique Sabrier,
Alexandre Strens — these are the names of the four
people brutally murdered on 24 May in Brussels. Four
people were killed just because they were in a Jewish
museum, an institution dedicated to culture, knowledge
and intelligence. I named these four victims, but I do
not forget the thousands of anonymous victims of
barbarism around the world. For the abject act that took
place at the Jewish Museum in Brussels is connected to
the events sweeping the world right now. In Syria and
Iraq, as well as in countries like Algeria, terrorists kill
innocent people every day.

Syria and Iraq are of special concern to us. There,
defenceless people, women and children are victims of
massacres, persecution, destruction and the theft of all
their possessions — all because they belong to cultures,
including the Muslim culture, that the terrorists do not
agree with. Yet, no religion, and certainly not Islam,
asserts that we must kill those who think differently.
We have to say this over and over again in order to
remove any excuse for these criminals who sow terror.

The personal history of the alleged perpetrator
of the attack against the Jewish Museum in Brussels
resonates with all of us. It is that of a French jihadist
who visited Syria in the ranks of the so-called Islamic
State. This jihadist then moved across Europe before
committing the irreparable. It is common trajectory for
many of these foreign fighters. These foreign fighters
are a threat to every country in the world. Security
Council resolution 2178 (2014), adopted the day before
yesterday, is an important step towards a coordinated
global response. We must and we shall put these
terrorists in a position where they can no longer inflict
harm.

Beyond the humanitarian support it has already
brought to the Iraqi people, Belgium recently decided
to send six F-16 fighters in support of the fight against
terrorism in Iraq. My country also wants to strengthen
cooperation among States. Belgium wants to intensify
the exchange of information at the European level and
within NATO. As required by the Security Council
resolution, a major preventive effort must also be made
to prevent jihadist aspirants from reaching the combat
zones. We must prevent the recruitment, training and
transportation of our citizens who may be tempted to
join terrorist groups. For minors in particular, each
country must demonstrate a total vigilance regarding
border control.

The battle we are waging against terrorism reflects
a conflict between two understandings of life: respect
for human beings, which we have and the terrorists do
not; defence of freedom everywhere and always, which
the terrorists do not want; tolerance, while the terrorists

preach and impose intolerance. For us, life is priceless;
for them, it has no value.

We know that military actions alone are not enough.
Here, as there, what is needed is to focus on education,
educational support, openness to others and the world.
Our goal should be to deradicalize violent radicals. I
cannot help but think that the human disaster we are
witnessing is also the result of a crushing defeat — that
of politicians who favoured military solutions and the
notorious so-called preventive war.

A few years ago, Belgium refused to participate
in such an operation in Iraq. How can we not see that
frustration and humiliation have further strengthened
radicalism? Things being what they are, we must
now deal with the emergency, and act, including
militarily. But we must also consider the future and
invest sustainably in civil action. Everywhere, the
establishment of a State that protects its citizens must
be the priority. Strengthening the rule of law and
improving living conditions is the best crisis prevention.
Such responses are also much less expensive than the
day-to-day management of uprisings and violence. In
many crises today, we see the States concerned in a
position of great weakness or even virtual failure.

The appointment of a new Prime Minister in Iraq
sends the right signal of inclusion and tolerance. Let
me mention other illustrations of this principle. With
regard to the Middle East, this summer we watched
in despair the launching of rockets in Israel and the
massive bombing of Gaza. More than 2,100 Palestinian
and 67 Israeli lives were lost in combat. War is not a
solution. There is no other way to achieve peace — one
based on two States coexisting in security — except by
returning to negotiations. The status quo is obviously
not an option. We must put the settlement of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict back at the top of the international
agenda. That settlement will also constitute an
important factor in the stabilization and peace of the
entire region and the world. Therefore, we welcome the
efforts of President Obama in that regard, and we hope
that he will continue up to the last day of his mandate
to work in that direction.

The Arab Spring is another example of what I
am talking about. It was a legitimate revolution and it
speaks to true aspirations for democracy and prosperity.
We must note that in some countries, chaos and terror
have long reigned over democracy, while in others we
are witnessing a return to State totalitarianism. In that
regard, the international community must do everything
possible to encourage democracy peace and prosperity.

With regard to Africa, with which Belgium shares
a long common history, it is in constant forward motion
and far removed from common clichés. We must
strongly support its economic, educational and political
development. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
in particular in the east of the country, putting armed
groups where they can no longer do harm is an urgent
necessity. In Sahel, Mali and the Central African
Republic, the fight against religious extremism is
where our priorities should lie. We must also mobilize
to support populations in Africa that are dealing with
the horrific Ebola epidemic.

On the fringes of Europe, we are seeing a broad
destabilization. Internationally recognized borders are
being violated, and Ukraine is facing a major challenge
to be inclusive and representative for both the minorities
and the majority of the population in Ukraine.

With regard to Flight MH-17, in which six
Belgian citizens died, the currently known facts are
incriminating and we eagerly await the final report of
the independent experts, who must have free access to
the site and responses to all of their requests.

We will have peace only if tolerance triumphs
over barbarism. And we must act together. Therefore,
I welcome the American initiative to launch a process
of reflection on the role of the United Nations in
peacekeeping. The role of the United Nations in the
prevention and settlement of conflicts is irreplaceable.
It is the only place where the representatives of the entire
world can talk to each other. To be sure, the functioning
of the Organization should evolve and recognize that
the right to veto has sometimes been used to prevent
action from being taken. I am open to the consideration
that has begun in that regard. However, the common
house that is the United Nations should be preserved at
any price and encouraged to act. That is why I would
like to thank our Secretary-General for his unwavering
efforts to further improve its functioning.

Our world continues to present us with insufferable
contrasts. Too many human beings are today living in
extreme poverty. They do not have safe access to water or
basic health services and they suffer from malnutrition.
Who can believe that people will resign themselves to
such a situation and that there will not be yet another
scandal if they do? The international community — the
Group of Seven and the Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development — are beginning to deal
with tax evasion. That is extremely important, as is the
fight against corruption. There will not be great human
progress without a moralization of finance at the global
level. Our responsibility in that regard is huge.

Too many women and men do not have access to
a job or to housing, only because they are of foreign
origin. Too many women are subject to moral or
physical violence only because they are women. Too
many people — lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals and
transgender people — are persecuted and rejected only
because they are different or they love differently. It
is also our responsibility to denounce and combat all
together and systematically those injustices and attacks
on human rights.

As a crossroads of many cultures, Belgium has
always been one of the most open countries in the
world. It has a high standard of living. And although
I think they are still too great, the inequalities there
are the smallest in Europe. That is largely due to the
civil support, which is organized by the Belgian State.
In particular, our health system is exceptional and
is accessible to everyone. Moreover, Belgium is a
multicultural country both through its demography and
its abundant and diverse migration. In our country, the
respect for the other and the culture of compromise are
part of our cultural heritage.

Belgium, like the European Union, is moving on a
path of solidarity with peoples who are encountering
difficulties. We want to help them to achieve their
legitimate aspirations for a more just world. We must
also remain vigilant so that we do not fall into the trap
of social regression and increasing inequalities. All the
ethical progress that we have achieved is precious and
must be preserved.

I will conclude by saying that human fraternity is
not a utopia. It is what has often allowed us to make
great progress. We must go beyond borders to form
new types of cooperation, reduce inequalities and bring
about new hope. The most powerful obstacle to war
and violence is human fraternity. It is that fraternity
that will enable us tomorrow to better share the
planet’s resources, to offer a future to each and every
child and to make sure that peace reigns everywhere
and for everyone. Members of the Assembly may rest
assured that my country will continue to do everything
it can to bring peoples together. We believe in sharing
and solidarity, and we thus find it entirely natural to
continue to support Member States in their many
struggles for peace and justice.


Humankind
has only one past, but many options for the future.
History is such that we know only the consequences of
those actions that have occurred, but not those that did
not take place. What would our world look like today
if, a century ago, that memorable shot had not been
fired in Sarajevo, irrevocably changing the course of
history? That shot set in motion a dynamic that has yet
to be fully explained. For some key European countries
the question of honour contained in that shot overrode
both common sense and all other considerations.
Millions paid with their lives for that hypocritical
honour. Unfortunately, the tragedy did not end there,
because the lessons of the First World War have not
been learned. As a consequence, other global carnage
has claimed even more human lives. Thus, the shot in
Sarajevo marked nothing more than the onset of the
bloodiest period in the history of humankind.

For Belarus, this period was also the bloodiest in the
history of its people. Located at the centre of Europe, in
the very crucible of geopolitical interests, Belarus lost
a third of its population during the Second World War.
Even today, with 20 years of unprecedented successful
and stable development, we have not recovered from
that immense loss, either physically, psychologically or
emotionally.

This year, as the Republic of Belarus celebrates the
seventieth anniversary of its liberation from the Fascist
occupiers, is very important and symbolic for the
country. Belarus remembers all the victims who paid
with their lives for the freedom of the nation. Against
this background, we do not understand and strongly
condemn some attempts to revise the outcome of the
Second World War, downplaying the significance of the
Great Victory or desecrating the memory of the fallen
heroes. The world community must not allow this to
happen. Indeed, the verdict of history is unequivocal;
if humankind fails to learn the lessons from past
tragedies, we are bound to repeat them in the future.

Let us ponder the the immediate and distant future,
and indeed the present, as we mark the centenary of the
outbreak of the First World War. What do current global
trends tell us about the future? Undoubtedly, a multitude
of factors determine the dynamics of contemporary
global politics. We would identify the resistance of the
majority of the world’s population to the imposition of
external influences as one of the key factors. Indeed,
much like in the past, the mighty of the world persist in
believing that only their vision and their development
model stand as universal. Therefore, they do not ask
others whether they like or dislike, for instance, so-
called liberal democracy or the Washington consensus.
Others are just forced to choose — either they accept
our recipes or face the consequences, such as threats,
sanctions and colour revolutions.

To be honest, we — that is, the majority — have
grown accustomed to alien political and economic
models being foisted upon us. We know what is going
here. Someone wants our nations to feed transnational
corporate capital, not ourselves. If we resist, we are
punished. The pretext is always contrived — alleged
violations of human rights by unruly States. Having
been subjected to external attacks for many years,
countries such as Belarus, Cuba, Iran and Venezuela
feel such pressure especially acutely.

No less dangerous, however, is another factor.
Similar attempts at imposition have been made recently
against our identity. Indeed, some have been doing their
best to impose on us extraneous cultural preferences.
For example, we are being forced to renounce the
values of a traditional family and recognize instead
the diversity of that institution’s forms. In other words,
they are striving to strip us of our own soul. That may
be just another way to subdue those who dissent against
capital by turning them into soulless slaves.

We are convinced that nothing will come out of
it, however. The reason why the world is developing
is because it is diverse. It is diversity itself that gives
rise to healthy competition and creativity, which, in
turn, drive human progress. Do we need uniformity
and the ensuing trivial, soulless world? Of course we
do not. In that regard, I appeal to those who persist in
compelling others to do something that they find alien
and unpleasant to give up their meaningless and futile
policy. It is a road to nowhere. Their efforts only divide
us. We have too many problems on our plate that require
us to be united.

Today, two approaches determine international
relations: the ability to effect change and the ability to
stand in its way. Indeed, on the one hand, one or even
several countries can easily paralyse the international
community in its activities; on the other, no State or
group of States, however powerful, can alter the status
quo without cooperating with the rest of the world.
That is the paradox of globalization. We have become
too intertwined and too interdependent. Sadly, the
same holds true for global challenges — they too have
become intertwined. It is impossible in today’s world to
succeed in one area without making headway in others.
There is, for instance, no simple solution to the threat
of human trafficking unless we effectively tackle the
problem of poverty.

In short, strategies and policies to counter all
contemporary threats will be effective only if they are
comprehensive in scope and focus. Let us be realistic
and acknowledge that we will never solve the world’s
problems all at once. Our collective goal must therefore
be to reduce the extent of the threat they pose to society
through our constant, unswerving attention.

It is precisely that attitude that must underpin our
collective effort aimed at developing the post-2015
United Nations development agenda. That agenda
should be both comprehensive and realistic. Its main
goal should be to make globalization more even and
equitable than it has been up to now. When people in
different countries take to the streets to protest against
globalization, they are not calling for a return to
parochial nationalism. Rather, they seek a strengthened
globalization; they want to make it sustainable and they
want it to result in a win-win situation.

Rising inequality in the world is the biggest
scourge. We face a paradox. Having recently made
significant progress in strengthening various forms
of equality, such as gender, race and ethnic equality,

we are seeing a stubborn rise in economic inequality.
The international community must do whatever it takes
to reverse that trend. Otherwise, we will not eradicate
poverty. Climate change is another major challenge.
It is inextricably linked to such issues as energy
consumption, food security and water resources. We
need to fully reflect this complex issue in the future
agenda.

To be sure, many other sectors must also be
represented in this comprehensive document. In
that context, Belarus attaches particular importance
to the struggle against human trafficking and the
strengthening of the institution of the traditional family.
In the light of the significant and recognized advances
we have made at the national level, we propose for the
consideration of our partners specific, effective, long-
term solutions to those vital issues at the global level.

We need to be thinking right now about how we
will implement the future agenda. We are certain that
it should be carried out through the tool of thematic
global partnerships. In this day and age of multiple
actors and multiple threats, only effective partnerships
among States, international organizations, civil society
and the private sector can deliver success in addressing
global problems. The State must, of course, remain the
central pillar among all other partners. Moreover, what
is needed is a powerful and responsible State. Only
such a State can achieve the long-term complex goals
arising from the post-2015 United Nations development
agenda.

A powerful State often frightens people on the
grounds that it may potentially abuse its power and harm
the people. But let us take us a look at the other side of
that coin. How do people feel when they do not have a
powerful State, when there is no one to protect them
from resulting chaos, lawlessness and excess? I believe
that both the people of Belarus and their neighbours
can soberly assess arguments like these and draw the
right conclusions. It is no wonder, then, that the world
community selects stable and internally coherent States
like Belarus to serve as a stage for addressing acute
international crises. The people of Belarus very much
value stability and successful development. We are
convinced that those factors make us a fully responsible
stakeholder in the implementation of the future global
development agenda.

The United Nations should play a special role in
implementing the agenda. It is this universal forum
where Governments and their partners seek to implement
it. We are convinced that the Organization will be able
to cope with the task at hand if it successfully adjusts
to the constantly emerging realities of life. The issue of
the reform and revitalization of the United Nations is
as acute as ever, not just in its traditional institutional
dimension but also in conceptual terms.

As far as the latter is concerned, we believe it
necessary to give a serious thought to two problems.
First, we need to look for practical solutions to numerous
situations where certain United Nations principles
contradict each other. Secondly, there is the problem
of negative consequences arising from purportedly
benign international activities that are often undertaken
under a United Nations mandate. Far too often, those
activities seek to advance someone’s political goals,
and the sponsors care little for the consequences,
including chaos, lawlessness and refugee flows. Iraqi
Kurdistan, for instance, stands as a typical example of
such egotistical policy when it comes to the issue of
refugees. We hope that the issue will be tackled ahead
of the next United Nations global summit.

As we look to the future, we would all be well advised
to take to heart the words of the great internationalist who
lived during the First World War, American President
Woodrow Wilson, who said: “The interests of all nations
are our own also. We are partners with the rest. What
affects mankind is inevitably our affair.”


I congratulate you, Mr. President,
your country, Uganda, and the African continent on
your election to the presidency of the Assembly at its
sixty-ninth session. My delegation and I pledge our
full support to you, Sir, in this important mission. I
also wish to congratulate Ambassador John Ashe for
successfully completing his term.

We are all bound by our moral duty and legal
obligations to address the challenges confronting the
world today. We need to act in solidarity to promote
global peace and security for the good of our nations.
In this context, I urge the United Nations and all Heads
of State and Government to support the current peace
initiatives in the world, especially those in the Middle
East, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Mali, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic
of South Sudan. We need to find appropriate ways
and means to end these conflicts and many others in
the world, and to pave the way for all the nations and
peoples of the world to live in peace and to enjoy their
basic rights.

In addition, the Security Council needs to be
strengthened to deal with new global challenges.
Therefore, we support the call of the African leaders
for a comprehensive review of the Security Council
to ensure that Africa and the other continents are well
represented in this important international body, in
accordance with the African position as stipulated by
the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration. This
will create a more inclusive Security Council and
empower all the continents to play a greater and more
effective role in promoting global peace and security

for the benefit of the human race. More importantly, it
will ensure that the Security Council continues to fulfil
its purpose and be more able to achieve its mandate.

The journey of my people from conflict to
peace, independence and freedom was costly.
It was characterized by economic and political
marginalization, a prolonged war, humanitarian
disasters, the loss of millions of lives and untold human
suffering. At independence, we acquired a country with
a multitude of challenges, ranging from weak national
institutions and inadequate physical infrastructure to
limited human capacity and weak security mechanisms.
We are grateful the international community for its
support and for continuing to provide humanitarian and
development assistance.

I have no doubt that the world has followed with
shock and disbelief the violent conflict that erupted
in South Sudan on Sunday, 15 December 2013, which
was plotted by my former Vice-President, who wanted
to seize power by force. He was too impatient in his
thirst for power. He did not want to wait for the general
elections scheduled to take place in 2015, when he could
have sought a mandate from the people of South Sudan,
as required by our transitional Constitution. The failed
coup and the ensuing rebellion resulted in the loss of
many innocent lives, the destruction of property and
damaged community relationships. However, the coup
was foiled, and the Government is continuing to defend
the country and the people against the rebellion.

The Government and the people of South Sudan
take this opportunity to thank the United Nations,
the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority
for Development (IGAD) and the entire international
community for their prompt action to restore peace and
stability in my country. My Government is unwaveringly
committed to resolving the conflict peacefully, and my
negotiating team has been in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
since January, talking with the rebels about peace,
in order to close a dark chapter in the history of our
young country and, on a new page, to pave the way
for us once again to embark on the difficult mission of
socioeconomic development, which our people urgently
need.

With the dedicated efforts of the mediators,
we were able to sign an agreement on cessation of
hostilities between the Government of the Republic
of South Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement/Army in Opposition on 23 January and to
reaffirm our commitment to the agreement on 9 May.
My Government has demonstrated its firm commitment
to peace, has unreservedly honoured those agreements
and is continuing to negotiate in good faith to find a
peaceful solution to the conflict. However, the rebels
have violated the agreements too many times and have
refused to sign the Protocol Agreement, which is a
crucially important document signed by the Heads
of State and Government of IGAD, including myself
as a party to the conflict. That important document
forms the basis for resolving the crisis peacefully
and inclusively. Therefore, I urge the international
community to prevail on the rebels to sign the Protocol
Agreement.

We appreciate the fact that the international
community is rightly concerned about the humanitarian
crisis and human rights abuses that resulted from
the failed coup and the rebellion. In that regard, my
Government has ordered an investigation into those
abuses and has also accepted to cooperate with the
Commission of Inquiry formed by the African Union to
carry out investigations into allegations of human rights
violations. We are determined to hold accountable
those who are found responsible, as we do not condone
impunity under any circumstances.

My Government recently signed into law provisions
to guarantee freedom of expression in the media. It has
also ratified three United Nations core conventions,
namely, the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its first
Optional Protocol; and the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, the Optional Protocol on the involvement
of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol
on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography. Those are all positive measures put in
place to address some of the concerns.

The conflict in South Sudan is purely a political
struggle for power and not an ethnic conflict, as has
been reported. The citizens displaced by the conflict,
especially in the three states of Jonglei, Unity and
Upper Nile, have sought refuge in the neighbouring
states of Lakes, Warrap, Central Equatoria and Eastern
Equatoria and in neighbouring countries. Those
innocent victims of the conflict urgently need and
deserve humanitarian assistance. We therefore thank
the United Nations, the Government of Norway and
the stakeholders for organizing the donor conference
in Oslo, Norway, in May to support our humanitarian

needs. We also deeply appreciate and welcome the
high-level ministerial meeting on South Sudan that the
United Nations organized on 25 September as a sideline
event of the sixty-ninth session of the Assembly, during
which a number of donors made pledges of support.
My Government is fully committed to providing
humanitarian access and has taken the necessary
measures to facilitate access for humanitarian agencies.

The conflicts within our two countries of South
Sudan and the Sudan tend to be interconnected.
That is why we in the Republic of South Sudan will
exert increased efforts to strengthen relations with
the Republic of the Sudan. Our oil flows through the
territory of the Sudan. In the spirit of cooperation,
my Minister for Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation will soon commence more joint visits with
his Sudanese counterpart to donor countries to appeal
and lobby for lifting and waiving the Sudan’s foreign
debt, as was agreed in the Cooperation Agreement
between the Republic of the Sudan and the Republic of
South Sudan. There are outstanding issues associated
with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, especially
the final status of Abyei. The Republic of South Sudan
and the Sudan are working through those issues with
the members of the the African Union High-level
Implementation Panel mediation team and our other
partners to find an amicable, peaceful solution with the
Sudan. 1 am committed to addressing those outstanding
issues, and I am in direct communication with President
Omer Al-Bashir of the Sudan to resolve those issues
through dialogue.

Furthermore, my Government and the people of
South Sudan would like to state our appreciation and
thanks to the countries that have expressed support for
the peaceful resolution of the conflict in my country,
especially the United States of America, China, Egypt,
South Africa, the Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia,
Norway, the Congo and Namibia, together with many
others.

My Government is collaborating with the United
Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and other
stakeholders, such as community leaders, political
parties, civil societies and faith-based organizations,
to build trust with the internally displaced persons in
UNMISS camps and to encourage them to return to their
homes and their pre-conflict areas and resume their
normal livelihoods. With respect to our cooperation
with UNMISS, my Government would like to express
its concern regarding the latest mandate of UNMISS,
which has very serious implications for service delivery
to my people. I note in particular that the new mandate
does not allow UNMISS to respond to requests from
national, state and local partners for assistance in
important activities connected with capacity-building,
peacebuilding, disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration, security sector reform, recovery and
development.

Notwithstanding the fact that the activities I have
just mentioned are of paramount importance to South
Sudan, we strongly believe that the main objective of
UNMISS is to support peace and reconciliation first
and foremost. We humbly request the Security Council
to reconsider its decision when the UNMISS mandate
comes up for renewal in November. Also, we would
further urge UNMISS to engage in reorientation
of its activities relating to the mandate of protecting
civilians and to shift from protection-by-presence to
protection-by-action. This is very important because
the presence of troops that do not move does nothing to
save the civilian population. It is vital that they become
active. They must also encourage those in UNMISS
camps to return to their homes. UNMISS needs to
protect the civilians in their neighbourhoods, not in
camps, because ours is a huge country — larger than
France.

The theme of the current session is “Delivering
on and implementing a transformative post-2015
development agenda”. It is no surprise that the Republic
of South Sudan, as a three-year-old country facing
numerous challenges, will not achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. We commend the Secretary-
General and the Working Group for coordinating
the discussions on the 17 sustainable development
goals (SDGs), which will form the post-2015 global
development agenda. It is vital that the SDGs focus
nations’ efforts on reducing poverty; ending hunger
and achieving food security; addressing our health
concerns, especially those issues affecting women
and children; promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls; addressing the
issues of access, equity and quality of education; and
tackling youth unemployment.

We firmly believe that the attainment of the SDGs
will require strong, sustained partnership, collaboration
and coordination at the international, regional and
national levels, and leadership from the United Nations.
For our part, we will spare no effort and will work in
conjunction with the international community and our

partners in the New Deal, as a fragile State member of
the Group of Seven Plus, to attain the new development
goals.

I wish to take this opportunity to express our
solidarity and support to the victims of Ebola in the
greater West Africa region, particularly in Liberia,
Guinea and Sierra Leone. We acknowledge the leading
role of the United States of America in assisting the
continent to combat the virus. It is vital that the SDGs
address such global health threats.

The Republic of South Sudan strongly condemns
all forms of terrorism, including piracy, which has
become a menace to international peace and security.

Climate change is now recognized as a major global
threat — a threat that could wipe out planet Earth
and the entire human race. I commend the Secretary-
General for convening the recent climate summit to
focus attention on this global problem, and I urge all
the members of the Assembly to heed the call of the
Secretary-General and take bold action. I am pleased
that the SDGs cover environmental issues of concern
to the international community, and I hope the climate
summit to be held in Paris in December 2015 will result
in an agreement on a new global legal framework for
tackling climate change. We must win the race against
the clock to save our planet and humankind before it is
too late. To echo Ms. Graça Machel, tackling climate
change requires leadership, courage and ambition from
all of us. Let us act in solidarity to create the future we
want.

Finally, Sir, I reiterate my resolve to restore peace
to the people of South Sudan, to fully implement the
cooperation agreements with the Republic of the
Sudan, to provide unrestricted support to humanitarian
assistance, to respect human rights and ensure
democratic governance in my country, and to strengthen
working relations with UNMISS and all the members
of the international community without exception. We
will work in unison to establish a safe, secure, peaceful
and prosperous South Sudan.

We are all one in this world — whether strong or
weak, rich or poor. Let us therefore stick together.