It is an immense pleasure for me
to join other Heads of State and Government at this
sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly. I should
like to begin by congratulating the President upon
his election to steer the work of the Assembly at this session. His experience and abilities are well known
and respected. We have full confidence that he will
take the Organization to greater heights. The Kingdom
of eSwatini is ready to give him all the support that he
deserves in carrying out this mammoth task.
I also wish to thank the Secretary-General for his
detailed report on the work of the Organization (A/67/1).
We have seen the staff of the United Nations working
very hard, sometimes in very difficult and hostile
environments, dedicating their service to helping those
who require our assistance and support. The Kingdom
of eSwatini commends the Secretary-General and his
dedicated team for working tirelessly to ensure the
realization of all aspirations of the Organization.
As we gather here, we must always remember
that the role of the United Nations is to keep peace
throughout the world, to develop and to help nations to
work together in resolving challenges such as hunger,
unemployment, conflicts, disease and illiteracy, among
others. The United Nations also aims to be the centre
for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve our
aspirations.
We are meeting here at a time when the whole
world is facing numerous challenges, such as the
economic and financial crisis. The Kingdom of
eSwatini believes that the United Nations is the
appropriate forum to deliberate on these challenges
in order to come up with united global solutions. As
part of the global community, the Kingdom of eSwatini
has not been spared from this economic predicament.
Our social development programmes that enhance the
delivery of the Millennium Development Goals and
national projects, such as job creation and poverty
alleviation strategies, have been adversely affected
by the prevailing situation. The gains we have made
in the fight against HIV and AIDS through the rollout
of antiretroviral treatments remain threatened by the
uncertainty around the financial sustainability of the
programme.
We wish to acknowledge the support we continue
to receive from the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria in mitigating all diseases.
The Fund has gone a long way in injecting resources
into our national programme of promoting health as
a key national priority. The need to work together to
overcome these challenges could not have been more
essential. In our efforts to address global economic challenges,
we should be conscious of the social implications of
some of the proposed solutions. Our strategies should
not create more hardship, but rather find answers that
mitigate the difficulties we face. I am confident that,
with our wealth of different experiences, we stand
to benefit from valuable strategies, especially from
those States that have not been seriously affected by
the financial crisis. We urge those countries to share
their experiences for the benefit of all Member States.
The Kingdom of eSwatini calls on the United Nations
to consider making these challenges among its top
priorities during this session.
The Kingdom of eSwatini last month converged
on Sibaya for dialogue on social, economic and
political issues with a view to crafting solutions and
agreeing on a way forward that would best improve our
livelihoods. Sibaya is a place where every citizen is free
to participate irrespective of gender, creed, religion or
affiliation, among other things. We believe in the full
participation of all citizens at the grass-roots level in the
decision-making process. This forum is an institution
where key national pronouncements are made and
national sustainable development strategies conceived.
Our national Constitution and National Development
Strategy are outputs of this structure. This practice has
been passed on from generation to generation, and has
continued to serve us well, since it allows the people to
contribute to their own welfare.
Like many other States Member of the Organization,
the Kingdom of eSwatini has been working hard
towards the ratification of United Nations conventions,
as well as of continental and regional protocols. I am
pleased to inform the Assembly that the Sibaya forum
provided the whole nation with an opportunity to
discuss those conventions and protocols, which have
since been ratified by Parliament and deposited with
the Secretary-General. We are pleased that we can now
be counted among the countries that have successfully
ratified United Nations conventions and protocols.
The world we live in has become a complicated
place with the advent of modern technology. We remain
faced with the challenge of how best to take advantage
of this technology, such as social media, to promote
peace and stability. If there is anything we need to do, it
is to promote peace in the world. It is true, and we fully
agree with the assertion that there is no need to promote
violence of any kind, be it the killing of diplomats, the
forced removal of Governments, or any other form. In this world, we must all live together in peace, whether as
Muslims, Christians or any other traditional believers.
We must learn to respect each other irrespective of
race, creed or religious affiliation. If we practiced those
principles, the world would be altogether a different
and better place. As human beings, we must turn the
page, forget the past and live together for the benefit of
generations to come.
On the African continent, we are encouraged by
the concerted efforts of our fellow brothers and sisters
who are committed to resolving their differences in
a peaceful manner. We encourage speedy resolutions
in areas where pockets of conflict remain, such as the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan and some
North African countries, to mention but a few.
The Assembly knows that Somalia has also been
without a stable Government for a long time, and we
hope that new developments will bring about lasting
peace. In that vein, the Kingdom of eSwatini welcomes
the recent development that has taken place in Somalia.
We hope that the election of the President will bring the
desired stability.
We extend the call for peace beyond Africa, to the
Middle East, where we continue to witness conflict. The
war in Syria has claimed the lives of too many citizens
and must come to an end. We appeal to the people of
Syria to discourage the use of force in resolving their
differences. We encourage the use of dialogue in cases
where they do not see eye to eye. We implore the Syrian
Government and the other stakeholders to sit down in
dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the current
impasse. The barrel of the gun will bring nothing but
misery.
The United Nations and the League of Arab States
have sent a Joint Special Representative to work with
the people of Syria. We hope that all stakeholders will
make good use of the Joint Special Representative
towards finding a peaceful and lasting solution to their
differences. The Kingdom of eSwatini urges States
Members of the United Nations to work together in
supporting all efforts aimed at helping the people of
Syria to resolve the conflict.
We also note that the Israel-Palestine conflict
remains unresolved. A peaceful settlement of the issue
is deeply desired and urgently necessary. Our position
is unambiguous. The most viable solution is to have the
two States of Israel and Palestine coexisting side by
side in peace and harmony. We must commend the recent positive developments
with regard to relations between the Republic of
China on Taiwan and mainland China, which are
steadily improving. Indeed, it is very encouraging
as it demonstrates that the tensions between the two
countries have subsided. We hope that one day they
will be able to resolve all of their differences and live
happily with each other. We are witnessing increasing
trade, as well as f lights, between the two countries.
Recently, it was also interesting to see mainland China
host an African summit, to which the countries that are
friends of Taiwan were also invited.
As an African country, we would like to thank
mainland China for its continued support to African
countries. We have no doubt that the potential of the
two peoples working together side by side will make
a significant difference in the world. We hope that the
new developments will pave the way for Taiwan to
participate fully in all United Nations entities, because
the people of Taiwan desire to become part of the global
community.
Peace will continue to elude us until we properly
address the issue of weapons of mass destruction.
It is clear that those weapons are not necessary to
humankind. Their mere presence is a recipe for conflict
as each country seeks to gain power over others. The
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,
adopted by many Member States, must be enforced to
ensure the complete elimination of these weapons.
We have not seen any tangible proof of compliance
with the internationally agreed time frames, which
is a cause for serious concern requiring urgent
attention. The mere existence of those weapons creates
unnecessary tension that could result in a very hostile
world environment. We implore those countries
endowed with uranium resources to use them for other
essential economic development needs, such as power
generation.
The Kingdom of eSwatini recognizes the important
role that the Security Council plays in the pursuit of
international peace and security. The Charter of the
United Nations clearly stipulates an international order
that ensures the rule of law. We call upon the General
Assembly at this session to deliberate on Security
Council reform, as not all regions are well represented.
We wish to reiterate the African position on the Security
Council, claiming two seats in the permanent category
and five seats in the non-permanent category. The
full representation of all regions in the Council will ensure that we all own the decisions of that important
security organ. We should all be given equal treatment.
No region or country should impose its influence over
others. We wish to see finality in that urgent matter,
since it has dragged on for a very long time now.
The high-level meeting on sustainable energy for
all, which was held alongside this session, gave Heads
of State and Government a forum to deliberate on issues
that promote the protection of our environment. That
meeting provided us with an opportunity to revisit the
commitments made towards sustainable energy for all.
The destruction of the environment has had
devastating effects on many of our countries. The
United Nations must expedite the processes towards
protecting the environment by enforcing the use of
environmentally friendly technologies and practices by
Member States. We call upon the developed countries
to honour their commitments made prior to the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio
de Janeiro.
Finally, allow me to say that as we meet during
this session, let us adopt resolutions that will provide
lasting solutions to the challenges faced by humankind
the world over. We wish the United Nations every
success as it pursues its objective of creating a peaceful
environment and coexistence among all the nations of
the world. Let honesty, peace, stability and tolerance
prevail across the globe.


Leadership is about making
choices. It is about the ability to make the right decision
at the right moment and to have the stamina to deliver
accordingly. It is about the will to help shape the future of individuals, nations and the planet. And it is about
the courage that comes with seeking peace with one’s
enemies, as Yitzhak Rabin once told us. Leadership is
also about creating the conditions for people to choose
how to live their lives. Freedom is more than the mere
absence of physical or legal obstacles.
The very purpose of the United Nations is to
promote freedom for all people — freedom from want,
freedom from fear, and the freedom to live in dignity.
People are only truly free when they are able to choose
the way they want to live their own lives, regardless
of race, gender or sexual orientation. It is the freedom
of a woman to choose when to have children and also
when not to have them. It is about her freedom from
intrusion of her physical integrity, as well as her right
to think and say what she wants. It is about the freedom
that allows mother and child to survive birth, and the
freedom that allows every child to live a healthy life,
receive education and walk to school without fear of
land mines or cluster munitions. It is about the freedom
of every man and every woman to organize, to speak
out and to have their say as society progresses.
Those freedoms lay the ground for development and
prosperity. They give men and women a chance to build
a better future for themselves and for their families.
Some people can only dream about those freedoms, but
when they do exist they are often the result of collective
action by families, communities, regions and States and
at the global level. At the end of the day, that is why we
are here in this Assembly.
In Syria, mass atrocities are continuing. The crisis
in Syria started with a call for freedom and dignity
through peaceful protests. The Syrian Government
bears the primary responsibility. The privileges of the
few should no longer stand in the way of the aspirations
of the many. The regime of Bashar Al-Assad has lost all
legitimacy and must cede power. The violence in Syria
must stop.
Even in war, there are rules. All parties have clear
responsibilities under international humanitarian law.
To any party that commits violations of these principles,
I say this: “You are all individually responsible. When
justice prevails, you will be held accountable for the
crimes you have committed. Do not expect to be
pardoned by stating that your opponent committed the
same crime.”
When the United Nations was formed in San
Francisco in 1945, we collectively decided to establish a Security Council to act on our behalf. The permanent
members were then entrusted with the right of veto. My
country’s delegation at the time was led by Mr. Trygve
Lie, who would later become the Organization’s first
Secretary-General. On behalf of my country, he cast his
vote in favour of the right of veto for the five permanent
members, as did many other small and medium-sized
countries. They did so not only to reflect the world
order of the day, but also to ensure that the Council
would have genuine authority to make decisions and be
able to act on our behalf. They did not do so because
they held certain States to be superior to others.
Therefore, and in the light of the Syrian drama, my
message to the members of the Security Council is that
people in the Arab world, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa
and in the Americas are watching with horror how
history is repeating itself. Once again, the permanent
members of the Security Council are divided and
unable to protect people on the ground. In its absence,
extremists on all sides are free to kill, maim and rape.
We now expect the members of the Council to act. We
expect them to put away outdated ideas of zero-sum
games or spheres of influence and to strive to seek a
common position. Enough blood has been shed.
The verdict is harsh against those who choose the
wrong side of history. They must not allow narrow
self-interest to block the winds of change that the
vast majority of members of this Assembly applaud.
President Al-Assad of Syria was not forced to take the
path of conflict and confrontation; he could have opted
for compromise and cooperation. Elsewhere in the
world, quite different choices are being made.
Today in this Assembly, we have heard how
Myanmar’s reformist President Thein Sein is opening
the door for a free and democratic Myanmar. I commend
the courage shown by the Myanmar Government. I also
commend the courage of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She
has chosen to talk to the very people who once held her
in confinement.
Earlier today in Addis Ababa, the leaders of the
Sudan and South Sudan made the choice to end the
bloody conflict that has marred their peoples’ lives for
decades. The Sudan and South Sudan had again been
on the brink of war, but by signing today’s agreements
they have opted for peace. We salute the African Union,
which has, in close partnership with the Security
Council, helped make that choice possible. In Colombia, the Government and representatives
of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia
have made the wise choice of entering into formal
negotiations in order to end another age-old conflict.
As Norway’s Foreign Minister, I am the Chair of
the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for the Coordination
of International Assistance to Palestinians. We met on
the eve of this session of the General Assembly. I want
to take this opportunity to share with Member States
my deep concern about the state of play in the Israel-
Palestine relationship. Exactly one year ago, we agreed
here in New York that the Palestinian State-building
process had reached a level where the institutions of
State were in place. Great expectations were created,
only to be frustrated.
Time is running short — shorter than many seem
to understand. There is significant fatigue among the
Palestinian population. They may become inspired
to look for alternative options — options that would
severely hamper the prospects of Palestinians and
Israelis alike. I see a similar fatigue emerging among the
countries that are funding the Palestinian authorities.
The two-State solution is the only path to sustainable
peace, but the prospect of realizing a Palestinian State
based on the two-State solution is diminishing as the
expansion of Israeli settlements continues. Those
actions remain the main obstacle to peace and they must
stop. To get the peace process back on track, we need
to break the impasse and reinstall the trust in a political
horizon based on the final status issues. Negotiations
remain the key to achieve that; they must start now.
Leadership is also about trust. To achieve our
goals, we need a strong United Nations. I applaud the
Secretary-General’s tireless efforts aimed at reforming
the internal workings of the Organization. We have
elected a Secretary-General to lead, but we must allow
him to do so. Intergovernmental micromanagement
of what would be the chief executive’s prerogative in
any modern organization is nothing but the opposite of
making the United Nations work.
To conclude, leaders have real choices. Leaders
have real responsibilities. Humankind shapes its own
future. Failing to solve the most critical challenges
of our time not only harms those who suffer under
poverty, war or oppression; it also deprives people of
the conviction that they too can shape their own future.
And that very conviction, that belief in oneself and each
other, is what will make freedom from want, freedom from fear and the freedom to live in dignity possible for
all. That is the purpose of our leadership.


Allow me to congratulate
Mr. Jeremić on his assumption of the presidency of the
General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session and also
to commend his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Nassir
Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, for his effective leadership during
the sixty-sixth session. The President can be assured of
my delegation’s full support and cooperation during his
tenure.
This body was a very different place when Minister
Paul-Henri Spaak, another presidential predecessor,
opened the first session of the General Assembly. The
world had just emerged from the most devastating
carnage it had ever seen, and the United Nations
had the enormous task of stitching civilization back
together again. Finding common purpose among the
original 51 Member States promised to be a Herculean
effort — a similar endeavour had faltered only a decade
earlier — but the stakes were far too high for failure to
be an option. Accordingly, the Organization embarked
in earnest on the long process of strengthening the
rule of international law based on the principles of
non-aggression and the sovereign equality of all nations.
It is a testament to the success of those early
efforts that the membership of the United Nations has
swelled to 193 countries and the past 67 years have
been a period of relative stability. While the benefits
of multilateralism during this time were often shared
unequally, as were the costs, the promise of a more
stable and secure future for all imbued the United
Nations with the legitimacy it needed to pursue its
ambitious mandate. But we must never forget that the
legitimacy underpinning our essential work here is not
a birthright; we must earn it. When our words become
hollow, that legitimacy is threatened.
The work of our early predecessors was one of
construction. The task at hand today, perhaps even
more challenging, is one of restoration. We are awash in
unfulfilled promises stretching back decades. Barring
a brief resurgence in the early 1990s, multilateralism
has for the most part deteriorated into a scramble for
finite resources, a destructive fight for a bigger piece
of the economic pie, sugarcoated with empty rhetoric.
Look at the beginning of any international agreement
and you will find reaffirmation upon reaffirmation of
our non-binding commitments to live up to our lofty
ideals. Perhaps their greatest value is as a reminder of how often very little has been achieved. Our words
must have meaning if our multilateral institutions are
to remain effective in addressing emerging global
challenges. Once again, the stakes are too high for
failure to be an option.That dynamic could not be more
evident than it was in the climate change negotiations.
This summer, we were treated to a new round of truly
terrifying news. Arctic sea ice dropped to its lowest
extent in recorded history, shattering the previous
record by a jaw-dropping 18 per cent. Some scientists
are now predicting that the Arctic Ocean could be
ice-free during summer in as little as five years. The ice
melt is already wreaking significant havoc on weather
patterns around the globe and has probably contributed
to the historic heat waves that struck many places this
year.
Just last week, a new study found that half of all
coral reefs could be lost with a temperature rise above
1.2 degrees Celsius. The scientists further concluded:
“There is little doubt... coral reefs will no longer be
prominent within coastal ecosystems if global average
temperatures exceed 2 degrees Celsius...” That would
be devastating for the economies of small islands and
coastal communities around the world, not to mention
the staggering and irrevocable loss of biodiversity
that would be incurred by our shared natural heritage.
More and more studies are concluding that the door to
limiting temperature rise to even 2 degrees is rapidly
closing, if it has not closed already.
Meanwhile, greenhouse-gas emissions continue
to climb higher each year, with no end in sight. Small
islands may be the canary in the coal mine, but we all
are staring a global catastrophe right in the face.
It is revealing just how much our ambition to
address the crisis has been downscaled in just three
years. The fifteenth session of the Conference of the
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change, held in Copenhagen, was the
conference to save the world. The United Nations
Climate Change Conference, held in Cancún, Mexico,
was the conference to save the process. The Conference
of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to
the Kyoto Protocol, held in Durban, South Africa, it
seems, was the conference to save the rest for later.
Instead of increasing the urgency of our work to
respond to the growing climate crisis, we have instead
seen the steady dismantling of the international
regime and a concerted effort to delay additional
action until 2020. Such an outcome is unacceptable. If
multilateralism is to have any credibility, then we must
move to an emergency footing, and those countries
with the greatest capacity must immediately begin
mobilizing the significant resources necessary to
remake the energy infrastructure that powers the global
economy. That must begin at the eighteenth session of
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change in Doha with the reprioritization of pre-2020
mitigation ambition and the mobilization of means
of implementation, including finance, technology and
capacity-building.
Nauru’s delegation will arrive in Doha prepared
to make its contribution to the global effort. We have
adopted a very ambitious renewable energy goal of
50 per cent by 2015. We think we can achieve it, but
we will need climate financing from international
sources to do so. As with most developing countries,
obtaining the means of implementation will be the key
to unlocking our ambition.
The ultimate objective of the Convention on Climate
Change is to stabilize greenhouse gases at a level that
averts dangerous interference with the climate system so
that ecosystems can adapt naturally, food production is
not threatened and economic development can proceed
in a sustainable manner. We should stop pretending that
this is still within reach.
We must realize that we have polluted the
atmosphere so much that many dangerous climate
change impacts are now unavoidable. Therefore,
the United Nations system must begin analysing and
addressing the security implications of climate change.
Climate change will become an increasing driver
of conflict in the future if we do not take steps now.
Increased competition over dwindling natural resources,
food and water insecurity, and forced migration are
just a few of the security issues that climate change
is expected to exacerbate. For that reason, the Pacific
small island developing States (SIDS) have called for
the appointment of a special representative on climate
and security, supported by adequate resources, to
begin analysing the security threats of climate change
and to work with interested Member States to build
their resilience. In addition, the Secretary-General of
the United Nations should be requested to conduct an
assessment of the United Nations system’s capacity
to respond to the various security implications of
climate change. Member States, particularly the most
vulnerable, must have confidence that the international community has the tools and resources to respond to
the crisis.
Some countries have been sceptical of Security
Council involvement in climate change. That is
understandable because the Council’s current
composition does not accurately reflect the diversity
of United Nations membership. The time has come for
this to be remedied. However, reform should not be
limited merely to membership. The Council must also
provide a forum for addressing the security challenges
of all countries, not just those of concern to the most
powerful.
The United Nations sustainable development
initiatives have been graced with an abundance of
lofty rhetoric but few resources. Many countries,
including my own, are not on track to meet their
Millennium Development Goals, and in some cases
have suffered setbacks because of the recent global
economic downturn. At the same time, the f low of
official development assistance from some channels
has diminished, further jeopardizing our ability to
achieve our MDGs.
We often forget that oceans cover 70 per cent of
the Earth’s surface and that healthy marine ecosystems
are vital to the sustainable development and sustainable
livelihoods of small islands. For many of us, the only
valuable natural resource we have is our fish. It forms
the cornerstone of our efforts to eradicate poverty and
provide livelihoods for our people. For us, fishing is
not just another economic sector — it is often the only
significant economic sector, and we must jealously
guard our modest natural wealth so that it can provide
for many generations to come.
While the outcome document of the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio had
few concrete deliverables, it did capture the Pacific
SIDS vision of a blue economy. If fully implemented,
the new provisions could help stem the steep decline
in fish stocks. We welcome the recognition of ocean
acidification as an emergent threat, and we must work
collectively to build the resilience of marine ecosystems
to climate change impacts. The commitments made in
Rio must be backed by real resources so they can be
translated into concrete results on the ground.
Rio also infused new energy into making islands
a model for sustainable development by agreeing to
convene the third Global Conference on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States, which is to be held in the Pacific in 2014. The Conference will
provide an opportunity for the international community
to make good on the promises of the Barbados
Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy for
Implementation by setting specific goals and mobilizing
real resources. We call on the international community
to provide support for the Conference and to summon
the political will necessary to make it a success. It was
agreed at the first Earth Summit that the sustainable
development of SIDS would be the first test of the
global partnership. We must demonstrate to the world
that this partnership means something.
A central aspect of that work must be enhancing
the international system to better target the unique
combination of challenges faced by SIDS, which
should include the creation of a formal SIDS category
at the United Nations. It is clear from 20 years of
experience that the current arrangements for improving
the sustainabIe development prospects of SIDS are
ineffective. We must demonstrate that the multilateral
system is nimble enough to evolve in response to the
shortcomings that have been identified.
Nauru welcomes the attention that the theme of
this year’s general debate brings to the need to address
disputes by peaceful means, and it commends the
efforts made by Taiwan and China to reduce tensions
and increase cooperation. I call on Member States to
support continuing dialogue between the two sides of
the Taiwan Strait and the parties concerned in the East
China Sea dispute to recognize Taiwan’s positive role
in consolidating peace and stability in East Asia. Nauru
urges a rapid and peaceful settlement of the situation
in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in a manner that treats
those affected with dignity and that respects their rights
as a sovereign nation.
Nauru continues to support the right of Israel to live
free from the fear of terrorism. We also acknowledge
Palestine’s right to statehood as part of a two-State
solution, which can be achieved only through peaceful
means.
The challenges facing the international community
are great and can be solved only by concerted
multilateral action. President Jeremić’s task and ours
is to begin the process of rebuilding the Organization.
That process must restore the integrity of the institution
entrusted with the protection of human dignity. It
was accomplished once before in the aftermath of a
catastrophe. This time, our goal must be to prevent one.
I pledge Nauru’s full support in that endeavour.


I should like
to start by conveying to the friendly Republic of Serbia
and to President Jeremić personally my most heartfelt
congratulations on his election to the presidency of
the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session. I
should like also to congratulate Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser, President of the Assembly at its previous
session, as well as Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for the efforts that
they have undertaken in favour of all peoples’ aspirations
that are aimed at achieving stability, peace, security
and development throughout the world. I should like to
convey to them the congratulations of my people, who,
through the revolution of 17 December 2010, entered
the fraternity of free people and democratic States.
I should now like to express our views regarding
the major issues facing our world today.
Today we are witnessing the great evil perpetrated
by a few groups that are using the media to disseminate
their destructive and chaotic views. That makes clear the
great chasm that exists with respect to the psychological,
social and economic crises of our societies, which,
unfortunately, exacerbate the phenomena of violence
and extremism. Those warning signals need to be
addressed very seriously. The First and Second World Wars did not happen in a vacuum; they were the result
of extremist statements and policies that led to human
carnage and claimed tens of millions of lives.
We in Tunisia believe that we must work under the
auspices of the United Nations to bring about peace
for all humankind and to avert confrontations between
civilizations. Tunisia’s access to this forum of free and
democratic peoples came at a very high cost. Tens of
thousands of political prisoners, as well as exiles, were
tortured before the revolution; they were the ones who
paid the price. During the revolution, more than 300
citizens were killed and 2,000 others injured.
A year and a half after the revolution, Tunisia
continues to move forward. We are, however, faced by
a great many difficult economic and social problems,
the legacy of a regime that lasted for more than two
decades and whose practices included corruption,
fraud and repression. But that price is negligible when
compared with that paid by our brothers in Egypt,
Yemen and Libya, and, of course, by our brothers in
Syria, more than 25,000 of whom have been killed and
tens of thousands injured, along with the destruction
of the country’s infrastructure. All of that will forever
mark the Syrian people and affect their future for
decades to come.
That high price is something we all should
remember in facing the difficulties that hamper us in
the building of an international system that will work
to avert, lay siege to and curtail those accursed political
systems that threaten the freedom of peoples and peace
among peoples. The Republic of Tunisia, which has just
emerged from dictatorship and which is well aware of
the high toll taken by such a regime, proposes that we
create a new mechanism to fight dictatorships, which
are a disease threatening peace, stability and security
as well as the prosperity of peoples. They not only have
an impact on the freedom of people in a given country,
but they also give rise to hatred and wars.
Europe was able to enjoy peace, stability and
prosperity only after the fall of the fascist, Nazi and
Communist dictatorships. In the medical field, methods
were developed by the World Health Organization that
made possible the elimination of polio in the twentieth
century; that would have seemed pure fiction to doctors
in the nineteenth century. We have acquired political
maturity and awareness in the face of dictatorship,
which, more than diseases, poses a serious threat to the
lives of hundreds of millions of people.
Because the United Nations, through its Charter
and institutions, has at its disposal a legal arsenal that
can serve to bring about basic freedoms and peace
among peoples, we invite the Organization to declare
that dictatorship is a social and political scourge that
must be eliminated through the combined efforts
of all peoples throughout the world. It behoves us
to implement a bold and ambitious programme to
eliminate dictatorship in the same manner in which we
got rid of polio and smallpox.
The creation of the International Criminal Court
(ICC) demonstrates that we are on a historic journey of
building international institutions that has not yet been
completed. The ICC is but a further step in the direction
of the complete elimination of dictatorship. However,
the Court tackles crimes only after their commission;
what we require are mechanisms to prevent dictatorship
from taking root in the first place.
Contemporary dictatorships are based on the use
of excessive force and give themselves false legality
through the holding of fraudulent elections. They use
the appearance of democracy to undermine democracy
itself. Those kinds of elections took place in Tunisia
in 1999, 2004 and 2009. Our deposed dictator was
prepared to remain in power forever. He intended, for
the 2014 elections, to rewrite the Constitution so he
could run for a third term. Each time he re-imposed the
status quo because he knew that no internal domestic or
international mechanisms existed that could rein in his
political activities.
During that entire period, the Tunisian democratic
opposition could not but note the paralysis of domestic
and international laws and legal mechanisms. It was
simply impossible for the opposition to turn to a
Tunisian or international constitutional court. Although
it was normal that such a constitutional court did not
exist in the country, it certainly was not normal that
a mechanism to that effect should fail to exist within
the United Nations, because the Charter of the United
Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, as well as many other international conventions
and instruments, backed by General Assembly
resolutions, all are texts that could be viewed as being
the charter of humankind. The only thing missing is an
implementation mechanism.
The Republic of Tunisia therefore proposes the
creation of an international constitutional court similar
to the ICC, which could be seized of challenging illegal constitutions or charters, or fraudulent elections. Such a
court would have to be competent to consider a number
of disputes and issues, to rule on the legality or illegality
of elections that are not in line with the Charter of the
United Nations. All systems, especially democratic
ones, would face the clear duty of being recognized by
the international constitutional court. The court would
also make recommendations and provide the necessary
advice to all those who so request. The body could serve
as a deterrent against any despot, any tyrannical regime,
in the case of any such regime forging election results.
The court would contribute to the very disappearance
of those regimes, because it would strengthen the role
of peaceful civic resistance. Otherwise, the only choice
would be to live under oppression or to turn to violence.
We all know just how expensive that can be.
Tunisia strongly advocates the protection of
the environment to ensure that we leave succeding
generations a sustainable world.
We also want to leave a world living in peace and
to douse the flames of war in Afghanistan, Mali, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan and
the Middle East. Tunisia requests rapid humanitarian
intervention to help save the heroic Syrian people and
to ensure the departure of President Bashar Al-Assad
and his criminal regime. We call for the deployment of
an Arab peace force to guarantee the transition and to
create a democratic State, which would be pluralistic
and that could live in peace.
Tunisia wishes to reiterate its support for the
Palestinian people and their right to a just peace and
the release of thousands of prisoners. We support the
creation of a Palestinian State with Al-Quds as its
capital and with membership in this Organization.
We condemn violence against women and children.
We denounce the fanaticism, the anti-Semitism and the
Islamophobia that one often sees. We call for tolerance
to allow all religious minorities, including Muslims in
Burma and Christians living in all Muslim countries, to
exercise their faith freely. The chasm between the rich
and the poor must be reduced.
During the upcoming Nuclear Materials
Conference, Tunisia will insist on the need to free
the Middle East from nuclear weapons and all other
weapons of mass destruction.
We champion pluralistic, tolerant civilian societies
and institutions. Tunisia is the country of peaceful
democratic revolution. Tunisia asks the General Assembly to draw upon
Article 22 of the Charter of the United Nations, by which
it may establish such subsidiary organs as it deems
necessary, and create an international constitutional
court and to include this item in the agenda of its
sixty-eighth session. I hope this proposal will enjoy
the broadest possible support by democratic States and
the mobilization of the international community, which
played such an important role in the creation of the
International Criminal Court. We hope that the same
will be done to ensure that the proposed international
constitutional court becomes a part of a comprehensive
system that would enable our people and succeeding
generations to avoid a scourge of blood and tears like
that which has cost us so dearly.


As
President of the Transition of Madagascar, it is a great
honour for me to participate in the general debate of
the United Nations for the second time. The theme of the sixty-seventh session is akin to a call for unity,
for shared contemplation and for generally revisiting
existential questions and human values in the face of
situations around the world where peace is extremely
precarious.
The last few years have indeed been marked by
differences of opinion, political disputes and conflicts
of interest. The world today faces new challenges to
stability and the maintenance of peace. Various efforts
and initiatives have been undertaken to deal with
conflicts that are not homogeneous and disputes that
do not always play out along the same lines. People’s
interests differ and their approaches are not all equal.
Today the list of the forms that global conflicts
take leads us to an obvious reality: geostrategic
variations conform to no one rule, and they are in
perpetual f lux. The wise words of Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon in his statement at the opening of the
sixteenth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement seem
particularly revealing in that context. Did he not stress
that among the challenges that must be met, there are
all too many political disputes between member States
of the Non-Aligned Movement itself? Did he not urge
the protagonists in the Syrian crisis to immediately
institute a ceasefire and a halt to the violence? And yet
we can only deplore the fact that his call produced no
result. Scores of innocent people are still dying every
day, and over recent months they now number in the
thousands. We firmly condemn this loss of human life.
The Earth continues to run with the blood of innocents,
spilled violently not only in Syria but in other parts of
the world as well.
Given this state of affairs, despite the complexity
of the challenges those conflicts present, the Secretary-
General has not stood idle. We can only commend his
determination to strive tirelessly to seek a negotiated
settlement. States and other bodies must join forces
to maintain peace, stability and security in the world.
We cannot be passive witnesses to current or future
disasters. The Republic of Madagascar sets particular
store by the relevance and importance of the principles
set forth in the United Nations Charter, as a source
of inspiration as well as a pillar of support for the
interdependence of nations and peoples. That being the
case, human rights, the law of States, the rule of law
and the other international regulatory tools place before
leaders their responsibilities.
The League of Nations defined the rule of law as a
principle of governance based on the submission of all individuals and institutions, including the State, to the
adopted and published laws, without distinction as to
social or economic status; on the equality of everyone
before an independent, impartial justice system; and on
the harmonization of national laws with international
human rights standards. No one should be above the
law, and the culture of impunity must be banished.
Mr. Benmehidi (Algeria), Vice-President, took the
Chair.
National conflicts today transcend borders and are
becoming international problems. More than ever, the
role of diplomacy and international negotiations face
difficulties. The consequences of disputes play out in a
number of ways, including with problems of impunity,
instability in the Arab and Muslim world, the case of
Somali piracy, illegal immigrations, persons displaced
by war, problems regarding the Rom issue, religious
confrontations, management of land and sea borders,
and food insecurity. It is undeniable that much remains
to be done to save human lives, because still civilian
populations remain the primary victims of conflicts
and disputes throughout the world.
The world is in upheaval, and many countries are in
a situation of transition. Their peoples demand change
and hope for sustainable development. Those countries
need to be supported and encouraged, not sanctioned.
In that context, allow me to highlight the case of my
own country, Madagascar.
Madagascar is a country emerging from crisis,
thanks to the involvement of the bodies of the Southern
African Development Community and the support of
the African Union, the Indian Ocean Commission and
the International Organization of la Francophonie. A
road map was signed and adopted by the Malagasy
political parties in September 2011. Thus, several
significant steps have been taken. The Malagasy parties
have honoured their commitments. All the transitional
institutions have been set up, including a national unity
Government and the transitional Parliament. The road
map, which we can call a political agreement, has
allowed us to launch the electoral process.
Madagascar needs to take its destiny into its own
hands, to write its own history, and to end the cycle of
political instability through the holding of credible and
transparent elections, guaranteed by the establishment
of the Independent National Electoral Commission
of the Transition. Above all, recently, in concert with
United Nations experts, the electoral timetable for Madagascar was officially announced, including the
holding of presidential elections scheduled for 8 May
2013. Thus I launch a solemn appeal to all international
partners, all Member States and friends of Madagascar
to support us and encourage us in that approach, which
is the only and most democratic path forward.
Profoundly committed to the values of solidarity,
tolerance and peace, Madagascar is now searching for
swift development and a better future. During the three
and a half years of transition and despite all attempts
at destabilization, we have worked tirelessly every day
to honour our commitments and ensure the protection
of our countrymen, all the while addressing social
problems. In spite of challenging times, and despite the
suspension of international aid and subsidies, which
once accounted for 60 per cent of the State budget, we
have been able to keep the administration functioning
normally and have honoured all our commitments and
debts.
Madagascar is indeed one of the least developed
countries. Nevertheless, it is one of the least indebted
countries in the world since its debt amounts to only
5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared
to other countries whose debt rate can reach up to
238 per cent of GDP. Therefore, it is possible to develop
our country and create our wealth through our own
resources. That is the challenge that we are meeting.
Now it is high time to embark on in-depth reform
to create an effective system that meets the highest
expectations of our respective populations — not
forgetting, obviously, the need to double or even triple
our commitments to fighting poverty and promoting
sustainable development. Here today, I launch an appeal
for international solidarity to channel the transition
towards the building of a more promising future — but
without stif ling us.
The Malagasy people need their full and entire
independence, but above all they must be able to
hold transparent and therefore democratic elections.
I know that everyone here is sincerely willing to lend
us support. So allow me to give the Assembly the
solution. The best way to help us is to trust us, honour
the commitments made and let us shoulder our own
responsibilities. In the name of universal values and
principles, anyone meeting the conditions of eligibility
dictated by law is fully entitled to exercise that liberty.
That is a fundamental principle, and all States must
respect it. The Malagasy people alone — not other
countries or external pressure — have the sovereign right to decide who should guide their destiny. The
Malagasy people alone will choose the man or woman
who will lead Madagascar.
If confidence is shown in the Malagasy people, they
will be grateful. The concepts of non-interference and
respect for the sovereignty of each country establish
mutual trust, which is a basic rule for all international
negotiations. They are among the peaceful means
needed to build lasting peace. Efforts must be made
to put an end to the inequalities in how countries in
political crisis are treated. The realities on the ground
and popular aspirations must be acknowledged in order
to avoid making the wrong decision.
Despite our disagreements and our differences on
how to achieve a peaceful settlement of our conflicts,
we the States Members of the United Nations are
unanimous in our firm desire for peace. The United
Nations system cannot just be the police of the world;
it also needs to be a source of hope and of values. Our
societies need to exist and find their way through
their own values, because it is social and economic
ills, injustice, the lack of protection for vulnerable
populations and intolerance for minorities that often
cause States to collapse.
As far as its modest means allow, the Republic of
Madagascar is determined to contribute to achieving
our shared goals. The peace accord is fragile and needs
to develop. To quote Martin Luther King, Jr., “All
progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem
brings us face to face with another problem”. It is our
duty and responsibility to provide a better future for the
generations to come. Global stability requires tolerance,
assistance, the creation and equitable sharing of wealth,
and poverty reduction through sustainable development
and reconciliation. The principles of adjustment or
settlement of international disputes by peaceful means
requires a return to our values, gender balance and
equality, and, above all, democratic alternation. God
bless our nation!


For over a year and a half, the situation in the
Middle East and North Africa has been the nerve centre
of global politics. The deep changes that have swept
over the region intertwine with the key problems of
modern international relations and require everyone to
take a comprehensive approach and to reject simplistic
and ideology-driven patterns and double standards.
Russia has consistently supported peoples in their
aspiration to determine their destiny and to pave the
way to more effective models of public governance.
We believe it is particularly important to carry out
those transformations in a non-violent way and without
outside interference. We strongly believe that all
members of the international community should be
interested in making the Middle East-North Africa
region peaceful, stable, democratic and free from
domestic and inter-State conflicts. So far, however,
there has been no progress in reaching unanimity in
the efforts of outside players to create conditions for
achieving that goal.
Of particular concern is the deepening internal
conflict in Syria. We have consistently called for
consolidated efforts by the international community
to compel the Government and its opponents to
immediately cease the violence, come to the negotiating
table and work out a compromise on the content and
pace of reforms that would satisfy all Syrians and
ensure the safety and rights of all ethnic and religious
groups. That was the substance of the consensus
recorded in the final communiqué of the Action Group
for Syria (S/2012/523, annex), agreed upon in Geneva
as a follow-up to the Kofi Annan plan.
We call upon all members of the Action Group
to fully abide by the commitments we all took on in
Geneva. That is the fastest way to stop the loss of human
life in Syria. We proposed a Security Council resolution
endorsing the Geneva communiqué as the basis for
negotiations at the beginning of the transitional period, but that proposal was blocked. Those who oppose the
implementation of the Geneva communiqué bear an
onerous responsibility. They insist on a ceasefire by
the Government alone and encourage the opposition
to intensify hostilities, in fact pushing Syria even
deeper into the abyss of bloody internecine strife. The
militarization of the conflict continues, with calls for
open intervention.
Extremist organizations including Al-Qaida
have become more active in Syria. They perpetrate
terrorist attacks against innocent civilians and civil
infrastructure. The number of war crimes is growing, on
the part of both Government forces and the opposition,
as recorded in the recent report of the Human Rights
Council’s commission of inquiry (A/HRC/21/50).
Russia resolutely condemns any violence, wherever
it comes from, and is convinced that there is still an
opportunity to undertake collective action. Practical
steps to overcome the crisis need to begin with a
comprehensive ceasefire, the release of prisoners and
hostages and the provision of additional humanitarian
aid. That would create the conditions to start an
inter-Syrian dialogue. We hope that Lakhdar Brahimi,
Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and
the League of Arab States, will be able to bring his vast
experience to bear on moving towards an agreement on
such arrangements, with the support of the international
community. Russia will provide its full support to
promote the success of his mission.
The changes taking place in the Middle East
should not marginalize the Palestinian problem. The
achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting Arab-
Israeli settlement, which should lead, among other
results, to the establishment of an independent, viable
and contiguous Palestinian State, coexisting in peace
and security with Israel, would be a major contribution
to the normalization of the overall regional situation.
The Arab Peace Initiative fully retains its relevance,
and we support the efforts of the League of Arab States
to move it forward.
I also wish to stress the importance of implementing
the decision on convening in 2012 a conference on
establishing in the Middle East a zone free of weapons
of mass destruction and their means of delivery (see
NPT/CONF/2010/50 (Vol.I)). It is clearly necessary to
ensure the participation in the conference of all States in
the region, and they should agree on key arrangements among themselves. In that matter, the League of Arab
States should play an important role.
On the whole, we support closer ties between the
United Nations and regional entities. I would note
that in our part of the world today a memorandum on
cooperation was signed between the secretariat of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization and the United
Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. I am
convinced that it will increase the efficiency of common
efforts to ensure stability and security.
All our actions should be founded solidly on the
United Nations Charter, which makes no provision
for the right to change regimes. It is unacceptable to
impose a political system on a country and its people.
Our position was clearly stated by President Vladimir
Putin speaking at the Kremlin on 26 September. The
entire sequence of events in the Arab world and other
regions proves the futility of any such policy, which can
lead to dangerous interethnic and interreligious clashes
in international relations.
We believe it is an obligation of all States to protect
from provocations and blasphemy the religious feelings
of people of any religious affiliation. At the same
time, of course, there can be no justification for acts
of terror, regardless of where they are committed, be
they in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen or anywhere else.
Attacks against diplomats or United Nations personnel
are absolutely unacceptable.
In general, we are convinced that today, when the
world is going through a transition period characterized
by instability in the spheres of the economy, politics and
inter-civilizational relations, it is particularly important
for United Nations Member States to be able to rely
on accepted rules of conduct and to agree on a joint
response to the threats to global stability. We should
not allow irresponsible actions dictated by expedient
interests to shatter the system of international law. The
world order is threatened by arbitrary interpretation
of such essential principles as the non-use or threat of
force, the peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States and
non-interference in their domestic affairs.
Those are the key principles of the United Nations
Charter, which confers the primary responsibility for
the maintenance of international peace and security on
the Security Council. In advancing the reform of the
United Nations, it is essential to preserve the capacity of
the Security Council to perform those functions. Their erosion would deprive the international community of
an essential mechanism for developing joint approaches
to the settlement of crisis situations.
It is appropriate to mention the compulsory
instruments at the disposal of the United Nations. Under
the United Nations Charter the imposition of sanctions
falls exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Security
Council. Decisions must be made on a collegial basis,
with the understanding that sanctions should not lead
to isolation of the State targeted for sanctions, but
rather encourage it to engage in a dialogue to remove
questions that the Member States may have. It is
essential that sanctions should be well-measured and
that they not cause any suffering to the population. In
the past the Security Council has discussed the issue of
the humanitarian limits of sanctions, but somehow the
discussions have faded away. We believe it is important
to resume them.
Another issue that needs to be discussed in the
Security Council is the consequences of unilateral
sanctions imposed by a State or a group of States
sidestepping the United Nations to advance their
political goals. We have no doubt that such sanctions,
especially when they are applied extraterritorially,
weaken the unity of the international community
and undermine the effectiveness of its efforts. For
many years, the commercial, economic and financial
restrictions imposed by the United States on Cuba
have remained an illustration of the negative impact
of unilateral sanctions. Russia, together with the
overwhelming majority of members of the international
community, calls for the swift lifting of the blockade,
which is a relic of the Cold War.
Special attention should be given to the practical
enforcement of Security Council decisions regarding
sanctions against non-State actors and illegal cross-
border formations. In general, the events of recent
years have clearly shown that unilateral action which
violates international law and circumvents or distorts
the decisions of the Security Council does no good.
Of course, the legal norms of international affairs
will be further adjusted as necessary. But these
transformations should be treated with the greatest
sense of responsibility and full consciousness of the
serious risks involved. Consensus should be the sole
route to their adoption. Violations of international
law should not be portrayed as some sort of creative
development.

All of this is related to the debate regarding the
concept of the so-called responsibility to protect. Further
discussion of this concept should be held on the basis
of the approach agreed on at the 2005 World Summit,
which reaffirmed the need to observe the principles of
the Charter of the United Nations when responding to
conflicts within States. The protection of civilians is an
issue far too serious to be exploited to achieve political
goals. The ambiguity of the so-called responsibility-
to-protect concept can be better understood in light of
initiatives formulated by Brazil and several other States
to move towards consensus.
Let us not forget that the founders of the United
Nations, in their wisdom, agreed upon and endorsed
a Charter that enshrined principles for the regulation
of a multipolar world order. Now that the abnormal
bipolar period of the Cold War is over, and now that
it has become clear to all that there is no place for
monopolarity in the modern world and international
affairs can only be polycentric, we have a unique
chance to fully implement the original potential of that
Charter.
This is a difficult challenge. International relations
are clearly experiencing a lack of credibility. We regard
this as the main obstacle to practical progress towards
the establishment of universal foundations for equal
and indivisible security, whether in the Euro-Atlantic
area, Asia-Pacific region or other parts of the world.
Such a state of affairs clearly contradicts the concept
of collective security embodied in the Charter and the
deep interdependence of the modern world, where most
challenges and threats are common to us all and have a
cross-border dimension.
Strengthening confidence and collective principles
in international affairs, with the emphasis on
negotiating the pursuit of compromise solutions, would
help substantially reduce the level of instability and
move forward in the settlement of crisis situations, not
only in the Middle East, but also with respect to Iran,
Afghanistan, the Korean peninsula and other situations
throughout the world.
The final goal of the efforts to settle a conflict is
to ensure the right to life and other fundamental human
rights, be they political, economic or social. The events
of recent years confirm that, without lasting peace and
sustainable development, it is impossible to ensure
human rights. In turn, the protection of human rights
should contribute to security and development, rather than serve as a pretext for illegal interference in the
domestic affairs of States.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states
that everyone is entitled to an international order in
which their rights can be fully realized. Those who use
military force and sanctions, bypassing the Charter,
engage in illicit supplies of arms, or provide cover for
terrorists grossly violate this right.
Russia stands for the implementation of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and respect for
the traditional values on which human civilization is
based and where all world religions converge. This is
a moral foundation of modern society. It is the cement
that bonds together nations and peoples. In recent
years, these values have been put to the test by displays
of immorality, extremism and racial intolerance. Of
similar concern are the even more assertive actions
of those who, citing freedom of speech, condone the
glorification of the Nazis and their accomplices and
desecrate the memory of the victims of the Second
World War and the victors of fascism. Such actions are
incompatible with the obligations of States under the
Charter of the United Nations.
Let me recall that the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights directly prohibits the
propaganda of war and incitement of national and
religious discord. This means that freedom of speech
and assembly cannot be used to justify the promotion
of Nazi or other radical or extremist views, in violation
of the basic principles and norms of international law.
Yesterday, the Human Rights Council endorsed a
resolution proposed by Russia on the interrelation of
human rights and traditional values. It is regrettable
that a number of Western States voted against this
document, which is especially relevant today.
Progress towards genuine partnership in
international relations is possible only on the basis
of equality and mutual respect. The course of events
in the world leaves no alternative for anyone but to
join efforts in order to build a stable, equitable and
democratic international system. It would be possible
to resist this objective trend and try to preserve the old
order for some time, but such resistance would cost yet
more lives, suffering and destruction. Let us display
our vision and, instead of looking back at the history of
previous centuries, take the side of the events unfolding
before us today, and answer the call for strong collective
statesmanship.


I wish first to express my Government’s
congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Vuk Jeremić,
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh
session and a former Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Serbia, on his country’s election to preside over the
Assembly. We are very happy about that because, both
in the past and currently, his country has played an
active role in eliminating tensions and inequality and in
strengthening the rule of law in international relations.
We are firmly convinced that, during his tenure, the
proceedings of the General Assembly will be conducted
in a climate of consensus and solidarity among Member
States.
The current session of the General Assembly
is being held at a time of turmoil, when many States
are experiencing internal tensions, there is an acute
economic crisis, developing countries and their
emerging economies are encountering difficulties, the
environment and the atmosphere are deteriorating, and
other major catastrophes have caused the loss of human
lives and the destruction of infrastructures vital to
humankind.
The major efforts made by the Secretary-
General through the United Nations system have not
been sufficient to have a decisive impact. Greater
commitment, joint action and unified approaches
on the part of all States are required to combat with
determination the problems of concern to everyone
today. In point of fact, the Secretariat has stressed
the main outlines of the problems, which constitute
the agenda for the current session — for instance,
developing countries’ need for economic growth, the
maintenance of international peace and security, the
development of the African continent, the promotion
of human rights and the provision of humanitarian
assistance, the promotion of justice and international
law, disarmament, and the need to combat drug
trafficking, terrorism, the use of mercenaries, piracy
and other crimes.
The Republic of Equatorial Guinea wishes to stress
that of all those problems none has been more destructive than underdevelopment, which the United Nations must
not look upon with indifference. The annual victims of
hunger and the diseases in the developing world exceed
the number of victims of hostile confrontations recorded
each year worldwide. The adverse effects of illiteracy,
the lack of housing, and malnutrition experienced in
developing countries are greater than those caused
by natural disasters. In our times, ignorance and the
lack of scientific and technical know-how owing to
underdevelopment are more detrimental to a human
being than terrorism and drug addiction. In view of
all those adverse circumstances, we propose that the
Economic and Social Council adopt special programmes
to assist the least developed countries, with a view to
their overcoming the lack of basic infrastructure which
is hampering their development — programmes that the
more developed countries should commit to supporting
and that could serve as a basis for mutually beneficial
cooperation among affected States.
We cannot imagine the promotion of human
rights in a society subject to the restrictions of
underdevelopment. From basic human dignity itself to
all the other rights necessary for a dignified existence,
including physical and moral integrity, freedom and,
finally, well-being — these are what determine whether
people fully enjoy their universally recognized rights.
There can be no question as to which comes first,
human rights or economic development. We must
recognize that human rights cannot be be enjoyed by
people engulfed in underdevelopment.
With respect to combating underdevelopment,
we welcome the fact that Africa has already begun
promoting programmes for economic development and
modern democratic systems, which are liberating their
peoples from underdevelopment despite many obstacles
that still obstruct progress and attempts at perpetuating
new colonialist interests in Africa. Most of the internal
conflicts in Africa are supported by foreign interests that
try to ensure their continued presence in the continent.
As the saying goes, “If the river runs backwards, it is
the fishermen who win”.
We ourselves in Equatorial Guinea are very
happy with the progress made in our economic
development programme, which seeks to achieve
an emerging economy by 2020 through the use of
the resources provided by the exploitation of oil and
natural gas. Thanks to those resources, we are more
than meeting most of our needs in infrastructure,
including roads, hospitals, schools, vocational training centres, universities, ports, airports, the drinking
water supply, telephone communications, air, sea and
land transportation, urban development, housing and
electricity. In parallel to that programme, we have
adopted radical political reforms, appropriate to the
rapid development that the country is experiencing,
so as to ensure the strictest possible control of the
Government’s activity, to give greater freedoms to the
people and to protect human rights to the utmost. Under
those reforms, a leader may not remain in office for
more than two terms. Parliament is being expanded
for a more universal representation of the people.
Economic and social decisions are to be taken on the
basis of technical criteria and in the interests of society.
The President must by law be assisted by an advisory
body. The independence of the judicial and legislative
powers is being strengthened. A body to monitor and
audit public and private economic activity is being
established. Lastly, an authority to protect and ensure
human rights is being set up. A transition Government
has been formed to implement those reforms within
eight months.
My Government has always been very responsive
to the issue of humanitarian assistance. In that regard,
Equatorial Guinea proposes the establishment of a
trust fund of the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) for food security in Africa
that will be open to less developed countries. From
this rostrum, we announce an initial contribution of
$30 million. We call on African countries and other
donors to make their contributions in support of that
initiative.
My Government’s humanitarian spirit has
always aspired to setting up initiatives that support
humankind’s development. Equatorial Guinea therefore
established the Equatorial Guinea UNESCO prize to
encourage the scientific community to research the
possibility of finding life-saving cures, in particular for
those suffering from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The Director-General of FAO agreed to the initiative to
set up such a fund.
With regard to the other important items on our
agenda, we understand that international peace and
security essentially depend on respect for the principles
of international law: respect for the independence,
national sovereignty and territorial integrity of
each State; the sovereign equality of nations and
non-interference in the internal affairs of other
States; respect for, and compliance with, international commitments; and the promotion of mutually beneficial
and fair friendship and cooperation relations among
States.
Those norms are the basis for promoting justice
and law in international relations, and no State or
group of States should step forward to police their
implementation. Such an act usurps the authority of
the United Nations and undermines its effectiveness.
The United Nations should impose its authority at the
international level, avoiding any possible manipulation
through external pressure from those that violate the
spirit of its principles.
Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea endorses the wishes
of the entire African continent to obtain a response to one
of its legitimate demands, made on various occasions,
namely, Security Council reform by increasing the
number of Council members in both categories and
reserving two seats as permanent members and five
as non-permanent members for the African region.
Democratic principles and the law are advocated at the
United Nations. Africa claims its rights, including in
the Security Council. Africa wishes to participate in
the taking of decisions that affect its future.
With the assistance of all, we will succeed in
adopting appropriate measures to reduce the tendency
towards unilateralism and hegemony in international
relations. We will succeed in mitigating the effects
of policies that threaten the peace and sovereignty
of States and that oppose the economic and social
development of peoples, thereby significantly violating
the principles of international law.
With regard to disarmament, which Equatorial
Guinea fully supports even though it is neither a
manufacturer nor a consumer of any sophisticated
weapons of mass destruction, we believe that there
should be no ambiguity on that issue. One cannot have
the best of both worlds.
We do not believe there to be a threat from other
planets of the solar system or other bodies in outer
space. The possession of nuclear weapons or weapons
of mass destruction is a disgrace to today’s humankind,
which is preparing its own destruction. So who should
arm themselves and who should be disarmed? The
end of the Cold War was supposed to also mean the
end of the arms race. It is now time for humankind to
build its own future instead of wasting resources on
extermination plans. Those that adopt embargoes against certain
Governments should not be insensitive to their
repercussions and to the suffering that they cause
to the population, in particular the most vulnerable
sectors. Such measures run counter to the Millennium
Development Goals adopted by the United Nations.
Sanctions and embargoes, whatever their real nature,
should always take into account the humanitarian
component with regard to the people who are suffering.
Therefore, we would suggest that the rights of the
individual be given priority whenever any kind of
sanctions are adopted. Accordingly, we appeal for the
suspension of the embargo against Cuba.
We will return to Equatorial Guinea with the
sincere hope that the sixty-seventh session of the
General Assembly will be a milestone in the process of
humanizing international relations.


The meetings we hold at the United Nations are
always very important events at which we debate
social, environmental, political and economic issues
throughout the world. I commend the President of the
General Assembly on having chosen as our central
theme the peaceful settlement of disputes throughout
the world.
I wish to take the great opportunity of my presence
here today at the United Nations to inform the
Assembly about a dispute between Chile and Bolivia.
In 1879, as the result of an unjust war — an unjust
invasion — masterminded by Chilean oligarchical
interests, with the participation of transnational
corporations with an eye on Bolivia’s natural resources,
we lost our corridor to the Pacific Ocean.
Bolivia was founded in 1825 and lost access to the
sea in 1879. In the early 1900s, a treaty was signed that
has not been complied with. It is for that reason that I
have come here to take advantage of the theme of our
debate, the peaceful settlement of disputes, to say that
major disputes among States have been resolved and
injustices rectified through the resolve and goodwill of
the relevant authorities.
Chile cannot disregard Bolivia’s rights or the
pronouncements of an entire continent, much less
prolong indefinitely our forcibly imposed landlocked
status. An unjust, imposed and non-implemented treaty
cannot be allowed to continue to harm a people that is
only calling for justice and for an end to its country’s
status as a landlocked country.
The intangibility of treaties means that they are
not dogma. Treaties, like all other creations of human beings, can be changed. I say that because when we state
that Chile must return our sea corridor, we are asked,
what treaty? I therefore wish to take this opportunity
to speak of a treaty signed in 1903 between the United
States and Panama on the Panama Canal.
In 1903, a treaty on the Panama Canal was signed
under which the United States was authorized to build the
Panama Canal and received sovereignty, in perpetuity,
over the territories on both sides of the Canal and the
area of the Canal. In other words, according to the
Treaty of 1903, that country would be the owner for all
eternity of the Panama Canal. However, a renegotiated
treaty was signed in 1977 that gradually transferred
sovereignty over the Canal zone from the United States
to Panama, and in 1999 Panama recovered control and
administration of the Canal through the Panama Canal
Authority.
How did the United States return the Panama Canal
to Panama when, through the first treaty, it had to be
the owner of the Canal in perpetuity? And how is it
possible for Chile not to return Bolivia’s sea corridor?
I wish also to take this opportunity to say that
today, in this millennium, is a time of integration and
of focus on the protection of humankind, not a time of
domestic or external colonialism. That is why I wish to
reaffirm once again that the Malvinas are for Argentina
and the sea is for Bolivia. These demands, conflicts and
disputes have to be resolved peacefully, and Bolivia is
a peace-loving country, in keeping with the State’s new
political Constitution.
Bolivia appeals once again to the Government of
Chile, here before the Assembly, to resolve definitively
the issue of our landlocked status through peaceful
settlement mechanisms. We call on the international
community to support us in that endeavour, so that this
conflict, which does great harm to the integration of the
American continent, may finally come to an end.
Among the Bolivian people, among children and
grandparents alike, there is a strong sense of the need
to recover our sea corridor. Bolivia was born with a sea,
and it is not possible that oligarchies and transnational
companies, in order to plunder our natural resources,
can be allowed also to wrest from us our territory. We
need the support of all those at the helm of the United
Nations to put an end to a historical injustice on the part
of international Powers. Yesterday I listened to the various statements on
issues related to democracy, human rights and peace,
and I feel that the statements we make here as Presidents
show that we agree in theory. All of us here are great
defenders of human rights who want peace and defend
democracy. But we are divided. The United Nations is
not united, and that makes a great difference. I listened
very carefully to the statement made by Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon telling us that we have to change
the world. We very much agree that we have to change
the world. But how can we change the world if we do
not change the United Nations? How can the United
Nations be responsible for interventionism on many
continents?
I have listened to two or three addresses by several
countries, and I was very pleased. There seems to be a
rebellion on the part of States against powers, authority
and capitalism. I am very pleased, because when I came
here for the first time in 2006, only the countries of the
Bolivarian Alliance for the Countries of Our America,
with great ideological, political and programmatic
clarity, stated that everything was for the people. I
know some countries on other continents — very timid
and fearful countries — feel that today are losing their
fear of the Powers. I would like to say to them, to their
representatives and to their Presidents that we should
not be afraid. We should not be afraid of empires or
capitalism. Capitalism and imperialism are not the
solution to life or to humanity.
We are living in times of the crisis of capitalism,
of a crisis in food. I remember when I was still a
trade union leader, we conducted campaigns to have
the external debt of underdeveloped countries — at
that time, they were called underdeveloped countries,
instead of developing countries — cancelled. Now I
realize that our debt as poor countries can be paid, but
the debts of capitalism are impossible to pay. That is
what the world we are living in today shows.
We speak here of democracy. We have to defend
democracy and, in order to do that, we have to
intervene in some countries. But if we really wanted to
be democratic, we would respect all of the resolutions
of the United Nations. Just to cite an example, does the
Government of the United States of America respect
United Nations resolutions on the economic embargo
against Cuba? It has never respected them. That is due
to pride on the part of the rulers, not of the American
people. The rulers are never going to respect those resolutions, but they speak of democracy and of
defending democracy.
In that connection, I must express our full backing for
the Cuban people. Their commander, former President
Fidel Castro, the most caring person in the world that
I have ever known — and I admire that revolutionary
people — is, despite the embargo, engaged in continuous
battle at the side of his people. It is not possible that in the
twenty-first century an economic embargo continues
against the Cuban people, a genocidal embargo that
has failed and which violates the rights of an entire
people. The embargo has been condemned by almost
all of humankind and the international community,
including the allies of the United States of America,
for its extraterritorial character and its imposition in
violation of humanitarian and international law. Bolivia
also denounces the unjust inclusion of Cuba on the list
unilaterally assembled by the United States in its report
entitled “State Sponsors of Terrorism”, the purpose of
which is to justify the embargo and continue imposing
new sanctions on the regime and the people of Cuba.
What authority does the Government of the United
States have to include a country in the list of terrorist
countries? Do not all the peoples of the world realize
that the number one terrorist country practicing State
terrorism is the Government of the United States?
There have been so many interventions, so many dead
and wounded, so much killing — under the pretext of
defending democracy.
Moments ago, a fellow president spoke about an
intervention in Libya to restore democracy, which is
a lie. They intervened in Libya not for its people but
to recover oil for the Powers. We have to be sincere
and straightforward with humankind, but where there
are presidents who stay in power without practicing
democracy but are in favour of capitalism and
imperialism, there is no intervention because they are
allies of the United States Government; they are allies
of the empire; they are allies of capitalism. Where there
are natural resources, like oil, in the hands of the people,
they have to intervene under any pretext — terrorism,
dictatorship or drug trafficking — all of it to recover or
to plunder the natural resources.
Furthermore, I would also like to launch an appeal
for the immediate release of five Cuban anti-terrorist
political prisoners in the United States. Their release
would show a political will to defend human rights.
The President of the United States could release them;
the power to do so is in his hands. I hope that justice will be done to our five Cuban brothers, who have been
imprisoned unjustly.
In truth, I do not understand it when the presidents
who speak in defence of human rights are never the
ones who respect human, either within or outside
their own countries. I do not understand how one can
speak of peace while there are economic inequalities
in the world. While there is an economic policy that
concentrates capital in the hands of a few and which
impoverishes many, there will never be justice, there
will never be peace or respect for human rights. Indeed,
the economic models that concentrate capital in a few
hands provoke injustice and create uprisings.
I feel that now is the best time — I am referring
to various meetings at the United Nations — to gain
better understanding of the situation of all the peoples
of the world. We had requested the revision of some
important international treaties concerning a very
important product for the indigenous peoples of the
Andean region, the coca leaf. Although the coca leaf has
medicinal and ritual properties, it has been penalized
under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
Therefore, Bolivia, which wishes to remain faithful to
its commitment to fight drug trafficking, has requested
adherence to the Single Convention with a reservation
that preserves the right to use coca leaf for cultural
purposes, especially medicinal purposes, within our
territory.
In some states of the United States, it is legal to
sell cocaine, but the United States does not allow us to
consume coca leaf — which is not cocaine. I welcome
the support for the proposal on the part of many
countries of the continent and the world — non-aligned
countries — recognizing, after thousands of years, the
consumption of coca leaf as legal. I respectfully request
that the Assembly, acting on behalf of the United
Nations, correct a historical prejudicial act.
Unfortunately, since there is an illegal market for
coca leaf, that is, a market for cocaine or drugs, a portion
of the harvest is diverted to the illegal market — but we
are fighting that. We in Bolivia say that there will be no
free cultivation of coca, but there cannot be zero coca
leaf.
I commend the United Nations for issuing a report a
few weeks ago affirming that, for the first time, Bolivia
had reduced the cultivation of coca by more than 12 per
cent. That is a Government achievement without any
dead or wounded; previously, that kind of reduction resulted in many dead and wounded. Now, while
maintaining respect for human rights and appealing
to the conscience of my coca-producing brothers and
sisters, we have had a net reduction.
Coca cultivation has increased in some countries,
which are subsequently decertified by the United States
of America. But the United States has also decertified
a country like Bolivia, even though it has reduced the
cultivation of coca by 12 per cent. Do we then have to
plant more coca for the Government of the United States
to certify us? One cannot understand it. Of course,
since we are an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist
people and Government, we have been decertified. That
decertification is a political statement; it does not take
into account the efforts made by the Bolivian people
through its Government.
We are not interested in whether we are certified
or not. That is the least of it. What we are interested
in is the United Nations data. Honestly, the United
Nations works in a transparent manner to recognize
the work that our Government has done to reduce coca
cultivation.
I would also like to take this opportunity to talk
about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Bolivia was previously a little-known country that had
been abandoned, living on foreign aid. We welcomed
foreign aid. I would just like to present what we have
achieved since we took charge in Bolivia, in the context
of the MDGs.
Bolivia was supposed to reduce extreme poverty
to 24.1 per cent by 2015. I would like to report that,
by 2011, we had reduced extreme poverty to 20 per
cent. We have a plan. By the time Bolivia celebrates its
bicentennial, we will have eradicated extreme poverty.
The numbers from international organizations confirm
that, last year, 10 per cent of the population went from
extreme poverty to the middle class. That is 1 million
Bolivians.
The second figure to note is that, according to the
MDG targets, 78.5 per cent of the population should
have access to safe drinking water by 2015. I would
like to say that, as a result of our programme, this year
we reached 78.5 per cent of the country, especially the
indigenous rural communities. We have a programme
called “My Water” to promote greater investments
in water. What I did personally was to bring together
all of the projects on safe drinking water or water for
irrigation from every municipality in the country. For
the second year in a row, we have invested $300,000 per municipality, and that has been rather helpful, in
addition to other programmes by the Ministry of the
Environment and Water, in particular in cities and in
rural areas. Those programmes for drinking water mean
that we have achieved our goal in 2012, not in 2015.
Hopefully, by 2015 we will have achieved 90 or 100 per
cent drinking water coverage. That is our programme.
Another of the Goals pertains to coverage in terms
of hospital births. The MDG target for 2015 is 70 per
cent. I am here to report that by 2009 we had achieved
70 per cent coverage, not to mention other programmes
such as the one that provides subsidies for pregnant
women and children under the age of two. We are
making good progress, although with slow steps.
Why has there been such rapid change? Social
programmes and structural changes have allowed us to
change Bolivia. One example is telecommunications.
Bolivia has 339 municipalities. In 2006, telephone
coverage or mobile phone coverage in rural areas existed
in only 90 municipalities. The day after tomorrow, I
am going to inaugurate mobile communication in the
last municipality, the furthest from the cities, in the
Bolivian Amazon. Now my brothers and sisters living
in rural areas have telephones or mobile phones in all
339 municipalities. Entel, our telephone service, had
been privatized. We took it back, nationalized it, and
began to invest in it in order to provide better service.
We have made progress for the following reason.
As President, I received a mandate from the Bolivian
people to recover or nationalize our natural resources.
The biggest company in Bolivia is Yacimientos
Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB). For 20 years,
neoliberal Governments worked to privatize our natural
resources. They sold our natural resources, especially
oil, to transnational corporations. Bolivia received only
18 per cent of all the profits, while 82 per cent went
to transnational corporations. In addition, what did
the contracts signed by neoliberal Governments say?
Who was the owner? The oil transnational corporations
acquired the right of ownership at the mouth of the
well. The Governments would tell us that the oil and
gas continued to be ours as long as it was under the
ground. But once it came to the mouth of the well, it
belonged to the transnational corporations. We fought,
we mobilized, we raised awareness among the Bolivian
people as to the importance of retaking or nationalizing
that natural resource. On 1 May 2006, we nationalized
that industry without any misgivings. That act changed the national economy. In 2006,
our international reserves stood at $1.7 billion. Our
international reserves now stand at more than $13 billion.
In 2005, YPFB had $300 million in revenue. This year,
it has $3.5 billion. In 2005, total public investments
amounted to $600 million. Out of that $600 million,
70 per cent came from aid and loans and only 30 per
cent came from the national treasury. This year State
investments will amount to approximately $6 billion,
with an additional $6 billion in private investments.
How did that change come about in such a short period
of time?
Of course, Bolivia is a small country. But we
have managed to change our national economy. That
is why I say to countries whose natural resources,
including oil and gas, are still in private hands that my
recommendation is for them to nationalize and recover
their natural resources. Natural resources cannot
belong to transnational corporations; they belong to the
peoples of the world, under State administration.
I would also like to say that there have been
social changes. Through a constituent assembly, we
have guaranteed basic services as a human right.
Consequently, they cannot be in private hands.
It is a task for the State. Water, electricity and
communications — we have nationalized them and
turned them into human rights. It is very important that
those basic services be human rights. While we still
have some problems in Bolivia with electricity, we will
continue to work to ensure that that basic service is a
human right as well.
I am here to share our brief experience with
Governments, presidents, ambassadors and prime
ministers. Where there is the will to change, there will
be change. It depends to a large extent on willingness,
constant efforts to educate our people and transparent
work. Of course, we still have so many demands to
meet — sometimes, too, exaggerated demands from a
particular social sector or region — but regardless of
our interests or claims, our homeland and humankind
as a whole come first.
Dealing as we are with the problems we have in
Bolivia and the world with climate issues, I would like
to take this opportunity to convey an invitation to an
international meeting on 21 December to greet a new
era, an invitation to the celebration of the end of the
cycle of non-time and the beginning of a new cycle of
equilibrium and harmony for Mother Earth. It would take too long here to go into the knowledge of our
indigenous brothers in Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and
Ecuador, but basically we are issuing this invitation to a
virtual — and actual — debate on the following topics.
First, the global crisis of sapitalism; second, the
crisis of civilization — world Government, capitalism,
socialism, community and the culture of life; third,
the crisis of climate — human beings’ relationship to
nature; fourth, the energy of community and change;
fifth, awareness of Mother Earth; sixth, recovering
ancestral practices and customs and the natural cosmic
calendar; seventh, living the right way as a solution to
the global crisis — because once again we affirm that
we cannot live better by plundering natural resources,
and that is a profound debate that we should have with
the whole world; eighth, food sovereignty and security
through food sovereignty; ninth, integration — through
brotherhood, community, economy, complementarity,
the right to communication, and community learning
for life; the new human being with an integrated
identity; complementarity; self-knowledge, awakening
and, of course, health, which is so important.
I would like to say that according to the Mayan
calendar, 21 December marks the end of the non-time
and the beginning of time. It is the end of the
macha — the darkness — and the beginning of the
pacha — communitarianism; it is the end of selfishness
and the beginning of brotherhood; it is the end of
individualism and the beginning of collectivism. As
scientists know very well, 21 December this year
marks the end of the era of anthropocentrism and the
beginning of biocentrism. It is the end of hatred and
the beginning of love, the end of lies and the beginning
of truth, the end of sadness and the beginning of joy, it
is the end of division and the beginning of unity. This
is a theme to be developed, and that is why we invite
all those here, those who are betting on humankind, to
share their experiences for the good of humankind.
As always, I would like to thank the President for
these debates at the United Nations. We are always
thinking about new generations and about the good
of humankind, although sometimes sectoral interests
intrude — but as representatives who come here from
time to time, we have an obligation to think about how
to shoulder our responsibilities, and that means, as
someone said just now, bringing an end to the powers
that be. This is not a time when we can continue to praise
those powers; we are living in a time when peoples must
be freed and where we must constantly seek economic and social equality for all human beings, a time to bring
dignity to every citizen.
I would like to commend those statements that
questioned interventionism, military bases and troops.
There will be social peace only when we change such
political and economic policies and put an end to
military bases and interventionism. My respect goes to
those who resist military intervention by the Powers,
which is not a solution. That is something we have
learned, and that is why we hope that these debates will
serve to help us think about life and humanity.