First, I would like to
congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the very
responsible post of President of the General Assembly
at its sixty-fifth session.
 I have the privilege of representing the Czech
Republic, a country in the very heart of Europe that has
been actively involved in United Nations activities
from the very beginning and will continue to be so. We
are actively involved in a number of United Nations
bodies, and Czech soldiers and experts have
participated in United Nations peacekeeping missions
for many decades. It is in our interests for this
Organization to remain a respected high-level forum,
contributing to prosperity, stability and peaceful
solutions to conflicts around the world.
 It has been said here many times in the past few
days that today’s world is very different from that of
1945, when this Organization was founded by
51 States. It now consists of 192. That is not merely a
quantitative change; it is much more. My country is
therefore deeply convinced that the structure of the
United Nations also needs to be different, especially
that of the Security Council, which should be reformed
to reflect the geopolitical, economic and demographic
reality of the twenty-first century. It is frustrating that
discussions of such reform have gone on for the past

5 10-55109

16 years without results. It is time to come up with
concrete results, and my country is ready to support
them.
 Changes of this kind are necessary; on the other
hand, some things must continue unchanged. I do not
believe that the United Nations needs to search for a
new mission. Its goals should remain those defined in
the original Charter: to maintain international peace
and security, to develop friendly relations among
nations, and to achieve international cooperation in
solving international problems. The United Nations
should not diverge from these principles. It should not
search for alternative or substitute projects to replace
those that enhance peace, freedom and democracy. It
should remain an intergovernmental platform, based on
the plurality of views of its Member States and on
mutual respect for their sometimes differing positions.
 Let me briefly touch on two issues that form part
of the current United Nations agenda. The first is the
worldwide economic crisis and the methods used to
overcome it. I am afraid that we are moving in the
wrong direction. The anti-crisis measures that have
been proposed and already partly implemented follow
from the assumption that the crisis was a failure of
markets and that the right way out is more regulation
of markets. This is a mistaken assumption. It will not
be possible to prevent any future crises by implementing
substantial, market-damaging macroeconomic and regulatory
Government interventions, as is being done now. That
will only destroy markets, and with them the chances
for economic growth and prosperity in developed and
developing countries alike.
 The solution to this or any other crisis does not
lie in increasing protectionism, and it is a positive
factor that most Governments have behaved quite
rationally in this respect. Nor does the solution lie in
more bureaucracy, in creating new governmental or
supranational agencies, or in aiming at global
governance of the world’s economy. On the contrary,
this is the time for international organizations,
including the United Nations, to reduce their spending,
slim down their administrations and leave the solutions
to the Governments of the Member States, which are
directly accountable to the citizens of their countries.
 Developing countries should not be prevented
from growing economically. They need access to
foreign markets and they need free trade. It was in this
forum last year that I emphasized that we must pay
attention to the costs and benefits of our decisions.
Developing countries must not be forced into
agreements on ever more ambitious targets in the fight
against climate change, particularly at a time when the
developed countries themselves are far from meeting
those targets. The United Nations should not have an
all-encompassing agenda. It should not turn away from
political topics towards scientific ones. It is here not to
determine what science is, but to engage its Member
States in rational and reasoned debate about political
issues. The most harmful political debate we have
witnessed in the past couple of years is about the
climate and global warming.
 We should not give up on elemental values and
principles that most of us share, and this brings me to
the second issue I wish to mention here today —
nuclear non proliferation. In April, my country hosted
an important event during which the President of
Russia and the President of the United States signed
the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and
Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. We see the
Treaty as an important step forward and as a visible
sign of our efforts to make our complicated world
safer. Let us hope that it will be taken further in the
foreseeable future.
 We do not dispute the right of any country to use
atomic energy for peaceful purposes, but it must do so
in a responsible way. It is not possible for some
countries to ignore agreed and respected international
standards, to threaten stability in their regions and to
increase the dangers of proliferation.
 The United Nations is a unique forum at which
small and big countries alike are represented. They are
countries with different political, economic and social
systems; different neighbours; different historical
experiences and geopolitical positions; and, more
importantly, different levels of income, wealth and
development. This is precisely what makes the United
Nations unique and irreplaceable. Instead of
increasingly becoming a source of funds for various,
sometimes very dubious non-governmental
organizations that — without any accountability or
control — seek to profit from United Nations activities,
the United Nations should strive to be an efficient body
in which States and their peoples are represented. Its
task is not to push for global governance and play the
central role in it. The United Nations exists primarily
to enhance friendly relations among its Members and

10-55109 6

to look for solutions to problems that cannot be
confined to national boundaries.
 I wish you every success in your office,
Mr. President, and I would like to assure you that the
Czech Republic will continue to be an active Member
of the United Nations.


At the outset, allow me to
congratulate, on behalf of Mr. Mohamed Ould Abdel
Aziz, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania,
and on my own behalf, His Excellency Mr. Joseph
Deiss on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-fifth session and to wish him
every success in his new duties. I have great
confidence that his diligent efforts will have a positive
impact on our Organization, as did those of his
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki,
whose praiseworthy labours strengthened the ties of
cooperation, the bonds of brotherhood, and the
universal principles of peace and dialogue within the
General Assembly.
 It also gives me great pleasure to express my
thanks and appreciation to His Excellency Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon for his serious efforts to achieve

33 10-55103

the objectives of the Organization and to strengthen the
pillars of peace, security and prosperity in the world.
 Mauritania fulfilled its constitutional obligation
by selecting Mr. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz as
President of the Republic through elections in which
the Mauritanian people expressed their will freely,
impartially and maturely. Today, for the first time in its
history, my country has taken a comprehensive
qualitative leap forward into a new era — which we
call “the era of serious work” — to improve the living
conditions of Mauritanian citizens, consolidate
democracy and build a State that is on good terms with
its citizens and its neighbours on the basis of justice,
equality and the values of the Republic.
 In this new era, there are no political prisoners in
Mauritania and the pluralistic Parliament plays its full
role in legislating and in supervising the Government.
The press exercises its freedom without censorship or
constraint, as do political parties, unions and civil
society institutions.
 Inspired by the electoral platform of President
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the Government of
Mauritania has devoted itself to implementing an
ambitious development policy with clearly visible
goals, including the elimination of corruption and its
consequences; the promotion and use of the country’s
resources in a rational, responsible and transparent
manner; ensuring respect for the rule of law and the
country’s prestige; providing security throughout
society; offering basic services, and constructing
essential infrastructure needed for the country’s
development.
 This policy has earned the confidence and
support of Mauritania’s brothers, friends and
development partners, who, at their round table
meeting in Brussels in June, blessed our ambitious
development programme and pledged financial support
totalling $3.2 billion over three years. In this regard,
we thank them sincerely for having made every effort
to ensure the success of the round table and for all their
support for our development programmes.
 In the course of implementing these programmes,
Mauritania became a hub of activity as roads and
health and education facilities were built and integrated
projects established for the purpose of empowering
women and youth in order to contribute to the socio-
economic development of the country and to improve
conditions for the poor and the marginalized, who
rejoiced at the election of our President and have
granted him the nickname “President of the poor” for
his great devotion to and care for the people.
 Mauritania, like other countries, is confronted
with terrorism and transnational organized crime.
Terrorism is a global phenomenon that is not tied to a
particular country, continent, religion or society. Any
attempt to conflate Islam with this phenomenon is
rejected, unacceptable and illogical. Those most
affected by terrorism are, after all, the Muslims and the
Islamic world.
 We believe that the fight against terrorism
requires progress in social justice, the training of
young people and their integration into an active life.
This will give them hope so that they do not become
easy recruiting targets for terrorists and extremist
organizations.
 My country is making diligent efforts on all these
fronts and promoting the role of our prominent
scholars to debate in the best possible manner and to
provide the correct image of Islam, which is a religion
of tolerance, virtue and acceptance of others and one
that rejects excess and extremism. Moreover,
Mauritania, far from being at war with anyone, as His
Excellency the President of the Republic has
repeatedly said, will spare no effort to maintain peace
and security for its citizens and ensure the necessary
conditions for the development of the country in
security and stability.
 The establishment of a united Arab Maghreb is a
strategic option for the peoples of the region, and
failure to maintain such unity will reflect negatively on
the future of that vital region of the world. There is no
doubt that finding a timely solution to the issue of
Western Sahara and obtaining the consent of the parties
concerned would contribute to accelerating the pace of
integration of the united Maghreb and enable it to play
its full role as an indispensable and effective regional
partner.
 On the other hand, conscious of the importance of
the United Nations as an irreplaceable forum for the
voices of Member States and other members of the
international community, big and small, powerful and
weak, as well as for resolving difficult international
issues and coordinating and supporting development
efforts, Mauritania supports efforts to reform the
Organization and its organs, especially the Security
Council.

10-55103 34

 We call for the expansion of the Council to
include permanent representation for the African
continent and the Arab Group, because democracy is an
international requirement and not only a national
practice or objective. Given their cultural, human and
strategic significance, it is neither logical nor
acceptable not to grant permanent seats on the Security
Council to the African continent and the Arab world.
 The Arab-Israeli conflict remains a source of
tension and a threat to international peace and security
in an extremely sensitive and vital area of the world.
That region will know no stability until a definitive
solution to the conflict is found. Such a solution must
be just and permanent and in accordance with
resolutions of international legitimacy. It must allow
the brotherly Palestinian people to exercise their full
right to establish their independent and viable State in
Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It must
also ensure the restoration of all occupied Arab
territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights and the
Lebanese Shab’a farms.
 Mauritania hopes that the direct negotiations
between the Palestinians and the Israelis, sponsored by
the United States, will conclude in tangible results and
an acceptable time frame. There is no people in the
Middle East that needs peace more than the Palestinian
people. My country has called for the lifting of the
unjust siege on Gaza and for an end to its collective
and inhumane punishment. Restoring rights and justice
to their owners and between nations and cultures is the
best means to achieve peace and security in the world.
 Before concluding, allow me to reiterate what I
stated a few days ago — the development challenges
before us all will be exacerbated unless we all assume
our responsibilities and fulfil our commitments.
Developing countries require the urgent attention of the
international community if they are to achieve the
stability, development and progress that will enable
them to integrate into the global economic system.


May my first words be to congratulate the
newly appointed President of the Assembly, Mr. Joseph
Deiss, to whom I wish great success in his conduct of
the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly.
 September is an important month in the agenda of
international politics since the middle of the last
century because it marks the beginning of the new
session of the United Nations General Assembly, which
has the city of New York as its backdrop.
 Far removed is the San Francisco Conference,
which turned the page on global conflicts and opened
the way for international cooperation by establishing a
new Organization, the United Nations, an Organization
geared towards promoting peace, justice and a better

10-55109 20

life for all humankind. Far removed, as well, are the
times of the Bretton Woods Agreements, which
established free trade rules for commercial and
financial relations among the most industrialized
nations of the world in order to achieve peace.
 In the first decade of this century we witnessed
events that have shaped the future of international
relations and caused a new world to emerge, as we saw
in New York in the month of September. On
11 September 2001, the cities of New York and
Washington suffered terrorist attacks that stunned the
world and were among the most traumatic in the
history of the West. In September 2008, New York was
the centre and focus of a panic created by the
bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, while just a few
weeks ago, our host city experienced tensions related
to intercultural coexistence and saw the relaunching of
the most ambitious programme of international
cooperation in history, the Millennium Development
Goals.
 These events mark the true beginning of the
twenty-first century, which is unfolding in an
environment of accelerated global and interdependent
transformation. We are at a historic crossroads where
we must promote awareness of the reform of the
United Nations system and the establishment of new
mechanisms for global governance that modernize the
system of international relations, consolidate
multilateralism and security, and strengthen global
economic recovery, while providing accountable
management of growing interculturalism.
 Effective multilateralism is the method that will
enable us to tackle the challenges of the twenty-first
century. It is a method that stems from the efforts of
the General Assembly and from the commitment and
work of the leaders of the States represented here. It is
a method based on respect and understanding in order
to build new alliances and common strategies and
policies.
 On many occasions, we hear speeches that
emphasize the incapacities and weaknesses of the
United Nations system. But I prefer not to preach
classic doom and gloom here; rather, I would
acknowledge the work and success of the United
Nations as well as its capacity to respond, as seen in its
response to the natural disasters suffered by Haiti and
Pakistan. The capacity to take action and effectively
coordinate the efforts of all countries through a
multilateral approach is a path that the international
system should continue to follow at this time of great
challenges before us.
 On 11 September, the concept of security was
transformed and expanded. In September 2006, the
Member States approved the United Nations Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy, a resolution and annexed
Plan of Action (resolution 60/288) which presumed for
the first time to define a common strategic approach
agreed by all States Members of the United Nations.
This strategy was presented by Secretary-General Kofi
Annan one year after the brutal and traumatic attacks
of 11 March 2004 in Madrid. Since that time, the
intensity and number of terrorist attacks have
decreased, and we have improved security, although we
are far from having won the war against international
terrorism.
 This year we have also seen very significant
advances in the area of security, disarmament and
nuclear non proliferation. The new Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty makes it possible to reduce by 30 per
cent of the nuclear warheads in the United States and
Russia and represents the greatest nuclear agreement in
20 years. Last May, 189 countries signatories of the
Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
approved the convening of a conference in 2012 to
transform the Middle East into a zone free of weapons
of mass destruction.
 We are beginning to come out of the worst
financial and economic crisis since the 1930s. The
negative fallout of this crisis will be felt through time
by millions of people, especially in terms of decent
employment. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers on
15 September 2008, the international financial system
has required States and international institutions, such
as the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank, to intervene at an unprecedented level in order to
maintain worldwide demand and financial markets.
 The lack of international regulation helped to
bring about the crisis of the financial entities and has
required strengthened coordination, making the Group
of 20 a new forum for economic governance. The
lesson of the crisis is that, for their development,
international markets need not only the invisible hand,
but also a global regulatory system. That is what we
have understood in Europe, where we have adopted
measures to harmonize the legislation of member
States, so that regulatory authorities would be able to

21 10-55109

exercise both executive and disciplinary powers. Since
the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, Europe is now on a
path to cohesiveness in the area of foreign policy and
should be seen as a single interlocutor with its own
voice in the international community. It should
therefore enjoy an appropriate status in the General
Assembly.
 My Government, the Government of Spain, is in
the vanguard of the fight against hunger and poverty. It
has proposed in the United Nations, together with other
Member States, the creation of a tax on international
currency transactions whose proceeds would be used
for the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals. While the Food and Agriculture Organization
has provided us with encouraging data — we have seen
hunger decrease in the world for the first time — the
figure of 925 million hungry people in the world is
morally and politically unacceptable.
 Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon knows that he
can count on Spain for the mobilization of efforts to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Indeed,
fighting poverty cannot be a casualty of the economic
recession because, despite the crisis, it is not material
conditions but political will that will be the key to the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by
2015.
 The time has come to take responsibility for
combating climate change. To face this challenge, we
need to change the way in which we perceive
development and economic growth. A greater effort is
required to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and dependency on fossil fuels, and to commit to
renewable energy and efficient and responsible
consumption. The United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change has created a point of
reference to provide us with a regime that defines
realistic solutions and responds to our concerns and
priorities.
 In a few months, we will attend the Climate
Change Conference and should be aware of the effort
necessary to pave the way to the meeting in Cancún,
where the very credibility of the multilateral system
will be at stake. The Conference will be successful if
we take a realistic approach demonstrating solidarity
and generosity towards the most vulnerable States. It
should lead us to an ambitious agreement by which
States represented in the General Assembly can take
ownership of the objectives and verifiable
commitments contained therein.
 To bring these objectives to fruition, we need the
equitable integration of almost half the world’s
population — women. The tenth anniversary of the
adoption of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000),
on women and peace and security, should provide us
with an opportunity to enhance gender equality in the
public arena, in institutions and in the economic, social
and cultural spheres. We can and should move ahead
with these reforms because there are positive
indications that this mandate is dynamic, such as the
recent creation of UN Women, led by former President
of Chile Michelle Bachelet, whom I congratulate on
her appointment as Director of the new entity.
 With regard to human rights, Spain is firmly
committed to abolishing the death penalty and
introduced an initiative to the General Assembly two
years ago to that end. The International Commission
against the Death Penalty, proposed by Spanish Prime
Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, will soon be
established and begin its work. We believe that capital
punishment is an absolute violation of human rights
due to its irreversibility, which also makes it the most
extreme case of cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment.
 My country unequivocally supports peaceful and
negotiated solutions to all international conflicts, in
accordance with United Nations resolutions. Achieving
peace in the Middle East remains a strategic priority
for Spain. That is why, on the eve of the twentieth
anniversary of the Madrid Conference, we continue to
work resolutely to ensure that the process of direct
talks between Israelis and Palestinians will finally lead
to the two-State solution. The Israeli and Palestinian
peoples know they can count on all our support at this
time, when various thorny issues related to the conflict
are being addressed.
 In this regard, I add my voice to the appeal made
from this very rostrum by the President of the United
States for the moratorium on building in the
settlements to be maintained. In order to achieve a
lasting, fair and comprehensive peace, it is vital to
resolve the issues that relate to Syria and Lebanon and
to work within a multilateral framework that creates a
genuine global coalition for peace in the Middle East.
 We all know that stability in the Western Balkans
and the full integration of its countries into the

10-55109 22

European Union is a basic priority for Europe. In 2010,
we commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Zagreb
Conference. Spain, which held the European Union
presidency at the time, convened a high-level meeting
in Sarajevo in May that was attended by all actors
involved and at which the European Union reaffirmed
its commitment to the region’s stability and European
future. Recently, the consensus adoption by the
General Assembly of resolution 64/298, sponsored by
the 27 members of the European Union and Serbia on
one of the region’s pending issues showed the
willingness of all actors in the international community
to achieve the aforementioned objectives.
 Spain reiterates its support for the mediation
efforts undertaken by the Personal Envoy of the
Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Mr. Christopher
Ross. The conflict in that territory must be resolved by
mutual agreement among the parties and pursuant to
the United Nations resolutions calling for the self-
determination of the Saharans.
 In our view, Ibero-America is undergoing
unprecedented social and political change. At the start
of the bicentennial commemorations of the
independence of these republics, Spain wishes to join
the celebrations by attending the Ibero-American
summits and by strengthening its bilateral relations and
relations between the European Union and Latin
America.
 Cuba deserves special mention following the
recent decisions taken by Cuban authorities. Embargos
and unilateral attitudes that only disappoint new
expectations are useless and make no sense.
 Africa is clearly one of the most important future
challenges to the international community and the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Progress achieved in the areas of good governance and
democratization on the continent are cause for
optimism and should allow it, with international
cooperation, to overcome the crises in the Sahel,
Somalia or the Great Lakes region. Spain reiterates its
firm commitment to Africa.
 Coexistence in a globalized world should
motivate us to strengthen the instruments for good
governance and promote cultural and intercultural
diversity, which are among the most pressing
challenges of the twenty-first century. International
consolidation of the Alliance of Civilizations, as a tool
of preventive diplomacy, is now a fact and a resource
we must use. More than 100 States, along with
23 international organizations, now belong to the
Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations. I take
this opportunity to invite those countries that have not
yet joined to do so.
 In a landscape of international economic crisis,
intercultural tensions run the risk of exacerbation. This
should impel us to continue working for the respect
and understanding of cultures and civilizations in order
to counter expressions of hatred, fanaticism, division
and confrontation.
 The new world requires us to adapt and enlarge
the international institutional architecture. As the
Spanish philosopher, José Ortega y Gasset said, “men
do not live together just because; they do so for the
purpose of great undertakings”. Today the United
Nations has a great undertaking: to complete the
reform of our institutions and lay the foundations for
global governance. Together, we can face the
challenges and global crises of the twenty-first century
and construct an international system that is fairer,
more balanced and more sustainable.
 Bretton Woods in 1944 and the San Francisco
Conference in 1945 were the results of half a century
of crises and two world wars. Believe me, we are not
doomed to wait another half century to reform and
establish new institutions for the twenty-first century.
We have already waited a decade, but we cannot
continue to wait much longer, because we can feel
history breathing down our necks.


My first
words will be to pay tribute to the memory of hundreds
of thousands of Haitians and those who came to
help — including about 100 United Nations staff, in
particular Mr. Hédi Annabi, Special Representative of
the Secretary-General — who all lost their lives during
the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January.
 But every tragedy offers some solace in terms of
human solidarity. Therefore once again on behalf of the
Haitian people and on my personal behalf I would like
to thank all the people and Governments across the
world, ranging from the Dominican Republic, our
closely attached neighbour, to those at the far corners
of the globe, that rushed to our assistance. That
assistance was crucially important to us, in particular
during the first few weeks when the need was so
urgent.
 Allow me to also thank those Haitians living
abroad, in New York, Miami, Chicago, Montreal, Paris,
Santo Domingo, the French West Indies and many
other parts of the world, who joined the great
international solidarity movement and, in their
commitment, endeavoured for the most part to
establish structures that would help our country
rebuild.
 I would be remiss were I not to pay special
tribute here, publicly, to the people of Haiti

10-54965 10

themselves, a people who have been deprived of
everything and yet who have demonstrated the
immeasurable wealth of their humanity. Towns that had
been destroyed did not become the scenes of
widespread looting. The people showed such dignity
and kindness, such exemplary stamina in their
suffering, such boldness,  devotion and courage, such
solidarity, spirit of self-sacrifice and love for others.
Those are the words that come to mind and I think that
is how we must describe the acts of heroism of the
Haitian people. Let us show our respect for them.
 My country has lived a unique history since its
birth immediately after a war of independence that
took the lives of one third of its people and caused
unimaginable destruction. And in the wake of the
American and French revolutions of the eighteenth
century, that war of independence challenged the
human race to  recognize the universal character of the
proclamation of humankind’s right to freedom, dignity
and equality by making the men and women of Haiti
free.
 Our nation was born in 1804 and, although poor
and  since then deprived of resources, it has never
hesitated to extend material support to peoples
struggling for freedom, including in greater Colombia,
which is today Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and
Panama, under the leadership of Francisco Miranda
and then Simón Bolívar.
 Despite our limited resources, Haiti has always
demonstrated its firm belief in one human race. And
therefore we fully appreciate that immense movement
of solidarity and compassion of the international
community for our country, from the moments
immediately after the earthquake right up to the
commitment on 31 March at the New York conference
by which it agreed to participate in rebuilding Haiti on
the basis of the plan of action prepared by the Haitian
Government.
 Since then, with the assistance of the
international community and support from the United
Nations, we have set up a commission to coordinate
resources for rebuilding. This commission is an
important strategic mechanism for helping the country
manage transparently and with discipline the resources
mobilized within the international community to
support our country as it rebuilds. The commission has
already adopted over 30 projects, on education, health,
infrastructure and so forth, costing over $1 billion.
 May I extend my thanks to those countries and
agencies that have followed up on their commitments
to make financial contributions. I trust that a similar
effort will be made by others as well so as to help us
respond quickly to the over one million Haitians who
are still living in tent cities and temporary shelter.
 We have just held an important high-level
meeting on the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). Ten years ago, when 189 countries met here
to make the collective commitment to achieving the
eight Millennium Development Goals by the year
2015, the international community was actually in
agreement on what the world should look like in
2015 — a world well on the way to reducing extreme
poverty, where children and mothers would not have to
die because of lack of health care, where all children
would be able to go to school, where millions of people
would no longer die of hunger every year, where
women would be able to fulfil their potential in a
society without any gender-based discrimination.
 That vision was the right one, because it placed
human dignity at the very heart of all development
programmes and the international cooperation agenda.
And that vision also had the advantage of providing
countries and their partners in the international
community with a clear, straightforward structure for
planning development and organizing cooperation with
the countries that were committed to help achieve the
Goals.
 While significant progress has been made in the
right direction, five years from 2015 there is still a long
road to travel because the developed countries have not
fully lived up to the commitments made with respect to
the Millennium Development Goals, particularly their
financial commitments.
 What shall I say about the trillions of dollars that
have been swallowed up over the last 10 years in wars
that have been as bloody as they were unjustified?
 What shall I say about the defence budgets which
every year exceed by far what would be needed to
attain the Millennium Development Goals?
 And what shall I say about the incalculable
wealth that has simply evaporated in speculation, in the
arrogant supremacy of the virtual economy over the
real economy?

11 10-54965

 Are we going to continue sacrificing the well-
being and lives of millions of human beings, the future
of planet Earth, to this culture of fear and greed?
 What shall I say about the fact that official
development assistance continues to fall, when in 2005
the developed countries committed to doubling the
amount by 2010?
 What happened to the decision to encourage a
more open trading system, when assistance to farmers
in developed countries is over three times the amount
of official development assistance?
 In truth, the globalization that began centuries
ago, with the colonization and the importation of
African captives to work as slaves on sugar-cane and
coffee plantations, whose products would then be
exported to the West or the North, needs to be
reinvented.
 The time has come for us to invent a new kind of
globalization, one that is based on the simple concept
of our common humanity, on trust, cooperation and
mutual respect, on respect for our environment and all
forms of life in it. We must, as a matter of urgency, do
away with a vision that sees profit as a veritable god,
reduces citizens to the level of simple consumers, and
regards planet Earth as a colony that we can destroy.
The global village will not be able to maintain forever
its fashionable neighbourhoods side by side with
wretched slums where humanity is dissolving: a socio-
economic North and South — not a geographic one.
 In Haiti, living on an island in a part of the world
that has always been swept by hurricanes, we are
particularly worried about global warming and the
climatic disturbances that come with it: more frequent
and more devastating cyclones and a rising sea-level.
 Must the poor continue to pay for the waste, the
unbridled appetite for energy of their wealthier
brethren? Must they renounce their efforts to improve
their standard of living in order to feed the consumer
frenzy of the industrialized countries?
 The so-called war against drugs consists of a few
little skirmishes in the consumer countries but full-
scale bloody battles in the production and transit
countries, whose very existence is sometimes
jeopardized.
 Are the countries of the South still to be pilloried
as responsible for the production and transit of illegal
drugs even though the engine for this lucrative
trafficking is demand for drugs in countries of the
North?
 What shall I say about the arms trafficking, which
flows from the North to the South and supports the
drug trafficking?
 It is for us to provide the answer to those
questions, and we cannot sidestep them much longer
without rushing to our common doom. The only hope
lies in a renewed humanism, clear-sighted, embracing
of all life and the environment, on which we are
dependent and for which we are responsible. In that
sense, South-South cooperation affords new promise,
and I invite the leaders of the countries of the South to
strengthen those channels for the well-being of our
respective peoples.
 Some of the statements I have heard in this
session of the General Assembly seem to presage a new
and different consciousness, which may be what is
required for our vision of a new humanity. Still, as
always, we must be mindful to that commitments and
action match the expansive rhetoric.
 This is the moment for Haiti to renew its call for
the lifting of the embargo against Cuba. Besides having
been condemned in many Assembly resolutions, an
embargo of this kind is absolutely contrary to the
values we advocate in matters of international
commerce.
 I would be remiss if I were not to convey, on
behalf of the Haitian people, our condolences to the
many peoples who have suffered lately from natural
disasters in Chile, China, Pakistan, Guatemala and
Mexico.
 I shall conclude by referring to the presidential
and legislative elections that will mark the end of my
term and the end of a particularly difficult year for the
people of Haiti. It is important that that difficult
process be conducted with rigour, fairness and
transparency, so as to consolidate our young
democracy. Therefore I appeal to all national actors
and our international friends, so that together we can
make our way through that electoral crossroads
successfully.


It is my singular
honour to extend my congratulations to you, Sir, on
your assumption of the presidency of the General
Assembly. I wish to assure you of the full support and
cooperation of my delegation in the discharge of your
onerous responsibilities. My commendation also goes
to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and his

10-55122 4

staff for their commitment to the advancement of the
work of this noble Organization.
 As Member States, we continue to find refuge in
the provisions of the United Nations Charter and the
full assurance that, when we are individually faced
with insurmountable challenges and difficulties, we
draw from the collective strength of the international
community.
 Working together for a common purpose, for the
common good is actually the sacredness of this, our
grand institution. In this regard, we must all remain
steadfast in our partnership on the agenda for poverty
eradication, the pursuit of international peace and
security, the combating of disease, the promotion of
youth empowerment and gender equality, the
promotion and protection of democracy, the rule of law
and human rights, personal advancement through
education, better health for all and harnessing
technology for sustainable development. It is on
account of this abiding faith and belief in the viability
and primacy of the United Nations that, in spite of our
resource limitations, we have over the years faithfully
fulfilled our obligations to this Organization.
 The deliberations of the recently concluded High-
level Plenary Meeting on the review of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), our global blueprint for
monitoring universal progress towards shared
development goals, clearly cast light on our strengths,
weaknesses and vulnerabilities, individually and
collectively. For this reason we need to redouble our
efforts to accelerate the implementation of the MDGs
in the remaining five years.
 Botswana is classified as an upper-middle-income
country. However, despite having enjoyed stability and
steady economic growth over a sustained period of
time, the country still has to contend with a plethora of
development challenges — ironically, in an
environment of diminished international development
assistance and support. The vulnerability of economies
such as that of my country became evident during the
triple global crises of food, energy and, most recently,
the world economic and financial meltdown. To this
end, we call for continued development assistance for
middle-income countries, lest their hard-earned gains
be reversed.
 In this era of growing and complex global
challenges, the need for a more dynamic and proactive
global financial, economic and political architecture is
far more apparent than ever before. More specifically,
the recent crises point to an international monetary and
financial architecture that needs profound reform in
order to enhance its early-warning capabilities and
resistance to external shocks, as well as to facilitate the
integration of poorer countries into the global
economy.
 Botswana welcomes the important milestones
achieved in strengthening United Nations operational
activities for development and improvements in
funding for development-related activities, as well as
in strengthening the institutional framework for the
gender architecture through the creation of the United
Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women — UN Women. The creation
of the Entity constitutes an important step in fulfilling
the commitments undertaken at the 1995 Beijing World
Conference on Women, whose main objective was the
promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of
women.
 Botswana fully supports the strengthening of the
institutional capacity of the Peacebuilding
Commission. We believe that the role of the
Commission should be properly defined by a robust
mandate, through the amendment of the founding
resolutions and the provision of adequate resources in
order to enable it to effectively discharge its mandate.
 On a related subject, we fully concur that
disarmament and non-proliferation are essential for the
promotion of international peace and security. To this
end, my delegation welcomes the progress made in
some areas but remains deeply concerned that the
Conference on Disarmament continues to be
deadlocked.
 I wish to seize this opportunity to reaffirm
Botswana’s commitment to the objectives of the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which
we continue to demonstrate through effective
implementation of its provisions as well as compliance
with the decisions of the successive Review
Conferences. Consequently, Botswana associates itself
with the outcome of the 2010 Review Conference of
the States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons. We fully support the call by
developing countries for the peaceful use of nuclear
technology in areas such as agriculture, the
environment, water management and medicine.
However, countries that intend to embark on such use

5 10-55122

of nuclear technology should do so in a transparent
fashion and in full cooperation with the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We therefore call for
increased financial support for the IAEA Technical
Cooperation Programme as well as for the Agency’s
capacity-building, in order to share technology
utilization in the relevant areas.
 Botswana continues to be deeply concerned about
increasing threats to international peace and security.
As a peace-loving nation, we believe in the peaceful
resolution of conflicts. It is because of this strong
belief that we condemn, without reservation, all acts of
terrorism, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, on which
our well-known position remains unchanged. My
delegation does not believe that the 9/11 attack was
orchestrated by the United States of America.
 One issue of deep concern to my delegation is the
erosion of democracy, respect for human rights and the
rule of law in some parts of the world. There is
therefore an urgent need for us to reverse this trend,
especially because it undermines all the efforts we
have made to date to launch our countries on a path of
peace, stability and sustainable development. To this
end, we commend the various civil society
organizations that have consistently sounded alarm
bells regarding incidents of human rights violations
whenever and wherever they occur.
 My country is of the view that the International
Criminal Court needs to be supported in its efforts to
resolve outstanding cases of arrest warrants that have
been issued against persons indicted for the
commission of serious crimes. It is in this context that
Botswana remains resolute and steadfast in its support
for the work of the International Criminal Court. We
welcome the landmark decision of the Rome Statute
Review Conference held recently in Kampala, Uganda,
to extend the jurisdiction of the Court to cover the
crime of aggression.
 Nowhere is our shared responsibility as members
of the international community more critical than in
protecting and nurturing our shared environment and
our planet, Earth. To this end, it is pertinent to point
out that climate change has increasingly become one of
humanity’s most daunting challenges. The devastating
natural disasters recently experienced in certain
quarters of our globe amply demonstrate our
vulnerability as inhabitants of the Earth.
 I wish to seize this opportunity, on behalf of the
Government and the people of Botswana, and indeed
on my own account, to express our sympathy and
solidarity with all the countries that have been victims
of such disasters. We would like to extend our
condolences to all the families who lost their loved
ones and those whose property and livelihoods were
destroyed. We extend our profound appreciation to the
Governments as well as private sector and civil society
organizations that responded positively to the
international humanitarian appeal launched by the
United Nations on behalf of the affected countries. In
particular, we would like to recognize the countries
that led humanitarian interventions. We remain
optimistic that the next Conference of Parties to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change will achieve a successful outcome, one that
fully addresses the interests and concerns of both
developing and developed countries.
 In conclusion, we pray that this sixty-fifth session
of the General Assembly will go down in history as
marking a milestone in efforts aimed at addressing the
most pressing global challenges of our time, as well as
bringing hope and inspiration to the billions in despair
throughout the world.


When I
stood on this platform in September last year, I
addressed the issue of the threats that beset our world.
Unfortunately, these threats are still present and have
even increased and diversified, and we are not any
closer to achieving the Millennium Development
Goals, which we set for ourselves ten years ago during
the Millennium Summit. We believe that the
malfunction that our world suffers from is due, not to a
lack of resources, but to mismanagement and lack of
justice and equity.
 The global economic, financial and food crisis
and the persistence of hunger, poverty and other
challenges facing humanity today prompt us to rebuild
our institutions and formulate our strategies to better
respond to the challenges and crises facing the
international community. The time has come to
reformulate the global economic system in order for it
to achieve justice and equal opportunities for all.
Among the important international conferences and
forums that Doha hosted this year was the World
Economic Forum Global Redesign Summit, which
resulted in many proposals for improving the existing
international structures and cooperative arrangements,
in order to create an international system conducive to
meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. I
call on decision makers to discuss the proposals and
adopt those that are appropriate.
 You may all know that our region is still
experiencing the highest degree of tension in the world.
The question of Palestine has been awaiting a just
solution for decades, the situation remains precarious
in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Iranian
nuclear crisis requires a solution. We have repeatedly

10-54827 28

stressed the importance of reaching a solution through
peaceful and diplomatic means, and, in our view, a
fruitful, direct dialogue between the United States of
America and the Islamic Republic of Iran would
contribute to the resolution of this crisis.
 The strategic importance of the Arabian Gulf
region stems from its geostrategic position and the fact
that it is sitting on half of the world’s oil and natural
gas reserves and is the source of one quarter of the
world’s production of these two primary driving forces
of the global economy. Let this be yet another
consideration that prompts the international community
to recognize the importance of achieving political
stability and security in the Middle East. This is a
difficult goal that can only be achieved by renouncing
the use of force, freeing the region of weapons of mass
destruction, without exception, and settling bilateral
disputes and regional conflicts on the basis of
international law, the United Nations Charter, the
resolutions of international legitimacy and the
principles of justice and equity.
 Israel’s persistence in violating international law
and humanitarian values was reflected in the acts of
piracy committed against peace activists who tried to
break the unjust and inhuman siege imposed on the
Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This prompts us
again to call upon the international community to stand
as one in demanding that Israel lift the blockade
immediately and fully.
 We are now at a historic juncture in the process
of the settlement of the question of Palestine. For
everyone should realize that the Arab countries will not
accept the peace that Israel wants to impose as it
pleases and outside international legitimacy. A lasting,
acceptable and secure peace must guarantee the rights
of the Palestinian people, especially the establishment
of a Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital.
 For reasons some of which we can understand
and some of which we fail to understand, this first
decade of the twenty-first century has been blighted by
the blind attack that has come to be known as the war
on terrorism. Thus the fresh start of a new century has
been hamstrung by a quagmire of distortions and
damage, some, if not all, of which could have been
avoided. We recognize the existence of certain
practices that clearly fall within the scope of terrorism,
but in this regard we emphasize two premises.
 First, we disagree with the attribution of this so-
called terrorism to the Islamic religion, because — in
addition to being incorrect — that ascription is
historically unjust and is refuted by evidence from
recent history. In the twentieth century, including the
second half thereof, unjustifiably violent actions
occurred in the United States of America, Europe and
Asia, but no one has characterized those acts of
terrorism as American, European or Asian. Rather,
those acts of violence are attributed to their underlying
political, economic, social and even ideological causes,
without reference to any religion, country or idea. By
contrast, what we have seen and suffered in the first
decade of this century — what is called the war on
terror — is a phenomenon unprecedented in
international politics. It has plunged us into a kind of
war with no limits, end, logic or legal or moral
conditions. Some of this is still happening and,
although we note that the current United States
Administration has discontinued the use of the term
“war on terror”, we are still looking forward to clearer
and bolder initiatives.
 The other premise that we disagree with is that
we believe that even though the phenomenon of
terrorism does exist it should not be addressed by
waging wars. That approach has not achieved security,
peace or prosperity. On the contrary, it has spread
destruction everywhere, deprived millions of people of
their livelihoods, spread fear, caused the displacing and
killing of millions of people as well as economic and
financial crises that have shaken the stability of the
world, and undermined efforts aimed at dialogue
among cultures.
 I do not want to take up too much of the
Assembly’s time, but we believe that the situation in
which we find ourselves after the first decade of this
intriguing century should not be allowed to continue,
and its corrosive ramifications should not go
unchecked. What we fear is that the war on terrorism
may turn into a series of financial transactions
concluded with armies of mercenaries who are given
free rein to kill outside of any international or human
legitimacy. That is a very dangerous prospect.
 In this first decade, we have faced major
challenges. We should resolve that war is not the way
to deal with such challenges. Rather, we should come
to terms with ourselves, with this era and with its
concomitant progress, and determine to turn the new
decade and the decades that follow into an era in which

29 10-54827

major challenges are addressed with more in-depth
understanding and knowledge.
 Proceeding from our belief that dialogue is the
most effective way to resolve conflicts, we have set out
to seek a resolution to several political crises in our
region by promoting dialogue between the concerned
parties, whether in Lebanon, Yemen, the Horn of Africa
or the Sudan.
 At the national level in the State of Qatar, we
pursue human-centred development policies based on a
holistic approach in dealing with human development.
We have set ourselves the goals of modernization,
reform and development in order to build a modern
constitutional State of law-based institutions that
guarantee citizens their freedoms, rights and
responsibilities. We have taken concrete steps towards
enhancing our development capabilities, including our
health, educational and cultural institutions, which we
hope will reach international standards, as well as
enhancing national industrial enterprises to utilize
natural resources in our country. God has granted our country an abundance of
hydrocarbon fuel reserves. We have endeavoured to
make the best use of this wealth, employ its revenues
in the service of Qatari citizens and improve our
various human development indicators because we,
like other inhabitants of planet Earth, are anxious to
address the impact of climate change. Our interest in
clean energy, particularly natural gas, is on our list of
priorities. And to contribute to the reduction of carbon
emissions, we have developed policies that aim to
benefit from clean and renewable energy sources.
 Through this approach, we hope to contribute
nationally, regionally and internationally to the
establishment of peace, stability and security, as well
as to the development that comes with them. Thus, we
hope to assume our part of the collective responsibility
for the common good.


My
delegation joins previous speakers in expressing our
congratulations to Mr. Joseph Deiss on his election as
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth
session. We want to take this opportunity to assure him
of our full cooperation and to wish him a very
successful and rewarding term. I also take this
opportunity to thank Mr. Ali Treki for the excellent
work he did in steering this Assembly during his tenure
as President during its sixty-fourth session.
 The theme of the sixty-fifth session of the
General Assembly — “Reaffirming the central role of
the United Nations in global governance” — resonates
with what our global citizen, Nelson Rolihlahla
Mandela, said about this body on the occasion of its
fiftieth anniversary:
 “The United Nations has to reassess its role,
redefine its profile and reshape its structures. It
should truly reflect the diversity of our universe
and ensure equity among the nations in the

10-55109 26

exercise of power within the system of
international relations, in general, and the
Security Council, in particular.” (A/50/PV.37,
p. 6)
My delegation supports the choice of this theme, and
we wish to reiterate our belief in the centrality of the
United Nations and the system of multilateralism.
 Despite the challenges that face humanity in the
twenty-first century, the relevance of the United
Nations as a multilateral mechanism through which a
myriad of complex world affairs can be administered
and resolved cannot be overemphasized. Those
challenges compel us more than ever before to
strengthen the United Nations. South Africa is
committed to working with other Member States to
achieve the full potential of the United Nations to
address the urgent challenges facing the international
community by making it more relevant, more
responsive to the diversity of humankind and more
representative.
 The creation of the United Nations was one of the
notable successes of the twentieth century, and thanks
to its existence the world has been spared another war
on the scale and magnitude of the First and Second
World Wars. The exponential growth in the
membership of the Organization over the years, from
51 Members in 1945 to 192 today, clearly demonstrates
the confidence that the peoples of the world have
placed in the United Nations and the ideals contained
in its Charter.
 The universal membership of the United Nations
gives it the legitimacy to be at the centre of efforts to
address global challenges. However, the question is
whether the United Nations has leveraged that diversity
of its membership as a source of strength and acted
decisively against any tendency that runs contrary to its
fundamental values and founding principles.
 The answer to this is yes because, in the past, the
United Nations played an invaluable role in the
worldwide process of decolonization, transforming the
political landscape of the world and bringing much-
cherished freedom and independence to the peoples of
Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Organization was
instrumental in bringing about the demise of the
universally despised apartheid system in our own
country, South Africa.
 When the Organization recognized the right to
development as a human right, it gave voice and hope
to those who know the face of poverty. When the
Organization has sent its troops to far-flung places to
keep peace among neighbours who should be living
together, it has again underscored the reason for which
it was established. Amid all the challenges, the United
Nations has been relevant and responsive to our
diverse interests.
 Five years ago, at the World Summit, we agreed
that, if the Organization were to continue to play its
central role in global governance effectively, there was
a need to strengthen and reposition it to deal with the
challenges of the twenty-first century.  We believe that
the revitalization of the General Assembly remains one
of the cornerstones of the United Nations reform
agenda. The General Assembly is the chief
deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of
the United Nations and plays a critical role in the
process of standard-setting and the codification of
international law. Its decisions are taken by a collective
among equals for the common good.
 We will support measures that are aimed at
enhancing the effectiveness of the General Assembly,
especially regarding its role in the maintenance of
international peace and security. Indeed, we witnessed
with satisfaction how, on several occasions, the
General Assembly acted promptly when the Security
Council was unwilling or unable to respond to grave
developments in the aftermath of the conflict in Gaza
in 2009.
 Indeed, no transformation of the United Nations
could be complete without the fundamental reform of
the Security Council. South Africa believes that the
objective of the reform should be to create a Security
Council that is truly representative of the membership
and effectively responsive to international crises, as
mandated by the Charter of the United Nations. Indeed,
it remains a travesty of justice that Africa, which
accounts for a large portion of the work of the Council,
is not represented in the permanent category. Thus,
deliberations about us carry on without us.
 The world should be free of weapons of mass
destruction, in accordance with our undertakings on
total disarmament. In that regard, South Africa
welcomes the recently agreed programme of work of
the Conference on Disarmament.

27 10-55109

 While the right to development and freedom from
want are central to the work of the United Nations, we
have just ended the High-level Plenary Meeting to
review our performance in achieving the Millennium
Development Goals and agreed that more needs to be
done to act on commitments already made by the
international community in that regard.
 The people of Haiti have a story to tell about how
best the international community can respond in unison
and effectively to a nation in distress.
 A speedy and satisfactory conclusion of the Doha
Round of the World Trade Organization, which
promised so much for the developing South,
unfortunately remains a dream yet to be fulfilled. At
the same time, the global economic crisis has
highlighted the point that many of us have always
made about the need to work for an international
financial architecture that is sensitive to the
development needs of the South.
 The contribution of the Group of 20 (G-20) is a
welcome development in that regard, and we believe
that the Group should complement and reinforce the
good work of the United Nations and not act as an
alternative. In its composition, the G-20 will also need
to mirror the rich diversity of humankind by making
sure that all regions of the world, in particular Africa,
are well represented. We look forward to the full
implementation of the undertakings made to transform
the international financial architecture, including the
reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, as a step
towards building a world system founded on equity and
social justice.
 Environmental issues, including climate change,
have also become high on the priorities of the
international agenda. South Africa is fully committed
to a multilateral outcome on the basis of the Bali Plan
of Action, with a two-track negotiated and legally
binding outcome. We are convinced that the
Copenhagen Accord provides political guidance for
future negotiations.
 Accordingly, we should work together to ensure
that the forthcoming meeting of the sixteenth session
of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change in Mexico
takes bold and concrete steps to address climate change
and its effects. For our part, South Africa will have the
opportunity to host the seventeenth session of the
Conference of the Parties in December 2011, on the
eve of the end of the first commitment period of the
Kyoto Protocol.
 Peace and stability are one of the preconditions
for bringing about an Africa of the new beginning that
the Chairperson of the African Union, His Excellency
President Wa Mutharika of Malawi, spoke of on the
first day of the general debate (see ). The
United Nations has been an important partner to Africa,
working with us through the African Union, whether in
Somalia, the Sudan or the Democratic Republic of
Congo. South Africa is encouraged by the commitment
shown by the international community in trying to
assist the both the Government of the Sudan and
Southern Sudan as they prepare for the upcoming
referendum in January 2011.
 The people of Zimbabwe also need the helping
hand of the international community in implementing
their Global Political Agreement. The African Union
and the Southern African Development Community
speak for us, too, in calling for the lifting of sanctions
against Zimbabwe. We will continue to work with the
peoples of Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Burundi,
among others, in their efforts to build and consolidate
peace and democracy in their respective countries.
 In the case of Western Sahara, South Africa
remains concerned about the continuing impasse,
which stands in the way of a solution that will result in
the people of Western Sahara exercising their
inalienable right to self-determination. We count on the
United Nations, especially the Security Council, to
continue to make decisions that enable us to decisively
deal with the challenges of peace and security on our
continent.
 The United Nations should see Africa as a partner
in the maintenance of international peace and the
management of conflicts, and accordingly do more to
strengthen the working relationship between the
Security Council and the African Union Peace and
Security Council. In this respect, South Africa will
continue to support all international efforts to help the
people of Palestine and Israel in their endeavour to find
lasting peace, leading to the establishment of a viable
Palestinian State, on the basis of the 1967 borders and
with East Jerusalem as its capital, existing side by side
in peace and security with Israel.
 We are at one with the call made by several
delegations for the lifting of the embargo on the
Republic of Cuba.

10-55109 28

 We have converged here year after year to make
strong statements on Palestine, the embargo on Cuba
and the independence of the Western Sahara. The
ultimate test of the relevance of the United Nations
will therefore be in bringing closure to all these long
outstanding issues in a manner that is consistent with
our decisions and the collective will of nations
represented in this Organization.
In conclusion, we were also privileged recently to
be the stage, and Africa the theatre, of the 2010
Fédération internationale de football association World
Cup tournament. Our people spoke for us during that
soccer event in how they embraced each other and in
their diversity of many nations, consistent with the
spirit of ubuntu, which simply means “I am because
you are”. They gave us hope and confirmed the faith
we have in our belief that a better world is possible.
The role of sport in development and in advancing
peace can never be underestimated. As States, we can
best respond to this message from our people by
making sure that the United Nations, in playing its role
in the global system, is more relevant, more inclusive
and more representative.
 Looking ahead, South Africa is honoured to have
been endorsed by the African Union as a candidate for
the Security Council non-permanent membership for
the period 2011-2012. We stand ready to continue to
contribute to the achievement of peace and security in
the world.


It is a great honour to address
this Assembly for the second time, nearly two years
after my election as President of the United States. We
know this is no ordinary time for our people. We each
come here with our own problems and priorities. But
there are also challenges that we share in common as
leaders and as nations.
 We meet within an institution built from the
rubble of war, designed to unite the world in pursuit of
peace. And we meet within a city that for centuries has
welcomed people from across the globe, demonstrating
that individuals of every colour, faith and station can
come together to pursue opportunity, build a
community and live with the blessing of human liberty.
 Outside the doors of this Hall, the blocks and
neighbourhoods of this great city tell the story of a
difficult decade. Nine years ago, the destruction of the
World Trade Center signalled a threat that respected no
boundary of dignity or decency. Two years ago this
month, a financial crisis on Wall Street devastated
American families on Main Street. These separate
challenges have affected people around the world. Men
and women and children have been murdered by
extremists from Casablanca to London, from Jalalabad
to Jakarta. The global economy suffered an enormous
blow during the financial crisis, crippling markets and
deferring the dreams of millions on every continent.
Underneath these challenges to our security and
prosperity lie deeper fears: that ancient hatreds and
religious divides are once again ascendant; that a world
which has grown more interconnected has somehow
slipped beyond our control.
 These are some of the challenges that my
Administration has confronted since we came into
office. And today, I would like to talk to the Assembly
about what we have done over the last 20 months to
meet these challenges; what our responsibility is to
pursue peace in the Middle East; and what kind of
world we are trying to build in this twenty-first
century.
 Let me begin with what we have done. I have had
no greater focus as President than rescuing our
economy from potential catastrophe. And in an age
when prosperity is shared, we could not do this alone.
So America has joined with nations around the world
to spur growth and the renewed demand that could
restart job creation.
 We are reforming our system of global finance,
beginning with Wall Street reform here at home, so that
a crisis like this never happens again. And we made the
Group of 20 the focal point for international
coordination, because in a world where prosperity is
more diffuse, we must broaden our circle of
cooperation to include emerging economies —
economies from every corner of the globe.
 There is much to show for our efforts, even as
there is much work to be done. The global economy
has been pulled back from the brink of a depression
and is growing once more. We have resisted
protectionism and are exploring ways to expand trade
and commerce among nations. But we cannot — and
will not — rest until these seeds of progress grow into
a broader prosperity, not only for all Americans but for
peoples around the world.
 As for our common security, America is waging a
more effective fight against Al-Qaida’ while winding
down the war in Iraq. Since I took office, the United
States has removed nearly 100,000 troops from Iraq.
We have done so responsibly as Iraqis have
transitioned to lead responsibility for the security of
their country. We are now focused on building a lasting
partnership with the Iraqi people while keeping our
commitment to remove the rest of our troops by the
end of next year.

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 While drawing down in Iraq, we have refocused
on defeating Al-Qaida and denying its affiliates safe
haven. In Afghanistan, the United States and our allies
are pursuing a strategy to break the Taliban’s
momentum and build the capacity of Afghanistan’s
Government and security forces so that a transition to
Afghan responsibility can begin next July. And from
South Asia to the Horn of Africa, we are moving
towards a more targeted approach — one that
strengthens our partners and dismantles terrorist
networks without deploying large American armies.
 As we pursue the world’s most dangerous
extremists, we are also denying them the world’s most
dangerous weapons and pursuing the peace and
security of a world without nuclear weapons.
 Earlier this year, 47 nations embraced a work
plan to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within
four years. We have joined with Russia to sign the most
comprehensive arms control treaty in decades. We have
reduced the role of nuclear weapons in our security
strategy. And here, at the United Nations, we came
together to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
 As part of our effort on non-proliferation, I
offered the Islamic Republic of Iran an extended hand
last year and underscored that it has both rights and
responsibilities as a member of the international
community. I also said — in this Hall — that Iran must
be held accountable if it failed to meet those
responsibilities. And that is what we have done.
 Iran is the only party to the NPT that cannot
demonstrate the peaceful intentions of its nuclear
programme, and those actions have consequences.
Through Security Council resolution 1929 (2010), we
made it clear that international law is not an empty
promise.
 Now let me be clear once more: the United States
and the international community seek a resolution to
our differences with Iran, and the door remains open to
diplomacy should Iran choose to walk through it. But
the Iranian Government must demonstrate a clear and
credible commitment and confirm to the world the
peaceful intent of its nuclear programme.
 As we combat the spread of deadly weapons, we
are also confronting the spectre of climate change.
After making historic investments in clean energy and
efficiency at home, we helped forge an accord in
Copenhagen that — for the first time — commits all
major economies to reduce their emissions. We are
keenly aware this is just a first step. And going
forward, we will support a process in which all major
economies meet our responsibilities to protect the
planet while unleashing the power of clean energy to
serve as an engine of growth and development.
 America has also embraced unique
responsibilities that come with our power. Since the
rains came and the floodwaters rose in Pakistan, we
have pledged our assistance, and we should all support
the Pakistani people as they recover and rebuild. And
when the earth shook and Haiti was devastated by loss,
we joined a coalition of nations in response. Today, we
honour those from the United Nations family who lost
their lives in the earthquake and commit ourselves to
stand with the people of Haiti until they can stand on
their own two feet.
 Amidst this upheaval, we have also been
persistent in our pursuit of peace. Last year, I pledged
my best efforts to support the goal of two States, Israel
and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,
as part of a comprehensive peace between Israel and all
of its neighbours. We have travelled a winding road
over the last 12 months, with few peaks and many
valleys. But this month I am pleased that we have
pursued direct negotiations between Israelis and
Palestinians in Washington, Sharm el-Sheikh and
Jerusalem.
 Now I recognize that many are pessimistic about
this process. The cynics say that Israelis and
Palestinians are too distrustful of each other, and too
divided internally, to forge lasting peace. Rejectionists
on both sides will try to disrupt the process with bitter
words and with bombs and gunfire. Some say that the
gaps between the parties are too big; the potential for
talks to break down is too great; and that after decades
of failure peace is simply not possible.
 I hear those voices of scepticism. But I ask the
Assembly to consider the alternative. If an agreement
is not reached, Palestinians will never know the pride
and dignity that comes with their own State. Israelis
will never know the certainty and security that comes
with sovereign and stable neighbours who are
committed to coexistence. The hard realities of
demography will take over. More blood will be shed.
This Holy Land will remain a symbol of our
differences, instead of our common humanity.

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 I refuse to accept that future. We all have a choice
to make. Each of us must choose the path of peace. Of
course, that responsibility begins with the parties
themselves, who must answer the call of history.
Earlier this month, at the White House, I was struck by
the words of both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “I came here today to
find an historic compromise that will enable both
peoples to live in peace, security and dignity”.
President Abbas said, “We will spare no effort and we
will work diligently and tirelessly to ensure these
negotiations achieve their cause”.
 These words must now be followed by action,
and I believe that both leaders have the courage to do
so. But the road that they have to travel is exceedingly
difficult, which is why I call upon Israelis and
Palestinians — and the world — to rally behind the
goal that these leaders now share.
 We know that there will be tests along the way,
and that one test is fast approaching. Israel’s settlement
moratorium has made a difference on the ground and
improved the atmosphere for talks.
 And our position on this issue is well known. We
believe that the moratorium should be extended. We
also believe that talks should press on until completed.
Now is the time for the parties to help each other
overcome this obstacle. Now is the time to build the
trust — and provide the time — for substantial
progress to be made. Now is the time for this
opportunity to be seized, so that it does not slip away.
 Now, peace must be made by Israelis and
Palestinians, but we each have a responsibility to do
our part as well. Those of us who are friends of Israel
must understand that true security for the Jewish State
requires an independent Palestine — one that allows
the Palestinian people to live with dignity and
opportunity. And those of us who are friends of the
Palestinians must understand that the rights of the
Palestinian people will be won only through peaceful
means — including genuine reconciliation with a
secure Israel.
 I know many in this Hall count themselves as
friends of the Palestinians. These pledges of friendship
must now be supported by deeds. Those who have
signed on to the Arab Peace Initiative should seize this
opportunity to make it real by taking tangible steps
towards the normalization that it promises Israel.
 And those who speak on behalf of Palestinian
self-government should help the Palestinian Authority
politically and financially, and in doing so help the
Palestinians build the institutions of their State.
 Those who long to see an independent Palestine
must also stop trying to tear down Israel. After
thousands of years, Jews and Arabs are not strangers in
a strange land. After 60 years in the community of
nations, Israel’s existence must not be a subject for
debate.
 Israel is a sovereign State, and the historic
homeland of the Jewish people. It should be clear to all
that efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will be
met by the unshakeable opposition of the United
States. Efforts to threaten or kill Israelis will do
nothing to help the Palestinian people. The slaughter of
innocent Israelis is not resistance; it is injustice. And
make no mistake: the courage of a man like President
Abbas, who stands up for his people in front of the
world under very difficult circumstances, is far greater
than those who fire rockets at innocent women and
children.
 The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old
as the United Nations. And we can come back here
next year, as we have for the last 60 years, and make
long speeches about it. We can read familiar lists of
grievances. We can table the same resolutions. We can
further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate.
And we can waste more time by carrying forward an
argument that will not help a single Israeli or
Palestinian child achieve a better life. We can do that.
 Or we can say that this time will be different —
that this time we will not let terror or turbulence or
posturing or petty politics stand in the way. This time
we will think, not of ourselves, but of the young girl in
Gaza who wants to have no ceiling on her dreams or
the young boy in Sderot who wants to sleep without the
nightmare of rocket fire.
 This time we should draw upon the teachings of
tolerance that lie at the heart of the three great religions
that see Jerusalem’s soil as sacred. This time we should
reach for what is best within ourselves. If we do, when
we come back here next year, we can have an
agreement that will lead to a new State Member of the
United Nations — an independent, sovereign State of
Palestine living in peace with Israel.

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 It is our destiny to bear the burdens of the
challenges that I have addressed — recession and war
and conflict. And there is always a sense of urgency,
even emergency, that drives most of our foreign
policies. Indeed, after millennia marked by wars, this
very institution reflects the desire of human beings to
create a forum to deal with emergencies that will
inevitably come.
 But even as we confront immediate challenges,
we must also summon the foresight to look beyond
them and consider what we are trying to build over the
long term. What is the world that awaits us when
today’s battles are brought to an end? And, that is what
I would like to talk about with the remainder of my
time today.
 One of the first actions of the General Assembly
was to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948. This Declaration begins by stating that,
“recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal
and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace
in the world”.
 The idea is a simple one — that freedom, justice
and peace for the world must begin with freedom,
justice and peace in the lives of individual human
beings. For the United States, this is a matter of moral
and pragmatic assessment. As Robert Kennedy said,
“the individual man, the child of God, is the touchstone
of value, and all society, groups, the state exist for his
benefit”.
 So we stand up for universal values because it is
the right thing to do. But we also know from
experience that those who defend these values for their
people have been our closest friends and allies, while
those who have denied those rights — whether terrorist
groups or tyrannical Governments — have chosen to be
our adversaries.
 Human rights have never gone unchallenged —
not in any of our nations, not in our world. Tyranny is
still with us — whether it manifests itself in the
Taliban killing girls who try to go to school, a North
Korean regime that enslaves its own people, or an
armed group in Congo-Kinshasa that use rape as a
weapon of war.
 In times of economic unease, there can also be an
anxiety about human rights. Today, as in past times of
economic downturn, some put human rights aside for
the promise of short-term stability or the false notion
that economic growth can come at the expense of
freedom. We see leaders abolishing term limits, we see
crackdowns on civil society, we see corruption
smothering entrepreneurship and good governance, we
see democratic reforms deferred indefinitely.
 As I said last year, each country will pursue a
path rooted in the culture of its own people. Yet
experience shows us that history is on the side of
liberty; that the strongest foundation lies in open
economies, open societies, and open Governments. To
put it simply, democracy, more than any other form of
government, delivers for our citizens. And I believe
that truth will only grow stronger in a world where the
borders between nations are blurred.
 America is working to shape a world that fosters
this openness. For the rot of a closed or corrupt
economy must never eclipse the energy and innovation
of human beings.All of us want the right to educate our
children, to make a decent wage, to care for the sick,
and to be carried as far as our dreams and deeds will
take us. But that depends upon economies that tap the
power of our people, including the potential of women
and girls. That means letting entrepreneurs start a
business without paying a bribe and Governments that
support opportunity instead of stealing from their
people. And that means rewarding hard work, instead
of reckless risk-taking.
 Yesterday, I put forward a new development
policy that will pursue these goals, recognizing that
dignity is a human right and global development is in
our common interest. America will partner with nations
that offer their people a path out of poverty. And
together, we must unleash growth that powers by
individuals and merging markets in all parts of the
globe.
 There is no reason why Africa should not be an
exporter of agriculture, which is why our food security
initiative is empowering farmers. There is no reason
why entrepreneurs should not be able to build new
markets in every society, which is why I hosted a
summit on entrepreneurship earlier this spring, because
the obligation of Government is to empower
individuals, not to impede them.
 The same holds true for civil society. The arc of
human progress has been shaped by individuals with
the freedom to assemble and by organizations outside
of government that insisted upon democratic change

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and by free media that held the powerful accountable.
We have seen that from the South Africans who stood
up to apartheid, to the Poles of Solidarity, to the
mothers of the disappeared who spoke out against the
Dirty War, to Americans who marched for the rights of
all races, including my own.
 Civil society is the conscience of our
communities and America will always extend our
engagement abroad with citizens beyond the halls of
Government. And we will call out those who suppress
ideas and serve as a voice for those who are voiceless.
We will promote new tools of communication so
people are empowered to connect with one another
and, in repressive societies, to do so with security. We
will support a free and open Internet, so individuals
have the information to make up their own minds. And
it is time to embrace and effectively monitor norms
that advance the rights of civil society and guarantee
its expansion within and across borders.
 Open society supports open government, but it
cannot substitute for it. There is no right more
fundamental than the right to choose your leaders and
determine your destiny. Now, make no mistake: the
ultimate success of democracy in the world will not
come because the United States dictates it; it will come
because individual citizens demand a say in how they
are governed.
 There is no soil where this cannot take root, just
as every democracy reflects the uniqueness of a nation.
Later this fall, I will travel to Asia. And I will visit
India, which peacefully threw off colonialism and
established a thriving democracy of over a billion
people.
 I will continue to Indonesia, the world’s largest
Muslim-majority country, which binds together
thousands of islands through the glue of representative
government and civil society. I will join the Group-of-
20 meeting on the Korean peninsula, which provides
the world’s clearest contrast between a society that is
dynamic and open and free, and one that is imprisoned
and closed. And I will conclude my trip in Japan, an
ancient culture that found peace and extraordinary
development through democracy.
 Each of these countries gives life to democratic
principles in its own way. And even as some
Governments roll back reform, we also celebrate the
courage of a President in Colombia who willingly
stepped aside, or the promise of a new constitution in
Kenya.
 The common thread of progress is the principle
that government is accountable to its citizens. And the
diversity in this Hall makes clear — no one country
has all the answers, but all of us must answer to our
own people.
 In all parts of the world, we see the promise of
innovation to make government more open and
accountable. And now we must build on that progress.
And when we gather back here next year, we should
bring specific commitments to promote transparency;
to fight corruption; to energize civic engagement; to
leverage new technology so that we strengthen the
foundations of freedom in our own countries, while
living up to the ideals that can light the world.
 This institution can still play an indispensable
role in the advance of human rights. It is time to
welcome the efforts of UN Women to protect the rights
of women around the world.
 It is time for every Member State to open its
elections to international monitors and increase the
United Nations Democracy Fund. It is time to
invigorate United Nations peacekeeping, so that
missions have the resources necessary to succeed, and
so atrocities like sexual violence are prevented and
justice is enforced — because neither dignity nor
democracy can thrive without basic security.
 It is time to make this institution more
accountable as well, because the challenges of the new
century demand new ways of serving our common
interests.
 The world that America seeks is not one we can
build on our own. For human rights to reach those who
suffer the boot of oppression, we need your voices to
speak out. In particular, I appeal to those nations that
emerged from tyranny and inspired the world in the
second half of the last century — from South Africa to
South Asia; from Eastern Europe to South America. Do
not stand idly by, do not be silent, when dissidents
elsewhere are imprisoned and protesters are beaten,
recall your own history. Because part of the price of
our own freedom is standing up for the freedom of
others.
 That belief will guide America’s leadership in
this twenty-first century. It is a belief that has seen us
through more than two centuries of trial, and it will see

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us through the challenges we face today — be they war
or recession; conflict or division.
 So even as we have come through a difficult
decade, I stand here before you confident in the
future — a future where Iraq is governed by neither a
tyrant nor a foreign Power, and Afghanistan is freed
from the turmoil of war; a future where the children of
Israel and Palestine can build the peace that was not
possible for their parents; a world where the promise of
development reaches into the prisons of poverty and
disease; a future where the cloud of recession gives
way to the light of renewal, and the dream of
opportunity is available to all.
 This future will not be easy to reach. It will not
come without setbacks, nor will it be quickly claimed.
But the founding of the United Nations itself is a
testament to human progress. Remember, in times that
were far more trying than our own, our predecessors
chose the hope of unity over the ease of division and
made a promise to future generations that the dignity
and equality of human beings would be our common
cause.
 It falls to us to fulfil that promise. And though we
will be met by dark forces that will test our resolve,
Americans have always had cause to believe that we
can choose a better history; that we need only to look
outside the walls around us. For through the citizens of
every conceivable ancestry who make this city their
own, we see living proof that opportunity can be
accessed by all, that what unites us as human beings is
far greater than what divides us, and that people from
every part of this world can live together in peace.