The world in which we live today is indeed complex, sometimes chaotic, uncertain and unpredictable. It faces mounting challenges, including protracted conflicts, persistent poverty and hunger, terrorism and violent extremism and a rapidly changing climate. Although democracy is prevalent as never before, its strength is being challenged and tested. Inequalities are deepening, global military spending and arms competition are increasing, and respect for international norms and institutions is weakening. Multilateralism is being challenged more than ever before. In short, sometimes it feels like we are living in the cold war era.
But that era is long over. Back then, diametrically opposed antagonistic ideologies led to existential standoffs. I want to repeat this: those standoffs were existential. Compared to that, in today’s world, there is virtually no other existence-threatening enemy, except for terrorism and the climate emergency. If one looks at the foreign policy documents, constitutions and laws of the absolute majority of countries, it is clear that war and violence are prohibited. Today all countries generally pursue growth, progress and prosperity for their own people, within their own jurisdictions, through international cooperation.
This general situation, coupled with unprecedented levels of education and information saturation in the wider population, as well as science and technological progress, apparently makes us believe that our reason is unshakably strong and extremely unlikely to yield to irrational urges. As a result, when we delve today into provocative and adversarial territory in our international debates, we seem to have an underlying belief that they will not degenerate into violence or corrosive interactions. However, that may be mistaken overconfidence in our intellect, humanity and reason.
We should not forget that we remain at core social animals. Aggression and anger triggers counter- aggression and angry responses. In addition to that, more than ever before we are vulnerable to the anger and frustration of a few multiplying and exploding into mass frustration due to our interconnectedness through the social media. We should always be mindful of that unique and unchartered territory. We have yet to fully understand the social change that the information age is generating. On top of all the aforementioned realities that we do not yet understand, we should not forget that we have piles of nuclear weapons that can put an end to all our differences, once and for all, along with all the virtues that life has to offer.
That is not the way we want to settle our differences. Indeed, after living in the world for about 30 years without an enemy — in the full nuclear sense — we are used to taking global peace for granted. We therefore often do little to control our rhetoric, as far as its potential to trigger animosity is concerned. However, in today’s environment, we should not overestimate the strength of our reason and underestimate the threat posed by our animal instincts.
The world as we know it today is no masking its true nature through apparent political correctness. It is increasingly unveiling its rigidity and roughness with honesty, which reminds us to calm down and reassess the existing risks and dangers. In the light of the foregoing, we ought to realize that compared to the cold war era, our present world is a brotherhood of nations. If we accept to respect and understand each other before anything else, there are no differences today that we cannot overcome.
Over this past high-level week, the international community gathered to unite in its resolve to speed up the collective action towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and addressing the climate emergency. Mongolia strongly supports the pledge to make the coming decade one of action and delivery by supporting the most vulnerable and coming first to the aid of those who are the furthest behind.
I wish to applaud the leadership of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for hosting the Climate Action Summit earlier this week. The summit proved instrumental in building the momentum to turn the tide in the climate emergency, as 77 countries, along with over 100 cities, committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Seventy countries pledged to boost their nationally determined contributions by 2020, and a dozen Governments doubled their contributions to the Green Climate Fund.
Science tells us that any temperature increase greater than 1.5°C would lead to catastrophic and irreversible damage to the ecosystem that supports us. Like many other developing countries, Mongolia has contributed the least to global warming. Yet, in Mongolia, over the past 80 years, annual mean temperatures have increased by 2.26°C. As a result, 77 per cent of our territory has been affected by desertification and land degradation. Over the past 40 years, the permafrost area has shrunk less than half of what it was, and more than 800 lakes have dried up. Given the fact that over 80 per cent of rural people’s livelihoods depend on nature, climate change is already having a devastating impact on our people, our lives and our economy.
For its part, Mongolia is faithfully fulfilling its nationally determined contribution to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 14 per cent. Furthermore, a more ambitious nationally determined contribution target, along with sound climate-change legislation and policies, is being developed. Mongolia has abundant solar and wind power resources and aims at increasing the share of renewable energy in its energy mix to 30 per cent, up from the current 3 per cent, by 2030. To this end, the Government has introduced feed-in tariffs for wind, solar and hydropower energy and is working to refine the relevant legislation in support of renewable energy. We are also working to set up a multilateral institution for electricity-grid interconnections to ensure energy security, job creation and the reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions in North-East Asia by tapping into its wind- and solar-energy potential.
Mongolia is willing to contribute not only to energy security, but also to peace and security in North-East Asia. Back in the early 1980s, Mongolia first proposed the idea of creating a regional-security dialogue mechanism. Later in 2000, we proposed to have an informal meeting of foreign ministers of the North- East Asian countries at the margins of the Ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum to start discussing the least contentious issues. At that time, some countries were not ready to start engaging in such a format. Perhaps now is a time more conducive to exploring such opportunities, which is why I reiterated our proposal at the last ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial meeting, held on 2 August, in Bangkok.
Mongolia is indeed the only country in North- East Asia that does not have any unresolved issues — territorial or political — with other countries in the region or any other country in the world. Our aim is to provide a neutral ground for constructive dialogue and engagement. I am pleased to note that the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security, which Mongolia has hosted annually since 2014, is evolving into an open and inclusive mechanism for facilitating talks, promoting mutual understanding and confidence-building, and searching for room for compromise when necessary. Its agenda has also expanded to cover both traditional security issues and those related to energy, infrastructure, green growth, investment and humanitarian cooperation.
The overall security situation in North-East Asia remains complex. As a country whose nuclear- weapon-free status is well-recognized, Mongolia stands for a denuclearized Korean peninsula and welcomes the series of recent high-level summits between the main stakeholders. I join others in underscoring the importance of a continued dialogue, the implementation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-United States joint statement and the relevant Security Council resolutions. In this context, I would also like to express my support for the idea proposed on 24 September by President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea to transform the demilitarized zone into an international peace zone (see A/74/PV.3).
Achieving sustainable development for the people and the planet will not be smooth or easy. But we are all in this together. The heightened interdependence of the human family requires an effective global partnership to secure our common future. The full implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024 needs to be closely aligned with the SDGs and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. We expect that its five-year review in December will come up with an ambitious road map for accelerating its implementation.
The landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) continue to face considerable challenges that are inherently linked to their geographical handicap. As a result, they remain largely marginalized in the context of global trade. Their combined share of global exports declined from 1.2 per cent in 2014 to 0.98 per cent in 2018, with commodities accounting for the bulk of their exports. Increased international assistance for export diversification, value addition, infrastructure development, institutional and productive capacity- building, and better market access remain essential for the LLDCs. Mongolia is proud to contribute to South-South cooperation by promoting the interests of LLDCs and through its participation in establishing the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries in 2006. Today this Ulaanbaatar-based think tank is actively engaging in global dialogues on related issues by providing evidence-based advisory services and organizing regional and international workshops. I wish to invite all States Members and development partners to support the work of this centre of excellence. For its part, the Government of Mongolia has been contributing $100,000 annually to the institution over the past several years.
In these turbulent times, democracy has been tested in many corners of the world. Some countries are having a hard time managing a downward spiral, while others have been able to withstand such a trajectory and strengthen the power of their people. In 1990, nearly three decades ago, Mongolia made the historic choice to adopt democracy and a market economy. Although the road leading to a multiparty system, parliamentary democracy, free elections, open markets, human rights and the rule of law has been bumpy and ridden with knolls and holes, we have been able to build our democracy and are proud of its solid achievements.
Today,	our citizens enjoy human rights, fundamental freedoms, ownership of private property and freedom of expression and movement. Democracy has unleashed the inherent potential of individuals, and the private sector now accounts for over 80 per cent of our gross domestic product. Our access to information and right to assembly allow for greater transparency, online and offline social interaction, and freedom of speech. Moreover, in recent years, Mongolia has taken a host of measures aimed at strengthening merit-based professional civil service, cutting red tape, promoting the rule of law and fighting corruption head-on. Globally, Mongolia has been proud to chair such various representative international entities as the International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, the Community of Democracies and the Freedom Online Coalition and share with others its lessons learned in democratic consolidation.
There is no doubt that democracy needs to be nurtured as we move forward with its consolidation. Accordingly, governance reform issues, including better checks and balances, securing the independence of the judiciary and greater authority for local and municipality levels, are being broadly discussed as our Parliament considers amendments to our 1992 Constitution. It is of paramount importance that we encourage the active involvement of all people in this exercise. The Parliament is set to decide on a national referendum on the constitutional amendments. I could not agree more with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres when, in his message to the people and the Government of Mongolia on the International Day of Democracy — on the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of our democratic transition — he urged all Governments to respect the right to active, substantive and meaningful participation.
The world today is home to 1.8 billion young people — the largest generation of young people in history. Young people are a source of new ideas, innovation, energy and dynamism. The constructive engagement of young generations in addressing global issues is critical. This point was vividly demonstrated last weekend when millions of young people marched in the global climate strike to demand climate justice, action and accountability. Their resolve helped to boost the momentum at the Climate Action Summit.
With a view to better utilizing social media to promoting a culture of peace, non-violence and tolerance among youth, in April in Ulaanbaatar, my Ministry organized a unique forum called the Peacebook Forum, in collaboration with Facebook. In addition, in June, my Ministry, together with the United Nations, hosted the first-ever North-East Asia workshop on youth, peace and security. The participants at the workshop highly appreciated our initiative to publish a completely digital peacebook journal of international relations. This journal would disseminate and publicize research works on global issues by scholars and peacebuilders from around the world. Young people would benefit from such a journal because it would promote a culture of peace, increase tolerance, encourage intercultural and interreligious dialogue and enhance the voice and participation of youth in decision-making in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. Furthermore, in our efforts to encourage critical, analytical, scholarly and academic thinking on global peace and security issues among young people, we have also proposed the creation of a competitive award called the Peace, Progress, Prosperity Promise Award to spur scholarly research. As we advance all these initiatives, we will be working together with all of our interested partners, including the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Youth.
As we near the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, Mongolia reaffirms its unwavering commitment to serving the Organization, which is the centre of multilateralism. My delegation highly commends the Secretary-General’s bold reforms of the peace and security pillar, in repositioning of the United Nations development system and in undertaking management and gender parity initiatives — all of which are designed to make the United Nations fit to meet the current manifold challenges. Our collective efforts must be redoubled to uphold and strengthen the capacity for multilateralism to promote peace, security and sustainable development, while also ensuring that no one and no country is left behind.


Let me join previous speakers in congratulating His Excellency Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande on his assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session. I would like to assure him of our full cooperation in the discharge of his responsibilities, and I am confident that his wealth of experience and wisdom will prove invaluable in guiding us successfully through the current session. I also want to express Zambia’s sincere gratitude to Her Excellency Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces for her exemplary work during the seventy-third session.
The theme for this session, “Galvanizing multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion”, presents an opportunity to re-examine our priorities, redefine our mission and sharpen our vision as we approach the seventy-fifth anniversary of this Organization. It is a call for us to generate an atmosphere in which the United Nations family can implement its priority programmes, especially in key areas such as alleviating poverty, in order to enhance the human condition throughout the world.
The eradication of poverty is feasible — we have seen remarkable progress across every dimension of poverty, while malnutrition and youth illiteracy have both substantially decreased. Such progress is gratifying but is still inadequate. One billion people continue to live in extreme poverty. If anything, the recent gains should spur us to do even more to finish the job and ensure that no child goes to bed hungry anymore. We must ensure that nobody is forced to choose between sending her daughter to school and sending her to work. Everybody has the opportunity to fully participate in their country’s economic and civic life.
Zambia applauds the leadership that the United Nations provides in tackling climate change, as was illustrated only a few days ago by the hosting of the Climate Action Summit. Climate change frustrates efforts to raise the standards of living for the world’s poor. Scientists have spoken and we have seen with our own eyes the devastating impact that climate change has had on our environment. Early this year, three of Zambia’s neighbouring countries — Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe — were affected by cyclones. Not far away, half of Zambia experienced a severe drought that has since resulted in low crop productivity and low water levels for hydroelectricity generation. Therefore, opposite climatic extremes occur in the same neighbourhood.
As a consequence, Zambia is now scaling up its efforts to diversify energy production. Other priorities include increasing the adaptive capacity to reduce vulnerability and building resilience against extreme weather events, such as droughts and flooding. The impact of climate change requires global collaborative efforts and support for mitigation and adaptation strategies. As a developing country, Zambia needs assistance to enhance its capacity in key areas, such as scientific research, early warning, rapid response and the transfer of appropriate technologies to help cope with the negative impact of climate change.
In addition, scaling up global efforts to address climate change should certainly include providing increased accessibility to financial support, in particular for countries with limited resources, in order to enable them to make their fair contribution to the global effort and also bear the general climate-change-induced cost burdens. The need to secure and promote the well-being of wildlife flora and fauna as an environmental good for ecological and socio-economic benefit cannot be overemphasized.
In that regard, Zambia appreciates the hosting of the Elephant Summit initiative in Kasane, Botswana, in April this year, as well as Africa’s Wildlife Economy Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in May this year, convened by the African Union and the United Nations Environment Programme. Those summits, among other things, recognized the need for partnerships with communities and the private sector as key in securing wildlife and enhancing economic benefits from wildlife. In our continued effort to support that cause, Zambia will host a follow-up summit in May 2020, in the tourism capital of Livingstone. I call upon our international collaborators to work with the countries of the region to achieve a successful outcome for our wildlife.
Over the past years, Zambia has made important developmental efforts and we are determined to foster an all-inclusive development paradigm based on Agenda 2063 of the African Union and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Barely one month ago, on 7 August, Zambia had the honour to host a launching ceremony in Lusaka for the Sustainable Development Goals Subregional Centre for Southern Africa. The establishment of the Centre underscored our collective resolve as Southern African countries to win the war against poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy, through the exchange of best practices and joint action. However, we must also keep in mind that most African countries were not able to attain the forerunner Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), mainly because of various challenges, including inadequate financial resources.
In our quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the MDG trend is, unfortunately, likely to continue unless Africa devises more innovative ways of addressing its development challenges. The Centre in Lusaka will bring the initiative closer to home for our Southern African region. It will be a vehicle for facilitating engagement among Governments and other stakeholders to accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and for deepening regional integration.
My Government attaches great importance to the needs and welfare of all, with a specific focus on women, children and youth. To that end, Zambia’s seventh national development plan has targeted the most vulnerable members of society to enhance their capacity to be involved in the country’s economic and social life, in an effort to raise their standards of living. My Government has taken steps in that regard to ensure that there is equitable access to quality education for all Zambians, by providing universal basic education within the shortest realistic time frame.
A comprehensive programme of health reforms is also under way and that should also result in the improvement of the well-being of our people. However, the measures and programmes that the Government has undertaken are not enough to fully attain the objectives of those programmes of action, mainly due to limited financial resources. We call on all partners to join efforts. Together, let us help to improve the lives of our peoples.
The horrifying shadows of poverty are darkened even further for Africa’s refugee children. Zambia is a plateau of peace and a home to many refugees. We appeal to the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations of the world to help us share that burden. Together, we can restore dignity and help look after refugees.
Zambia continues to make tremendous strides in the campaign to end child marriage. We have also continued in that regard to engage traditional leaders to reform traditions and customs that promote child marriage. Currently, we are in the process of harmonizing statutory and customary law on marriage to prohibit early marriages. We are also repealing several discriminatory and outdated statutes related to children in order to come up with a children’s code to domesticate the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
As a designated African Union Champion on Ending Child Marriage, I am encouraged that the campaign is growing from strength to strength. However, much more needs to be done. We call on all partners to join efforts and together, let us raise our voices to protect our children and young people.
Peace, security and the rule of law continue to be the basis for the meaningful development of any society. In keeping with that understanding, Zambia was, for a year, until last month, Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. In that role, Zambia contributed to the regional mechanism on conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts.
As a State party to several international instruments aimed at countering the threat of proliferation, Zambia hosted a SADC regional awareness meeting on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004). The resolution is a vital element in the global architecture to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to non-State actors, including terrorists. If properly implemented worldwide, it stands as a major contributor to preventing possible humanitarian, political, economic and environmental catastrophes should any of those weapons be used to cause large-scale casualties and suffering. It is clear that such a possibility is not just theoretical.
The spectre of international terrorism has, in recent times, assumed a dangerous momentum of its own. Terrorism does not discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Innocent bystanders have to bear the brunt of that scourge. To protect human life, the international community should continue to seriously address that vice. The Assembly must expedite its conclusion of the long-overdue comprehensive Convention of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on Combating International Terrorism.
In our pursuit of the fight against terrorism, the Zambian Government has recently established an anti-terrorism centre, a national body that includes all national stakeholders, to coordinate the counter-terrorism efforts of individual security agencies, in keeping with the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
There is no doubt that the United Nations remains the only multilateral institution capable of addressing the challenges of our “one world”. The world looks to the Organization to encourage dialogue among civilizations on all global challenges in an inclusive manner, which offers the only practical way to ensure meaningful and effective international cooperation.
To be effective and efficient, there is a need to reform the United Nations, as we will over the coming year in commemoration of its 75 years of existence, and to reflect on its future.
Zambia believes that in the context of the evolution of the United Nations, the time has come for meaningful reform, including of the Security Council, which should be representative, democratic and accountable to all Member States, irrespective of status. That is essential for its integrity as the custodian of international peace. Given that Africa constitutes the second largest block of United Nations membership, proposals to reform the Security Council should heed Africa’s call, as espoused in the Ezulwini Consensus.
In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm Zambia’s commitment to cooperate with the international community in addressing the numerous problems affecting our people, including in efforts to end poverty. We should not remain indecisive and indifferent to that serious issue, neither should we forgo this opportunity to make the world a better place for all humankind.


I would like to begin on a personal note by thanking the previous speaker, Charles Michel, who will be stepping down from the Belgian Government in a few months to take over the reins of the presidency of the European Council. I take this opportunity to wish him the best of luck as his neighbour in that endeavour that will occupy him for some years to come.
At the outset, I think we are all aware that the week under way here is remarkable in several respects — not only in the number of Member States participating, which continues to grow, but also the number of topics addressed during this week, whether in plenary, major meetings or in side events in parallel to the series of summits or high-level events.
This week is further notable for the unprecedented momentum to tackle specific challenges. I am referring, first and foremost, to the climate emergency, as reflected by the great many demonstrations in cities and towns in countries around the world. The activism of young people, together with the proliferation of initiatives by civil society, the private sector and intentional entities, is truly remarkable. We have all seen that over the past few days.
However, it is through the actions of the men and women in Government that the momentum must find its expression in order to prevent an environmental, economic and ultimately geopolitical catastrophe. International security, growth, migration and human rights — not one of those areas is today unaffected by climate change, which becomes ever more alarming each year. The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change details the scale of the challenge and the urgent need for action. Only by cutting present global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 followed by climate neutrality by 2050 will allow us to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
I was able to take the opportunity, for which I am grateful, on Monday during the Climate Summit to give an account of my country’s contributions to collective efforts: first, we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 55 per cent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels; secondly, we will increase the share of renewable energy in the mix we consume by 23 to 25 per cent by 2030; we will increase energy efficiency by 40 to 44 per cent by 2030; and thirdly, we will soon adopt a framework climate law aiming to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest.
Those figures notwithstanding, most young people are frustrated because they believe such numbers are empty promises and will remain nothing more than numbers we proclaim. It is up to us to reassure our children that their future is secure. The hope and optimism of emerging generations also feed on their trust in their parents’ actions. However, in the fight against climate change over the decades to come, young people are our allies, because they are never, on principle, opposed to change. Never. Youth brings change. It embodies change. For young people, change is a virtue; it is fundamentally positive. It is the way life is.
We understand that life is also about movement. When one is young and more so when one is no longer young, it is easy to note the importance of mobility. In Luxembourg, we decided to show that the fight against climate change can bring positive change and an improvement in the quality of life for all. We undertook an unprecedented landmark measure — free public transport at the national level for all buses, trams and trains, starting next year. Of course, we need an attractive, reliable and comfortable public transportation system. These are all challenges that we must overcome, and we are working on them.
With regard to international solidarity, for 2021-2025, Luxembourg will allocate €200 million for financial and technical assistance to combat climate change in developing countries, with priority given to the least developed countries and small island developing States. On an annual basis, that is twice the sum allocated in 2014-2020. A significant portion of those funds will go to the Green Climate Fund.
Luxembourg will continue its efforts to create a favourable environment for green finance. In 2016, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange launched the Luxembourg Green Exchange, the first global listing platform dedicated exclusively to green bonds. In partnership with the European Investment Bank, also based in Luxembourg — which I sincerely thank for its collaboration — we created the Climate Finance Platform to increase our ability to leverage private investments in climate projects while mitigating their financial risk. We hope that, in the long-term, that this project will extend to the financing of the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
At the Summit held here yesterday and the day before, we discussed how critical financing is to meet those important Goals. That said, the contribution of States remains essential, especially in the area of financing for development. Another summit is being held on this subject in a room a few steps from here, where my country will present innovative initiatives, particularly in the field of investment vehicles with a social and environmental impact. The mobilization of private resources is a reality in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
However, the most innovative mechanisms cannot compensate for the relative decline in public funding. For its part, Luxembourg will continue to devote 1 per cent of its gross national income to official development assistance, with a focus on the least developed countries. The funds allocated to international climate financing and to hosting refugees are additional to that, in accordance with the principle of additionality.
For years, we have remained convinced — and I know that the politics of cooperation just before elections, for some, is not very popular — that no matter what Administration is in power in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, investing in cooperation is the best preventive measure and the best investment that can be made. And we will continue to do so.
The five summit meetings being held this week on the margins of the general debate illustrate that the major challenges facing humankind can be addressed only within a universal and comprehensive framework. Nevertheless, there is a sense that multilateralism has, in other periods, been more successful than it is today. We see that, for example, in the fields of human rights, migration, security and trade. With regard to trade, for instance, the use of unilateral measures and countermeasures — often based on real concerns, but also often based on false pretexts — helps no one and drags us into a cycle that is dangerous to the entire international community. It is our people who, ultimately, end up losing out.
It is our duty, for the sake of our future, to relaunch multilateral formats. For our part, we have always been in favour of active, dynamic and rule-of-law multilateralism. This is natural for a small country with an open economy, but it is also an informed choice beyond the considerations of sovereignty alone. To the extent that we are able, we try to participate actively in the most committed forums in the pursuit of greater international cooperation. In that connection, to name but two examples, I note our participation in the High Ambition Coalition to fight climate change and our contribution to the Alliance for Multilateralism.
The European Union is one such push for multilateralism, which has enabled our continent to live in peace since 1957. Despite the limited conflict we have seen on the European continent, the members of the European Union have lived in peace since then. In that connection, the rise of populists in Europe is not helping. Conflicts, frozen or not, disputes between States and internal tensions among ethnic or religious groups persist in Europe. We cannot claim that Ukraine is now living in peace. The Caucuses and the Balkans are also rather tense. In other words, Europe is not in a position to lecture others on their actions. Nevertheless, it is important to be able to share and seek solutions together.
Turning to the Middle East, the peace process is not improving, but rather is deteriorating year upon year. The prospects for a just and balanced peace are diminishing, along with the concept of a two-State solution. Recent developments in the context of the election campaign in Israel bear that out. At the same time, recent initiatives of an essentially bilateral nature, if they ever come to fruition, cannot replace the multilateral actors that confer international legitimacy on any negotiated solution.
The Middle East remains a source of serious concern. The wars in Syria and Yemen continue. We cannot never forget the suffering of civilians, the denial of humanitarian assistance and the flagrant, repeated and systematic violations of human rights in the region, which are our primary concern. But there are also other recent events, such as the attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. Let us therefore learn from our mistakes.
All actors in the region must help calm the situation and avoid escalation. That, of course, also applies to Iran, as well as to all other actors in the region. Tehran must also comply anew with all the provisions of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. My country, like the whole of the European Union, wants to believe that it is possible — even if it means broadening the scope — to make the 2015 agreement work. But if that is to happen, the United States and Iran must resume their dialogue.
The very volatile situation in the Middle East reminds us that contemporary crises are complex and have enormous explosive potential. Today, the mobile and instantaneous nature of communications have brought us closer to the misfortunes of all in a much more direct way. We must never forget that, beyond trade relations, direct investments and alliances, it is the destinies of individuals — men, women and children — that connect us all.
That is particularly true with regard to the situation in Libya, which is not improving. We see the ongoing difficulties that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Ghassan Salame, continues to experience in bringing the parties to the table. It is crucial to reflect on how to resolve that situation. We know, too, that today it is impossible to tackle the situation in Libya without addressing the plight of the thousands of migrants from Africa, who must traverse the war-torn country in the hope of reaching Europe.
I believe it is important to note that the ties between the African continent and mine are not limited to migration issues. Too often, there is a tendency to limit them to that issue. They never have been and never will be. Our ties are ancestral, forged by geographical and cultural proximity and by a common history, which has been painful at times and marked by the slave trade and colonialism, among other things. Today, my country’s ties with the countries and peoples of the African continent are ties of friendship, solidarity and mutual respect. Luxembourg maintains particularly close links with the francophone West African countries.
I would now like to say a few words about human rights worldwide. The situation on the ground is not good, and I am not referring only to conflict situations. It is also deteriorating with respect to gains that we thought had been consolidated and that are now systematically being called into question.
In conflict situations, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is a scourge that continues to strike throughout the world. We have seen this in equatorial Africa, in the Great Lakes region, in Iraq with Da’esh and in the Balkans. This year, we organized a conference under the auspices of the Foundation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess to address this issue.
The situation of children in armed conflict also remains a source of great concern. The reports prepared by the United Nations are appalling. Although the Organization does not remain passive in such situations, Member States do not always understand the full consequences of their actions. Initiatives to reduce funding for human rights protection or children in armed conflict when deciding on funding for United Nations peacekeeping operations are hard hearted and difficult to justify.
Those responsible for human rights violations in such situations must know that they too will one day be held accountable. Impunity cannot become the norm. The jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is not universal, but it is an integral part of the international system, and the Court’s representatives must be able to travel and operate in that capacity without obstacles, including here in New York at United Nations Headquarters. When the ICC is unable to act, impartial and independent investigative mechanisms, such as those established by the General Assembly in the case of Syria and by the Human Rights Council in the case of Myanmar, provide an alternative.
The oppression of religious minorities and their lack of protection by the State have not been eliminated in the twenty-first century. In Asia, Africa, the Near and Middle East, countless women and men are persecuted. No distinction should be made between the rights of Christians, Jews or Muslims or members of any other faith. I know that Europe is not in a position to lecture others on this point. Barely seventy-five years after the liberation of the extermination camps in Europe, the European continent continues to have a duty to preserve and honour that memory, especially at a time when speeches invoke that same hatred, xenophobia, intolerance and anti-Semitism, which are all resurfacing in certain countries and in political speeches.
In January, we will commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army. I do not know if anyone has visited Auschwitz, but I can say clearly that it changed me. In the camp, there are rooms filled with hair, rooms filled with glasses, rooms filled with prosthetic limbs, rooms filled with suitcases. Each item in these rooms was a life, a family. The people were condemned for being Jewish, for not espousing Nazi ideology, for being Gypsies, for being homosexuals, for being handicapped or simply being resisters. When I see that in certain countries there is a rise in revisionism, negationism, Nazism or Nazi ideology, I sometimes ask myself if we have ever truly learned anything from the Second World War.
Let me also say how unacceptable it is for State resources to be increasingly used to silence those who have dedicated themselves to the protection of human rights or the protection of the environment or to reporting the news. The work carried out within the Human Rights Council in Geneva on this issue is decisive and includes testimonies. Unfortunately, it is not only compliance with human rights that is being challenged. In recent years, we have seen the very existence of certain rights being called into question. We must admit that this is even true within our Organization’s forums, with regard to sexual and reproductive rights, which is adversely affecting programmes aimed at supporting the reproductive health of millions of women all over the world. I am convinced that this also applies to abortion and the right of every woman to make decisions about her own body.
In the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a number of years ago women could still have an abortion for therapeutic reasons or if they are in distress. The law was changed. Abortion was no longer possible for women in distress or for therapeutic reasons. Women were forced to be interviewed by a panel of strangers. That law was changed immediately. I think that abortion is one of the most difficult decisions a woman must face. Every woman therefore needs to be heard and needs help. It is not the job of politics what is or is not good for her in this regard. It is a decision to be taken only after due reflection and help for the woman or couple concerned. It is not up to politics to say what is good for women, much less is it the job of men to decide what women should or should not do. This situation has become very difficult to tolerate and accept in 2020 — tomorrow — to tell the other sex what is good for her. The woman already has a difficult decision to make. Let us not make her life more difficult by trying to make them feel bad for making that decision.
In 2020, we will also celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Conference, which strengthened the Commission on the Status of Women. I sometimes wonder if today we would be able to renew the commitments undertaken on that occasion, when I hear the positions and statements of some people on the rights of women.
The same is true of the right to live according to one’s sexual orientation. Here in New York, I was able to launch a debate on hate speech against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and inter sex persons. A lot of work remains to be done. Homosexuality is not a choice. It is time to accept it as it is. What is a choice is homophobia. Let us not forget that.
This year we are also commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an almost universal convention. In this regard, I believe it is important to renew our commitments, including in the light of the developments that have taken place since its adoption, particularly in the field of climate and the digital economy.
My country’s commitment to the promotion of human rights is part of its DNA, whether at the national, European or international level. It covers, without discrimination, the full range of rights recognized by our Organization, including economic and social rights. It is for these reasons that my country is a candidate for election as a member of the Human Rights Council for the period 2022-2024, for the first time since the Council was established. We count on the broad support of the General Assembly during the election in 2021.
I do not want to miss this opportunity to remind the Assembly how important it is that our Organization, which alone can claim to represent the international community, and which, in a way, is the international community itself, adapt to the realities of today’s world. The reforms initiated by the Secretary-General have made good progress. We must now translate them into action on the ground, particularly in terms of development and the organization of the security pillar.
The adaptation efforts of all components of the United Nations system is a prerequisite for the living and dynamic multilateralism that the world needs. That was clearly the original goal of the signatories to the Charter of the United Nations, whose seventy-fifth anniversary we will have the opportunity to celebrate next year. Seventy-five years is also when Auschwitz was liberated, as I said earlier, and also when my country was liberated by the Allies. And, as I stand in our host State, the United States, I am convinced that 99.9 per cent of the soldiers buried in the American cemetery in my country would not even have been able to find Luxembourg on a map. Nevertheless, they fought so that I could live in peace. I will never forget our gratitude to the Allies and our host country. Today, I can live in freedom and freely express my opinion. These cemeteries are proof that war leaves scars that do not heal. We must never forget that.
The summits and our debate this week have shown us that the United Nations is essential if we are to look to the future with clarity and address the challenges facing humankind today. My country is ready. The European Union is ready. Together with our partners in the international community, we want to ensure that we move forward together, because we know that the road is often long and sometimes difficult.
So let us stop speaking about one another. Let us talk to one another.


First and foremost, I would like to convey our congratulations on the opening of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly, and our wishes for success in its work to all the participants, from President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan. I would like to congratulate Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande on his election as President of the Assembly for this session and to wish him every success in his important role. I also want to thank Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, President of the Assembly at its previous session, for her effective work in that position.
In formulating Turkmenistan’s approach to this session, we started from the premise that current world realities, and the nature and trends of their political, economic and social processes, clearly demand increasingly close and coordinated interaction among States and major international organizations in achieving our main goals — ensuring peace and security, providing the conditions for sustainable development and preserving the legal and institutional foundations of the modern world order. In many respects, the degree of effectiveness of this cooperation and our ability to find a reasonable balance between national interests and those of the entire international community will determine whether we succeed in solving other, equally important global problems, including those related to the environment, energy and the fair distribution of water resources. Moreover, at bottom, a balance of interests and a high level of mutual understanding are what enable us to address problems such as poverty, terrorism, drugs, natural disasters, infectious diseases and other challenges. In our view, what is key to dealing with all of those issues is the restoration and reinforcement of trust and predictability, which are vital factors in building constructive relations in the international arena and making informed and responsible decisions.
We firmly believe that this process should begin with respect for universally recognized norms of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. In that context, it should be emphasized that the United Nations, despite all the difficulties that it has to overcome in the process of adapting to new geopolitical realities, remains the principal and uncontested guarantor of today’s global security architecture, a bulwark of our world order and international law and a symbol of justice, humanity and respect in international relations. That is why the United Nations must take on the role of initiator in strengthening trust and developing a multilateral dialogue, based on its universal legitimacy, and in translating the character and direction of international communication into constructive direction.
In recognition of its own share of responsibility for the state of world affairs and in its deep belief in the high moral authority of the United Nations, Turkmenistan initiated resolution 73/338, which declared 2021 the International Year of Peace and Trust. The idea was first put forward in the President of Turkmenistan’s address to the General Assembly at its seventy-third session (see A/73/PV.15), and the Assembly unanimously adopted resolution 73/338 just a few weeks ago, on 12 September, with the co-sponsorship of 73 Member States. I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all States Members of the United Nations, especially the sponsoring States, for their support and solidarity in the implementation of that initiative.
Promoting comprehensive peace and security and maintaining strategic and regional stability means ensuring that the international community has instruments in its toolkit capable of providing effective solutions to its challenges. We believe that one such tool is preventive diplomacy. As experience has shown, preventive diplomacy under the auspices of the United Nations can produce real results. That is particularly evident in the work of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, which serves as an effective link between the United Nations and the countries of Central Asia with regard to resolving numerous emerging issues. Needless to say, the most important of those is the work of preventing and neutralizing the various threats facing the region and establishing a solid foundation there for peace, security and sustainable development.
In the course of our joint work with the Centre, we have been developing common approaches to urgent problems such as terrorism, extremism, organized crime, the illicit drug trade, environmental issues, the management of transboundary water resources and regional stability. We believe in general that this practice should be harnessed in other areas so as to create a comprehensive arsenal of political, diplomatic and socioeconomic instruments for preventing risks and addressing challenges.
It will be essential to ensure that the concept of neutrality plays a crucial role in building non-confrontational and balanced international relations today. We believe firmly that a neutral model of foreign policy, with its inherent principles of non-interference in conflicts and non-participation in military associations and alliances, is bound to have a significant positive impact on the entire course and direction of global policy, bringing it greater clarity and predictability. As a State whose neutral status was unanimously affirmed and acknowledged by the United Nations on 12 December 1995 (resolution 50/80 A), Turkmenistan has always been and will continue to be true to its chosen foreign policy path and to the trust that the international community has put in us. It was therefore only logical that on Turkmenistan’s initiative the Assembly established a new date in the global political calendar, the International Day of Neutrality, celebrated every year on 12 December (resolution 71/275). By that decision, the international community acknowledged the unqualified positive significance of neutrality as an essential factor in modern world politics, and its relevance to the long-term strategic goals of the United Nations.
In that regard, we believe that the practical applications of the political and legal principles and ideological foundations of neutrality should be a focus of close attention within the United Nations, first and foremost with regard to the peacebuilding potential of neutrality and the possibilities of conducting United Nations mediation missions with the participation and on the territories of neutral countries. There are a number of examples, including recent ones, when just such an approach has helped to achieve agreement and reconciliation. Based on that, we think it would be a good idea to hold a broad multilateral dialogue at the United Nations during this session on the use of the principle of neutrality in the practice of international relations, and we would like to ask Member States to support our proposal to develop a United Nations code of rules for the effective application of the principles of neutrality in resolving international issues.
On 12 December next year, we will mark the twenty- fifth anniversary of the international recognition of Turkmenistan’s permanently neutral status. In that connection, in Ashgabat in December 2020 we will hold an international conference on issues of peace, security and development. We stand ready to work with the Secretariat, Member States, international organizations and all interested parties in order to prepare for and hold this forum.
Cooperation with the United Nations on sustainable development issues remains a priority for all of us in the long term. It is clear that despite the efforts that have been made, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is encountering various problems, including financial ones. In our opinion, they can be overcome if we harness political will and our efforts is properly organized. It will be essential to ensure a clear algorithm and the coordinated provision of adequate financial resources for specific projects and programmes aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. To that end, we think we should consider convening a United Nations conference on financing for development. To do that, we propose establishing an international coordinating group under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss the dates, venue, provisional agenda and other relevant issues for such a forum, which we believe can provide the impetus needed to ensure financial support for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
During this session, Turkmenistan will take further steps to establish a broad international partnership in the field of comprehensive energy security. To that end, my country will submit a draft resolution on the subject to the General Assembly during this session. We hope that Member States will participate actively in drafting it and agreeing on its provisions.
For Turkmenistan, one strategic direction of our work in the United Nations continues to be partnerships in the area of transport. My country will undertake efforts during this session to establish a systematic multilateral dialogue on transport issues. We believe that cooperation on international transport can be successful if it has a clearly articulated global focus that covers extensive areas and the various complexes of routes and railways that unite entire regions and continents.
The environment and its protection have traditionally been central to Turkmenistan’s activities at the United Nations. During this session my country will add the Caspian Sea issue to its list of well-known environmental initiatives. In August Turkmenistan held the first Caspian Economic Forum, at which the President of Turkmenistan launched an initiative creating a new Caspian environment programme at the United Nations. Considering the universal importance of preserving the Caspian Sea as a unique natural complex, we hope to have the support of the international community for that initiative. Another important item for Turkmenistan on the agenda for this session is saving the Aral Sea. We will continue to work diligently to promote the idea of establishing a special United Nations programme for the countries of the Aral Sea basin, and we invite all interested parties to take part in the consultations on that subject.
The implementation of international agreements on climate change reached in the framework of the United Nations is a major focus for my country. With a view to mobilizing activity aimed at fulfilling our commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the President of Turkmenistan approved our updated national strategy on climate change on 23 September, the very day of the Climate Action Summit in New York.
The issue of the conservation and use of water resources is one of the most important and urgent challenges of our time. It is not an exaggeration to say that today the course of various global processes and the prospects for ensuring stability, development and well-being all over the world depend to a large degree on its resolution. Water issues, which have political, economic and social implications, require international consensus and demand that States concert their efforts on a common platform, where secondary and local interests and benefits must give way to an acknowledgement of truly global aims and priorities and the creation of a unified long-term strategy of action. The key condition for such concerted activity should continue to be an unconditional commitment to the principle of fair and equitable access to water resources and the recognition that it is a basic human right. Ensuring and assuming responsibility for the right of access to water is an obligation for every State, primarily because water is a common good every people on our planet. In adhering strictly to those principles, Turkmenistan has formulated a detailed position on water issues that can be summed up as follows.
First, water issues in the various regions of the world should be addressed based on the universally recognized norms of international law and the relevant United Nations conventions in particular. Secondly, water issues should be considered based on the principles of mutual respect and consent and consideration of the interests of all States that share basins of transboundary rivers, water sources and shared-border lakes. In that regard, Turkmenistan opposes the construction of new hydraulic facilities on transboundary rivers, which is linked to high environmental, socioeconomic and humanitarian risks. Thirdly, we support greater and more active involvement on the part of international organizations in addressing water issues.
Turkmenistan is approaching the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly with a fully responsible attitude. We see our task as one of contributing as much as we can to the work of the United Nations in strengthening global peace and security, fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals and deepening trust and predictability in international affairs, and in bringing creative impetus to our joint work within these walls. While we recognize the difficulties and problems that stand in the way, we believe that with goodwill and firm resolve we can overcome them together. Turkmenistan believes in the enormous potential of the United Nations, and in its authority and ability to effectively address complex issues. We will therefore do everything possible to further strengthen the United Nations, actively contributing to its peacebuilding efforts and working tirelessly towards our horizons for development and progress.


As Robert Nesta Marley, a great poet of our Caribbean civilization, once paraphrased the Book of Psalms in song, “the stone that the builder refuse, will always be the head cornerstone”. As it was in biblical and musical verse, so it is in modern geopolitics. Small island developing States (SIDS), ignored by the architects of the modern world order, are now increasingly indispensable to understanding and solving the challenges of our day. As the original builders of our global economic and political architecture descend into jingoistic isolationism and succumb to the narrowest pursuits of short-term self-interest, it is the small, the poor and the historically marginalized States of our global village that present the last, best chance to restore the crumbling edifice of international cooperation and the principles on which that cooperation rests. With multilateralism battered by a resurgence of base, dishonest pandering to narrowly partisan interest groups, and with great-Power intrigue driving nations further apart, by necessity small island developing States will prove to be the glue that holds together this international experiment in unity, discussion and joint action.
The rapid acceleration of climate change is the menacing manifestation of a failed multilateralism. Faced with a common threat, ample warning and overwhelming scientific consensus on its past causes, future effects and present solutions, the international community has dithered endlessly and impotently. As emissions continue to increase, legally binding limits are recast as voluntary targets and the worst offenders hypocritically highlight the specks of pollution in others’ eyes to distract from the beam in their own. At the same time, many needlessly suffer and die while indisputably urgent global action is intentionally thwarted by selfish short-termists and convenient climate-change deniers.
Today we are gathering in the wake of indescribable horror in the Bahamas, whose citizens and residents were terrorized by Hurricane Dorian. Weeks after the storm, hundreds are still missing. At United Nations gatherings, this tale has become sickeningly familiar. Only the names and locations change. Sadly, hurricanes are merely the most violent manifestation of the insidious effects of climate change. The floods, land degradation, droughts, landslides, coastal erosion and unreliable weather patterns across our region and elsewhere around the globe create increasingly insurmountable daily obstacles to life, living and production in vulnerable nations, particularly small island developing States. For us, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are a composite, integrated whole on which our very existence depends.
This week, the Secretary-General held a Climate Action Summit to confront our persistent paralysis in the face of the accelerating climate catastrophe. Stripped of the crafted eloquence, the Summit reconfirmed that there are basic litmus tests for a commitment to climate action — the enforcement of binding emissions targets aimed at keeping global warming below 1.5°C, investments in clean air and renewable energy, and the provision of easily accessible adaptation financing that prioritizes the most vulnerable nations.
Surely the catastrophe in the Bahamas must finally put to rest the fiction that arbitrary and inaccurate measures of wealth are of greater import than the self-evident vulnerabilities of small island developing States. Measured by gross domestic product per capita, the Bahamas is a high-income nation, too rich to be eligible for many forms of concessional financing, assistance in building resilience or post-disaster support. Measured instead by size, location, geography and the immutable laws of nature, its vulnerabilities are starkly apparent. Before the fury of Mother Nature, our islands are equally vulnerable and must be equally assisted by any mechanism that purports to address the impact of climate change. There is a small island State exceptionalism that must be factored —juridically, and in a non-discretionary manner — into the architecture of global partnerships on this existential matter.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has long considered the failure of major emitters to set and honour ambitious mitigation pledges to be an act of hostility towards the very existence of small island developing States. As hundreds lie dead in the Bahamas and thousands more climate refugees are denied safe, temporary haven in the industrialized capitals of the nearest major polluter, those acts of hostility are brought into sharper relief. No nation that contributes to killing us and closes its eyes, ears and doors to our suffering can truly proclaim friendship with us with a clear conscience. I refer to a neighbour that pollutes our residence, sends noxious emissions into our homes or facilitates it, burns fires at our boundaries and smokes us out, commits egregious wrongs against us and is justly subjected to the requisite remedies of compensatory damages and restraining injunctions.
A different type of metaphorical storm is wreaking havoc with the bedrock principles that undergird this Organization. The rising tide of hegemonic, unilateral and interventionist interference now threatens to inundate entire nations, while responsible States turn a blind eye to their responsibility to speak and act in defence of central tenets of the Charter of the United Nations. North, south, east or west, the hegemonic imperial hand is visible everywhere and the metaphoric eagle often threatens to unleash war and disorder in unilateralist vainglory. What all the world’s peoples want is simply peace, dialogue, security and prosperity. That is all we want.
The sustained and coordinated attempts to engage in externally imposed regime change in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela are only one egregious example of the current trend. We are witnessing an illegal economic blockade eerily similar to the one of Cuba that we annually and overwhelmingly decry as immoral and anachronistic. We possess indisputable evidence of extensive foreign interference in the sovereign affairs of the Venezuelan people and frequent, unambiguous threats of military intervention. We are complicit in an international farce where the members of the General Assembly seat one Government as representative of the people of Venezuela while the Organization of American States, a self-described regional agency within the United Nations, seats a different, ill-defined entity, a fictitious creation of foreign Powers. We are mute in defence of the principles that have bound us together and steered us clear of world wars for the past 74 years.
Principle and international law cannot be sporadically or selectively applied. Whatever the challenges facing Venezuela, they are exacerbated, not remedied, by hegemonic interventionism and compounded by our inconsistency. The solutions to the conflict in Venezuela are well known, as are those for other conflicts — facilitating peaceful dialogue, refraining from outside interference or threats of intervention and ensuring firm adherence to the principles of the Charter, including respect for sovereignty. Those who advance a different agenda are acting against the interests of the Venezuelan people and are becoming witting or unwitting co-conspirators in undermining multilateral diplomacy. The vulgar and unjustifiable imperialist weaponizing of trade and the banking system must be condemned by all right-thinking nations anxious to uphold internationally agreed, rules-based global trade and financial systems as fundamental to peace, security and prosperity.
Without hyperbole, we must now all recognize that the Palestinian peace process is mortally wounded and near death. Our silence is complicity in the increasingly brazen unilateral usurpations of international law. Neither a two-State solution nor regional peace can survive the ongoing disavowals of bedrock agreements and the enabling silence of our international community. The Palestinian people deserve more than lip service and hand-wringing. The General Assembly and the Security Council must be heard unambiguously on this matter.
This year, as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines celebrates the fortieth anniversary of its reclamation of independence from a lengthy but temporary colonial rule of 216 years, it is continuing the process of removing historical blinders, reassessing its challenges and opportunities and renewing its linkages with continental Africa. This year, after separate visits to the Caribbean by our brother Presidents of Ghana and Kenya that captured the region’s imagination, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) approved the establishment in principle of an Africa-Brazil-Caribbean diaspora commission for further practical development with the African Union, Brazil — which is home to more than 100 million people of African descent — the 25 members of the Association of Caribbean States, and the African diaspora elsewhere, particularly North America and Europe. The Africa-Brazil-Caribbean diaspora commission places the fractured global might of peoples of African descent within a single institutional framework. Within that unity is undeniable and untapped strength. This is a concrete proposal for further uplifting the goals and targets of the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent. Africa’s centrality is a core feature of CARICOM’s public policy.
Those efforts add to the political and administrative structure and respond to the abiding yearning for reconnection manifest in the Caribbean Community’s formal demand for reparative justice for the crimes of native genocide and African slavery. As increasing numbers of venerable private institutions come to terms with the myriad ways in which they profited from or contributed to the transatlantic slave trade, the Governments of many States continue to dodge and dissemble when confronted with the indisputable evidence of their past actions and current impact. Caribbean nations will continue to push patiently but insistently for acknowledgements and actions to remedy this colossal historical injustice. This justifiable demand for compensatory resources to repair the legacy of underdevelopment that is the consequence of native genocide and the enslavement of African bodies is urgent and compelling. It is linked inextricably to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and their financing.
The eradication of poverty and the deepening of sustainable, people-centred development remain my Government’s central drivers. Amid the ominous ubiquity of climate change, the unpredictability of escalating trade wars and the daily uncertainties of erratic global policy shifts, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines must seek increasingly creative pathways in pursuit of its people’s right to development.
Alongside our continuing efforts to engender growth and development through greater investments in agriculture, education, health, housing, tourism and the blue economy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has established a well-regulated, export-oriented medical-cannabis industry that seeks to marry the latest scientific and pharmaceutical knowledge of cannabis with the long-standing expertise of our traditional cultivators of the plant. In defining the parameters of our medical-cannabis sector, we have made great efforts to scrupulously comply with international law, while taking into account the specific needs and characteristics of our country, culture and people. Undoubtedly, the rapidly shifting medical and legal landscape will eventually require the international community to revisit the long-standing treaties governing the use of and trade in cannabis. In the interim, it is crucial that the enforcers and interpreters of those international agreements refrain from a brand of hard-line orthodoxy that disproportionately affects small States, while accommodating a disdainful disregard for the law on the part of more powerful nations.
The General Assembly must stand resolutely against the thinly veiled war being waged on small island developing States on the pretext of combating tax evasion and reducing so-called illicit financial flows. The constant bullying by ruffians — and the original meaning of the word “ruffians” is “bully boys” — particularly the ruffians who are the bureaucrats of the European Union, has revealed that the unambiguous objective of the European Union is not well-regulated Caribbean financial centres but a decimated and discredited sector, while it panders to the thriving centres that exist within its own borders or in other more powerful locales. The war being waged on legitimate commercial activity in the Caribbean by the European Union traffics in outmoded stereotypes and is accompanied by the unmistakable whiff of a paternalistic bias that romanticizes the Caribbean servant or subsistence labourer but instinctively rejects the concept of a Caribbean banker. In other words, we must continue always to be hewers of wood and drawers of water and not use our brains to do things.
It is self-evident that opaque, non-inclusive and undemocratic entities are presuming to impose an illegitimate rule-making authority on island States in the hope that their financial sector will collapse under the weight of onerous regulation, rapidly changing requirements and the threat of unilateral blacklists. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is under no illusion. Our financial-services sector and those of our Caribbean brothers and sisters are experiencing a synchronized political assault masquerading as an objective bureaucratic regulatory exercise. Let us be clear about that. Similarly, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines wishes to formally place the issues of de-risking and the loss of correspondent banking relations firmly on the agenda of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. Well-meaning but ill-fitting regulatory attempts to combat terrorism and money-laundering have had the unintended effect of making it prohibitively expensive for banks to operate in small island locations. The flight of those banks and the withdrawal of relationships with other financial institutions threatens to disconnect island States from international trade and commerce, with disastrous consequences for development.
International cooperation is essential to addressing these vexing challenges of modern globalization and sustainable development. Some of our allies, such as Taiwan, have been exemplary in offering their perspectives and support to our development aspirations, and have proved time and again that they are more than deserving of a meaningful role in the specialized agencies and bodies of the United Nations. Indeed, South-South cooperation is moving increasingly from the periphery to centre stage of the global political economy, to the benefit of SIDS such as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The President’s well-chosen thematic focus on inclusion and multilateralism is an apt encapsulation of the ambitious attempts of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to advocate for its right to be seated and heard at the highest levels of multilateral decision-making. This year Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was proud and humbled to be elected by the General Assembly to serve as a non-permanent member on the Security Council. Our overwhelming mandate remains an important endorsement of our nation’s historic quest to become the smallest nation ever seated on that important global peacemaking body. More importantly, it is an unequivocal acknowledgement of the right and ability of small island States to participate meaningfully in the weightiest matters at the core of the raison d’être of the United Nations. We hope that our presence will buttress the view of the overwhelming majority of nations that the membership and working methods of the Security Council should be reformed to reflect current global realities and the invaluable perspectives of small island developing States. So, too, must we right the historic wrong of the exclusion of Africa and others from permanent membership. We thank the General Assembly for voting so overwhelmingly to repose its trust in us. We ask for its continued support.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines based its Security Council campaign on the assumption that we are friends to all and strive for a better world. We support it with the belief that problems have solutions; with our love of peace and abhorrence of war; our reliance on the timeless principles of sovereign equality, non-interference and non-intervention; our confidence in systems of global governance based on transparent rule-making and equitable enforcement, irrespective of power disparities; and an unshakeable conviction, as enunciated by Martin Luther King, Jr., that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a country with a small population, a small economic footprint, a small geographic area and a magnificent part of our legitimate and authentic Caribbean civilization. Our small islands, mere irrelevant pebbles in the eyes of some of the large, rich and powerful who ought to know better, must now form part of the new foundation of international cooperation. Our challenges must be acknowledged, and our voices, long humoured but unheard, must be listened to as consistent advocates on behalf of people, progress, partnership and principle. Too often the founding principles of the United Nations, like small island States, have been cast aside in the precipitate pursuit of convenient or expedient solutions. Too often the world has come to regret such reckless haste. Today we must recognize the folly of assuming that our Organization’s institutions can withstand the challenges of unilateralism, isolationism and inactivity. The proper responses to those challenges are a reinvigorated Assembly, a recommitment to principle and international law and a renewed focus on the diverse voices of all Members of our noble institution.


Before I begin my remarks, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere condolences to the Government and the people of France following the death Mr. Jacques Chirac, former President of the French Republic, to whose memory and commitment to peace and multilateralism I pay tribute.
I am pleased to warmly congratulate the President of the General Assembly on his election to preside over the Assembly at its seventy-fourth session. I firmly believe that his personal and professional qualities will contribute to the success of our work. Allow me to pay tribute to his predecessor for the efficient way in which she steered the work of the seventy-third session.
I would like to sincerely and acknowledge and thank His Excellency Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the various teams he leads for the efforts they make daily in service to the Organization, which is increasingly faced with challenges that make its work ever more complex.
When our Organization was created, the founding fathers sought international peace and security by means of gradual disarmament, social justice and the well-being of peoples through mutual assistance among nations. Many decades have passed since then. Commitments were made and actions taken to achieve the objectives set more than 70 years ago. Today, it must be recognized that, beyond those initial objectives, new issues and challenges have imposed themselves on our world, which require that we, as the leaders we all are, review our policies and strategies and ensure for present and future generations what our predecessors sought to guarantee by creating the Organization.
I will mention just some of the most recent strategies. The Millennium Summit, held in 2000, raised many hopes for the eradication of poverty and the advent of a better world that was safer — politically, socially and economically. At the time, the Millennium Development Goals benefited from global ownership that foreshadowed a better future for our peoples. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an ideal platform for our collective commitment and on which we can rely for action in the area of development.
By adopting the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations has taken into account all the dimensions of and all elements related to development, in the broadest sense, as well as to the survival of humankind. In this regard, the Union of the Comoros has taken ownership of the Sustainable Development Goals, in all their aspects.
The realities of climate change must be taken seriously, as regions could simply disappear due to the harmful effects of environmental degradation. Although those issues spare no country or region, it should be underscored that the situation with regard to small island developing States is even more worrisome and deserves greater attention.
My country, the Union of the Comoros, is one of those small States that is exposed to climate threats and must therefore continue to address them. In April, our islands were severely affected by Hurricane Kenneth. It devastated nearly 80 per cent of agricultural production and destroyed roads and hundreds of schools, hospitals and homes, causing the forced and improvised displacement of more than 40,000 people out of a population of approximately 800,000 inhabitants. There was considerable internal and external support to address the situation. On behalf of the people and the Government of the Comoros and on my own behalf, I again thank brotherly and friendly countries and the partner institutions of the Comoros for the exemplary solidarity shown in the days immediately following the tragedy.
At the national level, all segments of the population, including civil servants, as well as the private sector, have shown exemplary solidarity and provided multifaceted support to the destitute. Of course, the reconstruction process will be long and difficult. We are also therefore counting on international solidarity to assist the disaster victims.
Like so many others, small island developing States also face other dangerous challenges, such as maritime piracy, human trafficking at sea, drug trafficking, illegal fishing and the plundering of other resources at sea. My Government welcomes and joins all national, regional and international initiatives in the merciless fight against the barbaric acts that threaten the safety and security of our respective populations. In collaboration with various partners, we must step up preventive actions so as to protect our respective populations. In this regard, need we say that such actions must be collective, coordinated and global in scope, since we know that global challenges can be met only with global responses?
The theme of our session also touches on a key issue — quality education. In future, the leaders of our countries will be only what we decide that they will be. Today’s young people — tomorrow’s leaders — are looking to us. They have the right to quality education that would ensure that they become worthy leaders of our countries. We must follow up on these recommendations in order to give meaning to the shared commitments to our young people. In this regard, youth entrepreneurship could play a role in economic development and job creation, as, today, many young people tend to view entrepreneurship as a viable and attractive option, given the lack of employment opportunities. In this way, we can prevent the vulnerable segment of the population from falling prey to predators and extremists of all kinds.
Allow me now to inform the Assembly of the new developments in my country, the Union of the Comoros, since our last session, at which I apprised the Assembly, from this rostrum, of the major events that had marked a decisive turning point in our country’s socioeconomic context (see A/73/PV.11). Upon the initiative of civil society, national conferences led to a referendum and constitutional reforms. As I had announced, I shortened my term of office, and early elections were held to select the President of the Union and the governors of the islands. The Comorian people again elected me with 59 per cent of the vote, for which I sincerely thank them.
For the first time in the history of the Comoros, a woman was elected to head the governorate of Ngazidja, the largest of the four islands. To complete the electoral process, we are preparing for free and transparent legislative elections in January. I therefore again call on our partners in the international community to support us in this process so that it is transparent and credible.
Above and beyond the mark of political maturity of the Comorian people, the election also promoted the policy of openness that I have always advocated and led, and gender equality, which is one of the causes I continue unrelentingly to champion. Faced with the immediate and lofty task of charting the future of the Union of the Comoros, I decided to work harder than ever to strengthen national unity and social cohesion, without which efforts for harmonious development would be in vain. I have taken measures to appease social tensions, which have resulted in particular in pardons for many prisoners who had been sentenced to decades or even life in prison, most of whom had been involved in acts against State security. I remain convinced that Comorians, united and in solidarity with each other, will be able to strengthen the gains made in security and to make our country a haven of peace and a pleasant place to live.
Comorians will therefore be able to build and thrive on the recent reclassification by the World Bank, whereby the status of the Union of the Comoros has gone from a least developed country to a middle-income country. In addition, while thanking our various partners for their constant support, I would like to make a solemn appeal to the entire international community to support us further, particularly in organizing the conference of funding agencies and donors for the benefit of my country to be held in Paris in December. I would like to take this opportunity to thank, once again, the President of the French Republic, His Excellency Mr. Emmanuel Macron, for kindly sponsoring the conference and offering to host it in the French capital. Allow me also to thank, in advance, all those who, in a spirit of solidarity, will support the Union of the Comoros in this way.
Also at the national level, the General Assembly has always witnessed the commitment of successive Governments of my country to find a fair solution, in accordance with international law, to the thorny problem of the Comorian island of Mayotte. Indeed, despite this unpleasant dispute between friendly countries, the two sides are fortunately united by a political will for rapprochement and a common commitment. The signature, last July, during an official visit I made to Paris, of a new framework partnership agreement covering several vital areas, cements this willingness on both sides
The promotion of peaceful and fair societies will only be effective if we provide the necessary means to reduce inequality in all its forms. Accordingly, in order to better tackle global problems, it is certainly necessary to harness momentum. However, taking into account the disproportions in various parties’ capacities is an essential component not to be forgotten.
In that vein, I cannot close this chapter without referring to the situation in the Near and Middle East, particularly in Syria and Yemen, with particular reference to the brother people of Palestine, as well as to other peoples who remain, even today, deprived of their most basic rights. Let me say that the illegal occupation of Palestine and the savage repression of the Palestinian people are fuelling extremism on all sides. It is therefore time for the General Assembly, just as it strived for the existence of Israel, to restore the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination through the creation of a Palestinian State, living in peace with the State of Israel, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Union of the Comoros would also like to reaffirm its unwavering commitment to the definitive resolution of the question of the Moroccan Sahara, under the auspices of our prestigious Organization. We trust the Security Council to expedite the resolution of the situation. The Union of the Comoros is also following with interest developments in the Sudan. The Comorian people and Government therefore welcome the progress made recently on the political situation in the Sudan and strongly hope that this brother country will soon regain its stability in the interest of the Sudanese people and of Africa as a whole.
My thoughts also go to all the peoples who live under the threat of terrorism and for whom no development can be envisaged in a context of permanent attacks. Once again, I appeal to everyone to avoid the dangerous conflation of Islam and terrorism, as terrorists are neither Muslim, Catholic, Jewish or animist. Terrorists are just that, terrorists and barbarians, who defy all religions and scorns all civilizations.
The United Nations is seeing its missions multiply with every new challenge that emerges in the world. The Organization must be in a position to cope with them. Human and financial resources are necessary. But, above all, it also needs a new breath of fresh air to address those challenges. Its main organs, in particular the Security Council, must be reformed with a view to its renewal and to the establishment of true universality in the world’s most prestigious organization, the United Nations.