Allow me to
congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of
the General Assembly. I should also like to extend my
congratulations to all the other members of the Bureau.
I am sure that your prestige and acknowledged
diplomatic skills will contribute to the successful work
of the General Assembly at this session.
I should also like to extend sincere
congratulations to this Organization and to the
Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. Mexico welcomes the
fact that they were awarded this year’s Nobel Peace
Prize. That is a well-deserved recognition of the
dedication and clarity of vision that have marked the
work of the Secretary-General. It fills us with hope
regarding the efforts that this Organization will have to
make in order to meet the international challenges of
the twenty-first century.
I am addressing the General Assembly on behalf
of the women and men of my country, Mexico — a
country that is in the process of a profound
transformation, determined to strengthen democracy
and development, as well as to take on greater
responsibilities in shaping the new international system
with a view to fostering the prosperity, peace and
security that every inhabitant of the world deserves.
Mexican society is firmly committed to making
Mexico a country that contributes positively to the
worthiest objectives of human well-being. Aware that
there is a diversity of views on ways to achieve this
end, Mexico favours dialogue and agreement as
benchmarks to guide our endeavours. For Mexico the
United Nations is the best example of a global forum
where the voices of all men and women can merge into
a veritable concert of nations.
This is a Mexico that today renews its full
commitment to the United Nations — which not only
demands full respect for the purposes and principles of
the Charter of the United Nations and international law,
but that is also committed to the development of new,
universally observed rules and standards for the
regulation of international relations.
This is a Mexico that acts firmly in the defence
and protection of human rights and of democracy, at all
times and in all places, beginning, of course, within our
own territory, promoting full respect for fundamental
freedoms on the basis of tolerance, plurality and equity.
That is why my Government has initiated formal talks
with the various political parties in Mexico in order to
create favourable conditions for the promotion of a
constitutional reform that will allow Mexico to ratify
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,
which our country signed last year.
My Government has also started a necessary
updating of Mexico’s international obligations in the
field of human rights and international humanitarian
law. I have submitted for consideration by the Mexican
Senate the ratification, accession or acceptance of 11
other legal instruments in areas such as the forcible
disappearance of persons, the rights of the child, the
elimination of discrimination against women and the
protection of victims of international armed conflicts.
This new commitment on the part of Mexico to
the defence of human rights was also reflected in the
recent release, for humanitarian reasons, of Rodolfo
Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, two environmental
activists in Mexico. This effort in the field of human
rights was also reflected in the broad disclosure of
State security agencies files, which will contribute to
increasing transparency regarding both present and past
events, thus making it a central element of my
administration. Mexico is taking concrete steps to
demonstrate that its commitment to the norms of the
international community is profound, sincere and
resolute.
17

The establishment of the United Nations more
than 50 years ago was the triumph of hope and freedom
over the suffering inflicted by the two world wars on
humanity, Today, however, threats to peace and
security do not emerge only from acts of aggression
among States. The new threats also arise from internal
conflicts that have cross-border effects, such as the
massive movement of displaced peoples, humanitarian
tragedies, grave violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, and the exacerbation of
nationalism and religious fanaticism. These threats also
derive from worldwide phenomena such as
transnational organized crime, environmental
degradation, AIDS, and, of course, terrorism in all its
forms and manifestations.
There is no doubt that the magnitude and the
cruelty of the 11 September attacks have underscored
the vulnerability of States and the fragility of world
peace. It is a matter of concern to us that terrorist
groups can gain access to weapons of mass destruction
and that they also benefit from the traffic in arms,
organized crime, money laundering and drug
trafficking.
International terrorism not only flouts
international law, but it also endangers the stability of
the community of nations and economic development
processes, increasing unemployment and preventing
headway from being made in the alleviation of poverty.
For this reason, Mexico categorically rejects any
argument that seeks to justify terrorist activities.
Nothing — not the justness of a cause, the inequality of
forces with respect to an antagonist, poverty, or any
other grounds — can justify resorting to violence for
political ends.
Mexico reiterates its commitment to the fight
against terrorism and its decision to fully implement
resolution 1373 (2001) of the Security Council, which
establishes a series of measures for fighting
international terrorism and cutting its ties to practices
such as money laundering and organized crime.
We are firmly committed to the fight against new
threats to international peace and security. We believe
that the international community should meet these
challenges on the basis of three principles: first, the
supremacy of the United Nations; secondly, the
strengthening of international cooperation in resolving
global problems; and thirdly, the shaping of an
international order based on universally observed rules
and standards that meet the needs and aspirations of the
community of nations.
The Government of Mexico is determined to
assist in this effort. For that reason, Mexico feels
deeply honoured to have been elected, after a 20-year
absence, as a non-permanent member of the Security
Council for 2002-2003. It wishes to express its deep
commitment in this respect. We thank the international
community for its support and express our
determination to work actively and responsibly in
favour of the maintenance of international peace and
security. Our intention is that Mexico’s participation in
the Security Council will amplify the voices of
countries that are not usually heard on the international
scene.
In the search for lasting solutions to the new
threats now facing the international system, we must
not fail to address situations that have contributed to
their emergence, such as the lack of economic
development in many nations, the deepening of poverty
and exclusion. The challenges of development not only
remain with us, but have gradually increased with the
growing economic and social inequalities.
Mexico therefore calls on the international
community to give priority to the fight against poverty
and social exclusion. My country reaffirms its interest
in taking a lead in promoting the Agenda for
Development, providing it with renewed impetus and a
more effective approach, so that the United Nations
and the multilateral institutions can fulfil the
commitments contained in the Millennium Declaration.
It is because of the importance we attach to this
issue that Mexico offered to host the International
Conference on Financing for Development, to be held
next year in Monterrey. I invite all heads of State or
Government to contribute, through their active
participation in the Conference, to strengthening the
international community’s efforts to promote world
development that is more just and more equitable, thus
creatively helping to improve the institutions
responsible for development financing.
We face the complex task of integrating our
societies, without exclusion, in the process of the joint
creation and equitable distribution of the opportunities
and benefits of globalization. We must ensure that all
citizens become stakeholders in that process; to do that,
we need an enabling international environment,
including sufficient levels of public and private
18

funding, along with the consolidation of an inclusive
international economic system that is conducive to
more equitable human development.
It will be impossible to make the world more just
if we permit the exclusion of the most vulnerable
groups. That is why my Government has just proposed
the establishment of a special committee to draft a
broad, comprehensive international convention to
promote and protect the rights and dignity of disabled
persons. The convention’s ultimate goal should be to
put in place a binding universal legal instrument for the
benefit of the disabled, guaranteeing the fundamental
rights of millions of men, women and children
worldwide. Mexico hopes that this important
endeavour will enjoy the support of the States Members
of the United Nations.
The history of relations among nations reflects
successes, but also sadly missed opportunities. Today,
our efforts to combat terrorism and to promote
development — the two focuses of my statement
today — may be the start of a new history of successes
for the United Nations.
The brutal events of 11 September make it
imperative that we, the international community,
engage in multilateral negotiations to formulate new
rules and standards to guarantee international peace
and security. There is no doubt that the way in which
our nations face the challenge of terrorism will have an
impact on the principles and priorities of international
relations in coming years.
As a country that is a bridge between regions and
cultures, Mexico is determined to play an active and
leading role in shaping an international system that can
meet the challenges facing us today.
This is a defining moment. Our fundamental
values and the vitality and viability of the United
Nations are being put to the test. The community of
nations must show that it can meet this extraordinary
challenge. This can be a new founding stage in the
history of the Organization, which will yield the
mandates and competences that are indispensable in a
world that is starkly different from that of 1945 but
whose aspirations to peace, respect for human dignity,
justice and freedom still remain those of the San
Francisco Charter.


This
session is taking place at a time when there is a new
international awareness of the global nature of
problems of peace, security and development. The
barbaric terrorist attacks against the United States on
11 September, and their alarming consequences, made
it clear that terrorism is now a factor for worldwide
political and economic destabilization.
Algeria has conveyed its deepest sympathy to the
families of the victims of those horrible acts. It did so
with all the more sincerity and feeling because for
more than a decade Algeria itself has been enduring the
horrors of terrorism. The international reaction to this
devastating scourge has been a heartening collective
wake-up call. Mobilization and multifaceted action to
combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is
now worldwide. In that regard, Security Council
resolution 1373 (2001) unquestionably constituted a
major breakthrough. It was adopted under Chapter VII
of the Charter and obliges all States unequivocally and
dutifully to outlaw terrorist activities and their
supporters and sponsors, wherever they may be.
Algeria is fully cooperating with the international
community in the implementation of that universal
collective endeavour. Algeria stresses how important it
is that the resolution be strictly implemented and
reaffirms the imperative need for universal adherence
to existing international anti-terrorism instruments and
for the ratification of relevant regional instruments.
Algeria believes, inter alia, that the adoption of a
comprehensive convention to combat terrorism is
essential. For its part, my country is ready to cooperate
with other nations to achieve this as quickly as
possible.
The dangers that terrorism poses to global peace
and security highlight the need for a ruthless struggle
against it, in particular through dismantling bases and
networks, draining sources of financing, cooperating in
exchanging information and providing proper
equipment to countries that are victims of terrorism,
and reviewing permissive national legislation regarding
the right of asylum as well as the justification for
murder or planning criminal activities to be committed
in third countries.
While the urgency of this struggle has made it
possible to achieve notable progress in a few weeks,
we must be unanimous in our determination if we are
to confront the roots of terrorism — that is, we must
address the problems that constitute a breeding ground
for extremism and intolerance throughout the world.
This means that Islam, a religion of peace and
tolerance, cannot in any way be associated with
terrorism, which is alien to its values. It also
underscores the importance of ensuring that the anti-
terrorist struggle is not aimed at any one country,
religion, culture or civilization.
The United Nations, which has often diagnosed
and analysed the state of our world, has rightly
emphasized that problems tend to be of an economic,
political and social nature and that their causes are both
national and international. The denial of the right of
peoples to self-determination, the exacerbated
phenomena of exclusion and poverty, the persistence of
economic imbalances, the intensification of social
inequalities, the continued deterioration of the
environment and the pursuit of the arms race are all
problems awaiting solutions and concrete measures
that, in many cases, United Nations forums have
already defined and adopted in many cases adopted.
The commitments undertaken recently to make
globalization a factor of integration rather than of
exclusion — in particular the objectives enshrined in
the Millennium Declaration — take on full importance
here, since they highlight the urgent need for effective
measures to build a stable and united world on a solid
foundation. Today, reality amply demonstrates that
globalization, despite its enormous potential and
opportunities, has not yet yielded the expected results
with regard to the universal improvement of living
conditions. The processes to which it leads have too
often widened the existing cracks within societies and
exacerbated differences among nations. This has
encouraged marginal groups to exploit the difficult
social situations to which many peoples are subject and
to promote isolationism and rejection of the other.
The Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by
the Durban World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
provide a framework for inspiration and action to build
more harmonious and fraternal relations among people.
First of all, there is a need at the United Nations
level to set aright unacceptable situations of injustice
and denial of rights. In Palestine, the serious situation
that prevails as a result of the continued Israeli
occupation and its oppressive practices requires the
attention of the entire international community. It
demands urgent action to put an end to the daily trials
of the Palestinian people, who are subjected to a
deliberate policy by the Israeli army of intimidation,
25

abuse and murder. This policy is likely to endanger the
resumption of the peace process, taking the entire
region to the brink of a conflagration with incalculable
consequences.
Given the situation, Algeria reaffirms its total
solidarity with the Palestinian people and their
inalienable right to an independent State with Al-Quds
al-Sharif as its capital. Algeria urgently calls upon the
international community to ensure the protection of the
Palestinian people by sending international observers
to the region.
Algeria wishes to emphasize that only a solution
based on international legality — in particular Security
Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) — as
well as on the principle of land for peace, adopted at
the Madrid Conference, can ensure just and lasting
peace and security for all the peoples of the region, as
Chairman Yasser Arafat indicated in his speech this
morning. Algeria would also like to reaffirm its
solidarity with the brotherly peoples of Syria and
Lebanon for the restoration of their lands still under
Israeli occupation. In addition, Algeria welcomes the
decision of the Security Council to lift the sanctions on
the brotherly people of Sudan and seizes the
opportunity to renew its appeal for the lifting of the
sanctions on the brotherly Iraqi and Libyan peoples.
The situation in the Western Sahara, where the
settlement process has been halted for more than a year
and a half, is also a source of great concern and a factor
of instability in the Maghreb and in Africa as a whole.
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in
Western Sahara (MINURSO) has not been able to
continue the implementation of the settlement plan of
the United Nations and the Organization of African
Unity (OAU), though it had been accepted by the two
parties to the conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco and
the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-
Hamra y del R'o de Oro (POLISARIO), in particular
because of the many challenges that followed the
identification stage.
Action by the United Nations in the Western
Sahara, carried out through MINURSO since 1991,
should be commended, and the progress made within
the framework of the implementation of the settlement
plan — in particular the identification of the electoral
body — should be maintained and consolidated. Here,
the two parties should be reminded of their obligation
to cooperate openly and sincerely with MINURSO, to
conclude the referendum process and to call upon the
bodies of the United Nations that deal with this issue to
strictly respect their mandate.
The unswerving position of Algeria on the issue
of the Western Sahara stems from its dedication to
international legality and to respect for the right of
people to self-determination. Algeria therefore supports
the holding of a free and transparent referendum,
organized by the United Nations that will allow this
people to decide on its destiny. Any effort or initiative
to settle that dispute must be part of the framework of
international legality and, in particular, of the
resolutions on decolonization adopted by the General
Assembly.
Elsewhere on the African continent, the
determination of African peoples and leaders and the
support of the international community are starting to
bear fruit in the areas of conflict prevention and
settlement. The Peace Agreement concluded in Algiers
in June 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea put an end
to a devastating two-year war between those two
brotherly African countries and opened the way to a
peaceful settlement of their dispute. The progress made
since the full deployment of the United Nations
Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea attests to the
commitment of those two countries to strengthening
the basis for a lasting peace and for mutually beneficial
cooperation.
Similarly, the implementation of the Lusaka
Ceasefire Agreement, which has long been plagued by
numerous difficulties, is now well under way. The
international community must pursue its efforts to
make the settlement process irreversible and to
facilitate the inter-Congolese dialogue.
Africa also welcomes the progress made in Sierra
Leone in the implementation of its disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration programmes, which
have been made possible by the courageous and
determined action of the United Nations Mission in
Sierra Leone.
Despite the positive developments that have
occurred in Angola there, UNITA continues to sow
death and destruction among the people of that country.
A return to security will require strict respect by all
States for the punitive measures laid down by the
Security Council against UNITA.
26

Finally, regarding recent events in Burundi, my
country welcomes the decision of the parties to the
conflict there to establish a transitional Government
that guarantees the participation of all the inhabitants
of that country in the management of their own affairs.
We hail the important role played by Mr. Nelson
Mandela in achieving understanding among the parties
in Burundi in the implementation of the Arusha
Agreement.
The end of the cold war eased the climate of
suspicion and distrust that permeated international
relations and was replaced by a measure of optimism
based on new prospects. We hope that this optimism
will signal an end to outdated doctrines and theories of
nuclear deterrence and the balance of terror and that it
will open the way to a bold approach to guaranteeing
the security of all States. Given this qualitative
transformation in international relations, our hope of
seeing our planet forever free of nuclear weapons and
other weapons of mass destruction is indeed
strengthened.
The need to establish renewable international
cooperation based on mutual interests and shared duties
and responsibilities is more urgent than ever before.
This new spirit must become an incentive for launching
comprehensive initiatives to seek a genuine
understanding of the problems plaguing the entire
world. In brief, we must prepare for international
governance that truly reflects the requirements of
rationality, transparency, justice, democratic
participation and responsibility, without which any
discussion of a new world order is meaningless and of
no use to humanity.
The progress that has been achieved at the
political and economic levels in several regions and
countries must be consolidated and enhanced through
the international promotion of good governance. In this
respect, the direct and indirect threats to sustainable
development that jeopardize the survival of our planet
require us all to mobilize on a vast scale in the context
of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Urgent measures must be taken to halt the devastating
effects of various means and types of production and
consumption that have become untenable. These must
be transformed in a qualitative way, taking into account
the needs of mankind as a whole.
In the same vein, the ministerial conference of the
World Trade Organization that opened in Doha two
days ago and the International Conference on
Financing for Development, to be held in a few months
in Mexico, are promising prospects for the lasting
resumption of growth in the developing countries and
for improving the living standards of their peoples.
Four months ago, African countries, meeting at
the 37th Assembly of Heads of State and Government
of the Organization of African Unity in Lusaka, clearly
expressed Africa’s official response to the new needs
and aspirations of its peoples through their solemn
launching of the transitional process towards the
African Union and their adoption of the New African
Initiative. These steps form an integral part of the
reform process undertaken over the past few years by
the African countries at the national, regional and
continental levels to bring Africa into step with an
ever-changing world.
Aware of the magnitude of the challenges facing
the continent and of the need to acquire a global
integrated programme for the social and economic
recovery of the continent, African leaders at the Lusaka
summit adopted a plan that was conceived by and for
Africa. Algeria, which actively participated in the
creation and drafting of the New Partnership for
African Development, believes that this programme
will open the way to practical solutions to the
economic and social problems of Africa. Thus, in order
for our Organization to bolster its credibility and
effectiveness, to address the great changes on the
international scene and to be more responsive to the
aspirations of this global village, it must earnestly
pursue its transformation and be more open to the
world and to itself.
It is also necessary to ensure greater democracy
and fairness within the United Nations system, in
particular in the maintenance of international peace and
security. The Security Council incontestably requires a
drastic reform of its processes and membership. In a
word, the United Nations must serve the great family
of mankind as a whole.


Let me begin by
congratulating Your Excellency, Mr. Han Seung-soo,
on your election as President of the General Assembly.
I am especially gratified to be addressing the Assembly
when a distinguished Asian is again at its helm.
I congratulate as well His Excellency Mr. Kofi
Annan on the Nobel Prize that he, together with the
United Nations, has received. That prize constitutes
recognition by the international community of the
indispensable role of the United Nations and of the
necessary work it has done on the Secretary-General’s
watch towards world peace and justice.
At the most elemental level, we feel most deeply
the sad and tragic impact of the recent inhuman acts of
terrorism: the lost lives, the orphaned children, the
widowed spouses, the parents struck with the
unimaginable grief of outliving their children and,
worse yet, of watching them die. As we watched the
horror unfold, we felt as though it were happening to
us — as indeed it was, for the United Nations is in a
sense one family. The blow that was struck at this
international city of New York was felt as directly by
the rest of the world. As people the world over stopped
to watch in horror as the twin towers came down, the
world’s economies ground to a virtual halt.
Business activity stopped, investments were
withdrawn, markets shrank, tourism dried up, more
jobs were lost, living standards dropped even further,
destitution spread and the very conditions that favour
terrorism spread and deepened. Our misgivings about a
world slowdown deepened into certainty about a
recession that will be felt most deeply by those least
able to endure it: not just classes but whole countries.
The average growth rate in the gross domestic product
of developing countries could fall from last year’s 5.5
per cent to 2.9 per cent. For most poor countries, that
will translate to sub-zero growth.
The face of terrorism that this city saw over a
month ago is a familiar one to Asians. It has taken a
terrible toll in terms of the lives of our people and the
economies of the region. It has destroyed our credit and
has deterred investment. It has caused Asian
Governments profound embarrassment at being caught
flat-footed and unable to offer their citizens the most
basic security. In the south-western part of the
Philippines, it has taxed our resources and our patience
to the limit, for terrorism is the argument of those who
are not really interested in reasoning but only in getting
whatever they want on their terms alone.
We know terrorism. We are fighting it in the
south-western Philippines. The perpetrators of the first
attack on the World Trade Center were apprehended by
our police. Rather than dismembering our country and
dispossessing our people of their homes, we have been
negotiating with secessionist groups. But we have
thrown the full weight of the law, including the use of
force, at those who have resorted to terrorism. We
know the enemy, and we know that these are not people
you talk to; these are people you fight. As the
Secretary-General has pointed out, there are those who
will hate and who will kill even if every injustice is
ended. You must fight them in the field, when they take
to the field and hunt them in cities when they hide
inside.
It was in the light of that experience in the south-
western Philippines that we immediately condemned
the terrorist attacks on the United States, for we
recognized them immediately as desperate and
despicable acts by that violent minority which seeks to
enslave the world with fear. And indeed, they have
given the world good reason to be afraid. The attack on
the World Trade Center, which aimed to take the lives
of the 50,000 people who worked inside it, shows us an
enemy without pity, without compunction and prepared
to use any means to achieve the greatest destruction.
The Philippines did not need to join the war on
terrorism: it was in that war already, in the south-
western part of our islands. The Philippines could not
have done otherwise than to renew its commitment to
fight terrorism in a wider field in the wake of 11
September. We know that this is an enemy that must be
9

fought everywhere so that it cannot again strike at will
anywhere it pleases.
This is a fight between tolerance and bigotry,
between reason and fanaticism, between law and
anarchy, between justice and murder pretending to be
just. In this fight, there is no side to choose but the one
where the civilized nations of the world — long-time
allies and former enemies — have chosen to stand
united, not least here in this Hall.
The Secretary-General has declared that the 11
September attacks struck at everything our
Organization stands for: peace, freedom, tolerance,
human rights, and the very idea of a united human
family.
I do not know if the future belongs to our side,
but I am convinced that there will be no future if our
side does not prevail in this fight — at least, no future
that any of us would care to live in. In fact, it would
not be a future in which most of us would be allowed
to live. It would be a future where happiness was
suspect, delight was blasphemy, beauty was a cause for
shame and independent thought a capital crime.
But while terrorism cannot be placated, and no
terrorist should be appeased, there is no doubt in our
minds, either, that we must address the concerns that
they pretend are the inspiration for their terrible deeds.
If the world can show that it will carry on, that it
will persevere in creating a stronger, more just, more
benevolent and more genuine international community
across all lines of religion and race, then terrorism will
have failed.
No, terrorism will not stop, but it will have failed.
To stop terrorism, the terrorists themselves will have to
be stopped. What we can do, however, is to strip them
of their moral pretensions and take upon ourselves the
causes that they have perverted.
No nation will indefinitely endure the yawning
gap between rich and poor — a gap that is only
growing bigger, not just within, but across the
countries of the world. It is this growing disparity
between the ever fewer rich and the ever-increasing
poor that has given terrorism the freedom of movement
and impunity from accountability that it has enjoyed.
Poverty can be reduced partly by national
economic growth. But, more than that, societies have to
adopt deliberate policies to ensure that the income
levels of the poor rise faster than those of the rich.
Recent developments in the global economy have
displayed the perils of overdependence on external
markets. We must expand domestic demand and
increase the purchasing power of the masses of our
people.
This is largely the responsibility of each nation.
We in the Philippines are addressing the affront of
mass poverty through housing, education, lower
medical costs, more efficient power, transportation and
communications, infrastructure in the countryside,
credit to small farmers and micro-industries,
productivity, protection of the environment, and
development of the areas farthest from our centre of
political power and economic activity.
The international community also has a
responsibility in the elimination of poverty.
Commitments to devote a certain percentage of gross
domestic product to official development assistance
have a place. But the most effective, and least costly,
anti-poverty measure on a global scale is for developed
countries to open their markets wider to the products of
the developing countries, including in particular those
products turned out by poor people in the poor
countries — agricultural commodities, textiles,
clothing and footwear, as well as electrical and
electronic appliances and components.
The global trading system cannot allow
developed countries to subsidize heavily their
agricultural exports while the developing countries are
without the means to help their own farmers.
The recent Ministerial Meeting of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) decided to launch a new
round of multilateral trade negotiations. To ensure that
the WTO does not lose credibility at this crucial time,
our top priority is to ensure that the Doha round is truly
a development round.
The effort to conquer poverty must embrace all
cultures, all ethnic groups and all religious
communities. Nations must allow all to preserve their
own cultures.
We must make political autonomy accessible to
regions that want it. At the same time, no one must be
allowed to resort to terrorism to further political aims.
10

Respect for culture and religion, resources for
development, openness to political autonomy within
the sovereignty of the nation and rejection of terrorism
are the foundations of the Philippine approach to our
ethnic diversity and to the uplifting of our Muslim and
tribal minorities.
The vision of nations where poverty is rapidly
reduced cannot be attained in places where women and
girls are mistreated and their rights trampled upon. As
a woman head of State, woman head of Government
and woman Commander-in-Chief of the world’s
fourteenth largest nation, I say: we cannot conquer
poverty without liberating women and girls where they
are oppressed. The gender gap is a part of the
development gap and must be addressed with equal
vigour.
The fight against terrorism, the struggle to
eliminate poverty, the work on behalf of social and
international justice, the strengthening of the rule of
law, the promotion of tolerance and mutual respect, the
practice of humanitarian compassion, the liberation of
women, the never-ending quest for peace — these have
long been on the United Nations agenda. We in the
Philippines have been doing this in our region, in
cooperation with our neighbours.
The heightened virulence of terrorism, the
renewed sense of insecurity among the world’s peoples
and the alarming slowdown in the global economy
have intensified the urgency and importance of our
work. Together, let us get on with the job. It is serious.
It is essential. It is urgent.


We have just learned
of the crash of an American Airlines plane in New
York. We the Polish delegation, offer our heartfelt
condolences, and express our sympathy to the
Government of the United States and the Dominican
Republic and to the families of the victims of this
tragedy.
At the outset, let me offer Mr. Han my sincere
congratulations on his election to the prestigious office
of the President of the fifty-sixth session of the General
Assembly. The delegation of the Republic of Poland
extends to him its firm support in his demanding
mandate.
Let me likewise express to the former President,
Mr. Harri Holkeri, of Finland, our appreciation for his
remarkable leadership, which he brought to the fifty-
fifth session of the Assembly.
I should also like to convey to Mr. Kofi Annan,
the distinguished Secretary-General, my sincere
greetings, and to say how pleased Poland is at his
second term in that high post. May I also take this
opportunity to renew to him, and indeed to this
Organization as a whole, my Government's
congratulations on the recent Nobel Peace Prize. The
award comes as a timely token of appreciation of the
way the United Nations and the Secretary-General have
been meeting their formidable challenge.
The appalling tragedy of 11 September calls for
resolute reaction of the entire international community,
for active solidarity with the United States and for
effective counter-measures against those who sow
death, hatred and terror.
The terrorist attack of 11 September, the way it
came about and the circumstances by which it was
conditioned should be seized by the international
community as an occasion for an in-depth reassessment
of the very foundations of the international order.
Preoccupied as we are with ever-new developments
each day, we tend to be mentally incapable of
following signals that predict new trends in
international relations. We have hardly been able to
afford the time for searching reflection on, and
adjustment to, negative phenomena that, if ignored,
can, in time, become the breeding ground for upheavals
and conflicts. In this era of enormous new challenges,
it is time for creative thinking, vision and intellectual
courage.
The essence of security has changed dramatically.
In Poland's view, all aspects of security need urgent,
thorough and imaginative reassessment. In this context
particularly searching reflection must be focused on the
role of the State  an entity that operates in entirely
new circumstances in an era of dramatically increasing
integration, globalization and fragmentation. This is a
time of interdependence and multiculturalism, in which
openness, close international cooperation and
interaction should be seen as countermeasures against
diverse processes of fragmentation and disintegration,
which can lead us even further towards the nationalism,
separatism, closure and isolation that loom all around.
Fragmentation is creating instability and conflicts. And
7

the most dangerous fragmentation process of the
current era is being generated by the widening
development gap between regions and States, which
has been so well attested and documented by many
United Nations publications. In this, the role of the
United Nations is particularly fundamental and crucial.
There is no better-equipped and more universal forum
to deal with those issues.
At the Headquarters of an Organization which the
peoples of the United Nations established 56 years ago
in order to maintain international peace and security,
that axiom should be self-evident. The whole world is
trying to respond to the challenges of globalization, the
new scientific revolution, and  quite recently  the
destabilizing forces of terror. The United Nations
should find adequate answers to those challenges. This
is a time for collective and resolute action.
Perhaps as ominous as terrorism itself is the fact
that in some countries, the monstrous acts of violence
that have taken place have been met with some
sympathy on the part of those who are destitute,
deprived of any hope, and who, driven to the margins
of social life, have become frustrated and desperate.
Terrorists must never be exculpated or their
actions justified. We need to do away with the reasons
why many perceive terrorists as present-day Robin
Hoods. Though such a perception can be described as
groundless, this does not release us from our
responsibility to take a careful and courageous look at
the phenomena that are emerging in the present
international order, which tend to consolidate
inequalities and lead to various social calamities.
From the very beginning, Poland has proclaimed
itself entirely on the side of the international anti-
terrorist coalition. We are working seriously and
diligently on the implementation of Security Council
resolution 1373 (2001).
Regional undertakings can make a significant
contribution to drafting a global strategy for the
struggle against terrorism. With that in mind, last week
in Warsaw we organized a very successful international
Conference on Combating Terrorism. The Conference
was attended by representatives of 17 Central
European, Baltic and Balkan States, including 13
Presidents. The Conference also provided a direct
connection with the White House and President Bush,
who had the opportunity to talk directly with the
Conference's participants. The declaration adopted by
the Conference indicates a strong political commitment
to fight against that plague at the dawn of the twenty-
first century, in close collaboration with the United
States and the entire international community.
The plan of action adopted at that Conference
spells out concrete measures. It is significant that the
leaders of that region of Europe gave unanimous
backing to the relevant actions of the United Nations,
the European Union and other organizations.
In the course of Poland's very complicated
history, my nation has on several occasions been
betrayed by disloyal neighbours and allies and has paid
the highest price for this. Therefore we understand
better than anyone how priceless and crucial true
loyalty and alliances are. Thus we will continue to
support our friends and allies by all available means.
Our principal goal at present is to ease peoples' fears -
fears that have been imposed on them by the enemies
of mankind.
The horrible scenario in which public order and
the safety of peoples is threatened, passenger planes
hijacked and destroyed, deadly viruses spread and
water poisoned must not be repeated. We must defeat
those who participate in, or contribute to creating, such
a threat. Our approach must be a comprehensive one.
Let me make it clear: there is no room for any
selectivity, flexibility or relativism when the most
fundamental values of humankind are openly and
furiously attacked.
However, we need to reconsider our position on
how to respond to the needs of those millions who
every day suffer from hunger, disease and a lack of
clean water. For them, the same question arises every
morning  a question that sounds like the classical
phrase to be or not to be. That question is how to
survive. Extreme poverty deprives people of their
inherent dignity and human rights and of their chance
for a better tomorrow, thus pushing them to take
desperate steps.
Let the tragedy of 11 September teach all of us to
collectively combat evil. Let us do everything to ensure
that the forces of darkness never prevail.
In the course of the last few years it has been
eloquently argued, from this very rostrum, that
globalization is a very positive force which will
ultimately usher in an era of prosperity and stability
and a global society. Alas, this has not happened.
8

This calls for a new approach to international
cooperation, for a new role on the part of multilateral
institutions, and for the restoration of the primacy of
courageous political decisions and intergovernmental
accords. This also calls, on the one hand, for greater
moderation on the part of the strong and the rich, and,
on the other, for more determined endeavours on the
part of the weak and the poor, who must be convinced
that their consistent aspirations to improve their own
lot will ultimately pay off. In my opinion, the
promotion of democracy and good governance offers
one of the most important paths towards such a goal.
Poland's own experience in the past 12 years, since the
historic transformations of 1989, testifies to the merits
of that path.
It is my Government's firm view that, in the face
of the threats which will forever be symbolized by the
atrocities of 11 September, the interests of international
security would be well served by the earliest possible
signature and ratification of, or adherence to, the
multilateral conventions against terrorism which have
been elaborated under the auspices of the United
Nations. In particular, the spreading anthrax scare,
which represents but the tip of the iceberg when it
comes to the potential danger of bioterrorism, and the
spreading of fissile materials and chemical weapons are
a powerful argument for the urgent need to strengthen
and strictly enforce the Biological Weapons
Convention of 1972 and other legal instruments in this
field.
We should immediately move  to quote the
Secretary-General  from a culture of reaction to a
culture of prevention.
While imperative, the struggle against terrorism
must not obscure the necessity for the United Nations
to effectively discharge the mandate entrusted to it by
the international community  a mandate whose scope
is expanding over the years. This is not only true with
respect to the international security problems which I
have just referred to, but also concerns problems
related to socio-economic cooperation, the protection
of human rights and humanitarian issues, particularly
those concerning refugees and the protection of the
environment.
Also of major importance, in our view, is the
elaboration and adoption of a package of regulations
and commitments in respect of development aid,
indebtedness and trade. Thus I wish to emphasize the
importance of the full implementation of the set of
principles and practical measures embodied in the
Millennium Declaration. We are mindful, of course,
that the translation of that programme into practical
steps cannot be the responsibility of the United Nations
alone. It is essential for other institutions and
organizations, including financial, trade and regional
ones, to help in that effort. Above all, individual States
must become directly involved, otherwise the smooth
and timely implementation of the Millennium
Declaration could be seriously jeopardized.
The United Nations is now facing enormous and
unprecedented challenges. These challenges ñ arising
as they do at the dawn of the new millennium - mean
growing divisions and, indeed, pose a risk of
fragmentation of the international community.
My country, Poland, is ready to be an active
participant in the process of searching for a new role
for the United Nations. We have been active throughout
the entire history of the United Nations, and we want to
be active in the immediate future as well.


Every speaker
from this podium during the special debate on
terrorism, the debate on dialogue among civilizations
and our current general debate has said, suggested or
implied that 11 September has changed the world
irrevocably. Indeed it has. A democracy is an open
society. Movement is free. Speech is free. All the
citizens of a democratic society are free to lead their
lives in freedom, subject only to the rule of law. Fear
and the spirit of democratic freedom are two totally
opposite states of mind. Yet, today, fear stalks the
United States of America, where democracy has
flourished vigorously for so long, bringing prosperity
to its people and taking human achievement to
unimagined heights of excellence.
There can be no argument that terror in all its
manifestations must be fought relentlessly and
globally. Gone are the days when a country affected by
terror, as my country has been for two decades, can be
told by the international community, “We are sorry
about what is happening in your land, but there is
nothing we can do to help you because we have no
laws to combat terror.” When our Central Bank was
bombed and destroyed, when the Temple of the Sacred
Tooth Relic, one of the holiest shrines of Buddhism,
was bombed and saved from destruction only by a
miracle, when a commuter train carrying workers home
was attacked with explosives, when thousands of
people, including monks, women and children were
slaughtered, when Muslims were massacred in a
mosque while at prayer, when a President of Sri Lanka,
Ministers and Members of Parliament and many other
elected leaders were assassinated, let alone a Prime
Minister of India, when a suicide bomber at an election
rally attacked the incumbent President of Sri Lanka,
killing and wounding scores of innocent bystanders and
grievously wounding her in the right eye, the sight of
which was lost — all this and much more has happened
at the hands of a terrorist group in Sri Lanka — we
received merely sympathies, condolences, expressions
of shock and outrage, while the funding that fuels the
terrorism in my country went on apace in the great,
liberal democracies of the West. When half of the
aircraft in our national airline were damaged or
destroyed by those same terrorists on 24 July, we were
advised by some Governments to negotiate. We were
reminded that “violence begets violence”.
That approach has changed dramatically in recent
days, or so it seems, because terrorism has assailed the
national interests of many countries. Terrorism is no
longer the curse of the poor. Now, more than ever
before, when a terrorist attack takes place somewhere
in the world, “never send to know for whom the bell
tolls”, as John Donne said nearly four centuries ago,
for surely “it tolls for thee”.
The United Nations has focused sharply on
building consensus to fight terror. Two important
United Nations conventions were adopted with
admirable speed — the International Convention for
the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the
International Convention for the Suppression of the
24

Financing of Terrorism. Another important convention
is being considered at this session by the Ad Hoc
Committee on International Terrorism, which is chaired
by Sri Lanka. Since we have been so severely affected
by terrorism, it is only natural that we should play a
leading role in designing the legislation that the
international community should adopt and implement
to combat terrorism.
There is a particularly abhorrent brand of
terrorism that the world can never condone — that is,
the forcible conscription of young children for battle,
widely practiced by the terrorists of Sri Lanka and well
documented by Amnesty International, the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Children
and Armed Conflict. It would be a permanent blot on
humankind’s conscience if these poor children were to
be consigned, unnoticed and uncared for, to their
miserable fate.
While terrorism must continue to be fought,
relentlessly and by everyone everywhere, sooner rather
than later the international community will have to
focus its collective attention on the question of
analysing and diagnosing the causes of terrorism,
preventing and finally eliminating it before it becomes
a problem of such deadly dimensions that it threatens
the whole world. The causes of terrorism cannot be
ignored. To examine the roots of terrorism and the
culture in which it breeds in a systematic, objective,
well-informed manner is not, by any means, to yield to
terrorism. It is not a manifestation of weakness for the
international community to examine the root causes of
terrorism. It is axiomatic that a contented people do not
rise up to destroy the society in which they live. If the
world has become a village, surely we must take care
to ensure that the villagers living down one road in the
village are not given cause to become resentful and
angry at the opulence enjoyed by other villagers living
down another road, only a stone’s throw away.
Might I suggest, therefore, that this General
Assembly consider the convening of an international
group of eminent persons with the appropriate
backgrounds in all relevant fields, representative of all
regions of the world, appointed by the President of the
General Assembly, the President of the Security
Council and the Secretary-General, with the request
that the group report to the General Assembly, the
Security Council and the Secretary-General within an
appropriate time frame on terrorism and its prevention.
Thus, inescapably we will have to revisit and re-
address the old questions that have haunted the United
Nations ever since it was born — that is, the questions
of poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance and injustice.
These questions have been with us for a long time.
They have received answers which are, to a large
extent, no more than faint-hearted attempts to forge
solutions that look grand on paper but are incapable of
implementation due to the lack of funds and the lack of
political will.
The formulation of policy has always been far
easier than its implementation and, when we look to
the future through the ultimate prism — namely, the
funding available — we face once more the bitter truth
of which our colleagues from the developed world have
been warning us year after year: “the funding globally
available is far from promising”.
We in the developing world have also been
warning our colleagues for so long, when a developing
country is unable to generate a sufficient amount of
domestic capital, public or private, it is to international
capital that we, in the developing world, have to turn;
and, as international private capital is sensitive to the
rate and continuance of profitable return, it is only
official development assistance (ODA) that remains.
On 8 November, only a few days ago, at the
European Union’s (EU) Development Council in
Brussels, a common statement was delivered by the
five Ministers for Development Cooperation of
Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and
Sweden. Their words convey far more effectively, and
with far greater authority, than my words could
possibly do, the thoughts of developing countries on
the question of development aid, and, therefore, I take
the liberty of quoting that common statement in its
entirety:
“In the Millennium Declaration, the
international community recognized the fight
against poverty as the greatest challenge to our
global governance system”.
“The events of 11 September have made it
even more crucial to deal with these problems.
We not only need a global coalition against
terrorism. We need a global coalition against
poverty as well.
“The Secretary-General of the United
Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, at the Conference on
25

the Least Developed Countries in May 2001,
remarked that only a few countries have lived up
to the goals of devoting 0.7 percent of their gross
national product (GNP) to official development
assistance (ODA), and that the least developed
countries suffer disproportionately as a result of
that.
“We need better and more effective
development assistance: policy coherence, lower
transaction costs by harmonization of procedures.
We need sharper focus on the importance of
strong institutions and sound economic and social
policy. But we cannot expect to reach our
common goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015
without increasing aid volume.”
I continue to quote from the common statement:
“There is no need for a new set of standards.
All United Nations members, with the exception
of the United States, have accepted a long
established standard volume of ODA for donor
countries: 0.7 percent of GNP. But the
international community is still a long way from
making this standard a reality.
“Although the EU has stressed the
importance of the 0.7 percent target in the
conclusions of the European Council in Göteborg,
the EU’s record is no exception: in 2000, member
States gave an average of only 0.33 per cent of
GNP in ODA. This is better than the OECD
average of 0.24 per cent, but it is still a long way
from the target.”
“In fact, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark
and Luxembourg are the only EU member States
that meet the ODA standard. Norway, a non-EU
member, is also part of this exclusive club.
Luxembourg, the newest member of this group,
has proved that it is possible to raise ODA to 0.7
per cent of GNP in a short period of time.
Together we make up the G-0.7.
“The G-7 is full of promises. If all the rich
countries would just implement what they have
committed themselves to, as the G-0.7 have done,
we would not encounter these financial
constraints. Having said that, we do realize that
ODA is not the only way forward. We also must
take into account fair distribution of resources,
debt relief, open markets, good governance and
the role of the private sector. A reform of the
Common Agricultural Policy is a great challenge
to the EU.
“We welcome new and innovative financing
options, but the main problem is that some
countries are not providing adequate ODA
resources. Obviously there is a lack of political
commitment in setting budget priorities. These
countries need to change their political priorities
in order to comply with their international
commitments.
“EU Declarations like the one made in
Göteborg do call for that much needed
compliance — that is to say, they call on us to
keep the promises we have already made — but
they do so only in general terms. We now need to
pick up the pace.
“We call on EU members to make a firm
commitment at the International Conference on
Finance for Development in Monterrey in 2002
and to formulate individual plans and timetables
in order to make concrete progress in reaching the
goal of 0.7 per cent of GNP to ODA.
“Today’s EU Development Council in
Brussels is a good opportunity to further
strengthen the relations in our global world. It
should send a long awaited signal that we are
serious about our commitments to developing
countries.”
I wish to place on record the high appreciation of
my Government to the Governments of Denmark,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden for
those frank and refreshing observations.
We in the developing world will certainly look
with much expectation to the International Conference
on Financing for Development that will convene in
March next year. We cannot but hope that,
notwithstanding the continuing difference in positions,
a secure foundation for a partnership for the future will
be formed there, within which both the strong interests
of the developing world and the strong concerns of the
developed world can be adequately accommodated.
And I would think that undoubtedly the
developed world too will, after the events of 11
September, look to the future with a frame of mind
different from its frame of mind before that fateful
date. Development, stability and contentment for all
26

people are no longer charitable objectives. They are in
the self-interest of all.
Most certainly, neither we in the developing
world nor those in the developed world can allow
abject, desperate poverty, without any hope of a better
future, to become a fertile field for those who wish to
fan the flames of discord and hate and make it their
business to wreak death, destruction, terror and
mayhem.
Fifty-six years ago almost to this day, the
Constitution of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization was proclaimed in
words that have a prophetic resonance today:
“... since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in
the minds of men that the defences of peace must
be constructed;
“... ignorance of each other’s ways and lives has
been a common cause, throughout the history of
mankind, of that suspicion and mistrust between
the peoples of the world through which their
differences have all too often broken into war;
“... the great and terrible war which has now
ended was a war made possible by the denial of
the democratic principles of the dignity, equality
and mutual respect of men, and by the
propagation, in their place, through ignorance and
prejudice, of the doctrine of the inequality of men
and races;
“... a peace based exclusively upon the political
and economic arrangements of governments
would not be a peace which could secure the
unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the
peoples of the world, and...the peace must
therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the
intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.”
These are noble words of timeless quality. But
words, however noble, which remain untranslated into
deeds become shallow, tawdry, degraded.
All nations, all the peoples of the world, must
realize that we are slipping into a crisis of a kind we
have never encountered before. The spectres of fear,
doubt, uncertainty, mistrust and suspicion stalk the
world. The hour is late. The hour is grave.


I congratulate you, Sir,
once again on your election as President of the fifty-
sixth session of the General Assembly. I also wish to
express high appreciation to Mr. Harri Holkeri, who
carried out his duties as President of the fifty-fifth
session of the General Assembly in an excellent
manner. I would like to take this opportunity to extend
warm congratulations again to Mr. Kofi Annan on his
re-election as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Last year, heads of State and Government
throughout the world held the Millennium Summit in
33

this Hall and committed themselves to building a
peaceful and prosperous world in the new century. That
gave high hope and expectations to all people of the
world. However, the developments that are now taking
place on the globe overshadow possible
implementation of the Millennium Summit
commitments. The principles of respect for national
sovereignty and equality that constitute a cornerstone
of international relations are being undermined by
certain forces that consider strength as the means to
achieve everything. As long as there is acquiescence to
acts of arbitrary power that seek to destroy strategic
stability and hold absolute supremacy by establishing a
missile defence system in defiance of international
opposition, the world will be engulfed in another cold
war and arms race.
The problem of the Korean peninsula always
comes up as one of the major issues in deliberations on
global peace and security. That is because of the power
policy and arbitrary actions directed in most cases
against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We
are exposed to constant threats from huge armed
forces, including nuclear weapons, deployed around the
Korean peninsula on the pretext of an alleged threat
from North Korea, and that is the main source of
instability on the Korean peninsula and in the Asia-
Pacific region. That notwithstanding, we have been
able firmly to defend the dignity and sovereignty of the
country on our own in the face of the offensive by
hostile forces, and under difficult conditions
resembling an arduous march, unprecedented in our
history, thus contributing to the peace and security of
the region. That is entirely attributable to the
outstanding army-first policies of the respected General
Kim Jong Il. The great leader General Kim Jong Il
conducted active diplomacy, including his visit to
China and Russia and his meeting with the top-level
delegation of the European Union this year, and thus
made a great contribution to developing overall
international relations and strengthening global peace
and security.
In particular, the summit meetings and talks
between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
and Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea and China resulted in the adoption of documents
reflecting shared views on strengthening the leading
role of the United Nations in resolving major
international issues, ensuring strategic balance, and so
on. This serves as an historic milestone in establishing
a fair, new world, based on the principles of mutual
respect and cooperation for mutual benefit. We will, as
ever, firmly defend our sovereignty and the socialist
system of our country and advance convincingly along
the road chosen by ourselves under the army-first
leadership of the respected General Kim Jong Il.
It is the unanimous desire of all Korean people to
reunify the divided country at the earliest possible date.
Last year, the inter-Korean summit meeting was held
and the North-South Joint Declaration issued for the
first time in the history of the national division, thanks
to the idea of national independence and great national
unity of the great leader, Comrade Kim Jong Il. The
Joint Declaration reflects the will and aspirations of the
Korean people to achieve reunification independently
by pooling the efforts of the nation. It enjoys wide
support and is welcomed by the international
community. The General Assembly, at its fifty-fifth
session, unanimously adopted the resolution supporting
the Joint Declaration. With the publication of the Joint
Declaration, the enthusiasm for reunification was
manifested throughout the Korean peninsula and
dialogues and contacts in various fields took place
between the North and the South of Korea. It
demonstrated that the Korean nation could well open
the door to reunification by itself, if the North and the
South make joint efforts with sincere will for
independent reunification. However, inter-Korean
relations and the implementation of the 15 June Joint
Declaration, which were proceeding well and in the
right direction, now face a big obstacle due to the hard-
line, hostile policy and unjust interference of the new
United States Administration against the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea.
The half-century history of national division and,
in particular, experiences during the past year, clearly
show that the North and South of Korea should, above
all, adhere to a stance of national independence if they
are to implement the North-South Joint Declaration.
Only when the North and South collaborate as one
nation will they open up a bright future for the nation,
without becoming a victim of outside forces. The most
important element in implementing the North-South
Joint Declaration and achieving peace and reunification
on the Korean peninsula is to put an end to the hostile
policy and interference of the United States against the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It is totally
irrational to say that the United States deploys huge
armed forces in and around the Korean peninsula and
34

conducts large-scale military exercises against us to
advance peace, self-defensive measures taken by my
country to cope with the United States military threat is
a threat to peace. Our missile programme is of a purely
peaceful nature and does not pose a threat to any
country that respects the sovereignty of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea.
It makes no sense for the United States to argue
that it needs to establish a missile defence system out
of fear of our missiles while itself possessing
thousands of nuclear bombs and missiles that could
extinguish humankind many times over. That argument
only covers up the United States strategy to gain
domination of the world, based on superior power.
Since the cold war is over and the North and South of
Korea are proceeding towards reconciliation and
cooperation in accordance with the 15 June Joint
Declaration, there is neither reason nor any other
ground whatsoever for United States troops to remain
in the South of Korea. Withdrawal of United States
troops from South Korea is an urgent issue whose
solution should not brook any further delay in the
interest of ensuring peace and security on the Korean
peninsula and in North-East Asia. Dialogue should be
conducted on a fair and equal basis. Resumption of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-United States
of America dialogue will only be possible when the
present United States Administration gets rid of its
cold-war mentality and adopts a stance at least at the
level of the one taken by the Clinton Administration in
the last period of its term of office.
During the past two years, we have established
official relations with almost all member States of the
European Union (EU) and diplomatic relations with the
EU itself, and countries of other regions as well, on the
basis of the principles of respect for sovereignty and
equality. We are also ready to develop relations with
the United States on the principles of equality and
mutual benefit if the United States respects our
sovereignty and freedom of choice, takes an attitude of
good will towards us on an equal footing, and refrains
from obstructing the reunification of Korea.
Another factor of instability that casts a dark
shadow on the future development of the Korean
peninsula and its surroundings is the orientation of
Japanese moves, that is, the ultra-rightist inclination of
Japan and its undisguised attempt to revive militarism.
My delegation wishes to draw the attention of all
Member States to this matter at this session of the
General Assembly held in the first year of the twenty-
first century. The Japanese authorities are not willing to
terminate their past crimes against humanity, but try
instead to justify them, openly visiting the Yasukuni
Shrine, where the departed souls of the war criminals
are enshrined, distorting history textbooks for new
generations and legalizing the overseas advance of the
Japanese self-defence force.
On 29 August, Japan test-fired an H-2A large-size
delivery rocket that could easily be converted into an
intercontinental ballistic missile. That is a clear
indication that the militarism of Japan has become
politicized and is proceeding to an open and dangerous
stage.
Japan, which has always stigmatized our peaceful
satellite launch as a missile launch, said openly that its
test-fire of the rocket was done to cope with North
Korea’s missile, thus invoking military confrontation.
Japan should not misjudge our moratorium on satellite
launches and the peaceful character of our missile
programme. We strongly urge Japan to look squarely at
reality; put an end to its past inhumane crimes, and
sincerely turn to the road of peace in this new century.
That will be good for the future of Japan.
The most important task of Member States today
is to strengthen the central role of the United Nations
with regard to international issues. It is essential that
Member States honour and implement the United
Nations Charter in good faith. The United Nations
Charter enshrines the purposes and principles for
developing friendly international relations on the basis
of sovereign equality. However, certain countries do
not hesitate to undertake unilateral coercive actions and
even resort to the use of force against sovereign States,
ignoring and violating the United Nations Charter.
Member States should reject any attempt that goes
against the United Nations Charter and other principles
and norms of international law, and should strive to
establish a fair, new world structure based on the rule
of law, equality, mutual respect and cooperation for
mutual benefit, with a view to ensuring world security
and stability. If the leading role of the United Nations
in dealing with global issues is to be strengthened, the
United Nations should be reformed in a democratic
way. In this regard, we are of the view that it is
essential to strengthen the authority of the General
Assembly. The General Assembly must be empowered
to consider issues relating to world peace and security
and approve major resolutions of the Security Council
35

on these issues. Reform of the Security Council should
be pursued in the context of strengthening the authority
of the General Assembly. We hold that the Security
Council reform should be undertaken in full conformity
with its intrinsic purpose. The Security Council reform
must ensure enough representation of the developing
countries and full fairness in United Nations activities
for achieving international peace and security. We
place on record our strong opposition to considering in
any manner the permanent membership of Japan on the
Security Council when it has neither put an end to nor
recognized its past crimes, and while no agreement has
yet been reached on increasing the number of
permanent members.
One of the major challenges to the United
Nations and its Member States today is global poverty,
which grows ever more serious. Poverty, which has
resulted from colonialism in the past, continues to be
aggravated due to the inequitable international
monetary systems and neo-colonial policies. It also
becomes a factor that begets conflicts, diseases and
hunger and hampers the independent and creative life
of peoples and their enjoyment of the right to
development. If poverty is to be eradicated, a fair and
equitable international economic order should be
established and sustainable development ensured. We
will have to draw due lessons from the demonstrations
in Genoa last July and properly handle the issue of
globalization. In this regard, it should be underlined
that the developed countries and the international
financial institutions assume big responsibilities. The
United Nations should encourage Member States to
direct their attention to considering more practical
measures for eradicating poverty and achieving
development.
It is the consistent and principled position of the
Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea to oppose support, of whatever kind, to any
forms of terrorism. The large-scale terrorist incident
that occurred in the United States on 11 September was
very regrettable and tragic and reminds us of the
gravity of terrorism. The situation in Afghanistan is
now grave, where instability and unprecedented human
loss and material damage are brought about by the
military operation of the United States. The prevailing
situation requires that the leading role of the United
Nations in preventing terrorism be definitely
strengthened and the national obligations for the
elimination of terrorism be fully discharged by all
Member States.
Yesterday we signed the International Convention
for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and
acceded to the International Convention against the
Taking of Hostages. That shows that we are making
every possible effort to eliminate terrorism in the
world. As already stated, the aim of our opposing
terrorism is to promote global peace and stability,
defend the sovereignty of the country and nation and
protect the lives and property of the peoples of the
world. We are strongly of the view that imposing the
label of terrorist on countries that advocate sovereign
equality, while violating their sovereignty and
inflicting immeasurable pain on the people by resorting
to arbitrary armed intervention, sanctions, and so on,
should in no way be tolerated. There is no justification
in any case for the use of force or resorting to war and
taking innocent lives, undermining the situation and
destroying stability in the fight against terrorism.
My delegation wishes to reaffirm that the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will continue
to cooperate fully with all Member States to uphold
and implement the purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter under the ideas of
independence, peace and friendship.


A year after the unique Millennium Assembly,
we can say that the United Nations is playing an
enhanced, more important role as a collective tool for
meeting the challenges facing the world.
Bulgaria welcomes the re-election of Mr. Kofi
Annan as Secretary-General, and hails the award of the
Nobel Peace Prize to him and to the Organization.
International terrorism has become aggressive
and powerful, and threatens not only States but also the
freedom of the human spirit, as proved by the world
Organization’s committed and active stance vis-à-vis
recent terrorist acts, along with the unanimously
adopted Security Council resolutions condemning
them. Bulgaria unequivocally supported those
resolutions, in particular Security Council resolution
1373 (2001). The National Assembly and the
Government of Bulgaria have adopted similar
declarations on ensuring a common effort in the fight
against terrorism.
Let me recall that the fight will be incomplete
without moral — even spiritual — commitment. Let us
not forget that the mere pursuit of material well-being
is not a panacea; other values are needed to improve
the lives of peoples. In a “virtual society”, there is a
need for real values and for a framework acceptable to
both the poor and the rich.
I take this opportunity to convey the condolences
of the Bulgarian people to the citizens of the United
States of America with respect to the terrorist acts of
11 September. We all admire the steadfastness and
courage they have displayed in addressing this tragedy
and its aftermath.
2

I am particularly proud to observe that, at a time
when the role and the importance of the United Nations
are on the rise, the Republic of Bulgaria is about to
assume the responsibilities of a non-permanent member
of the Security Council. For the Bulgarian people and
its Government, our election to that important organ of
the world Organization constitutes recognition of the
international standing of Bulgaria and of its active,
balanced foreign policy. Our foreign policy
priorities — membership of the European Union and of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — are sounder
than ever before. For natural cultural reasons, we are
committed to the concept of la francophonie, which
embodies not merely a language but a state of mind. I
thank all Member States that were good enough to
support us in the election.
Bulgaria will shoulder the full responsibility of
non-permanent membership of the Security Council.
We are ready to participate in dialogue on the full
range of items related to the maintenance of
international peace and security. My country is open to
dialogue with all States Members of the Organization and
to ideas and suggestions aimed at enhancing the role
and effectiveness of the United Nations.
I wish here to speak of the positive part the
Republic of Bulgaria plays as an important actor for
peace and security in South-Eastern Europe and for
stability in the settlement of crises in the Eastern
Balkans, an area that borders on Bulgaria. We favour
full implementation of Security Council resolution
1244 (1999), and we consider that the 17 November
elections in Kosovo will be decisive for the process of
stabilization and democratization there. Similarly,
Bulgaria attaches high importance to ensuring the
stability of the Republic of Macedonia through the
implementation of the 13 August 2001 Framework
Agreement and to guaranteeing its sovereignty and
territorial integrity. My country supports full
implementation of the Dayton Accords and the
consolidation of the united State of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. In our view, democratization in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a positive element. A
long-term strategy must be crafted to effect the
restoration and economic development of South-
Eastern Europe to rebuild it in the wake of the various
crises it has experienced. Let me stress that these
questions should continue to be the focus of all our
efforts to find equitable solutions to conflicts.
I should like also to highlight Bulgaria’s support
for the lasting and peaceful settlement of other regional
conflicts that are as tragic as those in the Middle East,
in Africa and elsewhere, of which there is a long and
sad list. Our positions in respect to all of these conflicts
are in conformity with the Charter of the United
Nations and generally recognized principles of
international law.
Having myself been an exile for more than 50
years, I am very aware of the human tragedy of
refugees, whose number and suffering are continuing to
increase, as is the case now in Afghanistan.
We attach great importance to items on the
agenda of the United Nations such as the combat
against organized crime and corruption and against
illegal drug trafficking. That is why our Government is
making a particular effort to this end on our own
territory. Monitoring trade in weapons and in dual-use
goods and technologies is highly relevant, given the
linkage between this kind of trade and terrorism.
Let me add that Bulgaria is participating actively
in cooperation efforts in the economic and social field
and in the areas of human rights, the non-proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction, global disarmament
and the protection of the environment. These objectives
are consonant with those of the new Bulgarian
Government: to ensure that the social needs of
Bulgarian citizens are met, and to bring about durable
economic growth, despite the sometimes difficult
international economic situation.
The attitude of the Republic of Bulgaria vis-à-vis
its increased responsibilities within this world
Organization will be based on a clear, logical and
consistent foreign policy, with an emphasis on regional
security, development and broadening the circle of
friendly States, and on making a contribution to the
resolution of global problems through its active
participation in multilateral dialogue. Solutions to
conflicts must be found here, at the United Nations —
not on the battlefield.
In conclusion, we believe that this policy will
meet with the understanding and support of all of the
Members of the United Nations.


Allow me, on behalf of the Government of Guinea-
Bissau and its delegation, to express sincere
condolences to the people and Government of the
United States and to the people and Government of the
Dominican Republic for the tragic event of 12
November in New York , resulting in great loss of life.
Allow me to congratulate you, Mr. President, on
your election to the presidency of the fifty-sixth
session of the General Assembly, which will certainly
be crowned with success thanks to your experienced
diplomatic skills and deep understanding of this
universal Organization.
The delegation of Guinea-Bissau, which I have
the honour of heading, would like to assure you at this
time of its full cooperation in carrying out your noble
mandate. I also extend my warm congratulations to
your predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri of Finland, on the
constructive way in which he led the work of the last
session.
In addition, I would like to reaffirm my
Government’s confidence in and regard for the
Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his clear
leadership of the United Nations and his incessant
search for peaceful and realistic solutions to the
various conflicts and problems that affect humanity.
The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in October to
our Secretary-General and to the United Nations, which
he so ably leads, proves not only his commitment to the
attainment of peace and security, but also his important
role of working in the interests of humanity. For this
reason, I extend to him my most sincere
congratulations and wishes for success in the second
term of office to which he was elected, and encourage
him to continue his efforts to reform and adapt the
Organization to the needs of our time, in the service of
peace, progress and international cooperation.
In this vein, I urge the widening and deepening of
the reforms already undertaken and appeal once again
for a reform of the Security Council to increase the
number of both permanent and non-permanent
members and to bring the right of veto into line with
the needs of today.
This first General Assembly session of the
twenty-first century represents, as was stated in the
Millennium Declaration, a historic challenge for the
building of new international relations. At the
Millennium Summit, our dignitaries worked hard to
envision the role that the Organization must play in the
twenty-first century. They solemnly reaffirmed their
commitment to the noble ideals of the United Nations,
as well as their conviction that the role of the United
Nations is indispensable in the service of peace,
progress and international cooperation, and in support
of the primacy of law. During that event, our heads of
State and Government also discussed new perspectives
from which to confront the great challenges of
globalization for the promotion of a new international
human order.
In this context, the year 2001 was marked by
important international conferences: the recent World
Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which took place
in Durban, and whose final Declaration not only
defines slavery as a “crime against humanity” but also
launches an appeal for appropriate and efficient
measures to reverse the consequences of slavery. It also
recognizes that those “historical injustices” contribute
to poverty, underdevelopment, marginalization, social
exclusion, economic disparities and the insecurity of
many peoples, especially in developing countries.
9

Despite those prospects for a new historical
perspective, this session takes place at a moment of
deep disquiet for our countries and peoples. In fact, the
wave of attacks perpetrated on 11 September this year
against the Pentagon in Washington and the World
Trade Center in New York, just a few kilometres from
the Assembly, is reason for great concern for my
Government and the President of the Republic,
Mr. Kumba Yalá, who promptly and strongly
condemned the cowardly terrorist acts perpetrated
against the United States of America. Today I reaffirm
before the Assembly our unreserved condemnation of
terrorism in all its forms, wherever or whenever it
occurs and whatever its origins, since it constitutes a
threat to security, peaceful relations between States,
democratic institutions and the fulfilment of human
rights.
Today more than ever before, it is necessary to
adopt a broad strategy for the entire international
community to combat terrorism. In that context,
Guinea-Bissau appeals for greater international
cooperation on the issue of terrorism, specifically,
through the ratification of already existing regional and
international instruments and the approval, within the
context of the United Nations, of a comprehensive
convention that covers all aspects of terrorism, from a
universally accepted definition to its suppression.
It is in precisely this regard that my country,
Guinea-Bissau, became a party to the Organization of
African Unity Convention on the Prevention and
Combating of Terrorism, adopted in 1999 at Algiers,
and to the Dakar Declaration on this same scourge,
issued last October. We are determined to accelerate
the ratification and implementation processes of all the
agreements that seek to fight terrorism.
The beginning of the twenty-first century, which
coincides with the threshold of the new millennium, is
marked by areas of tension and armed conflict that
threaten peace and security and fuel the proliferation of
and illicit traffic in small arms. In this context, the
subregional and regional organizations, with the
support of the international community, through the
United Nations, are fully engaged in the search for
political solutions to conflicts. From Sierra Leone to
Angola, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to
Burundi, from Somalia to Kosovo, from East Timor to
the Middle East, the ghosts of conflict still hover as we
seek to find solutions to existing conflicts.
At present in Sierra Leone, a country of our
subregion, the Lomé Agreement, concluded under the
auspices of the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), and the subsequent success of the
United Nations-supported programme for disarming the
parties involved in the conflict, allow us to hope for a
legitimate peace.
In Angola, a member of the Community of
Portuguese-speaking Countries, cruel and destabilizing
acts continue to take place, causing enormous pain to
our Angolan brothers, who have endured the nightmare
of four decades of war. I would like to express our
solidarity with the Angolan people and Government,
and appeal for dialogue as part of the solution to that
conflict.
In East Timor, with the elections for the
Constituent Assembly already held, an important step
was taken in the transition to the independence that
will be proclaimed in May next year, and towards its
acceptance as a fully fledged member of global society.
We hope that the international community will
continue to offer its valuable assistance to our Maubere
brothers, who can finally aspire to rebuild their country
in peace.
In the Middle East, the conflict between Israel
and Palestine is at the crux of the situation. It is in that
context that we appeal to the parties, in accordance
with the Mitchell plan, to implement the accords
without delay and reaffirm the fundamental principles
established at Madrid and Oslo, as well as the
subsequent agreements. This requires the parties to
abstain from all actions that endanger the peace process
and all activity that is contrary to international law.
Finally, the embargoes imposed upon certain
countries, such as Cuba, continue to be a source of
concern because of their very negative repercussions
on the vulnerable populations of those countries, above
all women and children. The populations involved
appeal for dialogue with a view to a definitive solution
to those issues.
The sombre scene characterized by areas of
conflict and tension in the world, particularly in Africa,
places on us a moral obligation to continue to act with
even greater determination and courage to end those
conflicts and the sources of those tensions. Along these
lines, allow me to congratulate the Secretary-General,
Kofi Annan, on his last report on the causes of conflict
and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable
10

development in Africa, a document of great interest for
the African continent.
The global economic situation — particularly
after the events of 11 September — and its negative
impact, felt especially in the least developed countries,
is also an issue of concern for my Government. The
solutions to the specific problems on the international
agenda require not only concerted action, but also both
bilateral and multilateral contacts, which Guinea-
Bissau has always supported. My Government believes
in concerted and combined efforts with a view to
fostering economic growth and full employment in a
fairer global economy. Bearing in mind that a majority
of African countries have agriculture as their economic
base, we appeal to our development partners, such as
the European Union, the United States and Japan,
among others, to open their markets to the flow of
agricultural products from our countries.
By virtue of its important mission to generate an
authentic North-South dialogue, the United Nations is
our universal conscience, whose highest priority is to
meet the needs of developing countries. The
programmes of action originating from the series of
major conferences of the last decade and from other
important meetings which took place this year are of
special importance in that they contribute to identifying
needs, formulating objectives and defining strategies
for the realization of sustainable development rooted in
sustainable economic growth, social justice and the
protection of the environment. We are now waiting for
those results to be translated into concrete benefits,
thus opening the way for a better global economic
situation.
As all Members know, Guinea-Bissau continues
to live with the effects of the absurd and disastrous
armed conflict of 1998 and 1999, which, apart from the
irreparable loss of human lives, caused deep trauma to
our entire society and destroyed or damaged the
country’s existing basic infrastructure. In addition, the
marked decline in foreign aid and the slump in export
prices of cashew nuts, our main export commodity,
constitute the basic reason for our lack of resources and
for the increase in poverty. This runs counter to the
interests of our citizens and makes them more
vulnerable.
However, an unshakeable will to rebuild the
country has led my Government, together with some
development partners, to redouble its efforts to define a
strategy for sustainable development and to take
measures in the realm of human rights and
reconciliation. The programme for the reconstruction
and rehabilitation of infrastructure and for national
reconciliation, the multi-year convergence programmes
for stability, growth and solidarity elaborated in the
framework of the West African Economic and
Monetary Union, the programmes of demobilization,
reintegration and social reinsertion of combatants, the
fight against poverty, the fight against AIDS and other
programmes are clear examples of the will and
commitment of the Government to create a new reality
for society and a new action programme intended to
effect change in that society. The President of the
Republic, Mr. Kumba Yalá, is the main mentor and
guarantor of those programmes by virtue of the sacred
responsibility given to him, the highest ranking
official, by the voters of Guinea-Bissau.
The programme of action requires not only
internal but also external efforts. That is why the
Government is strengthening its cooperation with other
countries at the subregional, regional and international
levels. Despite all its efforts, Guinea-Bissau continues
to need the valuable assistance of its development
partners and of the international community to face the
difficult economic and social challenges that lie ahead.
In that regard, we appeal to the international
community to bolster its support for Guinea-Bissau and
to make donors aware of the importance of
participating actively in next year’s round table on
assistance to my country.
The celebration this year of the United Nations
Year of Dialogue among Civilizations and of the
International Year of Mobilization against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance, which coincides with the fifty-third
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, is a cause for satisfaction for my Government.
This is reflected in the creation of a inter-ministerial
committee on human rights tasked with overseeing
respect for human rights in our country and promoting
education and awareness programmes on human rights
issues.
Since his landslide election to the presidency of
the nation, the President of the Republic, Mr. Kumba
Yalá, has increased his contacts at various levels, with
friendship visits to Guinea, the Gambia, Senegal,
Nigeria, Morocco, Sierra Leone and other countries
with the aim of strengthening cooperation and
11

contributing to peaceful solutions within the
subregional framework.
It is in that same spirit that the authorities of my
country have maintained vigilance in the area of the
border with Senegal, with the objective of guaranteeing
the security and tranquillity of our populations in that
northern zone.
In this first year of the new millennium and of the
twenty-first century, despite certain echoes of
optimism, poverty and underdevelopment unfortunately
persist and have been aggravated in many areas of the
world, particularly in the least developed countries,
among which is Guinea-Bissau. The developing
countries, in particular the least developed among
them, continue to be marginalized in the world
economy and to be victims of extreme poverty, due
mainly to decreased official development assistance, to
the lack of productive human resources, to the
weakness of domestic and foreign investments, to the
slump in commodity prices, to the problems of debt, to
HIV/AIDS and also, obviously, to armed conflicts.
To overcome this situation it is imperative to
ensure the integration of developing countries into the
world economy and to oppose the marginalization of
those countries, ensuring sustainable, accelerated and
durable economic development as well as the
elimination of poverty, inequality and misery. In that
context, we are pleased at the results of the Third
United Nations Conference on the Least Developed
Countries, which took place in May this year at
Brussels. We are certain that the results of the
International Conference on Financing for
Development, to take place at Monterrey, Mexico, in
March 2002, will be translated into concrete action that
can reverse those negative trends.
Cooperation frameworks include the Lomé
Convention of the European Union and the African,
Caribbean and Pacific countries; the Tokyo
International Conference on African Development; the
United States African Growth and Opportunity Act;
and the Genoa decision of the Group of 8 on the
creation of a fund for the fight against contagious
diseases and AIDS on the African continent. We look
forward to the latter group’s next summit on African
problems.
Because of the particularly difficult economic
situation it faces, Africa continues to look for realistic
solutions for the continent and is giving clear proof of
its determination to improve the economies of the
countries of the continent. Beyond the programmes of
structural adjustment and other development
programmes that have been adopted for the continent,
the New African Initiative, resulting from the merger
of the plans presented by the heads of State of Senegal
and of South Africa, has come at an opportune time. It
is an African plan for Africans that provides developed
countries a historic opportunity to forge a genuine
partnership based on mutually beneficial self-interest.
The Initiative, adopted unanimously at the most recent
summit of the Organization of African Unity, held at
Lusaka, should be implemented with the utmost speed.
We appeal to the entire international community, and to
our development partners in particular, to support the
Initiative, which encompasses the relaunching of our
economies, debt reduction and the fight against AIDS.
It is regrettable that the response of our
development partners has not always been
commensurate with the degree of sacrifice that has
been endured or with the dimensions of the problems
that have been identified. That is a paradox. It is also a
paradox that the decisions of major international
conferences should not be reflected in practical,
concrete measures to implement those decisions.
The new collective challenge is to bring to light
the image of a world of equality, dignity, equity and
international solidarity, all translated into economic
and social cooperation and genuine social adjustment
with the human being as its central point of reference.