I would like to begin by
congratulating His Excellency Mr. Sam Kutesa,
former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda, on his
election to the presidency of the General Assembly at
its sixty-ninth session. I would also like to take this
opportunity to thank His Excellency Mr. John Ashe
for his leadership of the Assembly at its sixty-eighth
session, and to salute Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
for his continued efforts to promote peace, security and
development throughout the world.

Dominica is among six small independent States in
the Caribbean that, together with three non-independent
small island territories, constitute the Organization of
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The OECS States are
not simply small island developing States (SIDS), they
are very small island developing States, and therefore
among the most vulnerable members of the United
Nations family. Twenty years after the adoption of the
Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States, and
10 years after the approval of the Mauritius Strategy
for Implementation, most of the commitments made
to promote sustainable development in SIDS have yet
to be delivered. However, we remain hopeful that the
recently concluded third United Nations Conference on
Small Island Developing States, held in Apia, Samoa,
will have been a watershed moment for SIDS. We
expect the draft outcome document of the Conference
(A/CONF. 223/3) to create a new basis on which to
address the implementation gaps that continue to
stymie any movement towards sustainable development
in SIDS.

I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the
Government and people of Samoa on hosting a major
international conference. Their tenacity, determination
and commitment are a demonstration of what can be
achieved by SIDS, despite the many challenges they face.
One major outcome of the Samoa Conference was the
historic establishment of an all-SIDS — that is, SIDS-
SIDS — initiative aimed at creating an international
organization to serve as a platform for the development
of sustainable energy in SIDS, known as SIDS DOCK.
On 1 September, a treaty formally establishing SIDS
DOCK as an international organization was opened for
signature. Twenty of the 30 members of the Alliance
of Small Island States have signed on to the treaty. As
Chair of the SIDS DOCK Steering Committee, the
Government of Dominica wishes to thank the host
country, Samoa, the other Member States that are
signatories to the treaty, our partners — Denmark,
Japan, the United Nations Development Programme, the
World Bank, the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization, the Clinton Foundation, the secretariat
of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme, the
Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre — and
the SIDS DOCK secretariat and all the volunteers for
making that historic event possible.

Unfortunately, the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and the post-2015 agenda have not progressed
at a pace that those of us in the SIDS group would have
liked. Almost 15 years since the Millennium Declaration
was adopted (resolution 55/2), only a few countries
in the developing world have registered tangible
gains. The majority continue to wait for the promised
improvements in their living conditions. Nonetheless,
Dominica has been able to meet most of the MDGs,
notably in reducing poverty, improving access to
education, ensuring environmental sustainability and
building strong bilateral and multilateral partnerships.
Our progress in poverty reduction has been noted by
the Caribbean Development Bank, which stated in its
2009 report on Dominica that

“the level of poverty in Dominica has fallen from
39 per cent in 2003 to 28.8 per cent in 2009.
Absolute poverty, as measured by the indigence
rate, has also declined from 10 per cent in 2003 to
3.1 per cent in 2009.”
Our achievements in education have also surpassed
the targets set by the MDGs. Recognizing the
importance of education to our development agenda,
Dominica continues to make major investments in
improving access to quality education for our people.
To date, we can boast of universal access to education
at the early childhood, primary and secondary levels,
and access to post-secondary education is available to
all secondary-school graduates.

Dominica has always been guided by the principle
of the sustainable use of its natural resources and
the protection of its physical environment. For those
reasons, Dominica has been called the “Nature Island
of the Caribbean”. We therefore have much that we can
share with the United Nations family on the subject of
the sustainable use of natural resources. In our efforts
to protect and ensure environmental sustainability
and to rid our country of its reliance on fossil fuels for
generating electricity, the Government of Dominica has
invested, and continues to invest, in renewable energy.

Today about 20 per cent of the island’s electricity needs
are met from “clean” hydropower.

Additionally, however, the Government has been
pursuing the development of the country’s geothermal
resources. To date, the Government has invested
over $20 million in geothermal development. The
first production and reinjection wells have been
completed, and the results of the flow tests indicate
that the geothermal reservoir has a capacity to generate
sufficient electricity for domestic consumption and
for export to the neighbouring French territories of
Martinique and Guadeloupe. The first plant for purely
domestic consumption is expected to be commissioned
in 2016.

Dominica’s development achievements in general,
and the attainment of the MDGs in particular, have
been realized through the strong, visionary and
compassionate leadership of Prime Minister Roosevelt
Skerrit and his Cabinet, complemented by our hard-
working citizens and the kind cooperation of our
development partners. Our partnerships with the
European Union, the United States of America, Japan
and other developed countries have all contributed
significantly to the progress we have been able to make
thus far. The recent approval by the World Bank of the
Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience, which will
undertake a number of infrastructure projects designed
to transform Dominica into a climate-resilient and low-
carbon developing country and is expected, among other
benefits, to positively impact agricultural productivity
and food security in our rural communities.

South-South cooperation with partners from
developing countries, notably the People’s Republic of
China, Cuba, Morocco and Venezuela, and from the
Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, has
been able to complement the decreasing assistance from
traditional partners. We embrace all our development
partners and look forward to the deepening and
strengthening of our partnerships for the benefits of all
our people.

In spite of those achievements, we are a long
way from where we aspire to be. The spectre of the
deadly Ebola disease and the scourges of HIV/AIDS
and non-communicable diseases has the potential
to significantly impact our people and threaten the
gains made so far by small island developing States.
Therefore, that myriad of challenges calls for collective
global action to protect the gains that small island
States like Dominica have been able to achieve over the
past two decades and to lay a path for development that
is sustainable and people-focused.

Additionally, the impact of climate change remains
an existential threat to the people throughout the world
who call small island States their homes. The location,
level of development and vulnerability of our islands
make them very susceptible to the impact of climate
change. Very often, we refer to climate change and its
effects as a phenomenon that is to impact our global
community at some future date. The unfortunate
reality is that SIDS have already been suffering from
the impact of climate change. The increasing severity
of storms and hurricanes is becoming more prevalent,
and with every strike the extreme weather claims lives
and threatens our development efforts. According to a
2008 publication by the United States National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, the Caribbean has
the second-greatest risk of hurricanes in the world.
The report also highlights the increased frequency of
tropical cyclones in our region.

The islands of the Caribbean are also prone to
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, torrential
rains with accompanying landslides and flash
flooding. We in the Caribbean have therefore been on
the receiving end of the impact of climate change for
decades. A case in point is the impact of Hurricane
Ivan, a category-3 system that devastated the island of
Grenada on 7 September 2004. Hurricane Ivan exposed
the vulnerability that is inherent in SIDS. Twenty-
eight lives were lost and 18,000 people were left
without shelter, food or belongings. A post-Ivan study
conducted by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean
States reported that:

“The macro-economic assessment of the damages
caused by Hurricane Ivan, which wreaked havoc
on Grenada, inflicted damages totalling $1 billion,
more than twice the value of that country’s GDP”.
In more recent times, on 24 December 2013, a time
outside the traditional hurricane season, the Caribbean
islands of Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines were severely affected by a trough
system that brought with it heavy rains and high
winds. That slow-moving weather system left behind
approximately $128 million worth of direct damage.
Within less than 12 hours, each of those countries
suffered significant loss: Dominica — $17 million, or
3.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP); Saint

Lucia — $19 million, or 1.4 per cent of GDP; and Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines — $93 million, or 12.8 per
cent. The indirect impacts, which include the loss of
agricultural production and interruptions in other
economic activities, such as tourism, would increase
the overall effect significantly. The most devastating
hurricane to hit Dominica in living memory was
Hurricane David, on 29 August 1979, a category-5
hurricane that left the island devastated as if by war,
resulting in 43 deaths and with all public utilities,
infrastructure, 60 per cent of homes, roads and sea
defences totally destroyed.

Such natural disasters affect the daily lives of our
people and significantly retard our efforts to bring
about social and economic development. We therefore
call on all States Members of the United Nations to
take immediate actions to approve a legally binding
agreement to reduce the impact of climate change. The
climate change agenda must be an integral part of the
post-2015 agenda.

The creation of wealth and the generation of
economic growth are essential for the eradication of
poverty and the improvement of the quality of life of our
people. However, economic growth and development
should be inclusive and sustainable. The creation of
jobs and the delivery of social services should touch
the lives of all our people, especially the indigenous
people, the elderly, the disadvantaged, the disabled, the
vulnerable, and those people who are excluded from
mainstream society. The development of agriculture,
tourism, the energy sector and industry should therefore
be inclusive and sustainable.

Dominica therefore joins the rest of the Caribbean
Community in calling for development partners to
conduct their macroeconomic and trade policies in a
way that facilitates opportunities for SIDS to promote
economic growth, shrink existing income gaps, reduce
the levels of poverty and achieve their development
aspirations. Those policies should include, but not be
limited to, a change in the criteria for the graduation
of SIDS from preferential access to multilateral
concessionary financing. The new criteria must take
into account the inherent vulnerabilities of SIDS
and the need for building resilience to the impact of
climate change and the vagaries of the global financial,
economic and trading systems. Therefore, any measure
that inhibits any State Member of the United Nations
family from becoming fully integrated into the global
financial and trading system should be removed.

In that vein, the economic embargo against our
brothers and sisters in Cuba continues to be of concern
to us in the Caribbean. That unilateral action by the
United States of America against our sister Caribbean
island, whatever the excuses might have been 55 years
ago, cannot be justified today, nor can the suffering
of our brothers and sisters in the Republic of Cuba,
as a result of their exclusion for 55 years from the
world banking and trading system, be defended. It is
well established that, whatever the objectives were 55
years ago, they are not likely to be achieved through
the continuation of the embargo. The Government of
Dominica therefore calls on the United States to heed
the call of the General Assembly to lift the embargo
against Cuba and to support the full integration of the
Cuban people into the global financial and trading
systems.

The embargo notwithstanding, the Cuban people
continue to make a tremendous contribution to human
development across the globe. For decades, Cuba has
been training doctors, nurses, engineers and other
professionals, deploying them to provide technical
assistance to developing countries as part of its South-
South cooperation. Cuba also offers professional
training in various disciplines to thousands of students
from all over the developing world.

Cuba continues to add its voice in the fight against
terrorism and drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the
rest of the world. It is for that reason that Dominica
fails to comprehend the continued listing of Cuba as
a State sponsor of terrorism. We therefore call for the
removal of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor
terrorism. Our efforts in the region should be focused
instead on combating the real threats to global peace
and security.

Similarly, the events unfolding in Ukraine are
a proxy tug-of-war between the European Union and
the United States, on the one hand, and the Russian
Federation, on the other. The Ukrainian people are the
victims of the contest, which is a throwback to the Cold
War.

The United Kingdom, when confronted with the
question of Irish nationalism in 1918, resolved the
matter through the ballot box with a county-by-county
referendum on the future of Ireland. Most counties opted
for independence, but five counties opted for continued
union with the United Kingdom. Three years later,
the island was partitioned into the Republic of Ireland

and Northern Ireland, the latter remaining part of the
United Kingdom. The United Kingdom currently faces
the question of Scottish independence. Once again,
only last week on 18 September, the United Kingdom
resorted to the ballot box to decide the matter. While the
supporters of the campaign in favour of independence
will be disappointed by the results, the real victors are
not the supporters of the campaign for continued union
with the United Kingdom but democracy itself.

With that experience, the United Kingdom is
uniquely placed to counsel the European Union, the
United States, Kyiv and Moscow about how to grant
the people of Ukraine the same opportunity to decide
their destiny for themselves, according to their regional
preferences and without coercion either from the East
or from the West. Such an approach would end the
paralysis in the Security Council, thereby creating a
real partnership among the United States, the Russian
Federation and China and enabling the United Nations
to fulfil its mandate to assist in conflict resolution,
combat the greatest threats facing the world today,
namely, armed conflict and terrorism, and create a
more peaceful international community.

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate to the General
Assembly that the impact of climate change is a
major threat to the development efforts and to the
very existence of small island developing States. The
incidence of severe weather conditions, including
coastal erosion and sea-level rise, continues to impact
island States in the worst ways possible. Our ability
to survive depends not only on the individual and
collective actions taken by SIDS, but also on the actions
of the rest of the international community.

A legally binding outcome to the climate change
negotiations is a critical component in a series of
actions to be taken by Member States. That should be
buttressed by a post-2015 agenda that includes poverty
eradication, increased access to education and training,
health care, potable water and sanitation, and promotes
sustainable and inclusive economic development.

The outcomes of the third United Nations
Conference on SIDS in Samoa should serve as a blueprint
for the growth and development of SIDS. That should
include the restructuring of the international financial
and trading architecture so that the vulnerabilities and
special circumstances of SIDS are taken into account.
That new configuration will allow for the development
of SIDS through sustainable agriculture, tourism
and inclusive industrial development. However, such
efforts must be propelled by sustainable energy that
maximizes the use of renewable SIDS-appropriate
energy resources in the most energy efficient manner.

Finally, I wish all participants in this sixty-ninth
session every success in their deliberations.


Let me begin, Sir, by
expressing the best wishes of the Government and the
people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Mr. Kutesa’s
assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly
at its sixty-ninth session. His election is a fitting
tribute to his invaluable and inspiring contribution to
international diplomacy. I would also like to express
my warm appreciation to his predecessor, Ambassador
John Ashe, for the astute and steadfast manner in which
he steered the affairs of the sixty-eighth session of the
Assembly. I thank Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon not
only for his relentless commitment to the work of the
United Nations, but especially for his tireless efforts
to address the challenges of world peace and security.

We are meeting at a time when the world looks with
expectation towards 2015, which marks the end of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the launch
of their successors, the sustainable development goals
(SDGs). We must ensure, at all levels, that the SDGs
reflect the goals and aspirations of all the regions of the
world. Indeed, if the SDGs are to drive development and
also meet the aspirations of developing countries for
poverty elimination and sustainable growth, collective
ownership of the emerging process must be our
priority. We in Africa expect that the new SDGs will be
people-centred. They must promote peace and security,
structural economic transformation, inclusive growth,
food security for all, environmental sustainability and
the shared benefits of science and technology. Indeed,

the gains of the MDGs must be incorporated into the
emerging mechanism.

We applaud the wide-ranging recommendations
of the report of the Intergovernmental Committee
of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing
on domestic resource mobilization, international
development assistance, private sector finance and a
supportive global enabling environment. My country is
honoured to have been accorded the privilege, jointly
with Finland, of leading that work as co-Chair of the
Intergovernmental Committee of Experts, as mandated
by the Heads of State and Government at the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in
Rio. Along with the work of the Open Working Group
on sustainable development goals, the report provides
a solid basis for intergovernmental negotiations on the
post-2015 development agenda. Nigeria is aware of
the need to create an enabling environment for rapid
development. We are committed to strengthening
institutions and improving governance systems, in
order to ensure an efficient use of resources and the
process itself.

The year 2015 also marks the seventieth anniversary
of the establishment of the United Nations. Even
though the Charter of the United Nations underlines
the imperative to spare succeeding generations from
the scourge of war, the world continues to witness the
ravages of war and human suffering. Today’s terrorism,
manifested sometimes in insurgency, is vicious and
aimless. Its consequences are agonizing, marked
by a tendency to annihilate victims and completely
destroy infrastructure and properties. The involvement
of foreign fighters remains a common feature of
terrorist groups, whether Al-Qaida in the Maghreb,
Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria or the
newly emerging Islamic State (IS). The new dimension
introduced by IS — namely, the goal of conquering
territory and establishing its destructive ideology — is
a major challenge that must be collectively halted before
it becomes the norm. That challenge focuses renewed
attention on the need to review the existing tools for
United Nations peacekeeping operations.

The violent and criminal activities of Boko
Haram have continued to pose a potent challenge to
the Government and people of Nigeria. Through a
wave of terror, assassinations, bombings and now
abductions and kidnappings, predominantly in the
north-east of the country, Boko Haram is attempting
to truncate development in those areas through murder
and mayhem. In April, our innocent daughters were
abducted from a secondary school in Chibok, in the
north-east. That callous and criminal act has attracted
empathy for Nigeria across the globe.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all
the countries and organizations that have expressed
solidarity with us and have continued to support our
determined efforts to free our daughters. Although it
has been over three months since they were abducted,
we have never relented in our efforts to see them safely
free. Together with our partners, we are working
assiduously to free our daughters and reunite them
with their families. To that end, I wish to thank the
Government of France for organizing and hosting the
special summit on security in Nigeria that was held in
Paris in May. I also wish to express my appreciation
to the Governments of Cameroon, Chad, the Niger and
Guinea for their committed efforts in support of the
fight against Boko Haram. The outcome of the French
process and the follow-up in London, Washington, D.C.,
and Abuja have helped to galvanize regional action and
are already yielding positive results. Let me underline
today that we shall not waver until we end this mindless
war on the innocent and bring all the perpetrators to
justice. We will triumph over terrorism.

The failure of the Security Council to agree on
unanimous action over pressing challenges to global
peace and security in Syria and Iraq and the conflict in
Ukraine, as well as with regard to the renewed aggression
between Israel and Palestine, has strengthened the case
for Security Council reform. Today’s challenges can
be resolved only by a Security Council whose working
methods engender transparency, inclusivity and
common ownership through equitable representation
of all regions in the decision-making process. It is
imperative that we take advantage of 2015, which also
marks the fiftieth anniversary of the 1965 reform, to
make concrete progress on reforming the Security
Council. We believe that there needs to be a fast-track
process in line with the initiative of Mr. John Ashe,
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth
session, for establishing a working group on reform.
Indeed, the Security Council requires the collective
resolve of all Member States to ensure that 2015 brings
decisive progress.

Even as Africa, and in particular West Africa,
battles conflicts and terrorism, with progressive

results, the region is being devastated by the outbreak
of the deadly Ebola virus. While Nigeria was able to
respond effectively to control the spread of the disease,
the situation in Liberia and Sierra Leone requires
sustainable collective global action if it is to be
contained. Through the concerted efforts of our health-
care professionals, the World Health Organization and
our international partners, we have been able to contain
the virus, and we can confidently say that Nigeria today
is Ebola-free.

However, we have continued to support efforts
to contain the spread of the disease in Sierra Leone,
Liberia and Guinea. In addition to a direct donation
totalling $3.5 million, we have provided training and
capacity-building support to the three countries. It
is pertinent to stress the need for the international
community to properly appreciate the magnitude of
the Ebola challenge. Indulging in isolationist and
discriminatory tendencies, as some countries are doing,
will only worsen an already critical situation. To prevent
the disease from becoming a global catastrophe, the
United Nations must accord it the maximum priority
it deserves.

Certainly, there has been much discussion on
limiting ozone layer depletion since the commencement
of negotiations under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change in 1994. However, the
extent of progress in key areas, particularly in limiting
the contribution of man-made activities to greenhouse
gas emission, has yet to be determined.

Nigeria appreciates the indispensable role of the
United Nations in its search for solutions to all those
challenges: terrorism, global peace and security,
the environment, and forging sustainable economic
development. We have been and will remain a reliable
and active partner, especially as we collectively work
to resolve the new and emerging threats to global peace
and security. The world must come together and win the
war against terror.

On 29 May 1999, Nigeria ended its military rule after
the inauguration of a democratically elected President.
Come February 2015, the country will conduct its fifth
post-military-rule general election. In keeping with
my election as President by the people of Nigeria, we
shall conduct elections based on global best practices to
further strengthen our democratic institutions.


This year marks
the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First
World War. Yet in today’s world we are far from having
achieved global peace. It therefore remains a major task
for the international community to achieve it. But that
is not the only task that remains. In order to achieve
global peace we also have to tackle two other equally
important challenges, namely, to preserve global human
dignity, and global prosperity.

I would like to start with global security. Europe is
the continent that gave birth to the two most disastrous
conflicts in human history. We Europeans have
learned our lesson. A large part of our continent has
been spared violent conflicts for almost 70 years. My
country celebrates 25 years since our return to freedom
and democracy in 1989.

Yet even today a part of Europe is at war. The
territorial integrity of Ukraine, guaranteed by the
Charter of the United Nations and the Budapest
Memorandum of 1994, was violated by the Russian
annexation of Crimea and the activities of Russian-
backed paramilitary separatist forces in eastern
Ukraine. Despite the present armistice, we believe
that it is still the responsibility of the international
community to seek the de-escalation of a conflict that
has caused enormous suffering to the people of Ukraine
and the loss of innocent lives of Ukrainians and other
people, as demonstrated by the downing of Malaysia
Airlines Flight MH-17.

That is not all. We are alarmed at the continuing
aggravation of the security situation in northern Iraq.
We condemn the brutal acts of violence committed
by the so-called Islamic State against local ethnic
and religious minorities, as well as the murders of
two innocent journalists and a humanitarian activist.
Those acts constitute war crimes and crimes against
humanity. As we are currently seeing in Iraq, terrorism
has taken on a new dimension, and we must counter it
with the utmost determination. Therefore, we welcome
President Obama’s strategy as well as other important
international activities in that regard, including the
Security Council summit on foreign terrorist fighters
(see S/PV.7272).

With regard to Syria, we believe that the only way
to achieve a stable peace in that war-torn country and
to ensure much-needed safety and legitimate rights
for all Syrian people is through a negotiated political
settlement between the Syrian Government and the
democratic opposition. The Czech Republic, appalled
by the atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic
State, urges all sides of the conflict in Syria to cease
violence and to start cooperating with the new United
Nations Special Envoy in order to find a lasting solution.

Moreover, we must not omit the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. We remain deeply concerned about the
humanitarian consequences of the conflict in the Gaza
Strip. We have made an effort to provide assistance to
the victims through humanitarian aid. However, first
and foremost, the Palestinian and Israeli leaders have
to make every effort, with the help of the international
community, to renew genuine and comprehensive
negotiations. That is the only way to reach a lasting
solution that would bring about peace, dignity, security
and prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians.

But there is also something else: the global dignity
of human beings. In speaking of acts of violence — and
the list I have provided is far from being exhaustive — we
must keep looking for the causes behind those acts
and seek to eliminate them. We often see that such
acts result from despair and from a lack of the basic
needs necessary to ensure human dignity, needs
such as physical integrity, access to justice, political
participation and basic freedoms, and also food, water,
medical care, education, tolerable working conditions
and protection against discrimination on various
grounds. It is the responsibility of the international
community, represented by the United Nations, to
ensure that human dignity remains not only a declared
principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
but is also put into practice worldwide. I am proud that
my country can contribute to those efforts, building on
the humanist legacy of my great compatriots, the first
Czechoslovak President, Tomá. Garrigue Masaryk, and
the first President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel.

The first precondition for human dignity is the
possibility of enjoying life without threats to one’s
physical integrity and physical suffering. For that
reason the Czech Republic has vigorously supported
the concept of the responsibility to protect, with its
strong dimension of prevention and capacity-building.
Yet, when a conflict cannot be prevented for various
reasons, the United Nations is ultimately responsible,
through its peacekeeping role, for preventing the
further deterioration of the situation, loss of life and
human suffering. The Czech Republic has consistently
participated in various European Union (EU) missions
complementing United Nations peacekeeping efforts,
namely, in the EU Training Mission in Mali and in the
Multinational Force and Observers mission in Sinai. I
can assure members that we will remain involved in the
future.

National States and the international community
share responsibility for protecting people from atrocities.
However, if they fail, it is necessary to establish
accountability for serious violations of international
humanitarian law and human rights. The Czech
Republic continues firmly to support international
criminal justice and the International Criminal Court.
Our primary task is to combat impunity and to enforce
the protection of civilians and vulnerable groups in
armed conflicts.

It is a sad reality that in too many parts of the
world women are among the most vulnerable groups.
We continue to witness horrifying cases of violence
against women and girls, including sexual violence. We
call on all States to adopt urgent measures to prevent
such abhorrent incidents. When women are excluded
from society and prevented from enjoying basic
rights, participating in public life or simply exercising
a profession, it has a massive impact not only on the
country’s development but also on its overall stability.
We expect the relevant United Nations bodies to step up
their efforts to ensure a peaceful and dignified life for
all, including women.

In order to reinforce the prevention of various
types of conflicts, we fully support the Rights Up
Front initiative launched by the Secretary-General. We
understand that it is an appeal to the United Nations and
its bodies and to Member States to ensure respect for
human rights, good governance, fair and free elections
and genuine participation in decision-making without
discrimination. The Czech Republic, as a member
of the Human Rights Council, has for the second
time presented a consensual resolution on political
participation. In our view, giving everybody a chance
to enjoy their civil and political rights through such
participation is essential for building inclusive and
truly cohesive societies.

A life of peace and dignity is unthinkable without
the enjoyment of economic, social and environmental
rights. That can be achieved by fighting poverty, social

exclusion and all forms of discrimination and illiteracy.
I am convinced that the Czech Republic has a lot to
offer in that respect. We are among the countries with
the most equal distribution of wealth in the world. We
are also a country with one of the lowest risks of falling
into poverty in the world. We have managed to maintain
a socially cohesive society, and we believe that that is
one reason why our society is free of serious tensions
resulting in violent conflicts. We want to contribute our
experience to the efforts of the international community
in order to build fair and prosperous societies across the
planet.

The key to building a fair society is sustainable
development. To that end, we are committed to
working on a post-2015 development agenda that will
formulate sustainable development goals based on the
2000 Millennium Development Goals. The goals will
be global in nature, universally applicable and will
address persistent inequalities and new challenges
facing people and our planet. The promotion of good
governance, the rule of law, human rights and the
empowerment of women must remain among the
stand-alone priorities, but they are also cross-cutting
issues linking various agendas. In that context, we look
forward to the Secretary-General’s synthesis report
expected by the end of the year.

The Czech Republic expects that the sustainable
development goals will have a true impact on the
fashioning of a development policy that will correspond
to the needs of present generations and improve their
quality of life, but will not compromise the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. All
countries, rich and poor, should therefore be committed
to creating an economically viable yet more socially
and environmentally sustainable future. We hope to be
able to take part in that effort through our membership
in the Economic and Social Council, to which we are
candidates for membership starting in 2016.

We are also actively involved in the EU and the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, and we are ready to support all the proposals
and solutions that are considered most effective to
reach the new global climate agreement, hopefully to
be concluded in Paris in 2015.

I began by recalling the First World War and continued
by enumerating three major challenges — global peace,
global human dignity and global prosperity. They are
enormous challenges. The United Nations has done
impressive work in fostering peace, human dignity
and sustainable development. I am confident that next
year, when we celebrate the seventieth anniversary
of the Charter of the United Nations, we will have an
opportunity not only to reflect honestly on where we
could do better, but also to appreciate the progress that
we have made together.


On
behalf of the African Union and of the Islamic Republic
of Mauritania, I am pleased to express to you, Sir, my
warmest congratulations and my best wishes on the
occasion of your election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. I trust that your
good judgement and your competence, as well as your
extensive experience in the diplomatic leadership of
your brotherly country, Uganda, constitute the best
guarantee for the good conduct and success of the work
of our current session.

I am also pleased to point out the remarkable
work of your predecessor, Mr. John Ashe, during his
leadership of the proceedings of the previous session.
I would also like to express my warmest thanks to His
Excellency the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
for his tireless efforts for international peace and
security and for his approach in support of dialogue as
the best way to address the current international issues.

The General Assembly has always been a forum
for the exchange of opinions and the discussion of
important international issues that affect the lives of
nations and people. That explains the privileged status
that it has gained within the different institutions of the
United Nations system. This annual meeting, which
brings leaders together, is a valuable opportunity to
seek a common understanding for a global vision,
ensuring proposals for efficient solutions to the current
international problems that respond to the expectations
of people around the world.

In that regard, I am pleased to address this audience
and to present to the world, through this forum, what
we Africans have done in terms of achievements and
development, the challenges facing our young continent,
our expectations of the international community and
our aspirations in terms of an effective contribution
to addressing the current situation, humanity and the
building of its future.

Several countries of the African continent have
experienced high levels of growth despite the severe
economic crisis that still prevails in the world. The
average growth rate in the continent has reached 5 per
cent and is nearing 6 per cent. That economic recovery
is the result, among other factors, of the wise economic
policies adopted by African Governments. The
promotion of local and foreign investment, the building
of new infrastructure and greater attention to the most
vulnerable members of society have therefore been
encouraged. Similarly, projects and income-generating
activities have been supported, thereby contributing
efficiently to the reduction of unemployment, in
particular among young people and women. Africa is
working tirelessly to change from a consumption space
to a production zone in order to ensure employment
opportunities for millions of its people.

The achievement of food self-sufficiency, the
development of agricultural industries and poverty
reduction in rural areas are core objectives of the
African Union. In that regard, the agriculture and
animal resources sector has received great interest
during successive African summits. The year 2014 has
therefore been declared the Year of Agriculture and
Food Security in Africa. The agriculture sector employs
some 60 per cent of the workforce and represents one
third of the gross domestic product of the continent.

In that context, the African summit recommended
that 10 per cent of the budget of African States be
allocated to the development of the agriculture sector.
African Governments have recognized the importance
of food security and adopted efficient policies for the
development of that vital sector. Such policies have
achieved their objectives and have enabled some
African countries to be self-sufficient in various
agricultural products, while other countries are making
steady progress on that path. They, too, are therefore
becoming self-sufficient.

In Africa, we seek fruitful cooperation with our
partners, thereby opening international markets to
our agricultural products and, in that way, developing
our capacities for agricultural research and providing
access to developed technologies and techniques for the
preservation of the environment.

When the Millennium Development Goals were
adopted in 2000, Africa did not have a common
vision for the major development issues. Its voice was
therefore not adequately heard. Despite that, we have
worked seriously and energetically to achieve those
Goals. Today, Africa speaks with one voice and seeks
to promote development in order to become a healthy

region free of scourges, wars and conflicts, where
justice, good governance and respect for human rights
prevail.

In that regard, African leaders have taken important
decisions on core issues for the continent, including
the vision of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the
post-2015 development agenda, which focuses on the
development of human resources and the eradication
of poverty, epidemics and deadly diseases. It must be
pointed out that the fight against AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis has been strengthened through the many
programmes that have helped to promote actions to
reduce the effects of such scourges.

Despite such efforts, the indicators in the health
sector lead us to exert every effort to strengthen our
health-care system, to improve access to its services and
to develop its human resources and infrastructure. In
that context, African Heads of State recently launched
a strong initiative to fight AIDS. The sudden outbreak
of the Ebola virus in West Africa constitutes a major
challenge owing to the rapid spread of the disease and
the tragic fate of its victims. The steps taken to contain
the spread of that scourge remain inadequate and are
not sufficiently effective. Every day that passes until
an appropriate treatment for the disease is discovered
increases the number of victims and causes it to
spread to new areas. Despite the measures adopted and
the efforts made, to date, Africa has not managed to
successfully deal with the epidemic.

I therefore appeal to the international community
from this rostrum to work efficiently to provide
necessary vaccines for people affected by the Ebola
virus, to support measures to control its prevention
and spread, and to increase investments in the field of
scientific research in virology and endemic diseases, as
well as to provide assistance to countries affected by
that scourge. In this context, we welcome the actions
and initiatives taken by some States and international
organizations on behalf of the countries affected by the
spread of this disease.

The phenomenon of illegal immigration and the
tragedies it engenders daily prompt us to take strong
action to find efficient and rapid solutions. We cannot
simply count the bodies that wash up onto the beaches
or undertake rescue operations at sea for thousands of
migrants crammed in unsafe boats. Illegal immigration
is a complex phenomenon. It is the cumulative result
of economic factors and practices linked to organized
crime. Consequently, no matter how closely we patrol
our borders and no matter how rigorous our laws, we
will not be able to prevent waves of migrants from
moving from south to north. Appropriate solutions
must be found that take into account the real causes
of the phenomenon and that guarantee African youth
increased employment opportunities and a dignified
life.

Good governance is a necessary precondition for
successful development efforts. The African political
elite is fully aware of that fact and is committed
to promoting collective freedom and consolidating
democracy as the best means for managing public affairs.
The African Union has taken preventive measures
against attempts at usurping power by non-democratic
means, including by encouraging democratic practices,
establishing pluralism and organizing many transparent
elections.

In its very essence, democracy implies the
participation of all sectors of civil society. The nature
of African societies has therefore required positive
discrimination on behalf of women, allowing them
access to elective office and leadership positions in
order to ensure gener equality. In the same context,
youth enjoys priority in development plans and in
the political, social and economic policies of African
countries. It is estimated that the population of the
continent will reach 3 billion at the threshold of 2050;
two thirds of that total will be youth. That demographic,
specific to the continent, calls for a new focus on
investments in infrastructure and social services, and
for prioritizing such sectors as housing, employment,
human resources, diversification of energy sources and
health. Focus must also be placed on aligning teaching
and vocational training with market needs, which will
contribute to controlling unemployment and allowing
youth to showcase their talents. In fact, unemployment
in our societies stems less from inadequate employment
opportunities than from the gap between the numbers
of those trained and the actual needs of the job market.

With respect to security, we are currently facing
many dangers, including the multiplication of hot spots,
terrorism, organized crime and trafficking in drugs,
arms and people — not only in Africa, but throughout
the world. All those dangers have a cross-border nature.
Some African regions have been particularly vulnerable
due to the weakness of their democratic practice, the
spread of ethnic conflicts, economic crises with their
attendant social tensions, and the precarious situation

of their educational systems, which exercerbates youth
unemployment and deviation.

In order to address such challenges, the African
Union has established efficient mechanisms that rely on
the African peace and security architecture, including
the Peace and Security Council and the African
Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises. Despite
those efforts and achievements, the fight against
terrorism remains an international responsibility that
calls for close cooperation among all members of the
international community. It is clear that no country
alone can eradicate the phenomenon of terrorism.

The fruitful cooperation between the United
Nations Security Council and the African Council for
Peace and Security has proved effective in resolving
many of the armed conflicts on our continent. Despite
such efforts, however, the resolution of the situation
in Somalia remains complex. Similarly, the situations
in Libya, northern Nigeria and Central Africa are
cause for genuine concern. In Libya, unfortunately,
the situation continues to deteriorate, foreshadowing
a civil war that could split the country apart, driving
its people into exile and threatening to spill over into
neighbouring countries. The international community
must intercede to help the Libyans reach a peaceful and
consensual solution that guarantees that country’s unity
and stability. In northern Nigeria, the Boko Haram
movement continues to murder innocent people, kidnap
women and destroy entire villages. Africa and the rest
of the international community must join forces and
take decisive action to eliminate that terrorist group,
which threatens the whole region.

In the Central African Republic, the efforts of
the African peacekeeping force, with the support of
friendly forces, helped stop the massacres and prevented
the conflict from evolving into a full-fledged civil
war. However, persistent tension between the factions
requires us to encourage Central African stakeholders
to use this stage of the transition build trust and to
overcome the remaining obstacles to that country’s
peace and stability.

Such situations should not lead us to overlook
the peacebuilding progress that has been achieved in
many conflict regions. In that regard, we commend and
welcome the advances registered in the region of the
Great Lakes, in northern Mali and in the Republic of
South Sudan.

The Sahel was one of the first African regions to
experience the phenomenon of terrorism. But thanks to
the close security cooperation among the countries of the
region and to international solidarity, the terrorists were
repelled and the activities of illegal trafficking networks
were paralysed. In North Mali, too, Africans have
robustly addressed a difficult situation. Thus, several
countries of the continent, along with international
friendly forces, deterred terrorist groups. The risk of
terrorism was eliminated from key areas from which
criminal terrorist operations had been launched. The
French intervention was decisive and timely. Likewise,
history will remember the great sacrifices that continue
to be made by the brave soldiers of Chad.

However, the region is still exposed to security
risks, which for the moment are relatively contained.
The eradication of terrorism in the Sahel region
constitutes a major challenge additional to those
impeding development and poverty reduction. There is
a close correlation between development and security,
because it is impossible to conceive of sustainable
development without security, or security without
integrated development.

In that regard, the countries of the region are
aware of the need, on the one hand, to create a regional
framework to coordinate development efforts and, on
the other, to combat the dangers of terrorism and cross-
border crime. Therefore, the Group of Five countries
of the Sahel was created at the summit meeting of
member States held in Nouakchott in February. The
international community is invited to join Africans
in their hopes and legitimate aspirations for peace,
security and sustainable development.

The conflict in the Middle East, which escalates
from time to time, with no hope of achieving a clear
and definite solution despite multiple Arab and
international initiatives, constitutes an ongoing danger
to world peace. The parties in conflict must agree to
make sacrifices, even painful ones. The international
community must also ramp up pressure and act swiftly
to find a fair solution to the conflict on the basis of
relevant international resolutions, including those that
guarantee the Palestinian people the establishment of
an independent State, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its
capital.

Furthermore, the dangerous situations in Syria
and Iraq that have been created by the expansion
of terrorism are causes of grave concern for the
international community. We welcome the recent
measures taken to combat terrorist groups in Iraq, and
we invite the parties to the Syrian conflict to renounce

violence and engage in negotiations to avoid further
destruction to their country. The crisis in Ukraine must
likewise be resolved peacefully and quickly in order to
preserve global peace and to prevent the situation from
generating tensions between the major Powers.

The African continent seeks to strengthen its
presence in international forums and institutions,
commensurate with its size and role, in order to make
them more representative of its peoples and nations.
Although the General Assembly is an international
institution in which all countries are represented
equally, the status of permanent member of the Security
Council remains the monopoly of a restricted number
of countries. That privilege, which dates back to the
Second World War of the last century, no longer reflects
international geopolitical reality and does not take into
account the profound transformations that have taken
place throughout the world. Today, Africa occupies an
important position in the world and plays a distinctive
role within the international community, making it a
candidate for permanent representation on the Security
Council. It is therefore critical to engage as soon as
possible in negotiations on the rules for expanding both
permanent and non-permanent representation on the
Security Council.

The establishment of justice at the international
level also entails reform of the world economic system
to make it more equitable through greater promotion
of the role of the United Nations in efforts to increase
transparency, improve regulation of the financial system
and promote the investment necessary to sustainable
development.

Finally, I offer my sincere thanks for the efforts
made to ensure the success of this session. Attaining the
lofty aims for which the United Nations was established
remains dependent on the freedom of the world’s people
to exercise their right to development, advancement
and progress so that all humankind may live in dignity,
freedom, justice and equality.


It is a great honour
and privilege to address the General Assembly as the
King of Spain at the start of my reign.

I appear before the Assembly to share with the
international community my country’s commitment
to the universal principles and values that best define
humanity. Today I have the pleasure to present what
Spain — renewed but remaining true to itself and to
its international commitments — can offer for peace,
liberty, justice and human rights in all nations and for
all persons, along with well-being and prosperity.

As a nation with ancient roots and a clear global
calling, Spain has contributed intensely and decisively
to shaping world history. Let us recall that Spain was
present at the genesis of globalization and of international
law, as well as of medieval parliamentarianism and
contemporary liberal democracy. With that perspective
of centuries, we see clearly that our best contributions
come about when we move forward while opening up
to the world.

Sincerely, despite our problems, I see Spanish
society today as exemplary in its commitment to human
dignity, in solidarity with the most marginalized.
Spaniards harbour a profound sense of equality. They
reject fanaticism, violence and intolerance and love
peace. Spanish society is culturally and linguistically
diverse, capable of overcoming difficulties responsibly
and with integrity while demanding integrity and
excellence as civic values intrinsic to democracy. Spain
is a strong, generous and vigorous country, and I feel
truly proud of it.

Therefore, today we Spaniards look to the future
with a firm will to share and to help to build a better
reality for all peoples. Our foundations are solid, forged
over centuries and strengthened especially in recent
decades. The commitments Spain has made with the
rest of the international community are established on
those foundations.

Democracy is today the essential guide of our
collective coexistence. It will soon be four decades
since the beginning of Spain’s political transition,
which allowed us to move from a dictatorship to a
political system based on freedoms and rights and
marked by a desire for historical reconciliation and a
true spirit of harmony. Allow me, therefore, to lay claim
Spain’s political masterpiece with pride and emotion,
an example for many in the world. We Spaniards have
built a social and democratic order based on the rule
of law that protects all citizens and Spain’s various
territories in their political, geographic, cultural and
linguistic diversity. Thus Spain’s firm commitment
to promoting and defending democratic values in the
world can always be counted on.

Without forgetting the impact of the crisis, Spain’s
economic development, particularly since the second
half of the past century, has placed our economy among
the first in the world and among the most open and
competitive. Today we have achieved global leadership
rankings in various sectors with a high added value
and significant social impact. Bearing that in mind,
Spain strongly supports a global and sustainable way
of economic development that makes possible material
progress and well-being, that generates employment
and protects individuals and their social rights, a
sustainable development model respectful of the
environment, respecting international norms and with
high, ethical economic values.

Spain has always been a major cultural Power.
We understand that in all societies, culture shapes our
identity and is a source of material and non-material
wealth. The strength of Spanish, a universal language
shared by dozens of countries and hundreds of millions
of people on all continents, decisively contributes to
guaranteeing greater cultural and linguistic diversity in
the international arena. That is clearly an objective of
the human community, so widely diverse, represented
here. The Spanish language must therefore fully
assume its formal position as an official language of
the United Nations and as a working language that is
fully used and represented. Given the scope and depth
of our cultural base, we affirm Spain’s commitment
to defending cultural diversity in all of its aspects and
manifestations.

Spain’s history and privileged geographic position
at a crossroads of continents, seas and civilizations
have led it to develop a solid, universal perspective
and a special connection to some regions in the world.
Among them, Europe represents an obvious dimension.
The process of continental integration around the
European Union today is part of the national project of
the Kingdom of Spain. We call for a Europe of greater
unity and cohesiveness that preserves and extends the
democratic and civic values that inspired its creation
and that works to guarantee the prosperity of all of its
citizens. We also defend a Europe that is marked by
strength and solidarity that generously and effectively
contributes to the peaceful progress of all regions of
the world.

Due to its history and culture, the Ibero-American
community of nations is a substantial part of our
collective identity and represents for us a true
brotherhood. That sentiment extends to other areas,
thanks to the cultural, historic and linguistic
connections that we also maintain with other nations
and peoples in the rest of the Americas, in Africa, Asia
and Oceania.

The Mediterranean, with its northern and southern
shores, together with the Middle East and the entire
Arab world, are areas very close to Spain, not only
geographically, but also culturally and emotionally.
That is why we affirm our will and interest in
contributing to the stability of the region, as something
fundamental for achieving peace in the world. It is a
region in which some societies suffer the scourge of an
intolerable barbarism, a criminal and atrocious violence
that threatens all societies of the planet and the very
values of universal human civilization.

Spain’s global vocation and its commitments in
democratic, economic and cultural matters that I have
just mentioned are summarized by its full commitment
to the Charter of the United Nations, on behalf of which
we are convened here. The Charter represents one of
the greatest achievements of humankind; we must
therefore preserve, respect and enforce it. Thus Spain
firmly believes in the United Nations and its multilateral
mechanisms for preserving international peace and
security and for contributing to the development of
societies.

We live in times marked by a proliferation of
conflicts, some of which are especially devastating and
have indiscriminate impacts on civilians. Our primary
objective must be to prevent war, and when we fail, we
must protect and assist the innocent and the injured.
We must never relent in our efforts to resolve conflict
through diplomacy and all of the instruments bestowed
by the Charter of the United Nations. Above all, we
must not lose hope, and we must remember that in spite
of everything, the longing for harmony can and must
prevail over even the most entrenched hatreds.

A tapestry version of Guernica — a work by the
universal Spaniard, Pablo Picasso — hangs outside the
entrance to the Security Council Chamber. The scene
depicted in this art icon still stirs our conscience and
reminds us of the fatal consequences of our inability to
prevent and resolve conflicts that afflict us all. It is a
mistake to think that wars or man-made disasters affect
only one community or one region without any impact
on the others. When barbarism triumphs in one part of
the world, no one is beyond its reach; we are all victims.

But armed conflicts are not the only threats to the
international community. Evil takes many forms and
their victims have many faces: every child caught in
a crisis situation or in violence, every woman who is
molested or whose rights are limited simply because
she is a woman, every patient who dies for lack of
medicine or every abandoned elderly person, every
family without food and without hope because of an
unjust distribution of wealth, every journalist murdered
for doing his or her duty to inform — all of these are
so many appeals to our conscience and to our sense of
duty, and so many calls to action.

The members of the General Assembly can count
on Spain as we confront, together and in the framework
of international law, those who seek to destroy, through
their intolerance, violence or sectarianism, the values
and principles that underlie our United Nations. Spain
has always demonstrated its unconditional support for
the United Nations system and its active responsibility
with regard to the principles that we all recognize in
this Assembly: freedom, justice, equality, national
sovereignty, independence and the integrity of States.
Spain will continue to assume, as it has, its full
responsibilities as a Member of United Nations.

Against this background, Spain is taking another
step forward as a candidate for a non-permanent seat
on the Security Council for the 2015-2016 biennium.
Our candidacy is an integral part of my country’s solid
commitment to serve the international community
more, and to serve it better. That is what we have done

in the Security Council once every decade over the past
40 years, because the Assembly has trusted us. I only
ask that that trust be renewed.

In the past 25 years, 130,000 members of the
Spanish armed forces have participated in peacekeeping
operations and humanitarian aid missions in all regions
of the world. They have been — and, above all, have
felt — part of a great collective effort to which many
of the countries represented here have contributed.
Similarly, in recent decades Spain has consolidated its
status as one of the leading contributors to development
cooperation. There is no lasting peace without lasting
security, without sustainable development. There is
no sustainable development without greater solidarity,
both among and within nations. Furthermore,
development must be accompanied by policies of
inclusion that envisage the full equality of women and
their incorporation in all spheres of political, social and
economic life.

As we can see, Spain has a spirit of solidarity. In
the past 14 years, my compatriots have contributed
$30 billion to global development. Of this contribution,
nearly $1 billion has been earmarked for achieving the
Millennium Development Goals, through a fund set up
by Spain and co-led by the United Nations Development
Programme. That is the largest contribution made by a
single country. Specifically, one of the most important
tasks of the General Assembly at this session will be to
finalize the negotiations for the post-2015 development
agenda and to establish the sustainable development
goals. Here, too, Spain has taken a step forward by
creating the first fund that is already functioning for
these sustainable development goals.

To a large extent, achieving sustainability involves
fighting the harmful effects of climate change. The
Climate Summit held yesterday and the recent Third
International Conference on Small Island Developing
States, held in Samoa — whose organization Spain
contributed to — have raised our awareness even
further on this issue. They also enable us to improve
our response and resilience in the face of restricted
situations, especially as regards the most vulnerable
States whose very survival is at risk.

The sustainable development goals that we have
set for ourselves are within our reach. Again, there
are reasons for hope. I am thinking in particular of the
progress made in Africa, a continent that is so close
to Spain and where new examples of innovation and
creativity are found everywhere. Africa is a continent
of the present and future, where over the past decade we
have seen some of the fastest-growing economies. But
it is crucial to put an end to the conflicts that still afflict
parts of the region and hold back its development. From
the Sahel to the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes
region, Spain contributes to ending these conflicts
by meeting its commitments, which are born out of
solidarity and proximity.

We believe in Africa and we are demonstrating that
belief, for instance when acute crises arise such as the
Ebola epidemic, which is affecting a major and growing
part of the central region. I want to express the Spanish
people’s solidarity with the victims and our support for
those who are doing everything possible to assist them,
sometimes at the cost of their own lives. And I offer my
own heartfelt tribute to the humanitarian aid workers of
the United Nations, whose vocation leads them to leave
everything behind for the most vulnerable, wherever
they may be.

It has been almost 30 years since my father,
King Juan Carlos, addressed this General Assembly for
the first time (see A/41/PV.4). Today, as then, Spain is
open to a new age. Today, as then, we take our place
as active and responsible members of international
community represented here. I can assure those present
here that the international community, represented
today in the General Assembly, can continue to count
on Spain’s support and active participation in the
unwavering protection of the values and interests of
humankind in peace, peace that is ever more prosperous
and just. Spain supports a United Nations that is not
only stronger but, above all, more united — more
united against bigotry, intolerance and barbarism, more
united in fighting poverty, hunger and marginalization,
more united so that education and health can reach all,
and more united in firmly defending the dignity of all
human beings.


His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Sovereign of the
Kingdom of Morocco, asked me to convey to the
Assembly his greetings. He also asked me to deliver
the following statement, prepared for the sixty-ninth
session of the General Assembly:

“It gives me great pleasure to take part in the
sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, for
which President Kutesa has suggested ‘Delivering
on and implementing a transformative post-2015
development agenda’ as the central theme. That
is a very relevant choice, which is fully in line
with our Organization’s priorities, especially as
it encompasses economic, social, environmental,
security and political considerations. I have
therefore decided to devote my address to that
important topic, knowing that the Kingdom of
Morocco’s standpoint regarding other items on
the session’s agenda will be presented during the
General Assembly committee meetings or at the
ministerial meetings, which will be held on the
sidelines of the General Assembly.
“Achieving sustainable development is one of
the pressing challenges facing humankind. It is
particularly important, in that respect, to strike a
balance between the requirements for economic
and social progress and the protection of the
environment, on the one hand, and the safeguard
of the rights of future generations, on the other.
Aware of those critical challenges, we have sought
to set up a distinctive development model rooted
in the culture and in the specific national values of
the Moroccan people — a model which also takes
into account the need for positive interaction with
international principles and objectives in that area.
“Morocco has therefore managed to develop
a pioneering national initiative for human
development, together with ambitious programmes
in the field of renewable energy — especially solar
and wind power generation — which are a key
component of sustainable development. However,
I am not here today to discuss my country’s
experience or our achievements. I am here to make
an appeal for developing countries to be treated
fairly, especially in Africa, and for the development
issue to be addressed objectively.
“As the Assembly knows, sustainable
development is not something that can be achieved
through decisions and ready-made prescriptions,
nor is there a single model in that area. Indeed,
every country follows a path of its own, taking into
consideration its historical development, cultural
heritage, human and natural resources, specific
political circumstances, as well as its economic
choices and the obstacles and challenges facing
it. What applies to the West should not be used as
the sole criterion for determining the efficiency of
other development models; nor should one make
comparisons between countries, however similar
their circumstances may be, even when those
countries belong to the same geographical area.
“As a result, the first call I should like to
make from the rostrum regards the need to respect
the characteristic values and principles of every
country as it builds its own development model.
That is particularly true for the developing countries
that are still suffering from the consequences of
colonialism. Colonialism caused severe damage to
colonized countries. For many years, it hindered
their development process, exploited their resources,
as well as the energies of their sons and daughters,
brought about profound change in the customs
and cultures of the peoples concerned and sowed
the seeds not only of division between members
of the same community, but also of conflict and
discord between neighbouring countries. Although
many years have passed, the colonizers bear a

historical responsibility for the tough — and at
times tragic — circumstances experienced by
some countries of the South, particularly in Africa.
Today, given the adverse consequences suffered,
former colonial Powers have no right to ask the
countries of the South to introduce radical change
rapidly, on the basis of a frame of reference with
which they are unfamiliar, be it in terms of their
cultures, their principles or their values. It is as if
no development were possible other than through a
single model: that of the West.
“I now turn to the second appeal I would
like to make to the international community. We
need more realism and wisdom when dealing
with those countries. There should also be greater
consideration for their circumstances and the
paths they choose to achieve democracy and
development. Some Western countries — which
asked for no one’s authorization to colonize
countries of the South — instead of currently
providing the necessary assistance to the people of
those countries, continue to impose on them harsh
conditions, thereby hampering their ability to make
progress. Furthermore, all Western countries and
their affiliated institutions do is give lessons, and,
at best, a few pieces of advice. As for support, it
is very limited and is always conditional. What is
more, they ask the countries of the South to achieve
stability and development within a very short time
frame and according to imposed conditions, without
taking into account those countries’ development
processes or their specific national circumstances.
“There can be no stability without
development. By the same token, development
cannot be achieved without stability. Both hinge
on respect for the sovereignty of States, their
territorial integrity, culture and customs, as well as
on a dignified life for all their citizens. Moreover,
the rating and classification of those countries,
according to current standards, raises a number of
questions. The rating process has not only shown
its limitations, but also how far removed it is from
the reality of the countries of the South and how
incapable it is of giving an objective account of
the level of human development achieved by those
countries. As inadequate as it unfortunately is, the
aid granted is often based on those ratings and their
quasi-impossible conditions. We therefore appeal
for intangible capital to be one of the primary criteria
for measuring wealth and rating nations. As clearly
shown by World Bank studies, intangible capital
takes into consideration a series of factors related
to the living conditions of the population, such as
security, stability, human resources, institutional
development and the quality of life and of the
environment, all of which are elements that have
a major impact on crafting public policies. The
evolution of those countries should not be governed
by any rating or classification; instead, it should be
viewed as a historical process based on the positive
experiences of each country. Similarly, every
country’s characteristics should be respected.
“The reference to the negative impact of
colonialism does not mean we wish to put any party
in the dock of a law court. It is simply an earnest
appeal for justice for the countries of the South and
a reconsideration of the way they are dealt with and
supported in their gradual march towards progress.
In my address in Abidjan, in February, I insisted on
the fact that Africa did not need humanitarian aid as
much as it needed mutually beneficial partnerships.
I also stressed that Africa needed to turn the page
on its past and overcome its political, economic
and social problems — that it needed to rely on its
own resources to achieve its development. That is
exactly what Morocco has sought to accomplish
through a series of important agreements signed
with a number of African sister nations. In that
respect, I wish to mention in particular the strategic
agreement signed with Gabon for the production
of fertilizers for African markets in order to
contribute to development and food security on the
African continent, which is home to a staggering
60 per cent of the world’s unexploited land. That is
an outstanding model of South-South cooperation
that reflects our capacity as African countries to
develop the continent by relying on ourselves and
investing in the natural resources of our countries.
“As the Assembly knows, achieving
development does not hinge merely on a set of
projects and on funding; nor is underdevelopment
synonymous with the countries of the South. Indeed,
the problem has nothing to do with Africans’
attributes and skills. Africans have proved their
ability to produce and create whenever the right
conditions are met, and whenever they are able to rid
themselves of the oppressive legacy of colonialism.
Similarly, development in Africa has little to do
with the nature of the land or the weather, as harsh
as they may be in some parts of the continent. It

is more closely related to a deep-rooted economic
dependence, a lack of support and funding and
the absence of a sustainable development model.
As a result, providing aid to those countries is not
an option or an act of generosity so much as it is
a necessity and a duty. What States really need,
though, is fruitful cooperation, grounded in mutual
respect, so that they can create the right conditions,
in theory and in practice, to move on to the next
stage of the process of promoting both democracy
and development, without any interference by
others in their internal affairs. In return, they must
commit to good governance.
“The world stands at a crossroads today. Either
the international community supports developing
countries in their quest to achieve progress and
ensure security and stability, or we shall all face
the consequences of more conflicts and greater
fanaticism, violence and terrorism — all of which
feed on feelings of injustice and exclusion — and no
part of the world will be safe. As people grow more
acutely aware of the cross-border threats posed by
the lack of sustainable and human development,
and as we realize that ours is ultimately a common
destiny, I am sure that eventually there will be a
global awakening regarding the need to work for a
more secure, equitable and humane world.”


It is both
an honour and a pleasure for me to once again address
the Assembly.

(spoke in English)
For more than 70 years, Canada has supported the
United Nations and its institutions in the pursuit of
world peace. On many occasions Canadians have put
their lives on the line to deter active conflict between
peoples. It is a duty we accept and it is a record of which
we are proud.

Today, there are many embattled parts of the world
where the suffering of the local populations and the
threats to global security deserve our urgent attention,
and I could easily use my entire time here on any one
of them. There are, however, other areas of service to
humankind. It is to some of those that I wish to speak
tonight, for there is more to peace than the absence of
war. Where human misery abounds, where grinding
poverty is the rule, where justice is systematically
denied, there is no real peace — only the seeds of
future conflict.

(spoke in French)
Of course, misery and injustice are not the only
roots of war. We need only look at the world today to
appreciate that.

(spoke in English)
Then we understand how the worst of human
nature — perverse ideologies, religious extremism and
the lust for power and plunder — can rob people in so
many places of property, hope and life itself. That is
why Canada has always been ready and willing to join
with other civilized peoples and to challenge affronts to
the international order, affronts to human dignity itself,
such as those that are today present in Eastern Europe,
particularly Ukraine, in the Middle East — Iraq, Syria
and elsewhere — and of course many parts of Africa.

Canada’s positions on those issues are well known,
and we will continue to contribute to the extent to
which we are able in assisting our friends and allies
in the international community to deal with those
grave challenges. But while those extreme situations
are being confronted, other problems — pandemics,
climate change and, of course, the problems of
underdevelopment — remain.

(spoke in French)
And we feel strongly that no effort is ever in vain
if it offers peoples an alternative to conflict and the
possibility of a better life for them and their families.

(spoke in English)
Canadians therefore seek a world where freedom,
democracy, human rights and the rule of law are
respected. We hold those things to be intrinsically right
and good. We also believe that they are the necessary
foundation for a better world for more people and are
necessary for prosperity. With prosperity comes hope,
and with hope, the greater inclination of free peoples
everywhere to find peaceful solutions to the things
that divide them. Indeed, we believe that freedom,
prosperity and peace form a virtuous circle.

For that reason, the growth of trade among nations
and the delivery of effective development assistance to
ordinary people — simple, practical aid — are the things
that have become the signatures of our Government’s
outreach in the world. Trade means jobs, growth and
opportunities. It has made great nations out of small
ones. The story of my own country, Canada, is a case in
point. Historically, trade has built our country, just as
today it is reshaping our world. Trade means ordinary
people can support their families and even dare to
dream of something much more.

(spoke in French)
Our Government has worked hard to establish a
vast network of modern trade agreements.

(spoke in English)
The trade agreements we have concluded tear down
the barriers of tariff and excise and enlarge markets and
opportunities for buyers and sellers alike. Canada has
now established such links with countries that today
possess more than a quarter of the world’s people and
nearly half the world’s business. And our free-trade
network will grow larger yet. It is not, by the way, an
exclusive club for wealthy nations.

(spoke in French)
Canada has already liberalized its trade with
countries better known for their determination to
succeed than for the size of their economies, thereby
opening the way for them to access Canadian and other
markets. We have no reason to stop now. As indicated
by my colleague from Senegal, President Macky Sall,
“Aid is needed for development, but what is needed
even more is investment”. He is quite right.

(spoke in English)
Yet no matter how freely we trade, millions of
people will need a helping hand for some time to come.
Easily the most important example, and the one closest
to my heart, is the worldwide struggle upon which
so many of you have been engaged, in the maternal,
newborn and child health initiative. Saving the lives
of the world’s most vulnerable mothers, infants and
children must remain a top global priority. That is, the
world must honour the commitments made in this very
Hall to mothers and children in the year 2000. And
there has been remarkable progress.

(spoke in French)
Thanks to inexpensive vaccines and the combined
efforts of multiple partners, more children are
being vaccinated today than ever before. And as the
importance of nutrition becomes better understood,
more and more children are surviving. Thanks to
simple, low-cost, easily accessible techniques, literally
millions of mothers and children who a mere 14 years
ago might have died not only survive today, but thrive.

(spoke in English)
I think especially of the 2010 meeting of world
leaders at Muskoka, which raised about $7.5 billion
dollars, $2 billion of it from private donors. Based on
that, the United Nations launched what the Secretary-
General called the “Every woman, every child” initiative,
with the goal of saving 16 million lives by 2016. An
important aspect of that work has been monitoring
both the receipt of monies pledged and how they are
used. The assurance of full accountability has allowed
recipients to plan with greater certainty and donors to
give with confidence. With His Excellency President
Kikwete of Tanzania, whom we have just heard, it was
my honour to co-chair the World Health Organization’s
Information and Accountability Commission linked to
that initiative.

On this, we have a clear vision, and that vision is
achievable. We know how to help a great many of those
vulnerable people. We have seen what can be done. We
want simply to rally the passion and the will to make it
happen. We are preventing deaths, and we can prevent
more — deaths of thousands of children every day from
easily preventable causes. We can stop the thousands
of mothers dying in childbirth who would survive
with relatively little intervention. We also know who
we need to be working with — new partnerships that
bring together Governments and agencies of the United
Nations, including the World Health Organization, the
World Food Programme and UNICEF, with the private
sector, partnerships that are producing real results and
taking us to new heights of excellence.

Here I am thinking of the Maternal, Newborn
and Child Health Network in Canada, a group that
represents a broad base of Canadian civil society and
is a key implementing partner on the ground. As many
representatives know, in May in Toronto, Canada hosted
the world’s leading actors on that subject. We heard
the success stories — for example, the Micronutrient
Initiative through which 180 million children received
vitamin A, pills that cost pennies but drop child
mortality by 25 per cent. We heard about the Global
Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and how
during the three-year period between
2010 and 2013,
immunizations saved the lives of 2 million children.

We have partnerships to deliver better nutrition and
partnerships to deliver better measurement, because
vital statistics are critical. One cannot manage what
one cannot measure. And in that mission, we measure
progress in precious lives saved. So every child needs
a birth certificate.

(spoke in French)
We also heard that in the world today is a greater
obligation with regard to accountability, not only with
regard to the vast sums of money pledged, but also the
way in which that money is spent.

(spoke in English)
So our consensus was clear. We have seen success,
and we have momentum. Saving the lives of children
and mothers is a fight we can win. To get it done, two
things are needed now: political focus and renewed
financial commitment. I therefore urge the Assembly, in
the strongest terms, to ensure that, maternal, newborn
and child health remains a clear and top priority in the
evolving post-2015 development agenda — and one
of a limited number of priorities. That is the political
focus we need. Then there is the financial commitment.
I know we all have many competing priorities. But we
have come so far that to stop now would be a tragedy.

I must say I was very encouraged this afternoon
at the Secretary-General’s “Every woman, every child”
event, when President Kim of the World Bank and other
leaders announced new financing for the Bank’s Global
Financing Facility for Every Woman Every Child.
That Facility will help developing countries access the
financing required to improve their health systems. I
was pleased to announce that Canada would financially
support the World Bank’s Global Financing Facility for
Every Woman Every Child.

(spoke in French)
We urge other countries to do likewise because
to provide viable solutions to prevent the tragic death
of women and children, we need to increase budget
allocations on the part of both donors and the developing
countries.

(spoke in English)
In closing, let me just say this. There are many
individual countries and many specific causes that will
rightly occupy our deliberations here this week. Let us
also not forget to look beyond those crises at the long-
term opportunities and efforts that can truly transform
the world. We have it in our power to create a better
kind of world for our children’s children than the one
we have today.

And we should, for it was never the intention of the
founders of the United Nations — Canada being one
of them — that ours would be a world where terrorists
could get the resources necessary to sow death and
destruction but where workers and families could
not get jobs and opportunities, or where mothers and
children could not obtain the necessities required to
live and thrive.

The world that Canada strives for is the world that
the founders of the United Nations wanted from the
beginning, as boldly articulated in their Declaration
of 1 January 1942 — a world where “life, liberty,
independence and religious freedom” are defended,
where “human rights and justice” are preserved, and
where all join “in a common struggle against savage and
brutal forces seeking to subjugate the world”. In such
a world, there can be prosperity for the impoverished,
justice for the weak and, for the desperate, that most
precious of all things, hope.

It is easy to look at the many problems of the world
today and become despondent. Yet for all our failings,
there has been, for most of humankind, tremendous
progress in my lifetime. Therefore, I am enough of an
optimist to think that because we can create a more
prosperous, fairer and hopeful world, not only should
we, but indeed, I believe we will find the will to do so.


When the United Nations was
founded nearly 70 years ago, it was created to fulfil the
aspiration that peace and diplomacy could overcome
self-interest and to ensure that, through effective
cooperation, the world could avoid grave security
threats. But the decades since the signing of the Charter
of the United Nations have been marked by nearly as
many failures as successes, and many of those failures
could have been prevented by early action and stronger
political will.

I am particularly concerned today about the recent
events in Ukraine and the rapid spread of violent
terrorism in Syria and Iraq, even though the Pacific
Islands sit halfway around the world, a fragile region

far away from the global super-Powers. The leaders of
nations have in our hands the means either to respond
with alert action or to turn our backs on a growing
danger.

Climate change poses no less of a security threat
to our Pacific shores, and, indeed, to the world. As a
low-lying country, the Marshall Islands has no higher
ground — nowhere to go — and we will not cede an
inch to rising waters. Earlier this week, over 120 world
leaders met in this Hall to signal our political will
and our commitment. No one should take that lightly.
Leaders simply cannot afford to play consensus games
or to squabble.

Yet words and intentions alone do not meet the full
challenge before us. There will be serious emissions
gaps between what the world will do and what needs
to be done to save my nation. Earlier this week, young
poet and mother Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner from the Marshall
Islands stepped onto this very same stage to urge world
leaders to take action. Today, on behalf of the most
vulnerable nations — those at the front line — I ask of
the leaders of the largest nations, the major emitters, in
Kathy’s very same words, to

“take us all along on your ride. We will not slow
you down. We will help you win the most important
race of all, the race to save humanity”.
Like no other global challenge, climate change
requires direct political ownership and eye-to-eye
engagement with leaders. This issue, more than any
other, will define the Secretary-General’s legacy as
leader of these united nations. I urge him not only to
continue to show his commendable personal leadership,
but also to use his good offices to help find creative
political solutions.

Everyone — large and small, rich and poor — must
and will take strong action on emissions. In that regard,
the Republic of the Marshall Islands strongly supports
the Federated States of Micronesia, the United States
of America, and many other nations in urging a rapid
global phase-down of hydrofluorocarbon gases under
the Montreal Protocol. I will personally attend the Paris
climate conference next December, so that my voice
and that of my people can be heard.

Unlike many other fights, the huge global fight to
address climate change is also a personal one for me.
It starts in my own backyard, with my own seawall,
built with my own hands, to push back rising waters,
save my own future and the future of my children
and grandchildren. But that is not enough. We face a
challenge that is nearly beyond belief. As with so many
other moments in the history of the United Nations, we
have to ask whether leaders will respond to the climate
threat with courage. Or will some nations, including
some close friends of the Pacific Islands, slide back in
their efforts, bury their heads in the sand and ignore an
obvious climate reality? I hope and expect that at the
coming Group of Twenty meeting later this year, the
world’s largest economies will address climate change
and the economic consequences of inaction. The Pacific
island countries demand no less.

Last month, nations around the world gathered in
Apia for the third international conference on small
island developing States. As hosts of the conference,
the Government and people of Samoa showed the world
true Pacific hospitality. As we have for decades, Pacific
leaders have spoken firmly — in last year’s Majuro
Declaration for Climate Leadership, in this year’s Palau
Declaration on “The Ocean: Life and Future”, and again
in the Small Island Developing States Accelerated
Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway).

Our development needs are beyond urgent and
must not to be put off for yet another year. While
the SAMOA Pathway charts a course forward for
international partnership with small islands, there is
too often a mismatch between our national structures
and complicated sources of assistance. It is my hope
and expectation that the major announcements and
partnerships from the Samoa Summit will not lose
momentum because of poor connections in the
delivery channels. Our needs are often modest, but
the trickle-down of international assistance and
global development somehow fails to reach our local
communities and to meet our unique challenges.

In the follow-up to the Samoa meeting, starting
this year I urge the Secretary-General, the international
system and United Nations agencies to start thinking
seriously about how to work more effectively with
our unique challenges as island nations. As Member
States design a post-2015 development agenda, it is
important that we focus on a strong outcome that has
the flexibility to accommodate the unique character
of each nation. We cannot measure progress without
specific benchmarks, but as a small nation we fear that

having so many ambitions can be equivalent to having
none at all. The answer is not to be isolated within a
separate, unconnected island strategy, but rather to
build the flexibility needed for so many nations to act
as one.

I stand firm with my fellow Pacific leaders and
nations around the world who have urged that there
be a United Nations sustainable development goal on
oceans. I am puzzled as to why some nations close their
eyes to two thirds of the world’s surface, pretending
that the world’s vast blue waters somehow do not exist.
The Pacific Ocean and its rich fisheries are our lifeline.
We are the custodians of our own vast resources on
behalf of future generations.

We could introduce a step change in the world’s
sustainable fisheries and play our own role to address
global food security. Distant-water fishing nations must
engage us as true development partners and work with
us to change the focus beyond their immediate national
industry and towards a global responsibility. Recent
progress on sustainable fisheries has become the
defining story of the Pacific — it is our empowerment
and our future. The oceans are an equally valuable
resource for alternate sustainable energy, including
ocean thermal energy conversion.

Everyone should participate on the international
stage. The Republic of the Marshall Islands supports
Taiwan’s meaningful participation in United Nations
specialized agencies and mechanisms, including
the World Health Organization, the International
Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well
as in key regional economic integration mechanisms.
Furthermore, I call for Taiwan’s involvement in the
post-2015 development agenda and urge recognition
of the important assistance provided to my country
in health, education and energy. The Marshall Islands
welcomes Taiwan’s efforts to reduce cross-Strait
tensions and urges States Members of the United
Nations to recognize and encourage such progress.

As a former United Nations Trust Territory, the
Republic of the Marshall Islands has a unique legacy,
shared by only a very few in this Hall. It was the United
Nations that helped set us on a path to independence, but
it was also the United Nations that explicitly authorized
the 67 nuclear tests conducted in our nation between
1946 and 1958. Our own history bears the burden and
the contemporary impacts of those tests. Our suffering
could have been prevented by the United Nations — if
only its Members had listened. Like many other nations,
the Republic of the Marshall Islands believes that
awareness of the catastrophic consequences of nuclear
weapons must underpin all approaches and efforts
towards nuclear disarmament.

Those facts speak for themselves and were
recognized two years ago by the United Nations Special
Rapporteur. We look forward to addressing those issues
further during our participation in the Human Rights
Council universal periodic review next year. For the
survival of humanity it is essential that nuclear weapons
are never used again, under any circumstances. The
universal way to accomplish that is through the total
elimination of such weapons. It should be our collective
goal as the United Nations to not only stop the spread
of nuclear weapons, but also to pursue the peace and
security of a world without them.

This year, I look forward to a United Nations that
better recognizes the true global challenges of today
and moves beyond old political cobwebs into our
dynamic century.