The fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly
affords me the special privilege, honour and pleasure of
congratulating you, Sir, on your assumption of the
office of President of the General Assembly. As a
distinguished son of our neighbouring island, Saint
Lucia, you do great honour to your country and to the
whole Caribbean Community family. I take great pride
in what you, Sir, a fellow Foreign Minister and my dear
friend, have accomplished, and trust that, under your
astute leadership, this fifty-eighth session will chart the
right course, which will enable the Organization to
fulfil the expectations of mankind for a secure,
peaceful and prosperous world. Who knoweth but that
by some divine order you have come to the presidency
of this body at such a time as this.
Let me first express, on behalf of the Government
and people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
deepest sympathy to Secretary-General Kofi Annan
and the entire United Nations family on the loss of
Sergio Vieira de Mello and other United Nations
personnel in the terrorist attack in Baghdad. Those
dedicated United Nations workers strived for peace and
justice for the people of the world. They lived for that
cause, and, tragically, they gave their lives for that
cause. We share the pain of this loss and the
bewilderment over it, and pay tribute to all those
United Nations staff members who put duty before self
in the service of mankind.
My Government acknowledges with appreciation
the sterling work being done in difficult conditions all
over the developing world by United Nations agencies,
from peacekeeping and the restoration of democracy to
development cooperation and humanitarian aid. I also
wish to single out for particular mention the United
Nations Development Fund for Women and the United
Nations Population Fund. We urge Member States to
continue to give support and assistance to these
organizations, which make such a difference,
particularly in the lives of women and children, in the
poorest sectors of the world.
We have heard speaker after speaker, over the
course of the past week, suggesting that the United
Nations is in crisis. Many have proposed solutions for
the rectification of this unhappy state of affairs. It is
my Government’s contention that the General
Assembly needs to retake its place as the central
platform of the Organization, because it is the only
truly democratic arm of the United Nations. In this
regard, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines intends to
participate fully in the ongoing debate on reform which
will be led by you, Mr. President, and we are hopeful
that, with your able guidance, some real progress can
2

be made in this fifty-eighth session. Of particular
concern to small missions like my own is the volume
and variety of work between September and December
every year. The way the work of the General Assembly
is designed makes it difficult for us to make the kind of
contribution that we would wish for the effective and
efficient operation of the Organization. The Secretary-
General said in his report on the revitalization of the
General Assembly:
“The proliferation of meetings and official
documents places excessive demands on both the
Secretariat and Member States. Many smaller
Member States now find it practically impossible
to play a meaningful role in even the most crucial
activities of the General Assembly and the
Economic and Social Council”. (A/57/387,
para. 23)
If the work of the General Assembly could be
redesigned so as to spread the work load more evenly
throughout the calendar year, it would enable small
missions like that of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
to participate fully in the work of the Organization.
The debate on the reform of the Security Council
is fraught with many difficulties and challenges. It is
my Government’s view that the simple enlargement of
the representation on the Security Council may not by
itself necessarily lead to greater democratization of that
body. No matter how many reform theorems are
advanced, the will has to come from the permanent
members of the Council that wield the veto. My
Government has already urged an increase in the
membership of the Council, both permanent and non-
permanent, but it seems to us that as long as the veto
continues to exist, the Council will not be truly
representative of the wishes of the States Members of
this Organization and multinational diplomacy will be
endangered. The Government of Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines makes so bold as to say that the solution
may also well lie in the removal of the power of veto,
to allow for more democracy, greater participation,
openness and transparency. Only then, perhaps, will
this Organization regain its integrity and respect.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines cherishes the
relationships that it enjoys with all countries, both large
and small, represented here at the United Nations. The
United Nations Charter confers that freedom of
representation on all peace-loving and democratic
States. Yet my country continues to be deeply troubled
that Taiwan is still being excluded from this body.
While we seek to make the United Nations more
efficient and effective through much-needed reform,
we can advance the cause and the call for reform by
making the United Nations more inclusive through the
admission to membership of Taiwan and its 23 million
people, who have no voice in the United Nations.
Taiwan is an exemplary global citizen that maintains
friendly relations with almost every country in the
world. We would wish for this Organization to be the
catalyst that promotes constructive dialogue and
friendly engagement so that the Taiwan situation can
be resolved in a peaceful, just and equitable way to the
benefit of the entire global family.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is proud to be a
State party to the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court (ICC). We believe in the fundamental
role that the ICC has to play in our collective quest for
peace and the promotion of the rule of law and justice.
We are determined to uphold its integrity.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is proud of our
contribution to the emerging Caribbean civilization.
Let me quote from a recent speech by our Prime
Minister, The Honourable Ralph Gonsalves:
“The reassembling of the African, Asiatic and
European fragments forms the basis of our very
Caribbean civilization itself, which is at once
shaped and yet evolving. Fundamentally, too, our
Caribbean civilization, like all civilizations, has
been built on labour — the producers — and the
contours of the society fashioned by the social
organization of labour”.
My small country has made the painful
transformation from colonialism to independent
democracy in 25 short years. Our people chose not the
path leading to war and conflict, but rather opted for
the highway of democracy, racial harmony and respect
for human rights conducting us to peace, tranquillity
and future prosperity. But we are hampered in our
quest. My country, like others in the region, is in
danger of losing an entire generation to the scourge of
HIV/AIDS. We need the help of the international
community in the fight against this dreaded disease for
the preservation of our society.
Our banana industry, which is the engine that
drives our economy, is shortly to succumb to the greed
3

of certain multinational companies, with the active
assistance of the World Trade Organization. Without
the banana industry, whose doomsday rapidly
approaches, our hardworking peasant farmers will
become just another casualty of globalization. The
European Union mandates that its sugar farmers get
paid 50 euros per tonne — or five times the world
market price. Their farmers then dump their product on
the market, thus depressing prices for farmers
elsewhere. So we may shortly have to bid farewell to
the sugar industries of developing nations like
Barbados, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Mozambique
and Guatemala. The United States of America spends
more than $3 billion dollars of its taxpayers’ money
every year to subsidize its cotton growers. This,
naturally, signals death to the cotton farmers of
Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Chad and other developing
nations. How can the developed world, which
continues to subsidize its farmers and which touts
globalization as the cure for all economic ills, continue
defending the indefensible?
Cancún, as we all now know, was an abysmal
failure. We went there hoping to be led into the
Promised Land — only to find ourselves lost and
abandoned in the wilderness. We will continue our
crusade for economic stability and democratic harmony
in our country, but it is self-evident that we need the
help of the developed part of the world in order to be
viable. It will benefit no one if small countries like
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are marginalized and
left to flounder. We are a vulnerable country. The
reasons why small island developing States are
especially vulnerable are too well known to be repeated
here. Our requests for special and differential treatment
in the WTO are completely justified and, for the most
part, largely ignored.
My Government is cognizant of the fact that
terrorism threatens us all. We are therefore fully
engaged in the process of implementing Security
Council resolution 1373 (2001) — a process which has
stretched our limited resources. The oft-repeated
promises of help in this process are proving to be, like
so many other promises made within these hallowed
halls, just that — promises. Yet we read with grave
concern in the New York Times just last week that,
between them, two of the giants of this Organization
export arms worth nearly $20 billion every year — the
majority, of course, to developing nations. What do
arms do in developing nations? They are the fuel that
feeds the flames of conflict and terrorism.
Unless we can collectively find the courage and
wisdom to tackle the problems of poverty, disease and
despair, all the weapons in the world will not prevent
the spread of terrorism. We need to move beyond using
the United Nations as a talk shop and come together as
responsible nations to tackle the root causes of
terrorism.
The security which the poorer nations of the
world desire is obtained not through the force of arms,
but in relief from burdensome debt, employment
opportunities, shelter, food, clean water, a healthy
environment and access to medical care and life-giving
drugs.
Despite its imperfections, the United Nations is
the forum that gives us hope. Let us work together so
that we can bequeath to our children and to our
children’s children an Organization that can be used, in
the words of the Secretary-General, to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith
in fundamental human rights, to establish the basic
conditions for justice and the rule of law and to
promote social progress and better standards of life in
larger freedom.


Ms. Lydie Polfer, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, regrets that she is
not able to speak to the Assembly today and has asked
me to do so in her place.
The current President of the European Union, Mr.
Silvio Berlusconi, has already presented to the
Assembly the priorities and positions of the European
Union, which Luxembourg supports with conviction.
The United Nations remains in mourning
following the cowardly and inhuman attack of 19
August 2003 against United Nations headquarters in
Baghdad, which took the lives of 22 persons — most of
whom were United Nations personnel — including that
of Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative
of the Secretary-General. Today our thoughts are with
those victims, who, day after day, through their work in
the service of the Organization, helped to make the
world a better place.
As was recently noted by the Secretary-General,
that heinous act raises important questions, because it
is
“a direct challenge to the vision of world
solidarity and of collective security rooted in the
Charter and articulated in the Millennium
Declaration”. (A/58/323, chapter I, para. 2)
It is our responsibility, as representatives of the
nations of the world, gathered here at the fifty-eighth
session of the General Assembly, to meet this challenge
and to try to provide constructive answers that open
prospects for the future.
A few months ago, the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Ms. Lydie Polfer, presented to the Luxembourg
Parliament her foreign policy declaration in a context
characterized by the deep divisions in the international
community that marked the international situation at
the beginning of this year. At that time, Ms. Polfer
elaborated on these thoughts, which also define the
overall approach of the Luxembourg Government to
multilateral cooperation.
“During the debates on Iraq, all sides
extensively debated the role and the credibility of
our shared institutions. Have they shown their
limits? Have they ceased to function? Are they
still adapted to our day and age? Is
multilateralism still relevant today? I would like
to give a clear answer to this question. Yes, more
than ever, we need multilateral bodies that allow
us to work together so that international law can
be established and respected, with international
rules and procedures that ensure respect for
human rights and that govern the lives of all
States, regardless of their size. This is not just
wishful thinking, but something that is in our
interest.
“We must not only assist in the development
of these institutions, but also participate actively
in strengthening them through committed and
constructive cooperation. The United Nations is,
of course, the primary forum for such cooperation
to take place”.
But while we believe that multilateral cooperation
remains the best way of dealing with the many current
international issues, we must, however, reflect on ways
and means of adapting such cooperation to the
evolution of our world, with a view to defining a new
multilateralism for the twenty-first century and to
rethinking the conditions of a new kind of global
governance. In this context, the Millennium
Declaration charts a steady course that will enable us to
mobilize the international community to take action on
a number of specific, quantifiable objectives.
Among recent advances, I would like to highlight
in particular the achievements registered at the fifty-
seventh session of the General Assembly under the
leadership of President Kavan; we commend the
innovative work he did during his presidency of the
General Assembly. We wish also to stress the process
of reflection that was inspired by the Brahimi report on
peacekeeping operations.
Much work remains to be done, however. The
two recent reports of the Secretary-General on the
implementation of the United Nations Millennium
Declaration and on the strengthening of the United
Nations provide them with both an analytical
20

framework and an operational plan of action of vital
importance. We must provide them with concrete
follow-up.
The United Nations must remain the premier
institution for meeting the challenges facing
humankind and for finding shared solutions. To quote
the expressive words of Kofi Annan,
“The challenge ahead is to strengthen our
capacity for collective action and thus forge a
common destiny in a time of accelerating global
change”. (A/57/387, chapter I, para. 2)
We must reaffirm the status of international law
while developing it to take account of new situations
and contexts. We are doing this successfully in the
fields of the protection of human rights, the fight
against terrorism, the environment, and in other fields.
The inception of the International Criminal Court
(ICC) is a major stage, which we welcome. We hope
that it will soon begin work on the full range of its
activities, in accordance with the terms of its Statute.
We appeal to all Members of our Organization to
accede to the Rome Statute in order to give the ICC the
universality that will enable it to fight impunity for the
gravest of crimes. We must continue, with
determination and courage, efforts to reform and
revitalize our institutions. Much has already been done,
thanks in particular to the efforts of our Secretary-
General regarding the Secretariat, whose structures
have been modernized and whose procedures have
been rationalized, though work must continue,
particularly in the financial, budgetary and
management areas.
Last week, the Secretary-General rightly drew our
attention to the vital renewal of the intergovernmental
bodies of our Organization — be it the Security
Council, the General Assembly or the Economic and
Social Council. With respect to the General Assembly
in particular, our President — whom I wish warmly to
congratulate on his election to his important post —
undertook a certain number of initiatives aimed at
revitalizing our annual session, in order to give it once
again the central place it should occupy as the primary
venue for meetings, debates and stock-taking. I wish to
assure the President that Luxembourg — which holds a
vice-presidency of the General Assembly — will fully
support his endeavours.
The ability to work with updated methods on a
streamlined agenda that focuses on the real needs of
our day seems to us to be a prerequisite for the
increased presence and greater relevance of the General
Assembly in international debates.
Important progress has already been made in the
areas of peacekeeping and peace-building. The
presentation in 2000 of the Brahimi report launched an
intensive process of reflection and debate, and led to a
number of crucial decisions aimed at more effective
management of peacekeeping operations. The adoption
of Security Council resolution 1327 (2000) and the
Assembly’s adoption on 3 July 2003 of resolution
57/337, “Prevention of armed conflict”, constituted
particularly significant events, which we welcome, just
as we support their practical implementation.
While the debate has developed considerably,
politically and conceptually, we must emphasize the
admirable work carried out by the United Nations in
the field, in often difficult conditions. It should be
recalled that today our Organization is managing 15
peacekeeping operations throughout the world,
mobilizing approximately 40,000 Blue Helmets and
civilian staff. We can rightly be proud of this, without
being complacent. The missions in Timor-Leste,
Kosovo and Sierra Leone have shown the decisive
impact that the United Nations can have when it has a
clear mandate and adequate resources.
Here again, much remains to be done. The
difficult situations that persist in countries such as
Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia and in the Great
Lakes region, not to mention the “forgotten conflicts”,
continue to demand greater attention by the
international community. By contributing to the shared
effort, particularly in Kosovo and Afghanistan,
Luxembourg has shown its readiness to assume its
share of responsibility in this regard.
Special attention should be given in the future to
the problem of the transition from intervention in
emergencies and crisis situations to the handling of
post-conflict contexts. Integrating all dimensions,
particularly the political, humanitarian, security and
economic, in a single approach, perfecting the
instruments and methodologies adapted to this type of
challenge, seems to us to be an urgent and necessary
task.
The Government of Luxembourg is convinced
that the noble task of preserving peace must be based
21

on a broad and complex concept of security. New
threats have been added to the dangers of traditional
military confrontation. At the forefront of those threats
are terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.
Two years after the deadly attacks of 11
September, which touched the entire world, we can see
that great progress has been made in the fight against
terrorism. A firm position of principle and a
multidisciplinary approach remain indispensable in
order to combat and stop this widespread and
destructive phenomenon. Luxembourg will play its full
part in this effort, which must be pursued tirelessly,
with our Organization playing a major role.
The danger of the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction continues to arouse the legitimate
concern of our peoples. World leaders have a
responsibility to confront this serious threat to peace
and security by establishing and strengthening the
necessary international regimes. For its part, the
European Union has decided, on the basis of the
European Council’s Thessaloniki Declaration, to
develop a long-term strategy against proliferation, and
has already adopted basic principles and a concrete
plan of action to give shape to this strategy.
Likewise, international arms limitation and
reduction efforts, particularly with regard to small
arms, must be continued and broadened.
But, given the immediate and tragic urgency of
violent conflicts and terrorist attacks, we must not lose
sight of a more structural cause of global instability
and insecurity: the persistence of poverty and
underdevelopment. In a world in which every year
almost 15 million children under the age of 5 die of the
effects of poverty, we must continue unabated our fight
for development. The Millennium Declaration, the
conclusions of the Johannesburg Summit and the
Monterrey Consensus have shown us the way and the
objectives to be achieved in order to establish a real
global partnership for development.
The dimensions of this basic problem are many
and interdependent. I shall cite just three.
The first dimension is the fight against
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, in which
Luxembourg is strongly involved and which was quite
rightly the focus of attention at the high-level debate
that opened this session of the General Assembly. The
second is international trade. The failure of the Fifth
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in
Cancún is undeniably a major disappointment. If we
want to achieve a balanced and more just trade system,
it is imperative that we resume the dialogue on the
objectives to be achieved and the way to achieve them.
The third dimension is financing for development,
which, according to the Secretary-General’s report on
the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium
Summit, remains “well below the level needed to meet
the Goals” (A/58/323, para. 49), even though we are
pleased at a recent rise in the volume of official
development assistance. For its part, my country is
participating in this global solidarity effort by devoting
over 0.8 per cent of its gross national product to
official development assistance, with a view to
achieving the target of 1 per cent about midway
through the decade.
While development remains the new name of
peace, we must not lose sight of other factors of
instability, such as ecological problems, new infectious
diseases, transnational crime and corruption, and,
lastly, grave and repeated violations of human rights
and threats to democracy and good governance.
Let us not forget, in that regard, the wise words of
Mr. Annan, who has written:
“Greater respect for human rights, along with
democracy and social justice, will, in the long
term, be the most effective prophylactic against
terror”. (ibid, para. 76)
Given these multiple threats, defining a
programme of shared security on a global scale, within
multilateral bodies, is a primary objective. The
European Union, an international actor deeply involved
in a vast process of enlargement and constitutional
development, has begun the discussion of a strategic
concept of security and defence, which will make a
major contribution to the international debate in this
regard.
For more than a year, international attention has
been focused once again on the situation in Iraq. There
is no need to go over again before this audience the
sequence of events that led last spring to the onset of
war in that afflicted part of the world. We all remember
the deep divisions that emerged in the international
community during that period, threatening to upset the
very foundations of our Organization. Regardless of the
stand that we may have taken individually regarding
22

these events, we must now look to the future to
determine the prospects of a better future for the Iraqi
people. That is the objective that should bring us
together now.
We are convinced that the United Nations must
play a central role here, on the basis of a clear and
substantial mandate accompanied by adequate
resources. While it is primarily up to the Iraqi people to
decide their own future, we all agree that sovereignty
should be transferred to the Iraqis themselves as soon
as possible.
In the phase of political, socio-economic and
diplomatic transition and reconstruction, there must
quickly begin a steady transfer of authority and
responsibility to legitimate institutions recognized by
the Iraqi people. That process must include the drafting
and adoption of a new constitution, and the holding, as
soon as the situation allows, of free, democratic
elections. Among the essentials for this are the
restoration of basic living conditions and security in
the daily lives of Iraqis, reconstruction of the basic
infrastructure and a rapid relaunching of economic
activity.
The Security Council and its members bear the
primary responsibility, but the emergence of an
independent, democratic, prosperous and peaceful Iraq
is in the common interest of all Members of our
Organization. Together with its European Union
partners, the Government of Luxembourg remains
confident that through a broad mobilization the
international community will be able to make a
decisive contribution to this objective.
Year after year, the General Assembly must
address the situation in the Middle East, particularly
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because progress
towards a just and lasting peace remains difficult. Even
faced with a resumption of tension and repeated acts of
violence and terrorism, which we emphatically reject,
we have a duty and responsibility to persevere in the
search for solutions that will enable reconciliation
among the States and peoples of the region. The search
for peace must be tireless. The European Union
remains prepared and determined to play its role,
especially through its action in the Quartet. We remain
convinced that the course charted by the road map
remains the right way to break the current impasse. But
all players who are directly involved must display good
will and good faith in re-launching the peace process
by creating the indispensable conditions of confidence
and security. That is the urgent appeal that we make to
them, that is the urgent task that we must undertake.
In the face of wars and violent conflict, in the
face of new threats, in the face of violations of human
rights, in the face of poverty and underdevelopment,
the law and multilateralism are an often fragile but
irreplaceable recourse for nations. While we must try
vigorously to remedy the weaknesses and
insufficiencies in multilateral cooperation, it remains a
source of hope for the men and women of the entire
world. This is a hope that we must not betray, this is
the primary responsibility that is ours at this fifty-
eighth session of the General Assembly.


It is a
great pleasure for me to join with others who have
spoken before me in congratulating, on behalf of my
country, the Union of the Comoros, and on my own
behalf, Mr. Julian Hunte on his election to preside over
the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session. We are
convinced that, given his wisdom and extensive
experience, he will guide our work to a successful
8

outcome. I am very pleased to assure him of the full
cooperation and support of my entire delegation.
I would also like to express appreciation for the
openness demonstrated by his predecessor, His
Excellency Mr. Jan Kavan, throughout the fifty-seventh
session of the General Assembly, over which he
presided with the skill and farsightedness that we all
know so well.
I also pay tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, for his dedication to this global Organization   a
sentiment that I am sure is shared by all nations.
It goes without saying that the challenges before
us are great, as many changes are taking place in the
world at an ever-increasing rate, requiring renewed
commitment on the part of the United Nations, as well
as a strengthening of its role. Unfortunately, every day
we see evidence of the risks that such changes entail.
In this context my country, the Union of the Comoros,
joins those who have paid tribute to the memory of the
United Nations staff members who fell as a result of
the indiscriminate violence and terrorism in Baghdad,
including the Special Representative of the Secretary-
General, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Today more than ever, we should be concerned
about the direction in which the world is heading. The
world is characterized by violence, poverty and despair
  despite the fact that science and technology have
never been more advanced and wealth never more
abundant. The division of the world into developed and
developing countries does nothing to assuage our
common fears and uncertainties.
It is true that the countries of the North are,
increasingly, questioning themselves on the subject
terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. But it must be recognized that the
countries of the South, while asking themselves the
same questions, are also labouring increasingly under
the burden of debt, civil war, insecurity, poverty and
endemic disease. The pursuit of security and harmony
in the world therefore requires a sustained focus on all
countries with a view to achieving a safer, more unified
and more humane world.
Of course, as we see every day, terrorism,
cowardly and indiscriminate, thrives in poverty and
seeks to express itself through violence, exploiting the
weakest links in the global chain. It respects no
boundary, no race and no religion. As His Excellency
George W. Bush, President of the United States of
America, rightly said in his address to the General
Assembly, the victims of terrorism are also to be found
in Bali, Casablanca, Dar es Salaam, Mombassa,
Nairobi and Baghdad. We must respond, therefore, so
as to ensure that such borderless networks never gain
any respite and so as to prevent cowardice from
holding sway and destroying humanity.
In order to better combat this situation, we must
bring terrorists to justice and commit ourselves
resolutely to the long-term fight against terrorism
itself. In order to do so, we must fight frustration and
injustice and appeal for greater tolerance and for
respect for the right to differ and for the right of every
people to live in dignity.
In suppressing terrorism, however, we must guard
against any tendency to strike a blow against human
rights, and refrain from equating terrorism with certain
religions or regions. Indeed, committing such a grave
mistake could give rise to a vicious circle of hatred,
vengeance and isolationism at the global level. My
country is steadfastly committed to preventing and
combating terrorism in all its forms, and we have set
up the necessary institutional mechanisms to this end.
We appeal for greater technical and logistical support
from the international community to help us to be more
successful in this fight.
All the countries of the world   those of the
North and South alike   have a shared destiny.
Countries and peoples cannot get along without each
other. Solidarity is a necessity; complementarity is an
obligation. But we must recognize and reaffirm that we
cannot today truly talk about security in a world of
poverty. We cannot talk about peace if we do not
ensure the economic development and well-being of all
peoples. Harmony and democracy cannot reign in the
world if it is rife with inequalities and disparities that
leave entire sectors of the global population in
conditions of uncertainty, precariousness and oblivion.
We have, indeed, forgotten that humankind must
be at the centre of all of our concerns. Unfortunately,
the general feeling of uncertainty   the daily fear that
all of us experience   vividly brings to mind the fact
that, whatever the social status of particular
individuals, humankind is vulnerable and people need
each other in order to be reassured and to survive.
But the insecurity that causes so much anxiety
throughout the world and makes it seem so fragile has
9

a number of different sources. We are entitled to ask, as
we consider the current situation, if it was wise in the
past to have brought together   almost by force
people of various nationalities, given that nothing was
done to foster a common desire among them to live
together.
It should come as no surprise, therefore, that
there are inter-ethnic problems and friction between
nationalities in many States throughout the world, and
that these are a source of instability and insecurity.
That shows the seriousness of lack of respect for the
differences and even the character of each people in the
world's harmonious development.
Countries and peoples throughout the world are
searching for their integrity, their sovereignty and their
identity. Most often, of course, that generates threats to
peace and security. The same causes produce the same
effects everywhere. My country, the Union of the
Comoros   today still a victim of its colonial past
is very eloquent testimony to that. But there are similar
cases, particularly in China, in Morocco, in Palestine
and in other regions. Under those conditions, the
Comorian State is experiencing   as might be the case
for any other country   all the difficulties of achieving
real development in its desire to consolidate democracy.
Today, democracy and respect for human rights
are requirements that must be respected by every
country. It is universally established that democracy is
the most appropriate remedy to overcome the pain of
countries and of peoples. But it is also established that,
whatever the remedy, the dose must be prescribed
according to the patient's age and physical state, and
obviously one must always bear in mind the possible
side effects. So we must help every country to move at
its own pace on the path of democracy, while bearing
in mind each people's history and traditions.
The dialogue of cultures   openness towards the
other   must be a permanent inspiration in the
commitment to a peaceful and responsible international
life. Multilateralism   which is the guarantee of
participation by every nation in the world's progress
must be safeguarded and strengthened. Therefore, we
support the proposals of the Secretary-General, Mr.
Kofi Annan, for a restructuring of the Organization so
that it will be effective and can meet current
challenges. In that way, the moral authority of the
United Nations will be gradually restored and
maintained. As for the Security Council   the body
charged with maintaining peace and security   it must
be reformed and its role must be fine-tuned. That is an
essential condition for ensuring the success of its
diverse missions.
In its development, the world   if it is to be
harmonious and stable   must concern itself with and
bear in mind the most vulnerable regions and the most
disadvantaged countries. Among those, the small island
States deserve particular attention so that we can bridge
the development gap inherent to their geographical
situation. Only economic development   and thus real
solidarity between rich and poor countries   will
guarantee stability and peace in the world. Thus will
democracy and the rule of law be consolidated and
strengthened.
The New Partnership for Africa's Development
  an ambitious project conceived in Africa by
Africans for Africans   must be a reality that is
supported by and profitable for all. Debt   which is a
true burden and is truly stifling developing economies
  must be circumscribed and overcome to liberate the
countries of the South and to give them the capacity for
real involvement in global wealth creation. But, in
order to support the survival and emergence of our
economies, we must also put an end to agricultural
product subsidies in the countries of the North and let
the market have free reign. Our countries seek and
need support so that they can emerge from economic
marginalization. Our assets and our potential deserve to
be valued. Our efforts must be encouraged.
My country, which believes in Africa's ability to
take charge of itself, is facing its future with
determination and responsibility. I do not believe it is
useful to return to the ups and downs that have marked
my country's historical development   particularly the
past few years, characterized by a secessionist crisis
with tragic consequences. Today, I welcome the new-
found normality and the significant progress achieved.
We owe that success to Comorian wisdom, to the
national conscience and to the multiform assistance of
all our bilateral and multilateral partners. Today, we
must still establish the Assemblies. But the Comorians
are convinced that only real economic development can
guarantee national cohesion and ensure a secure future.
The international community's support is needed
more than ever before. I thank our partner countries
and organizations, particularly the Republic of South
Africa and the African Union, which have always had
10

confidence in the Comorian people and stand by them
in their resolve to achieve stability and well-being for
every citizen. Together, we have an opportunity to
guarantee a more just and more humane world. The
international system's weaknesses, the blindness and
the deafness, and the ill-fated and suicidal networks
must be overcome, allowing the emergence of an
international conscience, the guarantee of unity, peace
and solidarity. The world needs each of us, every
country and every difference, to guarantee its future.
Let us commit ourselves, all together, with resolve and
determination.


Allow me at the outset
to congratulate the Honourable Julian Hunte on the
occasion of his election to the important position of
President, at the fifty-eighth session, of the General
Assembly — the most representative and prestigious
organization in the world. I am convinced that his
election is recognition of both the achievements of the
country he represents and his personal merits.
Allow me also to express my gratitude to Mr. Jan
Kavan for the responsibility he showed in carrying out
his duties as President at the previous session.
I also must point out the remarkable role played
by the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, in
enhancing the authority and efficiency of the United
Nations, particularly in the context of the dramatic
events that the international community faced during
the past few years. For the entire world, the United
Nations was and continues to be an organization
serving the noble ideals of peace, equality and
economic prosperity of the peoples on our planet.
The international community has undertaken
enormous efforts to ensure that phenomena alien to the
spirit and aspirations of the contemporary world such
as poverty, oppression, terrorism and the dangers of
ecological disaster are perceived as reasons for general
concern that have in turn led to mobilization of all
nations’ forces. We are aware of how the international
community has gone beyond adopting emotive
humanitarian declarations to establish institutions and
organizations that are not only actively analysing
various problems, but are also working to correct
economic, social and political developments, wherever
they occur.
Global threats are being given a global rebuff,
and the chaos of destruction is ever more strongly
opposed by integrated ethics and new technology for
structuring international relations based on
supranational values of human civilization, the
universality of the principles of democracy, civil
freedoms and life itself.
The epochal Millennium Summit and the summits
held at Rome, Monterrey, Doha and Johannesburg
marked the foreshadowing of a new system of global
priorities aimed at preventing and neutralizing possible
threats. Clearly, that system is leaving less and less
room for resolving the individual problems of
sovereign States and is increasingly opening the way
for making use of international mechanisms to that end.
That system, which has been increasingly gaining in
modern politics, is now determining the new context of
the relationship between States and international
institutions, excluding the dependent attitude of trivial
profiting assumed by national elites towards
international assistance and requiring a responsible and
decisive approach to the issue of reforming our own
9

economies and establishing modern social and political
standards.
Undoubtedly, we are currently entering a century
of integration, an era in which traditional inter-State
barriers are coming down. Yet, it is an era in which the
local interests of some countries may in fact lead to
benefits for the entire community. Therefore, it is
extremely important to be aware that the current stage
of globalization will not disappoint us, only if, on the
way to integration — the integration of values and
standards — the initiative for taking the first step
belongs to the States themselves. That is a task that in
principle is new for all us — heads of State and
politicians.
It is not gratuitous that I began my speech with
these considerations. I did so at the outset because only
such an approach can provide for the success of the
State I represent to significant extent.
Moldova embarked on the path of independent
development 12 years ago. The chronic Transnistrian
problem, de-industrialization and economic recession,
poverty, nationalism and separatism served for a
decade as the calling card of our country.
The “first step” policy is being implemented in
Moldova in two areas of the utmost importance. First,
there is the problem of the Transnistrian settlement. We
are aware of the fundamental character of the motives
that are at the core of this 10-year-old conflict. As the
primary way to resolve these contradictions, we have
proposed that a new State constitution be drafted and
adopted through joint efforts. In the draft that currently
is being elaborated, we are insisting on giving up the
status of unitary State, which does not take into
account the profound specific characteristics of the
Transnistrian region. We are laying as the basis of the
new State draft the principles of the federative
organization of our country, which take into
consideration the long-term interests of all the regions
of Moldova.
In eliminating the effects of the nationalistic
hysteria characteristic of the early 1990s, which
divided both the society and the country, Moldova has
declared itself determined to build a harmonious multi-
ethnic society, based on principles of ethnic and
linguistic liberalism and pluralism. I believe that it is
precisely this policy that corresponds to those
integrationist trends that are replacing isolationism and
secessionism.
Unity in diversity — that is the principle of our
policy today, and that is the motto of the Moldovan
chairmanship in the Council of Europe. We are firmly
convinced that only those transformations will be able
to serve as the proper basis for resolving both the
domestic problems of the Moldovan State and the
problems concerning regional security.
In the second place, the Republic of Moldova has
proclaimed the path of European integration a priority
national strategy of the State. We are well aware of
how difficult that path is, and of the responsibility it
requires, but at the same time we firmly state that it
represents first and foremost an internal political and
economic option for Moldova. We know that this
option requires effective and comprehensive
consolidation of the market economy institutions,
further advancement of democratic reforms and the
development of civil society and the social sphere. Yet
however difficult the task before us may be, we hope
that in time our decision will lead to the establishment
of a national consensus.

Peace and security on our planet may constitute
the guarantee that all States will adopt a joint position
regarding the acknowledgement of modern social,
economic, political and legal standards. It is clear that
there is no other way. Humankind is currently more
vulnerable than ever to crises and disasters of every
scope and degree. That is why civilization today does
not have, and should not have, any local problems; nor
does it, or should it, have any dark corners where, as in
a hothouse, terrorism, repression and defiant disdain
for the opinion of the international community can
flourish.
In developing such a position, the most important
role lies with the Security Council. In that context, I
express my support for the idea of making the Security
Council more representative. The Republic of Moldova
stands for a reasonable increase in the number of
permanent and non-permanent members in the Security
Council, which would further ensure the principle of
equal geographic representation and would reflect the
interests of all regional groups. Fully aware of the
difficulty of reaching consensus on that issue, I call
upon all Members of the United Nations to make every
effort to adopt a definitive decision to that end.
The Republic of Moldova also supports the idea
of restoring the role of the General Assembly as the
10

most important, representative and deliberative body of
the United Nations. Along the same lines, I think there
is a need to consolidate further the capacity of the
Economic and Social Council as the coordinator of
United Nations funds and programmes. I am sure that
the further development of United Nations institutions
and structures will be the best proof of the viability of
the principles of the Organization, its growing prestige
and its leading role in the world. I express the hope that
the United Nations will know how to place itself at the
vanguard of current positive developments.
I am firmly convinced that the proceedings of the
fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly will take
place in a spirit of sincere cooperation and solidarity,
so that the representatives of all States will make
sustained efforts to achieve the noble goals of peace,
stability and prosperity.


Uruguay believes in the United Nations, has faith in the
United Nations, will support the Organization and will
continue to contribute to it, as it has been doing since it
became one of its founding Members. It is comforting
to note that, at this time of crisis for the Organization,
virtually all the participants in this debate have
expressed this same sentiment.
Some six decades ago, the United Nations was
created to promote and regulate multilateral
cooperation, by which the international community
agreed to address and resolve common problems. The
structure of the Organization, the functioning of its
organs, and the rights and obligations of its Members,
as formulated in the San Francisco Charter, all
reflected the international political reality of that time.
But, over the course of more than half a century,
there have been profound changes in the structure of
international society. Its actors have multiplied and
become more diverse and there have been new and
more dangerous manifestations of violence. New
threats to peace that were not foreseen by the drafters
of the Charter occur with increasing frequency. At the
same time, there has been an intensification of certain
growing trends that seriously affect the well-being of
humanity, such as the degradation of the environment,
18

the depletion of natural resources, epidemics and the
contrast between consumer societies and societies that
live in extreme poverty.
In recent years, and in particular during this
general debate, special emphasis has been placed on
the need to reform and revitalize the United Nations in
order to adapt it to current realities. Uruguay shares
this position, not only because it considers that this
Organization has not been completely effective in its
handling of some recent crises, but because it
understands that the scale of the changes in the world
today justifies the search for ways of adapting the
institution.
Although it is true that the system of collective
security established by the San Francisco Charter has
not always been able to respond to crises effectively, in
numerous cases multilateral action by the United
Nations has succeeded in restoring peace in many
regions and countries, contributed to the consolidation
of democracy, and accelerated the reconstruction of
affected countries. There are many more cases in which
the Organization, through its various organs, has
exercised positive and decisive control over crises and
conflicts, thus preventing the situation from becoming
worse and ensuring a peaceful solution.
The process of reform, which is indispensable
and cannot be delayed, should in our view be based on
the following premises.
The first is to preserve intact the purposes and
principles of the Organization, as enshrined in the
Charter of San Francisco. After all, if we all gather
here every year as the United Nations, it is because our
nations are united around the values and ideals
enshrined in the Charter and shared by all mankind,
whose permanent and universal validity transcends the
vicissitudes and accidents of history.
The second premise is that the reform process
should be aimed principally at strengthening
multilateral action, because never before has the need
to cooperate and act together to deal with international
problems been so great. Common global responses are
needed to the proliferation and diversification of
international actors; the fact that the world is getting
smaller and more and more interdependent, due to the
increase in trade and the extraordinary development of
information and communication technologies; and
above all the globalization of threats to peace, security
and the well-being of our peoples. To use the words
employed by the Secretary-General in this Assembly
two weeks ago, Uruguay believes in “collective
answers to our common problems and challenges”
(A/58/PV.7).
Two years ago, the international community,
through the United Nations organs, offered a fine
example of solidarity by taking effective multilateral
action in reaction to international terrorism, which
threatens Governments, peoples, ideologies, religions
and above all human reason, imbued with such
elementary values as tolerance, compassion, solidarity
and respect for human rights.
The attack on the headquarters of the United
Nations in Baghdad — for which we wish again to
express our most sincere condolences to the Secretary-
General — is but another example of the barbarity and
fanaticism that we can successfully fight only if we
work together. With this attack, terrorism has given us
a raw example of its destructive universality. The
deaths of Special Representative Sergio Vieira de
Mello and of other colleagues is emblematic of the
tragedy suffered.
Just as in the fight against poverty, terrorism
cannot be defeated as a conventional enemy would be
with a victorious battle. The eradication of terrorism is
an ongoing objective whose achievement requires time,
patience and perseverance. Only through a joint
approach and multilateral action directed above all at
the roots of terrorism — not only at its atrocious
manifestations — will it be possible to reduce and
hopefully to eliminate this perverse and ubiquitous
enemy and at the very least ensure its total rejection.
Uruguay, which is party to most international
anti-terrorism instruments, attaches priority to the
conclusion of a general convention against
international terrorism. In this respect, we wish to
express our satisfaction to the Secretary-General for
having chosen transnational organized crime and
terrorism as an item in the signing and accession
ceremony for treaties promoted by the Organization on
the occasion of this general debate.
The third premise to which my country subscribes
is that we must not forget that the United Nations has
for years now been engaged in a process of self-
criticism and self-reform based on the idea that
strengthening an institution means strengthening its
organs. Reforms are being implemented in three of the
main organs of the Organization. The modalities of
19

each one of the respective processes differ. In the
Security Council, we are pursuing reform of its
membership to make it more representative and to
strengthen its democratic character. In the General
Assembly, we are pursuing its revitalization so that its
decisions can regain the authority they had in the past.
In the Secretariat, the purpose of change is to enhance
its effectiveness, an objective towards which the
Secretary-General is working strenuously. These three
processes are closely linked to each other but, despite
this close link, we believe that they must continue to be
pursued, as is now being done, separately, each one in
its respective forum.
For Uruguay, one of the most important aspects
of these reforms is the strengthening of the General
Assembly, over which you, Sir, are presiding with such
dignity and whose decisions are the most genuine
manifestations of the will of the international
community. Recent reforms are aimed at making this
organ more effective, but more profound changes are
required in order to restore the authority which the
Charter grants it and which the Assembly has exerted
in the past. We believe that there is still a great deal of
room for reform. Obsolete structures and procedures
remain. We also need to re-examine and evaluate the
organization, conduct and outcome of the annual
session that brings us all here together every year,
including the idea of concentrating the negotiation of
dozens of resolutions into a few weeks. Uruguay will
support far-reaching measures to revitalize the
Assembly. A better relationship between the different
organs is no doubt another of the necessary areas for
reform.
The fourth and final premise is that the efforts to
reform our institutions must be complemented by
equally vigorous efforts to change our own conduct as
Members of the United Nations. When we agreed to
become Members of this Organization, we freely
agreed to fulfil in good faith the international
obligations arising from the numerous treaties,
conventions and other instruments that have resulted
from the comprehensive legislative work accomplished
by this Assembly, United Nations agencies and other
international organizations and conferences.
However, the provisions of many of these
instruments are not being implemented. At times, in a
misguided defence of sovereignty, common
expectations are thwarted in order to satisfy national
interests that frequently are not of decisive importance.
Protection of the environment and the law of the sea
are good, but not the only examples of areas in which a
sharp contrast can be seen between the extensive
legislation that exists and the degree of
implementation. Consequently, year after year, the
competent international agencies and organizations and
scientific authorities report the ongoing deterioration of
the general environment, the abusive exploitation of
natural resources, pollution of the seas and reduction or
extinction of marine species.
The question of the fulfilment of obligations
assumed is the weak link in the chain of
multilateralism. We must seek ways of ensuring respect
for international obligations. Over the long term, the
satisfaction of common interests is the best way of
satisfying the national interest.
Without prejudice to this profession of faith in the
United Nations, Uruguay, a country of Latin America,
is actively participating in the Organization of
American States and in the inter-American system in
general. Uruguay is also fully committed to regional
integration processes, in particular to the Common
Market of the South. We see in these mechanisms a
promising avenue to help overcome the difficulties that
result from our status as a developing country emerging
from the most serious economic crisis of its history and
trying to overcome the obstacles preventing it from
achieving insertion into the global economy, such as,
for example, the huge subsidies that the industrialized
countries grant to their agricultural producers.
In this connection, finally, we cannot but mention
the recent ministerial conference of the World Trade
Organization, held in Cancún, whose lack of progress,
in our opinion, is a negative signal to a world that is
demanding fairer and more balanced rules, especially
for countries such as Uruguay, whose economies rely
primarily on the production of agricultural goods. We
are hopeful that renewed impetus in the negotiations
will permit us to achieve positive results in the coming
weeks and months in Geneva, to the benefit of the less
developed countries and the very future of international
trade.
I close my statement conveying my country’s
satisfaction and pride in seeing you, Sir, the Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Saint Lucia, a friendly country of
our region, presiding over this Assembly. I wish you
every success in your work.


On
behalf of the President of the Republic of Panama,
Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodr'guez, and on my own
behalf, I extend my warmest congratulations to Mr.
Hunte on his election as President of the General
Assembly at this session. The delegation of Panama is
deeply gratified that he has been appointed to guide our
debates, because he represents here the commitment of
developing countries, and in particular those of the
Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, to
multilateral efforts to achieve peace, respect for human
rights, and sustainable development.
Stability and security, in their broadest sense, are
things to which all humanity aspires. We will never
achieve these objectives, however, if, in attempting to
shape this new world, we counter the aspirations of our
peoples or attempt to base it on the systematic
development of grand military alliances. Human
security, which is sought by all States, large and small,
depends exclusively on our dedication to the collective
security architecture that we have concentrated in the
United Nations. Our duty, then, is to defend and
strengthen at all costs our Organization’s objectives
and purposes, in particular the integrity and authority
of our international legal system.
The world has been through an extraordinary
experience this year, one that was hotly debated and the
fallout from which is still far from clear. It is not too
much to say that the trepidations over the events in Iraq
that were felt here in the United Nations and beyond
have had a number of repercussions both on the
internal work of this Organization and on the conduct
of international relations.
Nevertheless, Panama is convinced that the
differences that were aired in the Security Council are
a clear demonstration that it has functioned as it
should; that the diversity of opinions and approaches
that exist in the world were aired there without
reservations; and that, although differences remained at
the end of the process, it had the marginal benefit of
highlighting the measurement and control requirements
that must be taken into account in the Security Council.
Apart from these differences, the Security
Council acted appropriately in establishing a pragmatic
relationship with the occupying Powers in Iraq by
means of resolution 1483 (2003) of May 22. In
addition, our Organization is demonstrating that it has
an irreplaceable role to play in the humanitarian field,
just as it has in the political, diplomatic, economic and
financial spheres.
The shocking slaughter that took place in
Baghdad on 19 August and the killings of 22
September — painful acts of terrorism that took the
lives of many national and international civil servants
of the United Nations, including Special Representative
Sergio Vieira de Mello — must move us to consider
and adopt urgent measures to ensure that the
international community takes concerted action as soon
as possible towards the reconstruction of Iraq. To all
their colleagues and to the great United Nations family,
we express the most sincere condolences of Mireya
Moscoso, President of Panama, her Government and
the people of Panama.
During the Millennium Summit, Panama asked
Member States, among other things, to return to the
original spirit of the United Nations Charter. Consistent
with that request, we hope that all of us will accept the
obligation to reconcile ourselves with the general
interests of the international community and to avoid
acting solely in light of our particular strategic,
military or political interests.
We repeat that request today, and call attention to
the urgent need for strengthening the multilateral
system as the guarantee of stability and security, which
are fundamental for peaceful coexistence. Today,
perhaps more than ever before, we must tackle the task
of reforming our Organization so that the General
Assembly can fulfil its proper function as the principal
political body, and the Security Council can have a
greater capacity to deal with the new challenges that
the end of the cold war has brought with it.
To achieve this objective, Panama stresses the
contents of the Declaration on the Strengthening of the
United Nations and Security Council Reform, adopted
at the Eleventh Summit of Heads of State and
Government of the Rio Group, which met at Asunci n,
Paraguay, in August 1997, calling upon Member States
of the United Nations to correct the present imbalances
in the composition of the Security Council, improve its
decision-making mechanisms, and bring greater
transparency to the conduct of its work.
21

We firmly believe that an extremely important
element in this and other tasks facing us is the
announcement by the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan,
that he will establish a high-level panel comprising
eminent personalities from all regions of the world.
Panama and the world congratulate him on having
proposed this initiative.
We also wish to have the General Assembly
become the forum in which to seek a solution to the
problem between the People’s Republic of China and
Taiwan. As Panama has noted on previous occasions,
Taiwan has, in a sense, been left hanging in time and
space, protected and yet unprotected. Recently, in
response to the need to combat the severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, the World
Health Organization was able to provide direct and
effective assistance to Taiwan without violating or
weakening the fundamental elements of the positions
of the parties to that controversy. We believe that the
United Nations system could act in several ways to
help the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan
resolve their dispute in a peaceful way, while we fulfil
our most cherished objective of responding, without
exception, to the social needs of humanity.
Last July we held here the first Biennial Meeting
of States to Consider the Implementation of the 2001
Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light
Weapons in All Its Aspects. We are still quite far from
achieving our objectives, both nationally and
internationally, but we believe that that biennial
meeting injected new vigour into the efforts that we
must all make to keep our commitments.
We repeat our position, put forward at that
meeting, that the purposes and code of conduct put
before Member States in the first two articles of the
Charter must be crucial for securing peace and
understanding among the nations of the world.
We would also stress that the massive clandestine
trafficking in small arms and light weapons, which
fuels internal conflicts, dictatorships, guerrilla
movements and international terrorism, can only be
blocked through close international cooperation. With
equal determination, we must pursue the networks of
traffickers in narcotics and diamonds, which use bogus
firms and banks, thrive by corrupting public officials
and are constantly working to destroy our societies.
In a follow-up to the Monterrey Summit, we in
the countries of the South renew our call for creating a
more just and efficient financial system, for eliminating
the inequities of globalization and financing for
development, and for raising the depressed prices of
our raw materials and other export products. As we
have stated on previous occasions, there is also an
urgent need to agree on the proper mechanisms for
forestalling financial crises and finding a solution to
unsustainable external debt burdens, in accordance
with resolution 57/240.
We now approach the High-level Dialogue on
Financing for Development, which will be held in this
city on 29 and 30 October 2003. We must seize this
opportunity to reinvigorate this part of our activity, and
to review the progress achieved in ensuring effective
Secretariat support, pursuant to resolution 57/273.
At the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee
to consider proposals for a comprehensive and integral
international convention to promote and protect the
rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, it was
decided to create a working group to prepare and
submit a draft text for negotiation among Member
States and accredited observers.
Panama’s position is represented in the
Declaration of Quito of 11 April 2003, which, in brief,
called for promoting and protecting the rights and
dignity of the 600 million persons living with
disabilities around the world, the great majority of
whom suffer constantly from poverty and lack of
understanding. The international convention that we
seek, as noted in the Declaration, must reflect “the
universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all
human rights and the principle of non-discrimination.”
These concepts are thoroughly established in the
United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, international human rights agreements
and other related instruments.
It is timely to refer here to the persistent and
growing worldwide HIV/AIDS pandemic. Latin
American and Caribbean countries, too, are confronted
with a serious situation in this area. The Pan American
Health Organization met in Washington on 11 June to
address this issue, and noted that the demographic and
social impact of HIV/AIDS in our region threatens to
undermine the ability to carry out development
projects.
We therefore call on the United Nations system to
make available to Latin America and the Caribbean
adequate resources to prevent this scourge. As is well
22

known, our region today has some 2.5 million people
suffering from this terrible disease.
It is clear that the moral and technical presence of
the United Nations is essential in efforts to eradicate
political, racial and religious intolerance, and in
support of negotiations for pacification, reunification,
self-determination and reconstruction, in order to
ensure that the peoples concerned can enjoy the
benefits of development.
Having said this, I urge our Organization to find
expeditious ways of helping those who are committed
to the so-called road map for resolving the conflict
between Palestine and Israel to secure the active
cooperation of the countries of the region and of the
Governments of Israel and the Palestine National
Authority, so as to overcome the current scepticism
over any imminent possibility of seeing the two
peoples living in peace, within secure boundaries, as
two sovereign States.
Ensuring that that urgent task is carried out
successfully will require the ongoing participation of
all of the neighbouring States. They must demonstrate
a joint willingness to become guarantors of the stability
and security of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples and
guardians of strict adherence to the Charter of the
United Nations and to Security Council resolutions.
I would like to conclude by referring briefly to
the International Criminal Court. With the election of
its Judges and Prosecutor, the Court has become a
reality. We recognize the concern that has been
aroused, particularly among the States parties to the
Rome Statute, by the fact that the Security Council, in
its resolution 1487 (2003), renewed for one year the
provisions of resolution 1422 (2002) with regard to
immunity in cases relating to peacekeeping operations,
as well as by the fact that bilateral immunity
agreements have been negotiated separately by several
countries on the basis of article 98 of the Statute.
Panama, a firm supporter of the International
Criminal Court, believes that these pragmatic
agreements are a response to a temporary situation, and
that they cannot and must not detract from the purposes
and objectives of the Rome Statute. As States parties,
we cannot shrink from the obligations imposed by our
domestic jurisdictions in matters relating to war
crimes, and we are therefore convinced that the
political concerns and suspicions of today will
disappear as it becomes apparent that persons who
commit monstrous crimes against humanity can never
be shielded by any State or protected by dreams of
impunity. Any State that holds to a different
interpretation on this point will be swimming against
the tide of human progress and international law.


On behalf of the
Government and people of the Republic of Suriname, I
would at the outset like to take this opportunity to
extend to you, Sir, a fellow brother of the Caribbean,
and to the other members of the Bureau my sincere
congratulations on your unanimous election to guide
the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly.
Suriname shares in the satisfaction experienced
by the Caribbean region. We are convinced that, given
your vast diplomatic experience and skills, you will be
able to guide the affairs of the fifty-eighth session of
the General Assembly in a most effective manner. In
this regard, I can assure you that Suriname will support
you in every possible way.
My delegation would also like to express its
gratitude to Mr. Jan Kavan, the President of the
General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session, for the
manner in which he chaired the affairs of this organ.
We wish him well in his future endeavours.
Likewise, my Government would like to reiterate
its support for Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His
dedication to the goals and spirit of the Organization
has been exemplary and has served him well in
protecting the interests of humanity.
My Government strongly deplores the atrocious
terrorist attack on the United Nations headquarters in
Baghdad. Our thoughts are with the Secretary-General
and with the bereaved families of those who perished
as a result of the incident. We especially mourn the
demise of Sergio Vieira de Mello, a dedicated United
Nations staff member who laboured for the benefit of
many troubled societies.
The opportunities that arise from developments in
the world today are, unfortunately, not within reach of
all the world’s children. This world order, which is
well-developed on the one side, copes with serious
development setbacks in the economic and social
sectors on the other. Economic downfalls, declining
health services and the persistence of an international
non-supportive environment are all circumstances that
affect the ability of Governments, in particular in the
developing countries, to adequately implement policies
that are required. There exists a wider disparity
between the haves and the have-nots, not only in
economic terms, but also in terms of opportunities
offered by the rapid development in the digital sector.
Globalization can become an avenue to global
development only if it becomes all-inclusive and
assumes a human face.
This idea was behind the sense of urgency and
understanding that participants in the global
consultative process for development cooperation
brought to the meetings in Doha, Monterrey and
Johannesburg. These meetings generated the needed
political commitment and momentum, as did the
Millennium Summit, at the highest political level. We
must maintain this momentum and continue to
5

demonstrate the political will and energy to implement
the decisions carefully drafted at these meetings.
To accelerate progress towards these goals, there
is a need for a set of policies that generate stronger
economic growth, complemented by action to enhance
the capabilities of poor people to participate in growth
and to access key social services. As agreed in Doha
and in Monterrey, these efforts should enjoy stronger
support from the international community, in particular
through increased market access for developing
countries.
My Government also holds the view that it is
necessary for all relevant actors to continue to be
involved in the process that should lead to the
coordinated and integrated implementation of the
outcomes of these meetings. Such an approach should
put us on a path of economic and social development
that reduces poverty and works for all the world’s
peoples.
International peace and security predominantly
occupy the international agenda. The maintenance of
international peace and security is a major concern of
the international community, as declining security
affects the protection of human rights and the very
existence of all human beings. It is therefore important
that global security be based on a secured and just
framework that promotes the peaceful coexistence of
all States. The Government of Suriname is of the
considered view that the United Nations and its Charter
offer the best guarantee for the maintenance of
international peace and security. Abidance by the
security framework laid down in the Charter is
therefore of utmost importance.
Declining security affects every member of the
international community. It is therefore essential to
increase the involvement of the general membership of
the Organization in the agenda and work of the
Security Council, while an increase in the membership
of the Council should reflect the international political
and economic realities and security needs of
contemporary global society.
The principle of human-centred security might
offer the best possible and most effective road to travel
in order to meet the security needs of today’s world. A
commitment to human-centred security will generate
more integrated international cooperation in many
related fields, from conflict prevention to disarmament,
including respect for the rule of law and for human
rights.
The United Nations must continue to be
innovative in its search for effective ways and means to
increase global security. We must continue to argue for
more tolerance and understanding among peoples.
Suriname is one of the most ethnically varied nations
in the world, where people of different religions and
racial backgrounds live and work peacefully together,
and with a Government and Parliament in which
Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Jews form one front
to collectively work on the development of our country.
The dialogue among civilizations, in particular
among religions, must be encouraged. We must
furthermore seek to remove those circumstances that
give rise to situations that foster global insecurity. This
task must be given a central place in any overall
strategy to increase international peace and security.
Maintaining international peace and security must
increasingly become a common responsibility
involving all actors, Governments and peoples alike.
The restructuring of the United Nations must also
result in achieving a more effective General Assembly.
It is important that the General Assembly be
perceived by the general public as an important
international body contributing to its development and
prosperity. A restructured General Assembly, as the
sole universal deliberative body, must continue to
spearhead the debate on development, but must also
incorporate into its agenda other issues of a global
nature that are of special importance to humanity.
The common task ahead is to collectively work
towards sustainable human development and to create a
global society in which equity, equality and equal
rights and opportunities exist for all human beings and
extreme poverty can be eradicated. Achieving such a
global society requires the involvement, determination
and commitment of every Government, civil society
and business sector, as well as coordinated and
comprehensive actions by all these actors in the global
fight against poverty and injustice.


You have assumed the presidency of the General
Assembly, Sir, at a particularly critical time, when the
applicability of rules, the reliability of mechanisms and
even the authority of institutions have been called into
question. We are now living through a period of
uncertainty and questioning — uncertainty regarding
the validity of certain fundamental principles that have
been taken for granted and questions about the path to
follow and the actions to be taken. Against such a
difficult backdrop and at a time that is, to say the least,
unpredictable, it is encouraging to know that we can
count on your experience and myriad talents to guide
our work. Guinea-Bissau is gratified by your election
and congratulates you most warmly.
Our programme of work is a heavy one because
once again we have been unable to draft an agenda that
is more streamlined and less repetitive. As in the past,
we will therefore be confronted by claims that are all
equally legitimate; unfortunately, however, as always,
rancour will occasionally raise its head. This
demonstrates the extent to which you, Sir, will require
the contribution of each and every one of us in order
successfully to complete your mission. In this respect, I
note with satisfaction that all delegations that have
preceded us at this rostrum have assured you of their
full support. You may rely on the full cooperation of
the delegation of Guinea-Bissau. This is all the more
true since you have established your mandate under the
sign of action, for it is clear that it is indeed vigorous
action that we shall need to convince those who today
doubt the ability of the United Nations to meet their
expectations.
We need resolute action to ensure respect for the
principles and implementation of the objectives of the
Charter. We need collective action to strengthen the
United Nations capacity to resolve such urgent issues
as poverty and hunger throughout the world, the
HIV/AIDS epidemic, the right to full enjoyment of
human rights, control of weapons of mass destruction,
and the deterioration of the environment, our most
precious heritage, to name but a few. We need
concerted, multilateral and vigorous action against
terrorism and all those practice, finance, instigate or
are involved in it and commit such cowardly and
dastardly crimes as the attack on the United Nations
headquarters in Baghdad. We also need action to
promote the adoption of urgent measures to guarantee
the security of the Organization’s personnel.
We need urgent and consistent action, too,
designed to extinguish hotbeds of tension, resolve
23

conflicts and restore peace wherever it is threatened.
We need thoughtful, participatory and realistic action
designed to improve the functioning of the United
Nations system by introducing the necessary structural
reforms and more democratic, transparent and rational
practices in the Security Council, in particular, and
here in the General Assembly as well. We need
equitable and united action to redress inequality in
trade, which was recently denounced at the World
Trade Organization Conference in Cancún, and to
advance socio-economic development in the most
disadvantaged countries.
Each of us is aware of the daunting nature of the
intricate task facing us. All these objectives and many
others require of us the steadfast will to harmonize our
points of view while keeping in mind the crux of the
matter — our shared responsibility to work together in
the interests of all Member States. This collective
endeavour can and must succeed, without, however,
obliging us to renounce our principles or ignore those
rules, the relevance and utility of which we are well
aware. To that end, we have a unique and irreplaceable
framework — the United Nations, the sole truly global
forum.
To be sure, our Organization is far from perfect,
but how could it be otherwise in a world as complex
and unequal as ours? Moreover, we are the United
Nations, as was so well recalled by the Secretary-
General before this Assembly. Thus, it is not
unreasonable to believe that, if we agree and if we so
decide, our Organization could be restructured and
better adapted to the rapid transformations we are
witnessing and, in response to the hopes of all, more
capable of meeting the growing challenges. The
necessary reforms are possible so long as Member
States have the genuine and unflagging political will to
implement them.
We have undeniably been sorely tried and tested
this year. The tragic events of 19 August are still vivid
in our memories, along with the bitterly painful
memories of our late colleagues and friends, who were
killed in a cowardly manner and cruelly wrested from
their families. We will never be able fully to express
our debt to Sergio and all the others who lost their lives
in the service of the United Nations and the noble goals
and ideals that we champion and shall continue to
champion together. We must emerge from this ordeal
more resolute and more united. Circumstances require
no less and we are ethically compelled to do so.
I wish here and now to congratulate the
Secretary-General on his leadership and dedication to
the cause of peace and to hail the dignity, compassion
and humanism that he demonstrated in the face of such
a tragic ordeal as the brutal, wrongful and unforeseen
deaths of colleagues and personal friends.
The United Nations, for the first time in a long
while, has been bypassed — indeed, forced to take a
back seat — in the management of a crisis, the nature
and gravity of which required it to play its due role
therein. Beyond the differences that emerged within the
international community, and in particular among the
members of the Security Council, regarding the right
way to deal with an outlaw, recidivist and dangerous
regime, the issue of Iraq once again highlighted the
limitations of an Organization that, while universal,
nevertheless depends on a small number of its
Members. That is one of the reasons behind the many
frustrations voiced year after year from this rostrum.
Our continent, Africa, still faces difficulties of all
kinds. Poverty and endemic malnutrition are
compounded by the agonies of HIV/AIDS, which
continues to kill millions of individuals. There is also
the growing number of conflicts and the proliferation
of small arms, which pose an ongoing threat to the
peace and stability of the countries of our continent.
This unfortunate picture is particularly accurate
for West Africa, where several armed conflicts have
erupted in recent years, with Liberia as their epicenter.
Everyone is now aware of what some of us, the
Republic of Guinea in particular, have been saying for
years: The civil war in Liberia is contagious and the
trigger of a series of crises and armed conflicts in the
subregion. It has now touched countries that were once
held up as examples of political stability and economic
growth and were believed to be immune to such
disasters.
My delegation should like to welcome the
progress recently made in Liberia. The people of that
country deserve finally to live in peace. It is a people
that, as we all know, has suffered greatly from many
years of war and destruction. We were also totally
shocked to see all those children being used as cannon
fodder in a war that was unjustified and unjustifiable.
We also note with satisfaction the progress made in
Sierra Leone. There, too, it was high time for peace to
be restored. We are also pleased that our friends in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo have finally
24

committed themselves on the path to progress and
national reconciliation.
My country, Guinea-Bissau, has undergone some
changes, the nature of which and the methods used to
effect them have been subject to criticism, running the
gamut from simple regret to formal condemnation.
These are positions of principle that we understand and
accept, for we have never ceased to proclaim our
devotion to democracy and the rule of law. I recall here
that my country was one of the first in Africa to wage
an exemplary liberation struggle on behalf of freedom,
human rights and democracy.
However, the sad realities of life, particularly
when they are characterized by chronic and dangerous
constitutional instability, can unfortunately lead to the
overthrow of an existing regime specifically to prevent
the exacerbation of social and political tensions in the
country that could lead to confrontation or even civil
war.
In Guinea-Bissau, a military committee decided
to reflect in action the hopes for change of the majority
of the population. Not a single shot was fired. No one
in Guinea-Bissau has been arrested and I welcome the
fact that the military has rejected any consideration of
exercising power. In such circumstances, it is hardly
surprising that the people have adhered to this
movement, which has effected the changes they
desired. Indeed, the people’s support was total.
The members of the military committee for the
restitution of the constitutional and democratic order
were in fact acclaimed as genuine liberators. In
Guinea-Bissau, we had been in an untenable situation.
Our people, whose courage and dignity cannot be
overemphasized, had had enough. They had reached
the limit of what one can decently ask someone to put
up with. I cannot sufficiently reiterate the extent to
which our people deserve to be encouraged, supported
and assisted.
Now that we have decided to turn the page, to
look towards the future and to determine how we, the
citizens of Guinea-Bissau, can be reconciled, unite our
forces, create synergy and act together for the well-
being of our people, the international community
should intercede on our behalf and to provide the
financial assistance we need. It is indeed financial
assistance that we need, because our country and our
State are destitute. We need international assistance to
recover, to meet our challenges and to ensure that our
people can eat. We need to see to it that those who
chose freedom some 30 years ago can finally see it
flourish, enjoy its benefits and understand why they
fought and why they have a right to a decent and better
life.
I should like to say here that, right now in our
country, a process is under way that is bringing
together all the vital forces of our nation. The political
parties, the military committee and civil society —
everyone has come together to meet the challenge as
one and to answer the call of the people to join forces
and work together. As I speak before this Assembly,
the membership of the Government is under discussion.
Thanks to concerted action and a professional and
intensive analysis of the situation in our country, we
have been able to adopt an interim charter that
specifies all the stages required to restore as soon as
possible the constitutional and democratic order that
we and the international community wish to see return
to Guinea-Bissau.
An Interim President has been chosen by
consensus. This President is dedicated to working for
the unity of the country. He intends to strengthen
national unity and to serve as a catalyst so that we can
return to our ideal of progress and freedom.
In conclusion, I should like to thank our brothers
and sisters of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) subregion, who have striven
to help us get back on our feet, discuss and find the
most appropriate solutions to our problems. I thank
first of all the Heads of State of Ghana, Senegal and
Nigeria, who have visited Guinea-Bissau, as well as the
ECOWAS ministers, who have never failed to support
Guinea-Bissau. I also wish to note the assistance
provided to us by the Community of Portuguese-
Speaking Countries, which dispatched the Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Timor-Leste to advise us and to
voice the solidarity of that linguistic community, to
which we belong.
A country’s national unity is its most precious
asset. I cannot overemphasize that fact and I hope that I
shall soon see democracy fully restored in my country.
Above all, however, I wish to see the people of Guinea-
Bissau happy. It is a proud and dignified people that
has suffered in silence — a most eloquent silence —
and that deserves the trust and assistance of the
international community.
25


Allow me, at the outset, to congratulate you
on your election to the presidency of the fifty-eighth
session of the General Assembly. This session will be
one of the most decisive ones for the United Nations.
In that spirit, I welcomed the call of the Secretary-
General to heads of State and Government to actively
participate in the work of this session.
I have come to New York to solemnly reiterate
Bulgaria’s steadfast support for the United Nations. Its
principles, objectives and the spirit of solidarity that
inspires it are at the very core of my country’s foreign
policy. I should like to pay sincere tribute to the
remarkable efforts of the men and women who work
for the Organization in every corner of the world. The
terrorist attack against the United Nations in Baghdad
on 19 August reminded us that nothing that we wish to
do through the United Nations would be possible
without the self-sacrifice of those people. I take this
opportunity to honour the memory of Sergio Vieira de
Mello and his colleagues, and I express once again the
most sincere condolences of the people of Bulgaria to
their families.
The barbaric act of 19 August sounded the alarm:
terrorism is far from being vanquished; the vigilance of
all United Nations Member States must be redoubled
and the effectiveness of their efforts tripled. Indeed, the
very function of the Security Council’s Counter-
Terrorism Committee cannot truly be effective unless it
is supported by regional and subregional organizations.
It is a question of creating a genuine global anti-
terrorist action network in which a high-priority role
naturally devolves to the European Union, to the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE). In my view, it is important that all United
Nations Member States sign and ratify as soon as
possible the 12 Conventions related to the fight against
terrorism, as the Republic of Bulgaria has done,
without, however, forgetting to address the origin —
indeed, the root causes — of these desperate acts.
At the end of this year, Bulgaria will conclude its
two-year mandate as a non-permanent member of the
Security Council. The conjunction of circumstances
caused our Council membership to coincide with a
particularly dynamic — indeed, dramatic — phase in
international life, during which the very credibility of
the United Nations was put to the test. It is obviously
too early to draw all the possible conclusions from that
experience, but one thing is clear: peace and stability in
the world need the United Nations now more than ever
before. In other words, there is no alternative to the
United Nations.
We note that the credibility of the United Nations,
and particularly of the Security Council, have been
called into question each time Member States have
seen their unity shaken. It is in that spirit that Bulgaria
is doing its best to avoid the pitfalls of discord.
We fervently hope that the Council’s unity will be
restored on the thorny Iraqi issue. The stability and
prosperity of Iraq — which is emerging from a
ferocious dictatorship — are in the interest of the entire
international community. Contributing to the country’s
stabilization in a concrete way, Bulgaria is working at
the diplomatic level to find a formula that will enable
the Iraqis to recover their sovereignty as swiftly as
possible through a central and important United
Nations role in the political process under way in the
country.
It is essential that the Council be able to provide
the United Nations a clear and realistic mandate that
would facilitate the mission of the Secretary-General
and his associates in Iraq — a mission that is already
extremely complex and perilous. I believe that the
provisional Governing Council represents the
international community’s best partner for helping the
Iraqis to rebuild their country. In that context, Bulgaria
7

hopes to resume its traditional friendly relations with
Iraq.
My Government is very concerned as a result of
events in the Middle East. The road map elaborated by
the Quartet remains valid and must be implemented by
the parties concerned. The Government of Bulgaria
reiterates its appeal to the Palestinian Authority to fully
meet its obligations under the road map to stop suicide
attacks against civilians. We call on the Israeli
Government to stop extrajudicial executions and to
renounce its plans to expel President Yasser Arafat.
Although South-Eastern Europe is experiencing a
period of peace, accelerated development and better
prospects for integration into European and Euro-
Atlantic institutions, there are still points of tension
that cannot be ignored. Obviously, I am thinking of the
situation in Kosovo, where the United Nations is
playing an irreplaceable role. Bulgaria hopes for a
multi-ethnic, democratic and prosperous Kosovo, as
envisaged by Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
The recent acts of violence make us think that the
enemies of that particular Kosovo have not given up. I
should like to take this opportunity to emphasize the
importance that my country attaches to respect for and
protection of religious monuments in Kosovo. I can
affirm that the solution to the Kosovo problem can be
found in dialogue — particularly dialogue between
Pristina and Belgrade — that respects the right of all
the province’s inhabitants to live in peace, whatever
their ethnic affiliation.
Two years after having had the opportunity to
speak before the General Assembly, I have the
privilege to share with Members Bulgaria’s significant
progress in attaining its principal foreign policy
objective: joining the European Union and NATO. In
2004, Bulgaria will become a member of the Atlantic
Alliance. We are about to conclude negotiations with
the European Union with a view to acceding to it on 1
January 2007. Such progress will enable my country to
be even more effective in the implementation of the
principles and ideals of the Charter of the United
Nations.
Beginning 1 January 2004, Bulgaria will assume
the chairmanship of the OSCE for one year. The
Bulgarian chairmanship of that important regional body
will devote priority attention to cooperation with the
United Nations. In our view, the experience
accumulated by the OSCE with regard to organizing
and observing free and democratic elections could be
as useful to the United Nations as to other regional
forums. The defence and consolidation of human rights
are naturally part of our priorities.
It is difficult for me to conclude without
mentioning what I believe to be the main thread
running through the discourse in this Hall — the future
of the United Nations. One thing is certain: at a time of
globalization, the sole institution of multilateralism
that is universal in nature is in fact irreplaceable. The
great issues of the modern world - international peace
and security, the fight against poverty and for
development, the defence and promotion of human
rights, and protection of the environment and of human
health — cannot find lasting solutions except through
the efforts of, and within the framework of, the United
Nations.
It goes without saying that the United Nations can
meet these formidable challenges only if it undergoes a
profound process of reform. Reform must be
undertaken without violating the principles or spirit of
the Charter. It must be carried out with determination,
but not in haste.
The Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, has
identified the genuine problems that we, the Member
States, must tackle. As always, he has asked the right
questions. My Government supports his efforts to assist
Member countries in crafting a clear and far-sighted
vision of the future of the United Nations, in particular
by means of his idea of appointing a group of eminent
personalities to provide ideas for such reforms.
Bulgaria is ready to participate in that act of collective
reflection, which will require both courage and
wisdom.