I extend to you, Madam, the
congratulations and best wishes of the Government and
the people of the Fiji Islands. The General Assembly is
to be commended for accepting your candidature to
become the third woman to assume the post of
President of the Assembly. That recognizes the critical
role that women play in the development of humanity
in our global village. We assure you of the support of
my Government during your tenure.
 We also extend our gratitude to your predecessor,
His Excellency Mr. Jan Eliasson, for his tireless efforts
in the United Nations reform process, to which he has
applied his personal skills and knowledge. While much
is still to be resolved, his contributions thus far to the
reform process have started the ball rolling. It is up to
us to maintain the momentum.
 Fiji, its Government and its people wish to
honour and express our appreciation to the outgoing
Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan.
His tireless efforts to promote peace and reconciliation
in the world are well recognized. Ghana should be
justly proud of its son. As a nation of the developing
world, we are just as proud that he has been able to
project our hopes — most prominently, in the
development agenda of the Organization. We respect
his achievements in leading the United Nations during
his tenure of office. His service to peoples around the
world, and the patience, courage and determination that
he has demonstrated daily in facing the world, despite
the barbs and criticisms thrown his way, are
commendable. We ask him to accept our deepest
gratitude and profound appreciation for all that he has
done. We extend best wishes for the future to him and
to his family.
 On this occasion, following our successful
general elections held in May of this year, I am pleased
to be able to report to the Assembly that all
international observers who attended the holding of the
general elections in Fiji have concluded that the result
was democratic and a fair reflection of the popular will
of the people.
 The rebuilding of our nation after the disaster that
struck us in 2000 is going very well indeed. It was
strengthened following the formation of the multiparty
Government in accordance with the requirements of
our Constitution. We now have a Cabinet comprising
ministers drawn from the majority Soqosoqo Duavata
ni Lewenivanua (SDL) Party and the Fiji Labour Party,
as the party that qualified to be invited to be
represented in Cabinet. We also have ministers drawn
from the independent members of our elected House of
Representatives. This means that, for the first time in
its history, Fiji has a cabinet that is truly representative
of its multi-ethnic communities.
 Ministers from the two major races in the country
and those from the minority groups are working well
together in collaborative and consultative decision-
making. We are united by the common purpose of
taking our country forward, for the benefit of every
citizen.
 Mr. Muñoz (Chile), Vice-President, took the
Chair.
 This multi-ethnic arrangement for good
governance has received overwhelming approval and
support from all our communities. It has given our
country reasons to be optimistic. People from all races
now feel more confident and secure about their future.
We believe that forming a multi-ethnic Government
that is representative of our different communities, and
making it work, is the approach that has eluded us for a
long time, but one which will ensure long-term peace
and stability in Fiji. That new form of inclusive
Government is also underpinning our drive for
continued improvements in Fiji’s economic
performance.
 The plea from Fiji is for the United Nations
Member countries to strengthen their joint resolve to

5 06-53615

oppose terrorism everywhere in the world. Fiji is
committed to a world in which peace and prosperity
are the cornerstones of all societies and communities.
We consider it an honour to serve the cause of peace
under the banners of the United Nations and other
peacekeeping arrangements, including that under the
Pacific Islands Forum.
 Where there are potential internal crises and
disorder, we support the Secretary-General’s concept of
conflict prevention. However, where the United
Nations mandates intervention for peace, we are ready
to contribute. Peacekeeping personnel from Fiji are
working in Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, the Sinai, the
Solomon Islands, the Sudan and Timor-Leste. We
would like to thank the United Nations and all those
countries that have assisted Fiji in honouring its
commitment to international peace and security. We
welcome the intention of other countries to assist us in
that matter. We do so with humility, knowing that there
is more peace to keep and to build in the world today,
and that we have acquired competence to offer to
humanity.
 Peace and security initiatives have undergone a
number of reviews recently to benefit peacekeeping
operations. Fiji notes the creation of the peace
stabilization force in Lebanon and the consultative
process that preceded it as an example of an existing
organization’s being tailored to suit a given situation.
We should not be afraid to make changes for the better.
The best practices derived from Bougainville and the
Solomon Islands are examples that can be utilized
elsewhere.
 The Peacebuilding Commission was established
primarily to ensure that countries that have emerged
from conflict do not regress to their status quo ante.
Fiji commends that initiative and appeals for
everyone’s support. I welcome the support given to Fiji
as an inaugural member of the Peacebuilding
Commission.
 We in the Pacific remain committed to ensuring
that our region remains one of permanent peace and
stability. Next month, Fiji will host the meeting of the
leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum. The finalization
of the Pacific Plan will be the main focus of the
meeting. The Plan provides a framework for
cooperation and mutual assistance in development,
good governance and long-term peace and security. We
commend those countries from outside our region that
have pledged to work and to assist us in the
implementation of the Plan.
 The Pacific Islands Forum leaders welcomed
their summit meetings earlier this year with China,
Japan and France. We commend them for their
development support and their leadership in promoting
lasting peace in the region. We maintain that those
initiatives ought to be sustained and can be ensured by
engaging all parties in constructive dialogue.
 The United Nations is renowned for addressing
and finding resolutions for the problems of the small
and marginalized. Fiji is a small island developing
State with a highly vulnerable economy. Our economy
is open and is over 70 per cent dependent on export
trade to earn foreign exchange to meet its development
needs.
 We find that the multilateral trading rules
emanating from the World Trade Organization (WTO)
are not fair or equitable, given our development status,
geography and size. WTO proposals that have tended
towards a one-size-fits-all approach have not fully
benefited from an honest and creative application of
the special and differential treatment clauses of the
WTO. They have not effectively addressed the
multiplicity of problems we are facing. They serve
only the interests of countries that are developed, big
and already established traders globally and, of course,
are already well off. The fact that those proposals are
formulated with little regard for our concerns has
manifested itself in widening disparity, greater
marginalization and worsening global poverty.
 However, we do not advocate the removal of the
multilateral trading arrangement. We just need to make
it better. The suspension of the WTO talks on the Doha
Development Agenda has further deepened our
concerns regarding the need for the multilateral trading
rules to show some flexibility so that the development
concerns of countries like Fiji can be addressed in the
current round of negotiations. We call on the
membership of the United Nations to work towards an
early resumption of the suspended WTO talks. There is
far too much at stake for all of us, and especially for
the small islands developing States like Fiji.
 We acknowledge the importance of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and other international
instruments in the promotion of human rights. We note
that they are concerned primarily with protecting the
rights of individuals. Fiji, like other Pacific Islands

06-53615 6

indigenous communities, welcomes the decision to
bring the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous
peoples to this Assembly for discussion and adoption.
That instrument is vitally important to the recognition
and acceptance of the right of indigenous peoples to
self-determination and of their right to survival as
ethnically and culturally distinct peoples.
 On the international convention on the protection
and promotion of the rights and dignity of persons with
disabilities, Fiji, like others, has recognized the special
needs of persons with disabilities and has already
enacted the relevant legislation and subsequently
established the Fiji National Council of Disabled
Persons. A national policy on disability for 2006-2016,
a requirement of the act, is currently being finalized.
Fiji strongly supports the international convention and
would be in favour of its adoption.
 Fiji acknowledges the vital role women play in
development. To ensure women’s active participation
in all facets of development, the monitoring of the
rights of women contained in the Beijing Platform of
Action has to be reinforced. One effective way to do so
is to ensure that domestic policies and legislation are in
place to drive gender mainstreaming. That must be a
priority target for us all.
 Improving world security must be accompanied
by appropriate reforms in our Organization. A goal of
the current reform of the United Nations is the need to
ensure that the voices of small and vulnerable countries
like Fiji are given equal treatment in the membership
of this global body.
 One of the goals of the United Nations reforms is
to achieve democratization. Without that, it will remain
an Organization driven by sectarian interests, where
might is right and moral and ethical considerations fall
by the wayside. We must not be deterred from the
momentous task we have set for ourselves. The
outcome of our concerted and committed effort in
those reforms will be a just and stronger Organization,
better prepared to address the world’s multiplicity of
challenges.
 A lot has been achieved since we last met in
plenary. New challenges have emerged. However, there
are still far too many people whose needs and voices
are still crying out to be heard. The United Nations
remains a beacon of hope for them. Those cries ought
to be listened to and people empowered so that they
can firmly and confidently take charge of their own
destiny. We must all undertake to assist and participate
in the work of the United Nations, commensurate, of
course, with our respective size and economic
standing.


Let me first of all
congratulate Ms. Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa on her
election to the presidency of the General Assembly at
its sixty-first session. I am confident that, with her
wealth of experience, she will guide our deliberations
effectively. I wish also to thank her predecessor,
Mr. Jan Eliasson of Sweden, for the manner in which
he presided over the high-level segment of the General
Assembly at its sixtieth session.
 Let me also pay tribute to Secretary-General Kofi
Annan for his leadership of our Organization. His 10-
year tenure has been marked by fundamental changes.
The United Nations has witnessed major reforms
geared at creating a more efficient and effective
institution. We are confident that he will leave behind a
more vibrant Organization capable of meeting the
challenges of our time.
 As a firm supporter of multilateralism, Uganda
believes that the Assembly is the most appropriate
forum for addressing issues of global concern. A great
number of important decisions have been taken by the
Assembly. Landmark agreements have been reached
and important commitments undertaken by members of
the Assembly.
 In spite of all these efforts, threats to global peace
and security and to human dignity are more serious

49 06-52885

than ever before. This situation obtains today because
we have yet to start addressing the real root causes of
the problems facing us. My delegation believes that
ensuring global peace will continue to be an uphill task
for us as long as the majority in developing countries
and elsewhere in the world continue to suffer the
indignity of poverty and deprivation while we continue
to think that it is business as usual.
 We must ask ourselves why a large number of
international problems that are high on the agenda of
the United Nations are occurring in the developing part
of the world. These are real issues that affect the daily
lives of peoples, and they require urgent solutions
which have been to date been far too slow in coming.
 The onus is on the Assembly to ensure that what
we agree upon or commit ourselves to doing is done in
a timely manner. The Millennium Declaration that we
adopted here 6 years ago (resolution 55/2) remains an
important milestone because it introduced a new
paradigm shift from emphasis on statement of
commitments to action. However, there have been
some obstacles to the achievement of the goals we set
for ourselves.
 In areas where progress has been made, due
credit must be given. In that regard, Uganda welcomes
the establishment of the Human Rights Council to
work alongside the Security Council and the Economic
and Social Council. We are also pleased that action was
promptly taken to create the Peacebuilding
Commission as an important intergovernmental
mechanism to assist countries in transition from war to
durable peace. We welcome those as important
contributions to the reform agenda of the United
Nations.
 While commendable progress has been achieved
in other areas of reform, great frustration remains over
the reform and expansion of the Security Council. In
my delegation’s view, the expansion of the Security
Council is the most important facet of United Nations
reform with regard to the maintenance of global peace
and security.
 It is now a truism that the Security Council does
not reflect today’s geopolitical realities, but only the
balance of power that prevailed in the 1940s. Africa is
the only continent with no permanent member on the
Security Council, despite its size and population. That
is why Africa is demanding at least two permanent
seats on the Council. We acknowledge that the
existence of the veto is an anachronism, but as long as
it exists we should demand it, because do not want to
join as second-class members, with no veto.
 Lack of agreement on how to move the
development agenda forward is one of our major
concerns. It is unacceptable for big sections of the
global community to continue living on less than one
dollar per day while we have the capacity and the
means to pull them out of that abject poverty. We must
address that problem as a matter of urgency. One way
of doing so is to live by our own commitments, as
reflected, for example, in the Monterrey Consensus,
the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the
Brussels Plan of Action, et cetera, et cetera. We must
put in place measurable benchmarks to realize those
goals.
 It is disappointing to see that very little progress
has been made to date on official development
assistance, on foreign direct investments, on debts, or
even on market access. The stalled conclusion of the
World Trade Organization development agenda is a
case in point. The Doha Development Round was
launched as a process that would eventually give
developing countries a fair chance to compete in the
world marketplace. It was expected to restore the
momentum of the open market while giving genuine
priority to the concerns and interests of developing
countries. Five years down the road, we have not
agreed on opening up markets or eliminating
discriminative subsidies.
 My delegation strongly feels that part of that
failure is attributable to the multilateral system’s lack
of good global governance, poor coordination and lack
of coherence. As the United Nations has a
responsibility to identify the causes hindering the
achievement of the internationally agreed development
goals, including the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), the Organization is the right body to track
implementation of commitments undertaken by
development partners. An effective mechanism should
be devised for doing that.
 Uganda calls on the international community, and
the United Nations in particular, to explore new and
more effective ways of promoting consensus on issues
of vital importance to the peace, security and
prosperity of our global community. In that regard, we
would like to welcome and encourage the holding of

06-52885 50

the high-level events that have been organized
alongside this session.
 The High-level Dialogue on International
Migration and Development held last week has
produced important outcomes that are going to be
valuable in the formulation of policies on international
migration and development. In the same light, the
convening of the High-level Meeting on the midterm
comprehensive global review of the implementation of
the Programme of Action for the Least Developed
Countries is a welcome decision as it will feed into the
midterm review.
 With regard to Africa’s development, the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development — NEPAD — is
the key framework for action. We continue to urge
development partners to support Africa’s efforts by
contributing positively and effectively to the
implementation of that regional development strategy.
Of the United Nations system in particular we request
that the funding that comes from United Nations
development systems should focus on Africa’s
priorities as determined by the partner States, while
care should be taken to avoid diversion of development
resources to other donor-driven activities.
 I would like now to briefly turn my attention to
the situation in our region. Uganda’s security and
development is directly interlinked with developments
in the Great Lakes region. We are therefore fully
committed to the realization of peace and security, and
have continued to play a key role in the search for
durable peace and security in our region.
 We welcome the positive developments in the
southern Sudan following the signing of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement. We fully support the
democratic process being pursued in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. We call upon all parties
involved to have full confidence in the process so that
it can be successfully completed. The regional
initiative on Burundi under Uganda’s chairmanship has
made steady progress, and we have full confidence in
its success.
 Uganda also wishes to appeal to the international
community, especially our development partners, to
support the peace initiatives in the region by
contributing generously to the success of the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region,
initiated by the United Nations in collaboration with
the African Union.
 With regard to Somalia, we call for international
support for the Transitional Federal Government. We
call on the Security Council to support the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
peace process and the partial lifting of the arms
embargo to enable deployment of the IGAD Peace
Support Mission to Somalia and the African Union
forces.
 At the national level, in Uganda there is an
organization called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA),
a terrorist group with no political agenda, which has
for a number of years unleashed terror on the
population of northern Uganda, killing and maiming
people and abducting children for training as killers
and use as sex slaves. The LRA has now been defeated
and its remnants have fled to Garamba Park in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Government
of Uganda has now entered into peace talks with the
LRA under the mediation of the Government of
southern Sudan with a view to restoring peace and
stability.
 After a careful analysis of the situation, the
Government of Uganda decided to take the painful
decision to offer amnesty to the LRA top leadership, in
order to facilitate the peace talks. That decision was
painful in the sense that we do not condone or tolerate
impunity whatsoever. However, we are convinced that
the alternative traditional justice system that we intend
to apply is an equitable solution and should be given a
chance. We call on the international community to
support the process that we have embarked on. We are
determined to resolve the conflict peacefully. Peace is
what our people want, and it is peace that we are
determined to give them.


First of all, Madam, I would like to
congratulate you on your election to preside over our
work during the General Assembly’s sixty-first session.
This is a tribute not only to your qualities, but also to
the dedication of your country, because it shows the
recognition of Bahrain’s attachment to the principles
and actions pursued by the United Nations. This is
why, on behalf of the Cape Verde delegation and in my
own name, I would like to assure you of our
cooperation.
 The rapid changes in the modern world are a
permanent challenge to the United Nations capacity to
preserve the centrality of its role in the promotion of
development, peace, security and human rights. These
changes involve challenges, opportunities and
constraints that we must properly manage in order to
create the more balanced, democratic and peaceful
world order to which we all aspire.
 To confront these challenges, the United Nations
must commit itself unambiguously to modernizing and
reforming its activities. Being the product of its
Member States, the Organization must be granted the
resources that are commensurate with its mandate.
 Following the decisions and recommendations
adopted at the 2005 World Summit, relevant important
measures have been adopted. I am particularly grateful
for the establishment of the Human Rights Council, the
Peacebuilding Commission, the Central Emergency
Response fund, the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Safety of United Nations and
Associated Personnel, resolutions on development and
the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
In this connection, I would like to express my
country’s gratitude to Mr. Jan Eliasson for his dynamic
and efficient guidance of the work of the Assembly’s
sixtieth session.
 Reform of the United Nations will not be
complete unless we reform the Security Council, the
Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat and
management, indispensable components in our
Organization’s efforts to adapt to today’s realities. We
must move ahead with an open and flexible attitude,
without jeopardizing the principles of equity and
justice.
 At the internal institutional level, in order for
reform to be understood and supported by all the
parties concerned, it must be carried out in an
inclusive, harmonious and streamlined manner. Cape
Verde has agreed to host a pilot project known as the
Joint Office Mechanism, a procedure with a common
framework for United Nations programmes, agencies
and funds, the final objective of which is to enhance
the efficiency of operational activities by rationalizing
structures and resources and creating synergy at the
technical and budgetary levels. The complexity of this
experiment and its implications in streamlining
operations with the structures on which the JOM
depends in New York will call for adjustments in
policies, instruments and practices and a permanent
dialogue with Governments.

21 06-53952

 I am gratified at the selection of the topic of our
debate: “Implementing a global partnership for
development”. This topic could not be more timely, as
many people around the world do not yet enjoy the
fundamental human right to live in dignity, without
having to worry about poverty or fear. The Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) remain empty words for
these people.
 It is deplorable that, despite all scientific progress
in our time, underdevelopment continues to be the
daily reality for so many men, women and children on
the planet. While it is up to national leaders to bear the
prime responsibility, we cannot underline enough the
importance of a global partnership to restore equity in
these situations and create the foundations for
development that is more in line with the MDGs.
 In that context, the international community
should genuinely fulfil its commitments with respect to
official development assistance and should establish
the conditions for a fairer and more equitable
international trading system that would take property
account of small, vulnerable economies, including
those of island States.
 In the specific case of Africa, I welcome the
various initiatives that have been announced, while
urging the international community to give our
continent a more consistent form of support — one that
is more consistent with the MDGs and the positive
momentum created by the emergence of new African
leaders who are working to promote development,
democracy, peace and political and social stability.
 Debt reduction, access to direct investment,
improving the financing modalities for development
and innovative financing efforts are measures that
could encourage and support national policy
adjustment efforts through improvement of the
management of resources. Consistent with the
international agenda, initiatives related to external debt
should also be extended to medium-low-income
countries.
 Only two weeks ago, in this very forum, during
the High-level Meeting on the midterm comprehensive
global review of the implementation of the Brussels
Programme of Action for the Least Developed
Countries, the Cape Verde delegation stated that
irrefutable progress had been achieved, but this should
not mask the problems and shortcomings that still
exist.
 In general, we see a mixed record in the
implementation of that instrument; this reflects the
major constraints that all these countries face in trying
to reverse the heavy dynamic of underdevelopment.
 In the specific case of Cape Verde, thanks to
efforts at the national level, with the support of the
international community, social and economic
indicators have improved markedly during the
country’s 30 years of independence. Considerable
progress has been achieved in education and health and
in reform of the financial and fiscal sectors and of the
State administration. At the political level, reform has
made possible the setting-up of a democratic system
and the emergence of a cultural and political climate of
tolerance and power-sharing. These results provided
the basis for the General Assembly’s decision to
graduate Cape Verde from the category of least
developed countries in 2008.
 Cape Verde is aware that to consolidate these
efforts requires a sustained financial effort that it
cannot make on its own. Let us recall that Cape Verde
is a small island country without natural resources and
exposed to permanent drought and external shocks. In
addition, its economic vulnerability outweighs the two
other criteria required for graduation from the category
of least developed country. The Government accepted
this new challenge fully convinced that it is primarily
responsible for drafting and implementing the best
possible development model in the interests of the
people of Cape Verde. That is why it has decided to
pursue dialogue with its bilateral and multilateral
partners in order to ensure smooth transition, in
accordance with the resolution adopted by the General
Assembly.
 In many ways, the success of this pioneering step
largely depends on support from the United Nations
system and the broader international community. The
transition support group that has been created has the
responsibility of helping us to clarify the goals and
modalities of graduation and to set in motion a new
partnership for creating a new and more agile
economic momentum that will make us less vulnerable.
 Climate change and environmental degradation
have harmful effects on ecosystems, especially in small
island developing States such as Cape Verde. The
international community must provide strong support
for the effective implementation of the Mauritius
Strategy for the Further Implementation of the

06-53952 22

Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development
of Small Island Developing States.
 The deadlock in negotiations on disarmament
issues, transnational organized crime, clandestine
immigration and its human, political, social, cultural
and economic impact, endemic diseases such as
malaria and tuberculosis and the rapid expansion of
HIV/AIDS are causes of deep concern, particularly in
small, poor countries. Here again, the international
community must act together and quickly.
 Terrorism continues to threaten international
peace and stability. Cape Verde, which has signed the
main legal instruments to combat terrorism, supports
the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
(resolution 60/288) launched at the beginning of the
current session of the General Assembly. The Strategy
sends a clear message about the determination of the
United Nations to address the root causes of this
scourge and combat it in all its forms and
manifestations. We are convinced that it will contribute
to removing the difficulties surrounding negotiations
on an international counter-terrorism convention.
 While there are unresolved conflicts, others are
breaking out in various places, constantly vying for
attention and action by the international community.
The situation in the Middle East has recently escalated
with the confrontation between Lebanon and Israel.
This has led to unspeakable human suffering and
tremendous material damage in both countries and
throughout the region. No one can remain indifferent in
the face of this conflict, which has continued far too
long, 60 years, and which remains a major cause —
indeed, the epicentre — of international instability.
 Cape Verde supports the idea of a comprehensive
strategy, the only viable key to which would be the
peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) contains
important provisions that could serve as a basis for
such a strategy. Cape Verde urges all the parties
concerned to resume dialogue and negotiations. The
international community, in particular the United
Nations, must strive to create conditions for restoring
confidence and establishing lasting peace, which are
preconditions for economic integration and the
promotion of intercultural dialogue in the region.
 In Africa, while renewed hope accompanies the
peacebuilding process in Burundi, Liberia, Sierra
Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the
persistence of other sources of tension risks
compromising development efforts and perpetrating
human tragedy. That is the case in Darfur, where the
situation remains fragile and where disagreement
among certain parties to the conflict greatly risks
compromising the Peace Agreement signed at Abuja in
May 2006. Cape Verde endorses the recommendations
and appeals issued by the African Union Peace and
Security Council at its recent New York meeting, held
at the margins of the General Assembly, on the
situation in Darfur. We hail the international
community and the African Union for their efforts to
resolve the crisis, and we encourage them to continue.
At the same time, we call upon the parties concerned to
make greater efforts at dialogue and find a peaceful
solution to the crisis.
 I would like to end where I started, speaking of
the central role of the United Nations in the
democratization of international relations and in the
promotion of development, peace and human rights.
Allow me to express the appreciation of Cape Verde to
Mr. Kofi Annan for his outstanding work over the past
10 years, which has made it possible for the
Organization to leave its mark on the course of
multilateralism. His work does him credit and it is also
to the credit of Africa. As he prepares to leave the post
of Secretary-General, we wish him every success in his
future endeavours.


Madam President, allow me today to pay a special
tribute to Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of our
Organization, for the important role he has played over
the past ten years in upholding the lofty principles and
values on which this Organization was founded.
During the same period, Mr. Annan dealt with many
trying international situations with profound wisdom
and clear vision. It is our hope that the candidate
elected for this important international post during this
session will display the same wisdom and vision.
 The sixty-first session meets against the backdrop
of a complex international situation and unfortunate
international events that have uncovered many
contradictions in the work of this Organization. Those
contradictions require us to study in depth the extent to
which the United Nations has succeeded in
strengthening international understanding and
consensus when dealing with the threats and challenges
that face humanity. The current complex situation and
recent events make it incumbent upon us to draw on
past experience to strengthen the role of the
Organization in achieving the noble purposes and
principles for which it was founded.
 The negotiations preceding the adoption of the
2005 Summit Outcome Document and the subsequent
negotiations on its implementation have made it clear
that the visions of the North and the South with regard
to the future of the United Nations and the nature of its

41 06-53005

role in the current and coming phases have become
more divergent than before. That was manifest in a
number of attitudes that have left visible marks on the
international environment.
 There is a widening gap between, on the one
hand, those who pay the larger share of the budget of
the Organization and believe that their contributions
entitle them to a larger say in the conduct of its work,
and on the other hand the developing countries, which
pay their fair share as established by the methodology
and criteria adopted by the General Assembly and
believe that the Organization must remain the
international forum of democracy, equality and good
governance on the international level, as embodied in
the principle of “one State, one vote”.
 Some States, with increasing insistence, believe
that the Security Council must hold the fate of the
Organization in its hands, taking precedence over its
other main organs. Those States are robbing the others
of most of their competencies and deal with them in
any way they see fit, without oversight, even if that
leads to the failure of the Council to discharge its
responsibilities to prevent the killing of the innocent or
the perpetration of crimes of genocide and other crimes
against humanity.
 This insistence by a small number of States runs
counter to the view of the majority of Member States,
which believe that the General Assembly is the
inclusive democratic forum that brings the Members of
the Organization together. It is the Assembly that
mandated the Council to bear the responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security. The
Assembly alone has the right of oversight and review
of the work of all the organs of the Organization.
Indeed, the Assembly has the right to withdraw the
prerogatives of the Security Council, should it fail to
discharge its charter-mandated responsibilities or if the
narrow political interests of one of the parties to a
conflict prevent the Council from fulfilling its task.
 This is a time when the international arena has
witnessed a growing tendency to misuse official
development assistance (ODA) by imposing conditions
on the national priorities of developing countries
without any regard to the agreements reached in the
relevant United Nations conferences and summits. At
the same time, the overwhelming majority continues to
believe that development is a human right and that
development assistance, along with the transfer of
technology, is an obligation for developed countries.
 Last year was the sixtieth anniversary of the
tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Astonishingly,
some States continue to believe that their might and
dominance are based on their — and their allies’ —
continued possession of nuclear arsenals. These States
believe in the need to exercise strict control and
supervision of other States and to apply restrictions on
the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. At the
same time, the great majority of Member States believe
that their commitment under the Treaty on the
Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) not to
produce nuclear weapons was made on the basis of a
corresponding commitment by the nuclear-weapons
States to eliminate nuclear weapons under international
supervision within a specific time frame and to achieve
the universality of the Treaty. Not only does the
maintenance of the existing nuclear arsenals jeopardize
the credibility of the NPT, it also threatens humanity
with total destruction and annihilation.
 Our peoples have a keen interest in the
achievement of a larger measure of democracy, human
rights and political reform. However, we now can see
that some seek to impose these concepts by military
force, based on their assumption that their principles,
values and cultures are superior and stronger and thus
worthy of being imposed on others. At the same time,
the overwhelming majority believe that democracy and
human rights are based on culture-specific values and
standards that emanate from their respective societies.
They simply cannot be imposed from outside.
 Notwithstanding the increase in the number of
victims of terrorist operations, there is an increased
tendency to deal with terrorism through military force
alone, while ignoring its root causes. Some have made
it their mission to rid the world of the evils of terrorism
as they themselves define it. They ignore the
international collective work to conclude a
comprehensive convention on terrorism and to
implement effectively the General Assembly Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy in a manner that strikes a
balance between the respective roles of the General
Assembly and the Security Council.
 Last, but not least, the negotiations on the reform
of the Organization have proven that some believe that
the international collective security regime was
established to enable those who posses the military

06-53005 42

might to impose political settlements under
international protection. While the great majority
believes that the lessons of history, most recently in
Lebanon, have proven that military might cannot and
will not impose a political settlement. Such settlements
must be reached through negotiations alone.
 The aforementioned are some of the main
elements that set our positions farther apart during the
past year. We must take these elements as a basis for
determining the premise of our work during this
session. We must develop a clear understanding of the
strengths and weaknesses of the performance of our
Organization. Together, we should chart the course
aimed at upholding the values of democracy, justice
and respect for law in international relations. We must
move resolutely towards the consolidation of those
values in the international community, in view of the
fact that they constitute the real, solid foundations of
international peace and security.
 With the same constructive spirit that prevailed in
our work last year, together with a balanced mixture of
realism and ambition, and without the imposition of
impractical time frames or the acceptance of temporary
measures, we must proceed towards the achievement of
further reform and the strengthening of the
effectiveness of the United Nations. We must commit
to preserving both the principle of consensus and the
intergovernmental character of the Organization.
 Together, we must work to increase the ability of
the collective security regime to deal swiftly with
international problems. We must stand up to the
arrogance of power of some so that we can protect the
rights and future of other countries and peoples. We
must also face resolutely any attempts to impose
temporary solutions through unilateral actions or
military solutions that might result in transient
victories that lack justice and a comprehensive vision.
Such actions only scratch the surface of the problems
without delving into the root causes. They lead to the
exacerbation of problems by fanning the flames of
hatred and rejection. This, in turn, feeds terrorism and
extremism and leads those who despair of the justice of
the international system to rebel against the will of the
international community.
 Despite Egypt’s repeated warnings against
following the path of escalation and confrontation, the
huge loss of life and property incurred as a result of the
war between Israel and Lebanon has gone beyond all
limits. Lebanon has suffered the total devastation of its
infrastructure and the indiscriminate killing of
hundreds of innocent civilians, including children, as
the result of actions that contravene the United Nations
Charter and the basic rules of international law and
relevant international humanitarian law. And, despite
the fact that the Israeli war against Lebanon caused
untold devastation, it has proven that military might,
however great, will never be able to impose a political
solution. It has also proven that the solution lies in
ending the occupation and in negotiating a just political
settlement that will eliminate the feelings of enmity
and replace them with relations of cooperation and
peaceful coexistence.
 Undoubtedly, Security Council resolution 1701
(2006), after having been amended to take into
consideration the Arab point of view, thanks to the
efforts of the Arab delegation mandated by the League
of Arab States to New York, is a step in the right
direction. However, this step will remain incomplete
and will not enjoy the success required unless it deals
with the core of the problem in the region — namely,
the Arab Israeli conflict.
 The Arab-Israeli conflict has squandered the
resources and lives of the people of the Middle East for
many decades. In it, political, historical and religious
dimensions have fermented into a combustible mix that
carries the seeds of a conflagration that could go
beyond the region and reflect negatively on stability
and relations between the various cultures and faiths in
the world. Hence the importance for all of us, citizens
of the region and members of the international
community, to act in concert to reach an immediate,
just and comprehensive solution to this conflict.
 In its endeavours to achieve comprehensive peace
between the Arab world and Israel, Egypt precedes
from a realistic vision of the events on the ground. In
this context, Egypt is exerting efforts to improve the
security situation between the Palestinians and the
Israelis through direct engagement with both parties,
with the aim of calming the situation, putting an end to
all acts of violence, killing and destruction and
encouraging confidence-building measures between the
Palestinians and the Israelis aimed at resuming
dialogue and negotiations. At the same time, Egypt
seeks to resume progress on the three tracks of the
settlement of the Arab Israeli conflict. This is the main
objective of the peace process, which has regrettably
been stalled for years. The deterioration in the security

43 06-53005

situation must not make us lose sight of that objective.
Experience has proven time and again that the success
of security measures will remain limited and fragile if
they are not made part of a wider political framework
that would ensure the basic rights of the parties and
encourage them to make the difficult decisions
necessary for the improvement of the security
situation.
 The Quartet has drawn up a road map for peace.
It was accepted by the parties and the States of the
region. It was endorsed by resolution 1515 (2003) of
the Security Council. It was hoped that it would
constitute the political framework to which I referred
earlier. However, this did not happen, for reasons that I
will not list here. Yet, the road map remains a
cornerstone for the achievement of peace in the region,
since it establishes the principles of peaceful co-
existence between Israel and Palestine and determines
the general parameters of the final settlement between
Israel, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon — namely, an end
to the occupation that started in 1967, implementation
of the international resolutions on the Arab-Israeli
conflict, and implementation of the Arab peace
initiative that would ensure security, peace and
recognition for Israel by its Arab neighbours in return
for Israel’s ending its occupation of the Arab territories
and working out acceptable solutions for other pending
issues. There is now a need to build upon this
cornerstone in order to create an effective political
framework that would move the parties towards the
objective desired by the international community as a
whole — namely, the establishment of a
comprehensive peace that would put an end to
occupation and strife in this part of the world.
 Egypt has closely followed the developments in
the Darfur crisis since its inception. It is one of the
troop- contributing countries to the African Union
observer mission in Darfur. Egypt participated actively
in the Abuja talks and has provided humanitarian
assistance to the people of Darfur.
 There is no doubt that the international
community bears a major share of the responsibility for
reaching a swift and just solution to that problem. In
our opinion, efforts must focus on creating conditions
conducive to the success of the Darfur Peace
Agreement as the political framework agreed upon by
the main parties. That will require the launching and
strengthening of the Darfur-Darfur dialogue in order to
create a consensus on the Peace Agreement and to
convince the parties that have not yet signed it to do
so. In addition, there is a need to encourage the
Sudanese Government to carry out its commitments on
the development and reconstruction of the Darfur
region.
 If the United Nations is to continue to play the
role entrusted to it, we must display a sense of
collective responsibility based on a strong resolve to
make the Organization an inclusive framework for
common international efforts to deal promptly and
effectively with regional and global issues and
problems.  The call to disseminate democratic practices
and good governance among the States of the world
will be heeded only if coupled with the clear
commitment of all States to applying those concepts in
a multilateral framework and at the international level.
It will be valid only if accompanied by a reaffirmation
of the principles of partnership, the sharing of burdens
and responsibilities, equality of rights and duties, and,
above all, participation on an equal footing in defining
options and in decision-making at the international
level.
 Let us work together to strengthen the principles
of democracy in an international multilateral setting.
Let us make dialogue and mutual respect the language
of our discourse. Let us give lofty human ideals and the
common good precedence over narrow selfish interests.
Let us cast aside our differences and be real partners.
 In conclusion, allow me to convey our sincere
congratulations to you, Madam, on your assumption of
the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
first session. We are confident that, as the first Arab
woman to assume that high position, you will meet
with resounding success. In that respect, allow us also
to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to
your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, President of the
General Assembly at its sixtieth session, for his skilful
leadership of our work.


New Zealand remains
unwavering in its support for the United Nations. Our
commitment has not changed since we helped found
the Organization 61 years ago. This year’s events have
only reinforced our belief that the world would be
substantially worse off without the United Nations.
 It would be remiss of me at this time not to pay
tribute to Kofi Annan. It is to his vision, determination
and courage that we must attribute many of the reforms
achieved thus far. Five years ago, when he was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee
paid tribute to his efforts on reform. Since then he has
continued to work tirelessly for a United Nations that
can live up to the hopes that “we the peoples” have
invested in it. This is all the more remarkable given
that, for much of his stewardship, the United Nations
has been confronted with some of the most difficult
international crises of its existence.
 New Zealand is committed to multilateralism.
This is not some act of faith, but a commitment to a
multilateralism that really delivers. We need to be
prepared to work diligently for the good of the global
community.
 The United Nations is passing through a period of
challenge to its relevance and effectiveness. It has

19 06-53323

confronted serious political and security shocks —
fresh hostilities in the Middle East, the tragic and
worsening situation in Darfur, and, in our own region,
instability in Timor-Leste.
 Last year, world leaders agreed to an ambitious
reform agenda based on the three pillars of peace and
security, development and human rights. Progress has
been made, but this is no time to rest. We must press
on, for much remains to be done.
 The challenge of development has never been
higher on the international agenda. Never before has
the commitment to eradicating poverty been so critical.
But increasing aid levels will not be enough; we must
become more effective. We need to make sure that
every dollar we spend makes a positive difference.
That means addressing the key threats to our
success — poor governance, corruption and gender
inequality. We need to secure fairer international
trading relationships, and we must work on all of those
together.
 The theme of this year’s general debate is the
implementation of a global partnership for
development. For New Zealand, collective action is
imperative. We need participation, ownership and
responsibility from recipient countries. We seek
harmonization with larger contributors to align and
combine our contributions. We seek partnership with
multilateral development agencies in our campaign to
eradicate poverty, and we endorse the efforts of the
United Nations and those agencies to coordinate better,
country by country.
 New Zealand, as members are aware, has a
relationship with the Pacific that is based on history,
culture and economic and social linkages. Our bonds
with Pacific States are an important dimension of our
other relationships. We want nothing less than
educated, healthy, well-governed, economically
prosperous and safe communities.
 In the Auckland Declaration of 2004, Pacific
leaders committed themselves to a “region that is
respected for the quality of its governance, the
sustainable management of its resources, the full
observance of democratic values and for its defence
and promotion of human rights”. These are ambitious
goals, and translating them into reality means hard
work by all Pacific countries. That is a challenge that
New Zealand accepts.
 In facing that challenge, we confront economic,
environmental, governance, development and security
issues. Markets are distant. Climate change is a reality.
Political instability does not help. Threats from
communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and
pandemic influenza must be managed.
 The Pacific accounts for almost one quarter of the
surface of the world — an area bigger than Europe and
the Middle East combined. Its strategic significance
presents opportunity and challenge. New Zealand is
determined to seek out the benefits of that significance
and guard against the threats, among which I include,
sadly, cheque-book diplomacy.
 Across the Pacific, we have learned that regional
problems require regional solutions. Last year, Pacific
Island Forum leaders adopted the Pacific Plan for
regional cooperation. Through that plan we will
strengthen regional cooperation where it can most
make a difference, and we will use it to promote the
four goals of the Pacific Islands Forum: sustainable
development, economic growth, security and good
governance.
 At the same time, we do not forget that our
regional endeavours depend on strong international
frameworks. The Framework Convention on Climate
Change is an essential example. Another example is the
United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement on the
conservation and management of straddling and highly
migratory fish stocks.
 We are proud of our achievements in regional
fisheries management. The Western and Central Pacific
Fisheries Commission, with its headquarters in
Pohnpei, manages the region’s migratory fish species.
We are in the midst of developing new regional
arrangements for non-migratory fish stocks.
 These mechanisms are central to the region’s
ability to ensure the sustainable management of its
most important natural resources. They are at the
leading edge in establishing best-practice management
norms.
 There have been profound political and security
shocks over the past year — in the Middle East and in
Darfur, as well as instability in Timor-Leste — those
and more are testing the United Nations system.
 It is a sad reality that the situation in the Middle
East has been on the agenda of the United Nations for
60 years, ever since its inception. The lack of sustained

06-53323 20

political will to see through more than a handful of
decisions on the Middle East has undermined
confidence. It has contributed to an unstable
environment where extremism, injustice and despair
flourish.
 These issues must be tackled with a new resolve,
using the international multilateral system as a tool for
peace and progress. The international response to the
Security Council’s call for an expanded United Nations
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) shows that the
international community can react to conflict and
provide basic stabilization. But such responses are
doomed to failure unless the underlying political and
security issues are addressed. It is therefore imperative
to relaunch the Middle East peace process covering all
issues, on the basis of the relevant Security Council
resolutions.
 The Organization’s efforts to introduce a United
Nations force into Darfur is being cynically thwarted
by the Government of the Sudan. That is simply
unconscionable. The Government of the Sudan must, in
the name of basic humanity, accept the need for a
United Nations force as the best chance for the security
of the people of Darfur.
 New and fragile States face enormous challenges.
Recent unrest in Timor-Leste demonstrates that fact.
New Zealand responded quickly to Timor-Leste’s
needs with a military and police contribution to help
restore stability. The regional response has been swift
and robust. The United Nations played an important
role in facilitating Timor-Leste’s independence, and it
is clear the United Nations will continue to be involved
in Timor-Leste for many years to come. The
deployment of a substantial United Nations police
force is vital if peace and stability is to be maintained
even in the medium term. The nature of the expanded
United Nations mission in Timor-Leste reflects the
deep and broad engagement required to build a lasting
peace. Timor-Leste encapsulates the principle that
peace and security cannot be separated from economic
development, social reconciliation and the protection
of basic human rights. The Security Council’s mandate
for Timor-Leste endorses that truth.
 New Zealand fully supported the renewed focus
on human rights at last year’s World Summit. We
strongly campaigned for the new Human Rights
Council, and we worked hard to bring it into being. We
have high ambitions for it and will follow its activities
closely. It must remain strong, focused and effective. It
must be able to deal swiftly with emerging situations of
human rights concern, in a balanced way, with
scrupulous attention to verifiable facts. It must be
aspirational, inspirational and practical. Its working
methods must be transparent and inclusive. Above all,
there must be genuine political will to make it work.
 A few weeks ago, encouraged all the way by
energetic non-governmental organizations, Member
States agreed on the first new comprehensive human
rights instrument of the twenty-first century: a draft
convention relating to persons with disabilities. We are
proud in New Zealand of the role we played in those
negotiations on the text. The draft convention stands to
make a real difference to the lives of approximately
650 million of the world’s most disadvantaged citizens.
 New Zealand is also conscious of the
disadvantages faced by indigenous peoples in many
parts of the world. We were closely engaged in the
lengthy negotiations towards a declaration on the rights
of indigenous peoples. We had hoped that the
declaration would be a new standard of achievement
for Governments that could be implemented to really
improve the lives of indigenous peoples. Therefore, we
are disappointed that that was not to be so. The draft
declaration that emerged with less than conclusive
support from the Human Rights Council is deeply
flawed and represents a lost opportunity for the world’s
indigenous peoples.
 At the beginning of his term, the Secretary-
General set an important goal for the United Nations:
to perfect “the triangle of development, freedom and
peace” (A/51/PV.88, p. 13). The Secretary-General’s
words still ring true today. We have travelled only part
of the journey towards that goal. Considering our
achievements over the past year, we can be satisfied
with progress made in setting up the Human Rights
Council and the Peacebuilding Commission. The
challenge now is to make those two new bodies truly
effective. The welcome adoption of the United Nations
Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288)
reminds us of the efforts we must continue to make at
regional and national levels.
 New Zealand wants to see continuing reform high
on the list of priorities for the sixty-first session in
order to ensure that the United Nations can be as
responsive as possible to the needs of Member States,

21 06-53323

and efficient in getting the best from the resources
available to it.
 Sixty years ago, New Zealand had high hopes for
the United Nations. In 2006, we still do. New Zealand
is a country that engages with the United Nations with
no hidden agenda. What we say is what we mean. We
engage with no other or hidden agenda. But those that
do so pervert and weaken this Organization.
 In 2006, at this meeting, New Zealand declares
that we will continue to put our efforts behind the
principles and policies that will make the United
Nations strong.


Today, I am honoured as I
congratulate you, Madam President, on your election
as the first Arab woman to ever preside over this body,
hoping that this heralds a new era of better
understanding of women’s aspirations and Arab causes.
 I would also like to thank the Secretary-General,
Mr. Kofi Annan, for all that he has done for Lebanon
and for the cause of peace in the region and the world
as a whole.
 I stand before the Assembly representing a
terribly scarred country, a country whose ordeal is well
known to members — my ravaged country, Lebanon.
From 12 July through 14 August, my country was
subjected to a barbarous aggression and to a rarely seen
campaign of savage dismemberment, when hundreds of
fighter jets emptied their loads of heavy and banned
bombs, targeting mostly civilians, killing and maiming
thousands, and destroying everything that made
Lebanon a viable State. Obviously, this was a
premeditated Israeli “sentence” to destroy my country
and everything it stood for, it having been blessed and
termed by His Holiness Pope John Paul II a “unique
message to humanity,” that we can live together. This
aggression became even more cruel when it won the
tacit approbation of certain great powers.
 Regrettably, the Security Council looked
powerless in its attempts to stop the slaughter of
Lebanon’s children and protect the peace in Lebanon
and the Middle East. It took over a month and
numerous calls for an immediate ceasefire for all those
concerned to finally force a mere cessation of
hostilities, which is yet to become a formal and final
ceasefire.
 It becomes self-evident for us to question the
credibility of the United Nations in light of the
Secretary-General’s acknowledgment that the delays in
adopting Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) did
indeed harm its credibility. Moreover, we cannot but
have serious doubts as to this Organization’s ability to
safeguard world peace when its resolutions are
subjected to the vagaries of a very few world powers.
 Today I ask: How many children, like the one in
the photograph that I am holding up, will die because
nobody does anything for them? How many children
was this evil, vengeful machine of destruction
supposed to have killed, before the world community
decided to respond in defence of a “rightful” cause?
Allow us to ask these questions, as we are filled with a
deep sense of grief, when scores of our fallen citizens
are still beneath the rubble.
 Let me reassure the Assembly that this savagery
did not weaken our people’s resolve nor shake its
resilience as it rallied around its army and Government
and embraced its national resistance, whose men faced
occupation forces with epic valour, preventing their
advance, and presenting Lebanon with yet another
victory, in the name of justice and dignity.
 While we stand under the United Nations
umbrella to warn the world of the dire consequences
we shall all face when the very foundations of this
world body are shaken, it is also time to ask Israel,
which owes its very existence to a United Nations
resolution, to finally abide by past and recent
resolutions.
 As of 14 August this year, Lebanon has once
again, without a shadow of a doubt, reasserted the fact
that it is a nation that respects its commitments, while
it implements international resolutions and proceeds to
deploy 15,000 Lebanese army soldiers on the border
between Lebanon and Israel — while Israel continues
its daily breaches of Security Council resolution 1701
(2006), having imposed a humiliating siege on
Lebanon, and refusing to withdraw from the Lebanese
territory in the Shaba’a farms sector, whose liberation
remains Lebanon’s sacred right and duty. To this day,
Israel continues to treat the people of Lebanon as
hostages, kidnapping at will scores of its citizens, in a
flagrant breach of that resolution.
 Finally, Israel refuses to surrender to the United
Nations the maps showing thousands of mines it left
behind on Lebanese territory, while the case and fate of
Lebanon’s prisoners in Israel remains very ambiguous,
and no clear resolution of their ordeal is addressed
anywhere.
 Today, for the sake of peace, the world
community is called upon to save Security Council
resolution 1701 (2006) from oblivion, a fate that
characterized scores of previous resolutions.

9 06-52988

 Here, on behalf of a grateful country, I solemnly
salute the fallen soldiers of peace who will hence share
their obituary with that of our brave army soldiers and
of our valiant resistance fighters, victims of prohibited
weaponry, first tested by Israel on our soil and subject
to an international investigation. We are hopeful that
this time the world community will allow the
investigation to reach its natural conclusion. This will
constitute a clear indictment of Israel for its recurring
violations of international conventions and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
 We also hope that the United States will not
resort to its unfailing veto, thus allowing for the
indictment of Israel’s actions in sympathy for the
thousands of innocent civilians who were killed and
maimed by the “smart”, cluster and phosphorus bombs,
and those laced with depleted uranium.
 Inspired by the principles and treaties of the
United Nations, Lebanon retains the right of action to
prosecute Israel before the competent bodies, most
notably this Assembly, or the International Criminal
Court, and to request the appropriate reparations for all
the catastrophes Israel has inflicted on Lebanon.
 I ask the Assembly today to stand by my country,
as that will be recorded as a just and rightful stance. I
also call upon it to differentiate between he who
defends his country against Israeli aggression and
occupation, and who strives to liberate his countrymen
from decades of unlawful imprisonment, and those
elements that perpetrate acts of wanton slaughter
against their countrymen and others equally. I remind
the Assembly that Lebanon’s experience with the
scourge of terror goes back a long way, and has taken a
very heavy toll on its armed forces.
 The most recent aggression against Lebanon has
left this small country terribly scarred, afflicted with
thousands of dead and wounded, and a toll of
destruction including several thousand housing units
and hundreds of bridges, ports, airports and factories.
And my message is: the will of our people to live and
move forward has proved to be much stronger than
defeat and despair. In record time, the people of
Lebanon launched a campaign of reconstruction, made
even more successful by instant comforting gestures of
goodwill from many friends, at home and abroad. With
such overwhelming support and assistance Lebanon
will beat all the odds by achieving a stellar rebirth,
thereby scoring another point in favour of humanity.
 There is ample talk today of the need to reach a
permanent and comprehensive peace in the Middle
East, which Lebanon has stressed for decades.
However, we are quick to point out that no such peace
can be achieved in the Middle East without addressing
the root cause of instability there, namely, the Arab-
Israeli dispute and its core issue, Palestine.
 Despite the horrid events in Lebanon, a window
of opportunity has presented itself, and it should be
fully exploited in order to reinvigorate the Middle East
peace initiative, founded on the Arab peace initiative
adopted during the Beirut Arab Summit of 2002.
 The Arab peace initiative remains the suitable
means to achieve a permanent, comprehensive and just
peace, because it simply calls for the implementation
of all United Nations resolutions as they pertain to the
withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab lands, and
for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.
Only such a settlement will be capable of affording
Lebanon and the neighbouring countries the stability
and security they long for and will give Israel a sense
of security — something it has failed to obtain through
sheer force and aggression. Moreover, this should put
an end to the haemorrhage in the Palestinian territories
and foster moderation where despair has bred
extremism and violence, most notably in Iraq, where it
is vital for all of us to help that tortured Arab nation
preserve its territorial integrity and the unity of its
people.
 Today there is incessant talk of a new Middle
East as a harbinger of better things to come, and this
prompts us to ask the following question. Is what we
have witnessed in Lebanon and continue to see in
Palestine and Iraq conducive to an environment of
peace and tranquillity? Is this much heralded new
Middle East attainable only through widespread strife,
unimaginable bloodshed, sedition and oppression?
 Our conception of a new Middle East is one that
is coherent with United Nations resolutions, and that is
in concurrence with the principles of justice and right
as stipulated in those resolutions. Our idea of a new
Middle East is one where a comprehensive peace
settlement becomes reality, guaranteeing the rights of
all; where Palestinian refugees return home, as
stipulated in resolution 194 (III), which comes long
before Security Council resolution 1701 (2006), and
therefore are not resettled in host countries; and where
prisoners return to their loved ones.

06-52988 10

 This is the only way to attain a stable Middle
East. All else will plunge our region into further
upheaval and bloodshed.
 Should our conception of peace in the Middle
East become reality, I assure the Assembly that the
need for conferences, studies and discussions of
terrorism will become moot. Should this happen in
tandem with serious attempts to combat poverty and
sustain acceptable levels of development in areas of
need, this will certainly dry up the pools where
terrorism draws its human and financial support.
 I have recently read one of your statements,
Madam President, in which you emphasize that
overhauling the United Nations will be one of your top
priorities. I commend you for that position, because no
one appreciates the need for world peace more than the
people of the Middle East, as we recognize that the
preservation of world peace requires a United Nations
capable of taking decisions and competent to see them
through.
 Here, I would like to reiterate what I said from
this very rostrum only last year:
 “The core values of a democratic and just world
are best served by enhancing the capabilities of
the United Nations and its instruments, and by
reinforcing in-house democratic values.”
(A/60/PV.13, p.1)
I believed that this institution should remain a
sanctuary of world consciousness and “the primary
defender of such human values as freedom, justice and
peace.” (ibid)
 Perhaps the reforms that have been carried out so
far, such as the establishment of a Human Rights
Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, will
constitute the necessary incentives for achieving a
United Nations capable of safeguarding right and
justice.
 Taking into consideration current trends in world
affairs, I propose to the General Assembly the creation
of a commission leading to laying the foundations of a
charter of the rights of nations, a charter equal in
importance to the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, a charter imposing on Member States — all
States — a code of conduct founded on the principles
of justice and the rule of law.
 I come here from a country riddled with scars,
rising from the rubble and ashes of aggression, to
speak of justice. I do not pretend to pontificate from
the helm of a tank. Lebanon remains a peace-loving
nation, and it extends its hand to all those who share its
peaceful vision, founded on a just settlement and
extracting as such the seeds of oppression and
violence. We trust that the forces of good will prevail
in the end, because its flames burn in the heart of the
righteous and because the sounds of jubilation will
undoubtedly prevail over the beating of war drums and
the sibilating of hate and violence.


For more than a year now, Kyrgyzstan has
been experiencing a new stage in its historical
development. Today, our leaders are doing their utmost
to further strengthen our country’s democratic and
market reforms. The unswerving policy we have
adopted in order to build a democratic society based on
laws and a well-developed national economy will lay a
solid foundation for a stable political situation. We
have committed ourselves to ensuring all the
conditions necessary for the sustainable development
of Kyrgyzstan’s economy and the enhancement of our
people’s well-being.
 At the 2005 World Summit, the President of the
Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Kurmanbek Bakiev, reaffirmed
our full commitment to the universal goals and targets
set out in the Millennium Declaration. All the
necessary legislative measures have been adopted in
our country to protect social well-being and to support
the most vulnerable sectors of the population. That will
help significantly to reduce our poverty level.
 In 2005 alone, despite the existing difficulties,
social expenditures constituted more than 43 per cent

39 06-53323

of the Republic’s budget. As a result, as stated in the
report of the Secretary-General on the integration of
countries with economies in transition into the world
economy, Kyrgyzstan has reduced the scale of poverty
in the country.
 I would also like to point out that the situation
today in the Kyrgyz Republic is characterized by
openness in the economy, macro-economic stability, a
liberal currency and visa regime, and the free
movement of capital and labour. We also enjoy the
advantages of membership in the World Trade
Organization.
 As I have already pointed out, my country has
repeatedly and actively shown its commitment to its
international obligations in the area of the protection of
fundamental rights and freedoms. Today, the Kyrgyz
Republic adheres to all the basic universal international
instruments with a human dimension and continues to
carry out those provisions responsibly. Further
democratization of the society and the encouragement
of human rights remain the priorities for our domestic
policy. This is why our Head of State has initiated
reform in law enforcement and judicial bodies, as well
as constitutional reform in order to improve the
balance of power. I would like to point out, in
particular, that a very active role is being played by
political parties and civil society in this process,
thereby ensuring the genuine involvement of broad
masses of the population in the adoption of important
State decisions.
 A month ago, the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights decided to
establish a Regional Office in Bishkek, the capital of
the Kyrgyz Republic. We regard this move as
indicating a strong recognition of our efforts towards
strengthening democratic principles and encouraging
human rights and freedom of speech in the country.
 The Kyrgyz Republic has ratified the United
Nations Convention against Corruption and has
devised a State strategy to combat this scourge. It has
established a national agency to combat corruption and
a financial intelligence service. I am certain that in our
country, where effective governance is being practiced
and where human rights are being observed, there will
be a better chance of avoiding conflict and overcoming
obstacles to development. It is no secret that, at this
difficult time in human development, with its
increasing global, regional and civilizational problems,
we all feel the presence of moral and psychological
malaise in many parts of the world.
 In order to attain harmony on our planet, all of us
need to humanize our societies and give pride of place
to moral and spiritual values. As our forebears have
said, when people unite in spirit, they can move
mountains. Today, we are all witnessing global change.
There are new issues, new tasks that require innovative
approaches to solve them. In this regard, the Kyrgyz
Republic proposes the formulation of yet another
Millennium Goal — goal 9 — which should focus on
dynamic development of the local community. Success
could be guaranteed through improving the system of
governance, democratization of local self-governance,
the elimination of corruption and the involvement in
governance of representatives of various social and
ethnic groups. We base this on the principle that a
strong local community means a stable State. A stable
State means a stable region. And a stable region means
a secure world.
 It is well known that security and development
are indivisible. We cannot ensure development, if we
do not ensure security. We will not achieve global
security unless we support development and eliminate
poverty. As the Millennium Project report has pointed
out, there are many factors underlying extreme poverty,
first and foremost being that of an unfavourable
geographical situation.
 In this connection, I would like to devote special
attention to mountainous areas, which are our planet’s
basic source of drinking water. We are grateful for the
support of the United Nations Member States in
adopting General Assembly resolution 60/198 on
sustainable mountain development at the Assembly’s
sixtieth session. I am certain that this will enable
mountain countries to take serious steps towards
solving social, economic and environmental problems.
 Pursuant to the decisions of the Bishkek
Mountain Platform, which was adopted in 2002 at the
Bishkek Global Mountain Summit, we propose that a
second mountain summit be convened in 2007, with a
view to taking stock of the international community’s
activities relating to sustainable mountain development
over the past five years. This initiative has already
received support from the United Nations Development
Programme Administrator, Kemal Dervish, and the
Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura,
who proposed that we call the second summit “Bishkek

06-53323 40

Plus Five”. I would like to take this opportunity to
invite all States to take part in this important
international forum. We hope the international
community will support our initiative.
 Commitment to a policy of disarmament and
preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction
is one of the major fundamental principles of the
foreign policy of the peace-loving Kyrgyz Republic.
Proof of this policy was the signing on 8 September
2006 in Kazakhstan of an agreement on a nuclear-
weapon-free zone in Central Asia. We regard this as a
joint contribution of the States of the region to global
security and to freeing humankind from the threat of
lethal weapons. At present, non-nuclear zones are
becoming an important element in multilateral
mechanisms to counter nuclear terrorism. The issue is
more timely than ever, bearing in mind the existing
threat of the use of weapons of mass destruction by
terrorist organizations.
 In this connection, from this lofty rostrum of the
Assembly Hall, I would like to appeal to United
Nations Member States to support the draft resolution
on a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia, which
will be put forward at the current session of the
Assembly’s First Committee. One of the distinguishing
features of our nuclear-free zone is its environmental
aspect. States in the region have suffered more than
most from the negative impact of nuclear programmes
and testing. Human radiation, radiation of our territory
and the dangers posed by uranium tailings are proof of
this.
 Existing regional environmental problems are
being worsened by global warming, drought and soil
degradation. This year the Kyrgyz Republic chairs the
International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. The
problem of the Aral Sea has today taken on the scope
of a global environmental disaster that, to various
extents, has influenced natural processes throughout
the world. In this connection, we call upon the
international community to consolidate efforts for the
implementation of programmes and projects to save the
Aral Sea.
 I would like to express our gratitude to the
Secretary-General for his comprehensive report on the
work of the Organization (document A/61/1). With his
usual leadership skills, he has clearly set forth in the
report the activities of the Organization during 2005.
We fully share his view that globalization has become
one of the predominant factors of the last decade. We
must see to it that the United Nations strengthens its
positive aspects. With the active participation of our
Organization, globalization must become an instrument
to ensure sustainable development and reduce the gap
between rich and poor, overcome discrimination in
economic relations and enhance the well-being of our
peoples.
 Unfortunately, along with globalization there has
been an increase in the spread of such threats and
challenges as international crime, the illicit trade in
drugs and weapons, epidemic disease and
environmental degradation. The Government of
Kyrgyzstan has been taking decisive steps to combat
these negative phenomena. They are especially felt in
our region, bearing in mind the difficult situation in
Afghanistan.
 I am convinced that effectively countering these
threats is possible only on the basis of a worldwide
expansion of regional and international cooperation,
involving organizations that have the necessary
capacities and that are successfully operating to that
end at the present time. In this respect, the Kyrgyz
Republic is taking an active part in the work of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective
Security Treaty Organization. Today, as President of
SCO, Kyrgyzstan will do its utmost to strengthen it
further as a reliable guarantor of security and stability
in the region.
 Speaking last year from this high rostrum,
President Kurmanbek Bakiev of the Kyrgyz Republic
stated that the sixtieth session of the General Assembly
must be remembered as one of reform. Today, we can
assert that the 60th anniversary session was indeed one
of reform. We established the Peacebuilding
Commission and the Human Rights Council and
created the Central Emergency Response Fund. We
reformed the Secretariat and adopted a Global Counter-
Terrorism Strategy.
 And yet, a number of key tasks remain to be
carried out. The Kyrgyz Republic agrees that there is a
need to step up the activities of the General Assembly
and to strengthen the role of the Economic and Social
Council in attaining critical development goals.
 United Nations reform will not be complete
without Security Council reform. We advocate
enhanced efforts to seek solutions in the interests of all
members of the international community. Kyrgyzstan

41 06-53323

joins in the appeal of Member States to expand
permanent and non-permanent membership of the
Council, which would reflect the realities of our times
and promote the effectiveness of our work.
 We believe that if the United Nations activities
are to be consistent and effective, we must keep up
with the times and adapt to events as they take place in
the course of human development. The United Nations
must be oriented towards achieving concrete results
and meeting the pressing needs of the peoples of our
planet.


The delegation of
the Republic of Sierra Leone would like to
congratulate the President on her assumption of the
responsibility for directing the work of the sixty-first
session of the General Assembly. It is our pleasure to
reaffirm our confidence in her ability to run the
Assembly, as well as to pledge our unflinching support
and cooperation during her tenure.
 Let me also take this opportunity to pay special
tribute to her predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for his
commitment and diplomatic skill, which enabled him
effectively to manage the Assembly and help the
reform process to achieve some major successes during
his presidency.
 A year ago, the heads of Member States of the
United Nations declared their commitment to the
reform of the Organization, in order to reflect its
experience in the course of 60 years of existence and
its ever-expanding role within the context of the
realities of the current world order. The process has,
understandably, been painfully slow, because of the
multiplicity of competing national interests. While my
delegation appreciates the progress made so far,
particularly in the form of the establishment of the
Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding
Commission, we are unhappy about the sluggish pace
of Security Council reform, a matter that is close to the
heart of Africa.
 As a Member State deeply committed to the
African position on United Nations reform, my
delegation would like to urge the reform of the
Security Council to move faster so that our continent
can take its rightful place in the United Nations organ
that is responsible for the maintenance of international
peace and security. Obviously, the Security Council
can never be the just, democratic and representative
body that it should be if Africa, with 53 Member States
in the United Nations, does not have permanent
representation proportional to its size.
 As a least developed country (LDC) emerging
from a devastating conflict, we are also concerned that
development has not been treated with the prominence
and urgency it deserves in the reform process,
considering its cause-and-effect relationship with
conflict and human rights. That relationship was
succinctly recognized in one of the outcomes of last
year’s High-level Plenary Meeting of the General
Assembly, which stated that our nations and peoples
could not enjoy development without security, nor
would they enjoy security in the absence of
development, and they would not enjoy either without
respect for human rights. The need, therefore, to
support development programmes — including the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development — as the
foundation for peace and security cannot be
overemphasized.
 We are particularly happy about the establishment
of the Human Rights Council, whose operation, we
hope, will be above the weaknesses that demoralized
the former Human Rights Commission. We call on all
Member States, in particular the Council’s founding
members, to set and maintain standards that will justify
the optimism that the new Council will refrain from
practices that discredited the Human Rights
Commission.
 Of particular interest to us as a post-conflict
country, however, is the Peacebuilding Commission,
whose mandate is to support the recovery of societies
emerging from conflict. We thank the Commission for
choosing Sierra Leone as one of two countries where it
will begin operation. We assure the Commission of our
fullest support and cooperation. As it will soon
discover, if it has not yet done so, we have already
embarked on the path of peacebuilding and
consolidation, having carefully formulated policies and
activities aimed at achieving lasting peace, security and
stability, which are the critical requirements for
meaningful development.
 We have developed a poverty reduction strategy
paper that has attracted support from a number of
donor agencies and friendly countries. We have
produced a peace-consolidation strategy paper, which
is to be presented to the Peacebuilding Commission for
support in addressing some of the challenges facing
our country in the areas of governance and security
prior to the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary
elections in 2007.
 For the Peacebuilding Commission to be able to
work in Sierra Leone on the basis of concrete, first-
hand information, we have extended an invitation to
the Commission to visit Sierra Leone. We are looking
forward to receiving the Commission in Sierra Leone.
 The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
completed its peacekeeping mandate and closed down
at the end of 2005. But the United Nations did not

06-53005 24

leave behind a complete vacuum, it left the United
Nations Integrated Office for Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL)
to support our post-conflict recovery programme. We
thank the United Nations for its continued support and
assure the Organization that its contribution will not be
in vain. We have no doubt that the combined efforts of
the Peacebuilding Commission, UNIOSIL and the
Government will achieve the desired objective of
peace, security and development in the country.
 The people of Sierra Leone are proud of their role
in resolving their own conflict, as well as of their
successes in the democratic process. We had a highly
successful democratic election in 2002, barely five
months after the end of the conflict. That was followed
by local government elections as part of a governance
decentralization process. Our second post-conflict
presidential and parliamentary elections, which will
mark a transition in leadership, are scheduled to be
held around this time next year. Sierra Leone cannot
afford having that watershed election go wrong, but we
need assistance to carry it out properly. I therefore
appeal to the United Nations, the European Union,
other members of the international community and our
bilateral friends to continue to help us, both financially
and technically, to make the elections another
milestone achievement in Sierra Leone’s peace and
democracy processes.
 The people of Sierra Leone are conscious of the
fact that the peace they now enjoy is a product of the
support of, and cooperation with, the United Nations
and the international community. At this stage in our
history, the country is faced with three sets of
challenges as a nation: we must rectify the
accumulated errors of past policies; we must repair the
damage and heal the scars left by the conflict; and we
must chart an appropriate path for the development of
our small country in the twenty-first century. We have
the natural resources to be able to do that. With time,
our human resources will also measure up. Above all,
at this time we need the sustained engagement of
international partners. That is why we are seeking to
expand and reinforce our partnerships with the external
world — partnerships that can support us now, and
remain with us as we pursue a longer-term agenda for
sustainable development.
 Finally, we are in a conflict-ridden region and the
peace in Sierra Leone cannot be sustained in isolation.
We therefore urge the United Nations to continue its
efforts to pursue durable peace in the West African
subregion.