It is a great
pleasure for me to address this great General Assembly
for the second year in a row. Last September, I tried to convey to the Assembly
a message of progress and hope. Today I bring from
the people of Timor-Leste a message of both joy and
thankfulness.
The United Nations has been in Timor-Leste
since the difficult times of our emancipation, having
led the popular consultation of 1999. Since then,
it has been enormously challenging to build from
scratch the foundations of a new State under the rule
of law, based on democratic governance and respect
for human rights. As such, after the United Nations
Mission in East Timor, we had missions such as the
United Nations Transitional Administration in East
Timor, the United Nations Mission of Support in East
Timor, the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste and
the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste
(UNMIT) accompanying us in this crucial journey
of State-building, as well as in the creation of an
atmosphere of reconciliation and harmony, with a view
to achieving peace and stability.
In our still-brief existence as a State, we have been
trying to learn from the errors of the past. Today I
can say that we have decisively moved away from the
difficult circumstances that characterize post-conflict
countries or, in other words, countries with recent
histories of conflict and violence.
We have come to understand — along with several
countries — that peace and stability are essential
prerequisites for State-building. This year, 2012,
therefore marks not exactly the end of a chapter in our
history of peacebuilding but, more particularly, the
start of a new one — a chapter of ongoing institutional
strengthening with the goal of boosting national
development.
After two rounds of presidential elections, in March
and April, our people elected as the third President
of the Republic Major-General Taur Matan Ruak, a
historic figure in the struggle for liberation, who has
been serving the motherland since 1975. Taur Matan
Ruak led the armed resistance and became Chief of
Defence Forces in 1999.
In May, we had the pleasure of hosting five heads
of State and many delegations from friendly countries
to celebrate with us the tenth anniversary of the
restoration of our independence. That took place within
an atmosphere of peace, stability and confidence in the
future. The landmark moment of the celebrations was the
constitutional transfer of power from the then President
of the Republic, Mr. José Ramos-Horta, to the new head
of State, in a highly dignified manner for our young
democracy.
On 7 July, the Timorese people were called to vote
once again, and on 30 July, the new Parliament took
office. As a result of those elections, three parties
were chosen to ensure the governance of Timor-Leste
from 2012 to 2017. Consequently, on 8 August the
Fifth Constitutional Government was sworn in and
given the mission of continuing to consolidate the vital
institutions of a peaceful and democratic nation. In that
way, we will also be continuing the work done by the
previous Government, which consisted of a five-party
coalition and undoubtedly sowed the seeds for national
peace and stability, in addition to boosting our economy.
During the course of this year, we have also been
honoured with visits by several eminent personalities,
including two high-level dignitaries: in August, the
Secretary-General, His Excellency Ban Ki-moon,
decided to see for himself the changes that had taken
place in our country since his last visit five years ago.
His visit was a magnificent gesture of support by a man
with a broad vision of peace and development, a vision
that is shared by the Timorese people. The Secretary-
General acknowledged the progress made and spoke
words of encouragement regarding the strengthening of
the ties of cooperation between the United Nations and
Timor-Leste in an important undertaking, Education
First, which is part of his global education initiative.
More recently, we also had the pleasure of hosting the
United States Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton.
That was the first time that a senior representative of
the United States Government had visited our young
country. Mrs. Clinton also conveyed an important
message of confidence and solidarity, praising the
strong commitment by Timor-Leste to the values and
principles of democracy and good governance. Those
events are even more important given that UNMIT and
the International Stabilization Force will withdraw by
the end of 2012. That will mark the end of peacekeeping
operations in Timor-Leste.
All this has instilled in the hearts of the Timorese
people a very special feeling of accomplishment and
national pride. I would like to convey that feeling of joy
and thankfulness to all countries Members of the United
Nations and to the various international organizations that have provided us with ongoing support in terms of
consolidating peace, democracy and human rights.
The President of the Republic, Taur Matan Ruak,
has asked me to make public that on 20 May 2013 the
Timorese State will be honouring, with the highest
insignia of Timor-Leste, all countries and parties
that have taken part in missions in Timor-Leste,
starting with the General Assembly and the Security
Council. For our people, that will be an act of profound
recognition, expressing the wish that from now on the
United Nations will pay more attention to our brothers
and sisters in need. The success of Timor-Leste belongs
to everyone — to the international community for their
dedicated support and solidarity, and to the Timorese
people for the courage to acknowledge their mistakes
and for their firmness and determination in correcting
them.
Throughout the past four years, our people have
clearly said no to conflict in order to fully embrace the
aspirations of their own development. The Timorese
people were also able to display a high degree of political
maturity by expressing, in a peaceful and constructive
manner, renewed confidence in their elected leaders
and in State institutions. All of this is essential for
reaffirming that, today more than ever, we are ready
to continue leading the national development process,
including the full establishment of our democratic State
under the rule of law and the gradual implementation of
the Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030.
However, we want to maintain strong ties with
the United Nations and other partners under a new
cooperation framework, taking as a starting point
the current needs of the country in both institutional
strengthening and in the development sector. Based on
the principles of the New Deal, which are advocated
by the group of seven plus (g7+), we hope to see
relationships of cooperation being established in an
innovative, dynamic and effective manner.
After overcoming the main obstacles in terms of
State-building, Timor-Leste is now looking to the
future with optimism. Consequently, the Government’s
programme for the 2012-2017 mandate, which has
already been endorsed by Parliament, establishes short-
term — five years — activities, lists sectors where
activities can be started in order to have impacts in the
medium term of 5 to 10 years, and includes objectives
for the long term of 10 to 20 years , to be implemented
according to priorities and execution time.

We will continue to invest in social capital with the
aim of building capacity and of dignifying Timorese
citizens by maximizing the quality of and access to
health, education, professional training, information,
social justice and culture. We will invest in basic
infrastructures, which will be the driving force of the
country’s development. We will develop the economic
sector to make better use of our potential and to create
employment. We will encourage the growth of the
private sector, both local and foreign. We will continue
our efforts to consolidate the institutional framework
so as to improve the functioning, management and
implementation of programmes. That includes a strong
public sector, good governance and a credible system
of justice.
Meanwhile, we will improve the social programmes
that cater to our most vulnerable citizens, including the
disabled, the elderly, and women and children at risk, in
order to ensure that no Timorese citizen is marginalized
or socially excluded. We will also continue to dignify
our veterans.
Today we have a plan, a vision and a goal: to
transform Timor-Leste from a low-income country to
a medium-high-income one by 2030. We want to be a
prosperous and safe nation with a healthy and educated
population, a country that provides skilled employment
for all.
However, in the short term, by 2015, Timor-Leste
will not meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The current major challenge for Timor-Leste is the
fight against poverty — a challenge that we share
with over one billion people in our planet. Regrettably,
around 20 per cent of the world’s population live in
conditions of extreme poverty. Hunger and the lack of
access to water sources will remain insurmountable
challenges. Mothers and children throughout the world
will continue to die tragically due to lack of access to
services to meet the most basic needs.
Unfortunately, those are the current projections for
2015. For that reason, it was very timely of the Secretary-
General to create a high-level panel to help establish
new guidelines for beyond 2015. Here, I must confess
that we were proud to see a Timorese woman — our
Minister of Finance, Emilia Pires — deservingly chosen
as a panel member. Timor-Leste wants to contribute
to the debate on that issue in a clear and constructive
manner. It is urgent to address the structural factors that have hindered the efforts that so many people of
goodwill have made without obtaining tangible results.
We have a historical opportunity to change things.
We can learn from the lessons of the Millennium
Development Goals process, analysing what worked
and what did not, in order to do better in the future.
Strengthening the role of the United Nations is essential.
However, it will require the courage to break with
the old way of handling things. We need new action
paradigms and new coordination mechanisms so that
programmes may truly benefit the people of the more
affected countries.
The g7+ was created in April 2010 in Dili, during
the preparation for the International Dialogue on
Peacebuilding and Statebuilding, which took place in
Timor-Leste. Prior to the creation of the g7+, there was
no mechanism whereby fragile States with common
concerns about peace and development could discuss
such matters in a less subservient way than in their
relationships with donors and development agencies.
It is quite common for recipient countries to
consider that the international assistance they receive
is not the most appropriate to meet their real needs.
Countries complain of the lack of an accountability
system in relation to the money that is actually spent
on the poor, compared to the amounts spent to improve
the well-being of those who manage the projects and
those who manage the reports on the projects, long
documents that are irrelevant because they are out of
touch with the reality on the ground. For those reasons,
in a true spirit of openness and sharing, with a common
desire to improve the living conditions of their people
and to contribute to sustainable peace and development,
fragile countries created the g7+ as an international
group through which they could speak with one voice.
Yes, we say one voice. Speaking as one, we will be able
to demand responsibility from the leaders of beneficiary
countries and also accountability to the taxpayers of the
donor countries.
Those are the same reasons why we are advocating
the New Deal, which seeks to ensure better coordination
and ownership of international assistance by recipient
countries. We want assistance to have genuine impacts
on the people and to correspond better to the true needs
of the beneficiary populations.
Timor-Leste is fully committed to leading the g7+,
bringing the same commitment it showed when moving
from a situation of conflict and fragility to a situation of social and political peace and stability. We want to
contribute in a way that is sound and based on actual
experiences in the g7+ itself. We are a small country
that is still fragile in some aspects, but we share the
same huge concerns of the 17 nations that make up our
group, with a total population of more than 300 million
people.
We have seen how intolerance causes irreparable
destruction in several parts of the world, particularly
in the daily lives of innocent people. The brunt of the
impact is borne by women, mothers, children and the
elderly, making them even more vulnerable. Intolerance
breeds hatred and the desire for vengeance. The world
is not changing so much as it is destroying itself.
Consolidating the gains of the Arab Spring is
proving to be difficult. Syria is a terrible example of
internal conflict. Iraq and Afghanistan do not present
better perspectives of being able to solve their internal
differences, which are becoming deeper.
My good friend Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
the President of the Republic of Indonesia, has been
hosting the Bali Democracy Forum, which has been
attracting greater interest each year, along with an
increasing number of participating countries. We
have always maintained in that Forum that democracy
cannot be imposed upon people, for the same reasons
that solar panels cannot be imposed on homes without
food, which therefore have no prospect of sustainability.
Democracy must be an internal process. The process is
sometimes long, but it is vital for a lasting solution.
The most recent, dynamic and inspirational example
comes from Myanmar. I commend Aung San Suu Kyi, a
woman with an unshakeable character, a born leader, a
resolute democrat and a defender of peaceful solutions,
who is today an advocate for internal reconciliation.
I also commend the leaders of Myanmar for their
courage in making changes in the country. On behalf
of the people of Timor-Leste, I also salute the people
of Myanmar and wish them prosperity, and I appeal for
dialogue, reconciliation and tolerance.
Today’s world faces very serious problems and
is sliding towards an increasingly dangerous lack of
control. In addition to a recent atmosphere of regional
instability, environmental threats continue to grow,
hindering the legitimate aspirations of emerging and
developing countries to benefit from their natural
resources. In the Pacific region, some island States see
their very survival at risk.

Food security concerns are also coming to the
foreground as a further result of climate changes,
requiring careful thought and an immediate and broad
strategy. In several parts of the world we see an immoral
increase in inequality, with a rich and powerful elite
dominating the globe with impunity while the poor
become even poorer and eternally dependent on
wasteful assistance. What is more, it is difficult to
know from where that assistance will come.
In order to meet these challenges, we need a strong
and efficient United Nations that cooperates more
effectively with international and regional organizations
and that operates with great respect for the sovereignty
of each State. The United Nations, which consists of
all of us here today, has a duty to humanity. We should
all acknowledge that we are the privileged agents of
the necessary collective change to a better and safer
world. Our collective efforts to preserve peace, security
and human dignity must be translated from altruistic
idealism to a more interventionist plan. That in turn
means replacing a reactive agenda with a proactive one.
It also means reducing the dominance of political and
economic interests in favour of social and humanitarian
interests. That requires the mobilization of public
opinion around the world through dialogue about the
values of peace and harmony among civilizations and
cultures, mutual respect among societies, and tolerance
among groups.
We can also start with the reform of the Security
Council, which should be more representative. There
is an imperative need to renew mindsets by the
incorporation of new members, so as to energize new

commitments and responsibilities reflecting the current
situations in today’s world.
Timor-Leste has been walking the corridors of
the United Nations for 38 years. In the beginning, we
wanted to mobilize public opinion in favour of our
cause and to warn the world that our fundamental
rights were being violated. Today, we are informing
the international community of our setbacks and
achievements in the construction of a sovereign State.
When we were guerrilla fighters in the mountains, we
heard about a new world order. Today, many people
are still oppressed because they suffer in one way or
another. We are here to speak in favour of dialogue and
fair decision-making. Human dignity must be at the
core of decisions on problems affecting our planet. We
must have an overall sense of the existence, the fears,
the suffering, the despair and the fight for survival of
men and women around the world.
Today we are here to ask for honest, constructive
and unceasing dialogue to solve the problems that
trouble the world — a dialogue encompassing problems
large and small, conflicts large and small and nations
large and small.


Two years ago, during my first address before the
Assembly as President of Colombia (see A/65/PV.15), I
expressed my country’s aspiration to become a member
of the Security Council for the period 2011-2012.
We assumed the responsibility of participating in
making decisions about critical situations that threaten
world peace in a spirit of absolute independence and
well aware of the enormous commitment required to
work for international peace and security. It has been
a particularly turbulent time, but one during which the
aspirations of many peoples who had suffered long conflicts and armed confrontation have been furthered.
Countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire
are now making strides towards peacebuilding and the
rule of law.
In Libya, a ruthless tyranny in place for more than 40
years was dismantled in a process in which the Security
Council played a decisive role. My Government did
not hesitate to condemn the violent repression of the
civilian population justly clamouring for the exercise
of their fundamental rights. That is why we joined the
Council’s decisions furthering a transition towards
a democracy that, although still fragile, enjoys the
support of the international community as it seeks to
entrench itself. There are still violent groups that want
to sabotage that process by terrorist methods. I take
this opportunity to condemn in the strongest terms the
despicable attack perpetrated against the United States
consulate in Benghazi. Extremism, terrorism and
disregard for human life cannot be allowed to persist.
Today, the Arab world is experiencing a
fundamental political transformation, opening the
way towards democracy. If the process is to last, it
will require respect for people’s rights and the creation
of conditions conducive to sustainable economic
development. We hope that participation by citizens,
especially women, will continue to increase and foster
democratic systems and opportunities for development
and welfare.
With regard to the dire situation in Syria for more
than a year and half, I must express our deep frustration
with the inability of the international community to put an end to the tragedy that every day takes more and more
Syrian lives. From this rostrum, we reiterate our call
for an end to the attacks and for a political negotiation
that will meet the legitimate aspirations of all sectors
of Syrian society. Implementing Kofi Annan’s six-point
plan would greatly contribute to facilitating a Syrian-
led political transition. We strongly support the new
Joint Special Representative of the United Nations
and the League of Arab States, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi,
and wish him much success in his very complex and
difficult task.
As a representative of a country that is currently
a member of the Security Council, I would like to
brief ly turn to the matter of its reform, which has
been under discussion for 20 years. Colombia believes
that consensus should be our guide in developing a
comprehensive approach that includes change in both
the Council’s composition and its working methods so
as to promote more effectively the United Nations goals
of peace, well-being and humanity.
In our hemisphere, one country that requires
comprehensive peacebuilding is Haiti. We continue to
work for Haiti. Its recovery will require our continuous
support in strengthening its capacities, institutions
and productivity so as to generate employment, reduce
extreme poverty and promote the United Nations work
for development in the country. I urge everyone to
persevere in that cause.
A key event for the world this year was the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
(Rio+20). Inspired by the Millennium Development
Goals model, Colombia led the proposal to establish
the sustainable development goals, which was the
most important outcome of the Rio+20 process. Today,
the sustainable development goals promise to be a
fundamental component of the planet’s development
agenda, and the Secretary-General himself has
identified them as one of the five priorities of his
legacy. We are therefore especially pleased that our
Foreign Minister has been invited to be a member of the
high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda,
which held its first meeting yesterday.
This year, the sixth Summit of the Americas gathered
in Colombia, with 30 Heads of State and Government
from the western hemisphere in attendance. It was a
fruitful gathering, which for the first time we organized
simultaneously with a business summit attended by the
leaders of the premier companies of the Americas. We
also held a social forum that brought together people
from diverse social organizations on the continents.
The Summit of the Americas in Cartagena was
characterized by frank and open dialogue about the
most crucial issues for the region and the world. The
Governments of the Americas agreed to undertake
an analysis and discussion of the track record,
effectiveness and future prospects of the so-called war
on drugs, as well as possible alternatives to it. It is our
duty to question with scientific objectivity whether we
are doing the best we can or if there are better options
to more effectively combating the scourge. To that end,
we mandated the Organization of American States
to begin an analysis and discussion, inviting other
entities — the first of which would be, of course, the
United Nations — to participate.
That is only a first step, but it is of great importance
because it is the beginning of a discussion that the
world has avoided for many years. We hope that it will
ultimately yield concrete results. The debate about
drugs that have caused so much harm throughout the
world and to my country must be frank and, most
certainly, global.
Similarly, in my statement before the General
Assembly two years ago, I expressed my conviction
that the dawning decade should be the decade of
Latin America and the Caribbean — a decade that
would consolidate that region of the world as a region
of peace, progress and solutions for the rest of the
planet. Today, we are pleased to note that our region
is indeed experiencing a favourable moment with solid
economies, functional democracies and no current
conflict among the nations of which it is formed.
Regional coordination mechanisms of relatively
recent establishment, such as the Union of South
American Nations and the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States, are evidence of the
resolve of our countries and peoples to cooperate. I
would like to highlight the enormous potential of the
Pacific Alliance that was formalized this year among
Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile. The Alliance is
open to the participation of other States with which we
seek to strengthen not only trade but also political and
human ties, as well as to the nations of the immense
Pacific basin.
I cannot conclude without referring to the special
moment that our country is currently experiencing.
Against the backdrop of international turbulence, we have been successful in maintaining a healthy economy
that has generated over 2 million new jobs over the
course of two years, attesting to the major progress
we have made in reducing poverty. We have put in
place initiatives of great social impact, such as a law
for victims, which is the only legislation in the world
that seeks to return lands to displaced peasants and
to compensate the victims of a conflict that remains
ongoing; or major hydrocarbon and mining royalties
reform to more fairly distribute the revenues generated
by such activities, and thereby promote more effective
social development.
Nevertheless, our progress, which has been
remarkable, has been curtailed by an absurd conflict
that has now lasted half a century. Today, Colombia
is suffering through the most prolonged internal
armed conflict in its hemisphere, indeed perhaps one
of the longest-lasting in the world — an ever-more
anachronistic and inexplicable conflict. Above all, it
is inexplicable in the light of the development of our
democracy and of our social progress.
Aware of that, and without neglecting the
protection and security of the Colombian people and
without ceding an inch in the fight against terrorism
and crime, my Government is resolved to move forward
prudently, seriously and firmly, and without repeating
the mistakes of the past, by entering into conversations
with the guerrilla forces in order to achieve an end to
the armed conflict.
After two years of exploratory contacts, we have
announced to the country and to the world that a
phase of talks will be initiated on a short and concrete
agenda, which we hope will allow us to achieve the
desired outcome. The talks will begin in Oslo during
the first half of October and will continue in Havana,
thanks to the goodwill of the Governments of Norway
and Cuba, which will serve as guarantors. We will also
have the backing of the Government of Venezuela, to
which we are grateful for its valuable support, and of
the Government of Chile, which will be working with
us during the second phase.
Today, before the General Assembly, I wish to
thank the international community for the support it has
expressed at outset of the talks and for its willingness
to cooperate and help in any way that is necessary. We
embark upon the talks with moderate optimism and in
the absolute conviction that it is an opportunity that
we cannot squander to achieve a peace that is good not
only for Colombia but for the entire region. With regard to my statement today, a few days ago I
asked the Colombian people through social media what
message they wanted me to bring here to the General
Assembly. Among the many messages I received, I
want to share one from my compatriot Henry Rodríguez
Chacón: “An entire generation wants to wake up one
day to the news of a peace agreement.” That is the most
heartfelt wish of the Colombian people.
Aware that the process must have brief deadlines
and precise terms if it is to be successful, I trust that
I will be able to deliver to the Assembly next year a
positive outcome of the effort, which we undertake
enthusiastically with a view to ending our 50-year
conflict.
We do not want to talk just about peace; we want
to build conditions for peace. That is what we are doing
on a daily basis with the actions of our Government and
now with the talks that we are initiating. Today, with
great hope, we present the world with this new special
moment for my country, Colombia.


Freedom,
dignity, self-determination and the hope of a better
life were the driving forces behind the movement for
change in the Arab world.
As Germans, we know from our own bitter
experience that freedom is not a gift. It has to be won
and constantly defended. Freedom is more than just
freedom of thought. It is freedom to express one’s own
opinion and to voice public criticism. For that reason
alone, freedom is not always comfortable. The first
article of the Basic Law, Germany’s Constitution,
states that human dignity shall be inviolable. That
applies to every single individual, regardless of their
origin, culture, creed or sex. As Germans, we have
experienced what it is to lack freedom in the course of
our own history. We will always stand by those who,
wherever they are in the world, call for freedom of
opinion, religion, the press and artistic freedom.

Freedom has a daughter; it is tolerance. And
freedom has a son; it is respect, respect for other people,
respect for what is important to others, respect for what
is sacred to others. Freedom therefore does not mean
freedom from responsibility. Freedom always means
freedom to shoulder responsibility.
We understand the many devout people who feel
wounded by the recent shameful anti-Islam video.
However, legitimate criticism and sincere indignation
cannot be used to justify acts of violence or destruction.
Some would have us believe that the burning of embassy
buildings are proof of a clash of civilizations. We must
not allow ourselves to be deluded by such arguments.
The vast majority of people oppose violence. The
people who have taken to the streets, as well as their
political representatives gathered here in New York
this week, have expressed that forcefully. It is not a
clash of civilizations. It is a clash within societies and
civilizations. It is also a struggle for the soul of the
movement for change in the Arab world.
It is a struggle between open and closed minds,
between moderates and radicals, between understanding
and hate. It is a clash between those seeking peace and
those prepared to resort to violence. The extremists
want to prevent the emergence of freedom by inciting
violence. They must not be allowed to succeed.
Germany has taken a stand in that struggle. We will
continue to expand our support for people in the Arab
world. We are not going to turn our backs on them, but
we will be open to them. Our values and our interests
compel us to take the side of those around the world who
are fighting peacefully for freedom, dignity and self-
determination. Education and work, investment and
growth — our offer of a transformational partnership
still stands.
I will never forget the Syrian father who held out
his emaciated son to me during my visit to the Zaatari
refugee camp in Jordan. Such suffering renders us
speechless, but it also impels us to act. To this very
day, the Security Council has failed to live up to its
responsibility for the people in Syria. I express that
criticism with great sadness. The deadlock in the
Security Council must not continue. Every day, the
violence perpetrated by the Bashar Al-Assad regime
is escalating. The risk of a conf lagration engulfing the
entire region is growing. Together with our partners and
the United Nations, we are helping the many refugees
in Syria itself and in neighbouring countries.

All Syrians who want their country to have a
democratic and pluralistic future based on the rule
of law must work together. We support the efforts of
Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, Joint Special Representative of
the United Nations and the League of Arab States, to
find a political approach. Despite the escalating violence
and despite the deadlock in the Security Council, we
must not stop working on a political solution.
During the past 20 months, the Arab League
has demonstrated ever more clearly its adherence
to the values enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations. We welcome that and we want to build on
it. At Germany’s initiative, during the last week in
September, the Security Council welcomed intensifying
cooperation between the United Nations and the
League of Arab States (see S/PRST/2012/20). That is
an acknowledgement of the Arab League’s constructive
and positive role.
We also pay tribute to the efforts to gain freedom in
other parts of the world. As a result of the remarkable
opening-up process under way in Myanmar, the country
is emerging from isolation and gradually leaving
repression behind.
We criticize and strongly condemn the ongoing
repression in our own neighbourhood, in Belarus.
In many other Asian and African countries, which
have struck out in a new direction, we are supporting
political transformation by providing assistance for
economic and social development. That is in the
common interest of the international community. For
there is one thing that becomes ever more apparent, and
that is that without development, there can be no security
and without security there can be no development. That
applies to our engagement in Afghanistan, which we
will continue after the withdrawal of combat troops in
2014. It also applies to the efforts to bring stability to
Somalia and Yemen, to the Great Lakes region and to
the countries of the Sahel.
We are very concerned by the still-unresolved
dispute about Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran has still
not produced evidence of the exclusively peaceful
nature of its nuclear programme. It has also failed to
date to provide the transparency that the International
Atomic Energy Agency has long demanded. So far, the
talks during the last few months have not made enough
progress towards reaching a solution. The European
Union’s three plus three group has put forward
proposals for a substantive negotiation process. We still
await a serious response from Iran. We want a political
and diplomatic solution. Time is short. Israel’s security
is at stake. Indeed, stability in the entire region is at
stake. However, that is also about averting the risk of
a nuclear arms race with unforeseeable consequences
for international security. I call on Iran to stop playing
for time. The situation is serious indeed, and time is
running out. We want a political solution, and we are
putting all our efforts into achieving that goal.
Those challenges must not lead us to lose sight of
the necessity of a negotiated peace settlement between
Israel and the Palestinians. There is a danger that the
goal of a two-State solution, the only solution that can
reconcile the legitimate interests of the two sides, will
slip away. The two sides must build new trust. At the
same time, they must refrain from doing anything that
might jeopardize a two-State solution.
Germany’s foreign policy is a policy for peace.
Germany’s foreign policy is anchored in Europe. Many
have been wondering whether Europe can successfully
manage its sovereign debt crisis and whether it will
continue to play a leading role in the world. The answer
is an emphatic yes. Europe has a great responsibility in
the world. And Germany is aware of its responsibility
for Europe. The way out of the debt crisis is difficult. It
requires spending discipline, solidarity and growth. We
will continue down that road. Europe is growing closer
together. Europe is consolidating. Europe will emerge
from the crisis stronger than ever before. Europe will
remain a force to be reckoned with as the world’s largest
donor of development assistance, as an inspiration for
peaceful regional cooperation, as a pioneer in climate
action and disarmament, as a champion of rules-based
globalization and as a driving force for United Nations
reform.
My country’s peaceful unification more than 20
years ago also signified the reunification of Europe.
Since then, the world has changed dramatically. Today,
we find ourselves on the threshold of a multipolar
world. The world with its interdependencies needs a
cooperative order. It needs strong and representative
institutions. We will weaken the Security Council if
we fail to adapt it to today’s world. Together with our
partners in the G-4 group, India, Brazil and Japan,
Germany is prepared to assume greater responsibility.
It cannot be that Latin America and Africa have
no permanent seats on the Security Council or that
dynamic Asia has only one. That does not reflect the realities of today’s world, and it definitely does not
reflect the realities of tomorrow.
The challenges are too great for us to simply
accept the status quo. The world is not only growing
together; the pace of change is increasing. We are
living in an age of breathtaking change. That change
brings with it risks and new dangers, as well as new
uncertainties. Above all, however, that change brings
with it great opportunities, especially for young people.
In this changing world we need a clear compass, and
our compass is freedom. The yearning for freedom is
rooted in people’s hearts all over the world. They are
our partners in building a better future.


At the outset, on behalf of President Ollanta
Humala Tasso and the Government and people of Peru,
I wish to congratulate the President of the General
Assembly on his election to lead this session, during
which we are very honoured to support him as one of
the Vice-Presidents. I would also like to congratulate
him on his initiative to make the pacific settlement of
disputes the central topic of our debate. The pacific
settlement of disputes is the fundamental way to
eradicate the scourge of war, which, in turn, is the
main objective of the Organization and its Charter. The
commitment not to resort to the threat or use of force
is the cornerstone of international peace and security.
Peru reaffi rms its ongoing and resolute commitment
to the principles that inspired the birth of the United Nations: multilateralism, the pursuit of international
peace and security, solidarity and cooperation. In
that context, Peru solemnly affirms its continuing
commitment to the pacific settlement of disputes.
In that task, the International Court of Justice, as
the main judicial organ of the United Nations system,
plays a fundamental and, fortunately, increasing role,
in particular in Latin America. Peru reaffirms its full
respect for the work of the Court and calls on States to
turn to it to resolve their differences and to respect and
comply with its decisions, pursuant to Chapter XIV of
the United Nations Charter.
The 123 disputes that had been submitted to the
Court as at December 2011 are proof of the fact that
the international community is actively committed to
the pacific settlement of disputes, to diplomacy and
not to war. Recourse to the Court, far from being an
unfriendly act, is an eloquent testimony to our desire
for peace.
We reiterate our faith in multilateralism and
deplore the existence of situations to which, to date, our
Organization has not been able to find solutions. The
latest and most painful one of these, due to the high toll
it is taking in human lives, is the crisis in Syria. Peru
condemns the use of force and violence in that country,
and calls once again on all parties to the conflict to
immediately cease hostilities and to initiate a genuine
process of dialogue and peacemaking, in the framework
of respect for the independence and sovereignty of that
country and for the fundamental rights and freedoms
of its citizens.
We support the efforts undertaken by the Secretary-
General and the Arab League to find a negotiated and
peaceful solution to the conflict. We would encourage
the mission of the Joint Special Representative, Lakhdar
Brahimi, to continue its efforts.
However, that is not the only outstanding issue. Peru
deems regrettable the fact that in more than 60 years
our Organization has not been able to find a solution
to the legitimate demand of the Palestinian people to
establish an independent State and to live in peace
within secure and internationally recognized borders.
Peru recognizes the Palestinian State, has established
diplomatic relations with it and, based on Peru’s
historical position since 1947 and on international law,
supports its admission as a full Member of the United
Nations, without detriment to Israel’s right to its own
security. Peru also condemns once again the unfair,
illegitimate and illegal economic, financial and
commercial blockade imposed against Cuba, to which
the Organization has been unable to put an end despite
the countless condemnations from the Assembly.
We also regret that it has not yet been possible
to find a solution to the nearly 200-year-old dispute
between Argentina and the United Kingdom regarding
the Malvinas Islands. We call upon the parties once
again to initiate a dialogue leading to a negotiated
solution.
To overcome these and other shortcomings and
deficiencies of the current international order, it is
urgent to adopt measures within our own Organization,
the most urgent one probably being a reform of the
Security Council aimed at making it a more efficient,
transparent, democratic and representative forum. The
United Nations must reflect the realities of the twenty-
first century and update the current architecture, which
remains best suited to the post-war world of 1945. The
current scenario requires that developing countries take
greater responsibility for preserving peace and security.
We deplore the limited progress made in negotiations on
this issue. We consider that the time is ripe to relaunch
the reform process, and we call upon Member States
to spare no effort in bringing this process to a speedy
conclusion.
As a concrete sign of Peru’s contribution to
strengthening the rule of law, it was my pleasure to
deposit yesterday the instruments of ratification of
the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance and the Convention on Cluster
Munitions, as well as the amendments to the Montreal
Protocol regarding ozone-depleting substances. We call
on all countries to accede to these instruments, which
are aimed at protecting the environment, ensuring
respect for human rights and fighting against all
forms of impunity. It is a moral duty to ensure that the
perpetrators of serious crimes against humanity are
duly tried and punished.
The rule of law also requires more inclusive
societies. Civil, political and social citizenship must
encompass everyone equally. Accordingly, Peru has
incorporated into its national legislation the provisions
of Convention 169 of the International Labour
Organization. Since Peru is the first country to adopt
these measures, its indigenous peoples will be able to
fully exercise their rights and ensure that all investors have obtained the requisite social licence, within the
framework of State powers.
In spite of all of those efforts, new and diverse
threats to the rule of law have emerged. Transnational
organized crime, funded mainly by drug trafficking,
today constitutes the main threat to democratic societies.
The magnitude of this problem requires, more than ever
before, combined efforts with an integrated vision of
shared responsibility at the global level.
It is for that reason that this past June Peru hosted
the International Conference of Ministers of Foreign
Affairs and Heads of Specialized National Agencies
against the World Drug Problem, in an attempt to resume
a political dialogue that had been interrupted for nearly
20 years. That valuable opportunity proved to us that
amid our diversity there are many more convergences
than discrepancies, and that the will exists to intensify
cooperation in this area.
We are confident that this first step will be further
complemented by new initiatives that will guarantee
greater exchange of information, a better allocation
of resources, and better results in reducing the supply
and demand of narcotic drugs as well as in the field of
alternative development, a topic that will be addressed
next November at an international conference to be
hosted by Peru.
That Peruvian initiative on the fight against
drugs is not the only ref lection of our commitment
to multilateralism and integration. Since June, Peru
has held the presidency pro tempore of the Union of
South American Nations (UNASUR). We want to see
democracy consolidated throughout South America.
Many lives have been lost during the long journey
towards consolidating democracy in our region. For that
reason, we will not be deterred by any circumstance
that may threaten that undertaking.
In our capacity as President Pro Tempore of
UNASUR, we reiterate that democracy will remain an
essential requirement for integration and cooperation
in South America. We also hope that South America
will become a zone of peace, without exclusions. It
is already a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and we will
work tirelessly so that it can soon be a zone free of
anti-personnel mines. The money currently spent on
arms must be redirected towards development and
overcoming poverty and inequality.
Peru is peace-loving country and a staunch defender
of disarmament. At the international level, we are party to the main disarmament and non-proliferation
treaties. Furthermore, Peru hosts the headquarters
of the Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and
Development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
We promote confidence-building measures with
neighbouring countries, especially measures aimed at
conventional disarmament to favour the development
of our peoples. In that context, we cannot but welcome
with enthusiasm and high expectations the efforts made
by the Government of President Santos Calderón of
Colombia to open the path of dialogue in order to end
long years of violence, as justly claimed by the people
of Colombia. Peru expresses its best wishes for the
success of that initiative.
From the South American perspective, we also
aspire to build bridges with all the regions of the world.
In such a spirit, Peru will in a few days welcome heads
of State and Government of South American and Arab
countries to the third Summit of South American and
Arab Countries. The Summit has become an important
instrument in bringing the two regions closer together
and, through it, its member countries have opened a
channel for dialogue and political understanding at
the highest level. That will afford us the opportunity
to develop common interests in areas such as trade,
investment and culture, all for the benefit of our peoples.
Thanks to appropriate macroeconomic policies,
Peru has continued to grow, reaching a growth rate in
2011 of 6.92 per cent and a 5.7 per cent average rate
over the past 10 years. Despite those good results, wide
sectors of the population do not fully participate in the
benefits of economic growth. Hence, it is time to ensure
growth with social inclusion, as President Ollanta
Humala Tasso has pointed out since the beginning of
his Administration. The new vision that Peru promotes
is oriented towards further economic growth and
democratic stability as it expands and maximizes
social well-being and harmonizes productive activities
with environmental preservation. In Peru’s view,
starting with the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable
Development, the establishment of the post-2015
development agenda must achieve a convergence of the
processes of the Millennium Development Goals with
the processes of the sustainable development goals.
Peru’s commitment to the United Nations is
long-standing and deep. Allow me to conclude by
honouring here to three prominent Peruvian diplomats
who have held the highest responsibilities within the
Organization — Ambassador Javier Pérez de Cuellar, Secretary-General from 1982 to 1991; Ambassador
Victor Andrés Belaúnde, President of the General
Assembly at its fourteenth session, from 1959 to 1960;
and Ambassador José Luis Bustamante y Rivero,
President of the International Court of Justice from
1967 to 1969. The recognition and responsibilities
that those individuals received from the international
community show that Peru has always been committed
to peace and to the observance of international law. I
am pleased to see the Permanent Representative of Peru
presiding over the debate this evening.
As a co-founder of some of the main regional
forums, such as the Andean Community, the Union
of South American Nations and the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States, Peru has always
been a standard-bearer for integration and for positive,
respectful relations with all countries of the world
and, in particular, with the countries of our region and
neighbouring countries. As a basis of that policy, Peru
has always trusted — and will continue to place its
trust — in the strength and primacy of international
law and in the peaceful settlement of disputes. It is
with that conviction that the Government of President
Ollanta Humala Tasso reiterates its staunch adherence
to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.


I wish to
begin by extending my appreciation to the heads of all
the delegations who in their statements to the Assembly
stressed the urgency of progress towards the realization
of a just peace in our region, one which would allow the
Palestinian people to enjoy their inalienable national
rights.
Developments over the past year have confirmed
what we have persistently drawn attention to and warned of: the catastrophic danger of racist settlers moving into
our country. During the past months, attacks by terrorist
militias of Israeli settlers have become a daily reality,
with at least 535 attacks since the beginning of the year.
We are facing relentless waves of attacks against our
people, our mosques, our churches and monasteries,
and our homes and schools. They are unleashing their
venom against our trees, fields, crops and properties,
and our people have become fixed targets for acts of
killing and torture, with the complete collusion of the
occupying forces and the Israeli Government.
The escalation of settler attacks should not
surprise anyone, for it is the inherent byproduct of
the continuation of the occupation and a Government
policy that deliberately fosters the settlements and
settlers and deems their satisfaction to be an absolute
priority. And it is the inherent byproduct of the racist
climate fuelled by a culture of incitement in Israeli
curriculums and extremist declarations and fatwas,
which are rife with hatred and are rooted in a series
of discriminatory laws created and enacted over the
years against the Palestinian people by the Israeli
security apparatus and courts. Those entities provide
excuse after excuse for the settlers’ crimes and for
their accelerated release should one of them happen
to be arrested. Official and military commissions of
inquiry fabricate justifications for soldiers who have
committed what are clearly considered war crimes and
have perpetrated acts of murder, torture and abuse of
peaceful Palestinian civilians.
Over the past year, since the convening of the
General Assembly’s previous session, the occupying
Power has persisted with its settlement campaign,
focusing on Jerusalem and its environs. It is a campaign
clearly and deliberately aimed at altering the city’s
historic character and the glorious image of the Holy
City as etched in the minds of humankind. It is a
campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian
people of Jerusalem via the demolition of their homes
and prevention of their reconstruction, the revocation
of residency rights, the denial of basic services,
especially with regard to the construction of schools,
the closure of institutions and the impoverishment of
Jerusalem’s community via a siege behind walls and
checkpoints. That chokes the City and prevents millions
of Palestinians from freely accessing its mosques,
churches, schools, hospitals and markets.
The occupying Power has also continued its
construction and expansion of settlements in different areas throughout the West Bank and has continued
its suffocating blockade, as well as raids and attacks
against our people in the Gaza Strip, who to this day
suffer from the disastrous impact of the destructive war
of aggression committed against them a few years ago.
Nearly 5,000 Palestinians remain captive as prisoners
and detainees of conscious in Israel’s jails. In that
regard, we call upon the international community to
compel the Government of Israel to respect the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 and to investigate the conditions
of detention of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and
we stress the need for their release. They are soldiers in
their people’s struggle for freedom, independence and
peace.
At the same time, the occupying Power continues
to tighten the siege and impose severe restrictions on
movement, preventing the Palestinian Authority from
implementing vital infrastructure projects and providing
services to its citizens, who are also being prevented
from cultivating their land and deprived of water for
irrigation. The occupying Power is also obstructing the
establishment of agricultural, industrial, tourism and
housing projects by the Palestinian private sector in
vast areas of the occupied Palestinian territory, which
are classified as areas subject to the absolute control of
the occupation, areas that encompasses approximately
60 per cent of the West Bank.
The occupying Power continues to deliberately
demolish what the Palestinian Authority is
building — projects funded by donor brethren and
friends — and is destroying the Authority’s building
projects involving roads, simple homes for its citizens
and agricultural facilities. In fact, over the past 12
months, the Israeli occupying forces demolished 510
Palestinian structures in those areas and displaced 770
Palestinians from their homes. Those measures have
caused great damage to our economy and impeded our
development programmes and private-sector activity.
They compound the socioeconomic difficulties of
our people under occupation, a fact confirmed by
international financial institutions. Israel’s overall
policy is ultimately leading to the weakening of the
Palestinian Authority, undermining its ability to
carry out its functions and projects and to implement
its obligations. This threatens to undermine its very
existence or cause its collapse.
All of that is taking place in the context of an Israeli
political discourse that does not hesitate to brandish
aggressive, extremist positions. In many aspects and in their practical application on the ground, they incite
religious conflict. That is something we firmly reject,
based on our principles and convictions and due to our
understanding of what it means to fuel such fires in this
sensitive area, which is full of explosive f lashpoints,
and how that can fuel the action of extremists from
various quarters, especially those trying to use tolerant,
monotheistic religions as an ideological justification
for their terrorism.
For our part, as proof of our seriousness and our
sincere intention to create an opening in this impasse,
we conducted exploratory talks with the Israeli
Government at the beginning of the year, at the initiative
of the brotherly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We
have also encouraged the expressed desires of several
countries to contribute to efforts to break the cycle of
deadlock and have ourselves undertaken initiatives
to create favourable conditions for the resumption of
negotiations. Unfortunately, however, the result of all
those initiatives has been very negative.
There can be only one reading of the Israeli
Government’s actions and practices in our homeland
and of the positions it has presented to us regarding the
substance of a final status agreement to end the conflict
and achieve peace: that the Israeli Government rejects
the two-State solution.
The two-State solution — namely, the State
of Palestine coexisting alongside the State of
Israel — represents the spirit and essence of the historic
compromise embodied in the Declaration of Principles,
which was agreed to in Oslo and was signed, 19 years
ago, by the Palestine Liberation Organization and the
Government of Israel under the auspices of the United
States of America and on the White House lawn. It is
a compromise by which, for the sake of making peace,
the Palestinian people accepted to establish their State
on only 22 per cent of the territory of historic Palestine.
Recent years have actually witnessed a systematic
acceleration and intensification of Israeli measures
aimed at gutting the Oslo Accords of their meaning,
while simultaneously building facts on the ground in
the occupied Palestinian territory that are making the
implementation of the Accords extremely difficult, if
not completely impossible.
The Israeli Government aims to continue its
occupation of East Jerusalem, to de facto annex large
areas of the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory
and to continue occupying a large portion of the territory under different designations. It refuses to
engage in any serious discussion of the issue of the
Palestinian refugees. It wants to continue its occupation
of Palestinian aquafers and its control over the most
fertile agricultural areas in our land, as well as over our
air, skies,water, borders and our life in its entirety.
The final map and borders that can be drawn in
accordance with Israel’s official positions reveal to us
small Palestinian enclaves surrounded by large Israeli
settlement blocs and walls and checkpoints, and vast
security zones and roads reserved for settlers. The
enclaves would therefore remain subject to the full
dominance of military and settler occupation, only
packaged under new names, such as the unilateral
plan for a so-called State with provisional borders. I
repeat — a State with provisional borders. That is a
project that we categorically reject from A to Z because
it will not bring about peace.
Israel refuses to end the occupation and refuses to
allow the Palestinian people to attain their freedom and
independence. It rejects the establishment of the State
of Palestine. Israel is promising the Palestinian people
a new catastrophe — a new Naqba — a new setback.
I speak on behalf of an angry people who feel
that while they demand their right to freedom, adopt a
culture of peace and adhere to the principles and rules
of international law and resolutions of international
legitimacy, rewards continue to be illogically bestowed
upon Israel, whose Government pursues a policy of
war, occupation and settler occupation. Israel continues
to be permitted to enjoy impunity, and some continue
to obstruct the adoption of a decisive position regarding
its violations of international law and covenants. That
represents a licence for the occupation to continue
its policy of dispossession and ethnic cleansing and
encourages it to entrench its system of apartheid against
the Palestinian people.
Despite our genuine feelings of anger, we — in
the name of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the
sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian
people — will not allow our country to be divided in
two.
We are the sole legitimate representative of the
Palestinian people. I reaffirm without hesitation that
we are as committed — equally and by the same
measures — to peace and international legitimacy and
its covenants and resolutions as we are to upholding
our inalienable national rights and aspirations. And we reaffirm that we are committed to non-violence
and reject terrorism in all its forms, particularly State
terrorism.
Despite our disappointment, we continue to sincerely
extend a hand to the Israeli people to make peace. We
realize that ultimately the two peoples must live and
coexist, each in their respective State, in the Holy Land.
Furthermore, we realize that progress towards making
peace can be achieved through negotiations between
the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel.
Despite all the complexities of the prevailing
reality and all the frustrations that abound, we say
before the international community that there is still
a chance — maybe the last — to save the two-State
solution and to salvage peace. However, this urgent task
must be pursued via a new approach.
Whoever rushes to advise us to repeat an experience
that has proven to be futile, such as negotiations with
the Israeli Government without clear terms of reference,
must understand that this will result in the reproduction
of failure and again provide cover for consecrating the
occupation and will deal the final blow to an already
dying peace process. Whoever advises us to wait must
realize that the hotbeds of tension and the festering
situation in our country and our region have their own
timing and cannot withstand further procrastination
and delay, nor are they amenable to being relegated to
the bottom of the global agenda.
The approach required for salvaging the chance for
peace must, first and foremost, be predicated on the
understanding that the racist settler occupation must
be condemned, punished and boycotted so that it is
completely halted and eliminated. That approach also
requires a reaffirmation of, and adherence to, the terms
of reference and the foundations of the solution to the
conflict, which have been endorsed by all here.
We do not need to belabour the core components
of a just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Rather, what is needed is the will to implement those
components. Marathon negotiations are not required to
define them, rather it is the genuine and sincere intention
to reach peace that is needed. Those components are
by no means a mysterious puzzle or intractable riddle;
they are the clearest and best-known secrets in the
world. They include, in brief, the establishment of an
independent State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as
its capital, over the entire territory occupied by Israel
since 1967, and the realization of a just, agreed solution to the Palestine refugee issue, in accordance with
resolution 194 (III), as prescribed in the Arab Peace
Initiative.
The fundamental components of the solution to
the conflict exist in the documents and resolutions of
the United Nations. Member States already have them.
The components of the solution are also endorsed in
resolutions of regional organizations, beginning with
the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, the Non-Aligned Movement and the
African Union. They can also be found in the statements
of the European Union and the international Quartet.
However, what is the use of all those terms of reference
if Israel continues to refuse, and is encouraged by
others to continue to oppose the terms of reference?
The international community, embodied in the
United Nations, is required now more than ever to uphold
its responsibilities. The Security Council is called upon
to urgently adopt a resolution comprising the pillars
and foundations for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict that would serve as a binding term of reference
and guide for all if the vision of two States, Israel and
Palestine, is to survive and if peace is to prevail in the
land of peace — the birthplace of Jesus, peace be upon
him, the ascension of the Prophet Muhammad, peace
be upon him, and the final resting place of Abraham,
peace be upon him — Palestine, the land of the three
monotheistic religions.
All things considered, the establishment of a free
and independent State of Palestine is a sacred right of
the Palestinian people and an entitlement that must be
realized, for it has been overdue for too many decades.
It is not a grant to be bestowed upon us by anyone. It is
a right, and the Palestinian people are entitled to that
right.
At the same time, the Palestinian Authority has
affirmed, through the implementation of its State
institution-building programmes, the ability to create
an advanced model for an effective, modern State
through the development of the performance of its
institutions and public finance management and
through the adoption of standards for transparency,
strict accountability and rules of good governance.
Those achievements have been deemed by the Ad
Hoc Liaison Committee for the Coordination of
the International Assistance to Palestinians, the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to
constitute an impressive undertaking and success story. Those achievements were again commended in the
latest report just a few days ago, which confirmed the
Palestinian Authority’s total readiness for the transition
to an independent State while at the same time stressing
that the Israeli occupation remained the only obstacle
to the realization of the State of Palestine.
During the previous session of the General
Assembly, we submitted our application for
consideration by the Security Council to allow the
State of Palestine to assume its rightful place among
the community of nations as a full Member of the
United Nations. A major and hostile uproar was raised
by some against that political, diplomatic, peaceful
step par excellence aimed at saving the peace process
by asserting its principles and foundation. Despite the
fact that the overwhelming majority of the countries
of the world supported, and continues to support, our
application, our endeavour was aborted. I do not see
even a single reason for opposing that request.
Yet when the countries of the world had the
opportunity to declare their stance without any
restrictions or veto during the previous autumn, they
voted, despite enormous pressure, in strong support of the
acceptance of Palestine as a member State of UNESCO.
A year has passed, and Palestine, the homeland of
Mahmoud Darwish and Edward Said, is playing its
role in UNESCO with a high level of responsibility and
professionalism. Palestine is committed to international
conventions and is cooperating with all member States
in order to advance the objectives of the organization
and providing a model of what its positive, constructive
contribution in international organizations would be.
In order to enhance the chances for peace, we will
continue our efforts to obtain full membership for
Palestine at the United Nations. For the same reason,
we have begun intensive consultations with various
regional organizations and Member States aimed at
the General Assembly’s adoption during this session
of a draft resolution considering the State of Palestine
as a non-member State of the United Nations. We are
confident that the vast majority of the countries of the
world support our efforts to bolster the chances for a
just peace. In our efforts we do not seek to delegitimize
an existing State, that is, Israel; but rather to establish
the State that must be realized, that is, Palestine. We
are not trying to delegitimize them; they are trying to
delegitimize us.
More than 64 years have passed since Al-Nakba
and a large number of those who were its immediate victims and witnessed its horrors have died. They died
with memories, preserved in their minds and hearts, of
their beautiful world that was devastated, their warm
homes that were demolished and their peaceful villages
that were erased from existence, and of the renaissance
that was undermined, and their loved ones, dear
men, women and children, who were killed in wars,
massacres, attacks, raids and incursions, and of their
beautiful country that was a beacon of coexistence,
tolerance, progress and a crossroads of civilization.
They died displaced and in refugee camps to which
they were expelled following their uprooting from their
homeland, as they awaited the moment in which they
would resume their suspended lives, complete their
interrupted journey and repair their shattered dreams.
They died while they clung to their legitimate human
right to justice, freedom and redress for the historically
unprecedented injustice inf licted upon them. Has the
time not come to undo that injustice?
At present, 77 per cent of the Palestinian people are
under the age of 35. Although they did not experience
the horrors of Al-Nakba, they know very well all its
horrendous details from the accounts of their parents
and grandparents who endured it. They continue to
suffer from its ongoing effects today and every day
as a result of the practices of the occupation and of
the settlers on a land that is diminishing in size. The
horizon before them is closed to their simple, ordinary
dreams. They see their homeland and their present and
future vulnerable to continued usurpation and they say
firmly: we shall not allow a new Al-Nakba to happen.
I say to the Assembly that the brave Palestinian
people will not allow themselves to be the victims
of a new Al-Nakba. We will not allow that. We will
stay on our land. My people will continue their epic
steadfastness and eternal survival journey in their
beloved land, every inch of which carries evidence and
landmarks affirming their roots and unique connection
to the land throughout ancient history. There is no
homeland for us except Palestine and there is no land
for us but Palestine. We shall not accept an alternative
homeland, nor an alternative land. Palestine is our
homeland and shall remain our homeland.
Our people will continue to build the institutions of
their State and strive to achieve national reconciliation
to restore the unity of our nation, people and institutions
via resorting to the ballot box, which will confirm our
people’s pluralistic democratic choice. Our people
are also determined to continue peaceful popular resistance, consistent with international humanitarian
law, against the occupation, against the settlements and
for the sake of freedom, independence and peace.
Let us prevent the occurrence of a new Al-Nakba
in the Holy Land. Let us support the realization of a
free, independent State of Palestine now. Let peace be
victorious before it is too late.


In the modern world, the
pace of change, whether political, social or economic,
challenges our ability to react in a constructive,
sustainable and just manner. And in the face of change,
the role of the General Assembly becomes even more
important, as the President of the General Assembly
has reminded us. We look to the United Nations — our
United Nations and our General Assembly — to help
us find the common ground needed for the resolution
of the big questions of our time. We can truly be a
“G-193”, as our President has previously remarked.
As an oceanic island nation, Seychelles understands
intrinsically that the development of our region depends
upon being able to defuse conflict and tension through
diplomacy and on defining a framework to properly
share all the opportunities that our ocean offers us. In
the Indian Ocean, we are particularly concerned with
two issues that challenge the proper application of
the rule of law in a sustainable manner: the continued
problem of maritime piracy and the resolution of the
political crisis in Madagascar.
Piracy fundamentally alters our relationship with
our ocean. Piracy instils fear and uncertainty. We have
two compatriots still being held captive in Somalia, and,
as long as they remain separated from their families,
our ocean represents risk for our nation, rather than
the opportunity that it should. Establishing the rule of
law in Somalia is obviously the only true long-term and
sustainable solution to piracy. We welcome the moves
in Somalia and by the international community to
strengthen those efforts.
Seychelles is already working with the central
Government of Somalia, as well as the regions of
Somaliland and Puntland, to be able to transfer
prosecuted prisoners to serve their sentences in their
country of origin. This is a key part of building the rule of law in Somalia. More resources are needed, however,
to accelerate the building of appropriate infrastructure
in those parts of Somalia where stability has been
established. We must transform fear and uncertainty
into hope and optimism in Somalia itself, as well as in
the Indian Ocean.
Seychelles has committed itself to ending the
impunity associated with piracy. Piracy has become a
global business, operated by a transnational criminal
network. Seychelles, in partnership with the Government
of the United Kingdom and other international parties,
is in the process of setting up a regional anti-piracy
prosecution and intelligence centre. The success of
this initiative will depend on strong international
cooperation. We count on all our partners to work with
us to ensure a true long-term solution for this issue.

The Indian Ocean Commission, which Seychelles
is currently chairing, recognizes the work of the
United Nations in favour of peace, democracy and
human rights, in the interests of the people of its five
member States. The crisis facing Madagascar is truly
testing the country. It is plunging the population into
great economic and social difficulties, and is affecting
the entire region. The Seychelles presidency of the
Commission continues supporting the implementation
of the road map developed by the Southern African
Development Community (SADC). In that context, it
organized two meetings between Marc Ravalomanana,
the former President, and Andry Nirina Rajoelina,
President of the Transition, in Seychelles, with the
dual mediation of Presidents James Michel and Jacob
Zuma, head of the SADC troika. Those talks, convened
at the recommendation of the most recent SADC
Summit, enable us today to look forward to useful and
relevant actions for a return to constitutional order in
Madagascar, in keeping with the electoral timetable
drawn up by the United Nations and Madagascar’s
Independent National Electoral Commission.
In that regard, we should like to express our thanks
to the transitional Government, which has confirmed
its contribution to the financing of the elections, in
accordance with the recommendations of the United
Nations. This is also the time to call on all international
partners to help ensure fair, transparent and equitable
elections in that country, which is anxious to regain
its place on the international stage. Through elections
Madagascar will return to the rule of law, and it is through the rule of law in Madagascar that we will
be able to depend on sustainable development in the
Indian Ocean.

Respect for the rule of law is also about ensuring
that conditions are in place for equity and fairness in the
international system as a whole. Small island developing
States (SIDS) are too often on the periphery of most
international decision-making bodies. Seychelles is
proposing that SIDS be considered as offering unique
opportunities for testing innovative policies and
technologies that can benefit all humankind. In the
fight against climate change, SIDS could be at the
forefront of groundbreaking solutions.
For example, the Global Island Partnership,
co-chaired by Seychelles, Palau and Grenada, has
proposed considering debt cancellation for SIDS
to enable them to better prepare for climate change
adaptation. A large number of SIDS have debt-togross-
domestic-product ratios in excess of 100 per
cent, and such debt forgiveness would give them more
flexibility within their own budgets to prepare to face
climate change, and thus protect some of the most
environmentally sensitive zones on the planet.
With regard to the high volatility of international
fuel prices, SIDS can strengthen their resilience through
investment in renewable energy. We warmly welcome
the Sustainable Energy for All initiative championed
by the Secretary-General, and we commit our support
to making it a success. While the latest technology in
renewable energy often represents a significant capital
outlay, by developing pilot projects in SIDS we can
potentially create economies based on 100 per cent
renewable energy that can then be replicated on a larger
scale.
Finally, it is very important that consideration
be given to how to better support SIDS within the
international trading system. Trade-based support for
SIDS could easily be established without disruption
or distortion of the global f low of goods and services.
Islands are particularly reliant on open access to trade
with as many countries as possible. In the context of
the current challenges to food security, we urge that
all barriers affecting trade with islands, including the
economic embargo on Cuba, be lifted, since they serve
only to increase the inherent challenges associated with
trading from a position of insularity. As an island State,
we are aware that the ocean must connect us, not divide us. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development has given new momentum to the concept
of the blue economy.
We are also very aware that the ocean will always
be a shared space. As an archipelago, we are privileged
to be custodians of that space. This year, for the first
time in the history of the United Nations, Seychelles
and Mauritius, two neighbouring SIDS, have agreed on
joint management of an area of extended continental
shelf of 3,000 square kilometres. That means that we
are sharing the space for the benefit of our two peoples’
development. We are sharing the responsibility and the
opportunity. We believe that all nations, large or small,
must contribute to making this planet a better world to
live in.
Seychelles recently announced its intention to stand
for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council in the
year 2017, subject to endorsement by the African Union.
We are doing so because we believe that the voices of
all nations matter, whether they are large or small, rich
or poor. As the smallest African nation, we keenly
understand that we need to fight for Africa’s economic
independence. We are committed to the ideals of the
African Union, on the basis of which we attained our
political freedom. Now more than ever we must invest
in Africa’s economic freedom. We must create the
means by which Africa’s share of trade and financial
power can increase at a faster rate. We must empower
African institutions. Seychelles adds its voice to the call
for more investment in the African Development Bank,
including by African nations themselves, by investing
their reserves in it.
We must also foster peace on our continent by
leading efforts to find solutions to our problems,
such as in Somalia, Madagascar and elsewhere in
Africa. As a small island developing State, we have a
greater understanding than ever of the ways in which
our planet is under threat from climate change, and
of the need to act now for the sake of all humankind.
Most of all, as citizens of planet Earth, we understand
that as individuals and as a nation our decisions
have consequences beyond our borders. They have
consequences for our future and for our children. These
are all issues that must be weighed carefully, and it is
important that all voices be considered in the debate.
We thank the Assembly for giving due consideration to
the voice of Seychelles.


I come here
to the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly to
bring, on behalf of the Haitian people, my contribution
to the debate that today brings together representatives
of all peoples of the world.
The election of Mr. Jeremić to the Assembly
presidency is for me a clear message that the small
States Members of the United Nations can play a major
role and make their contribution to peace, even in the
global context of a sluggish economy. On behalf of the
Haitian delegation, I would like to congratulate him
for having raised and encouraged the theme for today’s debate, which, unfortunately, is a concern of many
Members of the great family of the United Nations.
Also permit me to pay a well-deserved tribute to
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the dynamism,
wisdom, good judgement, vision and courage he has
shown more than once in managing extremely sensitive
international situations. I also would like to especially
thank him for the particular attention he has bestowed
on my country, Haiti.
Since my accession to power, the Haiti I love
has attempted, in intent and in deeds — with many
ups and downs, no doubt with successes and some
mistakes — to emerge from its difficulties. I have been
strongly dedicated to that effort. I can imagine that, with
the impetus provided, results will be forthcoming in a
matter of months or years. How could it be otherwise?
Haiti today, the Haiti that I have the mission of serving,
has understood that as long as there are quarrels,
frustrations, poverty, underdevelopment and inequality,
the world in general and Haiti in particular will never
be protected from problems and controversies. As long
as things are bad within nations, they will be tempted to
turn to their neighbours and seek quarrels. Throughout
long centuries of world history examples have not been
lacking. That is why we say today that, while it is good
to seek peaceful solutions to international disputes, it
would perhaps be wiser to try to prevent them.
As long as access to water and to major markets,
or just compensation for raw materials and sound
economic competitiveness are not available to us, we
will continue to have conflicts. As long as we at the
United Nations do not pool our efforts so that access to
health and to jobs and respect for differences become a
reality, we will continue to face conflicts, and we will
be reduced to painfully seeking peaceful solutions.
We champion gender equality and we promote
democracy. We daily attempt to apply equal treatment
for all under the law. Respect for the environment
is inscribed in our programme of Government. In
my view, those are the parameters that prevent
uncontrolled migrations, climate change, useless
wars, religion-related massacres, ethnic conflicts and
terrorism.
In our common quest for harmony in a world with
different cultures and diverse religions, we must allow
our national dreams to emerge. Those dreams can be
summed up as offering the possibility to every man and
every woman, regardless of color, religion or political preference, to live in peace and to rear their children in
dignity.
The Haiti of Toussaint Louverture, over two
centuries ago, already understood that. Those national
dreams, however, will not see the light of day if the
commitments made to help the development of
countries like ours are not implemented, if prejudice
and suspicions of all kinds regarding the have-nots still
prevail. In order to prevent those differences, we must
regard others in a different way, with eyes purified,
I would say, at the Pool of Siloam. Haiti continues to
suffer from being regarded in the old way.
On the eve of Haiti’s presidency of the Caribbean
Community, I repeat that with good faith and goodwill,
things can change, because our destinies, whatever
side we may be on, are intimately intertwined. In a
world where the global trend is towards the forming of
economic and social blocs, the great can remain great
only if they know how to transform the multiplicity
of children of the planet into a single great social and
economic family, respectful of the cultural and religious
traditions of all, without exclusion.
Therefore the necessary dialogue must prevail
among us, not the dialogue of the deaf in which we have
been powerlessly enmeshed for decades. We must have
real exchanges and negotiations that alone can put an
end to the interminable conflicts, which have brought
families grief and disrupted the peace of the world.
History has taught us that there is no justice or
equality in international relations. History has also
taught us that every nation looks after its own interests.
The establishment of the United Nations kindled hope
among peoples that things could be different. We cannot
let that flame die. Within any family in general and
within the family of the United Nations in particular,
there cannot be great and small, giants and dwarfs, but
equal beings with interests to defend and opinions to
express on the basis of forward-looking relationships,
relationships marked by liberty, equality, fraternity and
the pursuit of happiness for all.
But let us not be misled: the best foundation for
peace in the world, for prosperity and for defeating
poverty will always be democracy. Under my
leadership, Haiti has understood that and is making
active use of democracy to strengthen previously weak
or ineffectual local institutions. Haiti has understood
that only veritable democracy can bring stability: it is the indispensable precondition for any development
policy.
I wish to sincerely reiterate from this rostrum the
urgent need we all must face to stop fighting and to
work instead to protect the assets we share on this
planet — to work together to reduce and manage the
risks and disasters besetting the world, ruining our
economies and hindering development.
To my colleagues, the leaders of the world, I wish
to recall that our respective peoples have chosen us and
entrusted to us the mandate of building a better world
where no one will be left alone, where our children will
finally be able to grow up in peace.
The words of Victor Hugo come to mind,
pronounced at the Peace Congress in 1847: “The day
will come when there will be no battlefields other than
markets open to trade and minds open to ideas.”
Those are my wishes for the assembly of nations.
May the good Lord give us His blessings and enlighten
us. May He bless the city of New York, which is
receiving us so warmly, and grant us the wisdom and
capacity to work towards a more beautiful and more
just world.