The United Nations was
built on common values and norms. The United
Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other key documents not only express those
values and norms, but also constitute international law,
the foundation upon which every attempt to build a
lasting peace must rest. Rules of international law
apply equally to all States, large and small. According
to the United Nations Charter, “Members shall settle
their international disputes by peaceful means” and
“refrain … from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any
State”. We look to the United Nations, and in particular
to the Security Council, to uphold those rules. The five
permanent members have a special responsibility in
that regard.
 Russia’s invasion of Georgia — a sovereign State
and a Member of the United Nations — using massive
military force, is a clear violation of the United
Nations Charter. Russia’s subsequent recognition of
parts of Georgia as independent States stands in stark
contradiction to international law, including principles
and commitments agreed in the context of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
including the Helsinki Final Act. Sweden unreservedly
supports the territorial integrity of Georgia. We call on
Russia to fulfil its obligations in accordance with the
six-point plan brokered by the European Union and to
withdraw all forces to their positions before 7 August.
 This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. While celebrating the achievements, we
recognize the challenges that remain. The Declaration’s
historic article 21 on democracy, which reads in part:
“Everyone has the right to take part in the government
of his country, directly or through freely chosen
representatives”, is a perfect illustration of that point.
Since 1948, millions of people have gained the
freedom of democratic choice, while millions of others
are still denied that freedom.
 Sweden places a strong emphasis on democracy
and human rights in our development cooperation. Our
efforts to make the Universal Declaration and other
human rights norms a reality everywhere must also
include the United Nations itself. Human rights should
be an essential part of all United Nations activities,
including conflict prevention, peacekeeping and
peacebuilding efforts, as well as in the work of the
funds and programmes.
 To fight terrorism is to defend human rights.
Human rights are the key also to countering terrorism.
Measures against terrorism will be effective and
legitimate only when they are taken within a clear
framework of international law. It is essential that the
Security Council have fair and clear procedures in
matters of listing and delisting when targeted sanctions
have been imposed. The fight against impunity has to
continue. We must support the International Criminal
Court. Bringing to justice those responsible for the
most serious crimes is vital to building sustainable
peace. At the same time, justice should be pursued in a
manner that supports peace processes.
 States have a responsibility to protect people
within their own borders from massive violations of

08-53141 48

their human rights. If a State is not capable of doing so,
it should ask the international community — the
United Nations or regional organizations — for help.
We must all be ready to assist. Not long ago, the
United Nations and the African Union were able to
help Kenya to prevent a frightening crisis from turning
into the worst possible nightmare. If a State is
unwilling to protect people within its borders, the
Security Council must assume its responsibility to
protect. We need a Security Council that is ready to
shoulder that responsibility and to work together,
because unilateral action might run the risk of
aggravating the problem and undermining international
law and legitimacy.
 Violence against women and girls is a major
obstacle to the full enjoyment of human rights and
fundamental freedoms by all people. Efforts to combat
such violence must not end with a peace agreement.
We must ensure that women have full access to justice,
also in the transition from war to peace. Last June, the
landmark Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on
women and peace and security was followed up by
Security Council resolution 1820 (2008) on sexual
violence. It reaffirms that rape and other forms of
sexual violence can be war crimes or crimes against
humanity. It obliges Governments to combat such
behaviour by all necessary means. Although the United
Nations has made considerable efforts in that area,
more needs to be done, both in the field and at
Headquarters.
 The European Union and the Council of Europe
have established 10 October as the European Day
against the Death Penalty. I hope that before too long
we shall be able to agree on a United Nations day
against that inhumane form of punishment.
 We face a growing danger of nuclear
proliferation. Iran, though not the only case, is the
most worrisome at present. Recent developments in the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea also give cause
for concern. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is the cornerstone of
non-proliferation and the foundation for the pursuit of
nuclear disarmament. Sweden is strongly committed to
upholding and further strengthening existing
multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation
obligations. The nuclear Powers have taken on special
commitments within the NPT process. In order not to
undermine the Treaty, they must demonstrate their
readiness to substantially reduce their nuclear arsenals.
 More efforts are needed, in particular in Africa, to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
by 2015. Therefore, Sweden is increasing its support to
Africa. We encourage others to do the same, as well as
to deliver on the aid commitments already made. In the
long run, the rise in the price of energy and food could
have a positive effect on development in the
agricultural sector. In the short run, however, it could
jeopardize the fulfilment of the MDGs and threaten
progress already made. Communicable diseases, not
least HIV/AIDS, are another obstacle to the
achievement of the MDGs that we must address. The
Accra meeting on the Paris Declaration took important
steps towards better aid effectiveness and reconfirmed
the shared responsibility for development. However,
much more must be done in areas such as democratic
governance and human rights, the role of women in
development, and the impact of global climate change.
 That is a challenge for developing and developed
countries alike. The world economy is facing
turbulence and uncertainty. A more open trade regime
would bring increased economic growth and
interdependence, which in turn would have a
significant stabilizing effect. Trade policy is one of the
tools to help developing countries become integrated
into the world economy and reap the benefits of trade.
Trade reforms are fundamental for sustainable
economic growth and poverty reduction. We regret the
failure to reach a breakthrough in the World Trade
Organization Doha Round. We all share a
responsibility to resolve the few remaining issues.
 The United Nations system — both in the field
and at Headquarters — must be reformed in order to
ensure coherence and effectiveness. Reforms must also
enable the United Nations to work more effectively on
gender issues and for the promotion of equal rights and
opportunities.
 The United Nations needs to bolster its capacity
to handle the unprecedented demand for peace
operations. Cooperation with regional organizations
and arrangements, such as the European Union, NATO
and the African Union, is essential.
 Sweden strongly supports efforts to bridge crisis
management and long-term development in post-
conflict situations. By chairing the Burundi
configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission, we
hope to be able to contribute to further developing the
role of the United Nations in peacebuilding.

49 08-53141

 Sweden was proud to host the first annual review
meeting of the International Compact with Iraq. The
partnership between the Government of Iraq and the
United Nations is crucial. It is therefore imperative to
continue strengthening the role of the United Nations
in Iraq.
 It is the poorest who are the hardest hit by climate
change. Therefore, Sweden is providing additional
resources for a special climate initiative in our
development cooperation. It aims to contribute
effectively to long-term efforts to combat climate
change and its effects in developing countries.
 Climate change is a crucial challenge facing our
planet. We recognize our responsibility to take concrete
steps at home and to show the leadership necessary to
achieve broad and long-term international consensus.
One year from now, Sweden will hold the presidency
of the European Union. In that capacity, Sweden will
take on a special responsibility regarding efforts to put
an international climate agreement in place by 2009 in
Copenhagen. The key to a successful conclusion of
those negotiations, however, rests with each and every
one of us.
 It is time to once again remind ourselves of our
mutual commitments and to stand up for the universal
principles underpinning international cooperation. It is
time to muster the political will to reassert our shared
values. It is time to show that we are determined to
work jointly to foster peace, democracy and
development worldwide.


I wish to
congratulate His Excellency Mr. Miguel d’Escoto
Brockmann on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-third session. I wish him every
success in leading us as we work to strengthen the role

15 08-53135

of the United Nations in promoting international
relations in the spirit of the Charter, which is the most
important international pillar of the rule of law. I also
thank his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Srgjan
Kerim, for his good efforts to ensure the success of the
previous session. In addition, I wish to commend the
Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his efforts to
reform the Organization so that it can play a more
effective role in addressing emerging global
challenges.
 In his introductory statement on 16 September
2008 (see A/63/PV.1), the day he assumed the
presidency of the Assembly, Mr. d’Escoto Brockmann
referred to many important political and humanitarian
issues. For example, he mentioned the need to improve
United Nations organs to enable them to adapt to the
major changes that have occurred in the international
sphere in the 63 years since the Organization was
established following the Second World War. He also
stated that the Organization should be improved so that
it can better address the accelerated changes that have
taken place since the end of the cold war and the era of
polarization — changes whose effects have begun to be
felt over the past two decades.
 In that context, Jordan believes it is essential to
revitalize the role of the General Assembly as
envisaged in the Charter, so that the international
decision-making process can be further democratized.
Jordan supports the trend towards rebalancing the
relationship between the General Assembly and the
Security Council.
 A week ago, at the 5th meeting, the Secretary-
General introduced his report on the work of the
Organization (A/63/1), in which he assessed the world
situation. In the report, he made clear that we face
challenges that encompass all human activities,
transcending individual countries and regions. Hence,
we must examine the dangers posed by those
challenges — many of which have their roots in
ideology and similar motivations — in order to find
appropriate solutions and move effectively forward
together. Among the challenges cited by the Secretary-
General are the lack of progress in international trade
negotiations, high energy costs and basic food prices
and climate change. While we support the Secretary-
General’s assessment, we should like to add that
additional challenges are posed by continued military
occupation, denial of the rights of peoples to self-
determination and freedom of expression, the growing
crisis of intercultural conflict and the scourge of
international terrorism and extremism.
 The most important role being played by the
United Nations in the Middle East region has been and
remains that of the custodian of international law. On
the one hand, it governs international relations and is
the standard by which we measure progress made in
the international community; on the other, it embodies
a strong, objective approach to the maintenance of
international peace and security.
 Because of our strong belief in the role of the
United Nations, we view the Organization as the basic
framework for finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict, putting an end to the occupation of Arab lands
and redressing the injustices suffered by the Palestinian
people. For decades, the Arab States have taken many
initiatives and made many proposals, based on
international legitimacy, to achieve a peaceful solution
to the conflict so that the Palestinians can be liberated
from Israeli occupation and can live in dignity in their
own homeland.
 To that end, in 2002 the Arab States jointly
submitted a comprehensive Arab Peace Initiative. It
sought to end the 60-year-old conflict as well as
Israel’s occupation of Arab lands — Palestinian, Syrian
and Lebanese territories — since 1967, in exchange for
a comprehensive peace that would include mutual
recognition between Israel and the Arab States,
including the State of Palestine, and the establishment
of normal relations between them. The Arab Peace
Initiative was and continues to be an open and clear
invitation to Israel to become part of our region
without conditions or restrictions.
 While the Initiative was widely welcomed by the
nations of the world and was adopted by 57 States
members of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, Israel ignored it and began to build the
wall of separation, in defiance of the Advisory Opinion
of the International Court of Justice, and intensified its
settlement activities, which threaten its chances to
make peace with the Palestinian people and the Arabs.
 The President took the Chair.
 The efforts of the Quartet are essential to move
the political process forward and to find a solution that,
in accordance with international legitimacy, ends the
Israeli occupation, dismantles the settlements, fulfils
the aspirations of the Palestinian people to establish

08-53135 16

their own State in their homeland, including East
Jerusalem, and enables the refugees to return to their
homes and villages, from which they were expelled in
1948.
 From this rostrum, Jordan affirms that it supports
the negotiations that resumed at Annapolis and values
the strategic option of peace reaffirmed in the Arab
Peace Initiative and the two-State solution. At the same
time, we believe that the challenges faced by the
negotiations as we approach the end of the year require
the international community to demand that the parties
to the negotiations meet their commitments and that
the Quartet make further efforts to achieve the desired
results regarding final status negotiations and the
fulfilment of the Road Map obligations.
 The final months of 2008 will be a critical period
in the course of those negotiations. Therefore, it is
imperative that Israel have the political will to resolve
the ongoing conflict, after more than six decades. In
addition, the Palestinian people should be supported on
their own land and the Palestinian National Authority
should be strengthened to help it to continue fulfilling
its obligations, improving the conditions for
Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and
building State institutions. That also requires
Palestinians to bridge their differences against the
backdrop of the Arab Peace Initiative and to promote
the position of the Palestinian National Authority both
on the international scene and in the context of the
negotiations.
 While all parties strive to reach a final solution to
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel continues its
illegal practices of seizing Arab land in order to change
the demographic make-up of the occupied territories
through the building of settlements and the separation
wall, and changing the status of Jerusalem, in clear
violation of international law, the principles of
international legitimacy and the provisions of the
Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War. Recent speed in
building Israeli settlements threatens to erode all
progress achieved so far in the peace process.
 We reject all Israeli measures that aim to create a
new status quo in the occupied Palestinian territories,
particularly in East Jerusalem, including threats to the
Islamic and Arab character of the holy city. We
reaffirm that Israeli violations in the holy city, and
particularly in the Bab al-Magharibah area, contradict
the norms of international law, the Fourth Geneva
Convention, The Hague Convention of 1954, as well as
the July 2008 decision of UNESCO’s World Heritage
Committee. As Jordan has played a historic role in the
supervision and maintenance of Islamic holy places in
Jerusalem, we call upon Israel to comply with its
pledges and obligations and to put an end to those
illegal practices.
 Unless there is justice for the Palestinian people,
our region will be subjected to a long era of
destabilization. But ours will not be the only region
affected by that destabilization, because the feelings of
injustice, disappointment and anger will increase as a
result of stagnation in the peace process. This will fuel
extremism in its various forms and manifestations and
will be used as a pretext by those who would like to
destabilize the region and the world beyond.
 I would like to congratulate the brotherly people
of Lebanon on having achieved national reconciliation,
on the election of a President and the formation of a
Government of national unity. I also congratulate them
on embarking on an extensive and profound process of
national dialogue aimed at strengthening Lebanese
State institutions and seeking ways to defend Lebanese
territory and sovereignty.
 Concerning Iraq, we welcome the remarkable
progress made in that brotherly country and the
improvement of the situation at all levels. Jordan
recently reopened and adequately staffed its embassy
in Baghdad. His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan
recently visited the brotherly country of Iraq; his visit
was widely welcomed at the Arab and international
levels. We encourage all channels of political and
economic communication between Iraq and other Arab
countries, and we encourage the Iraqi Government to
continue its approach to developing channels of
national reconciliation in order to build upon the
progress achieved so far in the areas of politics and
security. Such progress encourages Iraqis to return to
their country from neighbouring States and the
building of a society based on political diversity and
free of sectarianism, factionalism and other harms to
society.
 Making the Middle East a zone free of weapons
of mass destruction is a prerequisite for ensuring the
peace and stability of the region. In 1970, based on our
belief in and support for the preventive goals of
nuclear non-proliferation, we, joined other countries in

17 08-53135

the world and the region, with the exception of Israel,
in acceding to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons. We call upon the international
community and influential States to bring pressure to
bear in order to ensure accession by all countries to
that international Treaty in order to achieve a nuclear
weapon-free zone in the Middle East in accordance
with international agreements, and to put an end to
nuclear military programmes in the region once and for
all.
 Concerning the Iranian nuclear issue, we believe
that every nation should exercise its right to the
peaceful use of nuclear energy. But, at the same time,
we call for a resolution of that issue, based on a
peaceful approach and on negotiations. In that regard,
Jordan attaches great importance to promoting security
and stability in the Arabian Gulf area in accordance
with the principles of international legitimacy, good-
neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal
affairs of States. We welcome any effective
contribution by Arab States that would maintain
undiminished security and stability in our region.
 Jordan and the whole region have suffered from
the scourge of international terrorism. That has made
us more vigilant, cautious and determined to
effectively combat terrorism with a view to eradicating
it. Jordan upholds international counter-terrorism
conventions and values international cooperation in
that area. We have also taken the necessary national
measures, including legislative measures, to combat
that scourge effectively and to support international
efforts to combat it.
 Manifestations of extremism in the region are
often based on politicized pretexts that serve the
narrow interests of certain groups. Such groups
misrepresent the true Islamic religion and use it as a
cover for their deeds, thereby threatening the forces of
moderation and projecting an incorrect image of Islam
to the world. In that regard, His Majesty King Abdullah
II, in his Amman message, called upon all Muslim
nations to project the proper image of Islam.
 As we are about to celebrate the first decade of
the auspicious reign of His Majesty King Abdullah II,
we are very proud of the great achievements made
during his reign and look forward to even greater
achievements in the years ahead. During that decade,
Jordanian participation in peacekeeping operations
expanded, reaching a cumulative total of 60,000 men
and women who have served in 20 missions on four
continents. That contribution reflects our serious and
unreserved commitment to enhancing international
peace and security.
 By the end of 2008, our economy will have
doubled in size since a decade ago. Per capita income
will have grown by 65 per cent. Exports and
investment will have increased threefold. Jordan has
implemented ambitious reform plans towards the
liberalization of foreign trade and the enhancement of
the business environment. We have strengthened the
programmes and institutions of good governance and
political development, enhanced the role of women and
the protection of human rights, combated corruption
and made breakthroughs in the areas of health and
education. The Government is also carrying out
ambitious programmes towards political, economic and
social reform and development in accordance with the
national agenda, with a view to achieving a better
future for the country. This is of particular importance
because young people represent 60 per cent of our
population.
 In spite of all those efforts, programmes and
successes, successive crises in our region continue to
present great challenges to our development process.
Those challenges are exacerbated by the severe current
economic crises and increased prices of food and fuel,
leading to increased inflation of about 15 per cent.
Here I would like to reaffirm that international efforts
to address economic challenges should take into
account the voices of countries such as Jordan so that
all may benefit from international efforts to address the
challenges of the international economic, food and
energy crises, in particular through programmes and
mechanisms that take into consideration the specific
situations of those States.


May I first congratulate you,
Sir, on your election as President of the Assembly at its
sixty-third session. I am sure that your wisdom and
vast experience will guide us as we deliberate the many
challenges that the world faces today.
 The United Nations is the embodiment of our
faith in the benefits of collective action and of
multilateral approaches in resolving global issues. At
the 2005 World Summit we pledged ourselves to an
agenda for early and meaningful reform of the United
Nations. However, we must acknowledge frankly that
there has been little progress on the core elements of
the reform agenda.
 We need to make more determined efforts to
revitalize the General Assembly to enable it to fulfil its
rightful role as the principal deliberative organ of the
United Nations system. The composition of the
Security Council needs to change to reflect
contemporary realities of the twenty-first century. Only
a truly representative and revitalized United Nations
can become the effective focal point for the
cooperative efforts of the world community. We need
to expeditiously hold negotiations towards this end.
 Globalization has contributed to ever-widening
circles of prosperity, and we in India have also
benefited from it. But its benefits have not been
equitably distributed. Ensuring inclusive growth within
nations, and inclusive globalization across nations, is a
central challenge facing us all.
 The development gains that many countries have
made are today threatened by a possible food crisis, a
global energy crisis and, most recently, unprecedented
upheavals in international financial markets.
 The net impact of these problems is that both the
industrialized economies and the developing
economies face inflation and a slowdown in growth
after several years of robust expansion. Industrialized
countries can afford periods of slow growth.
Developing countries cannot. There is therefore an
urgent need for coordinated action by the global
community on several fronts.
 The explosion of financial innovation
unaccompanied by credible systemic regulation has
made the financial system vulnerable. The resulting
crisis of confidence threatens global prosperity in the
increasingly interdependent world in which we all live.
There is, therefore, a need for a new international
initiative to bring structural reform in the world’s
financial system, with more effective regulation and

9 08-52265

stronger systems of multilateral consultations and
surveillance. This must be designed in as inclusive a
manner as possible.
 The world food crisis is the cumulative
consequence of the neglect of agriculture in the
developing world, exacerbated by distortionary
agricultural subsidies in the developed world.
Diversion of cultivable land for producing biofuels is
compounding the problem.
 The world needs a second green revolution to
address the problem of food security. We need new
technologies, new institutional responses and above all
a global compact to ensure food and livelihood
security. This will require transfer of technology and
innovation from developed to developing countries.
India is very keen to expand cooperation with Africa in
Africa’s quest for food and livelihood security for its
people.
 Trade liberalization in agriculture can help,
provided it adequately takes into account the livelihood
concerns of poor and vulnerable farmers in the
developing and least developed countries.
 It is feared that many of the conflicts of the
twenty-first century will be over water. We must
therefore reflect on how to use this scarce resource
most efficiently. We need to invest in new technologies
and new production regimes for rain-fed and dryland
agriculture and explore cost-effective desalination
technologies.
 Poverty, ignorance and disease still afflict
millions and millions of people. The commitment to
achieve the ambitious targets set as part of the
Millennium Development Goals was an
acknowledgement by the international community that
global prosperity and welfare are indivisible and that
affluence cannot coexist with pervasive poverty.
 Unfortunately, solemn commitments made for the
transfer of financial resources from the developed to
the developing world have remained largely
unfulfilled. The commitment of developed countries to
move to the target set long ago of 0.7 per cent of gross
national income as official development assistance
needs to be honoured as a matter of priority. In this
context, special efforts have to be made to address the
concerns of Africa for adequate resource flows to
support its development.
 Poverty alleviation and livelihood security are
closely linked to energy security. We need a much
greater measure of predictability and stability in the oil
and gas markets. We need to think of ways and means,
such as early warning mechanisms, to help countries
cope with oil shocks.
 We must put in place a global cooperative
network of institutions of developed and developing
countries engaged in research and development in
energy efficiency, clean energy technologies, and
renewable sources of energy.
 India is registering rapid economic growth, and
has combined it with declining energy intensity of its
economy. However, our total demand will keep
increasing, and we are actively looking for all possible
sources of clean energy.
 The opening of international civil nuclear
cooperation with India will have a positive impact on
global energy security and on the efforts to combat
climate change. This is a vindication of India’s
impeccable record on non-proliferation and testifies to
our long-standing commitment to nuclear disarmament
that is global, universal and non-discriminatory in
nature. The blueprint for this was spelled out by Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi in this very Assembly 20 years
ago.
 I reiterate India’s proposal for a nuclear weapons
convention prohibiting the development, production,
stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons and providing
for their complete elimination within a specified time
frame.
 Climate change can be overcome successfully
only through a collaborative and cooperative global
effort.
 We support the multilateral negotiations now
taking place under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. The outcome must be
fair and equitable and recognize the principle that each
citizen of the world has equal entitlement to the global
atmospheric space.
 I believe that the pursuit of ecologically
sustainable development need not be in contradiction
to achieving our growth objectives. As Mahatma
Gandhi once said, “The earth has enough resources to
meet people’s needs, but will never have enough to
satisfy people’s greed.”

08-52265 10

 India has unveiled an ambitious national action
plan on climate change. Even as we pursue economic
growth, we are committed to our per capita emissions
of greenhouse gases not exceeding those of the
developed countries.
 The growing assertion of separate identities and
ethnic, cultural and religious intolerance threaten our
developmental efforts and our peace and stability. It is
vital that we strengthen international cooperation to
combat terrorism and to bring the perpetrators,
organizers, financers and sponsors of terrorism to
justice. We should conclude expeditiously the draft
comprehensive convention on international terrorism.
 In this context, the situation in Afghanistan is a
matter of deep concern. The international community
must pool all its resources to ensure the success of
Afghanistan’s reconstruction efforts and its emergence
as a moderate, pluralistic and democratic society.
 We welcome the return of democracy in Pakistan.
We are committed to resolving all outstanding issues
between India and Pakistan, including the issue of
Jammu and Kashmir, through peaceful dialogue.
 We also welcome the coming to power of
democratically elected Governments in Nepal and
Bhutan. We seek to expand areas of cooperation with
all these countries to deal with the challenges of
sustainable development and poverty eradication.
 The United Nations is a living symbol of
pluralism. It has weathered many storms. It is the
vehicle through which our combined will and efforts to
address global challenges must be articulated and
implemented. Unless we rise to the task, we will
bequeath to succeeding generations a world of
diminishing prospects.


First, I would like to
express my great respect to the leadership of the
General Assembly as it guides the Organization
through global issues and challenges.
 When I stood at this podium 10 years ago, the list
of issues to be urgently addressed was about the same,
yet the mood was different. The Kyoto Protocol had
just been signed and preparations for the Millennium
Summit, including the drafting of the Millennium
Development Goals, were under way. The international
community, guided by the principles and the leadership
of the United Nations, showed the will and the
ambition to resolve global issues.
 But did we manage to turn that collective will
into principled and decisive actions? I have to admit
that many nations, big and small, have many more
concerns today than they did a decade ago. Today we
feel less secure. The very structure of the international
system seems to be fracturing, depriving us of the
protection provided by international law and
international institutions. In my region, in Eastern
Europe and in the eastern neighbourhood of the
European Union (EU), that is more obvious than
anywhere else.

7 08-51606

 Take energy security: oil supplies to Lithuania
have been cut off without warning, and we do not stand
a chance of conducting a normal civilized dialogue on
how to fix the problem. Gas supplies were interrupted
to our neighbours Ukraine and Belarus. In that light,
and on the eve of closing down our only independent
power generator, we have very serious reason to worry
about the possible risks for the future of our economy.
I would also say that other countries of our region also
have concerns about unreliable energy supplies. Such a
situation threatens the stability of the entire region. The
United Nations cannot be a mere passive observer if,
and when, universal values and international law are
under threat. Too often, we remain observers in the
face of mounting security crises.
 What happened to Georgia a few months ago is a
case in point. The United Nations largely failed to react
to an act of aggression against a small nation that has
been a Member of the United Nations since 1992.
Perhaps we failed to react because one of the interested
sides to the conflict is a permanent member of the
Security Council, which has the responsibility to
protect both the letter and the spirit of the Charter of
the United Nations and various United Nations
resolutions.
 But maybe we also failed to react because our
faith in the United Nations has weakened. It is the very
essence of the Organization’s mission to protect human
life and human rights, but too often voting on human
rights receives less and less support from Member
States. Today, there are still about 26 million internally
displaced persons in the world, including in the Sudan,
Somalia, the South Caucasus nations of Georgia and
Azerbaijan, and other places. Last year alone, we faced
serious crises in different corners of the planet,
including in Myanmar, the Sudan and Zimbabwe. The
world needed United Nations leadership, but the
Organization has not acted accordingly. That is because
some States hide behind technicalities or the shield of
national sovereignty, thereby paralysing the United
Nations.
 It is quite evident that the United Nations cannot
continue with business as usual. It needs reform and a
greater role in areas that will determine the future of
the twenty-first century, such as energy, information
security, anti-terrorism, the fight against
fundamentalism and the like. How long will we
continue with cold-war-era security definitions, closing
our eyes to the less visible, but no less dangerous
dangers of the twenty-first century? When 17 years
ago, following the Soviet occupation, my country
regained independence and joined the United Nations,
we were told that never again would Molotovs and
Ribbentrops dare to decide the future of other nations.
Next year we will mark the seventieth anniversary of
the shameful Molotov-Ribbentrop secret protocols.
 But Lithuania and other nations of the former
Soviet Union still have to fight against the revisionism
seeping down from the Kremlin’s towers and the
blatant claims that there was no occupation of the
Baltic States and that there was no Holodomor in
Ukraine, where millions of people were starved to
death by a ruthless dictator. Should not an alarm bell
ring across the entire international community when
we see such bold attempts to cover up crimes against
humanity?
 Today, my nation is commemorating the Day of
Genocide of Lithuanian Jews. That tragedy is a
powerful reminder to us all of the vulnerability of
freedom, but it also teaches us that sincere efforts to
admit one’s crimes help nations to reconcile and create
a truly peaceful, secure and stable area. Therefore, on
this solemn day we not only remember but we also
learn.
 If we are to reform the United Nations in a
meaningful way, perhaps we should have a better look
at the experience of European nations after the end of
the Second World War and the end of the cold war.
Based on that experience, it is obvious that we need to
strengthen democracy at home in order to have good
governance and responsible leadership. Perhaps
responsible leaders will not protect us from all global
challenges, but they will at least seek cooperation with
their people and other nations to resolve their
persisting problems.
 It is only through integration that truly indivisible
security can be achieved. Indivisible security has
special meaning and importance for smaller nations,
which have all too often fallen victim to the redrawing
of maps. It is my conviction that the interaction of, and
cooperation among, different organizations — like the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
EU, NATO and the Council of Europe — have been,
and should remain, the foundation for security and
stability in Europe. There are difficulties and
deficiencies; but there is no alternative, and new
alternatives are not needed. I am therefore deeply

08-51606 8

worried by new calls to revise the institutional
structure of European security, rather than to abide by
commitments undertaken before the whole
international community.
 Security based on cooperation should remain the
basic principle of different European organizations and
of international relations as a whole. The philosophy of
the balance of power, which is again growing popular
in some capitals, has no place in contemporary Europe.
And because security is indivisible, it is in the interest
of the international community that the United Nations
should play a greater role in strengthening preventive
diplomacy and making the principle of the
responsibility to protect work.
 The United Nations also has to be more
responsive to emerging threats, such as unreliable
energy supplies, fundamentalism and cyber attacks. It
does not matter if the world is unipolar, bipolar or
multipolar. Human life and human rights remain at the
heart of our world. Only such a world can create a truly
viable architecture among States — an architecture
based on trust, openness and respect for human rights.
But did we see efforts to create such an architecture in
the Georgia-Russia conflict? What we saw instead
were renewed attempts to divide the world into zones
of influence or privileged interests. That should be
unacceptable to the international community in the
twenty-first century. Division and exclusion are bad
remedies for conflict resolution. Conflict resolution in
South Ossetia, Abkhazia and elsewhere should
therefore be the responsibility of the international
community and international institutions, not of one
participating side, which hardly remains impartial.
 We also have to maintain commitments to value-
based policies. It is through our commitment to change
and reform that Lithuania has become what it is today:
a consolidated democracy, a strong reformed economy
and an active contributor to international peacekeeping
missions from the Balkans to Afghanistan.
 I believe that we, the peoples of the United
Nations, have to renew our commitment to universal
values and principles, so that we march together and in
the same direction and our steps become stronger. I
believe that we must learn those lessons well, so that in
another 10-years’ time we can celebrate not only the
fulfilled promise of the Millennium Development
Goals but also the fulfilled promise of creating lasting
peace and an era of progress, prosperity and human
integrity. It is because the United Nations consists
primarily not of the sum total of votes but of universal
principles that those principles shall be a guiding light
for us in the years to come. I still believe that that is
the core mission of the Organization. I care deeply
about it.


I have come to this gathering
of nations as a representative of one of the smallest
nations on the planet. Seychelles is but a speck on the
globe, home to some 87,000 people — a people that

7 08-51845

believes in justice, freedom and fairness. In this
concert of nations, every country great or small has a
voice. Our voice comes from the heart of a people that,
like countless others, lives in trepidation. I have come
here neither to beg nor to accuse, but to reach out to
the conscience of all who have gathered here at the
United Nations. I ask them to feel the heartbeat of
humanity.
 When this great institution was founded over six
decades ago, its architects were motivated by noble and
just ideals: human freedom and dignity, justice, human
rights, peace, security, harmony and development.
Those ideals are values that we hold dear, timeless
values that are the soul of the United Nations. I have
faith in those values. So do the people of Seychelles.
 Have we lived up to those values? Yes, we have
averted many wars. We have resolved many conflicts.
But in this age of relative peace and security, new
enemies are staring us in the face: hunger, pandemics,
underdevelopment, poverty, economic turmoil,
environmental degradation and the inequity of the
global trading system. Those are the enemies which, if
not overcome, will shatter the foundation of
civilization. Those are the enemies that we have to
battle and conquer to create a better world for our
children and their children. Those are the battles that
we have to win to save our planet. Those are the issues
that the modern United Nations has to grapple with and
overcome.
 Can it succeed? I believe it can. It can if we
endow it with a new vision — a vision in which hope
for mankind goes beyond rhetoric; a vision that
provides for bold leadership, clear commitments and
targets so that we can focus on the greater good for
humankind; a vision in which leaders come together,
setting aside petty differences and charting a new
course for the United Nations, a new road map to
resolve the climate crisis and an appropriate framework
for the energy and food crisis; a vision in which
appropriate institutional reforms are put in place and
adequate resources mobilized to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals; a vision that
encompasses justice and fairness in trade and in which
the specificities of small island developing States are
not only recognized but accepted as criteria for aid to
further development.
 I believe in that vision. We can all share it; we
can all help to make it a reality. Our deeds have to be
governed by firm commitments to and perseverance in
finding sustainable, pragmatic and equitable solutions
to the complex issues that threaten our very existence.
 We should abandon solutions that continue to
enrich the rich and impoverish the poor and the
vulnerable. When it comes to world trade, for example,
it seems acceptable to some that wealthy countries are
allowed to give subsidies to their farmers, as a result of
which exports from developing countries become
uncompetitive, but that developing countries are
obliged to follow World Trade Organization rules to the
letter, even if they undermine domestic economic
policies formulated to protect vulnerable sectors of
society.
 We offer facilities to foreign investors to exploit
our natural resources, which are traded for high profits
on the international market, while we receive a pittance
in licensing fees. It is like taking a bowl of food from
the poor and giving them back a spoonful as a generous
donation. For instance, of the total value of tuna — our
“blue gold” — caught and trans-shipped in our waters
by foreign fishing vessels every year, Seychelles
receives only 7 per cent in revenue, comprising
licensing and trans-shipment fees. That situation is, to
my mind, unacceptable. I ask whether it is
unreasonable to fight for a better share of the proceeds.
 On a separate but related note, while the
prevailing situation of insecurity in international
waters off the coast of Somalia is of grave concern to
the international community, it is of graver concern to
Seychelles, whose exclusive economic zone borders
that maritime zone of hazard. A little more than a week
ago, some 40 European fishing vessels lay idle in Port
Victoria as a result of an act of piracy on one of their
own. Such acts can have a serious impact on the
lifeline of the second pillar of our economy at a time
when we are engaging with the Bretton Woods
institutions in a process of economic reforms. I wish to
thank all our partners and friends — in particular
France — for all the efforts they have deployed against
that scourge.
 The skewed nature of the global trade regime is
not the only impediment to development. I return to the
case of my country. The fact that we have a high
human development index, ranked fiftieth in the world,
and that we fall in the middle-income group of
countries excludes us from access to grants and soft
loans that would have helped our country to develop

08-51845 8

even further and faster. And that is despite the fact that
donor organizations have confirmed that all aid, grants
or loans that have been given to Seychelles have been
properly and accountably utilized for the benefit of our
people. It is as if we were being penalized for our
success in raising the standard of living of our people.
We have fallen into the so-called middle-income trap.
 Furthermore, no account is taken of the fact that
Seychelles falls into the category of highly vulnerable
countries as defined by the Commonwealth
vulnerability index. Why should our relative success be
the reason for the denial of access to special
development funds, especially those addressing
education, water, sanitation and health? Is that the
price we have to pay for improving the quality of life
of our people? Is that the price we have to pay for
dedicating over 50 per cent of our territory to
environmental conservation for the benefit of the
whole world?
 Our natural environment is our future, our
treasure trove of biodiversity. We attach the highest
importance to its preservation, not only for ourselves,
but also for the rest of the world.
 Like many other small island States, Seychelles
remains vulnerable to the threats posed by global
warming, climate change and rising sea levels. These
phenomena are linked to human activity on our planet
that, collectively, the nations of the world have the
power to influence — if only we had the will to do so.
 It is not right that small island States should have
to run the risk of being submerged by rising sea levels
while some nations refuse even to acknowledge their
responsibility for the high levels of environmental
pollution now threatening the planet’s resources.
 Despite our small size, we shall continue to lead.
And we shall lead by example. By our example, we
have shown and will continue to show to all that
sustainable development and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) are achievable in our
present generation.
 Through our efforts and with the support of
international NGOs, we have started a global
movement — the Global Island Partnership — to get
all small islands and nations with islands to devote part
of their natural resources to environmental resilience
and sustainability. And, more recently, Seychelles set
up the Sea Level Rise Foundation to galvanize global
action to address the devastating impact of climate
change on our planet.
 Are those worthy causes not deserving of
international support, especially in the International
Year of Planet Earth? We are running out of time, and
we must combine our resources and know-how to
avoid the physical damage and social and economic
toll that threaten us.
 Some of the greatest afflictions of humankind
today are hunger, starvation and malnutrition. Today,
food security is our foremost concern. The challenge
for many Governments is to bring food to ordinary
people at affordable prices. The dramatic increase in
grain prices has led to huge increases in the price of
bread, milk, meat and other commodities. The hungry
are getting hungrier, more desperate and angrier. The
divide between rich and poor is widening day by day.
We are faced with the looming threat of starvation on a
global scale and, with it, the prospect of violent
upheavals.
 We can act to resolve the food crisis. First, there
must be political commitment. Secondly, subsidies
given to farmers by the industrialized countries have to
be removed. Thirdly, the industrialized countries
should make available to the South much-needed
resources to improve our infrastructure. Give us the
resources, technology and infrastructure to produce
more food and there will be no need to help us feed
ourselves.
 Mankind has had a hand in most, if not all, of the
crises we face today. We gather here every year in the
name of freedom, human rights, democracy and
sustainable development to deliver eloquent speeches.
In the process, we procrastinate and bury solutions to
our problems in reams of resolutions and declarations.
 Can we honestly say that we have got our
priorities right? Can we say that we live in a just
world, where every man, woman and child enjoys the
same rights? Are we, as leaders, living up to the noble
goals for which the United Nations was set up? Let our
conscience provide us with the answers.
 A revamped United Nations system is best placed
to facilitate progress in all the areas I have mentioned:
food security, trade, climate change and energy. I am
asking for a clear action plan. Multiple conferences and
talk shops are not the solution. We need a fresh and
effective approach to global governance and I am

9 08-51845

convinced that with the right level of resources, and
with the political will and commitment, we can start to
tackle the fundamental flaws in our global governance
and trade regimes. I am asking the rich nations to
support that endeavour and assume their collective
global responsibility.
 Let those of us who believe in freedom and
dignity show solidarity among ourselves. Let us help
each other to overcome the obstacles in our path. Let
us focus on a global vision for the betterment of every
nation.
 In conclusion, I leave members with this note of
reflection: “History to the defeated May say Alas but
cannot help or pardon ...” W. H. Auden’s words will
define the future of humanity, in terms of its history.
The time for action is at hand. We must change, or be
redefined by history, like many great civilizations of
the past.


On behalf of
the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to
the United Nations Her Excellency Mrs. Michelle
Bachelet Jeria, President of the Republic of Chile, and
to invite her to address the Assembly.

15 08-51749

 President Bachelet Jeria (spoke in Spanish):
Eight years ago, representatives of all the countries of
the planet met in the General Assembly Hall to adopt
the United Nations Millennium Declaration
(resolution 55/2) — a text that is one of the broadest
and most explicit agreements ever drafted by the
international community on the subject of
development, well-being and quality of life. The
Declaration set a series of very precise standards in the
fight against hunger and poverty, education, health,
gender equality, environment and cooperation, stating
for each the minimum to which nations should commit
themselves.
 The world at that time announced the civilizing
mission to which it aspired and identified the
inescapable challenges and unavoidable tasks for any
Government and for the international community. It
defined a real ethical vision for the leaders of the
nations. The world has changed since then, however.
 We have witnessed, sometimes tragically, the
emergence or reappearance of various problems of
global significance, such as climate change, terrorism
or the food crisis. At the same time, the
interdependence of economies and communications has
become even greater over the past eight years, which
has undoubtedly created many opportunities but also
greater risks and inequities.
 In that changing context, we have witnessed
outstanding progress towards the Millennium
Development Goals in many countries of the world, but
we have also witnessed many regrettable setbacks.
World events over the past year give us much food for
thought that will allow us to act decisively. The
optimism of the turn of the century, leading to talk of
the “millennium of hope”, seems to be dissipating. It is
estimated that the increase in food prices alone has
driven more than 100 million people into extreme
poverty. In turn, financial instability today is afflicting
many economies, threatening to generate a worldwide
trend towards recession in which — as always — those
most affected in the end will be the world’s poorest.
 That is why it is so crucial to review our Goals.
We cannot remain indifferent to the deterioration of the
basic well-being of millions and millions of citizens all
over the world. Those of us who share the same
concept of progress and have made freedom and social
justice our watchwords must raise our voices.
 The world has managed to secure the economic,
technical and scientific resources that, for the first time
in its history, can ensure the well-being of all mankind.
We cannot squander that capacity. A better world is
possible, but it requires determination to move
forward, and the current international economic crisis
shows that it is precisely such determination that has
been lacking.
 The greed and irresponsibility of a few, combined
with the political negligence of others, has plunged the
world into a situation of great uncertainty. What a
paradox we are witnessing today! With the money used
to bail out the international banking system, the
scourge of hunger on the planet could easily have been
eliminated. Thus, now is the time to reaffirm our
resolve.
 The international economic crisis is a blow to
those who believe that nothing can be done, that
nothing should be regulated or that inequality cannot
be remedied. That is the major lesson to be learned
from what has happened over the past year. None of
the current problems facing mankind, and certainly
none of the civilizing goals that we have set ourselves,
can be tackled properly if the public does not have a
clear option of collective action by States and civil
society.
 That is why today I appeal to all to work together
to support emergency measures to address the food
crisis and to redouble our efforts to ensure that the
developing economic crisis does not prevent us from
attaining the Millennium Development Goals. That is
why I appeal for an urgent and genuine commitment to
multilateralism. That is why we must undertake to
continue supporting and reforming international
institutions, particularly the United Nations, to make
them more representative, more democratic and more
responsive to the hopes of our peoples.
 That is also why we must reach agreement at the
Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. That is
why we must achieve concrete results at the
forthcoming Follow-up International Conference on
Financing for Development. That is why we must also
ensure the success of the 2009 Copenhagen Climate
Change Conference and convert those negotiations into
agreements that make a decisive contribution to
development.
 I appear before this General Assembly as the
representative of a nation that has much to contribute.

08-51749 16

Modestly and proudly, we announce to this Assembly
that Chile is ahead of schedule towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals set for 2015. I
emphasize that it is possible to eradicate poverty, that it
is possible to emerge from underdevelopment and,
even more importantly, that it is possible to do so in
democracy and freedom.
 My country almost tripled the size of its economy
between 1990 and 2008, which are the years of
democracy in Chile. Just as we have made the economy
grow, we have also made social investment and equity
grow. We have advanced strongly on all fronts: health,
education, housing, quality of life, social cohesion and
greater gender opportunities.
 The numbers speak for themselves. At the end of
the dictatorship, in 1989, 4 out of every 10 Chileans
were living in poverty. That 40 per cent dropped to
13 per cent in 2006. Although there is much to do,
whenever we achieve one goal we set ourselves a new
horizon of challenges. Just as we have drastically
reduced poverty, today we aim to guarantee universal
access for all Chileans to a social welfare system that
allows them to live their lives in tranquillity and
removes the fear of disease, poverty or old age, thus
increasing opportunities for all, so as to advance
steadily in greater equality and dignity.
 However, this morning I wish to highlight the
reasons for those achievements. What underlies them is
a clear political determination, shared by the majority.
The country has freely chosen a path of economic
growth, political democracy and social justice. All
political sectors have converged on that path, with
differences, of course, as in any democracy, but all are
aware that those are the major goals of Chilean society,
because behind the achievements there is also a sad
learning process.
 In the past, when the country became divided,
when the country became polarized in two
irreconcilable factions, there was much suffering and
very great social setbacks. Democracy placed at the
centre of public life, as a goal for a freer and more just
society, has been one of the main lessons that we
Chileans have learned and that largely explains the
achievements of the last 18 years.
 That same conviction led us recently to be very
active in coming to the aid of a friendly democracy.
One week ago, when there was a threat to disrupt the
democratic institutional order in the Republic of
Bolivia, we nations of South America came to the
support of the legitimately elected authorities and
offered our cooperation to help in the resumption of the
domestic political dialogue, while condemning the
rebellion and bloodshed. Within a few days, we
succeeded in convening a meeting of the Presidents of
the member countries of the Union of South American
Nations in Santiago de Chile, in order to agree with the
President of Bolivia on a process for talks and to find
and support a peaceful solution to the conflict in that
country.
 From this rostrum, as the convener of that
historic regional meeting, I wish to express
appreciation for the willingness displayed by all those
involved, because we thereby set an example of how
multilateral commitment should be understood. It is a
commitment forged in the diversity of political projects
but based on shared values, such as democracy, peace
and the defence of human rights. The La Moneda
summit — as that meeting was called, after the Chilean
presidential palace — will forever symbolize the
moment at which the South American nations decided
to strengthen their commitment to democracy,
whenever it is threatened anywhere on the continent.
 Yet what does that episode tell us? It tells us that
the values of democracy, dialogue, human rights and
peace are becoming stronger than ever in Latin
America. It tells us that the region wants to leave
behind the dark moments of its history. It tells us that
democracy is established as a system of government. It
tells us that violence has no place in politics. And it
tells us that those values, in addition to being widely
shared by the citizens, are becoming entrenched in
multilateralism, in institutions and in international law.
 Over these years, we have learned that national
policies, although essential, are not enough, that there
is no incompatibility between affirmation of one’s own
identity and integration, and that international
agreements must be formulated to govern globalization
and make democracy and the social rights of the
citizens a universal requirement. Each country has the
right and the duty to contribute to the creation of a
world in which the great values of mankind prevail,
regardless of the country’s economic or demographic
dimension, of its influence or its power, or of how
close it is to or how far it is from the hubs where
decisions that affect the lives of each and every one of
the planet’s inhabitants are taken.

17 08-51749

 From our position at the south of the world, Chile
is cooperating. We have enthusiastically supported, and
in some cases promoted, the most diverse initiatives in
pursuit of the development of our peoples. A few days
ago, in Santiago de Chile, together with the Prime
Minister of Norway, we launched an important regional
initiative for the attainment of Millennium
Development Goals 4 and 5 in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Under that initiative, Chile will cooperate
in the assignment and training of troops in Bolivia,
Ecuador and other countries of the region. However,
when we say “troops”, we are not talking about
soldiers. It will be a force of nurses, midwives and
doctors specialized in maternal and child health, who
will travel through the fields and mountain ranges of
our America, delivering babies, helping mothers,
providing vaccinations and caring for sick children.
Because despite the progress made in that regard in
recent years, which has increased the percentage of
attended births from 78 to 89 per cent, still 22,000
mothers die in Latin America each year simply because
they received no professional care. Despite the
improvement in child mortality, 400,000 Latin
American children under five years of age are still
dying each year — hence, the urgency of that initiative,
which is the urgency of promoting democracy and the
social development of our people.
 In just over two months, the world will have a
noble reason for celebration. It will be the sixtieth
anniversary of the adoption of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. What a great step
forward for mankind. That transcendental charter of
rights marked the beginning of the end of centuries and
centuries of arbitrary action, death, torture and abuse
of power. Certainly that charter did not represent an
immediate solution, but it did mean the beginning of
the largest and most effective social and political
mobilization in favour of people’s dignity.
 Today, those who violate that charter sully their
reputation with the international community. We have
gone even further by creating an international
architecture of protection and legal advancement, in
which my region set a great precedent with the inter-
American human rights protection system.
 We hope that something similar will happen with
the Millennium Declaration. We want it to become an
ethical and political requirement for all the world’s
rulers. We want the citizens of every country to protest
against famine, poverty and unsanitary conditions. We
want discrimination against women to be reason for
shame for all those who practise it. We want
discrimination against native peoples to be eliminated
from the face of the Earth. We want protection of the
environment to be part of the vocabulary of every
inhabitant of the planet and, definitely, of the priorities
of every Government in the world. We want
cooperation by those who have the most to be a
political as well as a moral obligation. That is Chile’s
achievable desire, which we have come to present to
this General Assembly.


I would like to join previous
speakers in offering Mr. d’Escoto Brockmann my
warm congratulations on his election to the presidency
of the General Assembly.
 As this is first time that I am here to address this
Assembly, whose main objectives include the
promotion of democracy and economic self-reliance, I
am happy to record that the Kingdom of Tonga has
been undertaking some historical and fundamental
economic and political reforms over the past few years.
 Eight years ago, the United Nations adopted the
historic Millennium Declaration, offering new hope to
people living in poverty around the world. Yesterday
we met to review the progress we have made to date.
This midterm review provides us with yet another
opportunity to assess our overall achievements, draw
attention to the constraints and gaps and renew our
political commitment to the achievement of the targets
that we set for the year 2015.
 While some progress has been made globally in
regard to poverty reduction, there is yet much more
work to be done. Hardship and poverty have
traditionally not been an issue of serious concern in the
Kingdom of Tonga, but they are now becoming one.
External influences are changing people’s attitudes and
aspirations, straining the traditional Tongan social
system in which everyone’s needs were met by the
community as a whole.
 A recent study has found that although there are
no families living in absolute poverty, there is a small
proportion of the population living in hardship.
Population growth, changes in lifestyle and the gradual
breakdown of the traditional social and family systems
have contributed to those increased hardships. But the
main cause has been our lack of foresight, drive and
determination to retain much of that traditional spirit of
self-reliance and self-sufficiency that has served us
well for centuries. That is the main challenge for Tonga
today — to be more self-reliant and more self-
sufficient, given the natural resources readily available
to us within our own national borders.
 The main theme of the general debate this year —
the impact of the global food crisis on poverty and
hunger in the world — is most timely. We all should
look upon this crisis as an opportunity to redouble our
efforts and refocus on policy actions that would help
boost agricultural production in order to build greater
self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Development aid can
assist, but in the long term there is no substitute for a
more dynamic and productive agricultural sector.
Greater self-reliance is the ultimate goal for which
Kingdom of Tonga strives.
 Tonga’s performance under the United Nations
Human Development Index continues to reflect a high
level of expenditure and investment in the social
sectors, including health and education. The United
Nations Human Development Report for 2008 ranks
Tonga 55 out of a total of 177 countries. Tonga has
achieved targets such as universal primary education
and gender equality through the provision of free
primary school education.
 Tonga shares the concern that the President
expressed about the impact of climate change on small
island States. In his prepared remarks for his opening
statement on assuming the presidency last week, he
emphasized that the negotiations process on agreed
long-term actions initiated in Bali
“must be guided by a single consideration: saving
those small island States that today live in danger
of disappearing entirely as nations. This is the
real challenge of our day and this should be our
immediate concern.”
 And so it should be. For already, the prospect of
climate refugees from some of the Pacific Island
Forum countries is no longer merely a prospect but a
reality, with relocations of communities already being
relocated due to the rise in sea level. Urgent action
must be taken now.
 Last month in Niue, the leaders of the Pacific
Island Forum countries endorsed, for the first time, a
regional declaration on climate change as part of the
Forum’s communiqué. The Niue Declaration duly
recognizes the serious current impact of climate change
and the growing threat it poses to economic, social,
cultural and environmental well-being as well as to the
security of Pacific island countries. Therefore, the
Pacific small island developing States will introduce a
draft resolution entitled “Climate change and security”
during the current session of the General Assembly. I
commend the draft resolution to Member States for
their consideration and support.
 Tonga welcomes the resources and technical
assistance that will become available through
initiatives such as Japan’s Cool Earth Promotion
Programme, the European Union’s Global Climate

33 08-52265

Change Alliance, Australia’s National Climate
Adaptation Programme for the Pacific and the increase
in New Zealand’s financial support for climate change
adaptation.
 This year marks the tenth anniversary of the
normalization of relations between Nuku’alofa and
Beijing. This milestone has reaffirmed Tonga’s
commitment to the observance of the One China
policy, with the state of relations and economic
cooperation between our two countries continuing to
flourish and prosper.
 Tonga welcomes the reform process and debates
under way in international institutions. We share the
view that the United Nations has a unique role and
legitimacy and acknowledge the reforms that are
occurring to strengthen the coherence of the United
Nations system and, in particular, the efficacy of its
development and humanitarian activities. It is vital that
the United Nations contribute to developing a global
framework of rules and collective action in an
inclusive and democratic manner. As a member of the
Commonwealth, Tonga joined others in Kampala in
2007, and most recently in London earlier this year, in
expressing concern that the current architecture of
international institutions does not respond adequately
to the challenges facing the small island States and
environmental governance.
 The longstanding debate on the reform of the
Security Council, now over 10 years old, remains
fraught with uncertainty and an inability to reach
agreement on improving fundamental aspects of the
Council, including the questions of equitable
representation and an increase in its membership. In
our opinion, the forthcoming intergovernmental
negotiations present a further opportunity for Member
States to advance this debate to a successful
conclusion. Tonga continues to maintain its support for
Japan’s proper and permanent place in any enhanced
Council.
 Last year from this podium, we provided details
of how our Legislative Assembly approved a timetable
for the implementation of reforms by 2010, leading to
greater democratization of our political system.
 His Majesty King George Tupou V is the driving
force guiding the political reform process on which we
have embarked as a nation. He holds the view that the
monarchy is an instrument of change and not an
obstacle to it. He has for some years, therefore,
encouraged the Government to take the necessary
measures to bring about a more democratic form of
government, one in line with the aspirations of his
people and with the changing circumstances of our
globalized world.
 In July this year, royal assent was granted to the
Constitution and Electoral Commission Act of 2008. Its
main task is to consider the constitutional and electoral
implications of the resolutions of the Legislative
Assembly and to draft the necessary bills for
consideration and enactment.
 Tonga was the first Pacific State to present its
national report at the second session of the Human
Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review earlier this
year. I wish to thank New Zealand for assisting in the
funding of the preparation of the report and also those
Member States who took the opportunity to contribute
constructively to the review dialogue on the human
rights situation in Tonga, as well as those who made
pledges of financial and technical support.
 In our globalized world, no sovereign nation can
achieve its goals of progress, peace and security on its
own, and that includes the Kingdom of Tonga.
Constructive and active engagement in regional and
international affairs through bilateral and multilateral
cooperation mechanisms, with the United Nations at
the centre, and greater, yet appropriate, integration into
the global economy will thus continue to be the
cornerstone of Tonga’s foreign policy.
 As a Member of the United Nations, Tonga
wishes to reaffirm its commitment to continuing its
active involvement in the work of the United Nations
as the central body coordinating the common efforts of
the family of nations to which we all belong.


First of all, I
would like to congratulate Mr. d’Escoto Brockmann on
his well-deserved election to preside over the
sixty-third session of the General Assembly. The
sustained increase in the cost of energy, the growing
demand for oil by industrialized countries and
emerging economies, higher food prices, the lack of
arable land and water in many regions and climate
change are only some of the indicators of
non-conventional threats to security that we all face
today and increasingly in the future.
 But crises also offer opportunities. Throughout
the decades, hundreds of millions of people all over the
world abandon their ancestral lands and move to cities
in search of work and a better life, as Governments
focus their attention and resources on cities and
neglected rural populations. But as urban populations
swell in numbers, the dream of a better life is turning
into desperation. However, the twenty-first century
may witness their return to their places of origin, if
Governments can learn from this crisis and seriously
invest in job creation programmes for rural areas,
particularly in agriculture, in order to increase food
production.
 Increasing food costs, whatever the cause may be,
are neutralizing the progress achieved in many
developing countries towards the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals. If the international
community does not redouble and coordinate its efforts
to significantly boost development assistance and
market access, it will be nearly impossible for poor,
non-oil-producing countries to achieve even the modest
goals that we had set for them in 2001 with a view to
reducing poverty in the world by half by 2015. Donor
countries must quickly readapt their aid for
development, emphasizing agriculture, particularly in
support of small family and community projects,
preservation of land and rainwater recovery, by
increasing the percentage of official development
assistance (ODA) from a modest 3 per cent in 2006 to
at least 30 per cent. I note that in 1980, the percentage
of all foreign aid dedicated to agriculture was 17 per
cent, which had dropped to 2.9 per cent by 2006.
Timor-Leste accordingly supports the initiative of the
Secretary-General to establish a High-Level Task Force
on the Global Food Security Crisis and an integrated
framework in order to deal with immediate food needs
worldwide and to provide the most vulnerable
countries with the capacity they need to become self-
sufficient.
 As a newly independent country, Timor-Leste has
benefited much from the generosity of the international
community. Donors will say that they have contributed
hundreds of millions of dollars to my country in the
last few years, and that is true. However, we must ask
ourselves if the aid has helped to improve the lives of
the majority of our population. The answer is yes and
no. But we all could do better if the bulk of the aid was
not used to cover the costs of the endless study
missions and redundant reports, but was invested on
the ground in small rural development initiatives.
(spoke in English)
 Timor-Leste is a least developed country.
However, Almighty God has bestowed on us some
modest oil, gas and other mineral wealth. Our oil and
gas revenues are modest, averaging only $100 million
to $150 million a month. It could be argued that, for a
country of slightly over one million people, this
amount is not too bad. By the end of this year, our
Petroleum Fund, which was established in 2005, will
have accumulated in excess of $3 billion, all invested
in United States treasury bonds. A writer in The
Economist recently stated that those who invest in
United States treasury bonds are people who like to
lose money. We may be among them. We agree with
that remark, and Timor-Leste is seeking to reinvest our
modest revenues in diversified portfolios around the
world.
 While our first obligation is to make use of our
oil wealth for the sustainable development of our
country and to address the immediate needs of our
poorest, we are not indifferent to the suffering of our
fellow human beings in other parts of the world. When
the Asia region was hit in December 2005 by a tsunami
of major proportions, our Government immediately
contributed $50,000 for the victims in Indonesia, and

9 08-51851

our citizens took up their own collection of donations
and raised an additional $70,000.
 Now, in response to several natural disasters that
have affected tens of millions of our fellow human
beings, Timor-Leste promptly decided to donate
$500,000 for the victims of the earthquake that hit the
Chinese province of Sichuan; $500,000 for the victims
of Cyclone Nargis that hit Myanmar on 2 May, to be
channelled through the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat; and $500,000 for Cuba
to assist the victims of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, to
be channelled directly to the Cuban authorities.
Starting in 2009, Timor-Leste will contribute
$1 million annually to assist child-related programmes
in Myanmar and Somalia through United Nations
agencies like UNICEF and the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR).
 We believe that, even though we are poor, or
because we are poor, we should better understand and
feel the pain of the poorest of the poor and must be
among the first to help others less fortunate than us.
 In my address today, I shall touch upon three
international issues: Myanmar, the United States
embargo against Cuba and the question of Western
Sahara.
 Timor-Leste’s stance on Myanmar is aligned with
the stance taken by our immediate neighbours in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations. We believe in
particular that while strong denunciations of abuses are
justifiable and that sanctions might be morally
justifiable, there cannot be a long-term solution in
Myanmar without the consent and full partnership of
that country’s army. Hence, the challenge for those
involved is to persuade the military that their own
interests as a group will not be compromised in any
future democratic arrangement. Any other strategy
seeking to sideline the military or that the military sees
as undermining their power and future safety will not
succeed and will only prolong the agony of all in that
sad country.
 Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which brought
devastation to the Caribbean, ruined the Cuban
economy. The country’s material losses are staggering,
with initial estimates showing the losses to approach a
total of at least $5 billion. Timor-Leste has nearly
700 East Timorese medical students in Cuba, and over
140 East Timorese are studying medicine in our
national university with Cuban medical instructors. In
addition, there are nearly 300 Cuban doctors working
in our country, distributed through all districts and
sub-districts. Cuban adult education specialists assist
us in our adult literacy campaign, benefiting thousands
of adults. The costs of those programmes are borne
almost entirely by Cuba.
 Mr. Siles Alvarado (Bolivia), Vice-President, took
the Chair.
 While I commend the United States and any
country that stands for universal democratic values and
that provides moral support for those promoting
democracy in their own countries, I submit that
punitive measures imposed on poor developing
countries for the perceived sins of their leaders cannot
be morally justified.
 As a friend of the United States, I humbly appeal
to its next Administration and to Congress to lift the
embargo against Cuba. Such a gesture would be
honourable, and my admiration for the United States
would only increase. As it is, as I witness the impact of
United States sanctions on a small developing country,
as well as its refusal to provide unconditional
assistance to Cuba following the devastation caused by
Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, my heart bleeds in sorrow
and my admiration for the United States seriously
diminishes. In that connection, I wish to express once
again our most heartfelt sympathy and solidarity with
the people of Haiti and others in the Caribbean region
who were affected by the recent natural disasters.
 With regard to the situation in Western Sahara,
Timor-Leste is guided by the stance taken by the
regional organization that is most competent on this
matter — the African Union — and guided by the
relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the
Security Council and the Advisory Opinion of the
International Court of Justice, all of which clearly and
unequivocally recognize the inalienable right of the
people of Western Sahara to self-determination. That is
the core of the issue and the root cause of the ongoing
conflict. Hence, Timor-Leste joins with the African
Union in calling for strict respect for the inalienable
right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.
 I now turn to the situation in my own country. On
11 February, I was shot and nearly died as a result. I
escaped by an act of God and thanks to the
professionalism and dedication of doctors and nurses at
the Australian army medical centre in Dili and the

08-51851 10

doctors and nurses at the Royal Darwin Hospital. To
them, and to all who have prayed for my life and my
recovery, I once again express my eternal gratitude. I
stood at the frontier between life and death; I saw the
darkness of death and the beauty of life, which I nearly
left behind.
 The attack against Prime Minister Gusmão and
myself shocked the nation, and my near-death served to
unite the people in opposing violence. Since then, the
situation in Timor-Leste has been more peaceful than it
has been in many years, without any politically
motivated violence so far; even common crime has
been significantly reduced. The Government, led by
Mr. Gusmão, a resistance hero, has made enormous
efforts in stabilizing the country and delivering
services to the people. Progress is visible. A growing
number of internally displaced persons are returning
home. Most camps are now empty. More than
700 former soldiers involved in the 2006 mutiny have
accepted a Government financial package and have
returned home.
 On the economic front, our real gross domestic
product (GDP) will show a 7 per cent increase by the
end of this year. However, if oil and gas revenues are
factored in, our economic growth will be
approximately 19 per cent. While our real annual GDP
per capita is less than $400, that figure jumps to more
than $4,000 if oil and gas revenues are factored in.
However, we would not have succeeded in pulling back
from the brink without the prompt and steadfast
support of the international community. I thank the
Secretary-General and, through him, the entire
United Nations family, in particular those serving in
my country in various capacities, for their selfless
contributions to the preservation of peace in
Timor-Leste.
 I also thank Australia and New Zealand for
maintaining a robust and credible security force in my
country in support of, and in close coordination with,
our Government and the United Nations Integrated
Mission in Timor-Leste, under the leadership of
Mr. Atul Khare, Special Representative of the
Secretary-General, who is a most compassionate
human being and a dedicated and tireless professional.
 The professionalism of the International Security
Forces is visible to all, and the behaviour of the
soldiers is irreproachable. The same can be said of the
United Nations police force in my country, comprising
police from 40 countries, with particular reference to
formed police units from Portugal, Pakistan, Malaysia
and Bangladesh. We are blessed by the Almighty with
non-negligible resources, and we can count on the
generosity of our development partners, but challenges
remain complex and multifaceted. However, I am
confident that, with a shared vision and a commitment
to serve the poorest of the poor, we will meet the
Millennium Development Goals. We cannot fail. We
shall not fail.


Speaking once again before the General Assembly, I
would like to congratulate you on your election,
Mr. President, and to wish you every success.
 Colombia continues to fight so that each and
every citizen can trust that he or she will live, work,
undertake projects, study and be happy in his or her
homeland. That trust is sustained by democratic
security, security for socially responsible investment
and the construction of social cohesion.
 Crimes against the safety of citizens continue to
decrease, but we are not satisfied. So far this year, the
number of crimes has fallen by 30 per cent in
comparison to the same period last year. We have
prioritized the protection of union leaders, teachers and
journalists. Of the 11,204 homicides committed as of
10 September, 36 were of workers and teachers
affiliated with trade unions or independent teachers. To
date, not a single journalist has been murdered. The
Government grants individual protection to 8,612
citizens, 1,462 of whom belong to trade unions.
 Our determination to combat impunity is
ongoing. Between 1991 and 2001, only two
convictions were handed down. Thanks to efforts in
recent years in terms of budgeting, the strengthening of
the judicial system, the security policy and the
tripartite agreement among workers, business leaders
and the Government, sponsored by the International
Labour Organization, 199 persons have been convicted
for the murder of workers and 134 of them are in
prison. Of the 123 sentences handed down, 85 have
occurred in the past three years.
 In the past, terrorist organizations penetrated the
labour movement, resulting in the murder of workers.
The dismantling of the paramilitaries has eliminated
that source of suffering, but terrorist guerrillas persist
in committing such crimes, as recently happened in the
south of the country with the murder of a group of
teachers by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC).
 Recently, our tranquillity in the absence of
terrorist attacks was shattered by a car bomb set off by
FARC, which destroyed the palace of justice in the city
of Cali and left several people dead and others injured,
as well as many poor families with their small
businesses and homes destroyed.
 Of the approximately 60,000 terrorists that
ravaged the country at the start of the Government’s
term of office, 48,000 have abandoned their criminal
organizations and joined the reintegration programme,
which is a great challenge for Colombia. As of

08-51839 14

17 September this year, 2,436 guerrilla members —
2,147 of them from FARC — had been demobilized.
 In a democracy of opinion such as ours, the
sustainability of democratic security depends on its
credibility, which in turn is based on effectiveness and
transparency. That transparency is tantamount to the
observance of the fundamental human rights we all
enjoy. From that foundation comes our respect for
liberties in the midst of the fight against terrorism and
for openness, vigilance, criticism and debate at the
national and international levels.
 Furthermore, a formative, world-leading effort in
human rights within our armed forces is crucial, as is
the ongoing adjustment of operative protocols through
such measures as that requiring soldiers to wait for the
presence of a judicial delegate before moving the body
of a member of a criminal organization killed in action.
We are also resolved to investigate and assist in the
investigation of any type of accusation and the
modernization of military criminal legislation.
 On 10 December, our country will voluntarily
submit our human rights record to the Universal
Periodic Review, a new mechanism created by the
United Nations that is an additional contribution to the
public discussion of our new road map on the matter.
Our work with the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights and with the Organization of
American States on the policy of truth, justice and
redress for victims must, along with our historic
memory, heal wounds and help to extinguish the flames
of violence forever.
 There are intangible results of democratic
security. Citizens have greater faith in the State and
turn to it for protection, overcoming the past
indifference of some and the inclination of many to
solve problems by their own means. Additionally, we
have recovered the State monopoly on weapons and on
official justice. Citizens have lost their fear of
denouncing others, testifying and cooperating with the
armed forces and the justice system. Victims are no
longer fearful and today are coming forward to claim
their rights.
 One year ago, I looked out at this Assembly in the
frustration of not having been able to rescue Ingrid
Betancourt and those held in captivity with her. Today,
thanks to the heroism, planning and bloodless
effectiveness of our soldiers, Ingrid Betancourt is a
symbol of freedom — the freedom to which we aspire
as we liberate those who remain in captivity and put an
end to such shameful crimes in our homeland.
 Social cohesion validates security. Meeting the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set for 2015
is an urgent need for us as an essential part of building
social cohesion. We are close to reaching the goal of no
more than 3 per cent of children under the age of five
being malnourished. We are determined to reach zero
and are now beginning to provide early schooling to
those children.
 By 2010, we hope to have reached 100 per cent in
basic education coverage. Towards the goal of
averaging 10.6 years of education for the population
between ages 15 and 24, we have already achieved an
average of more than nine years. The number of
students having to repeat a grade has decreased from
6.1 per cent to 3.3 per cent, towards a goal of
2.3 per cent.
 Mortality rates for children under five years of
age have fallen from 37 to 20 per 1,000 births, with a
goal of 17. That same indicator for children younger
than one year has decreased from 31 to 15.6, with a
goal of 14. Vaccination coverage is almost at
95 per cent, the percentage defined in the MDGs for
2015. Our great challenge is to reduce the pronounced
disparities between regions.
 Despite the economy’s problems, we are still
fully determined to meet the social goals through such
programmes as Families in Action, Bank of
Opportunities and the Together Network, which
focuses social tools on the poorest spheres. That is all
supported by very ambitious goals in the areas of child
nutrition, educational quality and coverage, vocational
training, health insurance, connectivity and good
management of social resources. With regard to the
latter, our administrative reform, which has already
been extended to 411 State entities, seeks to prevent
the State from being discredited, eliminating
bureaucratic wastefulness and achieving social
efficiency.
 The mortgage and financial crises are minor
problems compared to the threats to the environment.
Although Colombia produces 0.35 per cent of world
greenhouse gas emissions, we are highly vulnerable to
the ravages of climate change resulting from melting
ice and floods. More than 51 per cent of our territory is
preserved as rainforest and is a major net contributor of
oxygen.

15 08-51839

 Some of our most important environmental
programmes include the building of mass
transportation systems in nine cities, with plans under
way for 10 more; a network of 66,000 rural families
working as forest rangers, who are paid by the State to
maintain collective areas free from illicit crops and to
supervise the recovery and conservation of forests
under the oversight of the United Nations; the
conservation of 257 protected natural areas; the
implementation of aqueduct and basic sanitation
projects in the country’s 32 departments and the 1,102
municipalities; and the promotion of alternative energy
sources such as wind power and biofuels.
 There are three common objections to biofuels:
the risk of destroying the rainforest, the elimination of
areas for agricultural food production, and the small
amount of energy generated compared to that used to
produce it. Colombia has 578,000 square kilometres of
rainforest and 43 million hectares of savannah. We will
not allow the rainforest to be touched. Protecting it is
our main contribution to combating global warming.
With the available savannah, we can expand our
agricultural production concentrated in 5 million
hectares, increase the number of livestock to 24 million
heads of cattle and, without affecting food production,
develop a large biofuel industry that generates good
quality jobs, increases income and becomes an
alternative to coca, which fuels terrorism. Our
productivity is high, thanks to sources of energy such
as sugar cane and the African oil palm, which also
protects the soil from direct sunlight and prevents
erosion. For every energy unit used, 8 energy units of
ethanol are produced, or 6.5 units in biodiesel.
 Illicit drugs are a great enemy of the
environment, and they fuel terrorism. Colombia still
suffers from violence because of illicit drugs. We speak
of shared responsibility not to assign exclusive
responsibilities to consumer countries, for, unfortunately,
our young people also use drugs. We speak of shared
responsibility to spur the world to combat production,
trafficking, consumption, asset laundering and
chemical precursors on an equal basis. Our
Government requests that consumption be punished in
our country and across the international community.
We have extradited more than 800 persons. This year,
we must spray 130,000 hectares of coca crops, while
another 100,000 must be manually eradicated. Over the
past five years, 10,000 properties have been
confiscated. However, there has been no significant
reduction in illicit crop areas and consumption is on
the rise.
 Let us consider that situation. It is more difficult
to carry out prevention and rehabilitation efforts
against the backdrop of exponential growth in
consumption resulting from a permissive attitude. The
destruction of the rainforest to plant coca, the erosion
of the soil and the pollution caused by chemical
precursors are enormous affronts on the environmental
balance. Whoever buys a personal dose of illicit drugs
encourages a child to become a distributor and, later, a
feared criminal. Whoever buys a personal dose of illicit
drugs helps to set off a car bomb in Colombia and to
destroy four trees from our Amazon rainforest.
 Investors from all over the world are coming to
Colombia every day. Twice as many tourists, from
every corner of the world, are visiting our country as
were five years ago. Many of those who looked on our
country with scepticism and spoke about Colombia as a
failed State can now discern clear signals of
institutional strength and democratic boldness.
Colombia today generates more trust and respect, but
the work goes on. To free us all from the horrors of
drug trafficking, terrorism and poverty, we need more
resolute support from the international community. I
would very much like to thank the United Nations for
its very significant presence in our country.