First
of all, let me join other delegations in offering
congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss on
his election to the post of President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. With your guidance,
Sir, my delegation is confident that we can discuss, in
the spirit of cooperation, the different global challenges
confronting us in order to further the common good of
humankind.
 We are meeting at a time when the world is going
through some mixed developments. While, on some
parts of the globe, countries are experiencing relative
peace, in other parts they are embroiled in armed
conflict. While some countries are enjoying economic
growth and budget surpluses, others are experiencing
economic stagnation or contraction.
 The focus at this session of the General Assembly
on reviewing the progress on the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is most
appropriate. The achievement of the eight cross-cutting
Goals we set for ourselves would improve the quality
of life of all of our peoples. Just last week, we
concluded a stocktaking of the progress in the
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.
While the results on the scorecard are mixed, the
commitment of Member States to continuing to
implement measures to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals by 2015 is unequivocal.
 Papua New Guinea, like many developing
countries, has had measured success. As many noted
last week, the global economic crisis has had an
adverse bearing on the implementation of the MDGs. I
would add, however, that had the resources promised in
2000 for implementing the MDGs been made available,
the assessment sheet for many developing countries
would have looked more positive. Papua New Guinea
applauds the commitment of $40 billion for poverty
alleviation, especially to improve the health of children
and women. It is our hope that this will be a new
resource envelope and not repackaged old
commitments.
 We have noted the calls for countries to take
greater ownership of the implementation of the eight
Millennium Development Goals. Papua New Guinea
has accepted these challenges. We will continue to do

10-55128 2

all we can to meet the obligations we assumed when
we joined others in 2000 to adopt the Millennium
Declaration (resolution 55/2).
 The Permanent Representative of Papua New
Guinea to the United Nations outlined in detail last
week our country’s efforts to achieve the MDGs by
2015. Allow me to reiterate some of the main actions
we are taking. Papua New Guinea has adapted and
localized the MDGs by establishing 15 targets and 67
indicators within our medium-term development
strategy for the period 2005 to 2010. We have
calibrated our 2011-2015 medium-term development
plan and designed our development strategic plan to
achieve the MDGs. In addition, we have drafted our
2050 Vision Statement to be consistent with the
Millennium Development Goals.
 Our official development assistance programmes
with our donor partners are being gradually realigned
to enable Papua New Guinea to eventually meet its
MDG targets. On a wider scale, we urge donor partners
to abide by the principles of the Paris Declaration on
Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action. In
the Pacific, we have adopted the Cairns Compact to
better coordinate development assistance and to ensure
effective delivery. Developed countries also need to
raise their official development assistance to 0.7 per
cent of their gross national income, in line with their
commitments.
 In line with our commitment towards MDG 3, my
Government has submitted proposed legislation to the
Papua New Guinea legislature to reserve 22 seats for
women in the national Parliament. With respect to
MDG 2, we have introduced a universal primary
education policy and aim to achieve free primary-level
education for all of our children by 2015.
 Papua New Guinea is under no illusion that the
achievement of the MDGs is a unilateral undertaking.
This is a joint undertaking between developed and
developing countries, just as it is a cooperative effort
between the Government and civil society
organizations. It is for this reason that my country is
disappointed that MDG 8 on a global partnership for
development appears to attract little serious interest
from the developed countries. We note that the real
value of aid has remained constant and that the Doha
Development Round remains an unfinished affair.
 Also of concern to us is the inability of many
developing countries to enjoy equitable treatment from
the Bretton Woods institutions. Our efforts to reduce
deforestation in tropical rain forest countries, which I
will touch on later, have met with the same apathetic
response. Despite the best of efforts within the World
Trade Organization and Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum processes, the international trading
environment continues to be characterized by
inequalities. Often less visibly but still harmfully,
global trade continues to be encumbered by trade
protectionist measures.
 In the area of international peace and security, the
world, unfortunately, is no safer today than it was when
the United Nations was established. War continues to
be waged in Afghanistan. Iraq continues to suffer from
regular suicide bombings. The Korean peninsula
continues to be a flashpoint in the Asia region, and the
Middle East continues to be a hotbed of tension.
 Likewise, regional conflicts and ethnic tensions
continue to erupt in many parts of Africa, Latin
America and Eastern Europe. The international
community needs to do more to address these conflicts,
especially the Afghanistan and Iraq issues. The fragile
peace and global security environment is further
exemplified by the continued presence of Blue Helmets
in many parts of world.
 Papua New Guinea commends the efforts of
United Nations peacekeeping forces, many of which
have to operate in very trying circumstances. We wish
to thank the troop-contributing countries for bearing
this onerous responsibility on all our behalves. For our
part, I am pleased to announce that my Government
has enacted the International Obligations Bill to
provide the legal framework for Papua New Guinea’s
participation in United Nations peacekeeping
operations.
 Acts of terrorism continue and the threat of
another terror attack on a scale similar to that of 9/11
remains real. The international community must
continue to strengthen its cooperation to address this
scourge.
 Nuclear weapons continue to cause anxiety in our
security considerations. While some may argue that
nuclear weapons are the reason why the world has not
fought another world war, my Government believes
that these weapons of mass destruction are unnecessary
and need to be eliminated. As part of that process, we
support efforts to strengthen the mechanisms aimed at
the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

3 10-55128

 As for other countries of the Pacific region,
climate change is of great concern to Papua New
Guinea. We need no scientist to tell us of the negative
impact of climate change. We live it and we suffer
from it. Many of our islands, such as the Carterets, and
coastal habitats like my own home area of the Murik
Lakes are being gradually submerged by rising sea
levels. The result is that people living in these areas are
becoming environmental refugees. Lowland diseases
such as malaria are now occurring in the highlands of
Papua New Guinea. Unusual weather patterns, such as
increased incidences of cyclones, frequent heavy
flooding and mudslides, are causing havoc in our
economies and exacting untold suffering on our people.
 All these attendant climate change challenges are
taxing the budgetary resources of our countries and
undermining our development plans. The international
community has rightly recognized the insidious effects
of climate change and agreed to take concerted action
under the ambit of the Kyoto Protocol, the Bali Road
Map and the Copenhagen Accord to address the issue.
 Papua New Guinea urges our developed partners
to shoulder greater responsibility for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and for assisting developing
countries, particularly small island States, to adapt to
climate change and its effects.
 Resources for adaptation and mitigation
measures, particularly those committed in Copenhagen,
must be made more readily available to developing
countries. We note the initiative announced by Japan
last week during the MDG review and look forward to
further details of what it constitutes. We also applaud
the financial commitments and policy initiatives that
China announced to assist developing countries to
implement the Millennium Development Goals. As for Papua New Guinea, with our colleagues
from the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, we have
committed ourselves to a programme of reducing
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation,
more commonly known as REDD-plus. As this is the
International Year of Biodiversity, let me say that the
REDD-plus initiative will assure the protection of
important biodiversity.
 In addition, at the national level Papua New
Guinea has adopted an action plan for climate-
compatible development and established the Office of
Climate Change and Development explicitly to oversee
our actions on climate change issues. As part of our
strategy to reduce our carbon footprint, we are now
aggressively seeking to develop more hydropower and
geothermal sources for our energy requirements. We
have also embarked on a major commercialization
exercise of our gas reserves to deliver a cleaner energy
alternative to the world.
 Many of us here have recognized the need to
reform the United Nations in order to take account of
the changed circumstances under which it operates, as
well as the new and emerging challenges that it must
address. We note and commend the Secretary-General
for the ongoing administrative and institutional reforms
he is undertaking to improve the efficiency of the
United Nations in better serving Member States. We
urge all stakeholders in the Security Council reform
agenda to demonstrate courage and leadership so that
the composition and workings of the Council can be
reformed in ways that are equitable and reflect the
current geopolitical and economic realities.
 Papua New Guinea has previously stated at this
Assembly that we believe that the expansion of the
membership of the Security Council is logical to allow
for representation from certain developed and
developing countries. In that regard, I wish to reaffirm
Papua New Guinea’s support for Germany and Japan to
be included as permanent members in an expanded
Security Council.
 Finally, the inequities that exist in the global
trading system today are daunting, but they can be
resolved. With genuine partnership, we can and shall
overcome them. The world may not be any safer today
than it was when the United Nations was established
some 65 years ago, but having been able to avert
another world war is ample testimony that the
international community has the political will to
address tensions and discord in a measured way. The
United Nations and the international legal architecture
that it has achieved, developed and promoted have
played a significant role in that regard, thus
underscoring the continuing relevance of this body.


In the name of the Nicaraguan people and of
Comrade President Commander Daniel Ortega
Saavedra, I convey my warmest brotherly greetings to
you, Sir, and to each and every one of the peoples and
Governments represented in the General Assembly.
 As the shadows of apocalyptic threats darken the
world stage, we begin to doubt the capacity for reason
and the strength of the most noble sentiments of human
beings to face up to the serious problems confronting
humanity. Various types of information are
manipulated by the global communications media in
order to continually discredit the independence efforts
of the Governments of the South. They disseminate the
idea that humanity is impotent in the face of the
present state of disaster and that we must prepare for
the worst. Furthermore, what is worse is that they tell
us that no one is responsible and that it is a faceless
disaster, seeking thus to exonerate the industrialized
countries of the North.
 However, we know full well that the underlying
cause of the serious crises we are experiencing is the
nature of the system of economic, political and social
relations established by global capitalism and the effort
to have that system accepted as a universal paradigm.
 In this regard, the poor countries, which are
referred to by the euphemism “developing countries”,
can strip away the masks of those who — driven by
greed, selfishness and the desire for absolute power in
the name of manifest destiny or of divine reason —
have brought humankind to the brink of extinction.
 Nicaragua, which has experienced the pain and
injustice of war first-hand, is against war. We do not
accept the failure of reason. We do not accept war as
the obligatory language among peoples. Nicaragua
rejects war as a solution to conflicts between States.
We reject war as a means for appropriating the planet’s
natural resources or for imposing the hegemony of a
few over the majority of the world’s nations. War will
never lead to solutions partial or full, much less
definitive. The invasion of Iraq by foreign troops under
false pretexts has brought neither peace nor stability to
that country. On the contrary, it has left that country in
ruins and failed to bring greater stability to the region.
 The war in Afghanistan has become a dead end
for the occupiers. At the same time, it has also had
negative effects on its neighbours. Security Council
resolution 1929 (2010), which imposes new sanctions
on the Islamic Republic of Iran, has only served to
increase the possibility of a large-scale military
conflict with unforeseeable consequences. The war
games on the Korean peninsula increase tensions in
that region, jeopardizing the gains achieved between
the two Koreas. Neither Europe nor the Persian Gulf
has escaped the expanding zone of militarization.
Similarly, the establishment of military bases and the
deployment of naval and air power on Latin American
soil threaten the political stability of our nations.
 “Among individuals, as among nations, respect
for the rights of others is peace”. This saying of Benito
Juárez, President of Mexico and the first indigenous
president in the Americas, clearly reflects the
conception of and will for peace among the peoples of
the world. This apothegm should guide our
Organization, and in particular the Security Council,
ensuring that their actions adhere strictly to the
purposes and principles of the United Nations.
 Moreover, Nicaragua believes that there is a close
relation between disarmament and development. Our
commitment to security includes a commitment to the
promotion of human rights, which we interpret as

10-55128 30

tantamount to sustainable development centred on the
human being and implemented in an environment of
good governance with direct citizen participation and
social equality, which are indispensable to real
development.
 From our point of view, the resources freed up as
a result of disarmament efforts should be directed to
ensuring the attainment of the national social
development goals of each of our countries. One only
has to take a brief glance at the trillions of dollars
spent on war to realize how many human problems
could be solved with these funds, alleviating the pain
caused by poverty and exclusion. The global economic
and financial crisis has had little or no effect on global
military spending.
 Nicaragua remains actively committed to the
cause of general and complete disarmament. Nicaragua
believes that only a climate of fundamental trust and
solidarity can guarantee strict compliance with arms
control and disarmament accords with a view to
attaining complete disarmament — and especially
nuclear disarmament — as the only option for
achieving real and lasting world peace. Nicaragua
supports the inalienable right of the parties to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to
use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and without
discrimination. Nicaragua encourages actions to
promote the exchange of material resources, equipment
and technology for the peaceful use of nuclear energy
in order to guarantee the sustainable economic
development of every nation and the world.
 Precisely because of this belief, Nicaragua
demands that neither Iran nor any other nation be taken
to task for developing nuclear programmes for peaceful
purposes. It is possible to build trust based on dialogue
and negotiation. In this context, Nicaragua joins the
general support expressed for the tripartite declaration
of Brazil, Turkey and Iran, which constitutes an
alternative for promoting regional and world peace.
 That which was a warning yesterday is today a
reality. The present international context is leading to a
global political crisis. The entire political model
constructed and articulated around the paradigm of
neo-liberalism, globalization and the free market is in
question. At the global level, we need more decisive
action to affirm multilateralism as the new paradigm.
Such multilateralism must listen to the voices of
peoples living in extreme poverty and
underdevelopment. It must take the new political
realities into account and effectively democratize the
world order, beginning with this Organization,
including the Security Council and the United Nations
as a whole; re-establish the representational and
democratic rights of its 192 Member States; and
identify the rights and obligations that are common to
all States without undermining their sovereignty,
independence and self-determination, regardless of
their size.
 In Latin America and the Caribbean, this trend is
manifest in the process of integration and unity taking
place among our peoples. We have already made the
historic decision to create the Latin American and
Caribbean Community of States, whose
institutionalization will begin next year and conclude
in 2012. This is further and unquestionable proof of the
profound changes taking place in the world.
 The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our
America has become the vanguard of this process of
change. The struggle against intervention of all kinds,
including military intervention, and for the
maintenance and re-establishment of peace is an
essential component of the Alliance’s action in its
relations with the world, and strengthens its capacity to
guarantee the national sovereignty of its peoples.
 Nicaragua joins the brotherly people of Puerto
Rico in waving the flag of its independence which has
been unjustly trampled. The criminal economic
blockade by the Government of the United States of
America against the brotherly people and Government
of heroic Cuba must stop immediately, and the five
Cuban heroes, counter-terrorism combatants
imprisoned in United States jails, must be released
now.
 We express our solidarity with the brotherly
people of Argentina in their demand for sovereignty
over the Malvinas Islands and with the brotherly
people of the Democratic Arab Saharan Republic in
their quest to be recognized as an independent State.
 The war and State terrorism against the people of
Palestine must immediately cease. All Security Council
and General Assembly resolutions concerning Israel
must be respected and complied with. We must tie the
hands of those who fan the flames of hatred and war
and are capable of attacking a humanitarian flotilla —
an act that has been denounced by the Human Rights
Council commission of inquiry.

31 10-55128

 We salute the invitation extended by the
international community to Taiwan to participate in the
work of some United Nations specialized agencies
directly related to the well-being of the 23 million
Taiwanese. In this regard, we call on the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the International Civil Aviation Organization to
adopt a similar position.
 Never before have we had so much information
or, I hope, been so conscious of the severity of the
environmental crisis affecting our planet. Our
awareness of the gravity of the situation makes it
indispensable that we forge a coalition of forces based
on the common values and inspiring principles that
serve as the ethical foundation and catalyst for
practices to promote a sustainable way of life. The
Earth, with its minerals and sources of energy; with its
land, water, forests and marine life; with its ecosystems
and micro-organisms, must be recognized as our
supreme and universal benefactor and an integral part
of humankind, and not only as a source of survival.
 Global capitalism, with its logic of competition
and unlimited growth and its unsustainable modes of
production and consumption, separates human beings
from nature and establishes a relationship of dominion
over it. This situation must change and be restored to
the right track before it is too late for us all.
 The meeting in Copenhagen demonstrated the
power of the interests that block decisive action on
climate change and the rights of Mother Earth. It left
us with the unpleasant feeling that we had wasted our
time and that those who impede the urgent solutions
needed to address the critical state of Mother Earth are
uncommitted to change. With our eyes fixed on hope,
we continue to promote our commitments based on the
fundamental principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities. These should be proportional to the
greenhouse gas emissions accumulated since the onset
of the Industrial Revolution and not since last year.
Those who have historically caused the damage should
assume most of the responsibility.
 In that hope, Nicaragua was the first country of
the world to have signed the Universal Declaration of
the Rights of Mother Earth, and calls on all the
countries of the world to sign it. It was also in that
hope that Nicaragua signed the People’s Agreement
adopted in Cochabamba in April during the World
People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights
of Mother Earth. It is in that hope that Nicaragua trusts
that, when we arrive in Cancún, we will be united in
seeking agreements that will at least partially reverse
the harm, and in taking a path that re-establishes the
lost or gravely endangered balance between humankind
and Mother Earth.
 Although it is proclaimed without much support
that the worst of the global economic and financial
crisis is behind us, its most serious effects remain and
continue to greatly affect our peoples. We should not
continue to accept the imposition of economic models
based on the pillage and exploitation of our riches.
 For all of those reasons, Nicaragua and most of
the Latin American nations are dedicated to building an
alternative model of economic sovereignty, a sphere of
interdependence and solidarity that will enable us to
face global capitalism’s profound crisis and to recover
our capacity to determine our own paths to
development. We reaffirm that the development
strategies of each country are their own responsibility,
that they should have national ownership and
leadership, and that foreign cooperation should be in
line with the strategies, plans and objectives of the
country that receives it.
 In connection with the urgent need to create a
new model, we reiterate our support for the outcome of
the Conference on the World Financial and Economic
Crisis and Its Impact on Development of June 2009
(resolution 63/303, annex). There can be no economic
recovery or balance in the inequality with the present
model, which concentrates the income and wealth
among and within nations.
 All of this should take place in a framework of
mutual respect, devoid of punitive political conditions
against our peoples that would block and stifle the
development of the countries of the South.
 Besides the hundreds of millions of people in the
world who suffer from hunger, we have before us the
terrifying reality that in developing countries,
10.9 million children under the age of five die every
year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause
60 per cent of those deaths. The cost of malnutrition to
national economic development is estimated at
between $20 and $30 billion per year. That intolerable
situation must stop. The developed countries must
fulfil their commitments to eliminate the suffering of
millions of human beings.

10-55128 32

 Nicaragua reaffirms its decision to confront, with
the means available to it and in the context of its
national sovereignty, the different forms of
transnational organized crime, which have become a
permanent threat to domestic and international security.
Similarly, Nicaragua reiterates its position of
combating terrorism in all its forms and whatever their
source.
 There are several processes that are hampering
necessary and urgent changes. The most prominent is
the suppression of information — not saying anything
in order to perpetuate ignorance. And when
information is made available, it is distorted and
always against the peoples’ interests and their
legitimate aspirations and experiences, thus converting
lies into truths and vice versa, converting a smile into a
sneer, words into noise and an objective fact into
virtual reality.
 The universal citizen is witness, through global
communication, to a real war for truth and freedom,
forced to confront a permanent, slanderous campaign
against change, against hope and against the proper
evolution of history. That campaign has far-reaching
implications and has the goal of destroying the process
of direct popular democracy and of the profound and
revolutionary social transformations that are taking
place in our countries as a result of the triumph of
revolutionary political forces, as is the case in
Nicaragua with the Sandinista Front. We must
denounce the campaign waged by hegemonic and
selfish interests in a few countries in an attempt to
undermine the legitimacy of our political system and
our people’s Government.
 Nicaragua proclaims its right to live in peace and
to combat the poverty, illiteracy, hunger and
malnutrition generated by historic exclusion and the
imposition of an economic and political model that is
alien to our reality. Nicaragua declares its dignity,
sovereignty, self-determination, respect, unity and
solidarity with all the peoples of the Earth, as
guaranteed by the United Nations Charter. Nicaragua is
working to develop a social awareness of solidarity
identified with the ideals of humankind, justice,
freedom and democracy for all, without exception.
 From this forum, Nicaragua makes a vehement
call for world peace, for the survival of the human
species, for the dignified future of the noblest
aspirations of men and women. That is the only
possible future.


Let me
congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on his election to
preside over the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth
session. May the United Nations, under his leadership,
confirm its central role in global events. Slovakia
stands prepared to support him. I also appreciate the
work done by his predecessor at the previous session.
 The Slovak Republic fully aligns itself with the
European Union’s statements. We are pleased that 27
European member States, plus other associated
countries, speak in one voice at this universal
international forum. This is a good prerequisite to clear
the way for widely anticipated effective cooperation
between the Union and the United Nations.
 Let me now share with the Assembly several
remarks on certain global and regional issues from the
perspective of the Slovak foreign policy priorities.
 The foreign policy of Slovakia, as a United
Nations member, is based on respect for the core
democratic values, international law and effective
multilateralism. We therefore welcome and support the
main theme of the sixty-fifth session: “Reaffirming the
central role of the United Nations in global
governance”. This topic is all the more important since
we often witness failure to respect binding decisions
taken by United Nations bodies, and from time to time
even among the various United Nations institutions.
 One of the most important missions of the United
Nations is to act as a guarantor of the formulation,
protection and implementation of the principle of
collective security of States. Hence, the preservation of
international peace and security at a global level and
within the bounds of international law must remain at
the core of United Nations activities. For peace and
security become particularly vulnerable in times of
global financial and economic crises. They require
increased attention on our part in order to remain under
the control of States and the international community.
 The process of arms control and disarmament
represents the most important instrument for the
prevention of war and other conflict. The progress
achieved in the area of non-proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction gives us reason for cautious
optimism. Our duty is to continue the effort and to
strengthen the global system of non-proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction. Yet the risk of such
weapons falling into the hands of terrorists remains
high. We are also prepared to cooperate with our
partners on a number of priorities, such as the entry
into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty.
 We appreciate the new post-START Treaty
between the Russian Federation and the United States.
We believe that the Treaty will invigorate the process
of disarmament, which is getting off the ground, and
increase pressure on certain States to desist from their
ambitions to own nuclear weapons. In particular, I wish
to underscore the important role played by the
Conference on Disarmament, which is described as the
sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum.
 In the area of conventional weapons, it is
necessary to continue negotiations leading to the
adoption of a new, effective arms trade treaty.
Adequate attention must also be paid to small arms, the
uncontrolled spread of which may have devastating
consequences for the maintenance of peace and
security, particularly in conflict areas.
 United Nations peacekeeping operations
represent one of the most visible activities of the
United Nations in its efforts to preserve peace and
security in the world. Slovakia, as an active contributor
to United Nations missions and other international
crisis management operations based on a United
Nations mandate, welcomes the steps towards reviving
the reform of peacekeeping operations as described in
the document “ A New Partnership Agenda: Charting a
New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping”.
 I believe that the new Global Field Support
Strategy will contribute, in real terms, towards a more
rapid deployment of peacekeeping missions and, at the
same time, ensure a more efficient utilization of human
and financial resources.
 Proper coordination between the United Nations
and regional organizations plays an important role.
There is room for improvement, for example, when it
comes to cooperation between the EU and NATO at the
operational level, but also for a more effective
coordination at strategic level.

13 10-54833

 The United Nations must also play a key role in
the prevention of conflicts. Slovakia supports the
prevention and mediation role of the United Nations
and its capacity-building. It is, however, necessary to
exert synergic efforts taking due account of the
interests of all stakeholders at the local, regional and
global levels in order to eliminate sources of conflict
and proceed directly with establishing peace.
 The establishment of the United Nations Regional
Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia,
which is headed by a Slovak diplomat, was a step in
the right direction. The recent events in Kyrgyzstan
confirmed the usefulness of this instrument and
underscored the need to support it further.
 Slovakia takes an active part in peace processes.
Since our non-permanent membership in the Security
Council in 2006 and 2007, we have continued our
involvement in security sector reform. We are glad that
since then several strategic papers have been produced
and that progress has been made in building the
requisite capacities, particularly in cooperation with
African countries.
 As the chair of the Group of Friends of security
sector reform, we continue to actively work towards
strengthening the relations in this matter between
Member States and the Secretariat. In the course of the
sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly, we
teamed up with our partners from Argentina and
Indonesia to hold regional workshops dealing with
security sector reform in the broader context of
preserving and building peace and, at the same time,
establishing a link between its global and regional
aspects. We are determined to uphold this effort in
cooperation with the Inter-agency Task Force on
Security Sector Reform, as well as with other Member
States and subregional organizations.
 Under the Charter, the primary responsibility for
international peace and security lies with the Security
Council. The process of its reform could almost be
called a never-ending story. We are therefore pleased
that the intergovernmental negotiations on Security
Council reform were given a clearer shape. It must
stand on the following pillars: representativeness,
effectiveness in fulfilling its mission and transparency
of its working methods, while allowing for possible
enforcement of its decisions by sanctions.
 The global financial and economic crisis laid bare
the weak spots in the existing structures of the world
economic order. The key role of the United Nations
and its Member States must also be confirmed in this
financial and economic dimension at the global level.
 At the High-level Plenary Meeting on the
Millennium Development Goals, we shared the view
that since our efforts in achieving these Goals started
some 10 years ago they had not become less topical or
less important. Eradicating poverty and hunger,
improving the quality of education, adequate
employment, improving health-care services and
housing, improving maternal health, gender equality
and environmental sustainability remain among the
central concerns of United Nations programmes, funds
and specialized agencies.
 Everyday life also shows us that creating
conditions for equitable and sustainable development
must go hand in hand with respect for nature and its
rules. There is an inherent link between the two, and
both have an impact on the life of individuals, who are
part of the universal system.
 The people of Slovakia had the misfortune to
witness nature’s power as floods of an unprecedented
scale ravaged our country earlier this summer. A proper
balance must be struck between development and
respect for nature, based on well-reasoned arguments
supported by proper analysis, and without giving way
to the influence sought by certain narrowly focused
transnational organizations that call themselves
environmentalists.
 For the first time this year, Slovakia took part in
the Economic and Social Council meetings as a
member. Our experience shows that we need to
strengthen the links between the Economic and Social
Council and other organizations of the United Nations
system and beyond, provided they work towards the
same objectives.
 Slovakia welcomes the establishment of
UN Women — the United Nations Entity for Gender
Equality and Empowerment of Women. We believe that
this entity will help curb all forms of violence against
women. We also extend our good wishes for a
successful mandate to the Secretary-General’s Special
Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
 Slovakia rejects any and all forms of intolerance,
xenophobia, discrimination, racism and extreme
nationalism. We are devoted to the protection of and
support for human rights at both the national and

10-54833 14

international level. We play a leading role in the
interregional initiative aimed at the adoption of a new
optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
 Slovakia fully supports the fight to end impunity
for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes under
international law, such as genocide, war crimes and
crimes against humanity. As a facilitator for the
universality and implementation of the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court, we actively work
towards increasing the number of States Parties to the
Rome Statute and towards its proper implementation.
 Slovakia closely watches the situation and
problems in individual regions of the world.
 The long-term effort to reach lasting peace in the
Middle East has failed to yield the expected results. At
this stage, we appreciate the contributions of all
facilitators involved in reconciling the demands of both
sides by way of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks that
were launched recently. We are hopeful that the
Palestinian and Israeli leaders will find a way of
coming to an agreement that will lay down the final
arrangement of their mutual relations. This is necessary
for world peace.
 Africa, as the most troubled continent, continues
to call for special attention by the international
community. We need to address the origin and the
essence of the problems, not only their consequences.
On the other hand, we are pleased to see the progress
made in the stabilization and development of countries
such as Ghana, Benin, Togo, Mauritius and others.
 As members of the United Nations, we all have to
support respect for the binding nature of Security
Council resolutions — particularly when it comes to
preserving peace around the globe. For this reason, we
support diplomatic negotiations on the Iran issue, as
well as on the situation on the Korean peninsula, which
is a matter of concern.
 Slovakia welcomed the conclusions of the Kabul
International Conference on Afghanistan. The
Conference marked a new phase of partnership
between the Afghan Government and the international
community, based on the principle of a gradual
Afghanistanization of the country, that is, the transition
to full Afghan leadership and responsibility to be
achieved in the Kabul Process. Slovakia will continue
to participate in the stabilization and development of
Afghanistan by contributing to NATO- and EU-led
stabilization and training operations and by
implementing humanitarian and development aid
projects.
 Slovakia remains a staunch supporter of a
peaceful and just settlement of the Cyprus issue under
the auspices of the Secretary-General. More than
20 years of our support for negotiations and the
continued involvement, since 2001, of the largest
contingent of the Slovak armed forces in the United
Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus within the
United Nations crisis management operations, bear
witness to our engagement in this respect.
 As for the Western Balkans, we are looking to
strengthen stability and support democratic processes.
We wish for the European integration processes of the
Western Balkan countries to move forward. We also
wish for the Balkans to see peace agreements and not
imposed solutions.
 The United Nations must be able to effectively
respond to the current challenges of the twenty-first
century. This calls for synergies across all United
Nations bodies, programmes, funds and specialized
agencies. But, more importantly, since Member States
determine their activities and their direction, we need
to build synergies among us. The people of our
countries are looking to see positive results.
 I am confident that, under the Assembly
President’s leadership, the United Nations will make
great strides in advancing its cause.


Every year, we gather in this
General Assembly Hall to take stock of our
achievements in the pursuit of a more peaceful, more
secure and a better world for all citizens of the global
community.
 As it emerged from the ashes of devastating
world wars, the United Nations heralded a new era and
a new world order of international cooperation in the
pursuit of international peace and security. It is
premised on the principles of sovereign equality and
peaceful coexistence.
 Taking stock of what we have achieved since
then, we can say today that we have been successful in
preventing many of the scourges that have challenged
humanity, including world wars and widespread
disease. But as we rid our global society of those
injustices, new and emerging forms of injustices now
threaten our global security.
 I believe that climate change remains the greatest
moral challenge of our time. While it affects all nations
of this planet, the irony is that it is the poorest and
smallest countries, which have made the least
contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, that are
paying the ultimate price in order that the lifestyles and
development agenda of some countries may be
maintained. Where is the justice in that?
 The Copenhagen Conference failed to meet the
expectations of many, but especially of those countries
on the front line for which the threat of climate change
is no longer a matter of speculation but one of survival,
and therefore of great urgency. There is a tendency in
much of the world to view climate change as a distant
and gradual process whose harmful effects are remote
possible and not worthy of much attention. I have said
in various forums that, for low-lying island countries
like Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Maldives and the Marshall
Islands, among other similarly vulnerable countries,
climate change is a matter of survival and of increasing
urgency.
 Already we are witnessing major damage to
infrastructure and property as a consequence of higher-
than-normal tides and storm surges. Coastal erosion in
heavily populated areas is occurring at a rate that
exceeds the Governments’ capacity to respond. Lack of
resources is exacerbating the situation. Coastlines
continue to be eroded and homes and properties
continue to be damaged.
 Long before our islands are inundated by the
rising seas, they will become uninhabitable as
freshwater aquifers are contaminated by saltwater
intrusion from rising tides. Increasing demand for
resources to undertake effective responses to climate
change impacts will become a dominant feature of our
development agenda. I truly hope, therefore, that I can
during this session communicate the deep sense of
urgency and growing sense of despair besetting our
people in the face of this oncoming catastrophe.
 On the basis of current scientific projections, the
Copenhagen Accord does not provide the means to
guarantee our future survival, and therefore we did not
sign it in Copenhagen. We have subsequently
associated ourselves with the Accord, essentially for
the following reasons. First, we are of the belief that
the Accord at least represents a positive step towards

7 10-55109

an international governance system on climate change.
Secondly, we have the expectation that further,
forthcoming scientific evidence will unequivocally
determine the targets to be agreed upon. Finally and
most importantly, we believe that our support for the
Accord will ensure the flow of urgently needed
adaptation funds. I regret to say that, to date, we have
not been able to access any of the fast-start funds
pledged.
 I acknowledge that many elements of any
international regime on climate change will take
several years to conclude, but I also believe that there
is common ground on which there is no real debate.
The urgent need for the flow of adaptation funds to
address the more urgent adaptation needs of the most
vulnerable countries is a matter over which there is
general consensus. It is not a matter to negotiate or
procrastinate over; if we do, it will be too late for some
countries and any subsequent agreement will be
meaningless. It is also important that adaptation funds
not be regarded as additional development funds by
either development partners or recipient countries, but
be provided and applied for the sole purpose of
adaptation to climate change.
 I believe that we need to modify our approach to
Mexico if we are to succeed. I believe that we have a
moral obligation to reach agreement on a legally
binding framework that regulates our ability to pursue
policies that harm others. For very obvious reasons, I
do not believe that any country should have the right to
exercise sovereignty over its greenhouse gas emissions.
In my view, any alternative to a legally binding
framework is simply unacceptable and would have
potentially destabilizing consequences.
 The experience at Copenhagen taught us that if
we are to make any progress, we must acknowledge
our differences and discuss ways around them rather
than allow them to dominate the international agenda
behind the process. In this regard, we believe that trust
and mutual respect are indispensable to the process.
 Climate change offers the international
community an opportunity to reflect upon the future
direction of our relations as sovereign nations. I
believe that the climate change challenge provides us
with the opportunity to be more innovative in our
concept of international governance. Our current
arrangement is similar to that of State Governments not
accepting federal authority within a federal system.
One can imagine the chaos.
 While other countries are focusing their efforts
and resources on their sustainable development, we,
the most vulnerable countries, continue to spend the
limited resources we have on fighting the continuous
onslaught of the rising seas and storm surges on our
homes and livelihoods. It is no surprise therefore that
we are off-track to achieve most of the Millennium
Development Goals and the implementation of our
sustainable development agenda under our national
development plan, the Pacific Plan and the Mauritius
Strategy. For every step we take forward, we are
knocked back two or three due to the challenges we
face, which are exacerbated by climate change.
 In this regard, it is imperative that the pledges
made at Copenhagen for fast-start funds to assist
vulnerable countries like Kiribati to adapt to the impact
of climate change and sea-level rise be mobilized at the
earliest possible opportunity. This is a matter of great
and increasing urgency.
 We acknowledge the critical role of our
environment as the pillar of sustainable development.
Maintaining the health of our biodiversity within our
oceans and ecosystems faces the very same challenges
that we have so far failed to address in respect of our
atmosphere. It is imperative, therefore, that we
undertake the commitment to put in place now the
measures needed in order to avoid the mistakes we
have made with climate change. In pursuit of this, we
in Kiribati have designated the largest marine protected
area and marine World Heritage Site, the Phoenix
Islands Protected Area. It covers an area of more than
400,000 square kilometres, representing some 11 per
cent of our exclusive economic zone. The Protected
Area is the result of a collaborative partnership with
Conservation International and the New England
Aquarium. It provides a natural breeding ground for
tropical fisheries and ocean ecosystems. It is a natural
laboratory for the study of such ecosystems and the
impact of climate change in a pristine area virtually
untouched by human activity.
 The preservation of that Area is our gift to
humanity and our contribution to international
biodiversity conservation efforts to significantly reduce
biodiversity loss in this International Year of
Biodiversity. Even now, as we confront the possibility
that our islands will become uninhabitable within the

10-55109 8

century due to the rising sea level, we recognize the
value of protecting something that is the common
heritage of humanity.
 Kiribati and the Pacific are committed to the
sustainable conservation and management of their
ocean ecosystem through the Micronesia Challenge,
the Coral Triangle Initiative, the Nauru Agreement and
the many other national efforts throughout the region
to conserve biodiversity and ecosystems. At its meeting
last month in Vanuatu, the Pacific Islands Forum
endorsed the Pacific Oceanscape Framework, which
promotes collaboration and cooperation among marine
protected areas in the Pacific region. Initiatives such as
the Pacific 2020 Challenge and a novel Pangaea World
concept of green development through knowledge
economies link those initiatives to the countries of the
Pacific Rim and beyond.
 Our message to the international community is
that the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in
the Pacific is not important only to the sustainable
development of Pacific peoples. It is also of vital
significance to the rest of the world. Support from the
international community in protecting ecosystems in
the Pacific, and indeed elsewhere, should not be
viewed as a handout, but as an investment for future
generations of this planet.
 Last year, we all called for a new world order. We
all acknowledged that our great Organization must
evolve to reflect the realities of our time — a time in
which new and emerging security threats and injustices
such as climate change are challenging the credibility
of our international system of governance; a time in
which the future survival of some nations is seriously
in question; a time when all those countries with the
ability to do so must contribute to the prevention of
that calamity or be forever judged in history.
 We note that tensions remain high in certain
regions, notably in the Middle East and the Korean
peninsula. For the sake of those of us on the front line
of the major global challenges, let us pray that great
understanding and stability will prevail. For while we,
as small nations, may seem not to be affected by such
events, they serve to distract the focus of attention
away from the real challenges facing the international
community and our planet today.
 It is gratifying to note the easing of tensions and
improvement of relations across the Taiwan Straits —
no doubt, a most welcome development for all in that
region. We also welcome the inclusion of Taiwan in the
World Health Assembly, and we hope that similar
understanding will prevail in respect of other
international institutions in which Taiwan can
participate and contribute meaningfully for the good of
humanity.
 As we chart the path towards a new world order,
we must address the fundamental threats to the very
existence of the units that make up our Organization.
As the so called community of nations, we must be
able to guarantee the survival of members of our
community by addressing this defining challenge of
our era. Climate change must be addressed before it is
too late for those nations on the front line and for the
whole of humanity.
 At this time, we need compassionate, visionary
and responsible leadership to direct our path towards a
more secure and more just world. We need to share the
solution, and we need to act as one in Mexico. We owe
it to our future generations to act, and to act now.
Maintaining the status quo is simply not an option.


First, I should
like to take this opportunity to congratulate the
President on his election to the presidency of the
General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session and to
assure him that he can count on the support of Angola
so that at the end of this session we will all be better
prepared to respond to the multiple and complex
challenges facing the international community. I also
take this opportunity to convey, though the President,
our most sincere gratitude to the outgoing President for
the selfless manner in which he conducted the sixty-
fourth session.
 In the last decade several events have profoundly
marked the world community, including natural
calamities and man-made disasters, which should lead
us to consider the need to work towards a more
cooperative and increasingly integrated world, for no
one is immune to those phenomena. The terrorist attack
of 2001 on the Twin Towers of New York that killed
more than 3,000 people, the tsunami of December 2004
in which more than 200,000 people perished, the recent
earthquake in Haiti that caused more than 200,000
deaths, and the series of natural disasters that have
occurred on every continent, added to the global
financial and economic crisis, should awaken us to the
fact that we live in a different world that requires
broader cooperation among nations, given that those
phenomena are unforeseeable.
 Therefore, in today’s world, the consequences of
the irresponsibility of a few can have repercussions on
the lives of us all. It is thus imperative that we pursue
relationships that have greater balance and equality
between large and small and rich and poor, because the
new reality is that we are increasingly interdependent
in a global world.
 Angola, has always been convinced of the
important role of the United Nations and of multilateral
diplomacy in general, because no country can progress
and develop unilaterally, isolated from the community
of nations and alienated from the common problems
affecting humanity as a whole.

25 10-55276

 In the President’s speech to the General Assembly
on the occasion of his election (see A/64/PV.93),
among other things he set the following topics as
priorities for the sixty-fifth session: climate change, the
Millennium Development Goals, food security,
sustainable development, rebuilding and strengthening
fragile post-conflict States, and humanitarian aid and
disarmament. Angola is of the opinion that the
environment and other issues he mentioned must
remain priorities on the national and international
agendas. They are crucial for sustainable development,
for the growth of our economies, for the implementation
of national strategies for combating poverty, and for
the attainment of the Millennium Goals.
 At the Food and Agriculture Organization’s
Regional Conference for Africa, held recently in
Luanda, the participants expressed their concern about
the impact of climate change on the world food crisis
in some regions and recommended that States make an
extra effort to reduce its impact on agriculture.
 Angola believes in the importance of
multilateralism as the best form of treatment and
resolution of the multifaceted challenges that humanity
faces today. In that context Angola advocates a shared
commitment to find solutions to our problems at all
levels.
 My country gives priority to political and
diplomatic coordination and to strengthening
institutional relations with the organizations of the
United Nations system, as well as with the regional and
subregional organizations to which it belongs, namely,
the African Union, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), the Economic Community of
Central African States (ECCAS), the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and
the Commission on the Gulf of Guinea, the latter
having its headquarters in Angola.
 In the Commission on the Gulf of Guinea,
member States cooperate with a view to managing
potential conflicts linked to maritime borders and
managing shared maritime resources, as well as
coordinating policies for the prevention of maritime
trafficking and piracy, thus providing security to a
region that produces more than 15 per cent of the
world’s oil.
 With that motivation, Angola and its armed forces
bravely participated in the liberation of southern
Africa, having contributed to the independence of
Namibia and to the end of apartheid in South Africa.
With that same motivation we contributed to the
stabilization of the Republic of Congo and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. With other
international partners of the United Nations, we are
participating in the training of the armed forces of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 Today the Angolan armed forces are a factor for
stability not only for Angola, but also for the southern
and central regions of Africa, where we are part of the
early warning mechanisms of SADC and ECCAS. At
present we are committed to finding solutions to the
crisis in Guinea-Bissau, in close cooperation with other
partners in West Africa, namely, the Economic
Community of West African States, and in partnership
with the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.
 It was therefore with great amazement that we
learned of the mention of involvement by the Angolan
armed forces in alleged acts of human rights violations
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a report
intended to be circulated as a document of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights. We stress that that
document was produced at the initiative of an organ of
the United Nations Secretariat with no specific mandate
from the Secretary-General or from Member States.
 It is important to emphasize before the Assembly
that Angola intervened in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo on the basis of a SADC mandate, at the
request of the Government of the Democratic Republic.
That intervention made it possible to stop the
bloodbath and to save the lives of millions of people
and lay the basis for the negotiations that culminated in
the establishment of the transitional Government, the
installation of the United Nations peacekeeping
mission and the successful holding of the first
democratic elections. It thus contributed to the
pacification of the Great Lakes region.
 Angola vehemently rejects the insinuation and
considers abnormal the manner in which that so-called
mapping exercise was conducted. We question the
motivations behind that venture. We would like to
reiterate that Angola and the Angolan armed forces will
continue to act responsibly and on the basis of
international standards and scrupulous respect for
human rights.
 The report of the Secretary-General to the sixty-
fifth session contains references to peace and security,
considering them essential for development and for the

10-55276 26

promotion of and respect for human rights. Angola
shares the concerns of the Secretary-General. Our
experience shows that only peace, the democratic rule
of law and respect for human rights can guarantee the
stability necessary for sustainable development and
improvement of the living conditions of our people.
Angola encourages the efforts by regional organizations
and the United Nations in conflict resolution and
peacekeeping to ensure global security and stability.
 A situation that is certainly of concern to all of us
is the conflict in the Middle East. Angola recognizes
that it has lasted a long time, with serious
consequences for the population. Therefore we support
the resumption of peace talks by President Barack
Obama with a view to creating a Palestinian State that
coexists peacefully with the State of Israel.
 Angola is also concerned at the persistence of the
economic, commercial and financial blockade against
Cuba, despite successive General Assembly resolutions
demanding its immediate removal. That unilateral
measure, particularly its extraterritorial effects, is
contrary to the principles and norms of international
law and contributes to the precarious humanitarian and
social situation of the Cuban population. From this
rostrum we reiterate our vehement appeal for the lifting
of a measure whose anachronistic nature has been
restated here on numerous occasions.
 Regarding the question of Western Sahara,
Angola notes with concern that despite various United
Nations resolutions and initiatives, there has not been
the type of progress that would lead to meeting the
aspirations of the Saharan people. We urge the
Secretary-General to continue his efforts to attain those
objectives.
 Mutually beneficial cooperation, the promotion of
peace and respect for human rights remain the major
drivers of Angolan foreign policy, based on the
observance of the principles of respect for sovereignty
and territorial integrity, equality and non-interference
in the internal affairs of other countries.
 Internally, and as a result of experiences during
different periods in our history, marked by three
decades of war and political instability, Angola is now
entering a new cycle, of which we are very proud. It is
characterized by the adoption of a new constitution that
marks the end of the transition period and definitively
establishes democratic rule of law, given that elections
will be held in June 2012.
 We are aware that we still have a long way to go,
especially in view of all the time lost and the delays
accumulated in several areas. But it seems important to
us to emphasize that the progress already achieved did
not happen by chance. Rather, it resulted from the
leadership efforts of the Angolan executive organs, the
pragmatism of its policies and its commitment to better
the human development indexes, which are reflected
today in the improved welfare of the people.
 After eight years of peace, Angola has
implemented economic and social reform policies that
have allowed for the revitalization of its economy and
the rehabilitation of key infrastructure. Such policies
have enabled the country’s annual growth rates to
average double digits, with a direct impact on the
improvement of basic indicators of the Millennium
Development Goals.
 Since 2002 more than 2 million children have
been enrolled in primary education. The percentage of
children attending school has risen sharply, to 76 per
cent. The rate of infant and maternal mortality fell
considerably, from 1,400 per 100,000 live births in
2001 to 660 per 100,000 live births in 2010. Moreover,
in order to eradicate hunger and poverty, Angola has
adopted its National Food Security Strategy (2009-
2014) as a mechanism to increase agricultural
production in a sustainable manner.
 We are convinced that the international
community is also aware of how much still has to be
done, particularly in the areas of financing for
development and the materialization of the
commitments made at major international conferences
on financing for development.
 Finally, the reform of the Security Council, given
its importance in the democratization of international
relations, must remain a topic on the agenda of the
Organization. In that connection, Angola reiterates its
support for the African common position embodied in
the Ezulwini Consensus.


Italy is about to celebrate
the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its
unification. We are a young country, but a people with
deep roots and ancient traditions. By our history,
geographic location and age-old international outlook,
we are proud of our illustrious legacy. By necessity and
vocation, we are dedicated to dialogue, respect for
diversity and mutual understanding.
 There is no alternative to this inclusive approach,
even when it requires compromises or concessions. I
prefer to call it idealistic pragmatism, since our
ultimate goal is to spread peace, freedom and
prosperity, an ambition that is best achieved through
cooperation. This propensity for dialogue is one of
Italy’s greatest contributions to the United Nations.
 Italy is a strong supporter of the central role of
the United Nations in global governance and in the
management of international crises. By virtue of its
universality and impartiality, the Organization has the
legitimacy to intervene in crisis situations. Italy
participates in peacekeeping missions not only by
contributing large numbers of highly qualified troops,

10-55109 18

but also by drafting strategic plans and protocol, and
by providing training and logistic support. We are the
sixth largest contributor to the United Nations regular
and peacekeeping operations budgets and, since 2006,
the top troop contributor to the United Nations among
the members of the European Union (EU) and Group
of Western European and Other States.
 Approximately 8,000 Italian troops are assigned
to operations under the aegis or the mandate of the
United Nations. Our presence is spread across
22 missions throughout the world: from Lebanon to
Haiti, the Balkans to Afghanistan. Through its
experiences in these difficult areas, Italy has learned
important lessons. In particular, our comprehensive
approach provides valuable insight into how to
integrate the military aspects of a mission with the
commitment to economic, institutional and civil
reconstruction.
 We are convinced that to meet the challenges of
the twenty-first century, the United Nations system
must be strengthened, starting with its capacity to
contribute to the maintenance of international peace
and security. The United Nations must be empowered
to fulfil its role as a “producer” of security and
stability, a role designed to foster reconciliation,
strengthen democracy and, ultimately, help to create a
more stable world.
 This is why we support the Secretary-General’s
New Horizon and Global Field Support Strategy
initiatives. We must also continue to foster synergies
between the United Nations and regional organizations
that play a key role in bringing peace to crisis areas. I
refer to the African Union and, above all, to the
European Union. The Treaty of Lisbon includes new
arrangements for the EU’s international representation.
Once the resolution on EU participation in the work of
the United Nations has finally been approved, I
sincerely hope the European Union will be able to
make a greater contribution to General Assembly
responsibilities and to enhance the Assembly’s capacity
for providing political guidance.
 In the field of security, a commitment to
disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction has always been a feature of Italian
foreign policy. Proliferation is a growing threat that
can only be countered through international
cooperation and, in this regard, the Italian Government
has just put forth some concrete proposals. We need to
set the goal of a zero-nuclear option in an appropriate
time frame, but without conveying the impression that
it is an unrealistic aspiration.
 The year 2010 is a key date on the road to
achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In this
endeavour, our collective responsibility and credibility
are at stake. Italy is a strong proponent of a holistic
approach to development. For the sake of true
democratic ownership, the donor community, in
collaboration with the private sector and civil society,
must work in a partnership that makes the beneficiary
countries the protagonists of development.
 The time has come for the international
community and the United Nations to increase their
commitment to two regional crises. Somalia is the most
serious and urgent situation on the African continent
today. In the past two years, the Italian Government
has contributed considerable financing to the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somali
security forces, but this is not enough. International
support for AMISOM must be stepped up.
 The second crisis is in Pakistan, where the recent
floods have devastated the lives of 20 million people.
The Italian Government is disbursing an additional aid
package of €80 million to bring relief to the Pakistani
population.
 But in addition to providing aid, we need to act
wisely. This is why Italy has called for new trade
measures to increase market access for Pakistani goods
and bolster Pakistan’s economic recovery. A natural
disaster of this magnitude also demonstrates the urgent
need to address the effects of climate change through
collective and shared measures.
 Globalization has generated a new demand for
belonging and identity. But a fruitful dialogue among
cultures cannot take place without universal values. It
is imperative to defend the universal validity of
fundamental rights and avoid the risks of relativism.
Given the strength of its humanistic heritage that
affirms the human being as the measure of all things,
Italy is well-equipped to play an important part in this
dialectic.
 True to this heritage, the Italian Government has
promoted a campaign for a moratorium on the death
penalty. We welcome the strengthening international
trend towards achieving this objective, and hope it will
be confirmed when Italy and a broad alliance of

19 10-55109

countries present a resolution on the moratorium in the
upcoming months.
 Religious tolerance is a prerequisite for peace and
a founding principle of our civilization. The right to
search for truth through the word of God is the
freedom of freedoms, but in some areas of the world
people are afraid to freely and openly profess their
faith because they face persecution by extremists. Italy
is strongly committed to protecting freedom of religion
and will always oppose discrimination against religious
minorities. In fact, Italy together with its EU partners is
actively involved in the preparation and presentation of
the annual resolution on religious intolerance.
 Another target of our fight against discrimination
is the international initiative to ban female genital
mutilation. Since September 2009, Italy, together with
a group of African countries, has promoted such an
initiative, which, hopefully, will lead to the
presentation here in the Assembly of a resolution that
fully respects African ownership.
 Female genital mutilations, which violate a
woman’s physical integrity, affect millions of women
and girls throughout the world, including in my
country, where 35,000 such cases have been reported.
Women’s rights and national progress go hand in hand,
but, nevertheless, women are still suffering in many
countries throughout the world.
 By pooling together our efforts we can ensure the
necessary consensus for resolutions that safeguard our
own and future generations from prejudice and
intolerance. In this spirit, we very warmly welcome the
creation of UN Women within the Secretariat and hope
that it quickly becomes operative.
 Reaffirming the central role of the United Nations
in global governance requires a constant commitment
to the comprehensive reform of the Organization. Such
reform should affect the Secretariat, the various funds,
agencies and programmes of the United Nations and,
obviously, its decision-making bodies.
 In regard to reform of the Security Council, we
seek realistic compromise solutions that garner the
broadest possible consensus and ensure an adequate
representation of African, Arab and other
underrepresented groups of countries. More than
15 years of negotiations have demonstrated that the
membership is profoundly divided. It is now time to
search for genuine and far-reaching compromise. Italy
and its Uniting for Consensus partners are ready to
participate constructively in the reform process and
have already demonstrated their flexibility. We look
forward to engaging with the rest of the membership
during the current session of the General Assembly.
 The process of revitalizing the General Assembly
should strive to restore its central role. The Assembly’s
universal character gives it potential for providing
political guidance that should be realized. The
Assembly is the place where we could jointly identify
the main problems that threaten the security, stability
and development of all Member States and draft
common strategies to address them effectively.
 In conclusion, the vision for the future to which
my country, Italy, aspires — a future of peaceful
coexistence and mutual enrichment between values and
cultures — can only be ensured through the successful
completion of the many reform processes under way.
We can achieve this future if we build our actions on
dialogue and mutual understanding. And when we do
achieve peaceful coexistence and mutual enrichment,
the United Nations system will be equipped with the
tools it needs to fulfil the main principles and values of
the Charter. One of these stands above all the others in
importance: each and every individual throughout the
world is endowed with inalienable and absolute rights
concerning which no kind of compromise can ever be
tolerated.


At the outset, I congratulate you, Sir,
on your assumption of the presidency of the Assembly
at its sixty-fifth session. We are confident that your
expertise in international affairs will enable you to wisely
and capably guide the work of the General Assembly, and
we wish you every success in your endeavours.
 I would also like to thank your predecessor, Mr. Ali
Treki, for his successful leadership of the General
Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, and to thank Mr. Ban
Ki-moon, the Secretary-General, for his great efforts to
re-energize the role of this international Organization in
promoting world peace and security and development.
 The international community continues to face
daunting challenges that demand strengthened
collective action, increased joint international efforts in
the United Nations framework and a serious move
towards reform of its organs in a responsible and
balanced manner, in order to enable the United Nations
effectively to play its primary role in addressing the
major challenges facing the international community.
 My Government wishes to reiterate in this forum
its deep regret at the continued Iranian occupation of
our three islands: Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu
Musa. It demands the return of the islands, including
their regional waters, airspace, continental shelf and
exclusive economic zone, to its full sovereignty as
integral parts of the United Arab Emirates. All
procedures and measures taken by the Iranian
authorities since their occupation of the islands are null
and void and have no legal effect, no matter how long
the occupation may last.
 We look forward to seeing the Iraqi parties form a
national Government that continues to build its
security, political and economic institutions, extend its
authority over the entire territory of Iraq and achieve a
comprehensive national reconciliation, which is the
real guarantee for stabilizing the political process in
Iraq and embracing all factions of Iraqi society, with no
exception or discrimination.
 While we note with satisfaction the withdrawal of
foreign troops from Iraq, we express our firm
condemnation of all acts of violence and bombings that
have targeted the Iraqi people. In this context, we
reiterate the need to respect Iraq’s territorial integrity,
sovereignty and independence, and to refrain from
interfering in its internal affairs, in order to safeguard
its Arab and Islamic identity.
 The United Arab Emirates believes that peace in
the Middle East and resolution of the Arab-Israeli
conflict cannot be achieved without ending the Israeli
occupation of the occupied Palestinian and other Arab
territories. Israel’s withdrawal to the line of 4 June 1967,
including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and
the remaining occupied territories in southern Lebanon,
is also required in order to achieve a just and
comprehensive peace in accordance with the resolutions
of international legitimacy, and based on the principle
of land for peace and the Arab Peace Initiative.
 The United Arab Emirates stands by the
Palestinian National Authority, and supports the
Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their
national goals and restore their inalienable legitimate
rights. We commend President Mahmoud Abbas for his
persistent efforts to realize the interests of the
Palestinian people and restore their rights.
 We affirm our support for the position adopted by
the Palestinian National Authority in the direct
negotiations with the Israeli. We hope that the
independent Palestinian State, with its capital Al-Quds
Al-Sharif, will see the light of day next year.
 We welcome the statement of Mr. Barack Obama,
President of the United States, to the General Assembly,
and his strong commitment to the achievement of peace
in the Middle East. We also welcome his emphasis on the
importance of leading direct negotiations into final
results within a year, and seeing Palestine take its seat

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in the General Assembly at the sixty-sixth session. In
this context, we rely on an effective American role, and
active regional and international support for the peace
process in the Middle East.
 Our commitment to the achievement of peace as a
strategic choice means that we must condemn the
Israeli practices against the Palestinian people,
including the collective punishment policy and the
inhumane blockade imposed on the Palestinian people
in Gaza. We also condemn other flagrant Israeli
violations of international law and of the principles and
purposes of the Charter.
 In that connection, we emphasize that the
continuation of the Israeli settlement activities,
confiscation and Judaization of the occupied
Palestinian and other Arab territories run counter to the
pursuit of peace. We say to Israel: Either choose to pursue
peace or insist on pressing ahead with settlements.
Combining the two is incompatible with peace.
 The United Arab Emirates will continue to pursue
its international policy guided by the purposes of the
United Nations and the principles of its Charter,
especially with regard to the promotion of international
peace and security, the peaceful resolution of
international disputes, non-interference in the internal
affairs of States and compliance with the principles of
international law.
 We shall continue to make our distinct
contributions to regional and international partnerships
aimed at building a more peaceful, stable and just
world, free of all forms of terrorism, violence,
extremism, crime, discrimination, human rights
violations, human trafficking, and any sort of
humiliation or degradation of human dignity. We look
forward to a world that promotes the principles of
dialogue, interaction, mutual understanding,
cooperation and interactive civilized coexistence
among all religions and cultures, without any form of
discrimination, the use of stereotypical images, hatred
or denigration of religions: a world characterized by
human peace, prosperity and development.
 On that basis, we condemn terrorism in all its
forms and manifestations, wherever it exists, and stress
the need to intensify regional and international efforts
to combat and eliminate terrorism.
 My country is an active member of regional and
international partnerships and efforts designed to
combat terrorism, including the Global Initiative to
Combat Nuclear Terrorism. We will continue our
efforts to strengthen cooperation in the areas of
intelligence exchange, capacity-building, combating
and drying up sources of terrorism. We expect all other
States to shoulder their responsibilities in order to get
rid of this growing scourge.
 In the meantime, we welcome the positive results
of the West Point conference on combating terrorism,
and look forward to the success of the next conference,
to be held in the Republic of Korea.
 As part of our efforts to strengthen international
cooperation in addressing the challenges of climate
change, and in order to assist States most at risk from
the adverse effects of that phenomenon, we have
initiated a partnership programme with the Pacific
small island developing States, and we call upon the
international community to support and expand the
partnership at the global level. It is our hope that States
parties to the Framework Convention on Climate
Change will achieve concrete results before the
forthcoming Conference in Mexico.
 We are pleased to see that the accord establishing
the International Renewable Energy Agency has
entered into force after ratification by the required
number of States. In its capacity as host country, the
United Arab Emirates continues to carry out its
commitments to the Agency in order to enable it to
perform its duties effectively.
 My Government is moving forward with its
peaceful nuclear energy programme. At the same time,
it wishes to emphasize its commitment to all the
requirements of nuclear non-proliferation and its
compliance with the highest standards of transparency
and nuclear safety. The United Arab Emirates has
ratified the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In this context,
we wish to express our satisfaction at the positive
outcome of the recent Review Conference of the States
Parties to the Treaty. We look forward to the
implementation of the responsible and valid
recommendations agreed in the Final Document of the
Conference.
 The United Arab Emirates is working on
protecting the various aspects of human rights, and
welcomes the establishment of a new international
entity on women in the United Nations, UN Women,
and the appointment of the Under-Secretary-General

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for Women’s Affairs. We are implementing various
national programmes to empower women, enhance
their participation in the decision-making process, and
developing their status.
 We attach great importance to the issue of human
trafficking. We have therefore enacted legislation and
developed national mechanisms compatible with our
obligations under relevant international conventions
and resolutions. We call upon the international
community to develop an integrated global strategy to
eliminate this scourge.
 We support the activities of the Alliance of
Civilizations Forum, and welcome the fact that its
fourth session is to be held in the brotherly State of
Qatar next year. We also commend the endeavours of
Qatar to make the interfaith dialogue conference a
permanent institution. We welcome the decision of the
Emir of Qatar to establish a centre for interfaith
dialogue in Doha.
 We hope that our deliberations during this session
will lead to positive results.


The
delegation of Chad echoes previous speakers in warmly
congratulating you, Sir, on your election to the
presidency of the Assembly at its sixty-fifth session,
and assures you of our desire to cooperate with you as
you carry out your mission.
 I also express my delegation’s admiration for
your predecessor, Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, who
skilfully guided the Assembly’s work at the sixty-
fourth session.
 Our tribute and recognition also go to the
Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his courage
and passion in seeking solutions to the problems facing
mankind.
 Over the last two years the entire world has
struggled against the effects of the financial, food and
energy crises. The international cooperation
underpinning that struggle has been exemplary and
unprecedented. But, while it was able to curb the
financial crisis in the rich countries, the poor countries
continue to suffer from the effects of the food and
energy crises, added to which are the negative effects
of climate change on their environment.
 The Republic of Chad welcomes the fact that the
United Nations is focusing on development challenges,
in particular the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals and their financing, as evidenced
by the recent high-level meeting. But we fear that once
again the relevant recommendations that emerged from
that meeting will not be implemented.
 Over recent years our Organization and the
international community have been particularly
concerned about the Darfur crisis and its impact on
relations between Chad and the Sudan, which have
been fully normalized following the courageous
decision of Mr. Idriss Déby Itno to travel to Khartoum
and finalize reconciliation with his Sudanese
counterpart, Mr. Omer Hassan Ahmat Al-Bashir.
 The two countries agreed, among other measures,
to establish a joint force to secure their common
border. It is now patrolling the entire border to
maintain security. High-level meetings are held
regularly to assess the situation.
 The two countries are also committed to
providing no support of any kind to rebel forces in the
respective countries, and they call upon those forces to
lay down their arms and accept a political settlement.
As always, the Government of the Republic of Chad
favours dialogue.
 Although relations between our two countries are
being normalized, and there is a growing dialogue
between the Government and the armed opposition in
the Sudan, the situation in Darfur still merits special
attention.
 Chad, no doubt like the entire international
community, has a dream of peace in the Sudan, which
is preparing for a major political event: the referendum
on self-determination for southern Sudan. That is a
high-risk undertaking if the process leading up to it is
not controlled, and if the balloting is not organized
under the best conditions of independence, security and
transparency.
 We fear that failures in those respects could
compromise peace and security in the Sudan and the
subregion. That fear is reinforced by an appeal made
this morning by the Archbishop of the Episcopal
Church of the Sudan, who expressed concern about the
serious risks of war. In addressing the appeal to the

15 10-55276

United Nations and to the Governments of the United
States and Great Britain, the guarantors of the peace
agreements, Archbishop Daniel Deng drew our
attention to the significance of those risks. We must
take account of that legitimate concern.
 In any event, the international community must
understand that the referendum in southern Sudan,
whatever the outcome, will have an impact on the rest
of Africa.
 My country would like to see the Sudan’s unity
and integrity maintained, but the Sudanese themselves
are the only judges of their future, and Chad will
respect their choice.
 On the other side of the Sudanese frontier, in
eastern Chad, there are still 290,000 Sudanese refugees
and 180,000 displaced Chadians, who have been there
since the Darfur crisis erupted in 2003. They are living
in precarious environmental and social conditions; this
is not to mention the situation of the host populations,
who also deserve more attention in order to restore the
natural balance disrupted by the massive influx of
refugees and displaced persons.
 In anticipation of the withdrawal of the United
Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and
Chad (MINURCAT), Chad has committed itself to
having its own forces assume the protection of those
refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as of
United Nations and associated humanitarian personnel.
Thus, in accordance with Security Council resolution
1923 (2010) of 25 May, the Government has developed
a sustainment plan to ensure support for elements of the
Integrated Security Detachment (DIS) post-MINURCAT.
It must be remembered that DIS is composed entirely of
national elements of the gendarmerie and police whose
mission it is to maintain order and the rule of law in
the refugee camps and in areas with concentrations of
internally displaced persons, and to help ensure the
safety of humanitarian operations.
 Respect for security and humanitarian
commitments in Chad has led the Government to make
a financial effort of around $12 million a month. That
does not include the cost of the joint Chad-Sudan
forces’ operations to secure the border.
 Logistical support for security and for managing
humanitarian needs requires the combined efforts of
all. Therefore, the Government intends to organize in
Chad in the coming days consultation with all partners
in order to mobilize the necessary financial and logistic
support for DIS.
 We take this opportunity to reiterate, once again,
the Government’s readiness to continue to cooperate
with the United Nations in all initiatives that will
benefit peace and security in eastern Chad, the Central
African Republic and Darfur. Accordingly, Chad
welcomes the meeting on the Central African Republic
held on the margins of the Millennium Development
Goals summit. We hope that that important meeting
enabled the international community to understand the
extent of the challenges facing that country and to
assist effectively both in the organization of the
coming elections and in the maintenance of peace
throughout its territory.
 We believe that the cessation of armed incursions
into the area will have satisfactory effects on the
phenomenon of recruiting child soldiers. The
Government had already firmly resolved to eradicate
such recruitment, long carried out by the armed groups.
It was with that clear intention that my country hosted
last June a regional conference on ending the
recruitment and use of children by armed forces and
armed groups. My country makes its full contribution
alongside the contributions of the African Union and
the United Nations.
 In national politics, a climate of trust between the
Government and the democratic opposition has existed
since implementation of the political agreement of
13 August 2007. This has enabled the various political
actors to agree on the conduct of our electoral process.
An independent joint national electoral commission has
been set up to organize consultations on the various
local and national elections, and it has decided on the
schedule for local, parliamentary and presidential
elections in the first quarter of 2011.
 With regard to development, the country has
spent 60 per cent of its additional oil resources in the
social sectors and on basic infrastructure as the basis of
its socio-economic development. However, funding
needs for the MDGs in 2008-2011 show a gap of more
than $3.5 billion. Domestic financial resources remain
woefully short of our needs. Additional resources are
therefore essential to finance our development.
Accordingly, we call for the support of international
financial institutions, including the World Bank, to
reach the completion point of the Heavily Indebted
Poor Countries Initiative.

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 In spite of all those difficulties, the Government
has implemented a social policy based on free access to
education and exemption from all charges related to
maternal health, HIV/AIDS and malaria.
 On the environmental front, Chad has taken
strong measures to protect the environment, including
the prohibition of excessive cutting of green wood, to
conserve our forests and savannahs and to fight
desertification.
 In addition, last June Chad hosted the first
summit of heads of State and Government on the
establishment of the Pan-African Great Green Wall
Agency, and on its programme. Chad was given the
honour of hosting the summit, organized by the Sahel
countries, because of its pioneering role in the large-scale
reforestation of the region. A national programme, “Green
Belt”, to plant more than 10 million trees a year
throughout the country, began in 2009. Beyond the
subregional aspect, such programmes integrate
perfectly with global initiatives in the worldwide
struggle against the ill effects of climate change, and
therefore deserve the international community’s
support.
 Moreover, in October Chad will host the eighth
World Forum of Sustainable Development, whose
theme will be “Save Lake Chad”. Lake Chad, part of
world heritage, is in danger of disappearing; it has
shrunk from 25,000 square kilometres to less than
2,500 square kilometres in 40 years, and is a typical
example of the disastrous consequences of climate
change. I take this opportunity to invite all people of
good will to take part in the Forum in large numbers.
 In regard to international issues and the alarming
increase in terrorist activities in several regions of
Africa and throughout the world, we express our total
condemnation of the gratuitous violence that threatens
the peaceful and calm existence of innocent citizens.
 I turn to the issue of Israel and Palestine. We
remain constant in our support for this Organization
and the Government of the United States with regard to
reaching a peace agreement allowing the peaceful
coexistence of two sovereign States. To that end, we
support President Barack Obama in his courageous
initiative with the two parties. We sincerely hope that
his mission will succeed.
 Our world has changed considerably over the past
20 years. Peoples and States aspire to greater well-
being, freedom and justice. Our common Organization
must treat those aspirations as part of its primary
vocation. My country therefore again calls on the
Assembly to work for Security Council reform, without
delay, in order to integrate Africa. The international
community must not accept the marginalization of the
African continent, which has so much to offer to the
world.