My delegation congratulates
you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency. We
have every confidence that the fifty-ninth session of
the General Assembly will enjoy success under your
leadership. We would also like to acknowledge the
good work of your predecessor, Minister Julian Hunte
of Saint Lucia, whose efforts led to a new level of
enthusiasm within the General Assembly. In addition,
we recognize the tireless efforts of our Secretary-
General.
Events of the past months impel us to ponder the
importance of our Organization in the never-ending
struggle to secure a peaceful and dignified future for
the world. The United Nations was born to promote
those values that would unite humanity — values of
freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for
peoples and for nature — and thus transcend the
differences of the world’s cultures. And so it is these
United Nations large and small come to find, in the
words of our Secretary-General, common solutions to
common problems. And so it is that we the Member
States must ensure that the United Nations is effective
for our ends.
In Belize we understand that and remain a
legitimate partner in promoting principles such as
peace, the right to self-determination, social justice,
respect for human dignity, the rule of law, the right to
development and the protection of our environment.
We stand for those principles not just because of
the international instruments we signed, but because
they represent the best way to end poverty, illiteracy,
hate and ignorance, to stop the spread of terrorism and
to bring an end to inequality, oppression, and injustice.
For the overwhelming majority in the United
Nations, the solution to many of the world’s problems
can be found in the right of every nation to achieve
meaningful sustainable development. Accomplishing
such goals is not easy, but neither is it impossible.
Challenges to development abound — challenges
that make us inherently vulnerable — and we as small
States call on the international community to take into
account our vulnerability so as to ensure that policies
and measures relating to development correspond to
our social needs.
As a member of the Alliance of Small Island
States, my country underscores the importance of
addressing the special needs of such States through the
18

implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action
for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States. An international meeting, which
will conduct a full and comprehensive 10-year review
of the Barbados Programme of Action, will be held in
Mauritius in January 2005, providing an opportunity
for the international community, especially the bilateral
and multilateral donors, to renew their commitments to
the Barbados Programme of Action.
Of special importance to us all is the issue of
climate change, and we must not flinch from taking
effective measures to address that problem; those who
seek to block effective solutions are creating conditions
for insecurity that would dwarf the threats currently
posed by terrorism.
In that context, we remind Member States of the
proposals first submitted to the General Assembly in
1999 to designate the Caribbean Sea as a “special area”
within the context of sustainable development. The
recent spate of hurricanes that have devastated our
region — especially Grenada and Haiti — and which
call for major efforts from the international community
to mitigate our losses, reinforce our contention that our
Caribbean Sea is as fragile as it is vulnerable and as
fragile as it is valuable to our social and economic
well-being, indeed to our very survival.
We call upon the Assembly to support us in our
just efforts to achieve the designation of the Caribbean
Sea as a “special area” during this session of the
General Assembly.
In addition to addressing the special needs of
developing countries, development policies must,
above all, be people centred. Coherent policies,
sustainable partnerships, sustained support and
ownership are critical factors for development. That
has never been as clear as in the case of Haiti. In the
words of our Secretary-General,
“the international community failed to develop ...
sustainable partnerships with the Haitian society
at all levels. The Haitian people were
insufficiently involved in the development of
policies that could move the country forward. ...
Financial aid did not bear fruit to the extent
expected because it was at times ill-targeted ...”
(S/2004/300, para. 6).
With the lesson thus learned, we have an opportunity to
influence a positive wave of development for the
people of Haiti.
In Haiti, we also have a clear example of the
inextricable linkage between development and security.
There, threats and challenges to peace and security
necessitate an integrated approach. My country hopes
that the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on
Threats, Challenges and Change will embrace that
approach in its findings and recommendations.
While we condemn terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations and have joined international efforts in
the fight against terrorism, we are mindful that our
actions for the preservation of peace and security must
be consistent with international law and must be
respectful of the human rights and freedoms of all
peoples without discrimination, foremost among which
must be the right to self-determination.
For that reason, we shall remain strong
proponents of the right of the Palestinian people to a
secure and viable State. It is also for the same reason
that we support the Taiwanese people’s right for
representation before the United Nations.
But what United Nations? Last year our Minister
of Foreign Affairs confined his remarks to an urgent
call for the United Nations to recall and enforce the
principles on which it was founded, basic among which
is the principle of multilateralism — the most
fundamental conviction that led to its creation: that
States, on the basis of sovereign equality, conjointly
take decisions that secure a peaceful and prosperous
world for all.
Tragically, events since then have only
exacerbated the problem whereby powerful States take
the law into their own hands and act in total disregard
of the principles of the United Nations Charter and
indeed of international law. If we do not act together to
reverse that evil trend, we are walking — nay,
running — on the road to perdition.
Yes, we support the call of India, Japan, Brazil
and Germany for a permanent seat on the Security
Council, if there must be permanent seats. And to this
we would add the equally legitimate right of African
and Arab nations to be so represented. But the reforms
must go deeper. Why should any one country have a
veto power? Why should millions of the wretched of
the earth be left without an effective voice and be
19

powerless to change the world to a more just one? And
why do we, who so effectively acted to end apartheid
in South Africa, tolerate the equally opprobrious
apartheid practised by the State of Israel against
Palestinians in their own land, murdering and
oppressing them without mercy and with impunity?
The year 2004 has been declared the International
Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and
its Abolition. Slavery was based on an exacerbated
racism; so let us honour that struggle by implementing
the Final Declaration of the World Conference against
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance, held in South Africa in 2001.
Likewise we continue to support United Nations
efforts to bring greater visibility to the problems of the
world’s indigenous people during the International
Decade of the World’s Indigenous People. As the
International Decade draws to a close later this year we
call for a second decade to continue the work achieved
during the first decade and so to carry out and
complete the work that has not yet been completed.
In our own community of small States, we face
the most serious threat to our peoples’ security, caused
by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons
that claim the lives of so many of our people. These
arms come from countries that must be called upon to
live up to their responsibility to cooperate with us to
stem the flow of these lethal weapons and to enter into
legally binding agreements for the effective
registration and monitoring of transfers of these
weapons of widespread destruction. An international
convention to achieve this must be put on our agenda
urgently.
Another major issue for our region is the
continued attempt to isolate the sister Caribbean
Republic of Cuba and to strengthen an economic
embargo that has been condemned repeatedly by the
overwhelming majority of this Assembly. The entire
Caribbean Community is at one in its resolve to engage
Cuba in a constructive and mutually beneficial
partnership that brings concrete benefits to all our
peoples. The Cuban Government has, by its actions,
manifested its determination to fight against terrorism
in all its forms and from every quarter. For us in the
Caribbean, any call for “regime change” imposed from
outside violates every principle upon which the United
Nations Organization stands.
Belize has its own cause to promote. The United
Nations is well aware of the age-old and unfounded
territorial claim of Guatemala, and it has clearly and
unanimously called for respect for the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Belize. We have endeavoured to
negotiate a just solution to this claim for decades, and
in the last four years we have been engaged in a
process under the auspices of the Organization of
American States (OAS), aimed at bringing this
anachronistic claim to an end. Agreements have been
made and broken, in the context of a Guatemala that
has proclaimed its desire to find a peaceful solution to
the dispute. Still no solution is in sight. The worst
scenario is for the claim to linger unresolved, thus
affecting the security and development of our people.
We welcome the remarks of President Berger of
Guatemala before this Assembly on 22 September,
when he advocated a final settlement of the dispute,
along with cooperation between our two countries to
improve the socio-economic conditions of both our
peoples. We certainly support this approach and will do
our part, as we have always done, to achieve those
noble goals. But cooperation does not substitute for
resolution of this age-old threat to the security and
prosperity of our people. We will, therefore, continue
to work within the OAS to develop an agreed process
that will bring finality to this matter, which will
undoubtedly redound to the benefit of the peoples of
both Belize and Guatemala and contribute to the peace
and security of the region. In the search for bringing
this longstanding dispute to an end, we place high
hopes on the role of the Group of Friends that has been
agreed by both parties to reach this objective, and we
look forward to its greater input and support to the
process.
The challenges we face in the world today are not
all unique to our generation. Some are the result of our
refusal to learn from the mistakes of the past; others
are entirely of our making. Yet, if we are to look at
those values that unite us and we are determined in our
desire for good, we will find that working together
brings us ever closer to amore just and peaceful world.


I would like to extend to the
General Assembly the warm greetings and good wishes
of the Government and people of the Republic of the
Fiji Islands. I would also like to warmly congratulate
you, Mr. President, on your election to the presidency
of the fifty-ninth session. I pledge to you our support
and cooperation. That reflects our respect for your
country, with which we have enjoyed close relations
through our common membership of the African,
Caribbean and Pacific partnership with the European
Union. I also wish to express Fiji’s warm thanks to
Mr. Julian Hunte of Saint Lucia for his very able
leadership of the fifty-eighth session. Fiji and other
small island nations of the Pacific region applaud the
fine example set by the countries of the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) in their shared approach to
managing the responsibilities of that high office.
Today we are confronted by events that cast a
shadow over humankind and the United Nations vision
of peace. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues. As
relief efforts proceed, our thoughts are with the refugees
of Darfur. We urge the Government of Sudan to do
everything in its power to bring that tragedy to an end.
We think of those whose lives have been
devastated by the destructive fury of hurricanes in the
Caribbean and on the Atlantic coast of the United
States. We extend to them our deepest sympathies for
the loss of life and property.
The perpetrators of the slaughter of innocents in
Russia gave a new dimension to wickedness. They
defeated their own cause through the ruthless and
indiscriminate shedding of the blood of children.
Nothing can justify what they did. The United Nations
must be united against such infamy.
Let us express our sympathy and solidarity with
the ordinary people of Iraq caught in that country’s
terrible cycle of violence. Let this forum give them our
full and unreserved support in the struggle for genuine
democratic Government and the regaining of their
national sovereignty. May their hopes for a peaceful
future and lasting stability find fulfilment.
We feel for the families of the people killed by
terrorists outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta. We
12

want them to know that their pain is shared in this
family of nations.
The plea from Fiji is for United Nations member
countries to strengthen their joint resolve to oppose
political terror everywhere. This is a critical time in
history. The United Nations is called upon to mobilize
all its experience, skills and powers to create concord
among nations. That was its founding principle. It is
the principle that must continue to drive and sustain the
United Nations.
Fiji, as always, is committed to the maintenance
of peace and security and to a world free of weapons of
mass destruction and terrorism.
We want an end to ozone-depleting pollution and
the elimination of other hazards to the environment.
The international community must continue to
fight poverty and disease. HIV/AIDS has become more
than a health crisis. For some countries it is now a
security threat. We in the Pacific have no immunity
from this global epidemic. We would welcome
continued assistance from the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to supplement our
regional campaign to contain this scourge.
The United Nations must continue to resist
external interference in any form, which undermines
the sovereign right of every Member State to determine
its own destiny. However, where there are internal
crises and disorder and the United Nations mandates
intervention for peace, we are ready to contribute. We
consider it an honour to serve the cause of peace under
the flag of the United Nations and regional
organizations like the Pacific Islands Forum. Fiji’s
soldiers and police officers have been taking part in
United Nations peacekeeping operations since 1978.
That has cost us 35 precious lives, but we remain
strong in our resolve to continue serving where we are
needed. Peacekeeping personnel from Fiji are working
in Liberia, the Sinai, Kosovo, Timor-Leste, the
Solomon Islands and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
My Government is now giving careful consideration to
requests from the United Nations to assist it with
security personnel in Iraq.
I would like to take this opportunity to express to
the United Nations and to those countries that have
assisted Fiji on a bilateral basis our gratitude for their
help in making it possible for us to honour our
commitment to international peace and security.
Through the Pacific Islands Forum, and with the
assistance of Australia and New Zealand, we are
currently preparing a Pacific plan to pool resources and
efforts for the strengthening of collective interests. We
will come together to combat the threat of terror and to
improve law enforcement and our defences against
terrorism and transnational crime. There will be a
cooperative approach to social and economic
development, and especially for advancing trade,
investment and tourism. We will stand united to guard our
oceanic heritage, which is a treasure for all humanity.
Our region has the world’s largest remaining,
sustainable tuna fishery, which is an essential source of
food for the global market. But more than 95 per cent
of the value of the mid-Pacific Ocean tuna catch goes
to distant-water fishing nations. We look to the United
Nations and other international organizations to help us
get a just return from that major natural resource. Fiji
commends those countries that have already worked
with us to reach that goal. We would like to express
particular thanks to the United States for its regional
fisheries treaty with certain Pacific island nations. Our
island countries have now entered a new phase of
cooperation in the tuna industry through the Western
and Central Pacific Tuna Convention, which came into
effect in June this year.
In addition to reinforcing regional cooperation,
Fiji and its neighbours are giving special attention to
their relationships with countries in the wider Asia-
Pacific region.
We strongly support a role for Japan and India in
an enlarged and strengthened Security Council. May I
also add that Fiji would endorse the inclusion of South
Africa and Brazil as permanent members.
Let me say that we greatly value the assistance of
Australia, New Zealand and the United States in
securing our region as a zone of peace.
It was heartening to see the two Koreas marching
and participating under a single banner at the Olympic
Games in Greece. It is our prayer that that will lead to
more substantive progress in the reunification of the
Korean people.
We are glad to see the People’s Republic of China
growing in stature and developing so quickly. Fiji enjoys
steadily strengthening relations with China and wants to
see those relations expanded further. It is committed to its
diplomatic recognition and official relations with the
13

People’s Republic of China. At the same time, Fiji values
its trade and economic ties with Taiwan. It is our fervent
hope that their people will resolve their future
peacefully through dialogue and consensus.
For the past 29 years, close to 80 countries of the
African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) have been
the beneficiaries of a historic development partnership
with the European Union. I pay tribute to the leaders of
Europe and the ACP who pioneered that unique
international North-South arrangement. Generous
assistance in trade, aid and investment has contributed
in very significant ways to the livelihood of millions of
people from poorer States.
Now, as we begin negotiations with the European
Union for the continuation of those arrangements, we
are finding to our dismay that the World Trade
Organization’s (WTO) insistence on free and open
trade will effectively mean for many ACP countries,
including Fiji, a massive loss in export earnings from
reduced prices. For our sugar industry the direct
consequence will inevitably be that the price the cane
farmers receive will fall substantially below their
production costs. That is despite the urgent and
comprehensive reforms we have embarked upon in our
sugar industry to make it more productive, efficient
and competitive.
Those WTO hurdles are made more difficult by
the loss of competitive margins through the withdrawal
of schemes like the Generalized System of Preferences.
The consequence is that many small island developing
States, already disadvantaged by their smallness,
distance from export markets and regular devastation
from natural disasters, are now faced with serious
uncertainty over their economic prospects. We
therefore welcome the holding by the United Nations
of a special conference of small island developing
States early next year to review the Programme of
Action for those countries, the Barbados + 10 review. I
very much hope that review will lead to new
international commitments of assistance to
disadvantaged small island developing States. Those
commitments must underpin economic survival and a
sustainable future, as the world moves inexorably
towards a free and open trading system. It is also our
hope that the Barbados + 10 review will renew the call
for those States that have yet to sign or to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol to do so, for the sake of our planet.
My Government commends the initiative taken
by the International Labour Organization in its World
Commission Report on the Social Dimension of
Globalization. It is the international community’s
responsibility to ensure that for both developed and
developing countries, and for big and small countries
alike, globalization means a fair and equitable spread
of opportunities — opportunities manifested in new
investments, more jobs, decent work and improvements
in education, health and other social amenities.
For us in the Pacific, as small island nations,
there is another area of increased concern. We take
great pride in our culture, customs and traditions. They
give us our identity and oneness as indigenous
communities and as Pacific island peoples. I appeal to
the General Assembly to bring before it for adoption at
the earliest opportunity the draft declaration on the
rights of indigenous peoples. I request the Secretary-
General to expedite that process.
While we acknowledge the importance of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other
international instruments in the promotion of human
rights, we also recognize that they are primarily
concerned with the rights of individuals. Indigenous
Pacific island communities see a United Nations
declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples as
being vitally important for the international recognition
and acceptance of our right to self-determination and,
indeed, to our very survival as ethnically and culturally
distinct peoples. But that is not to say that we are
unconcerned about other communities whose members
are fellow citizens with equal rights and responsibilities.
Members of the Assembly are aware that Fiji has
a multiracial society. The ethnic Fijians and Rotumans
are the indigenous community. Collectively and
communally, they own close to 90 per cent of all land
in the country. Settlers from India came some 125
years ago and now comprise the majority of tenants of
native land. Europeans, people of mixed ancestry,
Chinese and other Pacific islanders complete Fiji’s
colourful cultural tapestry. We are proud of that
national diversity. It gives our country its distinctive
character and its still unrealized potential.
Although we have learned to co-exist without the
racial violence and hatred common elsewhere, we are
still a country divided, especially in politics. From
independence, in 1970, we tried hard to create
multiracialism founded on mutual respect, mutual care
14

and understanding. But, unfortunately, during elections
the overwhelming majority of voters still make their
choices along ethnic lines. It is not because they are
against candidates from other communities, it is just
that they find security and comfort in choosing
representatives from their own community.
Since my Government came to office, in 2001,
we have been engaged in a new quest for unity. Our
vision is for a peaceful, unified and prosperous Fiji.
Politically, we wish to build on the concept of
guaranteed representation for our different
communities in Parliament. The challenge now is to
extend this to representation in Government.
As a parliamentary democracy, we are committed
to Government based on the free will and consent of
the people. But, at the same time, we want to ensure
that each community has a direct voice in national
decision-making. It is that desire for inclusion and
equity that has led us to adopt measures to close the
social and economic gap between Fijians and the other
communities and between the affluent and the
disadvantaged and the poor. Increasingly, we are
finding that faith in God is a powerful instrument for
forming bonds across the racial divide. We may follow
different beliefs, but a common focus on the divine is
lighting the way forward.
When I return to Fiji, the country will be getting
ready for eight days of prayer, forgiveness and
reconciliation. The aim is to bring people together and
to create a sense of national purpose and patriotism.
All the great faiths represented in Fiji will be part of
that. Each contains in their teachings the jewels of
truth that gleam for all humanity. Each has an
important capacity for peace-making. Each can make a
valuable contribution to increasing understanding and
resolving differences.
In those eight days in October, therefore, our
religious leaders will join with other citizens of good
will in this fresh search for togetherness. The
promotion of unity has been a pressing national
priority since my Government came to office, four
years ago. We understand that it will not come quickly.
The General Assembly will be pleased to hear that our
communities themselves, through their religious and
cultural organizations, are coming forward to join with
the Government in the making of a unified State. The
climax of our national week of prayer and forgiveness
will be an interfaith service. We recognize that human
effort alone is not enough for what we want to achieve.
Just as this great Organization seeks a world of
harmony bound together by common ideals, we in Fiji
want our own United Nations, a united nation where our
citizens live together happily and nationhood is fulfilled.


I congratulate you, Sir, on
your election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its fifty-ninth session. I assure you of
Tanzania’s support as you discharge your mandate. I
pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Julian Hunte, for
his able stewardship of the work of the General
Assembly. I commend the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, and his staff for their dedicated service and
tireless efforts during a very difficult time.
The Millennium Development Goals represent
our vision and hope for a new global partnership for
shared global prosperity and security — an ideal at the
very heart of the United Nations. But we are still far
off the mark in meeting many of them, especially in
sub-Saharan Africa. We must further strengthen our
common resolve to act in their resolute pursuit. In this,
as in other things, actions speak louder than words.
We commend Denmark, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway and Sweden for consistently
meeting the long-established United Nations target of
allocating at least 0.7 per cent of the national incomes
of rich countries to development cooperation. Those
countries have a broad national consensus on that
matter, and their people are not in any way poorer
because of it. We urge the other rich countries to
produce timetables to meet that long-overdue target, to
have coherent development policies and to earnestly
and deliberately build and nurture a national
consciousness and consensus on the global war on
poverty. That war should now be a central political
issue for all countries, rich and poor. Only then will the
political will be generated to do more for the timely
attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
It is true that money is not a panacea, but the
eighth Millennium Development Goal — to develop a
global partnership for development — may actually be
the single most important key to unlocking new
initiatives and latent capabilities to enable us to attain
the Goals. And a genuine partnership implies shared
rights and responsibilities as well as a shared
19

commitment to be evaluated. I commend the
Governments of the Netherlands and Denmark for
conducting, and making public, evaluations of their
performance in meeting their commitments under the
eighth Millennium Development Goal.
On our part, never before have so many African
Governments committed themselves to good
democratic governance, to peer review, to ownership of
the development agenda and to the participatory
prioritization and sequencing of the tasks necessary
for the attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals. We now need an equally unprecedented
commitment — in deeds — to the global war on
poverty in all rich countries. African countries doing
their part in the global compact on poverty alleviation
should not be constrained by a lack of supportive
external resources. At the International Conference on
Financing for Development, held at Monterrey,
developed countries pledged to match stronger reform
efforts in developing countries with increased support.
Tanzania asks that they now show leadership by
delivering on their promises.
When both rich and poor countries meet their
obligations, tangible progress is realized. My country
is an example. Our Primary Education Development
Programme, for instance, has recorded remarkable
progress. We now expect to attain the education
Millennium Development Goal in 2006, nine years
ahead of schedule. Gender parity has been attained, and
the net enrolment ratio is already 90.1 per cent. Pass
rates have doubled over the past four years. That was
made possible by an increased budgetary allocation to
the sector, by debt relief, by increased aid channelled
through our own budget and by local ownership and
participation. We are grateful for the cooperation we
have received from our development partners.
Together, we have shown what can be done where there
is political will.
Yesterday, my colleagues and I launched the
report of the World Commission on the Social
Dimension of Globalization, entitled “A fair
globalization: Creating opportunities for all”. The
report is a contribution by commissioners with varied
backgrounds and experiences; it is also a reflection of
the views of many ordinary people consulted through
national and regional dialogues. It presents one
important consensus: globalization has produced both
striking achievements and harmful distortions in global
growth and development. We all agreed that, left
unchecked, globalization will exacerbate the wealth
gap within and between nations, thereby planting the
seeds of social instability and crime on a national and
global scale. But the report also presents the prospect
of hope. Globalization, when properly governed, can
be a force for good — a catalyst for change and for
meeting the Millennium Development Goals. I
commend the report to the Assembly.
Responses to the challenges of globalization must
begin at home. Good governance, prudent monetary
and fiscal policies, macroeconomic stability, peace and
security, the protection of property rights, setting
priorities for poverty reduction and the creation of a
conducive environment for investment and trade, both
between Africans themselves and between Africa and
the rest of the world — all those are things that we in
Africa have agreed to address.
But I must stress one conditionality: no solutions
to Africa’s problems can be sustainable unless they are
genuinely embraced and owned by Africans
themselves. We have shown our new resolve to come
to terms with our problems and to take the initiative
and the lead in finding solutions. From our
development partners, we ask in return for genuine
respect for our ownership and the policy space for local
initiative and leadership. We need policy space to deal
with problems such as conflict, ethnicity, land and
agrarian reform and institution-building, and we need
adequate, consistent and predictable external support to
implement the solutions we put forward.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo deserves
our continued and strong support. Instability in that
country robs the entire region of its potential for shared
progress, development and solidarity. The people of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo must continue to
walk down the path of peace, reconciliation and unity.
They and the Government of President Kabila need and
deserve our robust help. We commend President Mbeki
and the South African Government for their efforts,
and Tanzania pledges its unwavering support to them.
In Burundi, we commend President Museveni of
Uganda and the South African Vice-President,
Mr. Jacob Zuma, for their dedication to helping
Burundi realize a new political and social dispensation
of inclusive governance, development and peace. The
Regional Initiative for Peace in Burundi has made
strenuous efforts to accommodate, through
negotiations, all the parties in a Government of
20

national unity. Sadly, the Parti pour la libération du
peuple hutu-Forces nationales de libération
(Palipehutu-FNL) has refused to be part of that
process. Its declaration of responsibility for the
massacres against innocent and unarmed refugees at
Gatumba was the proverbial last straw for us in the
region, so we took a stand and declared the FNL a
terrorist group. We appeal for the Assembly’s support
in treating it as such.
The first international conference on the Great
Lakes region, which Tanzania will host in November
2004, will review aspects concerning peace and
security, governance and democracy, economic
development and regional integration, as well as
humanitarian and social issues in the region.
Ultimately, we hope to adopt a comprehensive security,
stability and development pact for the Great Lakes
region. I thank the Group of Friends of the Great Lakes
region for supporting the preparatory process and
appeal to the United Nations and the international
community to render their support to that process.
The humanitarian tragedy in Darfur is harrowing
and demands urgent remedy. A humanitarian ceasefire
agreement must be promulgated, presaging the
evolution of a democratic and political culture. We
commend and support the effort by His Excellency
Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria and African
Union Chair, and President Idriss Deby of Chad. We
ask for the practical, urgent and increased support of
the United Nations and the international community as
a whole for the initiatives of the African Union in
addressing this tragedy.
The question of Western Sahara has dragged on
for too long. We fully support the right to self-
determination of the people of Western Sahara. It is the
duty of this body to help them realize it. We support
the United Nations peace plan and call on all sides to
cooperate fully in its speedy implementation.
When the Middle East road map was put forward
in 2003, we supported it, believing that it addressed
comprehensively the issue of the establishment of a
viable Palestinian State living with the State of Israel,
with recognized and secure borders between them. It is
regrettable that the road map has been put aside. In our
view, the road map remains the most reasonable, viable
and sustainable way of resolving this long-standing
conflict. We condemn the cycle of violence and
killings and the use of excessive force. We urge that
the implementation of the road map be brought back on
track.
We are living with the spectre of international
terrorism: the most vicious and pernicious among
international crimes. The people of Tanzania will never
forget the terrorist attack directed at the American
Embassy in Dar es Salaam in 1998, which killed or
wounded innocent Tanzanians. There should never be
any doubt about our unflinching resolve to cooperate
with others in combating terrorism in all its forms.
Tanzania is a faithful and active Member of the
United Nations, and we reaffirm our readiness to work
with our fellow Members in addressing global concerns
in furtherance of the ideals of the Assembly and the
Charter of the United Nations. It is, therefore, with
deep humility and gratitude that the United Republic of
Tanzania has secured the endorsement of the African
Union to seek a non-permanent seat in the Security
Council. Our candidature will be placed before the
Assembly for election later during this session, and we
appeal for the full support of our candidature.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to ravage
many of our countries. As public awareness grows and
technology improves, so do our chances of protecting
the most basic human right, the right to life. That right
can be enjoyed by our people if current and future
advances in science and technology are extended to the
many poor who are infected with HIV/AIDS.
Preventive care, access to affordable drugs and the
health delivery infrastructure in developing countries
all need to be widened and strengthened. On this front,
too, we need help.
Democratic governance is a universal norm,
which has to be reflected also in the United Nations
system. What is desirable for our individual countries
must also be true for the United Nations. Recent
developments in the reform agenda of the Organization
must therefore be expedited. Our hope is that the report
of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and
Change will bring forth recommendations for a firm
jump forward in the reconfiguration of the reform
process.
The Security Council must be representative of
today’s wider membership of the United Nations and
reflective of the current geopolitical and economic
structure of the world. There are countries in Asia,
Africa and Latin America that deserve permanent seats
because of their major contribution to the sustainability
21

of the Organization and to global peace, security and
development. The time to bring them in has come.
Members of the United Nations must uphold
steadfastly, in word and deed, the ideals of its Charter
for peace with justice and for security with
development for all. These common aspirations are the
foundation of international law, of international order
and of international cooperation. They also invest with
credible legitimacy our collective pursuit of the
happiness of humanity and the renewal of humanity’s
environment. Working together, we can ascend to the
heights to which we aspire. Only then shall we leave to
coming generations a deserved legacy of a common
future for all mankind.


My
delegation warmly welcomes you to the presidency of
the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session and
pledges our support. We acknowledge that you are also
from our Forum of Small States group and therefore
share our common problems and challenges. Please
convey my delegation’s commendation to your
predecessor, the Honourable Julian Hunte, Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Saint Lucia, for his strong
leadership of the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth
session.
Let me also take this opportunity to thank the
Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and his staff for
the good work they continue to do for our global
community.
We currently live in a changing world, one which
past generations would even be amazed at. One of the
greatest achievements of the United Nations system is
the process of decolonization which has seen more than
70 countries, including my own, take their rightful
place in this Assembly. The process will not be
complete, however, until the remaining 16 Non-Self-
Governing Territories, including New Caledonia and
Tokelau, have exercised their inalienable right to self-
determination.
The world continues to witness great leaps in
technology, but at the same time we have also seen an
increase in some global dilemmas — poverty and
hunger, the ravages of HIV/AIDS, wars, conflicts and
terrorism, among others.
Each of our countries face numerous challenges
in this changing world and many of them are common
to all of us, regardless of our size, location and status
as developed or developing countries. Under the
circumstances, and more than ever before, we need to
work together as a community of nations to help each
other address those challenges. Nowhere is that more
evident than in the domain of international peace and
security. A terrorist act committed in one State today
also affects others elsewhere in the global community.
We condemn the recent tragedy in Beslan, Russia,
the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and
the ongoing terrorist acts in the Middle East, Iraq, and
other parts of the world. We also condemn the recent
22

tragedy in Darfur, the Sudan, and commend Canada
and Japan for their generous assistance.
In circumstances like the foregoing, those most
affected are innocent civilians, especially women and
children. We therefore support the Secretary-General’s
efforts to rally the international community to
subscribe to the treaties on the protection of civilians.
In many cases, terrorists also take the lives of
United Nations and other humanitarian workers who
are doing unselfish and dedicated work under difficult
circumstances to serve our common humanity. In that
regard, we urge all Member States to support the
Convention on the Safety of United Nations and
Associated Personnel.
The situation in the Middle East remains
intractable, requiring constant and deliberate attention
by the United Nations, especially by the Security
Council. Our own experience in the Bougainville
conflict has taught us that there can be peace if all
parties really desire it and are willing to resolve their
differences. We therefore urge all parties to the conflict
in the Middle East — including Israel and Palestine, as
well as the major players, particularly the Quartet — to
formulate a peace plan that is mutually acceptable to
all.
Papua New Guinea concurs with Secretary-
General Kofi Annan’s recent statement to the
Assembly at its 3rd meeting, which highlighted how
important it is for the rule of law to prevail if we are to
achieve peace and security in the world.
Like many other Member States, Papua New
Guinea has acceded to the various counter-terrorism
treaties, pursuant to Security Council resolution 1373
(2001). We believe that the reporting obligations under
the provisions of those treaties should be streamlined
to include regional reports, which would solve many
capacity issues for small nations with limited
resources. Because many of our regional legal, military
and law enforcement agencies meet regularly, those
meetings could provide the opportunity to compile
regional reports on our fight against international
terrorism. We believe that there is every desire to fulfil
treaty obligations; but if some of the more onerous
tasks can be lightened for the small countries through
regional reports, bodies like the Counter-Terrorism
Committee, the Security Council, the General
Assembly and other related agencies could be better
served.
The small States are doing their best to fulfil their
obligations. Like many other Members States, we take
seriously our responsibilities and obligations to fight
the scourge of international terrorism and related issues
including the trafficking of people.
The Pacific region advocates that the United
Nations continue to closely and seriously study the
notion of collective security along with collective
action, ideas upon which many of our actions to bring
stability to our region continue to be based.
We are custodians of the biggest ocean and its
resources. Papua New Guinea, in particular, is
endowed with 5 to 7 per cent of the world’s
biodiversity. We therefore share a common
responsibility to ensure the protection and conservation
of those resources which are of vital importance to
humanity.
We encourage sustainable logging practices in
order to avoid the denuding of our vast rainforest
resources. We condemn destructive fishing methods
and urge all Member States to adhere to sustainable
management and conservation regimes in order to meet
future demands.
At the Pacific Islands Forum, our leaders recently
adopted a new vision for the Pacific region in the form
of the Pacific Plan, which embraces four key areas:
economic growth, sustainable development, security
and good governance.
The Pacific Islands Forum will be engaging with
the European Union and other development partners to
advance the interests of the region, especially those of
economic growth and sustainable development.
I share the view enunciated by other speakers that
there can be no security without development, and that
equally, there can be no development without peace
and security. As important links, both need to be
addressed simultaneously if we want peace and
sustainable development to prevail.
We are pleased to see regional solidarity and
assistance in conflict situations bear good results in
Bougainville and in our neighbour, the Solomon
Islands. We also note that other regional actions taken
by our leaders, such as the establishment of the Pacific
Transnational Crime Coordination Centre in Fiji,
enhance law enforcement and intelligence sharing in
the region.
Concerning good governance, our leaders
encouraged Pacific Member Governments to sign and
23

ratify the United Nations Convention against
Corruption in accordance with the spirit of the
Biketawa Declaration.
Over the past several years, Papua New Guinea
has been the beneficiary of regional and international
assistance in the rebuilding and return to normalcy of
the island of Bougainville, after a decade-long conflict.
We thank the members of the Security Council, both
past and present, for their goodwill, patience and
understanding in what has been an extremely painful
experience for us. We have appreciated the support and
counsel of each member of the Council throughout that
important process. The conflict has greatly affected our
nation and we have learned many lessons. We are re-
establishing the rule of law in a profound and thorough
constitutional process which will result in a
democratically elected autonomous government for the
people of Bougainville. While we are close to
achieving that, we are equally mindful that each step
taken now to finalize and consolidate the Bougainville
constitution is critically important for the autonomous
government of Bougainville to be sustained
successfully.
We continue to receive valuable support and
assistance for the peace process from the Secretary-
General as well as from our Pacific neighbours:
Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and the
Solomon Islands. Rebuilding and restoration of
services in Bougainville has been greatly assisted by
our development partners, including the United
Nations Development Programme, the United Nations
Children’s Fund, the European Union, Australia, New
Zealand and Japan, among others. We thank them all
and look forward to their continued support and
cooperation.
We continue to be concerned about the security
and vulnerability of many of our small island States.
As noted and endorsed by Pacific leaders at the recent
Pacific Islands Forum Summit in Samoa, the
forthcoming International Meeting on the 10-year
review of the Barbados Programme of Action, to be
held in Mauritius in 2005, will provide an opportunity
to discuss with our development partners the many
issues which confront small island States, including
those in our subregion.
Development of women and children through
sports must have a special place in our quest to
improve the socio-economic well-being of our people.
We are also working hard to implement the Millennium
Development Goals and the outcomes of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to have
devastating consequences in many developing
countries. Our leaders in the Pacific region have
endorsed a regional strategy for HIV/AIDS noting the
need to address the issue urgently.
Small arms and light weapons will always
threaten the stability of many small States. Therefore,
we look forward to the continuing work towards a
United-Nations-supported action plan for dealing with
small arms.
Climate change is a threat to all humankind and
therefore deserves the attention of the international
community, which must work together to address it.
We are appreciative of the position of the United
Kingdom as underlined by Prime Minister, The Right
Honourable Tony Blair, in a recent statement
highlighting the threat of sea level rise and related
issues. I am aware that there are scientific studies
being carried out, but the real issue is that the effects of
climate change and global warming are being felt daily
by many island States. We in Papua New Guinea are no
more immune to climate change and sea level rise than
are many other small island States. The island
communities in Papua New Guinea, like those of our
neighbouring countries in the Pacific, are being
affected adversely by sea level rise. We empathize with
our colleagues from many other island States which
continually suffer from the effects of the problem. Our
plight is further compounded by natural disasters,
including the ravages of hurricanes, cyclones,
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and tsunamis.
In that context, our sympathies go to the peoples
and the Governments of the Caribbean region,
especially those of Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, the
Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, among others,
as well as to the inhabitants of cities and towns of the
southern states of the United States of America, which
have been devastated by the recent hurricanes.
As a global community we must pool our
resources and consider ways of mitigating the adverse
effects of climate change in order to help those States
which are vulnerable. We applaud the intention of the
Russian Federation to consider becoming a party to the
Kyoto Protocol and urge others to recognize their
responsibility to the global community by doing the
same.
24

We look forward to the final report of the High-
level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
appointed by the Secretary-General, which will form
the basis for high-level discussions on United Nations
reforms, including the expansion and composition of
the Security Council. We believe Council membership
should be expanded in both the permanent and the non-
permanent categories to take into account the lack of
sufficient representation of developing countries in the
Asia-Pacific, African and Latin American regions. We
also believe that Japan and Germany should be
seriously considered for permanent membership, with
equal privileges and obligations. Consideration may be
given to other countries with appropriate qualifications
and integrity, particularly from the developing world.
We also commend the indications from the Panel
that the definition of “hard” versus “soft” threats is no
longer relevant. That will allow a proper and objective
discussion to be held, given that the resonance of
perceived threats can be viewed differently depending
on where the threat is.
That said, Papua New Guinea believes that
reform of the United Nations system should be
comprehensive and that the General Assembly should
regain its pre-eminent role as the principal organ of the
United Nations. That will enable all Member States,
large and small, to engage more meaningfully in
addressing all challenges in an effective way in order
to help the United Nations fulfil its role in the pursuit
of a peaceful, just and prosperous world. That is the
purpose for which the United Nations was established.
As we move towards next year’s review of the
Millennium Development Goals and the sixtieth
anniversary of the United Nations, we should all look
at the dire needs of the majority of humanity. My
delegation believes that the Millennium Development
Goals provide the blueprint for achieving those
objectives.
Finally, let me conclude by reaffirming Papua
New Guinea’s support for the one-China policy, which
provides the sound basis for our bilateral relations with
the People’s Republic of China.


In
the middle of the nineteenth century railroads were
built all over the world. Steel at that time was not of
such good quality and for that reason wheels
sometimes broke, causing accidents and derailments.
To avoid those accidents, at every station stop there
was a brakeman who walked the length of the tracks,
hammer in hand, hammering on the wheels so that any
of the wheels that sounded broken could be changed.
Years passed and the quality of steel improved, but the
brakemen kept hammering on the wheels, heedless of
the fact that it was no longer necessary.
The world changes, and that means that we, too,
need to change in order to adapt to new circumstances.
Something similar is happening in the United Nations.
The Security Council, designed after the Second World
War to maintain peace in the post-war world, is not the
Security Council that the new century of information
technology and globalization needs. We must reinvent
the United Nations.
4

Let us begin by making the reform of the United
Nations, on which we have already agreed, effective.
We have to broaden participation in the Security
Council to include other countries, both as permanent
members — which at the very least should include
Germany and Japan — and as non-permanent
members, in order to allow for more equitable and
democratic representation.
Our Organization needs to adapt to the new
challenges and realities of the present. Development,
for example, needs a new approach. What concerns us
most is to ensure that populations and individuals
participate more actively in the decisions shaping their
own future. As I said three days ago, in the “Action
Against Hunger and Poverty” meeting of world
leaders, development is a responsibility of States, but it
is also the primary responsibility of the individual.
I find the words of Nobel Laureate José
Saramago are appropriate here when he writes:
“As vehemently as we claim our rights, let us
also lay claim to responsibility for our duties.
Perhaps then the world will become a bit better.”
So it was a wise thing that our American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, signed in
Bogotá in 1948, established that equal to, and as a
counterpart to rights, there are also individual
responsibilities.
That includes instilling in the conscience of
citizens a culture of responsibility. Next to the right to
receive a State-sponsored education stands the civil
responsibility to make the most effective use of that
education and to obtain at least a primary education.
Next to the right of children to have a father and a
mother stands the duty of parents to care for, help,
feed, educate and shelter their young children.
Children, for their part, have the responsibility always
to honour their parents, help them, feed them and give
them shelter when they are in need. Next to the right to
employment stands the duty to provide efficient
service. Everyone has the responsibility to work, each
according to his ability and possibilities, in order to
obtain the resources for survival, thus achieving
personal progress and social development.
Along with the right to health goes the
responsibility to contribute to a healthy and clean
environment. With the right to enjoy the benefits of
progress goes the responsibility to contribute to
development. With the right to the freedom of
expression goes the responsibility of tolerating
differing opinions. In short, every right has a
corresponding duty or responsibility.
With the fall of the Berlin wall, the age in which
the State was expected to be responsible for everything
came to a close. Today, we must all participate together
in the search for new paths for our individual
development and for that of our countries and of all
humanity.
The passing of time motivates us to renew our
basic principles. I therefore propose that we once again
adopt an ethic of development based principally on
individual responsibility as well as on the
responsibility of nations.
The well-being and the development of nations
are the result of individual well-being and the
development of the people that make up that society.
Social well-being should not be measured by how
many people are assisted by social programmes
financed from national budgets but by how many
people leave those programmes because they have
become able to manage on their own.
In his book, Underdevelopment is a State of
Mind, Lawrence Harrison defines a negative attitude as
a barrier to development and a positive attitude —
based on the belief in one’s own ability to improve
oneself through individual effort — as a driving force
of development.
In order to bolster all the elements I have cited, it
is essential that the right to accede to public office
should be accompanied by the responsibility to carry
out one’s duties honestly. At the current session of the
General Assembly, several heads of State have
emphasized the need to fight corruption. It is a
responsibility that has rightly been gaining ground.
In Nicaragua, we have undertaken the arduous
fight against corruption. First, corrupt bureaucrats have
been brought to trial and sentenced, just as is
happening in other Latin American countries.
Secondly, we have brought before the National
Assembly a body of legislation to strengthen our fight
against corruption.
Thirdly, we have established a programme for
integrity and transparency that prevents corrupt
practices in the executive branch and which provides a
model for the other branches of Government in
5

undertaking reform and increasing transparency. For
example, we have published on the Internet, for
everyone to see — for the countries extending
assistance, international organizations and the
media — both the Republic’s national budget and the
details of external assistance.
Fourthly, we have undertaken to fight the culture
of corruption, including by teaching values and
promoting the idea of the individual as the maker of his
or her own destiny.
We must work for a United Nations that reaffirms
its credibility and authority by taking the appropriate
effective collective action. Nicaragua recognizes the
importance of the proposals various countries have
submitted to this forum, in particular Spain’s proposal
to reduce external debt in exchange for initiatives for
social development, particularly in the area of primary
education, and the United States proposal to create a
fund for democracy. Nicaragua views with approval
that such a democracy fund would be partially
allocated to training and support for auditing and
judicial entities, given that corruption is the greatest
foe of democracy. As Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said yesterday, “They notice when we use words to
mask inaction”. Nicaragua’s energy and determination
are devoted to those efforts.
Recent world events have demonstrated once
again the evil nature of terrorism and how it breaks
down the values of humanity and civilization. I
reiterate my most sincere condolences to all those
countries and individuals around the world that have
suffered the effects of terrorism.
I underline that we deplore, to cite only the most
recent acts, those who caused the loss of the precious
lives of innocent children in the Russian Federation.
We also repudiate the attack against the Australian
Embassy in Jakarta.
The best way to defeat terrorism is to remain
faithful to our values of freedom, dignity and justice.
Terrorism rejects those values.
Nicaragua aspires to be elected as a non-
permanent member of the Security Council for 2006
and 2007. Nicaragua, a founding country of the
Organization, has known and suffered the horrors of
war and has undertaken the democratization of our
nation. It is by virtue of the valuable school of our
recent history that we can participate in the Security
Council. As I stated in this forum last year, whoever
knows the horrors of war can contribute more
effectively to preventing it.
I cannot fail to refer to the question of Taiwan’s
representation in the United Nations. That country,
with 23 million inhabitants, has a democratic
Government and maintains diplomatic, trade and
cooperative relations with many Member States of the
Organization. However, paradoxically, it lacks
membership. That exclusion is inexcusable.
At the beginning of this session, we heard the sad
messages from Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
which have suffered the devastating effects of nature. I
convey our solidarity, encouragement and hope to
those countries and to the victims of natural disasters
in the United States, Grenada, Jamaica, Panama, the
Bahamas, Cuba, Grand Cayman and other islands of
the Caribbean.
This afternoon, I began my address by speaking
of the responsibilities of citizens. That is the way for
our peoples to attain their hopes, expectations and
dreams.
May God bless the United Nations and may God
always bless Nicaragua.


Let me begin
by congratulating you, Sir, on your election as
President of the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth
session. I am convinced that your work in that
important post will ensure further progress towards the
attainment of our common goals. I wish you the
greatest of success and pledge the full support of our
delegation. I should also like to take this opportunity to
thank your predecessor, Mr. Julian Hunte, Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Saint Lucia, for his excellent work
and, above all, for his personal contribution to the
revitalization of the General Assembly.
This is the first time that the Slovak Republic has
participated in the general debate of the General
Assembly as a member of the European Union (EU).
Slovakia fully endorses the position set out earlier by
the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands on behalf of the EU. I am convinced that
the enlarged EU will further strengthen its constructive
partnership with the United Nations.
The international community is now facing
challenges and threats that were unknown when the
Charter of the United Nations was drafted. The
multilateral mechanisms set out in the previous century
have proved to be less than adequate. Recent global
events ó accompanied by an increase in new and
potentially more dangerous and destructive threats -
have clearly demonstrated that no country can cope
with security issues single-handedly, let alone tackle
them over the long term. There is now a greater need
than ever before for international solidarity, together
with a sense of responsibility on the part of all United
17

Nations Member States for consolidating peace and
stability.
The Slovak Republic is convinced that a
multilateral approach is the best response to emerging
threats, and that the role of the United Nations in
maintaining global security is irreplaceable. In
addition, we agree with the Secretary-General,
Mr. Kofi Annan, that the United Nations can maintain
such a status only if it is able to carry out its basic
functions effectively, embark upon internal reform and
adapt to current conditions. To that end, the only way
forward involves strengthening the authority of United
Nations institutions by making their work and
decision-making mechanisms more efficient. That is
why we have welcomed the establishment of the High-
Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. Its
work will undoubtedly rank among the most important
contributions made towards reform in the history of the
United Nations. We believe that that team of eminent
personalities will provide a realistic definition of how
the United Nations can contribute to global security
and development. Slovakia will help to turn those
objectives into reality.
We perceive the issue of reforming the Security
Council in the same light. Reform should involve not
only enlarging the Security Council, but also making
its working methods and the implementation of its
decisions more efficient. The Slovak Republic
continues to support the enlargement of the Security
Council with both permanent and non-permanent
members, with the aim of ensuring a balanced regional
distribution of seats, including greater representation
for the Eastern European region.
In addition, I am confident that this session of the
General Assembly will help to build a global security
system by strengthening and consolidating the anti-
terrorism coalition under the auspices of the United
Nations, along with the Counter-Terrorism Committee
of the Security Council.
Continuing terrorist attacks are leading to
significant changes in the area of global security.
Terrorists do not shy away from perpetrating the
cruellest and most bestial of acts; nor ó as the recent
events in Beslan have shown ó do they hesitate to take
the lives of innocent children. Terrorism poses a threat
to everyone; no one can be neutral or indifferent. It is
necessary that we be resolute and jointly mobilize our
efforts in combating it.
The Governments of Member States must fight
more effectively against this inhuman phenomenon
through mutual support, the implementation of
international law and improved cooperation between
international and regional organizations. The 12 United
Nations anti-terrorism conventions and protocols are of
the utmost importance in the fight against terrorism,
and the Organization must continue to play a key role
in bolstering legal instruments in that battle. The
Slovak Republic supports the prompt approval of a
comprehensive convention against terrorism as a
whole, along with a convention aimed at averting acts
of nuclear terrorism.
Maintaining international peace and security has
always been one of the Slovakiaís main priorities. We
have long contributed military units, observers and
equipment to United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Since our accession to the United Nations, in January
1993, we have participated in 14 Organization-led
missions, ranging from military observer missions to
humanitarian and demining operations to peacekeeping
duties.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Slovak
Republic has dedicated itself both militarily and
politically to the peace process in the Balkans.
Nonetheless, Slovakia has never abandoned its efforts
to help bring reconciliation and humanitarian aid to
other parts of the world. We have gained respect for
our participation in United Nations peacekeeping
missions in Africa and the Middle East.
Slovakia also contributes to the training of
peacekeeping forces. In line with General Assembly
resolutions, the Slovak Government sponsored a
United Nations seminar held in the Slovak Republic
last May, which was attended by a wide range of
delegates from more than 70 Member States. The
seminar discussed the conclusions of the Brahimi
report (A/55/305), which highlighted the importance of
standardized training for United Nations peacekeeping
missions.
In recent years, the number of attacks on United
Nations personnel has increased alarmingly. Slovakia
is a signatory to the Convention on the Safety of
United Nations and Associated Personnel and appeals
to all those countries that have not yet done so to
endorse that important international legal instrument,
18

which guarantees the protection of United Nations
staff.
Stabilizing the Western Balkans is a global
priority and has a direct effect on the stability of
Europe. For that reason, it is also one of Slovakiaís
foreign policy priorities. We have fully supported the
activities of the United Nations to date in using its
authority effectively to help resolve the conflicts in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Serbian-Montenegrin
province of Kosovo and in the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. Slovakiaís proactive approach
in that regard was demonstrated by the political stance
it adopted towards the resolution of those conflicts, as
well as its participation in peacekeeping missions: the
Stabilization Force for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
Kosovo Force for the Province of Kosovo.
We believe that resolving the situation in the
province of Kosovo is a prerequisite for the
stabilization of the Western Balkans as a whole.
Kosovo still represents a potential source of regional
instability. That is why we attach great importance to
next yearís evaluation to be carried out as part of the
Kosovo Standards Implementation Plan. A favourable
result in that evaluation could launch a process under
which the future status of the Serbian-Montenegrin
province would be defined by the United Nations. We
perceive the United Nations activities, including the
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in
Kosovo, as being of great importance in the search for
a solution that is acceptable to all parties concerned, in
accordance with Security Council resolution 1244
(1999).
The Slovak Republic welcomed the transfer of
power to a temporary, sovereign and independent
Government in Iraq at the end of June. The Interim
Council, which was recently established by the
National Conference, represents a significant step
forward in preparing for the elections to be held in
January 2005.
I call upon the Assembly to join us in our
absolute condemnation of all acts of violence
committed in Iraq aimed at spreading chaos and
instability, whether by means of assassinations, the
taking of hostages or the intimidation of civilians and
public figures.
We welcome the determination of the Secretary-
General to continue providing humanitarian aid and
support for the political process in Iraq. We believe
that the United Nations must play a leading role in
supporting the Iraqi people and the Government in
their efforts to rebuild their society.
Improving the security situation in Iraq is an
essential condition for building long-term stability,
democracy, peace and prosperity in the country. A
Slovak unit specialized in locating and destroying
landmines, weapons and ammunition is currently
engaged in a humanitarian mission there. In addition,
Slovakia has stepped up its participation by joining a
programme for training Iraqi police officers.
The Slovak Republic supports and appreciates the
efforts of the international community to establish
security and stability in Afghanistan. The International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is playing a vital
role, demonstrating how essential international
cooperation can be. The most pressing issues we
currently face with regard to creating stability in
Afghanistan are, first, the forthcoming elections and,
secondly, laying down the foundations of democracy.
In addition to those political processes, establishing
favourable conditions for economic development is
also essential for Afghanistanís long-term stability. The
Slovak Republic is contributing to such efforts through
its participation in ISAF and its planned involvement
in provincial reconstruction teams.
The Middle East peace process must continue in
accordance with the road map set out by the Quartet
and endorsed by the Security Council, which envisages
the establishment of two separate Israeli and
Palestinian States in 2005. Both sides should fulfil
their obligations stemming from that plan and previous
United Nations resolutions. They should also rely upon
the international Quartet for help and good counsel
when taking those steps.
As we are convinced that international peace,
security and development are closely linked, official
development assistance and cooperation with
developing and transition countries are becoming an
integral part of Slovakiaís foreign policy. Slovakiaís
European Union membership and its growing
economic potential provide both an opportunity and the
obligation to cooperate in the field of development.
This year, the Slovak Government has allocated $25
million for development assistance. In 2005, that figure
is set to rise to almost $30 million. As a new donor
country, Slovakia must work to further improve and
formalize its mechanisms for providing official
19

development assistance. It is doing so with the support
of the European Commission and the United Nations
Development Programme.
Severe humanitarian crises also pose a threat to
peace and security in the modern world. Such crises are
not necessarily the result of armed conflicts alone, but
they sometimes have the potential to cause such
conflicts. The international community has the means
to intervene in humanitarian crises. With respect to the
current humanitarian and security crisis in the
Sudanese region of Darfur, I am convinced that the
international community, in cooperation with the
Sudanese Government, will find a solution to the
situation through economic and financial assistance.
The Slovak Republic has provided humanitarian aid to
that region and supports the continuation of peaceful
negotiations towards resolving the humanitarian and
security crisis there.
The Slovak Republic is fully aware of the
enormity of the tasks facing the United Nations in the
field of ensuring global peace and security. In that
regard, I would like to highlight that Slovakia is a
candidate for a seat as a non-permanent member of the
Security Council for the term 2006-2007 in the
elections to be held at the next session of the General
Assembly, in the fall of 2005. I can assure the
Assembly that in every respect, the Slovak Republic is
ready to take on the responsibilities arising from
membership in that key organ of the United Nations.
As my countryís Head of State, I feel it is important to
make this personal pledge before the highly esteemed
session of the General Assembly. We want to use our
membership of the Security Council to intensify
cooperation with Member States in all regions and to
be a dependable partner when seeking consensus in the
resolution of complicated global policy issues.
In conclusion, allow me to wish this yearís
session of the General Assembly the greatest of
success. May it reach conclusions that promote
cooperation among Member States, international and
regional organizations, and non-governmental
organizations and associations ó based, above all,
upon the principle of multilateralism.


It is
my pleasure and honour to represent my country today
at the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly of
the United Nations. Let me begin by expressing my
deep appreciation for Mr. Julian Hunte, for the
leadership and vision with which he conducted the last
session, and by congratulating Mr. Jean Ping on his
assumption of the presidency of this session.
I would also like to take this opportunity to
express my Governmentís deep gratitude to the
Secretary-General for his leadership, for his strong
commitment and hard work to make the United Nations
a more responsive and efficient body. The Government
of Georgia reaffirms its strong support for the
important work carried out around the world by this
great institution and to all who serve it.
The beginning of the new millennium marks a
great opportunity for the global community of nations
that make up the United Nations - a community
whose collective responsibility is to help strengthen
those institutions that promote and protect the
principles enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations, so that we can more effectively tackle the
challenges and the issues facing the world today and so
that together we can enhance our shared ability to
promote peace, alleviate suffering, expand liberty and
advance human development with renewed wisdom
and courage.
The belief that we must be able to adapt to great
change while remaining faithful to a set of core ideas
and values is one that has special resonance in Georgia
today, for few countries have witnessed greater
transformation in the past year ó and fewer still have
done so with a clearer sense of purpose. In some
respects, Georgia's revolution has made our small
nation - willingly or unwillingly - a test case for the
modern challenges of democratic transition and
perhaps for a revised formula for international relations
in our increasingly interconnected and complex world.
Nearly a year has passed since our dramatic Rose
Revolution graced the cover of newspapers and
television broadcasts around the world. This revolution
had at its core one simple demand: the creation of a
stable, equitable and functional democracy. It gives me
great pride, Mr. President, to inform you that we have
accomplished that demand in ways that few abroad or
at home ever imagined possible. And I am enormously
proud of my people, whose courage, unity and
steadfast belief in a better future made our revolution
and transformation possible. It is because of the
Georgian people that our experiment in democracy is a
12

success, and because of their sacrifice and
determination that we have achieved such impressive
results today.
In less than a year, we have proven the depth and
breadth of our commitment to democracy successfully
by holding three sets of elections - presidential,
parliamentary and regional - which were recognized
by all observers as free and fair expressions of the
public will.
We have proven that we can take care of people
such as the teachers of my country, who just a few days
ago received as much as 12 years in back pay from our
Government. I was recently told by a local governor of
how one such teacher - who had not been paid since
our independence - had just received her payment for
all of those years. For all of those years, that brave
woman, who sacrificed her health and her livelihood
for the education of younger generations while
surviving on the meagre income from a small plot of
land, watched as our corrupt officials - at her expense
and that of her compatriots - were creating their own
wealth, constructing huge mansions and filling their
Swiss bank accounts. Finally she got her money back.
She also watched the corrupt officials chased away
from power and held accountable under our legislation.
Never again will loyal public servants have to
harvest food from their gardens to make ends meet.
Never again will they have to face a Government that
disrespects their dignity. Protecting people like that
teacher is the reason why we have confronted
corruption in Georgia so vigorously, since corruption
threatened the very fabric of our society. By first going
after government officials who were corrupt and who
enjoyed a near-untouchable status, and then seeking to
address the institutional aspects - the corruption that
basically gave rise to such government officials - we
have been able to reinstate the rule of law and create
lasting change in the system.
That is why we conducted a radical downsizing
of our security services, police and customs by up to 50
per cent. Instead of poorly paid government
officials - civil servants who were not given any real
salaries and who were compelled to extort money from
their fellow citizens - we have now introduced new
salaries that are sometimes 8 to 10 times greater than
those paid previously, as well as new rules of the game.
We have introduced new salaries that are
sometimes eight to 10 times larger than those paid
previously, as well as new rules of the game. We have
introduced the first-ever civilian leadership in defence,
security and law-enforcement bodies. We have made
these painful choices because we know that, unless we
change the system itself, we cannot change the corrupt
behaviour of our State officials. It is those officials
who are responsible for the corrupt behaviour of
businesses ó not the businessmen themselves.
It is we who are responsible for failing to build a
better future for our citizens. Winning this battle will
mean that all citizens of my country will finally have a
chance to live in a normal State - where merit rather
than money makes a difference, and where rules and
laws firmly and clearly govern people's actions.
As I said earlier, in order to make such changes
permanent and sustainable, we have raised salaries six,
eight or even tenfold for public servants, so that
incentives are aligned, a fair system can flourish and
people can serve the State with dignity and honour.
That is why we have created a new tax system
that clarifies and simplifies both the payment and the
administration of taxes - creating the lowest-tax
regime and the least complicated tax code in the
region, and eliminating institutional sources of
cheating and corruption.
To hesitate or move cautiously at this critical
stage would mean reneging on the promises we have
made and returning to business as usual in this part of
the world. Our people will not forgive any hesitation.
I believe that we cannot refrain from initiating
reforms and taking radical steps at this time if we truly
want to build a better future and forever change the
rules of the game.
But Georgia today is a visibly different State than
it was one year ago, with fewer games and new rules.
That is why those who fled Georgia throughout the past
decade - one of decay and crisis - are now starting
to return to their homeland. They are putting their
skills, talents, ideas and energy to work for their new
country. There is a great deal of new energy and a new
optimism, which we are happy to observe.
There is a renewed sense of hope and a renewed
sense of purpose that speaks of unity and the unique
strength that comes with it. Georgia's experiment in
democracy is an ongoing success, not simply because I
declare it or wish it, but, rather, because the people of
Georgia continue to embrace it. We are a nation that
13

has a strong cultural heritage and identity, but that at
the same time celebrates and cherishes religious and
ethnic tolerance and religious freedom as part of that
identity and that heritage. We are a nation that believes
in the sanctity of rule of law and a strong judicial
system.
One thing is clear: democracy is thriving in our
part of the world although many people thought it
would not be possible. That is because the principles of
democratic governance are reflected in our national
identity and universal desire to be free.
The creation of a successful State depends on the
ability of its institutions to act maturely and
responsibly in the face of shared challenges. In this
new millennium, it is clear to all responsible nations
that one issue above all others unites us as we seek to
promote lasting peace, security and prosperity: the
common war on terrorism.
As a member of the global coalition that seeks to
eliminate the threat of terrorism, Georgia has made,
and will continue to make, contributions wherever
possible and wherever necessary. Our willingness to
act responsibly and to contribute is evident today in
Kosovo and in Iraq - and soon will be in
Afghanistan - all places to which we have sent our
forces to serve alongside others in the pursuit of peace
and freedom. For terrorism knows no greater enemy
and no greater force than the one embodied in a free
society.
Today I am proud to announce Georgia's newest
contribution to freedom: our offer to send fresh troops
to Iraq to serve in the special protection force for the
United Nations Mission in Iraq. In offering our
services to the United Nations Mission, we are hopeful
that our presence will foster lasting stability, prosperity
and freedom for the Iraqi people ó freedom worthy of
all those who live in the region at large.
In the context of our cooperation with
international anti-terrorist efforts, we especially value
the work of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the
Security Council, and we support the idea of
strengthening the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the
Secretariat.
At this point, however, one could reasonably ask
why such a small country - one of fewer than
5 million people - is so out in front in its international
commitments to fighting terrorism and in contributing
to that global cause. The answer is as painful as it is
simple. Simply put, Georgia's commitments to fighting
terrorism reflect our deep understanding of the
destruction that it can and has wrought in our own
country and in our immediate neighbourhood. Georgia
understands that we must do all we can to defeat
terrorism.
Unfortunately, Georgia today is still dealing with
the results of unresolved separatist conflicts in two
parts of our country ó Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Those conflicts have resulted in loss of life, the
destruction of property, and the forced exodus and
ethnic cleansing of 300,000 Georgians, thus creating a
large population of internally displaced persons. Those
conflicts cannot remain unresolved; we as a country
will never get used to the loss of control over that part
of the territory or to the plight of those who have been
deprived of their livelihoods and their basic human
rights.
Georgia's new democracy is committed to
resolving these conflicts, because no democracy can
allow black holes to exist on its territory. Indeed, their
existence is fundamentally incompatible with progress,
development and lasting stability. No democracy can
tolerate them on its territory.
Today, we are living in an era where the civilized
nations of the world are united in a global war on
terrorism, and, in that world, neither Georgia nor the
rest of the international community can afford to look
the other way. Uncontrolled zones breed crime, drug
trafficking, arms trading and, most notably, terrorism.
The threats posed by violent separatism affect the
security not only of Georgia but of the entire Caucasus.
In places like Abkhazia, on the shores of the Black
Sea, these lawless zones have the potential to affect
European security as long as the situation there
remains unresolved.
The lawless territories of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia are safe havens for mini-dictatorships, tightly
controlled by elite groups that seek to profit from the
criminal status quo. It causes me pain to say that, in
these extremely closed societies ó by and large cut off
from the rest of the world ó children grow up with
guns in their hands instead of books. Their heads are
filled with hatred and intolerance, instead of respect for
difference and appreciation for cultural diversity.
14

We must put an end to this cycle of destruction.
We must do more to eliminate the threats to peace and
security that have for too long retarded our
development.
As we seek to find lasting solutions to these
ìfrozenî conflicts, once again Georgia can be
considered a test case. Our success in that respect
would be your success, too. Here, I want to state in the
clearest of terms that Georgia is fully committed to
solving these conflicts through solely peaceful means.
Georgia will not and cannot use violence to solve these
conflicts, because no democracy can go to war against
its own people.
What all parts of Georgia need today is
development, investment, security and lasting
economic growth. We will peacefully reincorporate
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, so that all citizens of
Georgia can share in the fruits of our success.
I believe that the most effective mechanism for
establishing Georgiaís unity is the creation of a strong
economy, where those who are not yet sure if they want
to remain outside Georgia will be given real incentives
and chances to benefit from a prosperous, tolerant and
successful State ó a place where they and their
children will be able to find jobs, earn stable incomes,
and have access to new opportunities and investments.
In a strengthened economy, all of Georgia's
inhabitants will know that they live in a State that is
able to care for and look after them ó in sickness and
in health. These are the qualities that an economically
strong and democratically vibrant Georgia will
guarantee all its citizens. We must do everything
possible to realize that vision if we want to build a
united future. As Georgia looks to the future, it does so
with a clear and understandable plan. Today, I would
like to introduce the idea of a new stage-by-stage
settlement plan, designed to speed the resolution of
these conflicts.
Step one is to initiate confidence-building
measures, so that new forms of trust are established
that create lasting human bonds between peoples.
Those measures could include exchanges and links
between various non-governmental organizations ó
youth group to youth group, student to student,
journalist to journalist, athlete to athlete, health-care
worker to health-care worker, mother to mother ó so
that more citizens and more segments of our society
can learn to understand one another and to trust one
another.
Building confidence means pursuing joint
economic projects that create wealth where today there
is want and create profits where today there is poverty.
Building confidence means restoring and guaranteeing
the right of internally displaced persons to return to
their native homes.
We can and must build confidence between
peoples, as the first precondition for peace. We can and
must do more to protect human rights through
international police forces in places like Gali and
through the existing Human Rights Office of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
located in Gali.
Together, we could move on to step two, which
would focus on specific measures aimed at achieving
demilitarization and a truly international format for a
peacekeeping operation in our area, transforming the
current peacekeeping operation into a broad
international operation, so that the people of those
regions can live free from fear of uncontrolled militias,
irregulars and violent gangs, which hold us all hostage
to the status quo.
Those steps will require monitoring, verification
and transparency, so that we can achieve the necessary
results.
The third stage, step three, envisions a global
solution with global guarantees that would lead to the
establishment of the fullest and broadest form of
autonomy ó one that protects culture and language
and guarantees self-governance, fiscal control and
meaningful representation and power-sharing at the
national government level. Most important, it would
lead to an autonomy that empowers average people, so
that isolated elites no longer act as the sole decision
makers over peopleís future.
Georgia greatly appreciates the support rendered
by the Group of Friends and the Geneva process, as
well as the concepts and principles contained within
the Boden document, which should be transmitted to
the Abkhaz side.
Now is the time to enhance those commitments;
now is the time for the international community to do
much more. Simply put: the international community
can no longer afford to look the other way when gross
violations of human rights take place in separatist
15

enclaves, just as they can no longer afford to ignore the
security risks that emanate from those black holes and
smugglersí safe havens.
The relevance of that point was brought to the
attention of the world after terrorists seized a school of
innocent children in Beslan, surprising and shocking
the world with their brutality. The people of Georgia
were deeply shocked, and we of course condemn that
brutal act and express deep sympathy to the families of
the victims of that terrible tragedy, which sent
shockwaves through every Georgian household.
As we know, the terrorists that seized the school
are common enemies of Russia and Georgia alike. We
had seen such individuals ó notorious for their acts of
destruction, violence and killing ó when they
unleashed the same kind of bloodshed in the name of
Abkhaz separatism 10 or 11 years ago. Those terrible
events prove once again that we cannot afford to ignore
the dangerous linkages that exist between the
separatism on one side of the Caucasus mountains and
the violence on the other side.
All separatists sow the seeds of great instability,
and lawless zones can be sanctuaries for criminals who
conduct acts of terror. It is our moral obligation to put
an end to the unilateral practice of reaching out to
separatists without the consent or knowledge of the
authorities of the central Government in Tbilisi. In
order to defeat that evil, we must not allow double
standards to persist. I believe that we can work
together with other countries in that respect.
The time has come for Georgia and Russia to
enter a new stage of cooperation whose goal is to
defeat that common enemy. It is our moral obligation
and profound responsibility to join forces more
robustly in that cause.
I firmly agree with President Putin that we can
never negotiate with terrorists or cut deals with killers.
But we may - and we should - work with moderate
elements who seek peace without violence.
We must reach out to every segment of society.
We must do away forever with the Basayevs of the
world, no matter what side of the border they terrorize,
and reach out to ordinary, peace-loving people. All
forms of violent separatism - whether in Tskhinvali,
Grozny or Sukhumi - represent destabilizing factors
for Russia and Georgia alike.
I am confident that, by working together more
robustly, we can make great progress in reducing that
shared risk. I believe that there are a number of
concrete initiatives on which we can embark today that
will bring immediate results - initiatives that again
confirm Georgia's status as a test case for the
promotion of a foreign policy that leads us away from
the outdated politics of domination, advancing, instead,
our shared interest and the great potential for regional
cooperation.
That means finally coming to grips with the need
to close outdated Russian military bases, left over from
the past and from a country that no longer exists.
Let me be clear: while we appreciate any help in
strengthening our security structures so as to make us a
more responsible contributor to international peace and
security, Georgia is firm in its position that we will not
have any new foreign military bases on our territory.
Today, Georgia needs bridges, not bases; roads,
not rockets. And we need cooperation, not competition,
when it comes to eliminating sources of instability and
terror.
The mechanics of the new relationship with
Russia means pooling our resources and efforts to
create a joint anti-terrorism centre to counter common
threats. It means expanding joint border patrols to the
entire Russian-Georgian border, so that no area is left
exposed. Thus the era of zero-sum thinking can be
replaced with policies that lead to a win-win situation.
That is my fundamental conviction.
Those efforts will require greater sharing of
information and intelligence, and a greater degree of
trust ó all of which Georgia stands ready to provide.
Why? Because such actions serve the cause of peace;
because they are part of what it means to remain a
responsible member of the international community of
nations; and, finally, because we have no reasonable
alternative: failure is not an option.
In order to replace the mistrust and
misperceptions that sometimes derail our progress,
Georgia today proposes the establishment of new
bilateral bodies to deal with issues between us and
Russia, in which bilateral issues and misgivings could
be regularly discussed and considered. We should
begin considering the establishment of such a body so
that our relations never again suffer from
misunderstanding or misinterpretation.
16

We should, together, consider issues such as the
protection of the rights of Russian citizens now living
in Georgia so that no inhabitant of Georgia ever feels
forgotten or unprotected. At the same time, of course,
such relations would be based on the principles of
international law and mutual respect for each otherís
independence.
All this and more is necessary because there is
nothing more important than serving the cause of
peace. And I am confident and optimistic that my
colleague, President Putin, desires the very same for
his people. I believe that Georgia will remain a test
case in our part of the world in the near future as we
build democracy and further advance cooperation.
Cooperation among the United States, the
European Union, Russia and the countries of the
Caucasus must become the litmus test for this new
relationship. Whether it is the fight against terrorism or
the development of energy or of transit and trade lines,
the region must become a model of cooperation and
stability that benefits everybody.
We are firmly on the path towards integrating into
regional security structures that serve the stability and
security of everybody in the region. Georgia is
becoming an increasingly functional, performing State,
after being a failed State just one year ago. We now
have a budget that is three times bigger than it used to
be. Our structures are much more efficient than they
used to be. Our people are more optimistic than they
used to be. We could be a major part of those
structures, and we offer ourselves as a responsible
member of the local and international communities. I
am sure that, by following that path, we can unlock the
great potential of this crucial and great region for
peace, prosperity and stability - a task I look forward
to pursuing with all of Georgia's friends and
neighbours.