On behalf of
the Government of the Republic of Angola, allow me
to congratulate you, Mr. Sam Kutesa, on your election
as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth
session, and to assure you of my country’s support as
you fulfil your mission. I would also like to congratulate
Ambassador John William Ashe for the competent
manner in which he led the work of the previous
session. We extend our greetings to Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and commend him for his commitment to
finding solutions to the issues facing the international
community.

This session of the General Assembly is taking
place in an environment that gives rise to concern
due to the aggravation of international tensions, the
intensification of conflicts and the deepening of global
crises that require effective and sustainable solutions.
It is a matter of consensus that the solutions to common
challenges are to be found in multilateral negotiations
and should take into account the specificities of each

country and each people. The United Nations has
always been and will continue to be the mainstay of
Member States’ participation in decision-making on
issues of concern to the international community and
in upholding the global values of tolerance and peaceful
and harmonious coexistence of countries and peoples,
in accordance with the principles set forth in the Charter
of the United Nations and international law.

Angola would once again like to reiterate the
importance of all Member States joining in efforts
to make the United Nations a strong and effective
organization, and one that serves as the basis for a more
balanced, fair and inclusive international legal order
and global security system, while promoting confidence
among States and strengthening relations of friendship
and international cooperation. Our Organization should
pay special attention to the resurgence of armed conflicts
and their negative effects on populations, as well as to
arms flows, trafficking in drugs and human beings,
transnational organized crime, international terrorism
and piracy — all phenomena that have an adverse
impact on economic development and consequently
impede the improvement of living conditions.

Religious fundamentalism in some African
countries is taking on such violent proportions that
it poses a threat to regional security, with serious
consequences for peace, stability and development.
Angola strongly condemns the acts committed by
terrorist groups and expresses its support for efforts to
ensure the full neutralization of those groups. Angola
supports efforts to strengthen the crisis-management
capacity of the United Nations and considers dialogue
and negotiation to be the best means of resolving
conflicts.

We will continue to meet our international
obligations, with special emphasis on the African
continent and the regional groupings in which we
operate, including the Southern African Development
Community, the Economic Community of Central
African States, the African countries that use Portuguese
as an official language, the Gulf of Guinea Commission
and the International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region, with a view to defining mechanisms and forms
of cooperation with the United Nations, the African
Union, the Community of Portuguese-speaking
Countries and other international partners.

Angola assumed the rotating presidency of the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
in January, and in that forum continues to promote the
resolution of conflicts on the African continent with a
view to attaining stability, political and institutional
development, internal and border security, good
governance and human rights. It is in that context
that Angola is engaged in the peace processes in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African
Republic and the Great Lakes region.

The Ebola epidemic is an issue of great concern.
The position of the Security Council, which declared
the epidemic to be a threat to international peace and
security, fully reflects the seriousness of the situation.
A decisive commitment on the part of the international
community is required if the scourge is to be combated
and eradicated.

We reiterate the need to reform and revitalize the
United Nations system, in particular the need to reform
the Security Council, which should be brought into
line with the current international context and whose
membership should reflect an equitable geographical
representation through an increase in the number of
permanent members. Angola reiterates the right of the
African continent to sit among the permanent members
of the Council.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the lack of
progress in finding a lasting solution are a major cause
of widespread instability in the Middle East, and
also the root cause of the resurgence of terrorism in
the region. That situation worries the Government of
Angola. We call for political will and flexibility from
both parties, and we encourage the Secretary-General
and the United States Secretary of State to continue
their mediation efforts with a view to establishing a
sovereign and independent Palestinian State, as well as
a modus vivendi to ensure that the two States coexist
in peace and security within internationally recognized
borders.

The impasse in resolving the question of Western
Sahara continues to delay the exercise of the right
to self-determination of the people of that territory.
Angola calls on the parties to continue negotiations
under the auspices of the United Nations and the
African Union in order to find a solution in accordance
with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations
and resolution 1514 (XV) of December 1960.

With regard to the situation in the Ukraine, Angola
deplores the loss of human lives caused by instability

in the region and calls for dialogue between the parties
involved to find a political solution to the conflict.

The situations in Somalia and South Sudan
remain cause for concern. However, there has been
some encouraging progress, which is why we urge
the authorities in those countries and the international
community to continue their efforts for stabilization.
Angola welcomes the constitutional normalization in
some African countries. We welcome the holding of
democratic elections in Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar
and Egypt, and we express our solidarity with the
national reconciliation and reconstruction processes
and the economic and social development in those
countries.

The Government of Angola expresses its
appreciation for the choice of the central theme of
this session, “Delivering on and implementing a
transformative post-2015 development agenda”. It is
greatly relevance, especially for the least developed
countries. The progress made in some of those
countries is far behind the targets of the Millennium
Development Goals, due to structural issues, and is
insufficient to mitigate the persistent effects of the
economic problems.

With one year remaining until the final assessment
of the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals, our economies continue to suffer the effects of
the international economic and financial crisis, which
create barriers to economic growth and hinder the
implementation of programmes to combat poverty and
improve the living conditions of our peoples. However,
we note with satisfaction that the African continent
has ceased to present the image of desolation it did at
the beginning of the millennium. A new reality has
emerged in which African countries boast an average
growth of 5 per cent per year and improvements in
several human development indicators. We believe that
the trend of progress will prevail in the near future,
and we will do everything to make it so by investing in
future generations on the basis of the objectives of the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the post-
2015 road map and the African Agenda 2063.

Angola is implementing its National Development
Plan 2013-2017, which aims to increase the supply of
social services to the population, diversify the economy
and consolidate macroeconomic stability, thus laying
the foundation for the process of graduation to a
middle-income country.

Angola reiterates the need to end the economic and
financial embargo imposed on Cuba, which limits the
right of the Cuban people to development and is a clear
violation of the principles and rules of international law.

Finally, we appreciate and have been touched by
the support that Angola has received from numerous
countries for its candidature to be a non-permanent
member of the Security Council for the 2015-2016
biennium, elections for which will place during the
Assembly’s present session. Once elected to that
important organ, we will work with partners in the
Council to seek solutions to the serious problems
facing the international community and to make a real
contribution to peace and security in the world.


I would like to greet the
General Assembly and to confess how deeply moved
I feel to be here. For those who have never spoken in
the Assembly Hall, it remains a place of extraordinary
fascination and appeal. For those who have become
accustomed to being in such halls, they may consider
it as something already seen and experienced. For
someone like me, who is in the Hall for the first time
today, the emotion is overwhelming to find oneself in
the place where there is a sense of still being able to
build a horizon of human rights, respect, freedom and
peace. I feel the emotion of the future in a place where
a great Secretary-General, Mr. Dag Hammarskj.ld, had
the strength, the vision and the intuition to design a
different world. For those, like us, who grew up with that
model, the statement “For all that has been — thanks.
For all that shall be — yes”, which Dag Hammarskj.ld
wrote in his diary, the United Nations was something
more than a political programme, it was the very idea
of a definition of politics.

Yet today, the future appears threatening. The
future is frightening. The future is no longer promising.
We want to believe that it is possible to return to the
idea of tomorrow. It is the dream of the United Nations
to return to the goal of preserving future generations
from the horrors of war. Today, however, we must
have the courage also to say, when looking back at the
history of the Organization, that the errors of the past
cannot be erased. The year 2015 is the year in which we
will recall the twentieth anniversary of what happened
in Srebrenica, when international institutions remained
silent before one of the worst massacres and genocides
that still today finds no justification. That is why we
need to repeat in this Hall today that it is time for
politics to return to finding a definition of a future of
hope.

My generation grew up hearing that history had
ended, that the century that had just passed was a short
century in which we had already seen everything. But
history has not ended, the century we have left behind us
was not short, and today, we must say that the political
way is the only way to prevent the bloodletting that
is causing so much grief in the Mediterranean, in the
Middle East, in Ukraine and in many regions of Africa.

Because of its central location, Italy has the will and
the need to play a greater role in the Mediterranean. Italy,
whose gift to the world is the image of the city and the
public square — in the sense of an open gathering place
for the community — cannot be silent when confronted
with the transformation of the Mediterranean, which
should be the heart of Europe and the public square for
discussion and confrontation, but has all too often been
transformed into a cemetery.

I take the floor today one year after the Italian
Government launched an important operation called
Mare Nostrum. Thanks to that operation, I can stand
before the Assembly and say that the men and women
of the Italian Coast Guard and volunteer services have
saved 80,000 human lives, 80,000 people who could
become doctors, musicians, workers, 80,000 people

who were pulled from the Mediterranean as if from a
cemetery, thanks to an operation that we take pride in
but that cannot be left only to Italy today. We need to
say forcefully that intervention in the Mediterranean
area is a strategic intervention for the international
community that cannot only be left to a single force.

In saying that, we need to add that the priority
for that area today is Libya and our friends, the
Libyan people, who are suffering through a time of
transition that seems never to end. We are committed
not to underestimate a hot spot in the midst of the
Mediterranean that could reach a point of no return in
a spiral of violence and instability in the region. Italy
will continue to do its part, but we must emphasize
with decisiveness and intensity in this prestigious
forum that the risk of a gradual fragmentation of
Libya and the negative consequences that that would
trigger for the entire North African region would be
catastrophic for peace and stability in the entire region.
We are committed to supporting a strong and stable
Libya, and we will continue to work with the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya
through our embassy, which is still open, but we want
to say with great determination that the situation in
Libya must be a priority for all.

Another priority, especially for those today who
are preparing for a discussion on the terrorist threat in
the Middle East and elsewhere, is to be aware that the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as was said
yesterday with great force, is not just a terrorist threat
to a specific region, but a risk for the entire community
of men and women who would call themselves human.
We are not dealing with a form of religious expression.
Religions can both fuel the fires of a conflict and
provide water to heal wounds. We believe that ISIL and
the threat it represents are not connected in the slightest
way with a conflict of religions.

At the same time, we say forcefully that those of
us who had the duty — or the good fortune, if I may
speak provocatively — to visit a refugee camp, as I
did in the second half of August in Erbil, Kurdistan, in
Iraq, will realize that we cannot be unresponsive to the
dismayed faces of so many victims of fanaticism. To see
an international aid worker who shows you images on
her cellphone of children who were executed, who were
lined up against a wall and shot; to hear stories about
young women taken to barracks in the centre of Mosul
and forced, in silence and powerlessness, to satisfy
all the desires of violent terrorists; to think of what is
happening to journalists and hostages — requires us
to say what must be said. A genocide is under way,
and in the face of such activities, we know that only a
unified international community can win this battle of
civilization against evil. That is why I said yesterday
to President Obama that the international coalition can
count on Italy’s support to eliminate the threat posed
by ISIL, and I continue to insist on the fact that the
commitment of our country in every region and in
every area of the region will be resolute and, I hope,
decisive.

Italy has contributed and will continue to contribute
in Lebanon, through our soldiers and their commitment
to supporting the United Nations peacekeeping mission
deployed in the south of Lebanon. I would take this
opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to those
women and men who, from Lebanon to Afghanistan,
wear the uniform of our country to make a concrete
commitment to ensuring stability and peace. But at
the same time, I know, we know, that there will be
no peace in the region until what a great prophet of
Italian political thought, Giorgio La Pira, called the
“peace of the children of Abraham” has brought an
end to the unresolved conflict between the Israelis and
Palestinians.

We will never tire of seeking peace for Jerusalem,
and a ceasefire in Gaza will be consolidated and
respected only if we all recognize the two-State
solution and the right of the Palestinian people to
finally have a homeland. As I have said before and I
repeat here, it is not only a right but a duty for Israel
to exist — for the sake of history, memory, innovation,
democracy, freedom, of which the Israeli people give
constant proof. The entire international community
must support that process. Those words must be clearly
heard in this Hall, where someone once dared to call
into question the very right of Israel to exist.

It is dialogue and politics that can prevent a return
to the dialectics of the cold war. We had thought that
those times were behind us, but now the tensions on
the eastern borders of Ukraine risk are jeopardizing
the greatest achievement of the European integration
process — a continent of peace and stability. Never
before had there been such a long period of peace as the
one we are experiencing today in Europe.

But the crisis in Ukraine has forced us to confront
unexpected challenges. I believe that there is a
connection between two fundamental principles — the
right of the Ukrainian people to have the territorial

unity of their country recognized in the face of acts of
aggression that have violated its integrity, and at the
same time, I hope that we can overcome the tensions
with the Russian Federation, which will, I hope, return
to playing its role as a global stakeholder so needed by
the international community.

A great expert in politics from the Italian
Renaissance, Niccolò Macchiavelli, wrote, “To know
how to recognize an opportunity in war and take is
of greater benefit than anything else”. Macchiavelli’s
words helps us understand in this moment that the Minsk
Agreement is a great opportunity in the war under way
in Ukraine. We must seize this opportunity for the
people of Ukraine and the international community.

Dialogue and reconciliation are indispensable
tools in the Sudan, Somalia and in the Central African
region. They are the strong point of our community as
it faces newly emerging difficulties, starting with the
Ebola virus and its dramatic humanitarian, social and
economic consequences. Italy is doing its part and will
continue to do so, following the Secretary-General’s
leadership and inspiration, whom I thank for his prompt
action.

But I should also emphasize that political solutions
are the only way forward for the year 2015, although
they are often marked by complex, difficult challenges.
Problems to be solved include the challenge of achieving
new global governance of the Internet, as the President
of Brazil mentioned yesterday (see A/69/PV.6), and
the challenge of finally making a major investment
in gender equality, so that we no longer consider it
newsworthy when a woman takes on a position of
responsibility. I am very proud to say that for the first
time in its history, women make up more than half of
my Government. I am happy and pleased to say that we
will never fall short in our commitment to leadership
roles for women, but above all we will fight to ensure
that young women can be free in developing countries
and nations facing especially difficult situations.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough that 2015 will
be a very important year in the fight against religious
discrimination. Every religious minority has the right
to be defended. Never before have so many Christians
been killed in regions around the world because of their
faith, and never before has one of the genuine tragedies
of our times been so badly underestimated. Within the
international community it is especially vital that we
forcefully affirm the values of equality, respect and
tolerance, which are of special relevance for us in Italy
when talking about the death penalty. That is why this
new session of the General Assembly coincides with
the presentation of a new draft resolution on abolishing
capital punishment. I hope that the number of countries
supporting it will continue to grow.

I would like to say that I am especially excited to
be able to speak about that on behalf of Italy, which
has always fought at both the governmental and the
non-governmental levels to make that issue a priority.
Earlier in my career, I was mayor of the city of Florence,
which was the first place in history to abolish the death
penalty. A herald descended the steps of the Palazzo
Vecchio to announce that in that State, the Grand
Duchy, the death penalty had been abolished. Let us
not pile more barbarous acts on other ones. I ask every
State to join us in this battle for civilization.

The year 2015 will also be an important one for
the Expo in Milan and the United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Paris, which we discussed two
days ago, and for actions that remind us of the need
for a turning point, such as in the debate over Security
Council reform. We all believe that the Council must
be made more effective, representative, transparent
and accountable to the members of the international
community. But opinions on how to achieve that goal
still differ. In order to bring the various reform models
closer together, the Uniting for Consensus group, to
which my country belongs, continues to maintain that
creating new permanent members would imperil that
goal, and I reiterate our willingness to find compromise
solutions.

I believe that it is crucial that all those challenges
be seen as subsumed within the greatest challenge of
them all, one in which we must all be on the front lines.
There can be no peace, no freedom, no respect until
the international community puts at the centre of its
strategy a gigantic, grand investment into education,
schools, universities, going from house to house,
village to village, piazza to piazza. We say that the
most powerful weapon in affirming the values of peace
and freedom is the weapon of education, of culture,
of human capital, of investment in people and in the
stories and freedoms of individual women and men.

That is why I believe that, while we are living in
difficult times, we are also living in a time when we
must, as former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld
put it, say yes to the future. He also said, “We are not
permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what
we put into it is ours”. We are not permitted to choose

the frame of our destiny. We are living in a time of
threats and problems. Yet what we can put into it is
entirely ours. Within this frame of our destiny we can
once again inspire others with the values of education,
freedom and peace, so long as we are stay true to our
history and hopeful for our future.


I would first like to
congratulate President Kutesa on his well-deserved
election to the presidency of the General Assembly
at its sixty-ninth session. His distinguished career
as a diplomat and leader assures us of a successful
session. I would also like to commend his predecessor,
Ambassador John Ashe, for his remarkable leadership
during the previous session.

Over the 69 years of its existence, the United Nations
has witnessed several changes in the configuration of
international relations. Some were traumatic, others
benign. The survival of the Organization through
all those tribulations testifies to its resilience and
the enduring validity of its mission. Today it is still
confronted by serious challenges. The continuous
eruption of armed conflicts throughout the world,
terrorism, climate change, disease and the lingering
effects of the economic and financial crises are only
some of the challenges that have remained in the
foreground of international relations and preoccupied
the international community.

From the Horn of Africa and across the Sahel
region, to the Republic of Kenya and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, the continent of Africa is facing
a rise in terrorism. The Nigeria-based Boko Haram,
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Al-Shabaab in
Somalia continue to pose serious threats to the peace
and security of the continent. The emergence in the
Middle East and elsewhere of new extremist groups and
terrorist entities, such as the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria, has not only further compounded the problem
but is a stark reminder that we must act collectively
to discharge the moral responsibility resting on us to
ensure that people everywhere enjoy the right to peace,
development and the sanctity of life.

The use of military force alone as a strategy for
combating terrorism is no longer a panacea for that
menace. Terrorism requires a holistic approach that
addresses the root causes of the scourge. The resolution
of international disputes based on dialogue, justice and
the equality of all States must be at the heart of that
strategy if it is to succeed.

The recurring bloody conflict between Israel and
Palestine continues to weigh heavily on the conscience
of all humankind. Recent developments in that region
have cast a shadow on the future that had seemed
to hold out the promise of a negotiated settlement.
Unprecedented impunity and the disproportionate
use of force by the parties involved call into question
our very claim to be a civilization. Turning United
Nations shelters into combat zones and killing the
innocent children, men and women who take refuge in
them is a shameful act that must be condemned in the
strongest terms possible. Lesotho endorses the recent
Human Rights Council resolution S-21/1, demanding
that the massacres of innocent Palestinian civilians be
investigated by an independent commission and that
those responsible be held accountable.

Let us not forget that in 2005 we unanimously
adopted the principle of the responsibility to protect
(see resolution 60/1, paragraphs 138-140) in order
to safeguard innocent civilians from war crimes,

genocide, mass atrocities and ethnic cleansing. Indeed,
the Security Council has reaffirmed that principle in
several conflicts around the world and in some instances
has authorized military intervention.

Unfortunately, in the case of the slaughter of
thousands of Palestinian civilians, the Council has
shied away from invoking the principle of responsibility
to protect. Instead, it took comfort in issuing a
presidential statement that glaringly fails to reiterate
accountability for the war crimes committed. Civilians
in Gaza deserve the protection that Israelis in Tel
Aviv are afforded under international law. We call on
Israel — as we have always done in the past — to fully
comply with its obligations under the relevant Security
Council and General Assembly resolutions. That is the
only plausible route to lasting peace.

The world has long come to terms with the dangers
to humanity posed by the possession of weapons of
mass destruction. That is why Lesotho continues to
advocate for total abolition and destruction of all
nuclear weapons. Those weapons have no place in
modern-day civilized society, hence the call for a
convention to ban them all. While working towards
that goal, we must emphasize that full compliance with
the provisions of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons is critical. By the same token,
we call for the establishment of a Middle East zone
free of nuclear weapons, in accordance with the 2010
Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

It is unacceptable that the United Nations of today
still reflects the 1945 architecture of the world as seen
by the victors of the Second World War. The reform of
the United Nations, including the Security Council, can
no longer be delayed. A reformed, transparent and more
democratic United Nations is necessary for preserving
international peace and security and for confronting
the challenges of development. All Member States need
to garner the necessary political will to advance the
intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council
reform. Let us make the sixth-ninth session one for
decisive action.

The representatives who gathered in San Francisco
to finalize the Charter of the United Nations dreamed of
a world of peace and shared prosperity. They renounced
a vision of a world in which some unilaterally imposed
economic sanctions and financial blockades against
others, or one in which peoples were denied their right
to self-determination or were subjected to occupation,
as is the case in Cuba, Palestine and Western Sahara.
We have to remove those dark spots on the history of
our time by allowing the letter and spirit of the Charter
to guide our actions.

The theme chosen for our general debate,
“Delivering on and implementing a transformative
post-2015 development agenda”, could not be more
relevant at the current international juncture. The
road towards the achievement of all the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) has been rough, with some
countries reporting relative success in reducing poverty
and hunger, markedly increasing school enrolment,
reducing child mortality, improving maternal health
and combating HIV/AIDS. However, the challenges
remain most daunting in the least developed countries,
landlocked developing countries, some small island
developing States and countries in, or emerging from,
conflict.

For our part, in Lesotho we have made some
progress towards achieving at least two of the eight
MDGs, namely, universal primary education, and
promoting gender equality and empowering women.
We still face a long and uphill journey to reach a life
of dignity for all. HIV and AIDS still pose a serious
threat to us. The untold miseries brought about by that
scourge are known to all of us. Africa is more vulnerable
to that threat because of the worsening poverty and
unemployment. Sadly, new, incurable pandemics such
as Ebola have emerged, wreaking havoc in sister African
countries and overwhelming their health systems. The
world must mobilize resources and energy to help the
affected countries of West Africa fight the pandemic
and to abolish it in the long term.

Our quest to pursue a sustainable future for
all must never wane as we step into the new era and
embark on the road map of the post-2015 development
agenda. We need to formulate a new set of universal
sustainable development goals that are concise and
strong with regard to the means of implementation. It is
important to emphasize national ownership and respect
for national conditions in each Member State and to
take advantage of global diversity so that we can attain
our development aspirations.

As we continue with intergovernmental discussions
leading up to the Third International Conference
on Financing for Development, which will be held
in Addis Ababa in July 2015, we must be guided by
the spirit of frankness and mutual understanding,
without the acrimony that often characterizes

our intergovernmental deliberations. It is equally
important to emphasize that advancing the rule of law
at the national and international levels is essential for
realizing sustainable development, eradicating poverty
and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Lesotho is by no means an exception in that regard.

A few days ago, the Climate Summit provided
us with an opportunity once again to reaffirm our
collective resolve to implement measures that can
significantly address climate change. We disagreed for
far too long, until we were confronted by the glaring and
compelling scientific evidence that the link between
global warming and human activity is indisputable.
Sadly, catastrophes have begun to hit, mostly affecting
the poorest and most vulnerable countries.

My country is one of the worst affected by climate
change. In recent years, Lesotho has faced unsettling
development challenges due to the effects of climate
change. The effects of increasing extreme weather
patterns such as early frost, droughts, desertification
and degradation of arable land compound the challenges
that we are already facing. Livelihoods of societies are
stifled, and economies and ways of life are negatively
affected.

While we appreciate that there are resources aimed
at helping developing countries to mitigate and adapt
to the impacts of climate change, we are concerned
that such funds are difficult to access. The global
climate-finance architecture is complex, with variable
structures of governance and modalities. Some finance
is channelled through multilateral agencies, sometimes
even outside the funding mechanisms of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
and some flows through bilateral development-
assistance institutions, thereby making coordination
very difficult. Lesotho calls on the international
community and our development partners to simplify
the accessibility of funds earmarked for climate change
initiatives if we are to make an impact on the ground.

In conclusion, let me point out that the regime of the
Charter of the United Nations has so far done its part in
preventing a third world war, thereby fulfilling one of
the dreams of the architects of our beloved Organization.
The continued success and the relevance of the United
Nations in the new millennium will depend, in large
measure, on its capacity for self-renewal in readiness to
meet modern-day challenges.

We, the United Nations, should continue to be
the voice of the voiceless and the best hope for all
humankind. Now is the time for leaders everywhere to
join the race for transformative action that can drive
peace, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule
of law, human dignity, economic competitiveness and
sustainable prosperity for all. Lesotho will and must
continue to be a persistent and resilient part of that
initiative.


On behalf of the
Government and the people of Belize, it is with great
pleasure that I congratulate you, Sir, on your election
as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth
session. I would also like to take this opportunity to
register Belize’s thanks to your predecessor, our own
son of Caribbean soil, Mr. John Ashe, who performed
his duties superbly this past year and leaves the
Organization a legacy of lasting value.

Mr. President, your chosen theme for this
year’s session, “Delivering on and implementing
a transformative post-2015 development agenda”,
is ambitious, hopeful and challenging, and Belize
commends you on its selection. In the next 12 months,
we will closely monitor and contribute to its crafting
and evolution. The stated goal of the new agenda is
to promote sustained and inclusive economic growth,
safeguard the future of our planet and lead to the

achievement of sustainable development, with the
eradication of poverty and hunger at its core.

Belize views those outcomes as more than
aspirational. For us they are imperatives. Failure to
attain them will have dire consequences for our nation
and people. They call for a transformative mobilization
of our societies at the organic level. For that to happen,
we must inspire and equip every actor in our societies
with the requisite tools for tackling their responsibilities
and partaking in the dividends of sustainable economic
growth with equity and social justice.

The experiences we have had in seeking to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals, however, make
us less than sanguine that we will have more success
with the post-2015 development agenda than we have
had in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
We are mindful that the support that some developed
Member States pledged to provide for our efforts with
the Millennium Development Goals did not materialize
in the amounts that were pledged and needed. On the
whole, small countries like my own are disadvantaged
by their lack of the resources and human, financial,
scientific and technological capacities that are
prerequisites for succeeding with such ambitious and
complex initiatives. Without cooperation and support
for addressing those needs from the developed States
Members of the United Nations and other multilateral
agencies and, crucially, through reform of the policies
of the international financial institutions, Belize’s
attainment of the post-2015 development agenda will
be severely hampered.

Looking to the future, Belize welcomes and
supports the Assembly’s adoption at its sixty-
eighth session of resolution 68/304, “Towards the
establishment of a multilateral legal framework for
sovereign debt restructuring processes”, and hopes
it will result in a robust multilateral treaty that will
increase the efficiency, stability and predictability
of the international financial system. In the wake of
the world’s financial meltdown in 2008 and the many
disasters that have occurred around the world over
the past six years, necessitating large outlays of donor
funding to assist the victims of such disasters, there
are unmistakable and troubling indications of donor
fatigue and a tendency towards isolationism and self-
centredness in our global environment, a trend that does
not augur well for financing the post-2015 development
agenda.

Belize nonetheless remains cautiously optimistic.
We are encouraged by the pilgrimage to this Hall over
the past week of world leaders from nations large and
small, friends and foes, allies and enemies. Each spoke
from this very rostrum, and each in essence voluntarily
reaffirmed the conviction of their respective countries
that collective action under these United Nations offers
our world the only true hope of dealing successfully
with the myriad problems currently afflicting
mankind, whether climate change, the dreaded Ebola
virus, religious fanaticism, or persistent poverty and
underdevelopment.

Of those maladies, Belize regards climate change as
the most pernicious. While a global consensus seems to
have finally been reached as to the causes, as well as the
cure, for this apocalyptic phenomenon, the political will
of the major emitters to take immediate, concerted and
decisive action to combat it is still absent. Indeed, just as
our international community was grievously dilatory in
taking prompt collective action to prevent the genocidal
massacre in Rwanda or the current spread of the Ebola
virus in Africa, so the major emitters are being dilatory
in confronting the challenges of climate change. It is
evident that the threats that epidemics, pandemics and
terrorism pose to our planet and humankind pale into
insignificance when compared to the existential threats
of climate change. Furthermore, it is equally evident
that it would not be hyperbole to opine that time is
not on our side. Horrendous devastation — caused by
extreme droughts, huge conflagrations in our forests,
intense rainfall, floods, hurricanes, melting snowcaps,
warming seas and sea-level rises, and an awful and
frightening increase in pestilence and diseases — is
already occurring around the world.

Among other things, my own country, Belize, is
already experiencing coral bleaching, coastal erosion
and flooding, and it is forecast that next year the entire
country will be visited by severe drought. The cost of
mitigating the damage that is already being done to my
country and of adapting to climate change is prohibitive.
It is time for the large competing emitters to put aside
their mutual suspicion and commit to capping global
warming at 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. While my
country appreciates the pledges that have already been
made to the Green Climate Fund, the amount of money
needed to address global warming is exponentially
larger. We do, however, remain optimistic that a robust
climate change agreement will be signed in Paris in
2015.

The development and security needs of nations
large and small in this era of globalization have hastened
the imperative of regional integration. Indeed, today
it is virtually impossible for any nation to function
successfully on its own in any sphere of activity. In my
own country’s case, the measure of development and
security we have enjoyed over the past 33 years, since
gaining independence, must be credited in large part to
the good relations we continue to have with our partners
in the various regional integration groupings to which
we belong and the excellent cooperation programmes
we share with our bilateral and multilateral partners,
prominent among which are the various agencies of
the United Nations. However, even as we acknowledge
with gratitude the tremendous contributions of our
partners to our nation’s security and development,
our Government is ever mindful that the primary
responsibility for it rests with our Government and
people. In that conviction, and given our limited
resources, our Government has had to prioritize its
areas of intervention. It has concentrated on providing
our nation’s basic needs — security, housing, education,
health care, employment and wealth generation.

Highest on that list of priorities is the importance
of safeguarding our country’s security and territorial
integrity. Successive Belizean Governments have
invested heavily in efforts to bring about a peaceful
resolution of the Guatemalan territorial claim over our
country. Our Government is unalterably wedded to the
peaceful resolution of this claim by adjudication at the
International Court of Justice. We have enlisted the
support of all our international friends and partners for
that decision, and the Guatemalan Government is also
committed, through the Special Agreement of 2008, to
the resolution of the claim by the International Court
of Justice.

We are convinced that wars and rumours of war
and any kind of international conflict will only bring
grief and cause pain, hardship and devastation. That is
why we keep working assiduously with our neighbours
in the region to cement friendly, peaceful, collaborative
and productive relations in order to achieve development
for our people. Belize is very pleased by the recent
designation by the Community of Latin American
and Caribbean States of our entire region as a zone of
peace. We also welcome your own call, Mr. President,
for the intensification of efforts towards the peaceful
settlement of disputes.

Domestically, Belize has enjoyed uninterrupted
peace and harmony for the past 33 years. Our
Government acts with alacrity and sensitivity to
defuse any situation that has the potential for civil
strife and disorder, and we invest substantially in our
security forces, in terms of both capacity-building
and equipment and transportation. In our quest for
wealth generation, job creation and the attainment of
sustainable development, Belize is pursuing, inter
alia, the prescriptions articulated in our Horizon
2030 national development plan. In that regard, our
Government is working in close concert with economic
development experts from the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development
Bank and other institutions.

Among the initiatives we are pursuing is a
comprehensive programme of infrastructure works
throughout our country, which includes the upgrading
and expanding of major highways; the paving of streets
in cities and towns; the installation of new drains in
flood-prone areas; and the construction and upgrading
of sporting stadiums and recreational community
buildings. Those programmes are being executed at a
total cost of $100 million.

Thanks to the collaboration of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela and the tremendous support
we receive through the Petrocaribe initiative, our
Government has been able to invest in infrastructure
and social programmes to the benefit of all our citizens.
Our Government is cognizant of the importance of
good infrastructure to our economic development.
Belize is a major exporter of primary products. All our
agri-products are transported by road from the farms
to the factories and then to the sea ports for export.
The aquaculture products and petroleum products we
produce are also transported by road to our seaports. All
our archaeological sites and many of our tourist resorts
are also only accessible by road. It is the expectation
of our Government that, with the enhancement of our
network of streets and roads, our country will become
more attractive to both residents and foreigners, be they
tourists or investors, and that this will translate into a
rapid expansion in productivity, economic growth and
wealth generation.

With a view to ensuring that as many Belizean
workers as possible obtain employment in the
infrastructure works being carried out, the Government
has requested all contractors who successfully bid
for the works to utilize manual labour wherever it is

feasible to do so. The works are providing employment
for many Belizean youth, both male and female.

As a further initiative to stimulate economic
development, our Government inaugurated the very
first National Bank of Belize one year ago. The Bank
started out modestly. It commenced operations by
providing loans primarily to finance the acquisition of
homes for middle-class Belizeans. Though the Bank is
limited in its offerings, its establishment has resulted
in an immediate and dramatic reduction of the interest
rates being charged by commercial banks in the country
on similar loans. That is a welcome development and
a goal that our Government had tried for many years
to achieve without success. The new Bank is rapidly
building up its customer base and has now started to
accept deposits. The prospect for young employed
Belizeans to own their own homes at affordable
mortgages is now greatly increased. Very many
Belizeans are already landed property owners, thanks
to an ongoing programme by successive Governments
to make land available to them at minimal costs.

Our Government is also aggressively promoting
foreign direct investment. We have successfully
attracted investment in petroleum extraction,
agribusiness, renewable energy, tourism and business
processes outsourcing.

On our Independence Day, 21 September 1981,
Belize inherited an educational system that was
designed to educate citizens for the needs of a remote
colonial outpost in the industrial age, the primary
economic activity of which was the export of timber
and sugar. We have since been making strenuous
efforts to transform that system into one capable of
satisfying the needs of an independent nation in this,
the twenty-first century and the information age. That
is proving to be a task fraught with great difficulty. It
is also an exceedingly expensive one. Our Government
currently spends 26 per cent of our national budget on
the education sector. However, that is not nearly enough
to cover the cost of the training and education needs
of our young nation. We appreciate, however, that the
quality of our workforce will be a great determinant in
our future development, and that we must therefore do
all in our power to make our workforce the very best it
can be regardless of the cost and without heeding the
sacrifices we will undoubtedly have to make.

To that end, our Government is engaged in a
number of initiatives aimed at training and educating
our population. Among those is a comprehensive
teacher training and certification programme. We are
resolved to have only teachers trained in pedagogy
and in the various subject areas that they are expected
to teach in our classrooms. Simultaneously, we are
assiduously expanding our education coverage from the
pre-primary to the tertiary levels. Indeed, more young
people today than at any other time in the history of our
nation can afford to obtain an education and can find
space in an educational institution near their homes. We
are also placing increasing emphasis on vocational and
technical education and training and on the teaching of
science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We
are in the planning stage for a new institute of science
and technology, and we are expanding the presence of
centres for employment training across the country.

Because we possess only two young universities, we
make strenuous efforts to gain access to universities and
other advanced educational institutions abroad for those
of our students who successfully attain the matriculation
requirements for entry into those institutions. We
have been very successful in that initiative. The vast
majority of our students attend those universities on
scholarships, thanks to the generosity of our cooperation
partners. Every Belizean student, male and female,
who attains the requisite matriculation requirement
has an equal opportunity to win a scholarship. Current
data indicate that our female students are much more
successful at winning scholarships than their male
counterparts. Our initiatives in the education sector are
contributing greatly to the increase in the competence
of our workforce at every level, thereby enabling it
to produce goods and services that are competitive in
the world markets. In order to continue our efforts in
that regard, we will need the continued support of the
United Nations and its formidable network.

Belize currently spends over 13 per cent of the
national budget on the health sector. We seek to develop
and maintain a healthy and productive population. To
that end, our Government is expanding school food
programmes countrywide and programmes that allow
parents of low-income families to purchase food items
at concessionary rates. We know that regular, balanced
meals are vital to the health of our population and that
it is much less expensive to keep our population healthy
than it is to cure it when it is ill.

We continue to strengthen our primary health-care
network. We continuously upgrade facilities in our
hospital and clinics with modern diagnostic equipment.
Our flagship public hospital is now benefiting from
a significant technological upgrade. We also recently
inaugurated a brand-new neonatal wing at that hospital.
For the first time in our country’s history, a state-of-
the-art facility to cater exclusively to the health needs
of our physically challenged children has been built.
This facility is the brainchild of the wife of our Prime
Minister, who serves as a Special Envoy for Women and
Children in Belize. She spearheaded both the raising of
the finances for its construction and the supervision of
its construction.

We take this opportunity also to applaud the
efforts of our Special Envoy who, just a few days ago,
hosted one of the largest gatherings of First Ladies
and Spouses of Heads of State and Government on the
subject of the empowerment of women and girls, here at
the United Nations. That special event was a universal
call to action on the financial health of women and girls
based on the Beijing Platform for Action. We call on
all Governments and international organizations to
support that worthy cause.

Belize expanded the coverage of our health
insurance scheme in the last budget year and, through
our cooperation agreement with the Republic of Cuba,
we are significantly increasing the number of our
health-care personnel. Indeed, only some three weeks
ago we welcomed a contingent of some 35 newly
trained Belizean doctors — the largest contingent of
doctors ever to return to our country in a single year.
Our citizens are our nation’s most valuable resource.
We are resolved to invest in them, to enhance their
competences and to ameliorate the quality of life of
each and every one of them.

The victims of global strife and global tragedies
are invariably human beings. The United Nations was
founded on the determination that no other generation
would have to suffer the scourge of war, which we all
know brings nothing but death, destruction and sorrow
to humankind. Our compact is to promote and protect
fundamental human rights and the dignity and worth of
the human person — all human persons of all nations,
large and small.

The devastating Ebola virus is increasing
exponentially and frighteningly. While we are
disappointed that international health agencies did not
respond more vigorously and with greater alacrity to
the Ebola outbreak many months ago, Belize welcomes
the Secretary-General’s United Nations Mission for
Ebola Emergency Response.

Belize endorses without reservation the call for
the Republic of Taiwan to be permitted to participate
in the specialized agencies of the United Nations. In
this modern day and age, it is incomprehensible that
we should want to deny ourselves the benefit of their
expertise in dealing with global issues.

If we are to remain true to the principle of inclusion
as enshrined in our Charter and as promoted in the
post-2015 development agenda, we must continue to
advocate for the right of the Sahrawi people for self-
determination.

The indiscriminate killing, maiming and
destruction recently meted out to innocent Palestinian
civilians, especially helpless women and children,
and their possessions, were an affront to decency,
morality and humanity. We reiterate our support for
the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by
diplomatic means and for the coexistence of the State
of Israel and the State of Palestine in peace and security
in their respective pre-1967 international borders, as
recognized by the international community.

Belize is convinced that any discussion of a future
development agenda must include the removal of
unilateral harmful practices that stifle and stagnate
development, wherever they occur. In that respect, we
join the rest of the international community in calling
for an end to the anachronistic embargo against Cuba.

Belize recognizes that foremost among our
development priorities is to ensure the sustainability of
the environment, in keeping with our flagship status as
a haven for democracy, the promotion and protection
of human rights and environmental conservation. We
embrace the principle that economic growth should
not come at any cost. However, neither should our
people have to forgo development to protect the natural
environment. We firmly believe that it is a false
dichotomy to pit development against the environment.
That is why we fully welcome and embrace the principle
of sustainable development. Our future and the world’s
depend on the entire globe embracing the sustainable
development approach.


I join those who have
spoken before me in congratulating Mr. Sam Kutesa on
his assumption of the office of President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. Like them, I am
confident that, under his leadership, the sixty-ninth session

will be productive. I would also like to express Fiji’s
gratitude for the leadership of Mr. John Ashe throughout
the sixty-eighth session.

Five years ago, I stood in this great Hall and promised
the global community that my Government would introduce
the first genuine democracy in Fiji’s history before the end
of September (see A/64/PV.10). It is my honour to inform
the Assembly that, with the support of the Fijian people,
I have kept that promise. I return to the Assembly today
as the duly elected Prime Minister of the Republic of
Fiji. At our general election on 17 September, I led my
Fiji First political movement to a decisive victory in
the first election to be held under our new Constitution
on the basis of equal votes of equal value. The new
Constitution replaced the three previous constitutions
since our independence from Britain in 1970, in
which Governments were chosen under a weighted
and discriminatory formula that separated the various
communities and favoured some citizens over others.

For nearly four decades, we laboured under a system
that was undemocratic, unjust and unfair. Indeed, we
were a case study of a nation that was supposedly
democratic and casting itself as such, but was failing
to meet some basic democratic standards — a common
and equal citizenry, a common identity and a level
playing field on which every citizen can excel. We
have often heard it said that elections are key to having
democracy. We in Fiji knew that that was not the case,
because our electoral system, before it was reformed,
did not give us true democracy. It did not facilitate
justice, transparency or good governance. It was about
reinforcing power, the power of elites, and keeping the
population divided into different communal groups.
That weighted system perpetuated injustice for a great
many of our people, created different classes of citizens
and encouraged corruption. It was a system that no
advanced democracy would accept for itself. The status
of any Fijian in national life depended on his or her
racial origin, whether that man or woman came from
one of the chiefly or business elites, and even what part
of the country the person lived in.

We needed a revolution to put us on the path to
true democracy. And from the time that that revolution
began in 2006 to our election 10 days ago, we embarked
on a series of reforms that have transformed our nation.
More laws were passed during this eight-year period to
improve our standard of governance than in the entire
36-year period since independence. And central to that
was the development of our supreme law — the 2013
Constitution — from which all other laws flow. It is the
blueprint for the new Fiji. Now every Fiji Islander enjoys
equal opportunity and a common identity — Fijian. That
name was once reserved for the indigenous majority but
now applies to everyone from the Republic of Fiji, just
as the common name American applies to all from the
United States or the name Australian to any Australian
from Australia.

A range of social and economic rights have also
been enshrined in our supreme law for the first time,
rights that comply with a number of United Nations
conventions — the right to economic participation,
a just minimum wage, education, housing, health
and adequate food and water. The right to live in an
environment free of pollution is a principle we hope
that every nation will embrace, as we strive for the
preservation and protection of our natural surroundings.
So today, I am proud to report to the Assembly that Fiji
is a fairer, more just society and a more compassionate
society, as we step up our efforts to alleviate poverty on
the back of a rapidly strengthening economy.

We have also set our sights on being a smarter
country by introducing free schooling at the primary
and secondary levels for the first time. Plus we now
have an array of scholarships and a tertiary loans
scheme to enable our young people to go on to higher
education. Our vision is to cement our place as a
pre-eminent Pacific Island nation, a true regional hub
and a Pacific beacon of prosperity and progress for our
smaller neighbours. We intend to play a bigger role in
the wider world to voice our collective concerns about
such issues as the environment, climate change and the
need to create a fairer trading system to benefit our
people in the Pacific and in all developing countries.

As we begin this new era in our national life, I want
to thank those in the greater community of nations
who have stood by us in recent years as we made the
reforms that were necessary to create a better Fiji. Not
everyone understood what we were trying to do. Some
tried to damage us with sanctions and to degrade our
quality of governance because we refused to accept
their prescriptive and high-handed approach towards
us. But the majority of nations recognized our right
to determine our own future and came to understand
that we were working not for the benefit of a governing
elite but for the common good. To those in the General
Assembly who gave us their support, our friends, 1
extend the grateful thanks of the Fijian people.

I also want to especially thank those countries
that made up the Multinational Observer Group that
declared our general election credible, free and fair.
For the co-leaders from Australia, India, Indonesia,
Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, the members
of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, New Zealand, the
Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, the
United Kingdom and the United States of America — I
offer many thanks to them all. It has been a long and
sometimes traumatic journey for our nation in the
44 years since independence: four coups, a rebellion,
four Constitutions and 56 days of shame in 2000 when
members of our Parliament were held hostage.

Fiji has struggled to be unified and cohesive; our
development was retarded by our inability to think and
work as one nation, one people. But with the recent
election, we have put that era firmly behind us. In
our new democracy, we are all Fijians, not members
of separate ethnic and religious groups. And having
established a common and equal citizenry, along with
a secular State, we intend to move forward together
to finally fulfil our promise as a nation, to fulfil our
destiny.

I especially want to pay tribute today to the Fijian
people. I say to them today before the world: this was
their victory. Whichever candidate they chose, theirs
was a vote for a better future for our nation. I pledge
again that I will govern for the benefit of all our citizens,
no matter who they are, where they come from or who
they voted for. Mine will be an inclusive Government
over the next four years. I will be the leader of all Fijians,
for all Fijians. As we move our beloved nation forward,
I am determined to leave no one behind. In that spirit, I
extend a hand of friendship to my political opponents.
Whatever our differences, let us now work together
constructively in our new Parliament, when it convenes
on 6 October, to improve the lives of every Fijian.
We are currently enjoying the most sustained period
of economic growth in our history. The possibility to
create more jobs and raise the living standards of our
people has never been greater. Let us join hands to put
our nation first, to put Fiji first.

I want to assure our Pacific neighbours of Fiji’s
continuing contribution to the region as we work
together and collaborate to resolve the great challenges
facing us, develop our economies and improve the lives
of all Pacific islanders. Fiji has played a leading role
in the formation of the Pacific Islands Development
Forum, an addition to the existing regional framework,
which, for the first time, links Governments with civil
society groups and the private sector in a joint effort
to solve our development problems in a sustainable
manner.

Fiji is privileged to have been given the
responsibility of hosting the Pacific Island Development
Forum Secretariat in our capital, Suva. We were equally
privileged that the outgoing Indonesian President,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyno, was our principal guest at
this year’s Forum in June.

In this International Year of Small Island
Developing States, we need a more concerted effort to
strengthen our regional institutions in order to confront
the enormous challenges we face in the Pacific, namely,
population growth, the unsustainable use of our ocean’s
natural resources and rising sea levels caused by climate
change. Climate change threatens to engulf some of our
Pacific Island States altogether, and is already forcing
the evacuation of coastal villages in Fiji.

I repeat here what I have said in other forums:
history will judge the world’s major carbon-emitters
extremely harshly, unless they take immediate and
comprehensive steps to reduce emissions. It is simply
not acceptable, purely in moral terms, for the world to
allow the small island developing States to sink slowly
beneath the waves because of the selfish determination
of industrialized nations to protect their own economies.
Time is fast running out, and I beg Governments to act.

I am also here to rededicate ourselves as a nation
to the ideals of the United Nations and to its service,
whenever and wherever it is required. That service is at
the core of our foreign policy, whose central purpose is
to be friends to all and enemies to none. It has been our
privilege to chair the largest voting bloc at the United
Nations, the Group of 77 and China, and this year to
assume the Presidency of the Executive Board of the
United Nations Development Programme.

For some 36 years now, Fiji has proudly contributed
our troops to successive peacekeeping operations in
Lebanon, Sinai, Iraq, Syria, Timor-Leste, South Sudan,
Darfur, Liberia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Namibia,
Cambodia and the Solomon Islands. Some of those
peacekeepers have paid with their lives — as have
troops from other countries — and we honour those
who have fallen in the cause of peace. Last month, 45 of
our soldiers currently serving with the United Nations
Disengagement Observer Force, were held captive.
As a nation, we held grave fears for their safety, but

after two anxious weeks our prayers were answered,
and our men were freed. I want to thank the skilful
team of United Nations negotiators who worked with
our military officers and diplomats in a tireless effort
to secure the release of our men. I also warmly thank
those nations that came to Fiji’s assistance during that
trying period. We will never forget the role played by
those Governments in keeping our men safe so that they
can continue to fulfil their United Nations mandate and
eventually return safely to their families and friends in
Fiji.

I am proud to say that not once during the course of
that crisis were there any calls in Fiji for the withdrawal
of our troops from that, or future, peacekeeping
missions. Peacekeeping is a noble cause and is our
contribution to the welfare of ordinary men and women
living in less fortunate circumstances far from our
island home. I want everyone to know that Fiji will
always be ready to serve.

To strengthen our commitment to meeting our
international obligations, this year Fiji opened a
Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva,
which is focused on strengthening our interaction
with treaty bodies, such as the Human Rights Council,
the International Labour Organization, the World
Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property
Organization, the International Telecommunication
Union and other organizations based in Geneva.

In closing, Fiji looks forward to contributing
positively to the work of the United Nations during the
President’s stewardship of the Assembly at its sixty-
ninth session. On behalf of all Fijians, I pledge our full
support and cooperation as the President carries out his
tasks in the cause of the great global family to which
we all belong.


I congratulate my brother Sam
Kutesa of the Republic of Uganda on his well-deserved
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-ninth session. While wishing him every success
in the discharge of his duties and responsibilities,
my delegation and I promise him our full support

and cooperation. Allow me also to pay tribute to his
predecessor, Mr. John Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda,
for his remarkable leadership of the Assembly at its
sixty-eighth session.

Our illustrious Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
deserves praise and appreciation for his leadership
and the good work he is doing for our esteemed
Organization. He has been performing his duty with
courage, dedication, passion and commitment in
driving the United Nations agenda. We will always be
grateful to him.

We welcome and fully endorse the theme of this
year’s debate, “Delivering on and implementing
a transformative post-2015 development agenda”.
We expect the discussion on it to make important
contributions in the intergovernmental negotiations
about to start on the post-2015 development goals. As
we dedicate our time and effort to the negotiations on
the post-2015 development agenda, we must not lose
sight of the unfinished business of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). It is important that
any unaccomplished targets and indicators should be
properly factored into the new agenda. In the meantime,
we should ensure that we use the remaining 461 days to
accelerate the pace of implementing the MDGs.

The issue of financing the implementation of
the post-2015 development agenda must be given
special attention. I am mentioning this matter because
experience has taught us that, other factors aside, we
will fall short of attaining a number of the MDG targets
and indicators because of unpredictable, unreliable,
insufficient and untimely availability of financial
resources. Therefore, for the post-2015 development
agenda to be achieved, we must devise a mechanism
to ensure stable, predictable and reliable sources of
finance for their implementation.

There is more to the year 2015 than the deadline for
the MDGs and the onset of the post-2015 sustainable
development goals. The year 2015 is also a deadline
for the world to conclude a legally binding climate
change agreement. We thank the Secretary-General
for convening the Climate Summit that took place on
23 September, here at the United Nations. It afforded
us a unique opportunity to put our minds together and
deliberate on ways to save this planet from disaster and
advance on clean development pathways. It was very
opportune, indeed, to hold the Summit two months
before the twentieth Conference of the Parties to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (COP-20), which is due to be held in Lima in
December 2014, and one year before COP-21, to be held
in Paris next year. In many ways, the Summit may help
to make the work in Peru less difficult. As members
know, a successful Lima Conference will mean a lot
in terms of the Paris Conference, where we expect
to conclude a legally binding climate agreement. We
know it is not easy, but Tanzania and Africa as a whole
are appealing to all countries from all continents to do
whatever it takes to ensure that COP-21 delivers on the
expectations all of us have. Failure should not be an
option.

United Nations reforms are long overdue. Reports
that consultations and negotiations are not showing
encouraging signs of progress are very frustrating
indeed. We should remain steadfast and vigilant and not
allow the momentum to be lost. We humbly request the
President of the Assembly to use his good offices and
long-standing diplomatic skills to revitalize the process
and keep it on track. We must keep the flame burning.

Global peace and security are in a state of flux.
The events occurring in North Africa, the Middle
East, Eastern Europe, the Great Lakes region and the
Horn of Africa are matters of concern to all of us.
Equally important is the menace of terrorism; the illicit
exploitation of natural resources; poaching; and the
illicit trade in narcotic drugs and weapons, which are
making the world less secure.

Terrorism is assuming new dimensions, making
it a huge threat today because of its indiscriminate,
lethal and callous character. Hundreds of innocent
people have lost their lives or been abducted, with
fatal consequences. No country is insulated from this
menace, and nobody is safe. As such, it calls for all of
us to play an active role in the fight against terrorism
and cross-border crime. Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the
Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham and other terrorist
organizations should not be allowed to have their way.
Libya should not be left to disintegrate. The senseless
fighting in the Central African Republic and South
Sudan must be brought to an end. This world, under
the leadership of the Security Council and regional
organizations, has the capacity to do exactly that. Let
us do what is required of us to stop the bloodshed, loss
of life, suffering of innocent people and destruction of
property.

The horrifying scenes of bombings and the
deaths of innocent women, children and men in the
recent hostilities between Israel and Palestine are

heartbreaking. Unfortunately, the conflict has been
going on for far too long, despite the fact that the
lasting solution is known: two States, living side by
side harmoniously. That solution has been elusive. The
time has now come for the United Nations, the United
States of America, Russia, Europe and other global and
regional Powers to come together in concerted efforts
to make it happen. We should not wait any longer.

As regards the question of Western Sahara, let me
reiterate the appeal I made last year to the Security
Council to do everything in its power to resolve that
problem once and for all. Honestly, I cannot comprehend
why that problem, which began around the same time as
that in East Timor, nearly 40 years ago, should remain
unresolved to this day. What are the insurmountable
challenges impeding the United Nations from ending
the impasse? I ask the United Nations to please do what
is needed and put the Sahrawi question to rest. I know
it can.

Once again, we in Tanzania wish to join others who
spoke before us in calling for an end to the sanctions
and embargo against Cuba and its people. For over 50
years, the embargo has condemned the people of Cuba,
including innocent children and women, to perpetual
hardship and poverty. It is high time that the embargo
be lifted and the people of Cuba given the opportunity
to live in dignity like everybody else on this planet.

This session of the General Assembly is being held
at a time when our brothers and sisters in Liberia, Sierra
Leone and Guinea are confronting the worst outbreak
of the deadly Ebola epidemic to date. In those three
countries, together with Nigeria and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, some 2,400 people have lost
their lives. The disease, which has no cure or vaccine
as yet, presents a major threat to the countries where
the disease is known to exist, but also to neighbouring
countries and beyond. Unless the world succeeds in
controlling the spread of this disease, there is every
likelihood that it will become a global epidemic.

Our collective efforts in that regard are the best
way forward. I believe the world has the technology,
knowledge and financial resources that, if put together,
can defeat the threat posed by Ebola. We should also
continue to support the efforts of the world’s scientists,
who are working tirelessly, day and night, in search
of a cure and a vaccine. We applaud the efforts being
undertaken by the United Nations, the World Health
Organization, the United States Government and other
countries with the necessary technical and technological
capabilities to assist the affected countries and wage
the fight against the disease worldwide

We request four things. First, we must continue and,
where possible, bolster that support until the spread of
the disease is under control. Secondly, we must continue
to assist other nations in West Africa and elsewhere on
the African continent in building their capacities for
surveillance, isolation and treatment. Thirdly, we must
intensify our efforts to develop a cure and a vaccine
to save the lives of those infected now and to prevent
others from being infected. Fourthly and finally, we
must help Africa; we must help African nations so that
the stigma that is developing against Africa because of
Ebola is stopped.

Reports that a number of people from other
continents are now shying away from coming to Africa
and are cancelling travel plans because of Ebola are
disturbing. That is threatening to kill the all-important
tourism industry, trade and investment flows to Africa.
May the United Nations and friends of Africa please
help us to tell the world that Africa is a continent of
54 countries, not a country of 54 provinces. Not all
countries in Africa have the disease. Moreover, many
countries are far away from the concerned countries in
West Africa. In fact, the affected countries are closer
to Europe than they are to Kenya, Tanzania or South
Africa in eastern and southern Africa, to mention but a
few. As a matter of fact, they are 9 to 11 hours away by
air from those countries. To cancel travel to our parts
of Africa is incomprehensible and a gross injustice to
the continent.

I am confident that this seven-day debate on
the theme “Delivering on and implementing a
transformative post-2015 development agenda” affords
us another opportunity to define a bright future for
ourselves, our children, our children’s children and their
grandchildren. We should seize the moment to build on
the success stories and lessons from the many countries
and peoples who have been successful. We should
also learn from the challenges and failures during the
implementation of the MDGs in conceiving the goals,
targets and indicators of the post-2015 development
agenda. Tanzania stands ready to cooperate with the
rest of the Members of the United Nations family in
building consensus on the post-2015 development goals.

Allow me to conclude by appealing to everyone in
this Hall to promise to work for a post-2015 development
agenda that will make the world a better place for all of
us to live in.


We are proud to have our African brother, Sam Kutesa,
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Uganda — a
member country of the African Union — presiding over
the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. We are
fully confident that during his tenure he will advocate
for and advance the most pressing issues of our peoples.
He can count on Nicaragua’s support.

We would also like to congratulate the President
of the General Assembly at the previous session, a
brother from the Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States, Ambassador John Ashe of Antigua
and Barbuda, and his entire team for their dedicated
leadership and unstinting effort to realize an agenda for
the benefit of our peoples.

We live in a world of many interconnected and
related crises that reveal the unjust and inequitable
development policies prevailing among various peoples
and nations. The existing unjust economic order,
resulting from imperialism and its contemporary
model — global capitalism — has failed to respond
to the growing and increasingly frequent crises. The
numbers of the world’s poor increase daily in both the
South and the North, in flagrant violation of the most
basic human rights. We must work together to overcome
and eradicate poverty, hunger, malnutrition, disease,
war and conflict, regime change politics and coups,
violence against women and children, the arms race,
the negative impacts of climate change, and emerging
social and slavery plagues, including drug trafficking,

organized crime and human trafficking, among others,
as soon as possible.

Social justice, solidarity, unity, complementarity
among peoples, and brotherhood and respect among
nations must prevail. The eradication of poverty
remains the greatest challenge facing the world.
We will begin negotiations on the post-2015 agenda
with the central concern of not having achieved
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in all
developing countries. It is urgent to redouble efforts
and create an international environment conducive to
facilitating developing countries’ implementation of
the MDGs, including appropriate financing.

The post-2015 agenda will provide a new
opportunity to strive for a just world order. It should
promote sustained economic growth, inclusive and
participatory social development, environmental
protection and human dignity, with sufficient flexibility
to respond to the needs, priorities and specificities
of each country and region, conscious of the fact that
no single model or recipe for development exists. The
agenda should involve an intergovernmental, open and
transparent process, based on the results of the Open
Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals
and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development.

Developing countries suffer the most from the
adverse effects of climate change, whose extreme
meteorological phenomena are ever more frequent and
intense. Despite our economic limitations and prioritized
focus on poverty and sustainable development and with
no obligation under the Convention, we are assuming
the costs of the adaptation and mitigation efforts.

We must urgently achieve a binding agreement
in 2015, containing strong, ambitious and balanced
commitments on all its provisions and based on the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change and its principles and provisions, particularly
equity and common but differentiated responsibilities,
in order to address the climate crisis and protect the
ecosystems that sustain life on our Mother Earth.

No country that is part of the international
community can claim the right to use or threaten the use
of force in its international relations. Such exceptionalist
policies not only do not resolve conflicts; rather, they
stir things up, as has been seen in recent years. Dialogue
and negotiation are the only means to resolve conflict.
Based on its Charter, the United Nations must assume
its role as the main organ responsible for ensuring
world peace and must reject war-mongering policies,
war and confrontation. Given the challenges we are
dealing with, thorough reform of the United Nations
is becoming increasingly imperative, and particularly
reform of the Security Council, which should recognize
contemporary realities by including the voices and
votes of developing countries in the categories of both
permanent and non-permanent members.

We consider it vital that we have a nuclear-
weapon-free world with total and complete disarmament.
We welcome the designation last year of 26 September
as the International Day for the Total Elimination
of Nuclear Weapons, initiated by the Non-Aligned
Movement at Cuba’s suggestion.

In the face of the growing Ebola epidemic, Cuba,
our sister in solidarity, has once again made its human
and scientific resources available to work alongside
our African brothers who are fighting the deadly
virus. Meanwhile, that same sister nation of Cuba
continues to resist the criminal economic and financial
embargo imposed on it by the United States. Nicaragua
emphasizes its unconditional solidarity with Cuba and
demands an end to a blockade that violates international
law and the human rights of the people of Cuba. We
demand the immediate and unconditional release of
the five anti-terrorist Cuban patriots. And we condemn
the role that the United States arrogates to itself in
putting countries on its unilateral and arbitrary list of
State sponsors of international terrorism, and demand
that Cuba be removed from the list. We condemn such
anachronistic United States policies, as well as the
intensification of the blockade and its extra-territorial
nature.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its
Bolivarian revolution continue to suffer from harassment,
interference and external aggression. Nicaragua offers
its unconditional support to Venezuela’s people and
Government, led by our comrade Nicolás Maduro
Moros, in their defence of their revolutionary liberation
process.

We must bring to an immediate end Israel’s illegal
occupation of Palestinian territory and prevent Israel
from continuing its aggression and brutal attacks
on the men, women and children of Palestine. The
Security Council should once and for all live up to its
obligations and demand that Israel end such practices
and policies in order to clear the way for a sovereign
and independent State of Palestine, based on its

pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,
and with two States, Palestine and Israel, living side
by side in peace. Nicaragua reiterates its absolute and
unconditional solidarity with the State of Palestine in
its fight for freedom and its inalienable rights.

We also stress our total solidarity with the
Government and the people of Syria in their fight
against international terrorism and in defence of their
sovereignty and territorial integrity. We emphasize the
importance of achieving a negotiated political solution
among Syrians and ending foreign intervention,
including the financing and supplying of weapons to
terrorist groups. When confronted by such conflicts,
rather than opting for dialogue and negotiation to
settle them, the NATO countries take unilateral
decisions, measures and action outside the United
Nations framework and in violation of international
law, including aerial bombardment in territories of
sovereign countries.

Nicaragua has frequently expressed its rejection
and condemnation of actions aimed at regime change,
which rupture constitutional order, lead to widespread
violence, encourage the use of force and open the door to
coups d’état that can overthrow legitimate Governments
elected by the will of the people. That is the kind of
policy that we have witnessed in Ukraine; it has led
to loss of life and the displacement of populations,
and created a humanitarian crisis with unpredictable
consequences. Because we want peace and believe in
the prevention and resolution of conflicts by peaceful
and inclusive means, we reject such policies, as well
as the imposition of unilateral measures and economic
sanctions that violate international law.

Nicaragua recognizes the cooperation of China on
Taiwan with developing countries, particularly in the
area of food and social inclusion programmes, and we
reiterate our support for the legitimate aspirations of
China on Taiwan for greater participation in the United
Nations specialized agencies, one that accords with the
requirements and needs of its population of 23 million.

We reiterate our full support for the legitimate
rights of the Republic of Argentina in the dispute
over the sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands, the
South Sandwich Islands and the adjacent islands. The
United Kingdom should comply immediately with the
relevant United Nations resolutions and initiate direct
negotiations with Argentina. Similarly, we support and
consider ourselves part of Argentina’s fight against
vulture funds.

Puerto Rico continues to labour under the colonial
yoke and now more than ever needs our solidarity and
active support in its struggle for independence and
self-determination. The United States should free the
world’s longest-imprisoned political captive, the Puerto
Rican patriot Oscar López Rivera. We also commend
and remain in solidarity with the struggle of the people
of Western Sahara under the leadership of the Frente
Polisario.

Nicaragua, a small country whose policies are
based on Christian values, socialist principles and the
practice of solidarity, works proactively in our complex
global environment, through various international and
regional forums, to promote policies of peace, unity and
understanding among nations, political and negotiated
solutions to conflicts and the right of our peoples to
achieve sustainable development and well-being.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our
America, of which Nicaragua is a member, has been
a factor in improving unity, complementarity and
economic integration in our region. In turn, it promotes
other forums such as Petrocaribe, which groups together
20 countries of our region and has had an immediate
and concrete positive impact on the well-being of our
peoples as one way of overcoming poverty, hunger and
inequality. On 14 December, we will celebrate the tenth
anniversary of its founding, resulting from the unifying
vision of the Latin American and Caribbean leaders
Hugo Chávez Frias and Fidel Castro Ruz.

These steps towards regional integration have
borne fruit with the creation of the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States, through which we
continue to deepen our process of political, economic,
social and cultural integration, respecting diversity and
building unity. We have declared our region a zone of
peace. Within the framework of the Central American
Integration System, we are strengthening integration in
all fields and working together to fight the scourges of
drug trafficking and organized crime and to turn the
Gulf of Fonseca into a zone of peace and development.

Our Government of Reconciliation and National
Unity, under the visionary leadership of our President,
Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra, continues to work
to restore the political, economic, social and cultural
rights of all Nicaraguans. Nicaragua has become the
leading country in the region in terms of public safety.
Our fight against drug trafficking, organized crime
and human trafficking has been recognized as the most
vigorous and effective in the region. Our economic

growth is consistent and rising and is among the highest
of our region. We are reducing poverty and extreme
poverty, attaining the Millennium Development Goals
and empowering women through political and economic
participation. Indeed, we rank very highly in the world
in terms of female ministers, parliamentarians and
mayors.

We combat violence against women and girls head
on, with strict laws and social programmes targeting
both groups, and with police stations for women in all
municipalities of the country. Education and health care
are prioritized and are provided free for all Nicaraguans,
and early childhood care programmes and maternity
homes can be found throughout the country.

In our Caribbean autonomous regions, in addition
to the restitution of the rights of indigenous peoples
and people of African descent, the autonomy process
is growing in strength every day, with the recent
completion of the land ownership process in the
indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. All
these efforts of our people and Government, together
with our policies of inclusion and social justice, won
immediate recognition and support from our people,
who have taken ownership of them, and they have been
held up as examples of good practice by all the agencies,
projects and programmes of the United Nations system.

In conclusion, we note that the work of the General
Assembly at the present session and in the coming
years will be crucial for developing countries and the
rest of the world. Let us unite from this very moment
to achieve the urgent and necessary changes needed to
attain a better world and better lives for our peoples.


At the outset, allow me to
congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of
the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session and to
wish you every success in your important duties.

Let me begin with a quote by Edward Wilson:

“The great challenge of the twenty-first century
is to raise people everywhere to a decent standard
of living, while preserving as much of the rest of
life as possible.”
To preserve life and the sustainability of the planet
for every human is not pure theory. It is a practical
question for our future and for that of our children.
The Millennium Development Goals, the post-2015
framework and the challenge of climate change must
form much more than the theoretical basis for our
discussions. Those goals must identify, address, offer
a solution to and solve problems that in one or two
generations may bring the human race to the brink of
its own existence.
Seventy years ago, when the Second World War
caused tens of millions of deaths, consuming all of
the principles of humanity, the patriots and democrats
in my country, Slovakia, took up arms and put their
lives at risk to fight against evil and for liberty and
democratic values. They fought together with many
other nations to establish the foundation for new global
cooperation, given shape a year later with the adoption
of the Charter of the United Nations. The horrors of
the Second World War, the failure of the international
community to maintain world peace, the direct threat
on the part of larger countries to use force against
smaller ones and the absence of an international order
and rules that are be universally accepted and respected
were a painful lesson for us all.

Cooperation among nations has come a long way in
the past seven decades. The United Nations has played
an important role on that road, but we have not gathered
here to celebrate a false sense of success. We have to
go much further than simply to identify challenges. It
would be a lost opportunity if political correctness and
diplomatic language were to limit us from openly and
freely naming and discussing the problems that plague
our world and the continents, countries and citizens that
we represent. We must not betray the commitments that
we all made to the principles of democracy, peace and
security for every single citizen of our planet. We must
look into the mirror to see what we are doing, how we do
it, what we are doing or have done wrong and what we
can do better. We believed that the number of conflicts
would gradually decrease as our civilization matured
and developed. However, today, we are confronted
with the opposite reality. Instability is increasingly
becoming the new status quo. Instability, poverty and
hatred are the fertilizers and catalysts of terrorism, and
terrorism is a threat to which no one is immune.

A year ago, we Europeans could hardly imagine
that, after investing so much effort in achieving peace
and stability in our continent, a new armed conflict
would arise in our neighbourhood. Conflict is dangerous
both in its nature and in its consequences. Twenty
years ago, Ukraine abandoned its nuclear programme
in exchange for the security and territorial integrity
guarantees granted by the United States, the United

Kingdom, China, France and the Russian Federation.
Today, instead of marking a major anniversary of
achievement in the area of security and stability on the
European continent, we are witnessing armed conflict
and political instability. Instead of building a world
without weapons of mass destruction, we encourage
those countries that seek security under the lethal
nuclear umbrella.

Slovakia strongly denounces violations of the
territorial integrity of any State. That is a trademark
of our foreign policy. It is a pillar for the stability of
the geopolitical architecture. We support that principle,
and Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea are
not an exception. We are nevertheless convinced that
dialogue and diplomatic efforts, with the participation
of Russia, will lead to sustainable peace in Ukraine.
We must respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and
the sovereign right of its people to decide their fate in a
free and independent manner. The United Nations plays
a crucial role in that matter. What Ukraine needs today
is to restore peace and stability, implement reforms
and be reassured of the strength of the guarantees for
the inviolability of its territory. Slovakia is ready to
participate in that process.

Diplomatic language is full of allegories, but
even the nicest language cannot hide the naked truth
when people are being killed. Acts of barbarism and
cruelty have become a freely available article. They are
broadcast live to our homes. They make us insensitive
to violence far away. At the same time, they create the
feeling of having being born into an unsafe world, in
which people ask: where is the effective protective
umbrella of the United Nations?

A year ago, we could not imagine the sudden rise
of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),
which has become a global threat in a short time. It has
overshadowed the long-term effort of the international
community in Iraq. The ideology and acts of ISIL
represent an unprecedented level of brutality and the
twisted use of the media for their self-promotion. It
represents the dangerous ideology of forcing violent
changes to State borders. It embodies ethnic and
religious cleansing, which will not stop at the borders
of Iraq, Syria or the neighbouring countries, but has the
ambition to spread beyond the region of the Middle East.
The entire global community has the responsibility to
act in order to end the suffering of the innocent victims
of violence and to protect children and women. Today,
we must to stand united in Iraq and prevent ISIL from
taking root in the territory it has occupied and from
consolidating its military and economic power.

Autocratic and totalitarian ideologies always bring
suffering, the restriction of rights, internal conflict,
injustice and death. We are all too familiar with
their ultimate price and catastrophic consequences.
Among the many tasks facing the United Nations
are the prevention of such ideologies from becoming
successful, the protection of human rights, the adoption
of every possible preventive measures to prevent
conflict and the establishment of sustainable peace.

Slovakia, with its own first-hand experience of
transitioning from a totalitarian regime to democracy,
supports efforts to create the conditions necessary for
sustainable peace. We promote security sector reform
as one of the key factors for success in the peaceful
development in regions emerging from conflict, as
well as for States going through a regime change to
democracy. Stable security institutions such as the police
and military can better fulfil their duties to safeguard
human rights and protect their citizens, especially
society’s most vulnerable members, including women
and girls.

The Slovak Republic actively fulfils its commitments
to Afghanistan. The United Nations Assistance Mission
in Afghanistan is led by a diplomat from Slovakia. We
remain convinced that in the aftermath of the recent
presidential election, the new Afghan leadership will
be able to create the conditions needed to achieve
national and social unity and to continue supporting
international assistance. I am pleased to note that the
two former presidential candidates have reached an
agreement, and we believe that that will contribute to
Afghanistan’s stability. Slovakia is ready to continue
to do its part in assisting the Afghan people in that
endeavour.

Disarmament is key to eliminating potential
sources of tension and conflict. Last year’s signing of
the Arms Trade Treaty was an important step towards
establishing common legal standards for regulating
and monitoring international trade in conventional
weapons. The Slovak Republic was among the first 50
countries to ratify the Treaty, and we are hopeful that
its implementation will contribute to eliminating the
dangers of the illegal arms trade and thus strengthen
global security.

Last but not least, peace, security and stability
are preconditions for development. The rule of law,

democratic governance and human rights are essential
for every single citizen. But we must address, respond
to and solve the global issues that may be as deadly
for humankind as a nuclear war — the changes that
are occurring on our planet. Globalization has created
borderless opportunities for entrepreneurship, but it has
also created new challenges that we must deal with if we
are to make life on Earth sustainable — climate change,
inequalities in development and in the distribution of
goods and services, poverty and unequal access to
health and education.

Slovakia is and will remain a responsible member of
the global community. We participate in the discussion
on financing sustainable development, offering our own
experience of economic transition. Global challenges
require global action and national responsibility. We
are ready to do our share.

The peoples of the world have vested in the United
Nations an exclusive and global responsibility: to
respond to violations of peace, ensusre respect for
international law, protect human rights and deal with
threats to humanity. Let us all make sure that it is able
to continue to carry out those responsibilities. For
decades, the Organization has been the forum where we
can name those responsible for the murder of their own
citizens on a massive scale, the leaders who worship a
cult of hatred and intolerance, and those who favour
arms over agreements and international law. But in the
cases where we have failed, our failure has caused the
suffering and death of innocent people.

We, the United Nations, should not give up on
the ideal of being the conscience of the world. Our
Organization should be the authority with the ability
to define, prevent and solve conflicts and problems.
Together we must convince people around the world
that we are safeguarding the international norms and
principles that the United Nations is built on. If we fail
to accomplish that within the United Nations itself,
we will not be able to guarantee to humankind that
totalitarianism, injustice, impunity and amorality will
not prevail.