Background
The General Assembly met today to continue its general debate.
Statements
EMOMALI RAKHMONOV, President of Tajikistan, said that the process of establishing a democracy had certain common features, but each nation’s struggle took on a unique character. Establishing a democracy should not be regarded as a simple process, but rather as a most complicated evolutionary one. The democratic process in Tajikistan would continue to gain momentum.
Poverty remained an unsolved issue within the international community, he said, and the shortage of freshwater was one of the most urgent concerns of the millennium. Some 1.2 billion people lived without access to freshwater, and annually more than 5 million people died from water-related diseases. To support economic growth and reduce the burden of poverty, significant investments for updating technology and improving water-resources management were needed.
Noting that terrorism posed a threat to democracy, he said, Tajikistan had been an active participant in efforts aimed at uprooting that evil. However, terrorism could not be curbed only by military methods, but also by dialogue. Terrorism did not have an ideology, nor a nation, nor a homeland. The drug trade had become a major source of financing terrorism, and to counteract the narcotic threat, Tajikistan proposed a global partnership responsible for coordinating field efforts at all levels.
Turning to religion, he said, attempts by the mass media to equate terrorism and extremism with Islam distorted the peaceful essence of Islam and presented the religion as a source of evil and violence. Islam, in fact, was not a religion of violence, but one of mercy and compassion, peace and accord. Tajikistan favoured increased regional cooperation and was striving to create a belt of peace and stability in Central Asia, featuring a zone free of dangerous weapons. Another challenge for the twenty-first century was the increasing number of territories aspiring to the status of States, but not recognized as such by the international community. A universal criterion for acknowledgement of States was needed.
SIMEON DE SAXE-COBOURG, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, said the 19 August attack against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad had sounded an alarm: terrorism was far from defeated. The vigilance of all Member States must be redoubled and the effectiveness of their counter-terrorism activities tripled. The Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee should work with regional and subregional organizations to ensure the efficacy of its work, in which context a high-priority role would naturally devolve upon the European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). All 12 major counter-terrorism conventions should be universally ratified and the root causes of the phenomenon addressed.
Bulgaria would conclude its mandate as a non-permanent member of the Security Council at the end of this year, he said. During its tenure, the Council had experienced a dramatic phase in which its very credibility had been called into question. Yet it remained clear that international peace and stability required the active participation of the United Nations. It was to be hoped that the Council would recover its unity on Iraq, as ensuring the stability and prosperity of that country was in the interest of the entire international community. Thus, in order to assist the people of Iraq in restoring their sovereignty as soon as possible, it was vital for the Council to give the United Nations a clear and realistic mandate.
Also of concern was the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, he continued. The Road Map remained valid and must be implemented by all concerned parties. The Palestinians must adhere to the obligation to stop suicide attacks, while Israel must stop extrajudicial killings and renounce its decision to expel Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
Turning to South-Eastern Europe and the situation in Kosovo, he reaffirmed Bulgaria’s commitment to a multi-ethnic, democratic and prosperous Kosovo in which all religious monuments would be respected. The solution to that problem lay in dialogue between the concerned parties, especially Pristina and Belgrade.
Outlining the significant advances made by Bulgaria since his last intervention at the United Nations, he said, his country had progressed towards the realization of its two primary external objectives. In 2004, Bulgaria would become a member of NATO, and, as of 1 January 2007, it would become a member of the European Union. Moreover, Bulgaria would assume the presidency of the OSCE on 1 January 2004. Among the contributions the latter organization could make to the work of the United Nations was the benefit of its accumulated experience of organizing and observing free and democratic elections.
ALVARO URIBE VELEZ, President of Colombia, said that, despite the anxieties that so many around the world faced because of terrorism, Colombia would reaffirm its commitment to “fight until we have left the scourge behind us”. Colombia also reaffirmed its faith in multilateralism as the most effective means to seek peace and security, as well as human, social, and economic development. The United Nations was irreplaceable, he said, stressing, however, that for the good of mankind, the Organization required constant revitalization in order to enhance its efficiency to face challenges such as terrorism.
He recalled that last year he had introduced his Democratic Security Policy to the Assembly. That initiative had been developed to free the people of Colombia from terrorism. Along with protection of the general citizenry, the Policy also provided protection for business leaders, labour union leaders, politicians, as well as political opposition factions -– all frequent targets of terrorist groups. There was no State presence in a large part of Colombia, some 1.2 million kilometres, of which 400,000 kilometres were jungle. Terrorists had asserted their authority over those areas. A year ago, 170 of Colombia’s
1,100 municipalities did not have police presence, but today the police presence had increased dramatically. It was hoped that all municipalities would be covered within a few weeks.
Still, there were hundreds of small towns that needed help, he said. In many of them, the Government had placed soldiers to provide security. It had also begun a successful initiative, which allowed navy infantrymen to fulfil their military service in their hometowns. Although Colombia’s crime figures showed significant declines, they were, nonetheless, staggering. For instance, the number of kidnappings had decreased 34.7 per cent in the past nine months, but that still meant there had been close to 1,500 kidnappings. While illegal roadblocks had decreased and rescue operations for kidnap victims were yielding more successes, no country could feel at peace with itself with 1,485 kidnappings in nine months.
He went on to say that homicides and massacres had also shown significant decreases, but Colombia would only claim victory when the attacks were completely eliminated. Each terrorist attack was painful for the country; just a few hours ago in Florencia, a terrorist bombing had left 12 people dead and 46 wounded. Many soldiers and policemen had died in the fight against rebel groups, and indigenous communities were also under attack, as were local mayors, some of whom had been forced out of their towns under threat of violence.
However, the Government was slowly making headway. Between August 2002 and August 2003, some 2,500 members of illegal self-defence groups had been apprehended, and the number of guerrillas captured in combat had risen 126 per cent. Advances against rebel groups had also been accompanied by stepped-up efforts to curb drug trafficking. Some 70 per cent of the country’s illegal crops had been destroyed, and the Government had deployed close to 6,000 families as forest rangers. For Colombia, terrorism, the illicit drug trade and insecurity were all the same thing. While the Government worked to stamp out terrorism and demobilize rebel actors, the country would implore the international community to join the fight.
SANDRA SUMANG PIERANTOZZI, Vice-President of Palau, said her country was enjoying rapid development following its independence nine years ago. However, at a time when rapid globalization was making nations and peoples more interdependent, and events that were once “half a world away” could now affect safety and security in one’s own back yard, Palau realized that it must join the international community in the challenge of protecting its people and way of life. To that end, Palau reaffirmed its unwavering support for the United States-led war against terrorism.
She said broad cooperation could also help to resolve conflicts, prevent the spread of disease and dangerous weapons, create economic stability, and raise standards of living. Still, the risks of globalization were real and deserved attention. Outlaw States and ethnic conflicts threatened regional stability and progress in many parts of the world, and other problems such as resource depletion, rapid population growth, uncontrolled migration flows, and the emergence of new infectious diseases such as SARS, had all increasingly significant implications for every nation’s security.
Pointing out that the highest environmental standards, such as those prescribed by the Kyoto Protocol, would not protect struggling small island States like Palau if other countries did not join the global effort to bring about peace and stability, she said that protection of the environment was a major concern for her country. Decisions made today regarding the environment and natural resources could affect every nation’s security for generations. Threats such as climate change, ozone depletion, over-harvesting and the introduction of nuisance species directly impacted the health and economic well-being of all the peoples of the world. For Palau, the immediate danger was sea-level rise.
Palau was also concerned about human cloning, she said. Any global ban on cloning must also include measures which proscribed the cloning of embryos for research. While the goal of finding cures for chronic illness was laudable, creating and destroying human life for advancement and economic gains was too high a price to pay. However, adult stem cell research was a promising field of study, which could provide an ethical source of stem cells for scientific study. Regarding public health, with many people dying of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and cancer or similar diseases, the international community must advocate health care beyond the clinic wall, she said. The global battle to defeat SARS had been an example of such an initiative.
SOMSAVAT LENGSAVAD, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, said that the world had been beset by terror, civil wars, armed conflicts, acts of aggression, and interference in the internal affairs of States. In handling those problems, it was essential to show patience, courage, and determination to solve them through diplomatic and political means. Furthermore, the challenges faced today were not limited to the political and military spheres, but included global warming, pollution, natural disasters, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, poverty and underdevelopment, refugees, debt and economic stagnation. The severity of those challenges was made more acute in a globalized world, where the gap between developed and developing countries continued to widen.
Landlocked developing countries experienced special needs and problems in development, he said. In its role as Chair of the 31-member Group of Landlocked Developing Countries, his country had spared no effort to bring those special concerns to the forefront of the international arena. Such efforts had culminated in the holding of the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and the Donor Community on Transit Transport Cooperation in Kazakhstan, and the adoption of the Almaty Declaration and Programme of Action, which all stakeholders were urged to implement fully and effectively.
The war in Iraq had severely tested the principle of collective security and the resilience of the Organization, he said. The Security Council must play its full role in securing international peace and security. Also of concern were the continued economic, commercial, and financial restrictions on Cuba, the ongoing violence and disproportionate use of force in the Middle East, and recent developments on the Korean peninsula. It was to be hoped that the recent six-party talks held in Beijing would be followed up with a dialogue aimed at resolving the nuclear issue, and ensuring the security of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which would contribute to the realization of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
JAN PETERSEN, Foreign Minister of Norway, said that unless security needs were met in Iraq, democracy, as well as economic and social development, would be lost. Without a safe and secure environment, the United Nations would be unable to help Iraq. Norway urged focused attention on rebuilding Iraq with the aim of helping its people regain control of their destiny and a future of peace with their neighbours.
Terrorism was a dark force, he said, calling for strengthening the role of the United Nations in multilateral disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation. The establishment of the International Criminal Court was a historic turning point, and Norway was committed to achieving progress in realizing the Millennium Development Goals.
Noting that the legacy of civil war was often another war, he said the United Nations could act to prevent that by stopping economic conflict drivers, such as diamonds and other natural resources, from fuelling and prolonging conflicts. In the case of Africa, the United Nations would assist the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in their endeavours towards social and economic development. Norway urged the Sudan to step up efforts to reach a final settlement.
Considerable progress had been made in peacekeeping around the world, although Afghanistan still faced a challenging task, he said. In Sri Lanka, he was hopeful that the parties would embark on negotiations towards an interim administration in the north-east province. Elsewhere, 2003 was a tragic year for Israel and Palestinians, with renewed violence determining the course of developments. Norway urged Israel to ease the living conditions of the Palestinians.
DIDIER OPERTTI-BADAN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, said reform of the United Nations was indispensable and could no longer be delayed. That process should be founded on four premises: to preserve intact the purposes and principles of the Organization as enshrined in its Charter; to strengthen multilateral action; to engage in a process of self-criticism and self-reform; and to change the conduct of Member States in fulfilling their international obligations within the Organization.
While the modalities for each of the four premises differed, Uruguay believed the most important aspect of those reforms was the strengthening of the General Assembly, he said. Its decisions were the most genuine manifestations of the will of the international community. Although recent reform aimed at making the Assembly more effective, more profound changes were needed in order to restore the authority, which the Charter granted it and which it had exerted in the past. Another area requiring reform was the improvement of the relationship between the Organization’s different organs.
Just as in the fight against poverty, he said, terrorism could not be defeated as a conventional enemy would be with a victorious battle. Its eradication was an ongoing objective whose achievement required time, patience and perseverance. Only a joint approach and multilateral action directed at its roots would reduce and hopefully eliminate that perverse and ubiquitous enemy. Uruguay, a party to most international instruments on terrorism, thus attached priority to the conclusion of a general convention against international terrorism.
He lamented the lack of progress at the recent ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), in Cancun, Mexico, a failure that sent a negative signal to a world that was demanding fairer and more balanced rules, especially for countries whose economies relied primarily on the production of agricultural goods. Uruguay, however, was hopeful that renewed impetus in the negotiations would permit nations to achieve positive results in the forthcoming meeting in Geneva. Such progress would benefit the less developed countries and be good for the future of international trade.
Prince MOHAMED BOLKIAH, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, said the failure by Member States to bring about much-needed reform of the United Nations had resulted in a gravely divided Security Council and left a legacy of bitterness. The consequences for the world’s peoples, particularly those from developing nations, had been disastrous, even as Member States recognized the need for decision-making at the United Nations to be more inclusive, thus, reflecting the international justice its Charter stood for.
In order for them to feel truly part of the decisions it made, he said, Member States had affirmed their wish for the Organization to be truly multilateral and had, on many occasions, expressed their desire for it to reflect today’s world rather than that of half a century ago. As it operated now, many observers and nations felt that Member States were too weak to act effectively in solving the issues of the day. They believed international affairs were now beyond the control of individual nations. Depressing as it was, that situation had forced them to examine what the United Nations could actually do more effectively and what it could realistically achieve.
He said that the feeling of hopelessness and frustration voiced, not only by ordinary people but also by many governments, made the task of restoring belief in the ability of the United Nations to act on their behalf the most important immediate one. It was for that reason, too, that his country supported the Secretary-General’s calls for structural reform of the Organization, including its Security Council, and was optimistic that those goals would be accomplished. In the face of today’s problems, the United Nations must continue to offer strong reasons for optimism about the future. To do that, the Organization as a whole had to be a genuine partnership between nations, as well as stand for shared idealism and a shared sense of justice.
GODFREY SMITH, Attorney-General and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Belize, called for the inclusion of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as a Member of the United Nations, saying that one must question whether the fundamental principles of the Organization -– namely, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the right to self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference, the right of peoples to the social and political system of their choice, respect for social, economic and political human rights, the non-use of force or threat of force, respect for international law and multilateralism –- were adequately observed and protected. In a world riddled with fear and dominated by terrorism, where barbarism enjoyed greater tolerance, there was a need to concentrate on saving humanity.
He said ideas were more powerful than arms, and that should be a source of comfort in an international arena where multilateralism was under threat and the development of peoples blocked by the practices of the rich and powerful. The basic principles of the United Nations Charter remained valid, although there was an admitted need to reform it. The fundamental purpose of the Organization, according to Article 1 of the Charter, was to ensure international peace and security and, to that end, to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace. Moreover, Article 42 had given primary responsibility for maintaining that peace and security to the Security Council.
The United Nations, with its many lofty objectives epitomized by the Millennium Development Goals, would only become irrelevant if made so by its Member States, he concluded. All nations -- large and small, powerful and weak -- were urged to keep the Organization alive, to respect the Charter, and to abide by agreed international principles and international law.
SURAKIART SATHIRATHAI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, said the United Nations had indeed come, as the Secretary-General had said, “to a fork in the road” on the way to a multilateral system and the assurance of a better world. At such a critical juncture, the international community must learn to live with and tolerate differences, in terms of religion, culture and values, through the promotion of true partnership and human security. While the international community could be proud of having forged partnerships for peacekeeping operations from Timor-Leste to Sierra Leone to Bosnia and Herzegovina, it must do more to address the conflict in the Middle East. For its part, Thailand remained as committed to reconstruction efforts in Iraq as it had been to those in Timor-Leste and Afghanistan.
Stressing the importance of collective action in ensuring human security, he noted that the narcotics trade and pandemics transcended all borders, threatening human security as much as terrorism. His Government had declared war against the drug trade upon taking office in February 2001, and had mounted an integrated strategic campaign, which incorporated prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and suppression. The Government hoped to declare total victory by the end of the year. For that purpose, more effective partnerships had been forged with the country’s neighbours and with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Other issues that must be dealt with collectively and comprehensively were the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the spread of diseases like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), he added. Moreover, guided by the principle of combining strength and diversity through partnership, his country had embarked upon a policy of bridging socio-economic disparities at the regional and subregional levels, including through the creation of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue. In its second year, the Dialogue comprised 22 Asian members, and the forging of an Economic Cooperation Strategy designed to narrow the economic gap between Thailand, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar.
Nationally, he added, efforts to create economic and social partnership through combining and empowering the grass-roots economy and the export-led business sector had proved successful, ensuring that the economy rested upon a secure and firm foundation for continued economic growth and sustainable development.
CHOE SU HON, Vice-Foreign Minister of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, said the international political climate was as unstable and challenging as it had ever been. Indeed, on the basis of extreme national bigotry and hostility, some countries had been designated as members of an “axis of evil” and identified as targets for “pre-emptive nuclear attacks”. Unilateral military attacks were launched against sovereign States under the pretext of the “war against terrorism” and suspicion of possession of dangerous weapons. Sovereign equality was increasingly being violated and, as a result, international relations had plunged into a morass of confrontation and antagonism.
“As we are all aware, all of this is the product of unilateralism [which compelled] countries to be subservient to the high-handedness and unreasonable demands of the super-Power”, he said. Therefore, it was the task of all Member States to reject unilateralism and build a world in which all countries coexisted peacefully. He underscored his country’s sincere efforts to ensure a fair solution to the nuclear issue between itself and the United States. That issue had risen from the hostile policies pursed by the United States to “isolate and stifle the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea politically, economically, and militarily”.
Nevertheless, his Government wished to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue and negotiations, with the ultimate goal of ensuring a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Accordingly, at both the recent tripartite and six-party talks, his country had advanced that notion. The 1993 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-United States Joint Statement and the 1994 Agreed Framework attested to his country’s peace-loving stance on the issue. However, the spirit of hope for a solution to those agreements evaporated, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was identified as part of an “axis of evil” and potential nuclear threat.
Thereafter, he continued, the United States reverted to its hostile stance, unilaterally halting the supply of heavy fuel oil since November 2002. The United States also began to pressure his country to disarm, when all the while it was trying to overthrow the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. His country’s stance now was to maintain its powerful policy of war deterrence, which aimed not to attack anyone but to safeguard the country’s sovereignty. The United States must abandon its hostile policies.
During the August six-party talks in Beijing, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had set as the goal the abandonment of United States’ hostilities in exchange for the abandonment of his country’s nuclear programme. His Government had introduced a package proposal for simultaneous action for a comprehensive and fair solution of the nuclear issue, the conclusion of a non-aggression treaty between his country and the United States, renunciation of the nuclear programme, and normalization of bilateral relations. But, it was the position of the United States that it would not discuss its steps until after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea took steps first.
As it stood today, both sides were ostensibly “levelling guns at each other”, asking the other to put down its guns first. That did not make any sense, he said. It was clear that the United States’ true motive was “disarming and killing” his country. His Government had been driven not to maintain any interest in or have any expectations of the next round of talks.
