A/57/PV.26 General Assembly

I wish to congratulate the Secretary-General for his annual report on the work of the Organization and for his report on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. It is no coincidence that, under his able stewardship, both he and the Organization were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This distinction is a tribute — but it is also a challenge. It is a tribute to the active and positive role that this Organization has played in coordinating the international community’s response to the great challenges of the twentieth century — the re- establishment of peace and stability, sustainable development, the environment and HIV/AIDS. The challenge, however, is to deal coherently and cooperatively with the subject matter of the twenty- first century: globalization and interdependence. We wish to reap the benefits of globalization, but also to avoid its pitfalls. The advantages of progress cannot — and must not — be attained at the cost of ignoring the rights of others to development, or by disregarding our increasingly fragile planetary ecosystem. The dangers are great, but the rewards are even greater. Whereas this Organization dealt comprehensively with the spectres of the twentieth century, those of the twenty-first century still loom before us. As the unthinkable became reality just one short year ago, we realized that, as the danger of traditional war recedes, we must face the new realities of terrorism. My country, unfortunately, has had bitter experience as a victim of terrorism since before we established our independence; today, the world stands united in its condemnation of terror in whatever form, regardless of cause or grievance. Much has been said about the root causes of terrorism. I must, however, refer to what my Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs so aptly stated from this rostrum just a few weeks ago, on 18 September: “Terror creates poverty more than poverty creates terror.” This is the unfortunate truth we must face. The international community must remain vigilant; it must continue to fight the manifestations of evil wherever they are found, where they breed and multiply and receive succour and assistance. States must be held to account for the assistance they provide to the machinery of evil. At the same time, we must keep one eye firmly on the Millennium Development Goals, the achievement of which would go a long way towards draining the swamp in which terrorism feeds. Israel participated fully in the landmark meetings at Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg, and looks forward to taking an active role in the implementation of their conclusions. Barely 10 years after the State of Israel was founded, we realized that, in spite of our own development needs, we were in duty bound to share our experiences with other developing countries. MASHAV — Israel’s Centre for International Development Cooperation — places emphasis on capacity-building and sustainability in those fields deemed to be most critical in the development process. It is no coincidence that those fields mirror those the Secretary-General noted as paramount: water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity. In 2001 alone, more than 8,000 people participated in 230 courses, in addition to more than 200 long-term and short-term consultancies the world over. Special emphasis is placed on the empowerment of women, encouraging self-sufficiency and economic independence. Israel has been active not only in cooperation with, but also in the creation of, international frameworks in priority areas. Everyone involved in the mechanisms of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate Change is aware of the contributions made by Israel towards strengthening those multilateral frameworks. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a further example of the necessity of concerted, global efforts to meet the Millennium Goals. Besides the critically important research and development being conducted in Israel and in other centres around the world, action at the grass-roots level is no less important. The African continent has been hardest hit by this modern-day plague. It is in this context that we wish to congratulate the courage and foresight of African leaders in creating two frameworks — the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development — to face these challenges head-on in a spirit of partnership, rather than in one of dependence. Israel remains committed to cooperating with Africa and to working in close partnership with relevant actors and specialized agencies to ensure the success of this ambitious new programme. Under the leadership of the Secretary-General, the United Nations has begun the sometimes painful, but always necessary, process of reform and restructuring. Much has been done and still needs to be done to craft this Organization into the body it aspires to be: a forum for the promotion of peace, a bastion of freedom and development, and a guardian of our planet’s resources. Israel is committed to working hand in hand, in a spirit of friendship and cooperation, with our partners, nations and United Nations bodies alike, to formulate a collective response to the challenges of the new millennium for the benefit of all the peoples of the world.

The relevant reports we have received from the Secretary- General give us once again this year the full measure of the complexity of the tasks we face and the extent of the challenges we have to take up. We therefore remain firmly convinced, as ever, that multilateral action, which is the raison d’être of the United Nations, must today, more than ever before, remain the foundation, the driving force and the bastion of our ideals, the direction we take and the foreign policy choices we make. Here we are, gathered together once again, to seek and identify ideal consensus solutions to the Herculean tasks facing us. Since the tragic events of 11 September 2001, it has become clear that no unilateral action, however well founded, can in itself put an end to the unspeakable monster of international terrorism or of its despicable surrogate, organized transnational crime. Similarly, only by acting together can we stop the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, to take control over the continuing deterioration of the environment, to annihilate the proliferation of inter- and intra-State conflicts, to reduce the enormous digital divide, to cut off the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, to eradicate the trafficking in human beings and to resolve so many other ills and calamities. All those obstacles and crippling handicaps represent grave threats to international peace, security and stability. But even worse, there is also a danger that they may irremediably jeopardize the future survival of humanity as a whole and, above all, the land of Lumumba, Nasser, Nkrumah, Nyerere, Senghor and Mandela. Over the past year, African issues have occupied a major place on the United Nations agenda. This means that Africa continues to be seen as a continent where armed conflict and humanitarian disasters continue, where poverty and HIV/AIDS are increasing, where accidental and other disasters are spreading, where official development assistance is decreasing, where the excessive debt burden grows heavier, where foreign direct investment is waning, and where institutional problems are preventing the private sector and civil society from developing, as well as preventing the promotion of women’s rights. Independent evaluation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF) shows that the objectives set jointly and agreed for Africa have not been achieved, even though, over that period, Africa has been a theatre for courageous reforms undertaken by Governments in the areas of economic and political good governance, human rights and the rule of law. The outcome anticipated by the international community continues to falter as it tries to rise to the level of legitimate expectations. Drawing lessons from unsuccessful attempts — if not outright failures — to implement the innumerable plans and strategies for Africa, African leaders launched, alongside the African Union, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The enthusiasm and mass support that this unprecedented initiative has already garnered, because it was conceived by and for Africans, should lead to resolute, concrete and consistent action by the international community, in particular the developed countries and partner institutions. Now that the stage is set, the goals proclaimed and the means identified, we must move from words to deeds in order to meet Africa’s special needs. Henceforth, all efforts at peace and all development initiatives taken by the United Nations system for the benefit of Africa should be directed towards this paramount goal and should be a part of the strategic and operational priorities laid down in NEPAD and which, in fact, are consistent with those set at the Millennium Summit. From that standpoint, it bears recalling that the specific goals for Africa set forth in the Millennium Declaration relate to support for regional and subregional mechanisms for conflict prevention and the promotion of political stability, including the African Union’s Peace and Security Council and the NEPAD Peer Review Mechanism. These objectives focus on special measures for poverty eradication and the achievement of sustainable development, among other things, by cancelling debt, broadening the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative, improving access to markets, increasing official development assistance and foreign direct investment flows, enhancing the transfer of technology, and the strengthening African capacities to prevent the spread HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. As we can see from the Secretary-General’s report, these goals are taking time to come to fruition. Therefore Senegal believes that the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, which is our breviary and road map, remain an absolute priority and a categorical imperative for the Organization. It cannot be delayed, put off or set aside. It must remain even when it comes under the threat of being overtaken by more pressing current issues. Because this Millennium Declaration, as so rightly underlined by Mr. Kofi Annan, is the expression of the common aspiration of the Member States of the United Nations for a peaceful, prosperous and just world in which all people can live in a secure environment. My government welcomed the initiatives of the Secretary-General and the Organization that focus on the indicators and data which make it possible to measure progress in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. It is important from this vantage point to strengthen cooperation with the United Nations, regional and sub-regional organizations, in particular with regard to the prevention and management of conflicts. In this respect the United Nations should continue to cooperate with Member States and non-State actors in providing better coordination of assistance and protection for civilian populations in situations of armed conflicts. Sustained attention should be given to the post-conflict rebuilding of countries devastated by war, and here I refer to Guinea Bissau and certain countries in the Manu River Basin as well as in the Great Lakes subregion and to further supporting efforts of disarmament and demobilization as well as the reintegration into society of ex-combatants, especially child soldiers, into civil life. My delegation also wishes to express its satisfaction at the establishment of an office of the United Nations in West Africa based in Dakar. This office has the full support of our Government because it will contribute to increasing the visibility of the activities of the United Nations in the field, coordinating the work of the various agencies of the Organization and consolidating the initiatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) so as to confront the manifold conflicts and crises that tear the subregion apart and make it prey to recurrent attempts to impose anti-constitutional changes, including the recent one in Côte d’Ivoire which we unanimously and justly condemn. I would like to conclude where I began. The United Nations is what we make it and is our common and indispensable tool. Certainly it is an imperfect tool, but a useful one that we cannot do without or replace. Multilateralism, which is its founding principle and vital life breath, serves the interests of all the members of this superb and humanistic brotherhood. It is through a coherent and concerted consensus approach that we can achieve the goals of the Millennium and ensure the peace, security and stability of the world; only in the same way shall we be able to fulfil the action plans that emerged from the major conferences and summits that have been held all over the world; and it is also with such a coherent, concerted and consensual policy that we shall succeed in endowing the Organization with the means it needs to become democratic and strong, so that each day, more of its work can be concentrated on essential tasks that enable it to devote itself to the service of the United Nations family. In this spirit, my delegation would like to pay tribute to the Secretary-General for his personal determination and commitment in the implementation of the results of the debates of our Organization, in appropriate cases, by appointing a high-ranking representative for the least developed countries, the landlocked countries and the small island developing States, as well as for the restructuring and redeployment of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Africa and the Least Developed Countries within the framework of the new African responsibilities it will soon assume. Since words become action, principles become programmes and commitments become obligations, we now have before us the Millennium Declaration and its implementation plan. This will enable us to open up the path and lay down the guidelines for our future development towards a better world, which is based upon coherent and legitimate initiatives of the United Nations, including those of the Security Council, on the basis of the cardinal principles of universality and multilateralism. Under the surface of the rigidity and ponderousness of United Nations procedures, which all too often, alas, determine our collective inability to act, we should henceforth be moved and motivated by a single imperative, the political will to give concrete embodiment to the commitment of citizens subscribed to in the Millennium Declaration for the building of a better life on a common planet. Acting President: I now give the floor to the representative of Ethiopia.

We commend the Secretary-General for his analytical and balanced reports on the Implementation of the Millennium Declaration and on the Work of the Organization. The report on the Implementation of the Millennium Declaration has shown us where we stand and the problems that need to be addressed in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The Secretary-General’s report enumerates our achievements in maintaining peace and security in many parts of the world, including Africa, where we were able to find solutions for a number of inter- and intra-State conflicts because, among other things, the United Nations worked in collaboration with the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and other regional organizations. In this regard, we commend the plans of the Secretary-General to strengthen the existing relations between the two organizations in the light of the evolution of the OAU into the African Union. Ethiopia highly values peace and security, because without it, we cannot fight the poverty and disease that are ravaging the continent. Ethiopia, with a population of 65 million people, has a great stake in promoting the causes of peace and security in the region. That is why we readily accepted the Ethio- Eritrean Border Commission’s ruling, and we are now doing our best, together with other member countries of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), to build peace in the subregion. It would be difficult to find lasting solutions to conflicts unless we address the root cause of the problem. The report of the Secretary-General indicates that much of sub-Saharan Africa and large parts of Central Asia are falling behind in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. We all know that not enough is being done to avert this negative trend. Despite the continued commitment of donor countries, official development assistance declined for about two decades as a percentage of gross national product, reaching its lowest level ever at 0.22 per cent in 2001. Only five countries met the 0.7 per cent target in 2001, while others gave as little as 0.1 per cent of their gross domestic product. Regarding debt sustainability, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative has been very slow in its implementation. World commodities prices, such as those for coffee, have plunged in recent years, thereby further aggravating the deteriorating terms of trade. The report states that, as a result, we are confronting a world divided between rich and poor as never before in human history. Unless we overcome this unhealthy dichotomy, the future of world peace and stability will be in great danger. Besides dehumanizing poverty, natural disasters have brought severe suffering to millions of people in the developing countries. In recent years, the frequency and severity of drought have intensified, especially in eastern and southern Africa, creating chronic food shortages in the region. The combined effects of bad weather, desertification, declining soil fertility, poor transportation, insufficient investment in agriculture, deteriorating terms of trade, uncontrolled population growth and bad Government policy have all played a role in worsening food shortages in the region. To avert the impending food crises in Africa, great emphasis should be placed on launching a frontal attack on such factors as recurrent drought and desert encroachment in affected countries through irrigation systems and continued afforestation. The problem of famine we are confronting is not only associated with shortages of food, but is also the effect of the lack of income and purchasing power of the affected population. Therefore, any policy aimed at eliminating hunger should also seek to create alternative off-farm employment for the rural poor. In this regard, we fully agree with the Secretary-General’s assertion that “the range of current crises has demanded a flexible, strategic and system-wide response linking the provision of emergency assistance to the search for sustainable solutions”. (A/57/1, para. 73) In this regard, we think it is imperative, in the light of the present and recurrent drought in the region, that the Secretary-General invigorate the initiative he took in 2000 to address the long-term problem of food security, agricultural development and related aspects. In Ethiopia, the centrepiece of our development policy is agriculture-based industrialization. The main goal of the policy is to eliminate the chronic food shortage and to enhance the overall development of the country by increasing productivity in agriculture, on which 80 per cent of the population depends for its livelihood. Besides poverty, diseases such as HIV/AIDS are threatening the very survival of our countries. We appreciate the effort of the Secretary-General in setting up the special Fund to help us fight the pandemic. We are encouraged by concrete measures being taken by the United Nations, its specialized agencies and the World Bank to mitigate the onslaught of HIV/AIDS in Africa. In Ethiopia, the Government, religious organizations and other non-governmental organizations are working together to fight the disease. Notwithstanding this effort, we realize that we have a long way to go to arrest the onslaught, but with the concerted efforts of the Ethiopian people and the assistance of the international community, we can overcome the human suffering caused by poverty and diseases.

Allow me at the outset to congratulate the President and all the members of the Bureau on their election to guide the work of the General Assembly at this session. I also wish to convey our appreciation and gratitude to the Secretary-General for his annual report on the work of the Organization, which covers most United Nations activities over the past year. In studying the report, we note that the international political atmosphere is dominated by the language of anti-terrorism and pre-emptive warfare adopted by the United States. This was confirmed by the statement made yesterday by the United States President on the pretext of protecting national interests. It sets a serious precedent in the field of international relations, for it is likely to marginalize this Organization, which the international community created in order to save mankind from wars. We note the extent to which, since the early 1990s, this Organization has demonstrated hesitancy in addressing the issues of peace and security and been the subject of consistent and sustained intimidation and threats from the United States of America. What better proof of this could there be than the global deterioration in international security and stability, along with the shedding of more blood in our Arab region? Like it or not, the language of pre-emptive warfare has had repercussions on our debates, particularly at this critical moment for the Organization. We must therefore be realistic and have a clear sense of our respective positions, of the fundamental problems we face and of the way in which to resolve them peacefully. It is clear that the issues of peace and security are the key prerogatives of this Organization. My delegation fully understands that it is the primary responsibility of the United Nations and the Security Council to maintain international peace and security. However, a successful strategy for preventing armed conflict and for building peace requires collective attention and effort in addressing the challenges facing the international community. We must reject double standards. We must opt for justice and impartiality in our approach to the various issues within the United Nations. Similarly, all Member States — the United States above all — should repudiate once and for all the policy of issuing threats to the sovereignty of countries, interfering in the internal affairs of States, artificially triggering crises and fuelling conflicts in the service of their selfish narrow interests. We must also reinforce the primary role of the United Nations and international law in dealing with all perils, including poverty, terrorism, disease and armed conflict. The Secretary-General has reported on his conversations with the Iraqi Government on the return of arms inspectors to Iraq. My Government has displayed its genuine and sincere willingness to implement all relevant Security Council resolutions and to dispel any doubts about whether it possesses weapons of mass destruction. It has done so in order to reach a comprehensive settlement leading to the lifting of economic sanctions against my country; to end interference in our internal affairs; to free the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction; and to put an end to the no-flight zones. Taking all of that into consideration, Iraq has been willing to accept the unconditional return of United Nations arms inspectors. The negotiations that took place in Vienna on 30 September and 1 October of this year were successful. We were able to make arrangements for the resumption of inspections in Iraq. Despite the success of those negotiations and Iraq’s unconditional acceptance of the return of inspectors, the American Administration and the British Government have persisted in their diplomatic and misinformation campaign aimed at sabotaging those efforts and preventing the return of inspection teams to Iraq. They have striven to get the Security Council to adopt a new resolution with new impossible conditions in order to create a legal pretext for invading Iraq and seizing its oil and for increasing tension throughout the Middle East. The motives of the British and the United States are very clear. They are creating a major precedent in international relations and are acting in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, which guarantees peace and security, the rule of law and equal sovereignty of all states. Those are the founding principles of the Organization and have been reaffirmed on many occasions, including at the Millennium Summit. Allow me to note that the international community and the General Assembly itself need to be reminded of the suffering caused to the Iraqi people by the economic blockade, which has been overlooked. The report of the Secretary-General indicates that relief from sanctions greatly depends on Iraq’s compliance with all the relevant Security Council resolutions. The Security Council adopted resolution 1409 (2002) to relieve the humanitarian situation, but it has not achieved anything on the ground. Those who presented that resolution claimed that its purpose was to ease the embargo and to give Iraq access to humanitarian products. Unfortunately, the results have been negative. The time period that the Office of the Iraq Programme requires to deal with a contract was previously only two working days. It has now become ten working days. It takes at least ten days for the experts of United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to examine contracts. If everything goes well, the process can take as long as three weeks. But if IAEA or UNMOVIC requests additional information, the process can take as long as six months. The purpose of resolution 1409 (2002) was to bring wheat and other foodstuffs and medicines, such as anti-cancer drugs, into the country. Such products were supposed to go systematically and directly through the Office of the Iraq Programme. They were not supposed to be subjected to the same kind of scrutiny as potential dual-use products and equipment are. We are still awaiting the acceptance by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 661 (1990) of the list of goods requested by Iraq, subject to UNMOVIC and IAEA scrutiny. It has not yet been finalized. We see that the suspended contracts have once again been postponed to 15 October 2002. This is in addition to the destructive role played by the United Kingdom and the United States in the Sanctions Committee. Those two delegations alone have been blocking the “oil-for-food” programme by applying retroactive prices to Iraqi oil in order to reduce the earnings under the programme. The result has been to hinder the financing of more than 1,240 contracts. Moreover, the so-called green list has been expanded. 1152 contracts worth over $3 billion have been suspended for no reason that we can find acceptable. The economic sanctions imposed on Iraq constitute a grave ethical failing that the United Nations must face as it undermines the very credibility of the Organization. The appalling humanitarian situation being suffered in Iraq has prompted certain observers to describe this policy of sanctions as a policy of collective punishment and genocide perpetrated against the Iraqi people. It has caused the death of approximately 1.7 million Iraqi citizens in the name of the United Nations. The only way to resolve the situation is by lifting the heinous embargo imposed on Iraq more than 11 years ago. We would have liked the report of the Secretary- General to take note of the American and British daily bombardments that Iraq suffers in the so-called no- flight zones in northern and southern Iraq, which are totally illegal. They were put in place without the approval of the Security Council. They have led to the death of a large number of Iraqi civilians and to the destruction of water purification stations, schools, housing and public property. In December of last year, the Secretary-General spoke about this issue. He said that there was nothing in the Security Council resolutions that could authorize such no-flight zones. They are therefore without legal basis. We also would have liked the report of the Secretary-General to include the real confessions of members of the former United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) concerning the espionage activities conducted by the United Kingdom and the United States against Iraq. I would like to note the statements of Rolf Ekeus, former Chief Inspector in Iraq, who said that the Americans took advantage of UNSCOM’s activities to carry out espionage and that they successfully introduced spies into UNSCOM in the guise of inspectors in order to get information on Iraqi security systems, its forces and the residences of the President of the Republic. They also attempted to install surveillance and listening devices. Such actions are in violation of the dignity and credibility of the United Nations itself. They also constitute a threat to Iraq’s national security. The question of Kuwaiti missing persons has been raised, and Iraq has been called on to coordinate with the High-level Coordinator. We wish to note that the Secretary-General’s report overlooked the initiatives that Iraq has taken, of which there is documentary proof. The latest initiative was a letter dated 16 August 2001 from the Iraqi Foreign Minister transmitted to the Secretary-General in document S/2001/804. In that letter the Foreign Minister indicated Iraq’s readiness to cooperate with the Tripartite Commission concerning missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and in collaboration with countries with genuine lists of missing persons, including Iraq, that can be submitted for investigation. There have been many efforts to cooperate with the Committee on Missing Persons, the League of Arab States and ICRC. The tragedy that the Palestinian people are undergoing under Israeli aggression, which is destroying infrastructure and pursuing a policy of massacres, assassinations, displacement, siege, starvation and settlement-building, could not have been precipitated had it not been for United States political, military and financial support to Israel. Those activities must be classified as terrorist activities. They are in fact State terrorism, but they are passed off as acts of self-defence. Israel is now talking about the need to reform the Palestinian Authority and to hold elections in order to divert attention from the genuine core of the problem. That is the best example of the double- standard policy I spoke of earlier. Israeli actions against defenceless Palestinians constitute a major violation of human rights, international law and the principles of the Charter. The United Nations must take a clear position on them in order to protect the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to liberate its territory and to establish a free and independent State, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. At a time when dozens of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions call for the rejection of all geographic and demographic changes being carried out in Jerusalem, the United States Government, which is accusing Iraq of non-compliance with Security Council resolutions, has itself signed a protocol for an agreement recognizing that Jerusalem should be the “eternal capital” of Israel. Where, then, does the United States stand in terms of international law? What has become of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and where is respect for them? We feel the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority, and not the United States are the ones entitled to determine the capital of the Palestinian State. We encourage the United Nations, for the sake of international peace and security, to strive to avoid any further deterioration of the situation in our region, given the critical state of tension, of which we are so well aware.

I thank the President for convening this joint debate on the Secretary-General’s reports on the work of the Organization (A/57/1) and on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration (A/57/270 and Corr.1). My delegation thanks the Secretary-General for his excellent reports before us. We broadly agree with his assessments regarding the need for strengthening the United Nations, as well as for implementing the Millennium Declaration in an integrated and comprehensive fashion leaving no room for distortion or imbalance among the various commitments. In the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, there has been renewed recognition that the global community must work together to stamp out terrorism and to promote international peace and security, as well as to stimulate sustainable development, justice and social progress. That is the core message we get from the Secretary-General’s reports, and we support it. Nepal is reeling under the unspeakable anguish and trauma of Maoist violence and abject poverty. The Maoist terrorists have terrorized the nation by killing innocent people and destroying their property, as well as by blowing up public infrastructure. Their violence and brutality have reached new heights, causing further hardships for the people already desperate, after six years of terror. The situation is such that even the Government of Prime Minister Deuba cowered under the Maoist threat to disrupt the midterm polls scheduled for 13 November 2002, and asked for the postponement of the polls by more than a year, creating a constitutional stalemate. As a result, His Majesty the King was compelled to remove the inept Deuba Government under article 127 of the Constitution, paving the way for a new Government capable of holding the elections at the earliest possible time. That was an interim step taken to protect the integrity of the constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy, to which the King has expressed full commitment. Obviously, we need external assistance to fight the Maoist terror effectively, which entails equipping our security apparatus to protect people and their freedoms, and reducing poverty and providing education, health and basic services to give people hope and opportunity. We thank our friends who have supported us in this quest morally and financially, and we urge them to continue doing so. In that context, we note with appreciation the Secretary-General’s offer of his good offices to help resolve that problem, made in paragraph 25 of his report on the work of the Organization. We will remember that kind offer if we need it. However, we deplore any suggestion or that tends to equate the Government’s action to protect its citizens and the Maoists’ indiscriminate acts of violence. Peace and development are indivisible, and they mutually reinforce each other. In the global village which the world has now become, conflicts tend to spill across countries and continents, and poor people seek opportunities to escape dehumanizing poverty, often creating delicate economic and humanitarian situations that the civilized world cannot ignore. That makes peace and development a common cause. The past 12 months have been a tumultuous period for the world community. The terrorist attacks on the United States forced the community of nations to wage a war against terror. Meanwhile, many troubled States began a march to freedom and normalcy, and major conferences took place to promote economic growth, social development and environmental protection. At the same time, global recession continues to batter the peoples of many lands. In the area of peace and security, the war on terrorism has freed Afghanistan from the clutches of the Taliban brutality and obscurantism and from the shroud of Al Qaeda terror. East Timor has emerged from the pall of violence and joined the family of free nations. Sierra Leone and Angola have breathed a sigh of relief after violence abated, and have begun to make their way back to normalcy. These are remarkably encouraging developments. However, the Middle East continues to hang by the cusp, ready to plunge into a vortex of deeper violence and wider war. Though the siege against Mr. Arafat has ended, the Israeli repression and restrictions on the Palestinian people continue. War drums are beating ever closer in the Gulf, making the whole world nervous about its possible consequences. We call on all sides to exercise restraint and find peaceful resolutions to this crisis. Moreover, South Asia remains highly volatile. The Great Lake Region is still under the pall of uncertainty. The Mano River area is descending into deeper crisis, and a number of conflicts elsewhere continue to defy solutions. To our dismay, disarmament has taken a back seat in the global agenda, as Conference on Disarmament participants failed to agree on its programme of work for the fourth year in succession, while the Commission on Disarmament failed to meet in the last session. The good news of the United States-Russia agreement to reduce their nuclear weapons came with the bad, that the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) Treaty was on the chopping board. Nepal is willing and committed to work with our regional and global partners to promote peace and security. Our participation in the United Nations peacekeeping and in the fight against terror at home and in the world bears eloquent testimony to our pledge. We call on Member States to do everything in their power to advance the goal of durable peace, whose road inevitably passes through disarmament and development. There is no problem that the world faces today that is as deep and dangerous as that of poverty amidst the growing population of developing nations. Poverty is a source of human misery, underdevelopment and despair, as well as a breeding ground for conflicts. The present global recession has brought additional pain to peoples around the world, hitting the poor particularly hard. In order to remedy this predicament, the Millennium Development Goals have provided a vision and a set of objectives for equitable and sustainable development on the planet. The Brussels, Monterrey, Johannesburg and Doha conferences have rekindled new hopes in this respect. The global meetings on children and on ageing and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development are also important building blocks in the pursuit of this process. The buzzword now must be implementation, the lack of which has strongly undermined past global compacts. The Secretary-General rightly warns us that business as usual is unlikely to help us achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Nepal is a case in point. A recent report has concluded that Nepal is unlikely to meet eight out of the ten Millennium Development Goals within the stipulated period, barring the reduction in child mortality and attaining the goal of providing drinking water. Many other poor countries are in the same boat, but the situation in least developed countries is much worse. It is therefore necessary that development partners provide increased official development assistance, enhanced market access and deeper debt relief to developing nations, particularly the least developed ones. Other vulnerable groups, such as landlocked developing States, should also receive special attention from the international community. Such steps are absolutely essential to attain the Millennium Development Goals on schedule. Indeed, the United Nations’ role in helping the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and spurring development in general is broadly laudable. However, we fail to realize that the economic and social fields have suffered from neglect at the United Nations. In our view, the United Nations must reverse this decline to serve its needy Member States better. In this context, we take the appointment of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, the Land-locked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States as a step in the right direction. Humanitarian assistance and human rights promotion constitute the strongholds of the United Nations. We appreciate the Organization’s work to protect refugees and displaced persons and urge it to focus more on finding durable solutions to the refugee problem, an aspect in which the United Nations remains weak. I take this opportunity to call on the global community, including the United Nations system, to continue its support for the maintenance of the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal until a durable resolution is found, and to encourage Bhutan to speed up the bilateral negotiations. Nepal applauds the International Criminal Court’s coming into force and the international tribunals’ recent breakthroughs. We also underline the difficulties that developing States are facing with respect to meeting the disparate and multiple reporting requirements under various human rights instruments. Streamlining human rights reporting mechanisms and processes is vital to make the system more manageable. We welcome the appointment of the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Sergio de Mello, and hope that he will be able to reform the system and to contribute to human rights promotion. Reforms remain one of the cardinal priorities of the United Nations. The General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council have witnessed some changes for the better, but they remain inadequate and their pace continues to be sluggish. Though the Security Council’s methods have somewhat improved, its structural reform remains distressingly stalled. I plan to dwell on the issue of reforms at greater length later on when the Secretary-General’s report on the subject will be considered. Suffice to say that the proposed reforms are good but do not go far enough to prepare the United Nations for the challenges posed by its lofty principles and purposes. Strong partnership is necessary among key stakeholders to achieve the shared goal of making this world more peaceful, prosperous, healthy, equitable and just for us and for our children. Nepal is committed to doing its part with the utmost determination and commitment.

I now give the floor to the representative of Suriname.

I feel very happy and privileged to present my statement under the capable leadership of a Caribbean woman, a Caribbean female Ambassador. I congratulate her. We do not need lengthy statements and debates anymore. We do not need explanation of the Millennium Development Goals and targets. What we do need is concrete action and concrete translation of the Millennium Development Goals into deeds. Those Goals must also be translated into an improvement in the living conditions of peoples and into halving by 2015 the number of people living under extreme poverty and hunger. We are in urgent need of translating the Goals into universal primary education and into ensuring the insurance of primary schooling for all boys and girls. What has to be done is clear and well known. We have to repeat always and everywhere that we have to protect all human rights at all times; that we have to focus on democracy and good governance, conflict resolution, security and peace; that we have to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; and that we have to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. It is well known that at least 60 million people all around the world, and in particular in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean region, are affected by HIV/AIDS and that 20 million people have already died. We need the necessary resources, adequate medicine and treatment to fight these serious and destructive diseases. Through the Millennium Development Goals, our Governments have accepted the responsibility to ensure environmental sustainability, including sustainable access to safe drinking water and sustainable energy. We have to repeat constantly that we need to develop a global partnership for development that includes an open trading system and special attention to the debt problems of developing countries, as well as to the special needs of least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing States. In that respect, we applaud the establishment of the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, under the capable leadership of Under-Secretary-General Chowdhury. We must also repeat that official development assistance should at least be doubled and that developed countries should fulfil their promises and responsibilities to provide at least 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product to official development assistance. The Panel headed by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, which includes former United States Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, has estimated that meeting the Millennium Development Goals will cost at least an additional $50 billion in annual aid. That amount of money should be made available by international financial institutions, donor countries and the more developed world. In his valuable introductory statement last Friday, the Secretary-General called on the developed world “to provide much more generous development assistance. Without these things, many developing countries will be unable to reach the Millennium Goals, however hard they try”. He also urged every country to assume its responsibility to find necessary ways and means to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through the efforts of their own Governments and peoples, for, as the Secretary-General has also said, “whether they are met or not met is what happens in each separate country”. Both Professor Jeffrey Sachs — who is a macroeconomist and whom I believe is still the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals — and Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, have stressed their views on this subject several times, namely, that developing countries are by no means able to meet the needs of their people on the basis of their own financial resources. They need to be assisted. That is the reality. While we are gathered here, millions of children, women, men, older persons, peoples with disabilities and indigenous persons are living under the most miserable circumstances. Millions of peoples, including children, are living without fundamental freedoms of action and choice and without peace: they are involved in war situations. The Millennium Development Goals, adopted in September 2000 by our heads of State and Governments here in this Hall, are promises for fundamental changes. Those changes first need to address the dimensions of poverty, including the lack of adequate food, shelter, clean drinking water, education and health, as well as the consequences of natural disasters. Poverty, peace and security are interdependent. We know that. The issue that lies at the heart of the United Nations — international peace and security — has been thoroughly discussed and scrutinized over the past year as a result of the horrific events of September 2001. My Government has taken the necessary steps to implement resolution 1373 (2001). In our endeavours to combat international terrorism, I would like to reiterate the importance of ensuring that the human rights of peoples are not violated. That is very important. The fact that the many forms of transnational organized crime — including drug trafficking, money laundering and corruption — are increasingly taking a global toll, shows the urgent need for a collective approach by the international community to deal effectively with these problems. We agree with the Secretary-General that we need to deal with conflict by preventing it rather than to face its tragic consequences once it has erupted. It is therefore essential to take a multidimensional approach to international security, and not focus solely on the military aspect of security. We have heard about the immense amount of money devoted to the area of defence and military action. But we also have to look at political, social, economic and human security. The Organization of American States devoted its last general assembly session to the theme “A multidimensional approach to hemispheric security”, an approach that my country supports. We recommend that the United Nations also remain constantly focused on the multidimensional approach to international security. We must constantly repeat that the various aspects of development, and the necessary steps that need to be taken, were outlined at major conferences: on trade, at Doha; on financing for development, at Monterrey; and on sustainable development, at Johannesburg. The Secretary-General’s recent announcement regarding the campaign to make the Millennium Development Goals better known throughout the world and to try to mobilize behind them the force of public opinion is very promising. Ms. Eveline Herfkens, former Minister of Development Cooperation of the Netherlands — a country that has reached the goal of 0.8 per cent of gross national product devoted to official development assistance — who was appointed on 1 October 2002 as Executive Coordinator for the Millennium Development Goals Campaign, is a great advocate of putting one’s money where one’s mouth is. Indeed, we hope she will live up to that challenge. We must underline the words of the Secretary- General: “...progress must be made on a much broader front. Otherwise, the ringing words of the Declaration will serve only as grim reminders of human needs neglected and promises unmet.” (A/57/270, para.113) In conclusion, I should like to thank the Secretary-General for his reports on the work of the Organization and on the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. We realize that we still have a long way to go to attain the Goals, but I am pleased to announce that we in Suriname are working on their implementation in the various sectors of my country, as we have stated on several occasions and in the Main Committees during the fifty-seventh session of the Assembly. Implementing the Millennium Development Goals should be the ultimate prerequisite for peace, security and sustainable human development for all our countries, all our Governments and all our peoples.

I now give the floor to the representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

My delegation expresses its appreciation to the Secretary-General for presenting the reports on the work of the Organization and on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. Our appreciation goes also to other Secretariat staff members for their contribution to the preparation of the reports. I would like to mention in brief my delegation’s views on strengthening the role of the United Nations in ensuring international peace and security and sustainable development, with regard to the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization. The United Nations was founded with the purposes of achieving lasting world peace and security and developing friendly and cooperative relations among nations based on respect for sovereign equality. However, international peace and security are confronted by more serious challenges today as we enter a new century, 50 years after the founding of the Organization. The nuclear threat has increased, conflicts of various kinds have intensified around the world, and attempts to violate national sovereignty are newly undisguised. Still worse, poverty has deepened, debt burdens are rising and the gap between rich and poor has widened. Today, the major challenge to peace and security is the emerging doctrine of power supremacy, which tramples on the principle of sovereign equality. The doctrine of power supremacy is a main factor in the undermining of international relations, and it poses a constant threat to peace, in disregard of the principles and norms of international law. The reckless arbitrariness reserved for the absolute supremacy of power aggravates international relations, increases confrontation and conflict among countries, violates the purposes and the principles of the United Nations and ignores the Organization itself. Ultimately, that constitutes the major challenge to the United Nations. Arrogant and impertinent statements labelling other countries as an axis of evil or as targets of pre-emptive nuclear attack, made at will and in one’s own interests, are also rooted in the doctrine of power supremacy. The challenges that we now face require us to demonstrate concerted will and action, in respect for sovereignty, equality and the development of fair international relations. It is now urgent that we decisively enhance the leading role of the United Nations in our joint efforts to develop just and fair relations among nations, based on sovereign equality, in order to guarantee world peace and security and sustainable development. All Member States should respect the Charter of the United Nations and faithfully carry out the purposes and principles enshrined therein. What is important here is our adherence to the principles of justice and impartiality. Without the principles and the impartiality of international law, the just settlement of problems can never be assured. Only when the Charter is respected and implemented in good faith can all problems be settled properly. My delegation asserts that the functions of the General Assembly should be strengthened and that the Security Council should be thoroughly reformed to meet the demands of Member States. In addition, the Economic and Social Council should be empowered to enhance its role and functions in order to reform unfair international economic systems and to contribute to taking substantive measures for the substantial development of developing countries. In that respect, all Member States and organizations of the United Nations system must undertake active efforts to achieve the Development Goals set out in the Millennium Declaration. The United Nations must closely coordinate its global activities to realize sustainable development and must strongly promote the implementation of its development commitments and decisions by devoting more time and greater funds to that end.

I now give the floor to the representative of Yemen.

After having seen the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, we are convinced of the rightness of that United Nations resolution. The report is not simply a review of the achievements of the two previous years but offers us a vision that can guide our approach in future. Here I should like to offer my thanks to the Secretary-General for a valuable report and to endorse his conclusion that the implementation of the Millennium Declaration has been both a success and a failure. It is significant that the terrorist attacks of September 2001 occurred one year after the adoption of the Millennium Declaration. This is a reminder that collective action is needed to meet the challenges and defuse the threats that face us, which are not confined to any single State. The United Nations has given due attention to terrorism prevention through the deliberations conducted by the General Assembly last year, at the beginning of the preceding session, and through the establishment of the Security Council Counter- Terrorism Committee. But we would like to reaffirm what the Secretary-General said in his report, namely that we should not confine ourselves to drying up terrorists’ sources of funds and targeting their plans and organization, but also show some understanding for, and address, the conditions that give rise to terrorism. We should also redouble our efforts to bring about a conclusion of the discussions on the international convention on terrorism that it can become universal and deal with all forms of terrorism, including State terrorism. In any event, it is not acceptable to confuse terrorism with legitimate resistance to foreign occupation. The Secretary-General points out that there has been an increase in the number of hotbeds of tension throughout the world. The world does seem to be backsliding, and the number of conflicts has increased. This is a reality that we cannot deny. Nor can we deny the achievements recorded by the United Nations in safeguarding peace and in settling disputes and conflicts over the same period. However, the importance attached by the Security Council to certain issues and the selectivity that has been noted in the application of Security Council resolutions has given rise to certain questions. In particular, the Council has not rigorously applied resolutions relating to the Middle East. This is quite obvious. It has had an effect on the credibility of the Organization and has limited its effectiveness. It is only logical that peace and security cannot be achieved in a world of inequality, repression and injustice. In this world, the great majority — 4 billion people — are deprived of the most basic necessities and are far removed from the material prosperity enjoyed by the minority. Despite the efforts that have been made to narrow the gap between developed and developing countries, very little has been achieved. We believe that the absence of political will on the part of the developed countries in assuming their responsibilities remains the primary cause of the deterioration of the situation. The resolutions adopted at the Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg conferences are to a large extent linked to the positions and decisions taken by those States. The Secretary-General’s report underlines the fact that very limited progress has been made in the area of human rights over the last two years. The holding of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban last September stands as one of the major achievements of that period. International attention should focus on the fight against terrorism, and in that respect the Secretary- General stresses that attempts to prevent terrorism should not be used as a pretext to violate the basic rights of individuals and of communities. At the same time, stopping terrorism involves the consolidation and protection of human rights and democracy, as well as social justice. For our part, we would also like to affirm and endorse what has been said by many other delegations. We should avoid any policitization of human rights and any policy involving a double standard, because not only does this not contribute to the realization of human rights or of democracy, but it also damages international relations and impedes the achievement of the goals of this Organization. In today’s globalized and interdependent world, a world of common concerns, there is a great need to strengthen the role of the United Nations and its effectiveness as the best means and the best framework for multilateral diplomacy, which is no longer a choice but a necessity in the face of today’s challenges. We note with satisfaction the changes that have recently occurred in the United Nations in various areas and that are aimed at adjusting it to the rapid changes that are taking place on the international scene, so as to give the Organization the capacity to adapt and to consolidate its role in today’s world. However, the winds of change have not affected the Security Council, despite the pressure of events and the logic of the situation, which makes it necessary to enlarge the Council’s membership, including in the permanent category. The delegation of Yemen has already expressed its support for the reforms and structural changes proposed by the Secretary-General, and we look forward to the opinions and observations he will make and conclusions he will reach in the report that he has promised to submit soon.

Let me congratulate the President on the decision to discuss jointly the two excellent reports of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization and on the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit. Indeed, both reports are complementary, and together they give us a detailed view of the global situation from the perspective of this Organization. In his report, the Secretary-General provides us with some encouraging information on the implementation of the goals contained in the Millennium Declaration. Nevertheless, we cannot but reach the conclusion that the world situation is far from being satisfactory, especially in areas such as development, poverty, health, human rights, international security, and protection of the environment. After almost 60 years of implementing international cooperation as established in the Charter of the United Nations, there are still substantial economic and political contradictions that are incompatible with the advances that humankind has achieved in the areas of science, technology, communications and culture. The responsibility for the global situation does not lie only with the shortcomings of the mechanisms and institutions of international cooperation, but also, and in particular, with the lack of political will of Governments to comply with international obligations and commitments. Comparing the information contained in paragraphs 20 and 42 of the report on the outcome of the Millennium Summit, one cannot but conclude that some of the priorities and decisions of Governments are morally wrong. These paragraphs tell us that, while global military spending exceeds $800 billion a year, millions of children continue to die each year for lack of health care, clean water, a safe environment and adequate nutrition. Concerning disarmament, the picture could not be more discouraging. How could it be otherwise, when we read in the report that negotiations on disarmament issues and on the Convention on Biological Weapons are stagnant? I would like to stress that both reports demonstrate that the only way to deal with the most important problems affecting humankind is through concrete multilateral initiatives and actions. The collective fight against terrorism being undertaken at present by the entire international community is clear evidence that multilateralism is the only effective means of coping with the problems confronting the world. I shall refrain from commenting in detail on the issues raised by the Secretary-General, because San Marino agrees with most of his conclusions. However, an issue of particular interest to my delegation in the context of the strengthening of the Organization is the revitalization of the General Assembly. The way in which the General Assembly is structured does not meet the efficiency requirements that we all expect from the principal and most representative organ of the United Nations. It is true that some adjustments have been made in these procedures, but they are not sufficient. It is necessary to continue with this task, especially in two major areas: the rationalization of its agenda and the way to ensure the follow-up and implementation of its resolutions. The Millennium Declaration has set the goals we have to achieve. The Conferences of Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg strengthened these goals and established a roadmap for global progress. We have to act accordingly to ensure that all countries comply with their commitments in order to guarantee a fair distribution of the benefits of globalization. But we have to keep in mind that the time has arrived to take stock of the principles proclaimed, the standards adopted and the goals set forth, and to start thinking about ways to ensure immediate implementation of these principles and the fulfilment of these goals.

I now give the floor to the representative of Canada.

The past year has been a momentous period for the United Nations. In the face of challenges of a new order of magnitude, Member States have been called upon to reaffirm their commitment to the principles of multilateralism. These principles are best articulated in the Millennium Declaration. The response of the United Nations to threats posed by terrorism to the security and stability of the global community, in the aftermath of 11 September, is well documented in the two reports submitted by the Secretary-General. We wish to take this opportunity to commend the Secretary-General and his staff for their clear and concise reporting on the progress achieved over the past year. We, as Member States of the United Nations, have a responsibility to one another to deal with threats to peace and security, while simultaneously addressing other pressing priorities. As the Secretary-General himself stated in his opening remarks, it is imperative that we all do more to ensure that the pledges in the Millennium Declaration are fulfilled. (spoke in English) Poverty eradication, conflict prevention, the protection of civilians in armed conflict, sustainable development, HIV/AIDS and migration lost none of their urgency and, indeed, their relevancy to our own security. We would like to draw attention to three areas highlighted in the Millennium Declaration, where progress has indeed been achieved since 2000, but where much remains to be done. These areas include, first, the establishment of the International Criminal Court; second, the responsibility of States to prevent conflict, to protect the innocent and to rebuild when conflict is over; and, third, to deal effectively with the special needs of Africa. At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, heads of State and Government resolved “To ensure the implementation, by States Parties, of treaties in areas such as arms control and disarmament, and of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and [to] call upon all States to consider signing and ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”. The entry into force of the Rome Statute on 1 July 2002 is recorded in the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration as an important achievement in the past year, and rightly so. The Court is the first permanent international tribunal, capable of investigating and bringing to justice individuals who commit genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the Secretary-General also calls to our attention the recent debate over the jurisdiction of the Court in cases involving the personnel of non-parties to the Statute employed in peacekeeping operations. This issue is one that we take very seriously, as the adoption of Security Council resolution 1422 (2002) was part of an ongoing effort by one State — the United States — to secure broad immunities from the Court that are inconsistent with the Rome Statute. Canada does not believe that any Government, any military, in fact anyone, should be above the law. Let us resist the pressures of any who would undermine the Court. And let us work resolutely to maintain the Court as an impartial and apolitical judicial institution. We call on all States to continue to promote the effective and responsible functioning of the Court and to uphold the sound principles upon which it is based. In his report to the Millennium Assembly, the Secretary-General also challenged Member States to consider how the international community should reconcile its response to massive violations of humanitarian norms and human rights with its respect for the sovereign rights of States. Our leaders also committed themselves in the Millennium Declaration to expand and strengthen the protection of civilians in complex emergencies. Finally, in his most recent report on implementation of the Millennium Declaration, the Secretary-General has again stressed that “Sovereignty brings with it the fundamental responsibility to protect the physical security and the civil, political, social and cultural rights of citizens.” In the follow-up to the Millennium Assembly, as Member States of the United Nations, we have a duty to examine these complex issues. In response to the challenge posed by the Secretary-General, Canada established the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, which produced a landmark report entitled “The responsibility to protect”. The responsibilities it outlines are threefold: the responsibility to prevent, the responsibility to react and the responsibility to rebuild. We have been very pleased with the reception this report has received. We believe strongly that the ideas and concepts it promotes merit further discussion in this body. That is why we have circulated this report under agenda item 44 as document A/57/303. We intend to bring forward a resolution on this issue shortly. To this end, we will be enlisting participation of Members in a dialogue on this critical subject. We believe that we will find that we share considerable common ground as we respond to the challenge posed to us by the Secretary-General. We very much look forward to working with Members of the Assembly over the course of the next few weeks. As the Secretary-General underlined in his remarks to us at the beginning of this debate, our progress on reaching the Millennium Development Goals remains uneven. At the heart of the Millennium Declaration was the need to meet the special needs of Africa and to redress the poverty that is the decisive reality for so many people. We noted with concern the Secretary-General’s analysis that 10 years ago, 48 per cent of the people of Africa were living on one dollar a day or less. Today, that figure has shrunk almost imperceptibly to 47 per cent. To meet our goal of reducing that figure by half by 2015, we will have to do much better. It is for this reason that Canada, as this year’s Chair of the G-8, has made implementation of the G-8 Africa Action Plan a priority. This Action Plan includes over 100 commitments, many of which are addressed to areas crucial to development, such as resource mobilization, peace and security, governance, education, health, economic growth, agriculture and water. We welcome the affirmation by France, the next Chair of the G8, that Africa will remain a priority on the G8 agenda. Canada has noted the references in the Secretary- General’s report to recent positive developments at the Summit in Kananaskis on 26 and 27 June, where the members of the G8 committed themselves to a “new partnership” to help end the continued the marginalization of Africa from the globalization process. Now, our urgent common responsibility here is to import the principles and priorities of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development into the work of the United Nations itself on Africa. Finally, the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration requires our urgent attention. While the challenges are considerable, we must heed the call of the Secretary-General and each do our part to make the vision of our leaders a reality.

On behalf of the delegation of Ecuador, which I have the honour to lead, I congratulate the Secretary-General on his report on the work of the Organization and on his follow-up report on the results of the Millennium Summit. Both documents are valuable and contribute to a multilateral approach to issues involving all Members of the United Nations. My intention in participating in this debate is to emphasize the conceptual dilemma, to which Secretary-General Kofi Annan draws our attention, concerning the discrepancy between vision and reality. This is not a new topic for those who bear responsibility in international relations. Its deep meaning lies in the aspiration to an ideal and in the generation of a vision that will map out a course for the Organization in addressing the challenges it faces at this historic moment for humankind. Reality is dictated by factors that limit what should be; that is the difference between vision and reality. Many States, as the Secretary-General indicates, want for their citizens precisely what they are unable to provide for them: the capacity, resources and means to achieve their aspirations. In his report, the Secretary-General states that “no single country has the capacity to cope with the political, economic, environmental and technological challenges of an interconnected world.” (A/57/1, para. 4) It is true that our peoples and nations are interconnected, not only by their realities, but also in their dreams. We know that problems transcend national borders and call for international solutions — the internationalization of internal variables and the simultaneous internalization of external variables. This requires us to keep in mind that, at this stage in the history of humankind, we cannot ignore multilateral solutions. The Secretary-General points out that “multilateral action is possible in many cases where unilateral involvement would be impossible or undesirable”. (ibid.) Perhaps it would be appropriate for all States Members of this Organization to pause and reflect upon the new realities of a world that presents tremendous challenges as well as great opportunities. The vision of a new, fairer, more equitable and united world is our objective. It requires the resolve not only of individuals, but of everyone. It requires above all the political will to establish moral and ethical bases for the conduct of the international community. The Millennium Declaration established priorities and objectives for action by the United Nations and its Members to be fulfilled within a specific time frame. The Secretary-General clearly indicates — and we fully agree with him — that we have fallen short in our achievement of such priorities and objectives. At the same time, however, we wish to stress the fact that we have taken steps of far-reaching importance in the past year. Indeed, the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development established explicit and consensual guidelines for action to attain the Millennium Development Goals on the basis of a comprehensive approach. The Monterrey Consensus reflects an entirely reworked approach to international cooperation for development and lays a foundation upon which we should be able to build a global partnership, with the participation of all relevant actors at the international, regional and national levels. If we are to attain the Millennium Development Goals, the immediate challenge is to develop a pragmatic programme to implement the Monterrey outcome on the basis of an essentially inclusive process in which all interested parties can make active contributions, and to strengthen cooperation among the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization. Only thus will it be possible to achieve the necessary pooling of efforts and resources by the Government sector, business, civil society and the multilateral machinery, while at the same time creating a global economic system that is more democratic and fairer — in other words, favourable to development. The Johannesburg Political Declaration and Plan of Implementation endorsed the multidimensional nature of environmental, social and economic development and elaborated specific and detailed guidelines and programmes of action in each of these areas on the basis of a comprehensive and integrated approach grounded in the fundamental recognition that poverty eradication, changes in patterns of production and consumption, and the protection of natural resources require immediate action. In order to realize the Millennium Development Goals, we also need immediately to undertake the task of implementing the outcome of the Johannesburg Summit. We must move on from the mere enunciation or reiteration of commitments to finding and implementing innovative, viable and effective mechanisms. One key aspect in improving the well-being and development of the developing countries is international trade. By definition, trade should promote the optimal allocation and use of resources, thus deriving full advantage from the most significant capacities and strengths of the various economies. Reality highlights, by contrast, the persistence of significant protectionist and discriminatory practices, such as tariff escalation, quotas and other restrictions; unfair trading practices, such as the billions of dollars granted in subsidies; and the inappropriate use or abuse of certain instruments, such as anti-dumping measures. In this regard, it is particularly important that the commitments assumed at the World Trade Organization’s Doha Ministerial Conference be fully honoured in a development-oriented way, as agreed. Another positive development this year was the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, a genuinely African initiative for tackling the challenge of development, which deserves the robust support of the international community and to the implementation of which the United Nations should contribute to the maximum extent. The High Commissioner should receive the broadest support and cooperation of all institutions of the system. Hence, we believe that the past year has been particularly fruitful. Only development in its broadest sense will allow us to advance towards achieving solid and lasting international peace and security. The current threats to international peace and security differ from those of the past. Social justice, respect for human rights and better work and production opportunities for the peoples of the developing world are the foundation on which genuine international security can be built. This demonstrates the necessity of a renewed and strengthened multilateral system that offers solid channels for an increasingly effective international cooperation, founded on common norms and principles. Only in that way can such problems as terrorism, drug trafficking and transnational crime be combated effectively and lastingly. The delegation of Ecuador considers that it is indispensable to support the efforts to reform the General Assembly. After many years and its many important tasks, the Assembly of the peoples of the world has ceased to be the scene of the great debates and the forum where all can apply their wills to solve the challenges presented by history. I wish to pledge to you, Sir, and the delegates, Ecuador’s willingness to collaborate in the reform that will enable us to fulfil the visions of the men and women of this world and to change existing conditions that torment the world.

From the outset, allow me to express my delegation’s congratulations to the President on his election to preside over the fifty- seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly. We are confident that with his able leadership, the General Assembly will successfully deliberate on all the important issues on our work programme. Also, through the President, we would like to convey our gratitude to the Secretary-General and his hard working staff in the discharge of their functions on behalf of all of us, the Member countries of the Organization. Much of that work is reflected in the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/57/1). The Secretary-General’s report features an overview of the remarkable efforts made by the United Nations to tackle the many problems facing the international community. Examples of such issues include the struggle to achieve international peace and security, combating international terrorism, poverty eradication, the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as sustainable development, to name a few. In the field of international peace and security, we note the tremendous efforts that the United Nations has made in countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Congo. My country has also had its share of the world’s problems, especially in the province of Bougainville. In that case, the United Nations has supported the Government and people of Papua New Guinea in every step we took in the peacemaking process. The United Nations continues its support with respect to lasting peace on Bougainville, which has been heartening. We are deeply grateful to the United Nations and, indeed, to the Security Council and its members, for their contribution in the past, which we sincerely hope will continue in the future. The establishment of the United Nations Political Office in Bougainville and its continued role in the peace-building process, including the current disarmament programme, is a highly commendable process. The dividends of peace that we see in trouble spots, such as in my country, is a testament to the loyalty and commitments of United Nations personnel deployed on peacekeeping duties. We are cognizant of the important role they play in the maintenance of international peace and security and therefore urge all of us to support this noble cause. The United Nations has championed global efforts to address the aforementioned and other issues affecting its Member countries. This is reflected in the important international conferences and in the adoption of appropriate legal instruments to deal with those issues. That includes the adoption of the Rio outcome on biological diversity, climate change and the statement on the Forest Principles; regional and international treaties to ban nuclear tests; the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and conferences on the rights of women and children, to name a few. While noting the remarkable efforts by the international community under the auspices of the United Nations, it is fair to say that the lack of progress in certain areas of implementation can be attributed in part to the inadequate commitment of financial and other much needed resources for successful implementation. As the Organization charged with servicing the needs of Member countries, we are pleased to note the efforts of the United Nations to streamline our common endeavour to meaningfully address the issues facing humanity. This is evident through the Doha Ministerial Declaration on trade, the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development, the Millennium Development Goals and the recently concluded Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. Collectively, they provide a clear road map for the United Nations and the international community to meaningfully address the different issues facing humanity. The Millennium Goals are also the national development goals of Papua New Guinea. We therefore look forward to securing international assistance to complement the national efforts to achieve our national development objectives. Being a small island country, Papua New Guinea faces the extreme development challenges also faced by other small island developing States. The lack of adequate resources and the resulting constraints place the country in a difficult position to fulfil its international commitments under the Millennium Declaration and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The same is true of other neighbouring Pacific island States. In the light of that, we view regional collaboration through regional organizations, such as the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, as critical for us to forge collective efforts to address issues of common concern. The technical experts in our region play an important role in assisting Pacific island countries in meeting their development challenges and in fulfilling our commitments and obligations, as stipulated in the Millennium Declaration, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and other relevant instruments. In that context, it is important for regional organizations, such as the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, to establish good working relations with the United Nations Secretariat. In that way, we believe the United Nations Secretariat and, indeed, other world organizations and bodies, would better appreciate the problems and development challenges we face. Finally, we commend the Secretary-General for his commitment and pledge our continuing support.

I wish to express solidarity with earlier speakers who have spoken so eloquently on the matter under discussion today — particularly considering the great importance of the Millennium Summit and the centrality of the issues it raises on the development of the poor regions of this world, including Africa. Let me also thank Secretary- General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his comprehensive report (A/57/270) on the progress so far registered in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and further actions to be taken to accelerate the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals. In his report, the Secretary-General has pointed out that the Millennium Declaration represents the vision of the great family of nations in their pursuit of justice, peace and prosperity for all humanity. In his report, the Secretary-General has pointed out that the Millennium Declaration represents the vision of the great family of nations in its pursuit of justice, peace and prosperity for all humanity. As indicated by the Secretary-General, we are sadly nowhere near attaining even one tenth of the Millennium Development Goals, two years after they were adopted. The pace of implementation is clearly too slow, and drastic actions and stronger efforts need to be made to fast-track implementation. On the issue of peace, security and disarmament in the world, a mixed picture has emerged, albeit negative in certain regions, including the African continent. Encouraging results have, however, been seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola — just to mention two — where peace initiatives are on course and the fruits of those positive trends are already evident. We congratulate all the parties involved in those peace processes. It is our hope and our wish that peace and stability will quickly return to Côte d’Ivoire, where the situation is still turbulent. I join other speakers in lamenting the horrible 11 September terrorist attack on the United States and the attendant loss of precious lives. Malawi seeks to reiterate its unequivocal condemnation of terrorism, whatever form it takes and no matter what cause may be advanced to justify its perpetration across the globe. No reason can justify terrorism. There is need to control and dispose of surplus illicit small arms and light weapons. Malawi is currently the unfortunate victim of that menace, largely due to the influx of illegal small arms that have ended up in the hands of common criminals. That is a problem shared by many countries today. The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to destroy the limited success so far registered on the socio-economic front in our countries. It is destroying the very core of our productive capacity, comprising young men and women. We need the support of our development partners in that fight, particularly on the African continent. It must be recognized that HIV/AIDS is not only a health or development issue; it is also a security issue for all countries, as manifested by its debate, for the first time, in the Security Council in January 2000. The issue of poverty reduction is close to the heart of most domestic programmes of development in our economies, such as Malawi’s , where it forms the rallying call of the Government. The goal of cutting by half the number of people that survives on less than a dollar a day by 2015 is therefore extremely crucial for the United Nations family, particularly for us in the developing world. My delegation appeals to the developed nations and to the World Trade Organization to create a more conducive environment for the promotion of increased free trade for our products to be able to penetrate and compete favourably the international markets for sustainable development. In this era of increasing globalization and aid fatigue, trade remains our only hope for growth and progress. We would like to ask the developed countries not only to give us soft loans, but also to go all the way in completely writing off the outstanding debts. We ask them to concentrate on grants and foreign direct investment, and also to increase official development assistance to the recommended level of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product. Let me take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Malawi has been able to benefit from that arrangement. The funds so far released have been invested in the social sector programmes, such as education, transport, health and water supply. However, there is urgent need to consider some of the conditionalities attached to HIPC, if the initiative is to vindicate its proponents and advocates. In conclusion, I call upon the developed world to help us, unconditionally and without further procrastination, contribute to the full realization of the vision and goals of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). We in Africa believe that through NEPAD, the continent will be able to overcome underdevelopment and poverty, but we need massive external support and encouragement from our partners in order to reach that goal and to translate that noble vision into practical reality.

I call on the representative of Angola.

At the outset, allow me to congratulate the President on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly and express my delegation’s commitment to support him in carrying out his duties. My delegation joins previous speakers in expressing our appreciation to the Secretary-General for his comprehensive report on the work of the Organization and on the implementation of the Millennium Goals. We are indeed fortunate to have an Organization such as the United Nations, whose scope of work and leadership makes collective constructive action possible. Through our collective actions during the past year, we made the world a better place. That is not to say that we have eliminated all challenges to the quality of life of our citizens. In addition to the previously existing challenges, new ones have emerged. Such is the case with the scourge of terrorism and the rapidly expanding HIV/AIDS pandemic. Nonetheless, the reports of the Secretary-General reflect this noble Organization’s predisposition to adapt to new and emerging challenges so as to fulfil its mandates, chief of which are peace, security and sustainable development. It is the stated objective of my country to contribute to peace and security in the world. That commitment is derived from our own experience in suffering the consequences of war. The people of the Republic of Angola are all too aware that sustainable development, political stability, good governance, the rule of law and the enhancement of respect for human rights can only be achieved through the prevalence of peace and security. To achieve peace and security, we cherish and defend the values at the foundation of the Charter. As it relates to the prevention and resolution of conflicts, we urge Member States, as has the Secretary-General, “to continue to increase our efforts to achieve international order and justice through negotiation and consensus” (A/57/1). As stated in the Secretary-General’s report on the work of the Organization, people who live in conditions of extreme insecurity and poverty and whose hope is persistently betrayed by our unwillingness to implement resolutions or our failure to support humanitarian operations, have candid concerns about questioning our ability to collectively and positively impact their livelihood. The only valid answer to those concerns is our continuous commitment to this Organization, the United Nations. During the past year, in addition to supporting regional efforts aimed at conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building, the Organization undertook to continue to operate and establish peacekeeping and peace-building missions. We congratulate the Secretary-General for having presided over progress and over successful operations, including in the cases of East Timor, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, among others. In my own country, the collective efforts of the Angolan people and the international community brought about peace. Regrettably, there are also initiatives marked by less progress. Successful missions and initiatives can be traced back to one fundamental ingredient, and that is the commitment of Member States to assist the Organization in the implementation of collectively agreed courses of action. This premise holds true for the failure of the Organization in Iraq, the Middle East, Western Sahara and other places. Another issue raised by the Secretary-General was that of humanitarian assistance to countries facing emergencies. As reported, donor response to United Nations consolidated appeals remains unsatisfactory. The report objectively outlined the deepening humanitarian crisis in some Member States, including my own. Besides the efforts of the Angolan Government to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons and former combatants, the establishment of lasting peace still depends upon the degree to which the international community responds to the cause of peace and stability in my country. Failure to support other humanitarian crisis situations undermines the fulfilment of the mandate of our Organization. Notable advances were also made by the international community in the fight against terrorism. To that end, the Organization proved its adaptability and capability to deal with new and emerging challenges. The Republic of Angola reiterates its strong condemnation of terrorist acts wherever they may occur, and continues to be committed to the strict implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001). We are hopeful that the Open-ended Working Group of the Sixth Committee on drafting a comprehensive convention on international terrorism can conclude its work during the present session. We regret the lack of progress in the area of disarmament, particularly as it relates to the prevention of an arms race in outer space and the establishment of covenants that will dissuade Member States from developing and acquiring weapons of mass destruction. We therefore urge the parties involved to consider the immense potential benefits to the many achievable through small risks taken by the few. Commendable progress is also reported in the areas of electoral assistance, eradicating extreme poverty, attaining the Millennium Development Goals, the promotion of human rights and the fight against transnational organized crime, including the trafficking in persons, firearms and drugs. That would not have been possible were it not for the development of effective partnerships with individual Governments of Member States and the participatory approach pursued by the United Nations. We must also commend the report on efforts at reform. We firmly support all the efforts directed at enhancing the efficiency and readiness of the Organization. We are also pleased and enthusiastic about the introduction of modern resource management techniques. In the face of budgetary constrains, we encourage the introduction of an “electronic” United Nations. But we also caution that these efforts should not impact negatively upon the participation of all Member States, particularly that of the least developed countries. The Millennium Development Goals represent a road map to sustainable development in the age of globalization. Their achievement will transform poverty and injustice into prosperity and justice. The methodology established to achieve the Goals recognizes the interdependency among nations, as well as that between security, the environment, the treatment of disease and the enhancement of human rights, governance and trade. Never before have we had such a comprehensive approach to development. The Millennium Goals embody a vision that is deeply rooted in our Charter and that is only achievable through acts by individual Member States that reaffirm multilateralism. While every country remains responsible for establishing an environment conducive to its development, the interdependence of today’s concert of nations calls for mutual support and concerted action. In conclusion, my Government believes that every success, as well as every failure, outlined in the report, belongs to all Member States. We all have a stake in the Organization’s undertakings.

We have heard the last speaker in the debate on these agenda items. May I take it that the General Assembly takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization, contained in document A/57/1? It was so decided.

We have thus concluded this stage of our consideration of agenda items 10 and 44.