Fifty-seventh General Assembly

Plenary

7th Meeting (PM)

EFFORTS TO RESOLVE ROOT CAUSES OF CONFLICT OVERSHADOWED

BY DEFENCE BUILD-UP, GENERAL ASSEMBLY TOLD

Speakers Also Address Global Instability, Famine and HIV/AIDS

The global defence build-up had overshadowed efforts to resolve the underlying causes of conflict –- poverty, unrest and instability, Sir Tomasi Puapua, Governor-General of Tuvalu, said this afternoon as the General Assembly continued its general debate

As the Assembly worked over the weekend, he said that, for the international community to survive, that trend must be reversed and greater emphasis must be placed on the United Nations as a forum for meaningfully addressing the root causes of conflict.

He said that development aid should be targeted at the needs of small island developing States in the fields of education, health, water, infrastructure, affordable energy and sanitation.  Noting that Tuvalu, like other small vulnerable States, were particularly weary of conflicts and wars, he called upon countries “here in the common house of the human family”, to lay down their arms and resolve conflicts together.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Luxembourg said that her country, also aware of its limited size, relied on multilateral cooperation, which provided a place for all nations in an interdependent world.  She cited the entry into force of the International Criminal Court and the outcomes of the recent international conferences at Monterrey, Doha and Johannesburg as examples of the multilateral system’s value.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, calling for a United Nations conference to examine terrorism and formulate a joint response, said that without a common definition of terrorism, certain terrorists would seek to justify their acts in the name of state security or national liberation.  Malaysia had acted swiftly against terrorist groups domestically, while working closely with other members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference internationally.  However, in the quest to support Security Council's prompt action to eliminate terrorism, the principles of international law must not be set aside, he emphasized.

Guyana's Minister for Foreign Affairs noted that poverty and underdevelopment were easily exploited to undermine the authority of

democratically elected governments and exacerbate ethnic and other tensions.  Global instability also resulted from failure to implement the Development Agenda that States had agreed upon.  After more than a decade of development-related conferences, the world has yet to grasp fully the implications for international cooperation of an increasingly interdependent world and a globalized economy.  While global action remained indispensable to the development process, the relationship that should underlie such action was less clear, he stressed.

Turning the Assembly’s attention to the plight of southern African, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Malawi said that    13 million people in six countries, including her own, were in the throes of a severe and life-threatening food crisis.  That crisis could become a region-wide security and health catastrophe, especially given that the sub-continent was already the epicentre of the global HIV/AIDS explosion.  Referring to the recent decision by the United States to withhold funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), she said the impact on that agency, which was tackling the pandemic, was crippling and called upon that country to reconsider its decision.

Other speakers this afternoon were the Foreign Ministers of Morocco, New Zealand, Austria, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya and Dominica.

Speaking in exercise of the right of reply was a representative of Spain.

The General Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Sunday,

15 September, to continue its general debate.

Background

The General Assembly met this afternoon to continue the general debate of its fifty-seventh session.

Statements

Sir TOMASI PUAPUA, Governor-General of Tuvalu, expressing pride that the United Nations had been strengthened by the resolve to combat terrorism, said that small islands in the Pacific were vulnerable in their own unique way to the forces of terror.  Tuvalu pledged its commitment to anti-terrorism resolutions, but it needed technical and financial assistance to fulfil its obligations in that regard.

He said that his country, as a small island developing State with scarce resources, had to balance its participation in United Nations activities with the many priorities of nation-building.  However, Tuvalu felt it was important to support the principles of the United Nations, as well as reforms proposed for the Security Council and the Secretariat towards more equitable and diverse representation and staffing.

He said there was a genuine need for special assistance for Tuvalu and other small island developing States to develop their capacity to participate fully in globalization.  Small island developing States were particularly weary of wars.  There was a need to resolve disputes by other means and to reconsider the massive arms build-ups that overshadowed efforts to redress the underlying causes of conflict.

Greater faith must be placed in the United Nations to meaningfully address poverty, instability and the effects of environmental degradation, he said.  In that “common house of humanity”, all countries should put down their arms, listen to each other and resolve their differences together.

He said his country supported the goals of sustainable development and commitments made to replenish the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).  However, he appealed for more concrete recognition of the special situation of small island developing States in those efforts, particularly with regard to education, health services, fresh water, affordable energy, infrastructure and sanitation.  Development aid was indispensable in all those areas.  Of particular importance to the small island developing States was the management of ocean resources and efforts against global warming.

LYDIE POLFER, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Commerce of Luxembourg, associating herself with the European Union, said the international community must pursue any action against Iraq through the United Nations.  Iraq must provide unconditional and unimpeded access to the weapons inspectors and immediately fulfil its obligations.  Luxembourg was determined to support the Organization in its efforts to achieve that goal.  International law had been strengthened considerably with the entry into force on 1 July of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, she noted.  That institution should be supported to the utmost.

In that same multilateral context, she said that the recent Johannesburg World Summit had determined that the health of the planet, with its limited natural resources, required solidarity in reconciling development.  The Summit had laid down the roadmap, which, although not overly ambitious to some, could serve as a guide.  In Doha, the World Trade Organization (WTO) had decided to establish links between the opening of markets and technological assistance and development, while the Monterrey Consensus had agreed on stepped up financial assistance for development.  Poverty, pollution and overexploitation, as well as violence, would fuel pessimism for a long time to come.  Meanwhile, good governance was increasingly broadly accepted.

She said that the Council of Europe, whose major mission was to champion human rights, pluralistic democracy and the rule of law, had had to face an enormous challenge following the events of 11 September 2001.  The Council over which Luxembourg had presided since May, had taken specific steps to combat terrorism, including the elaboration of guidelines for an international campaign.  Those guidelines included full respect for human rights, which were especially important when security was threatened.  At the same time, anti-terrorism legislation must not infringe upon or destroy democracy.  Increased interaction  at all levels would replace the concept of reaction with a genuine concept of prevention. 

Certain tragedies had remained open wounds, she said, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Standing by in passivity was not an option; efforts were continuing to create conditions for new negotiations to conclude the peace process in the Middle East.  Luxembourg sought to put the political context at the heart of its concerns in that regard.  In addition, she said, efforts in Afghanistan must ensure the establishment of a stable and fully functioning democratic State.  The situation in the Balkans deserved similar attention.

DATO SERI ABDULLAH HAJI AHMAD BADAWI, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, said that since the evil attacks against the host country, terrorism had been recognized as a global problem.  Domestically, Malaysia had acted swiftly against terrorist groups, while working closely with other members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference internationally.  In the quest to combat terrorism, however, the principles of international law should not be set aside. 

Without a common definition, he said, certain terrorists would justify their actions in the name of State security or national liberation.  Terrorism was often rooted in political and economic grievances that had not been adequately addressed.  Malaysia regretted the profiling of Islam and Muslims regarding terrorism and called for the convening of an international conference under the auspices of the United Nations to formulate a joint response to the phenomenon.

Expressing concern at the lack of urgency in addressing the underlying factors of terrorism, he said most of the Muslim world believed that one of the key issues was the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.  It was important to understand the root causes of violence in the region, namely, the continued occupation of Arab lands by the Israeli occupying forces.  Israel’s oppressive policies had made life unbearable for the Palestinians.  The international community could not stand on the sidelines indefinitely.  It was time for the Security Council to intervene directly beginning with the dispatch of a United Nations peacekeeping force to the occupied territories.

He said that targeting Iraq outside the United Nations framework would not only be wrong but would also result in a more volatile world order.  Welcoming the decision of the United States to work with the United Nations on that issue rather than pursuing a unilateral policy of military intervention, he said that engaging the international community through the United Nations must not merely be an exercise in public diplomacy. 

The international community could not be made to assume that military intervention against Iraq was inevitable and that the United Nations was only being engaged as a matter of course, he stressed.  The international community must be presented with incontrovertible evidence of the perceived threat posed by Iraq.  At the same time, efforts should be made to urge Iraq to cooperate with the United Nations.  A preemptive attack against Iraq without credible evidence would draw imaginary battle lines between the Muslim world and the West, especially in view of the continued oppression of the Palestinians.

MOHAMMED BENAISSA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Morocco, said Africa was still full of conflicts, many caused by its rich resources.  Seldom were the underlying causes of those conflicts taken into account.  The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) should be supported in addressing that issue.  Morocco supported the peace processes in many African conflicts, particularly in the Mano River Union area, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. 

He said Morocco had always cooperated with the United Nations on the issue of Western Sahara, and emphasized its readiness to pursue a lasting political solution in accordance with Security Council resolution 1429.  As a basis for negotiating such a solution, it supported the framework agreement submitted to the Security Council by James Baker III, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General.  It called for the immediate release of all Moroccans detained in Algeria, and categorically rejected any political exploitation of the humanitarian aspects of the Western Sahara question.

Elsewhere, he said, a central pivot of Morocco’s foreign policy was strengthening its bonds with the European Union, as well as building a free trade area among the Arab Mediterranean countries.  He hoped that upcoming Moroccan-Spanish talks would tackle all conflicts between the two countries, particularly regarding the status of the occupied cities of Sebta and Melilla.

Concerning the Middle East, he said that Israel persisted in its repressive policies.  He welcomed the Saudi peace initiative and the vision of two States coexisting side by side.  Despite the continued violence, Morocco still supported a revitalization of the peace process and an independent Palestinian State with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

He emphasized that the Iraq issue must be resolved in accordance with the United Nations Charter, in a way that preserved the region’s stability and security, but did not inflict further suffering on the Iraqi people.  He expressed concern about Kuwaiti prisoners and missing persons and the need to preserve the integrity of both Kuwait and Iraq.  In addition, it was hoped that the conflict over the islands of Abu Musa, and the Greater and Lesser Tunb, would be settled by peaceful means.

PHIL GOFF, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, noting that the “mass murder” of 3,000 people from some 79 countries was a sharp warning of the ongoing threats to global peace and stability, said his country had introduced legislation to deny funding to terrorist organizations and sought to assist its Pacific neighbours to do the same.  Actions to suppress terrorism must be accompanied by measures to tackle the causes, including injustice, hopelessness and the failure of legitimate channels to redress grievances.

Regarding the Middle East, he said agreement required good faith from each side and a determined effort by the international community.  The situation in Iraq was another threat to world peace, he said, adding that the requirement to comply with United Nations resolutions was not the instruction of one country, but a collective one that should be endorsed by all Member States.  The response chosen by the Security Council should not impose further costs on ordinary Iraqi people and should not involve actions that undermined, rather than strengthened, the war against terrorism. 

An important landmark last year had been the entry into force of the International Criminal Court, he said.  The new regime had carefully built in safeguards to protect the innocent.  New Zealand had, therefore, been dismayed by Security Council actions in July that were inconsistent with the Rome Statute.  Moreover, the Council did not have the authority to change treaty relationships.

BENITA FERRERO-WALDNER, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria, said that the fight against terrorism required a global effort and a comprehensive approach aimed at prevention, protecting the security of countries and ensuring the basic values of freedom and human rights.  Coercive measures should be used as a last resort.  Noting that decisions and actions should be based on international law, she said it was important to remember that terrorism could not be fought with soldiers and policemen alone.  “We also need to fight the root causes -- the abject levels of poverty, inequality, injustice, the lack of sustainable development and of good governance.”

On the situation in the Middle East, she called for an effort to arrive speedily at a political solution providing for two States –- Israel and Palestine -- each living within secure and recognized borders.  Austria supported the idea of an early international conference with the backing of the Quartet (United Nations, United States, Russian Federation and the European Union), as well as interested countries in the region, to find a solution to such political issues  as the final borders of the two States, the final status of Jerusalem and the question of refugees,

The Middle East had also attracted the attention of the international community in the context of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction owing to Iraq’s continued non-compliance with Security Council resolutions, she said.  The potential perils of such policies would not be tolerated, and, for that reason, Austria supported the Secretary-General’s efforts to bring about the speedy, unfettered and unconditional return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq and that country’s full compliance with all relevant Security Council resolutions.

Welcoming United States President George W. Bush’s statement seeking broad international support and cooperation with the Security Council on dealing with regimes that supported terror or sought to acquire weapons of mass destruction, she said that only the Security Council could provide the necessary legitimacy.  At the same time, it was evident that the Council itself had to take responsibility for ensuring full compliance with its resolutions in order to maintain world peace.

ANATOLIY ZLENKO, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that the anti-terrorism coalition had achieved tangible results.  The elaboration of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism was also a priority.

On social and economic development, he said, the United Nations was a unique forum for dialogue between developed countries, countries with economies in transition and developing nations.  The Economic and Social Council played a special role in that process.  The right to life was inconceivable without the right and opportunity to live in dignity.

Ukraine welcomed the advancement of the stabilization process in the Balkans and fully supported the active involvement of European actors to further normalize the security situation in that region, he said.  However, the lack of progress in the settling other problems, including the Georgian-Abkhazia conflict, was regrettable.  Ukraine was deeply concerned over developments in the Pankisi Valley and the rise in tensions between Georgia and the Russian Federation.  Those existing misunderstandings must be resolved peacefully in compliance with international law.  Ukraine unconditionally supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia, he added.

Ukraine was also deeply concerned over the situation in the Middle East, he said.  Ukraine fully supported the efforts of the international community to assist the parties to find peaceful ways of settling the conflict and to bring about in three years the coexistence of Israel and Palestine in security and within internationally recognized borders.

Regarding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, he said that, for millions of Ukrainians, it remained a difficult reality of everyday life.  The international community should support Ukraine’s efforts within a new United Nations strategy for addressing the consequences of the catastrophe.  Ukraine was willing to provide the Chernobyl nuclear plant as a testing ground for international scientific research to improve nuclear safety.

SAMUEL INSANALLY, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Guyana, noted that the international community was plagued by dangerous instability that threatened to undermine or destroy many States.  Not only were nations faced with the horror of terrorism, but they also lived with poverty, hunger and disease which, though more silent, were perhaps more deadly.

He said that inter-State and intra-State conflict had demonstrated how poorly an economy functioned without political and social cohesion.  Such cohesion continued to be threatened in many countries.  Poverty and underdevelopment were easily exploited by some elements of society to undermine the authority of democratically elected governments and to exacerbate ethnic and other tensions.  That instability was further compounded by the rampant trade in illegal drugs, arms and ammunition with its attendant corruption and violence, which daily tested the legal, financial, security and governance capabilities of most small States.

Emphasizing that tensions between India and Pakistan could not be allowed to persist given the risk of a calamitous nuclear conflict, he said that, as a country committed to the pacific settlement of disputes and a friend of those two important Asian countries from which the ancestors of many Guyanese had originated, Guyana wished to encourage them to continue their search for a definitive solution.

He said that global instability also resulted from failure to implement the Agenda for Development that States had agreed upon.  After more than a decade of development-related conferences, the world has yet to grasp fully the implications for international cooperation of an increasingly interdependent world and a globalized economy.  The recently concluded meetings in Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg had brought the international community full circle in assessing the effectiveness of global collective action aimed at realizing the Millennium Development Goals and the eradication of poverty.  While global action remained indispensable to the development process, the relationship that should underlie such action was less clear, he stressed.”

ZLATKO LAGUMDZIJA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said it was fortunate that South-East Europe was no longer stereotyped with instability and crisis, although the task of fully integrating the region into the structures of European democracy remained to be completed.  Stability must become sustainable through employment, justice, functioning institutions and continued dialogue between communities.

He said it would be easier to achieve further goals, however, if indicted war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic were brought to justice, and stressed the importance of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The United Nations should continue to provide leadership in building a prosperous world built on the rules of international law and human rights, he said.  In that context, he supported further democratization of the United Nations, including reform of the Security Council that took into account equal representation without jeopardizing efficiency.

He said that his country had, in the past two years, proved its determination to move from being a passive aid recipient to an active contributor to international efforts.  It was an active partner with international efforts within its own borders and had almost fully completed conditions set out in the roadmap of the European Union.  Any exit strategy of the international community, however, could only be based on the successful building of a multi-ethnic, democratic European State.

MARSDEN MADOKA, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Kenya, said the current global financial framework had demonstrated its inadequacy in dealing with problems facing developing countries.  Expressing concern over the decline in official development assistance flows and foreign direct investment, he said that despite efforts to achieve sustained economic growth and sustainable development, conditions in the international arena had not been adequately supportive.  Kenya called for greater emphasis on concessionary lending and greater use of grants.

Global trade arrangements had benefited industrialized countries, he said, adding that Africa’s present share of global trade was less than 2 per cent.  While industrialized countries continued to provide substantial subsidies for their agricultural sector, developing countries had been forced to end similar support.  That, combined with tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, had meant that African products had not been able to compete with goods from the North.

He said that many developing countries, including Kenya, were experiencing net outflow of resources due to debt service obligations.  He called for an overhaul of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) criteria so that countries facing high levels of poverty and debt burdens could qualify for debt relief.  Kenya called for genuine partnership in the implementation of resolutions, commitments and the Millennium Development Goals, the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg outcome.  The reduction in funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) by a major contributor would impact negatively on ongoing programmes in many developing countries.

Greater emphasis should be put on the deployment of adequate force levels to peacekeeping missions in Africa, he said.  While conflict and instability ravaged the region, progress in a number of conflicts was very encouraging, including the signing of the agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.  Kenya called for speedy conclusion of negotiations on equitable representation and increase in membership of the Security Council.

LILIAN PATEL, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Malawi, said that six southern African countries, including her own, were in the throes of a severe and life-threatening food crisis brought on by drought-related deficits in grain harvests.  Nearly 13 million people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe were facing severe food shortages, which had already caused widespread famine and a rise in famine-related health problems.  A further deterioration in the general poverty situation and the humanitarian plight of the rural masses was clearly envisaged.

She emphasized the possibility that the situation would become a region-wide security and health catastrophe, especially given that southern Africa was already the epicentre of the global HIV/AIDS explosion.  The food situation was poised to inflict incalculable damage on the social, economic and cultural fabric of whole communities and threatened the efficacy of their financial and economic sustainability.  The food shortage also strained the already low revenue collection capacities of the affected countries, especially since budgetary allocations were being shifted away from social sector services to fund massive grain imports.  On 28 February, Malawi had launched a vigorous appeal for emergency relief.

As home to one of the largest numbers of HIV/AIDS victims in the world, southern Africa needed closer attention and concrete actions, she said.  Extremely troubling was that some Member States and donor institutions had suddenly taken a

“minimalist” approach to the central role played by United Nations funds and programmes in tackling the health problems of developing countries.  Referring to the recent decision by the United States to withhold funding for the UNFPA, she said the impact on that Agency, which was tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, was crippling.  She called upon the United States to reconsider its decision and restore funding. 

OSBORNE RIVIERE, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Marketing of Dominica, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the fight against international terrorism and to ensuring that the funding of terrorist-related activities and international crime were permanently disabled.

He said his country was making every effort towards the successful implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), in spite of limited human and financial resources.  Legislative measures that had been put in place included the Exchange of Information Act, which addressed some of the international community’s concerns as expressed in resolution 1373.

The international situation, notably developments in the world economy, he noted, had not been favourable to the growth prospects of small States like Dominica, which had a largely agriculture-based economy and was extremely vulnerable to external economic shocks.  The irreparable damaged that the events of 11 September had caused to the economies of small Caribbean countries was still evident, with tourism being the hardest-hit sector.

Right of Reply

The representative of Spain, speaking in exercise of the right of reply in regard to the statement by the Foreign Minister of Morocco, said that the islands of Sebta and Melilla, as well as adjacent islands and rocks, were integral parts of Spain.  Their inhabitants had representatives in the Spanish Parliament and enjoyed the rights of citizens.

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