'Centrality' of UN keynote theme on third day of General Assembly debate
At its morning session, the Assembly heard President Tassos Papadopoulos of Cyprus note that terrorism around the globe, from Baghdad to Jakarta, from Russia to India and back to the 11 September attacks on the United States transcended international borders in its attack on universal values and demanded an international response. "As the threat is unfortunately far from over, a genuine mobilization under the aegis of the United Nations is of the essence if this endeavour is to be successful," he declared. Likewise, the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the risk of their acquisition by terrorists had become a top priority on the world's agenda. "In this respect, the United Nations have a truly instrumental role to play," he said.
Turning to the situation in Cyprus, President Papadopoulos thanked Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his Special Adviser, Alvaro de Soto, for their efforts at seeking a solution to the issue. However, he also deplored the "continuing and longstanding Turkish intransigence" which a few months ago "thwarted what was probably the strongest ever initiative of the United Nations for finding a solution in Cyprus." Video
President Vladimir Putin |
Turning to the global nature of terrorism, President Putin said: "The UN is duty bound to become - and is indeed becoming - a basis for the global anti-terrorist coalition." Noting that humanitarian activities consume a lion's share of UN work but do not so often make front-page news, he added: "However, it is this UN function that essentially continues to be fundamental and irreplaceable." He likewise called for concerted action on combating problems ranging from AIDS to environmental degradation and advocated a gradual and cautious approach to UN reforms such as enlarging the Security Council in order to achieve the broadest possible agreement. Video
President Néstor Carlos Kirchner |
With his heavily indebted country having incurred the largest sovereign debt default ever two years ago, President Kirchner devoted much of his speech to the debt issue, and called for concrete international assistance to enable indebted countries to rebuild their economic solvency. He also called for a peaceful settlement of the dispute over the British-ruled Malvinas islands, known in English as the Falklands. "The United Nations has recognized that this is a colonial situation maintained by the United Kingdom and that it must be settled through bilateral negotiations between the Argentine Republic and the UK," he said. Video
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad |
In addition Mr. Mahathir warned that the unipolar world, led by a democratic nation, was leading the rest of the international community to economic chaos, political anarchy, uncertainty and fear, from which the world would not recover. If the world wanted democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, the powerful had to demonstrate their commitment to those noble ideals, he said. They could begin by restructuring the United Nations, in particular through the abolition of the undemocratic single country veto, which should be replaced with a modified veto in which two vetoes, backed by three other members of the Security Council, would be needed to block a resolution. Video
Chief of Government Patrick Leclercq |
Noting that a small country like Monaco must assess the reasonable limits of the contribution it can make to the action of the international community, Mr. Leclercq said the principality had focused its efforts on sustainable development and humanitarian action. "Education, health, childhood protection, development aid and protection of the environment are Monaco's priorities in this respect, more particularly in Africa where we have doubled our aid since the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as well as in the Mediterranean region," he added. Video
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
Mr. Vajpayee said international economic relations continued to be characterized by inequities and inequalities between the developing and developed countries, and warned that a preoccupation with terrorism should not dilute a commitment to tackle non-military threats to human and international security such as poverty, AIDS and environmental degradation. Referring to the dispute over Kashmir, Mr. Vajpayee declared: "When the cross-border terrorism stops - or when we eradicate it - we can have a dialogue with Pakistan on the other issues between us." Video
Prime Minister Forné Molné |
Mr. Molné said the world needed to insist on a decent life for everyone and that was why Andorra was committed to aiding development around the world. Since 1995, Andorra regularly increased its budgetary contributions and it hoped to devote 0.7 per cent of its total budget to foreign aid within two years, he stated. Mr. Molné also said his country supported UN institutions implementing small-scale solutions that fostered self-reliance and local initiative. Andorra was particularly enthusiastic about projects aimed at children, education and helping women to establish their own businesses. Video
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern |
Mr. Ahern said his government would be deeply concerned at the widespread acceptance of a doctrine of pre-emptive strike given the ever more lethal nature of modern weapons, the risk of large-scale death, destruction and escalation were enormous. More effective than striking pre-emptively was to pre-empt the risk of conflict through a wide range of steps in the diplomatic, economic, humanitarian and other areas, he said. To that end, Mr. Ahern said more attention should be devoted to dealing with the root causes of conflict, identifying potential conflicts as early as possible and dealing with them before they got out of hand. Video
Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami |
Malta also hoped that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, accompanied by the persuasion of the EU, would succeed in resolving the problem of Cyprus. Mr. Adami said one of the major strengths of the Euro-Mediterranean process lay in the linkage that it maintained between security and wider issues of cooperation in the economic and humanitarian fields. He noted that Malta is depositing its ratification of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and two of its protocols; by so doing, Malta would have ratified or acceded to 11 of the 15 treaties on which the Secretary-General has focused for this year's treaty event. Video
Also participating in the Assembly's general debate this morning were the Foreign Ministers of Israel, Silvan Shalom, the United Kingdom, Jack Straw, and Sweden, Jan O. Karlsson.