United Arab Emirates, 2009

Since the last session of the General

Assembly, we have witnessed various actions and

developments that have left their negative impact on

international joint efforts to address the threats and

challenges that still face our world, particularly in the

areas of security, stability and sustainable

development.

Among the most notable implications of those

challenges, whose consequences transcend national

borders, are the international financial crisis,

deterioration of the environment, the increase in

unemployment and poverty, the outbreaks of infectious

diseases, lack of security and stability in a number of

countries, and the stalemate in the Middle East peace

process.

The United Arab Emirates would like to seize this

opportunity to express its pride that the international

community has selected Masdar City in Abu Dhabi as a

seat for the International Renewable Energy Agency. In

that context, we renew our commitment and readiness

to cooperate fully in providing all facilities and

technical resources required for the success of this

international agency.

We wish to stress that the United Arab Emirates’

interest in developing a programme for the peaceful

uses of nuclear energy stems from its desire to meet its

growing energy needs in the future. By developing a

peaceful nuclear energy model that complies with the

highest standards of operational transparency while

fulfilling the highest requirements of nuclear safety

and security and non-proliferation, in cooperation with

the International Atomic Energy Agency and other

responsible and experienced States, the United Arab

Emirates hopes that a new course will be charted for

the safe and beneficial use of nuclear energy.

The United Arab Emirates’ commitment not to

enrich uranium and reprocess fuels locally is among

the most salient features of this model, which is one

supported by enhanced international transparency and

cooperation mechanisms.

The United Arab Emirates renews in this forum

its disappointment at the continued occupation by the

Islamic Republic of Iran of the three United Arab

Emirates islands: Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu

Musa since 1971. The United Arab Emirates demands

the return of those islands under conditions of full

sovereignty, including their regional waters, airspace,

continental shelf and their exclusive economic zone as

integral parts of the national sovereignty of the United

Arab Emirates.

The United Arab Emirates also affirms that all

military and administrative measures taken by the

Iranian Government on those islands are null and void

and have no legal effect, regardless of how long the

occupation might last. In that context, we call upon the

international community to urge Iran to respond to the

peaceful and sincere initiatives of the United Arab

Emirates. These initiatives were supported and adopted

by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the League of

Arab States, and they call for a just settlement of that

issue.

This could be done either through direct and

serious negotiations between the two countries or by

referring the issue to the International Court of Justice,

in accordance with the United Nations Charter and the

provisions of international law.

We also hope that the Iranian Government will

respond positively and fairly to this sensitive and

important issue. Such action would strengthen good-

neighbourly relations and create a base for confidence-

building measures in the Arab Gulf region.

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We note with satisfaction the gradual withdrawal

of foreign troops from Iraq and the extension of the

national authority of its Government over all its

territory. In this context, we reaffirm our long-standing

support to the people and the Government of Iraq. In

particular, we support their efforts to expedite the

rebuilding of their security, legislative and economic

institutions as well as their efforts to achieve national

reconciliation.

However, we are also deeply concerned at the

deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in

Iraq, and we strongly condemn the recent terrorist

bombings in that brotherly country. In that context, we

call for respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty

and independence of Iraq and non-intervention in its

internal affairs. Its Arab and Islamic identity must be

upheld; we condemn all attempts to divide or

dismember the Iraqi State.

The United Arab Emirates expresses its

disappointment at the state of the peace process in the

Middle East, which has deteriorated owing to

continuing Israeli aggression against and occupation of

Palestinian and Arab territories. This includes the harsh

blockade imposed on the Palestinian people, in

particular in Gaza, the ongoing confiscation of land,

property and homes of the Palestinian people, and the

building of more settlements and the separation wall in

the occupied territories. That is all carried out with a

view to Judaizing occupied East Jerusalem and

changing its Arab identity in flagrant violation of

international law and resolutions of international

legitimacy.

The United Arab Emirates welcomed the positive

positions expressed by United States President Barack

Obama in this Hall on 23 September. We believe that

his address (see ) set out a firm basis for

negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israeli

Government. We hope that Mr. Obama will continue to

closely pursue that important issue.

We also welcome the cautious positions stated by

the European Union, the other members of the Quartet

and the international community regarding the Israeli

settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

However, we believe that those positions are not

sufficient. More effective efforts are needed in order to

resume serious negotiations with the Palestinian

Authority.

In that context, we emphasize that the

achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace

in the Middle East requires an end to the Israeli

occupation of all occupied Arab and Palestinian

territories and the establishment of an independent

Palestinian State, with Al-Quds as its capital, based on

the principle of land for peace and in accordance with

the Arab Peace Initiative and resolutions of

international legitimacy.

The United Arab Emirates will continue to stand

by the Palestinian National Authority and the

Palestinian people and to support their just cause. In

that context, we commend His Excellency President

Mahmoud Abbas for his tireless efforts to restore the

legitimate rights of his people, to establish a

Palestinian State with Al-Quds as its capital and to

achieve development and peace there. The United Arab

Emirates also supports all ongoing efforts, particularly

those undertaken by the sisterly Arab Republic of

Egypt, with a view to achieving national reconciliation

in Palestine.

The United Arab Emirates attaches particular

importance to African countries. It is strengthening its

cooperation and partnerships with those countries in

line with the United Nations Millennium Declaration

(resolution 55/2), with special focus on goals to combat

poverty and to ensure that Africa, which represents the

largest part of the South, receives a fair and equitable

share of global prosperity. The United Arab Emirates

reiterates its decades-long energy policy, which is

based on maintaining the volume and flow of its energy

supplies without restriction or political or non-political

impediment.

Furthermore, the United Arab Emirates has long

and consistently been pursuing a foreign policy based

on the principles and purposes of the United Nations,

in particular with regard to the settlement of

international disputes by peaceful means,

non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and the

protection of national sovereignty. In that context, we

affirm our continued commitment to the one-China

policy.

The United Arab Emirates, as an active member

of the international community, is always ready to

reiterate its commitment to respecting the principles of

human rights in the light of its human values and

national principles and in line with the provisions and

machinery of relevant international conventions. The

25 09-52592

universal periodic review on the United Arab Emirates

was adopted by the Human Rights Council in Geneva

last December.

The United Arab Emirates attaches great

importance to the conditions of migrant workers and

the protection of their full rights, in accordance with

the constitution of the United Arab Emirates, national

legislation and the standards of the International

Labour Organization. My Government has recently

adopted a set of policies and measures aimed at

enhancing many aspects of labour protection. It has

taken steps to intensify regional cooperation among

labour-exporting and labour-importing countries in

Asia with what is known as the Abu Dhabi Dialogue,

which aims to promote the protection of workers at all

stages of contractual labour. Also, the United Arab

Emirates actively participates in the International

Forum on Migration and Development and supports its

activities and research work. The forum was initiated

by the High-level Dialogue on International Migration

and Development, held on the sidelines of the General

Assembly in the autumn of 2006.

Women and children occupy an important place

among the national priorities of the United Arab

Emirates Government, in particular with regard to

education, health, knowledge and human development.

The empowerment of women and the care and

protection of children are among the major success

stories of our national development project. The United

Arab Emirates has also made efforts to combat all

forms of violence, extremism, crime, violation of

human rights and human trafficking through

partnerships that are based on equality and mutual

respect and contribute to achieving peace, stability and

sustainable development.

In conclusion, we hope that our deliberations on

the items on the Assembly’s agenda this session will

lead to positive results that will enhance our joint

efforts to establish a more just, peaceful, tolerant and

developed world.