Armenia, 2002

I would like to begin

by congratulating you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh

session, and to wish you success in your work. I would

also like to thank Mr. Han Seung-soo for having so

ably conducted the work of the fifty-sixth session.

It is with special pleasure that I welcome the

admission of the Swiss Confederation to the United

Nations. That we have the pleasure and the opportunity

to welcome such a new Member — a long-standing

democracy which has only recently chosen to enter this

forum — is continuing testimony to the vitality,

viability and relevance of this unique body.

This time last year, new States and old were

thunderstruck by a terror that is still indescribable. We

were reeling from the enormity of what terrorism had

wrought, even as we sought to understand why it had

happened. Millenniums of experience of the

devastation of war had not provided us with the tools

necessary to understand that new form of combat.

Today, a year later, as we persevere with the

arduous endeavour to eradicate the affliction, we also

continue to search for causes. We distinguish, certainly,

between comprehending and concurring, awareness and

acquiescence, understanding and justification. At the

same time, we recognize that diagnosis does not always

result in a cure.

We cannot go back to where we were a year ago,

either in our assumptions or in our actions. The

fundamental question we must all answer is: what is it

that we can and cannot, should and should not, do to

other human beings? The answer must include a

rejection of flagrant injustice and abject poverty. That

would go a long way towards alleviating the

hopelessness that perpetuates such societal ills.

Bearing that in mind, we welcome the targets and

timetables adopted to spur action on a wide range of

issues at the recently concluded World Summit on

Sustainable Development. Critical among those goals

is the need to provide and manage water as a basic

element of life and a basic requirement for dignified

living. Without that, neither economic nor political

stability is possible. The other two major United

Nations events of this year — the International

Conference on Financing for Development and the

special Assembly session on children — also

demonstrate that social and economic development

must be tackled in tandem in order to attain global

peace and security.

In Armenia, too, we are focusing on both aspects

of development. The Armenian Government's poverty

reduction strategy aims to establish an umbrella for the

formulation and implementation of sustainable human

development strategies in areas damaged by

earthquakes and conflict. We shall do that by building

domestic capacities for governance and by restoring

social services in education and health, agricultural

development, reforestation and disaster preparedness.

Armenia's response to the very special session on

children is the elaboration and implementation of its

National Plan of Action for Children. The National

Plan of Action sets 10-year goals for the protection of

the rights of the child, outlines principal strategies, and

establishes indicators and mechanisms for monitoring

progress towards the enumerated goals.

The past decades of summits and forums on the

variety of social and economic ills that face modern

societies have amply demonstrated that committed

partnerships are necessary for serious progress. At

home, Government and civil society must work

together to implement the decisions of such forums,

but, at the global level, Governments and international

agencies must also provide the resources and impetus

for their universal agendas.

Economic prosperity hinges on internal, regional

and international stability. That stability, in turn,

depends on cooperation and goodwill. In our region,

despite the existence of various conflicts, we continue

to be hopeful that democratic processes will create civil

societies with responsible leaders committed to the

resolution of political issues.

In Armenia, we look forward to a year of

elections: presidential elections — the fourth held since

7

independence — will be followed by parliamentary

elections, which in turn will be followed by a

referendum on constitutional reforms. We are proud

that we have had a working Constitution for more than

seven years, and that that Constitution has seen us

through difficult periods without leading to domestic

turmoil. Nevertheless, we recognize the need — as in

any evolving society — to make some changes in order

to reflect more accurately our commitment to

becoming a society that respects the rule of law and the

rights of individuals.

We are equally proud that the Armenians of

Nagorny-Karabakh, in the midst of their ongoing

struggle for self-determination, have also completed

another presidential election cycle. Indeed, the people

of Nagorny-Karabakh deserve to be commended for

establishing the rule of law despite continuing adverse

social and economic conditions.

As the Organization for Security and Cooperation

in Europe (OSCE) and the Co-Chairmen of its Minsk

Group continue to work with Armenia, Azerbaijan and

Nagorny-Karabakh towards a settlement that will

wisely — i.e. with an eye to the realities on the

ground — determine Nagorny-Karabakh's final status,

it is self-evident that only a democratically elected

leadership that enjoys a popular mandate will be able

to participate actively and legitimately in the final

negotiations that affect the status of its own people.

With that in mind, in 1992, at the Helsinki Meeting of

the Council of Ministers of the Conference on Security

and Cooperation in Europe, it was decided that elected

and other representatives of Nagorny-Karabakh would

be invited to the Minsk Conference, entrusted with

determining the final status of Nagorny-Karabakh.

Therefore, while elections and democratization

do not presume a particular status, self-determination is

always more legitimate when accompanied by

democratic processes. The international community

seems to understand, often welcomes and sometimes

assists in electoral democratic processes in areas whose

international legal status is still in flux and ostensibly

subject to the sovereignty of an existing State. We do

not understand why such wise and non-prejudicial

approaches or strategies should be denied to Nagorny-

Karabakh, where de facto self-rule has already been in

place for almost 10 years.

Democratization and self-determination become

both necessary and inevitable when the formation of a

new independent entity takes place inside States that

are deficient in democracy and whose respect for

human rights and application of United Nations

principles is unsatisfactory. Nothing demonstrates that

fact more than East Timor's forthcoming membership

in this body. So it is with pleasure that we express to

that country the heartfelt congratulations of the

Armenian Government. East Timor's coming

membership is proof that a blanket rejection of claims

to self-determination is invalid and does not take into

account the very real fact that such movements are not,

by their nature, all alike or even similar. Different

struggles for self-determination have evolved in

decidedly different ways; therefore, each has to be

treated differently.

The challenge for the international community

continues to be to adopt policies that will contribute to

the peaceful solution of each conflict. In order to adopt

correct policies, criteria must be established by which

to evaluate and judge each case on its own merit,

realistically taking into account the real situation on the

ground in order to attain lasting peace.

That peace is what the people of Nagorny-

Karabakh and the whole region are still waiting for,

and one would think that it is also what the leadership

of Azerbaijan want. Based on the very hopeful

meetings that are taking place between the Presidents

of Armenia and Azerbaijan, we have reasons to be

positive. However, having followed the comments that

my colleague from Azerbaijan made this morning from

this podium, I am not only shocked but also dismayed

that he is not keeping pace with the progress being

made in the region by the Presidents of both our

countries.

It has been two years since the meetings at Paris

and Key West, where the international community put

forth their views on this issue. Since then, some

Azerbaijani officials, out of desperation or ignorance,

have used every means at their disposal to discredit the

initiatives of the international community, looking for

ways to artificially link them to the critical issues of

the day.

After 11 September, the talk of the threat of

international terrorism caused Azerbaijan to make

accusations that went full circle in damaging its own

reputation when, according to Western sources,

Azerbaijan's own 10-year-long relationship with

terrorists came to the surface and it was demonstrated

8

that Azerbaijan had indeed served as a regional

terrorist hub. So that did not work. Today, as the

international community speaks of countries'

responsibilities under Security Council resolutions,

Azerbaijan frivolously makes the same accusation

against Armenia, without considering that Armenia has

done exactly what the international community

expected: it has used its good offices, with the

leadership of Nagorny-Karabakh, to help find a

peaceful solution to the conflict.

Azerbaijan has a choice: continue with crude

delusional manipulation and naive wishful thinking and

hope for a return to a historical military and political

situation that ended long ago, or join the international

community, through the good offices of the Co-

Chairmen of the OSCE's Minsk Group, in order to

continue in the difficult search for peace. The people

on the ground on all sides have demonstrated their

readiness for peace and for political and economic

stability. Leaders at the highest level are maintaining

the honest dialogue that will chip away at political

obstacles. We who are entrusted with transforming

those efforts and desires into a just peace must

approach our task honestly and responsibly.

Let me say that Nagorny-Karabakh has never,

ever been a part of independent Azerbaijan. Whether

we consider history or geography, whether we adopt a

long-term political perspective or face the reality of the

facts on the ground, the men, women and children of

Nagorny-Karabakh have earned the right to live

peacefully on their historic lands.

I wish to take this opportunity to reiterate

President Kocharian's statement before the General

Assembly two years ago with respect to working for

the recognition of the Armenian genocide and

preventing the repetition of such an atrocity. We extend

our profound appreciation to all those Governments,

legislatures and international bodies that have

recognized the Armenian genocide and pledge our

cooperation to all those that are currently in the process

of reaffirming the facts of that crime against humanity.

As a signatory of the Convention on the Prevention and

Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Armenian

Government places a high priority on the struggle to

prevent future genocide and to stand up against all

attempts to deny past genocide. We support all

initiatives that reinforce the international consensus

behind that landmark treaty.

It is becoming clear that this millennium, too,

will not be violence-free. Today, when global peace

appears a distant hope, Armenia observes the volatility

in the Caucasus, the Middle East and elsewhere with

trepidation. To face such challenges, Armenia supports

proposals by the Secretary-General aimed at the

strengthening of the Organization so that it can face

new challenges in a more satisfactory way.

Additionally, Armenia is in favour of more equitable

representation on the Security Council, as well as more

transparency in its activities.

The situation in the Middle East, in Afghanistan

and around Iraq remains a continuing example of the

need for a vibrant and strengthened United Nations

able to assert the will of the Organization's

membership and empowered with greater authority to

implement its decisions.

As States and Governments continue to search for

new ways to deal with emerging internal conflicts and

increasingly complex interrelationships, Armenia is of

the belief that the United Nations must stand for all the

easy-to-orate but difficult-to-deliver principles of

economic and political justice and equality among

peoples. Given our uneven history and problematic

geography, it is no surprise that Armenia is an advocate

of multilateralism and collective security. From the

vantage point of a country with our resources and

limitations, we realize that peace is not possible

without social justice, sustainable development and

respect for the rights of all individuals and peoples in

the community of nations.