Belgium, 2013

It was

in my country, in Ypres, during the First World War,

that chemical weapons were used in a conflict for the

first time. We can all recall the dreadful suffering of

thousands of those soldiers. Almost 100 years later,

that same suffering is being inflicted on thousands of

Syrians. Despite the international Geneva Protocol of

1925, the history of the world — a shared history — is

repeated, from Ypres to Damascus.

This is the second year that I have addressed the

General Assembly from this rostrum. In one year, so

many hopes have been raised and fulfilled but, at the

same time, so many additional war crimes have been

committed. A year ago, I spoke of 30,000 Syrian

deaths. Today there are 120,000. And that conflict is

not the only one. While we are talking here, atrocities

continue in various parts of the world.

All of us here must show as much courage as the

men and women who are fighting in the streets for their

freedom and dignity. Within the United Nations, we

have everything we need to act, while those who are

fighting often have nothing but their courage to live on.

If a veto must be cast, it should be a veto on tyrants and

their crimes.

No one can end a famine or stop a tyrant alone.

Peace is a shared responsibility. That is why there is

no alternative to multilateralism and politics, if we

seek to improve the lot of humankind. That is what

motivates Belgium’s commitment, which is political,

financial and at times even military, as the fifteenth

most significant contributor to the United Nations.

My country is also of the view that among

our responsibilities we have the responsibility to

protect — that is to say, the responsibility to prevent and

fight the particularly atrocious crimes of genocide, war

crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Belgium fully supports the actions of the United

Nations in that regard. In 2014, we will organize an

international conference in Brussels on the prevention

of genocide.

When we work together, we achieve results. Mali is

proof of that. But let us not forget that nothing is ever

settled forever. For it to last, peace must be continuously

nourished. I would like to commend in particular the

recent efforts of the international community in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. The population

of the north-east of the country has for years suffered

massacres, mass rapes, the forced recruitment of

soldiers, including of child soldiers, pillage and forced

displacement. Just yesterday, witnesses told me of

martyred children. That is shameful.

The efforts of the Secretary-General and the

Security Council to strengthen the mandate of the

United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are bearing

fruit. The Intervention Brigade is playing an active

role in protecting the population. The Addis Ababa

Framework offers a genuine possibility for the

stabilization of the entire region. However, let us make

no mistake: agreement at Kampala is essential for the

process to be successful. Pragmatic solutions must

also be found — without, however, accepting general

amnesty or allowing for impunity for war crimes and

crimes against humanity.

Belgium stands ready to contribute to such solutions.

The territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic

of the Congo must also be respected. All external

interference must cease. Belgium urges the Congolese

authorities to implement the structural reforms needed

in the army and the police, so as to re-establish the

rule of law throughout the national territory and to

guarantee the prosperity of the Congolese people.

Going to war, building walls and curtailing rights

is always easier than building bridges and keeping

the peace. It is easier to build walls than to organize

a democratic system or build hospitals and schools.

In our contemporary globalized world, conflicts can

be resolved only by political solutions. That is why

Belgium supports the efforts of Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi,

Joint Special Representative of the United Nations

and the League of Arab States, as he seeks to bring

the parties to the negotiating table. In that regard, I

welcome the American-Russian initiative to hold the

“Geneva II” conference.

It is not death that metes out justice; it is respect

for the law. It is the law that organizes human societies,

protects the weak and prevents violence. Law is

essential because a world without rules — whether in

terms of civil interactions, trade or finance — leaves

humankind face to face with its worst enemy: itself.

Respect for the law is a foundation of the life we share.

Laws must be respected, including in situations of

conflict. I am referring in particular to humanitarian

law, so that victims can receive assistance and care.

Belgium has echoed and tirelessly backed the calls

from humanitarian agencies for the obstacles to their

activities to be lifted. We demand that access to health

care be improved on the ground everywhere, including

in Syria. All parties must respect international

humanitarian law. My country participates actively

in efforts to provide assistance to populations that

have been victims of fighting. The onset of winter

and the sharp rise in the number of victims, refugees

and displaced persons mean that the international

community must step up its efforts further still.

The law must also stop impunity. Peace cannot ever

be built on amnesty for the worst crimes, or turning a

blind eye thereto. Together with 56 other States, Belgium

has called for the situation in Syria to be referred to the

International Criminal Court. The work of the Court is

contributing to bringing about an era of responsibility.

All States should cooperate with the Court.

The law must also make it possible to bring

dictatorships and oppression to an end. In 2010, all

those who defend democracy welcomed the advent of

the Arab Spring. I am not one of those who today have

turned their backs on that hope. Let us not forgot all

of the women and men in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and

elsewhere who wish to live in peace. We must support

them and promote the holding of free elections. We

should encourage them to draft constitutions that

guarantee fundamental rights, justice and equality. We

should also recall that winning an election or exercising

authority following elections does not give someone

the right to oppress minorities. True democracy means

respecting and protecting minorities.

The law must guarantee individual freedoms.

Freedom means, for example, the right of young women

to study and to choose their partners for themselves

or to remain single. Freedom also means the rights

of women to move in public as they please. Freedom

also means to right to practice one’s religion or to

practice none at all. Freedom also means the right of

heterosexual and homosexual couples to walk hand in

hand in the street or in other public spaces. I am proud

that Belgium guarantees those fundamental freedoms.

I am also proud that my country promotes efforts to

spread such freedoms everywhere in the world.

While I am speaking of continuing our efforts

and making them lasting, I would like to mention the

resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It is

absolutely vital that we seize the opportunity afforded

by our American friends. A solution must be arrived at

now, based on the coexistence of two States, with the

State of Israel and an independent State of Palestine

living side by side in peace and security. We have also

made it very clear that we are against colonization.

In that context, Belgium is ready to host a conference

in Brussels aimed at ensuring that private economic

partners provide support for the peace process. We

believe that there can be no economic plan, however,

unless there is a political plan with a concrete timetable.

Peace and security also depend on harmonious

prosperity, whose benefits must be shared equitably

around the globe and among its citizens. According to

scientists, the world’s ecological footprint now exceeds

the world’s capacity for regeneration by about 50 per

cent. That situation is untenable and affects everything

on the planet.

I welcome the United Nations initiative to convene

Heads of State and Government here in New York for

a forum on sustainable development. It is here that

less developed and developed countries can solve the

huge challenge of sustainable development together.

Every country has problems that are either shared or

complementary and interconnected. By that I mean

extreme poverty, desertification, the exodus for

ecological reasons of millions of people, the exhaustion

of natural resources and climatic warming.

Despite the progress that has been made,

much remains to be done to meet the Millennium

Development Goals. Hunger, poverty and unequal

access to education and health care are intolerable

injustices. We must continue to mobilize to fight them.

That is why Belgium asks that the efforts made under

the rubric of post-2015 development be merged with the

goals of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable

Development in a single negotiation framework within

the United Nations. That single framework should

bring together the economic, social and environmental

aspects that are becoming facts of life for all of us.

I would like to touch on one final subject, that is,

espionage and cybercrime. Our colleague President

Dilma Rousseff asked a true question for today (see

A/68/PV.5). Is it permissible to ignore privacy laws in

the name of security and the fight against terrorism,

two areas that are basic for all peoples? I support

the call by the President of Brazil for protecting the

private lives of citizens everywhere, in particular

on the Internet. She proposed the establishment of a

multilateral framework designed to effectively ensure

the protection of data online. The Internet must not

become an invisible battleground. It should remain an

instrument of freedom and development for all, a place

where all can communicate in peace and security.

In 2014, along with other nations, Belgium will

solemnly commemorate the centenary of the First

World War. We will do it out of duty to the memory

of the young men from more than 50 countries who

came to die on the battlefields of my country in order

to liberate us. They were not even 20 years old. We will

also commemorate the war’s centenary in order to teach

young people of today, so that they too can become

militants for peace.