Belarus, 2006

It is

generally considered that the struggle of ideologies has

passed into history together with the collapse of the

bipolar world order. Yet in reality the world continues a

painful quest for a system of ideas that could ensure its

security, justice and prosperity. The 2005 World

Summit and the current General Assembly debate are

good evidence of this quest. Nowhere else but on this

rostrum does one have such an acute sense that ideas

and the struggle for them are no abstract matter. They

permeate the flesh and blood of millions and billions of

people.

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I hope that many of those present will agree that

free self-determination is the main ideology of the

modern world. Is it not absolutely clear that as long as

there is no independent Palestinian State, peacefully

coexisting with all its neighbours, and that as long as

Iraq is not free from occupation, then terrorism and

extremism will remain inevitable and invincible?

Attempts to solve the problems of self-determination

by violent measures, whether military or of any other

kind, from the outside will result only in increasing the

ranks of the ruthless disciples of terrorism and

extremism.

In the modern world free self-determination is not

only an issue of State independence and sovereignty. It

is also an issue of recognizing — not in word, but in

deed — a diversity of ways for countries and peoples

to progress. We must provide the Palestinians, Iraqis,

Lebanese and other peoples with the possibility of

building their own homes in the way they want. Any

help should come only then and in such manner as they

wish, not as deemed appropriate by the ideologues of

crusades in some capitals. There are no clever and

foolish, no superior and inferior, no righteous and

vicious peoples and religions; there are just people of

the planet who are equally eager for happiness,

uncomplicated and dignified.

The five years that have passed since

11 September 2001 have proved with painful clarity

that ideology and the practice of crusades do not bring

peace and democracy. They lead to the devastation of

States, the destruction of the fabric of life of entire

nations, and the death of children, women and innocent

civilians. They also result in an upsurge of terrorism,

swelling the ranks of its followers and supporters. In

the same way, religious intolerance and the rejection of

the beliefs and conventions of other people do not

bring spiritual harmony and unity. They cause an

outbreak of radicalism, fanaticism and extremism.

Encouragement of religious tolerance within societies

should become a responsibility of political and state

leaders.

International security and global stability are

inseparable from the solution of the world’s

development problems. Security and development are

inseparable. This is not some artificial linkage created

in the halls of the United Nations. Its real nature has

been clearly shown by the events in the suburbs of

Paris. Are we, here in the General Assembly, and our

colleagues in the capitals of the richest countries,

waiting for an even more alarming signal? Are we

waiting for the spiralling extremism caused by the lack

of prospects for the future?

The situation is as clear as it can get. And it is

clear that inadequate reflection of the priorities of

development and development assistance in the 2005

World Summit Outcome document (resolution 60/1)

was a serious mistake by the international community.

How can we correct this mistake? We can do so

only by earnest and not hypocritical practical efforts to

implement the Millennium Development Goals. Before

too long we will see new proposals based on the results

of the large-scale study on raising system-wide

coherence and coordination of actions of the agencies

of the United Nations system in the field of

development assistance. Our task is to implement these

important initiatives in deed.

The Millennium Development Goals are clear.

None is easily achievable. These problems are too old

and too deep-rooted to be solved by incremental and

shallow methods. Nobody treats a dangerous infection

with aspirin. A serious task requires serious tools. That

is why the time has come for deep transformation of

the Bretton Woods institutions. They were established

in a different era and for different purposes. They

should be changed and made to serve the cause of

global development. A special role in making

development a success and not a problem will belong

to the Economic and Social Council, as the major

United Nations coordinating body on development.

Special responsibility will rest on the shoulders of the

members of the Council.

Belarus is a candidate for membership of the

Economic and Social Council for the period 2007-

2009. I appeal to Member States to support Belarus in

the elections to be held during the current session. The

Assembly may rest assured that the Republic of

Belarus will not fall short of its expectations. As a

Member of the United Nations since 1945, Belarus has

never wavered in its devotion to the purposes and

principles of the Charter. As a member of the Non-

Aligned Movement since 1998, Belarus stands actively

and resolutely for the implementation of the goals and

principles of the Movement and the practical

strengthening of its role in international affairs.

Our responsibility and concern for the destiny of

the world are sincere. There is much evidence to prove

that. In its region the Republic of Belarus is a donor of

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international security. Belarus was the first country in

the world to voluntarily renounce the possession of the

nuclear weapons it had at its disposal.

Despite all the difficulties of the transition

period, our country was among the first to respond to

the plight of people struck by the tsunami in the Indian

Ocean in 2004, and provided humanitarian assistance

to the disaster-stricken countries of south-east Asia.

Nor was our country an indifferent spectator of the

recent conflict in the Middle East. At the height of the

hostilities Belarus invited children from war-ravaged

States to come to Belarus for health rehabilitation.

The adherence of Belarus to the cause of

development is also sincere and firm. Implementation

of the international development agenda will be the

indisputable priority of our work in the Economic and

Social Council. What is most important is that we have

the know-how to do it. Having been left 15 years ago,

after the collapse of the Soviet Union, without natural

resources and foreign markets, without a national

currency and international assistance, we have

achieved our economic and social objectives. They

may be considered modest when compared to those of

the most developed countries, but they are of critical

importance as a stage in our movement forward, as

evidence of what a medium-sized State can achieve in

the most difficult of circumstances.

Among other hardships, we had to deal on our

own with the Chernobyl disaster, whose radioactive

contamination affected more than 20 per cent of our

population and made it impossible to use more than 20

per cent of arable land and 30 per cent of forests.

Chernobyl’s direct damage in Belarus alone is

equivalent to 35 annual national budgets. It is more

than appropriate to recall today, in the year of its

twentieth anniversary, the largest man-made disaster in

the history of mankind.

Having overcome a 50 per cent decline in the

economy, and having rejected formulas that the

International Monetary Fund tried to impose upon us,

Belarus was the first country of the Commonwealth of

Independent States to restore gross domestic product to

its peak Soviet value and then raise the level to 120 per

cent of that value. We have created a market economy

with a strong social emphasis. We have preserved free

education, including higher education, and health care,

as well as the high quality and availability of social

services for all people without exception. We have

reduced unemployment to 1.5 per cent, and we are

successfully curbing inflation.

I am confident that the experience, approach and

knowledge of Belarus will be a useful contribution to

the work of the Economic and Social Council on the

Millennium Development Goals. If the majority of

nations give us the credit of trust, we will most actively

and persistently work for a stronger role for the

Council in addressing the development challenges.

Together with those who share these approaches, we

will work to reform the social and economic sphere of

the United Nations. Reform measures are not working

yet. Without them the activity of different United

Nations funds and programmes at country level can

never be effective. To continue a “business as usual”

approach in these matters would mean leaving the

Millennium Development Goals on paper.

There is also a large debit balance in United

Nations activities outside the Economic and Social

Council. There has been no substantial movement

towards the enhancement of the role of the General

Assembly as a principal organ of the United Nations.

So far there has been no progress in reorganizing the

Security Council, a key element in United Nations

reform. The sluggishness of the Security Council in

addressing the situation in Lebanon has not only

caused sorrow and frustration, but once again

convinces us of the disparity between the Security

Council and the image of the world as we know it

today.

Having made right and important steps in the

human rights area after the 2005 World Summit, the

international community should take new actions at

this session. They should be aimed at a true promotion

of human rights and protection of the real victims of

human rights violations, and not at getting even with

disagreeable nations by abusing an unjust instrument of

country-specific resolutions.

As a major step towards the practical promotion

of human rights and the protection of victims of one of

the most acute and painful phenomena of the modern

world, Belarus has, together with a number of partners,

elaborated a draft resolution on improving international

coordination in fighting human trafficking, and will

present it to the Assembly at this session. The global

scale of that challenge requires from all of us not

shallow talk, but truly coordinated and purposeful

actions. We see the goal of these efforts as the

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elaboration of a United Nations strategy to fight human

trafficking. I ask the Assembly to support the

establishment of a systems-based approach to a global

partnership against slavery and trafficking in human

beings. Who else but the United Nations should care

about the dozens, hundreds and perhaps millions of

victims — above all, women and children — of

modern slavery? Who else but the United Nations

should encourage better international coordination in

eradicating this phenomenon, which is an utter

disgrace in our century?

At the World Summit many leaders spoke about

the spirit of San Francisco. The spirit of San Francisco

in 1944 and 1945 came from the sense of responsibility

of nations in dealing with the problems of the world,

not responsibility for their own narrow interests — that

is obvious and simple — but for a common cause. That

spirit became possible as a result of the huge disaster

of the Second World War, with about 60 million deaths

and the inconceivable suffering of hundreds of

millions. Do we also need a huge disaster to restore

that spirit? I am sure we do not. I hope that we have all

learned the lessons of history.

After an era of romantic ideals and their tragic

failure in the 1990s, mankind today is coming to a

more elaborate perception of what kind of world order

it needs. The Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in

Havana has demonstrated the clear aspiration of the

majority of the nations of the world to move from the

self-exhausted unipolar world to the multipolar world,

fair and stable, based on the interdependence of diverse

global and regional centres of power, to a world fit for

all. The Havana Summit has shown that humanity

should be humane. That should be the United Nations

motto for a challenging twenty-first century.