Bhutan, 2008

As the youngest

democracy, having become one in April of this year,

my country is honoured, and I am honoured, to have

this opportunity to present ourselves before this great

world body. In a country that has enjoyed continuous

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justice, stability and progress, democracy came not by

the traditional way of struggle and violence, nor by the

will of the people. Bhutan became a democracy by the

persuasion and personal efforts of a King who worked

consistently over 30 years to establish the prerequisites

of a democratic culture and institutional arrangements.

Having accomplished that noble task, and having set

the polity on the final and irreversible path of

democracy, our King abdicated the throne as a final

mark of his confidence in democracy. He now lives in

quiet retirement at the grand old age of 53.

The King has shown that, if leaders themselves

are committed to democracy, the transition can be

smooth and peaceful. Likewise, if leaders elected to

govern believe in it, democracy provides the best

means to serve the people. That is the conviction with

which my Government will fulfil the powerful mandate

that the people have given to us.

As a representative of a country that is deeply

committed to multilateralism and that believes firmly

in the indispensability of the United Nations system, I

seek the indulgence of the Assembly as I offer

Bhutan’s perspective from the high Himalayas of our

troubled world today.

We are confronted with a host of serious

challenges that are testing the relevance of the United

Nations and the resolve of its Member States to work

together. Natural disasters, food, fuel and financial

crises, deepening poverty, failing States, dwindling

water resources, diseases, human trafficking and even

maritime lawlessness afflict our society. And then there

is terrorism and extremism of the most barbaric and

cowardly kind, using the weak and the deranged to kill

and maim the innocent.

All those challenges threaten to undermine what

we have achieved collectively and as individual States.

They directly thwart our slow progress in the pursuit of

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which I

believe are among the most laudable consensual

agreements achieved by this Assembly to bring about a

more just and equitable world, indeed, a more civilized

world.

Bhutan does not look at those developments as

separate, disconnected events. Rather, we see them as

directly interconnected symptoms of a larger and

deeper malaise that threatens our collective well-being

and survival. Responding to each of the challenges

separately will most probably be useful in the short

term, but piecemeal efforts will not lead to permanent

solutions. We need to treat the disease beyond the

symptoms. And the disease, we believe, has to do with

our way of life, which is simply not rational and

sustainable.

One does not need to be an economist to

understand that the oil crisis, soaring price of metals

and diminishing water reserves have to do with the fact

that for too long we have been exploiting and wasting

our scarce natural resources. At the very least, these

developments are market reactions and attempts to

reflect the true value of these resources.

As for the financial crisis, it is becoming quite

clear that its main cause lies in our culture of living

beyond our means, of private profiteering, of

socializing risks. Unfortunately, the possible solution

seems to lie in transferring our debt to future

generations, who are not here to argue against it.

It is not difficult to see how all these crises are

the result of a way of life that is dictated by the

powerful ethics of consumerism in a world of finite

resources. Our life is all about fear of not having

enough, about wanting more and doing better than our

dear neighbour and friend. We spend and consume far

beyond our means and those of generations unborn.

As we go on expanding our economies by

extracting natural resources, raising productivity,

increasing consumption and discharging immeasurable

volumes of polluting waste, the climate is changing.

Striking unpredictably, unseasonably and with greater

fury and frequency, natural disasters such as drought,

cyclones, hurricanes, floods and landslides are

destroying life, property and crops. Weather patterns

have changed and continue to change, with far more

profound implications for our civilization than we can

fathom. We even wonder whether earthquakes and

tsunamis may have something to do with climate

change.

Yesterday, we huddled together to find solutions

to the food crisis and the danger of growing hunger in a

world where already too many are starving. Diseases

abound and new epidemics threaten humanity, other

life forms and crops even as medicine and technology

combine to conspire against mortality. Are these not

signals from a planet grossly abused? Could these not

be pleas to mend our ways and to search for a more

sustainable way of life?

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Deepening poverty, not unlike the food crisis, is

also a sign of the disintegration of communities. As

communities die, so does the spirit of sharing,

borrowing and giving amid good neighbourliness in

times of need, as opposed to competing and making

gains at the cost of community, neighbour and even

one’s own family. It is about the failure of human

relationships, including between and among States.

This, I believe, lies at the root of the poverty, hunger,

instability and insecurity that plague much of the world

today.

These multiple crises bring into sharp focus the

shameful inequities of our society, which fails to share

and to distribute the enormous wealth it has created to

satisfy man’s insatiable greed. People suffer from

hunger, thirst and exposure to the elements and die

without treatment not because we do not have enough

food, water, clothes or medicine, but because we do not

have the will to share and the care to distribute.

Only yesterday, I was wondering how many tons

of food and medicine must be taken off the shelves of

Manhattan stores and put into the incinerator at the end

of each day as they become stale or reach their date of

expiry. On the other hand, even to this day, few

developed countries have fulfilled their pledge to share

less than 1 per cent of their gross national product

(GNP) with developing countries. Likewise, the

pharmaceutical companies have convincing arguments

to offer against lowering the cost of medicines.

We need to wake up from our narcissistic slumber

and self-indulgence and realize that economic well-

being is not human well-being. We must break away

from the shackles of the powerful forces of the market.

For that matter, could the unravelling of the market-

based economy, as evident in the financial crisis, be a

glimpse of the truth that mindless and irresponsible

economic growth and expansion cannot go on? It is

neither sustainable nor fair to future generations.

Above all, we could be condemning our own selves to

an old age of burdensome debt and regret.

That brings us to the question of whether our

fundamentals are sound. Is the GDP-led growth that

has served as our measure of progress good enough for

the future? What are the foundations of our

civilizations and the values that guide us? As we get

richer and live by the terms that we have set for

ourselves, are we truly becoming more civilized, or are

we trapped in a downward spiral of de-civilization?

I ask again: does economic growth translate as

human development? Are we mutating to become

senseless robots programmed to be materially

productive, to earn more, to want more, to consume

more and more of what we do not need and will

ultimately destroy us?

As human beings, should we not search for and

be driven by higher values? Do we not have needs

beyond material ones, beyond that of the body alone?

Can we conceptualize a holistic alternative paradigm

for meaningful and sustainable development that places

the well-being of the individual and community at the

centre and gives cause for true happiness, as opposed

to fleeting pleasures?

I am pleased to submit that many academic

institutions and researchers across the world are

engaged in such a search and are making progress. The

latest to join is the Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development, which has hosted a

series of regional and world conferences to develop

indicators to measure true human progress.

My country, Bhutan, is one such entity. While

being actively involved as a partner in the global

efforts in this regard, we have pursued a unique

development path, guided by our former King’s

philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), since

the early 1970s. GNH is based on the belief that

happiness is the single most important goal and

purpose in life for every individual and that the end of

development must be the promotion and enhancement

of happiness. It must, therefore, we believe, be the

responsibility of the State to create an enabling

environment within which its citizens can pursue

happiness.

The concept emphasizes a balanced life,

matching the material needs of the body with the

spiritual, psychological and emotional needs of the

mind. To that end, the Royal Government structured its

development programmes around four broad themes, or

pillars, that constitute a paradigm for holistic and

sustainable development. These are: sustainable and

equitable socio-economic development, not growth;

environmental conservation; the promotion of culture;

and good governance. Since the 1970s we have never

wavered from that path, thanks greatly to the

generosity and support of our development partners.

The former King never faltered, sacrificing his own

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reign to leave the legacy of a unique democracy and a

country that is peaceful, progressive and happy.

I urge the members of the Assembly to reflect on

those and other considerations so that such crises as have

now stricken us may never reappear, so that we can return

each year to this Assembly and find reasons to smile and

to be happy. To that end, Mr. President, please be assured

of Bhutan’s fullest support for and cooperation with you

and the Secretary-General.