Botswana, 2011

It is with infinite

pleasure, Mr. President, that I join other speakers who

preceded me in expressing our felicitations to you on

your election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. We owe an

immense debt of gratitude to your great country, the

State of Qatar, for making you available to the service

of the international community. We are confident that

under your guidance and leadership the sixty-sixth

session will achieve a successful outcome, one which

will make a difference to the lives of multitudes of

disadvantaged people around the world. May I also pay

tribute to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Joseph

Deiss, whose effective and exemplary stewardship of

the sixty-fifth session earned our deep respect and

admiration.

As the world’s problems have in recent decades

increased in numbers and complexity, so have the

challenges and responsibilities of the United Nations

Secretary-General, the head of our grand institution. I

am pleased to note that the Secretary-General, His

Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has acquitted himself

extremely well, at times under very difficult

circumstances. We specifically wish to commend him

for his concerted efforts in raising the alarm on conflict

situations and emerging threats to international peace

and security. Allow me therefore to seize this

opportunity to sincerely congratulate Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon on his well-deserved reappointment for a

second term.

My delegation is of the conviction that all

problems and challenges confronting humanity can be

resolved within the letter and spirit of the United

Nations Charter and international law. In that

connection, we must each do our part and work

together to improve the lives of our people by

conquering hunger, disease and illiteracy, to encourage

respect for human rights and freedoms and to respond

to natural disasters and different humanitarian

situations.

Once again this year, the world has experienced a

number of natural and man-made disasters, including

violent, senseless attacks that have claimed numerous

lives, left many homeless, caused massive destruction

of property and caused intolerable pain and suffering.

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My delegation wishes to express our heartfelt

condolences to all those countries that have been

victims of those tragedies.

Our profound sympathies and heartfelt

condolences go to the Government and people of Japan

for the unfortunate Fukushima incident, triggered by a

massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck

that country early this year. We also wish to convey our

condolences and sympathies to the Government and

people of Norway on the recent senseless and

horrifying attack that left many people dead.

The humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa

equally deserves our attention. We commend the

United Nations for calling the attention of the

international community to the plight of the victims of

that disaster. We in Botswana have made our modest

contribution to that relief effort. We express our sincere

appreciation to the United Nations system and the

international community as a whole for their generous

and timely response to those tragedies.

At the inception of the United Nations, the

international community pledged a solemn

determination to safeguard succeeding generations

from the scourge of war. In the intervening period, the

world has seen monumental changes with profound

effects on humanity. The end of colonialism and the

cold war, the defeat of the inhuman system of

apartheid, the institutionalization of conflict prevention

and resolution mechanisms around the world, as well

as the strengthening of collaboration between the

United Nations and regional organizations in dealing

with conflict situations, come to mind in this regard.

For decades the people of South Sudan have been

engulfed in a seemingly endless bloody conflagration,

accompanied by heavy loss of human life, destruction

of property and condemnation to untold misery and

suffering. However, we are delighted that the people of

South Sudan, with the assistance and support of the

international community, have realized their long-

cherished dream. They now face a new dawn of

freedom and nationhood. Allow me, therefore, to pay a

fitting tribute to South Sudan on the assumption of her

rightful place in the comity of nations as a sovereign

and independent State and the 193rd Member of the

United Nations.

South Sudan will obviously need the full support

of the international community in addressing the

plethora of challenges of nationhood, including

outstanding issues from the Comprehensive Peace

Agreement such as the future of the Abyei region, and

other separation issues that could easily undermine this

fragile transition. Botswana will endeavour, within the

limit of her resources, to assist our brothers and sisters

in South Sudan translate their political freedom into

tangible social and economic benefits.

The evolving situation in Côte d’Ivoire is also a

cause for optimism. While many security concerns

remain, we believe President Ouattara and his

Government have put in place the necessary measures

to consolidate peace, build confidence, promote

national reconciliation and set the country on the path

to normalcy, reconstruction and sustainable

development. We urge the international community to

remain actively engaged in supporting this process.

While notable strides have been made towards

resolving some conflicts, regrettably the same cannot

be said of many other conflict situations, such as those

in the Middle East, Somalia and Syria, where peace

remains elusive, with attendant hardship and misery.

On Somalia, my delegation takes note of the

conclusion of the recent Kampala Accord between the

President of the Federal Transitional Government and

the Speaker of Parliament, which is a welcome move

towards improving the political situation in that

country. However, we remain concerned about the

deteriorating security situation and the growing

humanitarian crisis in that country, and we call on all

parties to remain engaged and to fully honour their

obligations under that Accord.

Regarding the Middle East, Botswana shares the

general frustration at the prolonged impasse in the

situation in that region. We call on both the

Palestinians and Israelis to remain engaged in the

negotiations on the basis of a two-State solution, in

which the two peoples will live side by side in peace

and harmony.

There are other emerging threats to international

peace and security. My delegation is deeply concerned

about States that continue to violate with impunity

their obligations under their constitutions and

international law to protect their citizens from any

armed conflict.

This very Organization is founded on the premise

that Governments have the primary duty and

responsibility to do all in their power to safeguard the

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legitimate aspirations of their people for a better life,

including ensuring their safety and security. It is

therefore imperative that Governments provide an

environment conducive to addressing the legitimate

concerns and grievances of their people through

inclusive dialogue and mutual understanding.

Consequently, it is not acceptable under any

circumstances for any State to use military force

against the civilian population — the very citizens it

has sworn to protect. I believe we all agree that this is a

clear violation of human rights and international law

and an infringement of our common value system

enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

Our view is that any leader who sanctions such

use of force on his people forfeits the legitimate right

to be recognized as representing the interests of his

people. The international community should therefore

spare no effort in applying all the necessary measures

at its disposal to protect civilians from such repressive

Governments and to hold them accountable for their

atrocities. In this regard, support for the International

Criminal Court (ICC) is crucial for realizing the full

implementation of the Rome Statute.

We commend the Security Council for its swift

and resolute action on Libya under its resolution 1973

(2011), which authorized NATO to protect civilians in

that country.

However, we remain concerned about the delay

and procrastination on a number of situations in Syria.

The Council’s condemnation of human rights

violations and the military assault on civilians by Syria

came rather too late. It failed to convey a clear and

unequivocal message of revulsion to the Syrian

authorities and to urge them to respect international

humanitarian law and human rights. Crimes against

humanity have been committed in Syria, and the

leadership in that country should answer for such

crimes through the ICC.

It is important that the international community

remain vigilant against any breach of international

peace and security and also respond in a decisive,

consistent and timely manner to any such instances. We

find it unacceptable that such countries as mentioned

can continue to belong to a community of peace-loving

nations.

Botswana recognizes the National Transitional

Council (NTC) in Libya as the interim Administration

until there is an elected Government. We therefore

welcome the NTC into the United Nations family to

represent the Libyan people during this session.

The chosen theme for this session — the role of

mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes — is

both timely and pertinent. It is timely, given the

multiplicity of mediation efforts in which the

international community is currently engaged as part of

an effort to find a peaceful solution to the conflicts

raging in various parts of the world. It is pertinent in

that forging international peace and understanding is

the raison d’être of this very body.

In order to maintain momentum in governance,

my delegation believes that countries emerging from

conflict should also commit themselves to the strict

observance of human rights and national and

international humanitarian law, as well as of the values

of accountability and transparency, guided by effective

application of the rule of law. In this respect, I wish to

reiterate my country’s support for all efforts geared

towards assisting countries emerging from conflict to

make successful transitions to post-conflict

rehabilitation, reconstruction and economic recovery.

Allow me now to turn to another critical pillar of

the United Nations mandate, namely, sustainable

development and the eradication of poverty. Now more

than ever, our global citizenry is demanding practical

actions to address the global challenges we face. They

believe — and rightly so — that collectively we are

equipped with enough resources, institutions, policies

and lessons learned to respond effectively to existing

and emerging global challenges. They therefore expect

us to muster the requisite political will to find durable

solutions to those challenges.

For them, it is no longer acceptable for children

to die from HIV and AIDS or any other preventable

disease just because the Agreement on Trade-Related

Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights hinders access

to affordable treatment. They do not accept that over

113 million children have no access to primary

education. It is certainly no longer acceptable for

people to die from cholera and other waterborne

diseases when affordable technology for clean water

and sanitation exists. Nor is it acceptable for our

people to continue to be exposed to the dire

consequences of climate change, while we debate

endlessly instead of concluding a comprehensive,

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legally binding climate change regime to curb global

warming and its effects.

In other words, our people want us to do more

with the collective resources that we have at our

disposal.

The residual effects of the financial and economic

crisis, coupled with ongoing uncertainties in the global

economy and the prevailing high cost of energy and

food, have compounded the setbacks experienced in

the implementation of internationally agreed goals and

commitments, including the Millennium Development

Goals. We must ensure that sustainable development in

all its three pillars — social, economic and

environmental — remains the key framework for

attaining a balanced approach towards development in

our countries. In that context, poverty eradication

should remain the centrepiece of all our policies and

programmes.

As we prepare for a common global policy on

sustainable development in Brazil in June of next year,

we are increasingly concerned about the negative trend

the negotiations are taking. The ongoing climate

change negotiations, the failed nineteenth session of

the Commission on Sustainable Development and the

ongoing discussions on the 2012 United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development continue to

expose deep divisions among our countries.

Unfortunately, those divisions undermine the

implementation of existing commitments and threaten

prospects for an effective global sustainable

development regime. We believe that the Rio+20

processes present an excellent platform for all Member

States, individually and collectively, to muster their

resolve towards the attainment of sustainable

development.

Similarly, the seventeenth Conference of the

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change, to be held in South Africa later this

year, offers the international community yet another

valuable opportunity to reverse the harmful effects of

climate change on our planet. We must forge a spirit of

cooperation and partnership, including through South-

South cooperation, public-private partnerships,

resource mobilization and technology transfer, as well

as capacity-building, to assist countries such as my

own to exploit the abundant coal reserves for

sustainable energy production in a manner less harmful

to the environment.

Significant progress was made in that respect last

September, when we resolved to take effective

measures to further strengthen support for and meet the

special needs of regions and countries struggling to

achieve economic and social development, including

middle-income countries. Recent experience has shown

that even that category of countries, which have made

small gains in poverty reduction, are still vulnerable in

the event of further global economic and financial

upheaval.

The limitations imposed by our fragile economy

and the landlocked position of my country, Botswana,

also call for the speedy implementation of the Almaty

Programme of Action, accompanied by renewed efforts

to level the playing field in international trade. We

must muster the political will to conclude the Doha

Round of the World Trade Organization trade

negotiations as soon as possible.

We as nations, individually and collectively, face

the greatest challenge of our time — the uplifting of

humankind. In fulfilling that mammoth task, our

greatest hope lies in our ability as leaders to summon

our courage and political will to do what is right.

Let me conclude by reaffirming Botswana’s

commitment to working with other Members in our

common endeavour to put our Organization at the

service of humanity.