Ivory Coast, 2005

On behalf of my delegation, I wish to express my

sincere congratulations on your election as President of

the sixtieth session of the General Assembly. May I

wish you and the members of the Bureau full success

and assure you of my delegation’s full support and

cooperation.

I would like to pay tribute to your predecessor,

Mr. Jean Ping, who during his mandate substantially

contributed greatly to reviving discussion of United

Nations reform and activities for development and

international cooperation. I would also like to

congratulate warmly the Secretary-General for his

courageous initiatives to give our Organization new

momentum and further the fundamental ideals and

principles of the United Nations.

Mr. Hachani (Tunisia), Vice-President, took the

Chair.

This session is of special importance for the

Member States and the Organization itself because it

takes place at a time when States are asked to speak

about thorough-going reforms of the Organization in

order to permit it to deal with the triple challenge of

development, peace and security and the promotion

and defence of human rights. The summit just held on

progress in achieving the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) was not as successful as we had hoped

it would be. We can be gratified, however, that we

were able, despite the difficulties, to adopt a final

document reaffirming the Goals and the Monterrey

Consensus on Financing for Development, adopted in

2002. For the first time, we were also able to condemn

all acts of terrorism, regardless of motive, of who

commits them and of where they are committed. My

delegation hopes that we will, during this sixtieth

session, be able to adopt a general, comprehensive

convention on international terrorism and set up a

Human Rights Council.

Efforts to achieve greater justice in international

economic relations have not been as successful as we

had hoped. The gap between the developed and

developing countries is widening. The economies of

the developing countries are deteriorating and, in some

cases, their citizens are becoming pauperized on a

broad scale. The countries of the third world are being

thwarted in their efforts to develop, labouring under the

weight of indebtedness, the volatility in commodity

prices, barriers to access to the markets of developed

countries, inadequate official development assistance

and scarce financial resources, not to mention the

conflicts and various pandemics afflicting our

populations. I would like to point out that indebtedness

is a form of bondage and indebted economies are

economies that function under constraints. Finding a

durable, innovative and daring solution to this problem

is one of the prerequisites for any resumption of

growth, not only in heavily indebted countries, but in

most developing countries. This is why my delegation

welcomes the recent decision to cancel the debt of 18

developing countries, while we deplore, as other

delegations have, the limited scope of that decision. We

would like it to be extended to all African countries.

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The effective liberalization of international trade

can generate sufficient resources for African

economies and thus fund various education, health and

infrastructure programmes. Unfortunately, customs and

trade barriers that bear down on African exports, as

well as subsidies to agriculture in the Western

countries, cancel out the development efforts of the

African countries that are already labouring under the

burden of debt. Debt alone consumes four times more

budget resources than those we need for education and

health. That is why I would like to associate my

country’s voice with the call for justice and equity in

seeking sustainable solutions to problems arising from

the multilateral trade system. Here, I draw particular

attention to access for our products to developed

markets and the subsidies and other forms of domestic

support granted by the wealthy countries to their

farmers, which impair the competitiveness of our

products on world markets.

The great challenges facing the world cannot be

met unless we do it in the overall context of sustained

solidarity. That is why Côte d’Ivoire is glad to see new

initiatives put forward by Member States to mobilize

additional funds or increase funds aimed at fostering

development in poor countries. We congratulate the

proponents of those initiatives. We would like, inter

alia, to mention the allocation of special drawing rights

and coordinated measures to encourage voluntary

private contributions, the international financial facility

presented by the British Government, which has been

supported by some developed countries, and a

reduction in the price of transferring funds from

migrants to their countries of origin. In some States,

those remittances constitute 65 per cent of all

development assistance. We would also like to mention

the contribution of a solidarity surcharge on air tickets

in favour of sustained development, a proposal

presented by Germany, Brazil, Chile and France in

September 2004 that seeks to combat hunger, poverty

and fund sustainable development, in particular as

regards combating HIV/AIDS and other pandemics.

We hope that such new sources of financing along

with, and as a complement to, traditional financing

resources will effectively contribute to combating

poverty in the world and bring us closer to attaining the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Attaining the MDGs is a source of hope for the

Côte d’Ivoire, which has for some years now been

trying to emerge from the socio-political crisis that has

ravaged our country. In the first national Ivorian report

on the MDGs, which was issued in 2003 based on the

data provided in regard to each of the eight

development goals, it clearly appears that the Goals

will be difficult to achieve by 2015 if the international

community does not continue to provide financial

support, including the cancelling of our considerable

foreign debt. So, I would like to reiterate the appeal of

the Government of National Reconciliation to the

United Nations and to development partners, both

bilateral and multilateral, to help us more in facing the

new challenges of rebuilding the country, in particular,

reintegrating internally displaced persons and

rehabilitating our infrastructure, be they educational,

health-related, cultural, or environmental.

No country can develop and protect its population

from need, if it cannot take effective measures against

the diseases devastating it, such as malaria,

tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and other contagious diseases,

which pose a serious threat to the entire world,

particularly the poor countries, and which represent

obstacles to the realization of development goals. That

is why my delegation feels that the international

community should intensify and coordinate its efforts

aimed at providing access to generic medicines for

patients in developing countries, including

antiretrovirals. When the time comes, Côte d’Ivoire

will fully support the world initiative to be launched in

2006 aimed at strengthening the health systems in

developing countries by 2010.

As regards human rights, my delegation is

gratified by efforts made by the United Nations to

bring about respect for the human person and to

combat impunity in Côte d’Ivoire. We particularly

appreciate the visit by the High Commissioner for

Human Rights last July, the visits by various

commissions to investigate the situation and the visits

by Special Rapporteurs. The Government is still

waiting to hear the results of the latest international

investigation, carried out by the United Nations from

July through September 2004, covering important

issues such as impunity, serious violations of human

rights, international humanitarian law and mercenaries.

Trafficking in children has become an increasing

problem in Africa and particularly in the countries of

West Africa. West African leaders are aware that only

by fighting together against this shameful trafficking

will they be able to overcome it. That is why, in

addition to the bilateral agreements already established

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and at the initiative of Côte d’Ivoire, nine West African

States, meeting on 27 July 2005 in Abidjan, adopted a

multilateral cooperation agreement to combat

trafficking in children in West Africa. This multilateral

legal instrument contains binding obligations on all the

States Parties and specific obligations for countries of

origin and destination of children who are the victims

of child trafficking.

As regards the resolution of conflicts on the

African continent, there has been notable progress

throughout the year. We are encouraged by positive

developments in Sudan, Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone

and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which

includes, in some cases, the satisfactory holding of

elections. Nevertheless, despite progress in conflict

settlement, we must remain aware of the fact that the

situations, generally speaking, remain fragile. The

international community must therefore act more

resolutely to help countries in conflict tackle the

genuine causes of the conflict, while combating

poverty, consolidating democratic institutions and

promoting those countries’ economic and social

development.

While we can legitimately rejoice at the

resolution of certain conflicts, we must note that,

deplorably, certain situations are still far from settled.

This is the case in my country, which has not yet found

the road to peace, despite the many efforts made by the

international community through various initiatives

over the past three years, in particular the Linas-

Marcoussis, Accra and Pretoria Agreements. The

United Nations, through the Security Council, has

invested a great deal of energy in strengthening the

peace and reconciliation process in my country. We

welcome all the measures taken thus far by the

Security Council and are particularly encouraged by

the fact that more blue helmets have been sent and that

Mr. Antonio Monteiro has been appointed as the

United Nations High Representative for the elections in

Côte d’Ivoire.

I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to

thank the international community, in particular

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and other

regional and subregional heads of State and

organizations, for their readiness to help and for their

untiring efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to the

Ivorian crisis. As I stand here before you, the process

is practically at a deadlock and the presidential election

planned for 30 October will not be held on that date.

Holding free, fair and transparent elections within

a reasonable time frame remains the main objective to

be attained if we are to have sustainable peace in Côte

d’Ivoire. Nevertheless, the following priority tasks

must first be carried out: disarming and dismantling of

militias throughout the country; the disarmament,

demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants,

following an initial pre-assembly; the restoration of

State administration throughout the national territory;

the identification of electors and the establishment of

electoral rolls — and, in that connection, the soon-to-

be-operational Independent Electoral Commission is a

bright note; and the provision of funds for

disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and the

electoral process.

Despite the current stagnation in the peace and

reconciliation process, the Ivorian Government

implores the international community not to be

overcome by disappointment, discouragement or

irritation. We invite it to participate more intensively

and resolutely in finding solutions to the fundamental

problems of the crisis, which, alone, can guarantee the

return of a lasting and stable peace in my country and

reconcile all our sons and daughters.

In that regard, the Security Council must remain

actively seized of the case of Côte d’Ivoire, which

must be kept on its agenda. In the same connection, the

United Nations should, in my delegation’s opinion,

seriously consider imposing sanctions on all persons

who are guilty of serious human rights violations,

inciting hatred and violence, obstructing the peace

process or violating the arms embargo throughout the

country.

The Ivorian people need peace. We realize that

this is primarily the responsibility of the Ivorian people

themselves. Nevertheless, without the steadfast support

of the international community, peace will be difficult

to achieve. Therefore, I call upon our common

Organization to shoulder its responsibilities and

become even more involved and more active in our

national peace and reconciliation process. That is its

mandate and the goal of its commitment under Chapter

VII of the Charter.