Dominican Republic, 2002

I wish to extend our

congratulations to Mr. Jan Kavan on his election to

lead the work of the General Assembly. We are

confident that his leadership will bring greater honour

to the United Nations, to his country and to himself.

We would also like to congratulate his predecessor, Mr.

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Han Seung-soo, for his excellent work during the

previous session.

We would also like to express our solidarity with

Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his defence of the

will of the many in the face of any event that places

world peace at risk.

We also wish to welcome the Swiss

Confederation and East Timor as they take their places

in the Organization.

On behalf of the people and the Government of

the Dominican Republic, I would like once again to

reiterate the profound faith that the Dominican people

have in the principles on which the universal mission

of the United Nations is based. The ideas and

ambitions that sparked the Second World War brought

humanity close to losing all hope for peaceful co-

existence. Political fanaticism, intransigent nationalism

and all sorts of prejudices cast their shadow over

leaders and over a great part of the world, leading to an

ominous undertaking whose ideological manifestation

greatly endangered the freedom and cultural diversity

of humankind.

Luckily for all, reason prevailed. In order to make

that victory a lasting one, and in order to ensure that

humankind would maintain a steady and clear path

towards peace, the nations who fought for freedom

recognized the need to create a body to watch over the

values that would improve international behaviour.

These were the reasons for both the emergence of the

United Nations and for enshrining in the Charter the

objectives of peace, justice, the rejection of aggression

and the resolution of controversies through peaceful

means and in accordance with international law.

In other words, it was very clearly set out that the

Organization would seek to use every peaceful means

to resolve conflicts between peoples or States. It was

also clearly specified that the use of force to maintain

or restore peace and international security had to be the

result of a unanimous decision of the permanent

members of the Security Council. Over five decades

have passed since the establishment of the

Organization, and the events and changes experienced

by the world in that time have been innumerable.

Many bloody conflicts in the Middle East, Asia

and Africa have challenged the authority of the United

Nations. Many unilateral actions have violated the

Organization's legal system and threatened the balance

of the world. Nevertheless, despite every provocation

and all the instances of non-compliance with the

resolutions of its highest bodies, the Organization has

clearly made its mark by asserting the need to respect

the international norms and laws governing the

behaviour of its members. Peace, and even the survival

of mankind itself, owe a great deal to the achievements

of the United Nations.

Unfortunately, threats to universal peace continue

to cast their shadow over the world today. The date of

11 September 2001 is an alarming example of the

scope and capability of the enemies of peace. We will

never be able to forget the perversity of those actions,

their criminal character or the affront they tried to

inflict upon this great nation. We understand perfectly

well that, in the face of an aggression of this nature, the

spontaneous reaction may be that of claiming

legitimate self-defence. However, we should agree that

such a response has moral limitations and conditions

embodied in the principles that rule the rights of people

and in those that form the bedrock of this Organization.

The Dominican Government has been signing all

resolutions, agreements and conventions against

terrorism. The Dominican Government has supported

Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), which created

the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and is promoting

the work to draft a comprehensive convention against

international terrorism. However, our purpose in

fighting this scourge and our solidarity with the nations

that have been and are its victims must be focused,

beyond any contingency, on the eradication of the

causes that stimulate and provoke the depravation of

the human condition that is expressed in acts of terror.

With regard to the right to confront terrorism

directly, we must be aware that unilateral action

represents a defeat of our capacity to reach agreements.

It is only logical that it is our responsibility to do so

with all the authority that this Organization grants

through its multilateral nature. This is true because the

use of force can be justified only when all means under

the Charter of United Nations available to the General

Assembly and the Security Council to assess the existence

of a real threat to world peace have been exhausted.

In his report of 13 April 1998 concerning the

issue of peace in Africa, the Secretary-General set forth

ideas which must serve as a guide on the Iraqi

situation. Among other ideas, Kofi Annan stated:

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“For the United Nations there is no higher

goal, no deeper commitment and no greater

ambition than preventing armed conflict. The

prevention of conflict begins and ends with the

promotion of human security and human

development.” (A/52/871, para. 2)

It is obvious that we are not the only ones to think

that, in the face of market globalization processes, cultural

exchanges, technologies and communications, it has

become imperative to resume on the path laid down at

the Millennium Summit in order to correct the imbalances

and to halt the growing total marginalization of large

sectors of the world population. Allow me to quote a

paragraph from the Millennium Declaration as a

reminder of our priorities:

“We believe that the central challenge we

face today is to ensure that globalization becomes

a positive force for all the world's people. For

while globalization offers great opportunities, at

present its benefits are very unevenly shared,

while its costs are unevenly distributed. We

recognize that developing countries and countries

with economies in transition face special

difficulties in responding to this central

challenge.” (resolution 55/2, para. 5)

Moreover, the Millennium Summit prioritized

issues such as poverty, illiteracy, illness, gender

inequality and environmental depletion as causes that

conspire decisively against peace and universal

coexistence. These troubling situations beg the

question: How much have we done at the national and

international levels to eliminate the obstacles that

hinder the growth of the developing countries?

Right from its assumption of power in August

2000, the Government of the Dominican Republic,

headed by agronomist Hipólito Mej'a, has taken a

series of measures aimed at adapting legislation in both

public and private institutions to the demands of the

unavoidable globalization process. With respect to

social reform, the Dominican Government has

launched a programme to reduce poverty and has

increased its support in the fight against illiteracy. The

creation of ministries of women and the environment

are also significant initiatives in view of the lack of

attention from which these sectors of society

traditionally suffered.

We know that other countries have made similar

changes, but the truth of the matter is that, as a whole,

global statistics leave little room for optimism when

compared to those relating to the great majority of

developing countries. Unfortunately, at the global

level, we cannot say that developed countries have

manifested any understanding of or solidarity towards

these issues in positive terms. The opportunities

offered by the developed countries for developing

countries to participate in the globalization process

through cooperation leading to harmonious, gradual

and equitable adaptation leave much to be desired.

Within this sombre picture, the United Nations has

to act decisively in favour of the development of nations

unjustifiably constrained by protectionism and subsidies,

which create barriers that hinder competition on equal

terms and which, consequently, negate free trade.

Year after year, speaker after speaker, we speak in

this solemn Hall about the mandate — also ratified at

the Millennium Summit — to proceed with decisive

reforms in the Security Council and the General

Assembly. However, a sort of indifference or adverse

purport postpones or paralyses the opportunity to

actually undertake such reform. If the universal

conscience is to enjoy genuine representation, the

reform of such bodies is imperative. Thus, this

Organization needs its multilateral role to become the

true expression of the political composition acquired

by the world over the past 57 years.

On behalf of the Dominican Government, we

wish to express our satisfaction for the decision taken

by the Organization of American States regarding

Haiti. Indeed, through its resolution 822 of 4

September 2002, entitled “Support for strengthening

democracy in Haiti”, that regional organization decided

to support the regularization of economic cooperation

between the Haitian Government and international

financial institutions. Following the instructions of the

President of the Dominican Republic, we appeal to the

conscience of the United Nations to proceed in the

same manner and to extend its support in reaching

those nations capable of generous cooperation with our

sister nation.

I wish to take this opportunity to share the most

recent decisions concerning the International Research

and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women,

headquartered in the Dominican Republic, which is one of

the few United Nations bodies located in a developing

country and the only one working on women's research

and training. On 19 December 2001, by resolution

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56/125, the General Assembly decided to create a

working group with the mandate to make

recommendations on the future work of the Institute. That

working group met eight times in July and August 2002.

The Dominican Republic is confident that this session

of the General Assembly will accept the working

group's recommendations and that the Institute will

soon be able to continue to fulfil its mandate.

In conclusion, I must recall that, at the beginning

of my statement, I reaffirmed the faith of the Dominican

people and Government in the mission of the United

Nations. This Organization is more necessary today than

ever before, at a time when the world is shrinking and

when we increasingly need more than one interlocutor

to which we can turn when faced with issues that could

provoke violence and war. In other words, today more

than ever all nations aspire to having an Organization

that, through its traditional mandate and its universal

scope, can strike a balance among all States for the

benefit of genuine democratic security.