Algeria, 2010

First of

all, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your

assumption of the presidency of this session of the

General Assembly. Your character, distinguished career

and knowledge of current international affairs will

surely contribute to the management and success of our

work. I would like to convey Algeria’s full support for

your efforts in the course of your term of office. I also

pay tribute to your predecessor, my brother Ali

Abdussalam Treki, for his efforts and commitment to

the principles of multilateralism and respect for the

founding values of the Charter. Additionally, I wish to

express our satisfaction and gratitude to Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon for the breadth and quality of

the efforts which he has tirelessly exerted to add to the

role of the Organization in our joint quest to achieve

and strengthen its ideals.

Despite the recent emergence of some

encouraging signs of economic recovery, the world

continues to suffer from the aftermath of the financial

and economic crisis. The steps taken thus far to address

its most devastating effects and to relaunch the global

economic engine lead us to believe even more firmly

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that the best way to prevent worse crises from

occurring is to rethink global financial and economic

governance in a rational manner that leaves no room

for speculation and the vagaries of the market and that

serves as a fair model for developing countries.

The main trends in the world since the last

session have led us to examine the depth of the

economic crisis in the poorest countries, especially in

Africa. Crises such as this hamper progress in the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs), notably in the areas of maternal and child

health and in combating poverty. It is important that

the international community respect its commitments

in the area of official development assistance and

provide recipient countries with additional assistance

so that they can achieve the Millennium Development

Goals. Several options could be explored in that

regard, some of which seem very promising to us. They

include debt moratoriums for developing countries that

have difficulty in paying their debts and easier access

to the markets of developed countries.

The fact that a high-level meeting on biodiversity

will take place in a few weeks’ time in Nagoya, Japan,

provides us with a valuable opportunity to launch an

urgent appeal requesting the international community

to mobilize to preserve the biological resources of our

planet, which are being threatened by unbridled

economic development that does not take future

generations into account. In that context, I would like

to stress the need to strengthen the role of the United

Nations in protecting biodiversity in developing

countries and in promoting North-South cooperation

that is mutually beneficial.

The issue of climate change presents another

considerable challenge for the international

community, given the manifold threats it poses to

ecosystems and economies. The limited and modest

results achieved in Copenhagen should serve to

encourage all States to redouble their efforts to make

progress at the next meeting of the Conference of the

Parties, to be held in Cancún, towards establishing a

legally binding agreement based on the Kyoto

Protocol’s Framework Convention.

No doubt due to climate change, the extreme

gravity of the natural phenomena that have lately

plunged Pakistan, Russia, China, India and other

countries into disaster means that we need to

restructure international mechanisms to respond to

natural disasters of this kind. On the basis of humanism

and solidarity, Algeria launches an appeal for a joint

international reflection on the best way to achieve

genuine comprehensive natural disaster management.

Countries that do not possess nuclear weapons,

such as Algeria, have the right to ask nuclear States to

truly embrace nuclear disarmament. The results of the

2010 eighth Review Conference of the Parties to the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

constitute a positive step in that regard, thanks in

particular to the launching of a process that should give

rise to a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.

In order to rise to the multiple challenges

confronting international peace and security, the

Conference on Disarmament should make the most of

the favourable international circumstances and the

positive momentum generated by the results of the

2010 Review Conference to restart its work and

comply with its mandate. To that end, Algeria

continues to be committed to the effective relaunching

of the work of the Conference on Disarmament.

Algeria believes that the goals and contents of the

programme adopted in 2009 continue to be valid today

and could be the basis for the work of future sessions.

The issue of peace and security is also linked to

the exacerbation of terrorism and its links with

transnational organized crime, the taking of hostages

and trafficking in arms, drugs and human beings. My

country welcomes the adoption of resolution 1904

(2009), on criminalizing the payment of ransoms to

armed groups based on the principle that this

condemnable practice is a significant source of

financing for terrorism. Nevertheless, the international

community must still make considerable efforts to

eradicate this transnational threat, not just in the

context of comprehensive and systematic

implementation but also in the light of the increase in

hostage-taking by terrorists and the payment of

ransoms to them. This is an issue that must be

addressed with determination, strength and

responsibility.

Algeria calls on the international community to

act to prevent the criminal use of international satellite

images via the Internet. We believe that the

comprehensive treaty to combat terrorism, which

Algeria fully supports, will be a main factor in

checking piracy, once it has been adopted.

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With regard to respect for the principles

enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, Algeria

fully participates in regional integration attempts as a

crucial element in combating international terrorism.

Algeria has launched several recent initiatives,

including an initiative to strengthen bilateral and

regional cooperation among States in our region in

order to bolster peace, security and development. It is

committed to pursuing common efforts to build the

Arab Maghreb union and endow it with dynamic

institutions to ensure that the project comes into being

as the ideal framework for economic cooperation and

complementarity in the region. It has also launched

Maghreb-wide economic and social programmes and

development projects to encourage regional

integration.

The Palestinian people, who continue to aspire to

build a viable State, are still held hostage by the

indecision of certain parties. That is being aggravated

by policies of aggression and unjust siege. We reiterate

our call to the international community to show resolve

and unity with regard to this conflict by bringing

pressure to bear on the occupation forces. We believe

that a definitive, comprehensive and just solution

requires the implementation of the Arab Peace

Initiative. In that context, on behalf of the Algerian

people and Government, I should like to express our

friendship and support to our Palestinian brothers.

Algeria would like to see an immediate halt to

settlements, the return of Palestinian refugees, the

return of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as the

capital of a Palestinian State and a return to the borders

of 4 June 1967. The other occupied Arab territories in

Lebanon and the Golan should also be returned.

As we mark the fiftieth anniversary of the

adoption of resolution 1514 (XV), which enshrined the

principle of freeing oppressed people from the yoke of

colonialism, we unfortunately continue to see that there

still exist Non-Self-Governing Territories whose

populations continue to aspire to self-determination. To

that end, and in keeping with our duties and

responsibilities, Algeria is willing to extend its full

support to the efforts of the United Nations and of

Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Christopher

Ross in order to resolve the Western Sahara conflict.

We express our adherence to the human rights

dimension of the issue and the need for it to be taken

into account by the Human Rights Council and other

international mechanisms in that area, in line with the

relevant provisions of the United Nations Charter, so as

to reach a just political solution that allows the people

of Western Sahara to exercise their right to self-

determination through a referendum. I reiterate my

country’s belief, in line with the view of the African

Union Summit held in Kampala, that there cannot be

an international justice system that operates at two

different speeds and focuses on a single region of the

world, for this issue poses a threat to regional peace

and security.

Algeria also rejects the imposition of

extraterritorial laws and rules and all forms of coercive

economic measures, including unilateral sanctions

against developing countries. In that regard, Algeria

reiterates the need to end the economic, commercial

and financial embargo that has been imposed against

the Cuban Government and people for more than half a

century.

The African Union has proclaimed 2010 the Year

of Peace and Security in Africa, as an expression of the

will of its member States to make every peaceful effort

to resolve all ongoing and new conflicts and crises on

our continent. We encourage the African Union to

integrate economically and politically so that it can

become a partner to reckon with in international

affairs.