Georgia, 2005

I should first like to congratulate Mr. Jan Eliasson on

his election as President at the sixtieth session of the

General Assembly. I assure him of my delegation’s full

support for the important work to be accomplished at

this session. I would also like to extend my gratitude to

His Excellency Mr. Jean Ping for his tireless efforts

and vision for change he has demonstrated so amply

during his presidency.

(spoke in English)

Our Organization is now at a turning point in its

history. Sixty years after its founding, having confronted

many challenges, faced many threats, been defied by so

many conflicts, the United Nations is now entering the

twenty-first century with the obligation to reform itself.

The bipolar world has come to an end, and new

threats of a global nature have emerged: international

terrorism, conflicts of a different breed, development

and global environmental challenges. I want here to

renew to the delegation of the United States of

America a message of solidarity from the Georgian

people in the face of the New Orleans tragedy. Our

Organization has no other choice but to adapt, to find

new instruments and to establish a renewed credibility,

which can only be based on a proven efficiency, results

and visible effects. Words do not suffice; deeds are

expected from us all.

31

We consider the outcome document adopted by

the 2005 High-level Plenary Meeting as a substantial

step in the right direction. This document deals with all

the real issues that, as we all know, are going to define

tomorrow’s world and affect our Organization’s fate.

Whether we are talking about eradication of

poverty, consolidation of peace and security, protection

of human rights, protection of displaced persons, need

for an effective system of peacekeeping and for a

coherent approach to peacebuilding, negative effects of

transnational crime, responsibility to protect

populations from ethnic cleansing or whether we

reaffirm the absolute necessity of a dialogue among

cultures and civilizations, all these challenges are of

direct relevance for my country.

For Georgia, these threats are not words, these

ills are not theory, they are daily realities and directly

experienced tragedies. Our support for an effective

reform is not a rhetorical stand. Our vital interests are

at stake; the future of my country is at stake. Georgia is

directly experimenting on its soil the consequences of

so-called frozen conflicts. Frozen conflicts lead to the

freezing of the economic development of these

separatist regions. They freeze the democratic

development of the society in those regions. They

isolate them and close them, transforming them into

outlaws, “black holes” where all kinds of trafficking

and criminal activities, possibly including terrorist

activities, could develop outside our control or any

form of control, outside any law.

Frozen conflicts, as well as active conflicts, call

for the development of a real capacity of the United

Nations for effective involvement through instruments

of peacebuilding. For many years the United Nations

has been dealing with the Abkhazian conflict, but

unfortunately it has not managed to obtain effective

results. It has proved unable to this day to deploy the

small police component that was decided upon, unable

to implement fully its own resolutions, unable to

deploy an effective peacekeeping capability, unable to

monitor the human rights violations that are occurring

daily and frequently.

Gradually, despite the United Nations, despite

regular meetings of the Security Council, and despite

the Secretary-General’s Group of Friends of Georgia, a

regime of apartheid prevails under which Georgians are

excluded and forbidden to go back to their land and

their homes, and a process of covert annexation is

taking place. Thus, Abkhazia will be a litmus test of

the renewed efficiency of our Organization, of its

capacity to monitor effectively, to manage

peacekeeping operations without having to delegate its

responsibilities to third parties and to enact finally

strategies of effective peacebuilding.

In the case of the South Ossetian conflict in

Georgia, we have a similar situation. The President of

Georgia has presented two mutually reinforcing peace

proposals within a year. One proposal introduced last

year before this Assembly set out the three phases for

ending the conflict: demilitarization, economic

rehabilitation and political dialogue. In December

2004, it was complemented by a full-fledged proposal

on a status of broad autonomy, prepared together with

the Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy

through Law (the Venice Commission) and presented

to the Council of Europe. But peace plans are not

enough. We now need a mechanism through which the

international community will effectively support

initiatives and policies that are directed towards

peaceful resolution of conflicts.

For all these reasons, we are taking the outlines

of the new document very seriously and want to see it

fully developed and implemented. We welcome and

support the creation of an initial operating capability

for a standing police capacity. This is a very right step

in the very right direction. We welcome the creation of

a Human Rights Council. This new body should be

more representative, should comply with the highest

standards of objectivity and should avoid double

standards as well as omissions or silences. An effective

monitoring system should be put into place. The

strengthening of the Office of the Commissioner for

Human Rights is also a step in the right direction.

We welcome the creation of a Peacebuilding

Commission that will develop integrated strategies for

post-conflict rehabilitation and recovery. We also need

a more effective framework for moving smoothly from

peacemaking to peacebuilding, while developing an

all-inclusive and coherent strategy within which the

United Nations will fully assume its responsibilities.

The new Peacebuilding Commission should be fully

representative of the countries that have been or are the

most directly affected by conflicts. Also, given the

special fate of women and children in conflict and

post-conflict situations, gender representation should

be given additional attention. “Representation is

essential”, “Knowledge is key” — as we, female foreign

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ministers, have mentioned in our letter to the Secretary-

General and the President of the General Assembly.

Finally, Georgia supports the reform and

revitalization of the Security Council — a more

effective and efficient, more democratic, more

transparent body is called for. Georgia supports the

enlargement proposals in order to give non-permanent

members a better chance to contribute to major

decisions. Transparency and improved decision-making

procedures are a must. Georgia is convinced that if

there is an adequate political will, the relevant

agreement on a reformed Security Council can be

reached at the present session of the General Assembly.

This is our wish. Moreover, this is a necessity. Our

credibility is at stake.

Today not only the United Nations but all the

major international organizations are going through a

difficult process of adjustment, of renewal and

reappraisal. That is the case of the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European

Union, the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth

of Independent States. Some will survive and grow

stronger. Some will have to yield ground to other

forums that are more flexible, less bureaucratic and

more in line with today’s realities.

The United Nations has today started an

invaluable process of readjustment and rejuvenation. If

our work is successful, this process will go to its term.

The United Nations will cease to be a mere forum

for calling for peaceful solutions; it will become the

instrument the world needs, the instrument for

resolving the conflicts that tarnish the image of today’s

global world, the instrument for effectively responding

to the newer global threats that endanger our

development and our stability.