Ireland, 2009

Let me begin,

Mr. President, by warmly congratulating you on your

election and extending the best wishes of the Irish

Government and the Irish people for a successful term

in office.

It is indeed a very great honour to participate in

this general debate and to share this unique global

platform. Ireland cherishes its membership in the

United Nations. We believe strongly in the purposes,

the principles and the potential of this great global

Organization of ours. And we are proud of the role we

have ourselves played in developing that potential over

the past five decades. We are determined to maintain

this role and to remain steadfastly at the service of the

United Nations.

Rarely have the challenges facing the global

community been as formidable, or as pressing, as those

of today. And rarely has the need been greater for

collective action and for the facilitating framework that

is uniquely provided by the United Nations. Our

discussions in New York over the past week have

highlighted some of the most urgent issues on the

Organization’s agenda at present, including climate

change, global poverty and hunger, and nuclear

disarmament and non-proliferation.

We are also confronted with the global financial

and economic crisis — the most severe in a generation —

which is leaving its mark on every family and

community across the world. Governments everywhere

are facing a daunting task, as they work to mitigate the

effects of global recession and economic turbulence

and to limit the impact of the crisis on those in greatest

need. Once again, the United Nations provides a

framework for the development of collective responses

and solutions.

The summit of world leaders hosted by Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon in New York last week on

climate change displayed the strength of international

commitment on this issue. The Secretary-General has

been a powerful advocate of collective action to tackle

this major threat to our planet and our future

generations. It now falls to us, the Member States, to

redouble our efforts to ensure a successful outcome to

the Copenhagen Conference in December.

The promise that the United Nations embodies to

tackle all these global threats can only be realized

through continuing efforts to make this a stronger and

more effective Organization. Ireland has played, and

will continue to play, an active role in championing the

reform agenda at the United Nations.

In the area of system-wide coherence, the reform

agenda is already producing good results and helping

to deliver a more effective and relevant United

Nations. The One United Nations Initiative is

delivering improved development performance at the

individual country level. Ireland warmly welcomes the

progress being made in the General Assembly and, in

particular, the recent decision to establish a new gender

entity to promote gender equality. I encourage early

action to make the new entity operational during the

Assembly’s current session.

The need for greater progress on other parts of

the United Nations reform agenda still remains. A

positive start has been made to the intergovernmental

negotiations on Security Council reform. But more

urgency is required in transforming the Council to

make it more representative and reflective of twenty-

first century realities, as well as to improve its

functioning and increase its transparency.

I would like to devote some time today to

discussing the critical issue — indeed the scandal —

that is hunger in our world today. Tonight, over one

billion people will go to bed hungry and malnourished.

That is one in seven people inhabiting the planet today.

This scandal represents perhaps the biggest collective

failure of mankind. In the last few days — during the

past week in the General Assembly — world leaders

have come together to discuss the most complex and

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daunting of global challenges, including climate

change and non-proliferation. Yet, the simple challenge

of putting food into the mouths of everybody on the

planet still remains beyond us.

I speak today as the representative of a country

that has experienced famine and hunger and whose

population was decimated by the Great Famine in

Ireland in 1847. A year ago this week I accompanied

our Prime Minister — our Taoiseach — here to the

United Nations Headquarters to present to Secretary-

General Ban the report of our Hunger Task Force. The

key recommendation in that report was a call for global

leadership to tackle hunger. I was therefore greatly

encouraged last Saturday to see such leadership by

Secretary-General Ban and United States Secretary of

State Clinton aimed at constructing a road map to

translate rhetoric and commitment on hunger into real

action — and real action on the ground. The Global

Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security initiative

holds the promise of contributing to a world free from

chronic hunger.

It is clear what we must do. We must tackle

hunger in a comprehensive way and address the

fundamental causes of hunger. We need to invest in

agriculture and agricultural research and, in particular,

to support women farmers. We need to invest in rural

infrastructure, enhance nutrition and support national

and regional plans. Ireland has placed food security

and related sectors as a cornerstone of our aid

programme. By 2012 we will ensure that 20 per cent of

our aid programme is hunger-focused. We are well on

our way to meeting this objective. But above all we

need, at a global level, to summon the political will to

end this scandal. Nothing short of the complete

eradication of hunger on the planet should satisfy us.

Peacekeeping and the maintenance of

international peace and security have always been

central to the role of the United Nations. Ireland is

deeply proud of the long-standing contribution that we

have made to United Nations peacekeeping operations

across the world. For over half a century, there has

been a continuous tradition of Irish peacekeepers

serving the cause of peace under the United Nations

blue flag somewhere in the world. This goes to the

very heart of our commitment to the United Nations

and the values it represents — a commitment that is, I

should say, an integral part of our foreign policy and

that helps to define us as a nation.

It is clear, however, that both the Organization

and contributing countries are being severely stretched

in terms of the demands made by a steadily escalating

number of peace support operations around the world.

The Secretary-General’s paper, “A New Partnership

Agenda: Charting a New Horizon for United Nations

Peacekeeping”, is therefore a very welcome initiative,

and we look forward to contributing to its early

consideration by the General Assembly.

Regional organizations, such as the European

Union and the African Union, play a vital role in

helping the United Nations to fulfil its peacekeeping

responsibilities. As the Secretary-General acknowledged

when he visited Dublin last July, without the unique

contributions of regional organizations such as the

European Union, United Nations operations would not

be able to achieve their goals and could, in fact, fail

entirely. The successful transition earlier this year from

the European Union-led force in Chad and the Central

African Republic (EUFOR) to the United Nations

Mission there shows how important and effective this

partnership has become, as does the similarly

successful transition to the European Union Rule of

Law Mission in Kosovo.

In Ireland we have known the terrible human cost

of conflict. The Irish Government has been developing

over the past years a focus on conflict resolution work,

building on our own practical experiences with the

Northern Ireland peace process.

Complementing the work of others, especially the

United Nations, we hope that we may be able to make

a distinctive contribution to conflict resolution efforts

in other parts of the world. As one example, we are

engaging actively in Timor-Leste, using lessons

derived from our own peace process to help increase

confidence in policing and security arrangements in

that country. I am also proud that, in relation to

Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), the Irish

Government is sponsoring a major lessons-learned

exercise involving interactions between women from

Timor-Leste, Liberia and Northern Ireland.

Building peace and ending conflict cannot be

accomplished without also removing the very means of

conflict. Last year, Ireland was proud to host the

diplomatic conference that adopted the Convention on

Cluster Munitions, a historic agreement aimed at

banning the production and use of these most

destructive of weapons. I warmly welcome the

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considerable progress that has been made this year

towards the Convention’s entry into force. We now

need fewer than 10 further ratifications to achieve this,

and I urge all Governments that have not yet signed

and ratified the Convention to do so at the earliest

opportunity.

Ireland has always been strongly supportive of

the leading role played by the United Nations in

working to promote non-proliferation and remove the

threat posed by nuclear weapons. Indeed, Ireland was

the first country to sign and ratify the Nuclear

Non-Proliferation Treaty. Next year’s Review

Conference will be of critical importance for efforts to

help strengthen the international non-proliferation

system, at a time when the threats it faces have perhaps

never been greater. We encourage all Member States to

work actively and constructively to achieve a

successful outcome, and Ireland will engage fully in

that effort itself. Ireland also applauds and welcomes

the renewed focus on nuclear disarmament. We

encourage the United States and Russia particularly as

they work towards a legally binding follow-on

arrangement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,

which expires at the end of this year.

Ireland would like to see the active engagement

of the United Nations in monitoring human rights

situations around the world maintained and

strengthened. The Human Rights Council and other

human rights mechanisms must be enabled to address

the most difficult human rights situations in a timely

and effective manner. Continued support will also be

needed for the International Criminal Court and the

international tribunals in their efforts to promote

justice and combat impunity. Ireland urges the fullest

cooperation by all Member States in this regard.

At the 2005 World Summit, the Assembly

endorsed the important concept of the responsibility to

protect. It is now imperative to take that work forward

to put this concept into practical effect, based on the

consensus resolution at the end of the sixty-third

session (resolution 63/308).

Let me turn now for a moment to the situation in

the Middle East. Ireland very much welcomes and

supports the renewed international efforts made in

recent months to reinvigorate the Middle East peace

process with a view to bringing about a comprehensive

and lasting peace settlement. Particular praise is due to

the United States Administration and to the United

States Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, for their

intensive engagement aimed at achieving the

resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and

the Palestinian Authority, as well as the promotion of

peace between Israel and all of its neighbours. We are

of course fortunate in Ireland to have had the benefit of

first-hand experience of George Mitchell’s formidable

skills, patience and tenacity as a peacemaker, and we

hope he can bring these unique skills to this particular

process.

With our European Union (EU) partners, we

stand ready to work closely with our Israeli and

Palestinian partners and to support the United States

and the Quartet in their efforts. It is vitally important

that all parties contribute to confidence-building by

fully honouring their commitments and obligations

under the Road Map. This must include real efforts to

halt all settlement activities and improve the living

conditions of civilians on the ground in the Palestinian

territories. Ordinary people must see in their daily lives

the benefits that will derive from peace and must be

encouraged to take risks for peace.

Nowhere is this more urgent than in Gaza. We

wish to see all border crossings fully and immediately

opened to normal commercial and humanitarian traffic.

We have all been shocked by the violence and

widespread civilian casualties that took place during

the conflict in Gaza at the start of this year. There must

be some form of accountability for the most serious

violations of international law that occurred at that

time. The Human Rights Council is now addressing

this issue in considering the comprehensive report

prepared by Justice Goldstone and his team

(A/HRC/12/48).

Like many others in the international community,

Ireland has followed recent events in Iran with

mounting concern. We urge Iran to comply fully with

all of its obligations and commitments in terms of

protecting the basic human rights of its own citizens. It

is equally urgent that Iran respond to the demands of

the international community to cease uranium

enrichment and to answer satisfactorily all questions

regarding its nuclear activities, particularly in the light

of the latest revelations regarding the previously

undisclosed nuclear site at Qom. The international

community is ready to engage with Iran and has made

generous offers to do so. It is for Iran now to decide

whether it wishes to pursue the path of engagement or

to opt for increasing isolation. We very much hope that

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the forthcoming discussions with Iran, to begin on

1 October, will mark the start of a constructive

engagement on the major issues of international

concern.

The continuing humanitarian tragedy of Darfur

horrifies world opinion and simply cannot be ignored. I

want to pay tribute to the United Nations and

international humanitarian staff, who are working

tirelessly and selflessly under the most difficult of

circumstances. I think in particular of Sharon Commins

and Hilda Kuwuki, two brave and dedicated aid

workers with the Irish agency GOAL, who were

kidnapped in Darfur on 3 July. The Irish Government is

grateful for all the assistance we have received from

the United Nations and others in our efforts to secure

the release of these two women. We fervently hope that

the day of their release from captivity is not far off.

The people of Darfur and of all Sudan richly deserve

peace. We must all collectively continue working to

promote the United Nations-African Union mediation

in Darfur, to support full implementation of the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to ensure that

justice and the defence of human rights prevail

throughout Sudan.

In Burma/Myanmar, Ireland condemns the recent

conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi and again calls for her

immediate release and that of all political prisoners and

for the launching of a genuine, inclusive political

dialogue. International pressure is needed on Burma’s

leaders, notably from other countries in the region, to

change course and move to democracy.

In Sri Lanka, there remains an urgent need to

improve the humanitarian situation of those fleeing the

recent violence in the Tamil areas. The Sri Lankan

Government must cooperate fully with the United

Nations to alleviate the plight of those affected. It must

also work for a political settlement which meets the

aspirations of all communities in Sri Lanka.

Let me say in conclusion that, as the international

community faces a formidable array of challenges,

there has never been a greater need for the United

Nations itself. With each new challenge that appears,

the value of common action to address it at a global

level becomes ever more apparent. There is a much

clearer appreciation of this Organization’s potential to

deliver an effective response to these challenges. Let us

seize the moment and work together to ensure that the

opportunity we have at present is transformed into real

achievement on the ground.

We can all be justly proud of the record of the

United Nations over the past half century. The

challenge for us, the Member States, is whether we can

mobilize the political will needed in order to ensure

that the United Nations can deliver even more in the

future. Ireland, for its part, commits itself to doing

everything in its power to realize the full potential of

the United Nations, this unique voice of the

international community, in the pursuit of a much

better and a much safer world.