Iceland, 2004

Sir, it is with great

pleasure that I congratulate you on your election as

President of the fifty-ninth session of the General

Assembly.

We are living in trying and turbulent times. As we

meet, the world continues to be haunted by the spectre

of terrorism, as most recently evidenced in Russia and

Iraq. The victims are, as always, the innocent. The

objective is global instability and insecurity, leading to

increased intolerance and social regression. The

hideousness of the means employed by terrorists

exposes them for what they are. No just political cause

can be served by such acts.

The war against terrorism is a struggle against

barbarism. The perpetrators of terror must be rooted

out and their bases and networks destroyed. This war is

inherently a campaign in support of the values of the

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United Nations — the values that we all seek to

foster — and it is in response to a threat that has

serious implications for all of the Member States of our

Organization. Our challenge is actively to defend

freedom against the forces of tyranny to affect the

conditions that help create the spectre of terrorism.

If anyone thought the threats to global security

that provided the impetus for looking at serious

reforms of the United Nations system had receded,

then surely the recent terrorist outrage in southern

Russia gives pause for reflection. The great challenges

in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as in parts of Africa,

and the considerable work still remaining to achieve

the Millennium Development Goals testify to the fact

that the need for change has not passed. On the

contrary.

The High-level Panel will soon submit its report,

and next year a summit is planned for the sixtieth

anniversary of the United Nations and the fifth year

after the Millennium Summit. Iceland believes that we

now have a historic opportunity to undertake

meaningful and long-awaited reform. This would in no

small way be a reinforcement of the idea of

multilateralism and, if genuine and far-sighted, will

equip the United Nations to deal more effectively with

threats to global security.

It will be our weighty responsibility here next

year to hammer out decisions on reform. We will have

the opportunity to make changes that will equip the

multilateral system to be more effective in preventing

conflict, in resolving conflict where it occurs and in

post-conflict peace-building.

We can of course choose to do nothing. We can

linger complacently in the inertia of the status quo. The

consequence would, however, be that the United

Nations would become less and less capable of facing

these common challenges to our security.

In particular, we must grasp the chance to make

the Security Council itself more representative, while

increasing its efficiency and effectiveness. The

discussions of many years on increasing the number of

non-permanent and permanent seats must reach a

conclusion. It is time that certain countries that have

long made a considerable contribution to the work of

the United Nations be given permanent seats on the

Security Council. I am referring in particular to

Germany, India, Japan and Brazil. But it is no less

important to ensure that Africa also be given a

permanent seat on the Council.

Smaller States make up the vast majority of

United Nations Members. Ensuring that smaller States

are adequately represented in the various organs of the

United Nations is not only a matter of paying due

regard to the principles of sovereignty; it is also a

practical matter of ensuring that the particular

challenges faced by smaller States — both island States

and others — are taken into account in the multilateral

system. Iceland knows the problems related to being

far away from potential markets. We know well the

struggle of small economies to diversify, and we have

direct experience of the vulnerability of small countries

to external economic shocks and natural disasters. I

would like to take this opportunity to extend our

sympathy to all those Caribbean States that have

suffered so much in the recent hurricanes. My

Government is considering ways in which it could

contribute to disaster relief or reconstruction.

Just as it is fundamental to the legitimacy of the

Security Council that there be fair representation of the

various regions of the world, it is also important that

the many smaller States feel that their issues are

understood and taken into account. In that context, I

would like to refer to the previously announced

candidacy of my country, Iceland, for a non-permanent

seat on the Security Council for the period 2009-2010,

which was already endorsed in 1998 by the Nordic

States — Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden —

within the Group of Western European and other

States.

Smaller States make a valuable contribution to

running the multilateral system. Smaller States provide

some of the most innovative thinking on approaches to

the challenges we face and — in per capita terms and

often in absolute terms — are some of the most

generous contributors.

An issue of key concern to small island States,

but also to the world at large, is sustainable use of the

world’s resources. As Iceland completed its term as a

member of the Commission on Sustainable

Development (CSD), my Government was very pleased

to see the organizational changes in the working

methods of the CSD implemented at its twelfth session,

in April. My Government looks forward to continuing

its active participation in the future work of the CSD to

achieve and promote the sustainable development of

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the world’s resources. Iceland will also continue to

work on alternative energy resources, particularly the

possibilities of hydrogen as a clean-energy provider.

Iceland is committed to attaining the Millennium

Development Goals as they are set out in the

Millennium Declaration. My Government will

participate actively in the preparations for the major

summit in 2005. It is clear that the international

community must speed up its efforts in order to

achieve, before 2015, the goals set by the Millennium

Summit. We regard the 2005 summit to be one of the

important milestones on the way to attaining them.

I now turn to questions concerning particular

regions. Iceland warmly welcomes the New

Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

initiative and its aim of ensuring democracy, human

rights, good governance and sound economic

management. The efforts of African countries in the

management and resolution of conflicts in their own

region and the establishment of a Peace and Security

Council within the African Union are ground-breaking

developments, as are the African mediation in a

number of conflicts and the efforts of the African

Union and African regional organizations to develop

their capabilities for peace-supporting operations.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the focus of

Icelandic bilateral development cooperation, and we

will continue to increase our contribution to and

involvement in multilateral development cooperation.

Iceland welcomes the recent understanding

among members of the World Trade Organization on a

framework for the continuation of the Doha

development round of negotiations on trade

liberalization. The multilateral trading system is a

proven vehicle for promoting economic development

and growth, and it is central to the future prosperity of

our nations. It is noteworthy that particular attention is

paid to the needs of the least developed countries. It is

important that they fully reap the benefits that the

multilateral trading system has to offer. Iceland

believes that the framework will give the negotiators in

Geneva a new platform for the prompt conclusion of

the Doha round. We want to do our part in making sure

that globalization benefits all countries, not least

through targeted development cooperation. In an effort

to assist African countries in making the most of the

Doha round, Iceland is participating, together with the

other Nordic countries, in the Nordic Africa initiative.

Security Council resolution 1546 (2004),

unanimously adopted on 6 June, provided for the

restoration of sovereignty in Iraq. The resolution

assigns the United Nations a leading role in helping to

build a legitimate representative Government and

democratic institutions. It also demonstrated the will of

the Council — and indeed of the rest of the

international community — to resolve past differences

and to give first priority to the political and economic

reconstruction of Iraq. My Government remains

prepared to lend its support to the difficult work ahead

in Iraq. In Iraq, as elsewhere, Iceland would like to

emphasize the importance of ensuring the safety of

United Nations missions.

Afghanistan will continue to occupy our attention

in the coming months. The United Nations has done

valuable work in registering some 10 million voters.

The presidential elections on 9 October in Afghanistan

will be an important milestone in the process of

rebuilding the country. We must maintain an ongoing

commitment to Afghanistan, where serious challenges

to the rebuilding of the country continue to be faced.

Iceland has demonstrated its support and has assumed

the leading role in running the Kabul international

airport, under the auspices of the NATO-led

International Security Assistance Force.

An area of continuing concern is, of course, the

Middle East. The Icelandic Government continues to

call on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume

negotiations on a political settlement. The road map

sets out a realistic way to achieve a two-State solution.

Iceland fully supports the efforts of the Quartet. We

urge the Quartet and all other well-intentioned parties

to continue to focus on this issue.

At the beginning of my remarks, I concentrated

on terrorism. Terrorism is an assault on human rights. I

would like to express strong support for the initiative

of the Secretary-General urging Member States to

ratify all those conventions that concern protection of

the rights of the ordinary citizen.

In conducting the war against terrorism, we must

protect the human rights that terrorists themselves

flout. We must be sure that human rights and

humanitarian law are not sacrificed. Here, I would like

to refer to the key role played by the International

Committee of the Red Cross — and by the entire Red

Cross and Red Crescent movement — in monitoring

the implementation of the Geneva Conventions, and at

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the same time to express my appreciation for that

work.

During this session of the General Assembly,

Iceland will continue to work to advance the issue of

human rights. In that context, we look forward to

marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the entry into

force of the Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination against Women, and we urge

those States that are not parties to accede to the

Convention. Iceland will also continue to work with

others to uproot racism and religious intolerance as a

major way to prevent conflict and create a secure

human environment.

Iceland is totally committed to the multilateral

system, of which the United Nations is the fulcrum.

Without an effective multilateral system, conflict and

its causes will be much more difficult to address. But,

in order to be effective, the system needs change. The

Government of Iceland sincerely hopes that we can

bring about necessary change during the next year, and

we look forward to working with all Member States to

that end.