Italy, 2010

Italy is about to celebrate

the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its

unification. We are a young country, but a people with

deep roots and ancient traditions. By our history,

geographic location and age-old international outlook,

we are proud of our illustrious legacy. By necessity and

vocation, we are dedicated to dialogue, respect for

diversity and mutual understanding.

There is no alternative to this inclusive approach,

even when it requires compromises or concessions. I

prefer to call it idealistic pragmatism, since our

ultimate goal is to spread peace, freedom and

prosperity, an ambition that is best achieved through

cooperation. This propensity for dialogue is one of

Italy’s greatest contributions to the United Nations.

Italy is a strong supporter of the central role of

the United Nations in global governance and in the

management of international crises. By virtue of its

universality and impartiality, the Organization has the

legitimacy to intervene in crisis situations. Italy

participates in peacekeeping missions not only by

contributing large numbers of highly qualified troops,

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but also by drafting strategic plans and protocol, and

by providing training and logistic support. We are the

sixth largest contributor to the United Nations regular

and peacekeeping operations budgets and, since 2006,

the top troop contributor to the United Nations among

the members of the European Union (EU) and Group

of Western European and Other States.

Approximately 8,000 Italian troops are assigned

to operations under the aegis or the mandate of the

United Nations. Our presence is spread across

22 missions throughout the world: from Lebanon to

Haiti, the Balkans to Afghanistan. Through its

experiences in these difficult areas, Italy has learned

important lessons. In particular, our comprehensive

approach provides valuable insight into how to

integrate the military aspects of a mission with the

commitment to economic, institutional and civil

reconstruction.

We are convinced that to meet the challenges of

the twenty-first century, the United Nations system

must be strengthened, starting with its capacity to

contribute to the maintenance of international peace

and security. The United Nations must be empowered

to fulfil its role as a “producer” of security and

stability, a role designed to foster reconciliation,

strengthen democracy and, ultimately, help to create a

more stable world.

This is why we support the Secretary-General’s

New Horizon and Global Field Support Strategy

initiatives. We must also continue to foster synergies

between the United Nations and regional organizations

that play a key role in bringing peace to crisis areas. I

refer to the African Union and, above all, to the

European Union. The Treaty of Lisbon includes new

arrangements for the EU’s international representation.

Once the resolution on EU participation in the work of

the United Nations has finally been approved, I

sincerely hope the European Union will be able to

make a greater contribution to General Assembly

responsibilities and to enhance the Assembly’s capacity

for providing political guidance.

In the field of security, a commitment to

disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of

mass destruction has always been a feature of Italian

foreign policy. Proliferation is a growing threat that

can only be countered through international

cooperation and, in this regard, the Italian Government

has just put forth some concrete proposals. We need to

set the goal of a zero-nuclear option in an appropriate

time frame, but without conveying the impression that

it is an unrealistic aspiration.

The year 2010 is a key date on the road to

achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In this

endeavour, our collective responsibility and credibility

are at stake. Italy is a strong proponent of a holistic

approach to development. For the sake of true

democratic ownership, the donor community, in

collaboration with the private sector and civil society,

must work in a partnership that makes the beneficiary

countries the protagonists of development.

The time has come for the international

community and the United Nations to increase their

commitment to two regional crises. Somalia is the most

serious and urgent situation on the African continent

today. In the past two years, the Italian Government

has contributed considerable financing to the African

Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somali

security forces, but this is not enough. International

support for AMISOM must be stepped up.

The second crisis is in Pakistan, where the recent

floods have devastated the lives of 20 million people.

The Italian Government is disbursing an additional aid

package of €80 million to bring relief to the Pakistani

population.

But in addition to providing aid, we need to act

wisely. This is why Italy has called for new trade

measures to increase market access for Pakistani goods

and bolster Pakistan’s economic recovery. A natural

disaster of this magnitude also demonstrates the urgent

need to address the effects of climate change through

collective and shared measures.

Globalization has generated a new demand for

belonging and identity. But a fruitful dialogue among

cultures cannot take place without universal values. It

is imperative to defend the universal validity of

fundamental rights and avoid the risks of relativism.

Given the strength of its humanistic heritage that

affirms the human being as the measure of all things,

Italy is well-equipped to play an important part in this

dialectic.

True to this heritage, the Italian Government has

promoted a campaign for a moratorium on the death

penalty. We welcome the strengthening international

trend towards achieving this objective, and hope it will

be confirmed when Italy and a broad alliance of

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countries present a resolution on the moratorium in the

upcoming months.

Religious tolerance is a prerequisite for peace and

a founding principle of our civilization. The right to

search for truth through the word of God is the

freedom of freedoms, but in some areas of the world

people are afraid to freely and openly profess their

faith because they face persecution by extremists. Italy

is strongly committed to protecting freedom of religion

and will always oppose discrimination against religious

minorities. In fact, Italy together with its EU partners is

actively involved in the preparation and presentation of

the annual resolution on religious intolerance.

Another target of our fight against discrimination

is the international initiative to ban female genital

mutilation. Since September 2009, Italy, together with

a group of African countries, has promoted such an

initiative, which, hopefully, will lead to the

presentation here in the Assembly of a resolution that

fully respects African ownership.

Female genital mutilations, which violate a

woman’s physical integrity, affect millions of women

and girls throughout the world, including in my

country, where 35,000 such cases have been reported.

Women’s rights and national progress go hand in hand,

but, nevertheless, women are still suffering in many

countries throughout the world.

By pooling together our efforts we can ensure the

necessary consensus for resolutions that safeguard our

own and future generations from prejudice and

intolerance. In this spirit, we very warmly welcome the

creation of UN Women within the Secretariat and hope

that it quickly becomes operative.

Reaffirming the central role of the United Nations

in global governance requires a constant commitment

to the comprehensive reform of the Organization. Such

reform should affect the Secretariat, the various funds,

agencies and programmes of the United Nations and,

obviously, its decision-making bodies.

In regard to reform of the Security Council, we

seek realistic compromise solutions that garner the

broadest possible consensus and ensure an adequate

representation of African, Arab and other

underrepresented groups of countries. More than

15 years of negotiations have demonstrated that the

membership is profoundly divided. It is now time to

search for genuine and far-reaching compromise. Italy

and its Uniting for Consensus partners are ready to

participate constructively in the reform process and

have already demonstrated their flexibility. We look

forward to engaging with the rest of the membership

during the current session of the General Assembly.

The process of revitalizing the General Assembly

should strive to restore its central role. The Assembly’s

universal character gives it potential for providing

political guidance that should be realized. The

Assembly is the place where we could jointly identify

the main problems that threaten the security, stability

and development of all Member States and draft

common strategies to address them effectively.

In conclusion, the vision for the future to which

my country, Italy, aspires — a future of peaceful

coexistence and mutual enrichment between values and

cultures — can only be ensured through the successful

completion of the many reform processes under way.

We can achieve this future if we build our actions on

dialogue and mutual understanding. And when we do

achieve peaceful coexistence and mutual enrichment,

the United Nations system will be equipped with the

tools it needs to fulfil the main principles and values of

the Charter. One of these stands above all the others in

importance: each and every individual throughout the

world is endowed with inalienable and absolute rights

concerning which no kind of compromise can ever be

tolerated.