Cambodia, 2013

At the outset, I would like

to congratulate Mr. John Ashe on his election as the

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth

session. My delegation has full confidence that under

his able leadership the new session will draw to a

successful conclusion. The President can rest assured

of Cambodia’s full support and cooperation throughout

his presidency.

This year session’s theme, “The post-2015

development agenda: setting the stage,” is very

timely as we have less than 1,000 days to reach the

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. That

development agenda will be one of the most ambitious

projects undertaken by the United Nations, in which all

nations will be called upon to galvanize efforts to help

the world live up to its commitments to end poverty,

educate children, empower women and provide health

services for all.

While the overall picture is encouraging, we

must also recognize that the progress made towards

attaining the MDGs has been insufficient and uneven.

Poverty is still widespread, with more than one billion

people living in extreme poverty. High maternal and

child mortality rates are still seen in too many places

throughout the developing world. Most developing

countries still face many obstacles to the achievement

of all the MDGs within the allocated time frame

of 2015, owing to their vulnerability to the global

financial crisis, their debt burdens and the failure of

some developed countries to meet official development

assistance (ODA) commitments.

It is high time for donor countries to fulfil their

ODA pledges. In addition, debt relief is one of several

financial-assistance instruments which can enhance

the developing countries’ ability to eradicate poverty.

Furthermore, facilitating the transfer of technology

from the developed to the developing world plays

a critical role in helping countries to further their

development efforts and accelerate their economic

growth.

In the case of Cambodia, the MDGs are firmly

embedded as the cornerstone of the country’s

development policies and strategies. In a country

whose entire population once faced abject poverty

and hunger after emerging from war and genocide in

1979, the number of people living below the national

poverty line dropped steadily, reaching 19.8 per cent

in 2011. The country is well on track — if not ahead of

schedule — in terms of attaining its poverty-reduction

goal of 19.5 per cent. In fact, Cambodia received a

United Nations award for reducing hunger by half well

ahead of the MDG target. In general, my country is well

positioned to meet most of the Goals on schedule by the

end of 2015, thanks not only to the Government’s sound

approach and firm commitment but also to sustained

peace and political stability.

In adopting the MDGs, we acknowledged that

sustained and inclusive economic growth in developing

countries was a key requirement for eradicating

poverty and meeting the targets. In that context, my

delegation highly appreciates the far-sighted report of

the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-

2015 Development Agenda, which is entitled A New

Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform

Economies through Sustainable Development, and

which sets forth a universal agenda to eradicate extreme

poverty from our world by 2030 and to deliver on the

promise of sustainable development.

Cambodia believes that the post-2015 development

agenda should carry forward the spirit of the

Millennium Declaration in various ways: first, by

setting out a balanced integration of the economic,

social and environmental dimensions for sustainable

development; secondly, by aiming at the completion

of the work started under the MDGs, particularly

the goal of eradicating extreme poverty; thirdly, by

emphasizing inclusive, equitable and sustainable

development and economic growth aimed at effectively

addressing inequality and any associated factors; and,

fourthly, by focusing not only on the global dimension

of development, but also on its regional dimension,

while taking into account the particular challenges of

the least developed countries.

With regard to the nineteenth session of the

Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held

in Warsaw in November, my country has high hopes

that the Conference will ratify the second commitment

period of the Kyoto Protocol by 2015. Cambodia

greatly appreciates the developed countries’ continued

commitment to providing funds and technology to help

developing nations tackle climate change, in accordance

with the United Nations principle of common but

differentiated responsibilities.

Global and regional peace and security are currently

threatened by conflicts, armed confrontation and

transnational organized crime, which take a heavy toll

on many development efforts. Against that backdrop,

Cambodia welcomes the signing of the Arms Trade

Treaty, the first ever international treaty to regulate the

trade of conventional weapons.

Another security issue is the presence of landmines

and other explosive remnants of war, which continue to

pose constant threats to human security and safety and

hinder national development. To counter those threats,

last year in Phnom Penh the leaders of the Association

of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided to

establish the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center and

to base it in Cambodia.

For its part, Cambodia has spared no effort to address

the issue of landmines. To that end, it has established

demining and clearance of other unexploded ordnance

as an additional MDG of its own. Substantial progress

has been made in realizing that goal, as is demonstrated

by the sharp decline in the number of mine explosion

accidents in Cambodia, from over 300 cases in 2008

to 186 in 2012. As Chair of the Eleventh Meeting of

the States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, or Ottawa

Treaty, Cambodia made a strong commitment to work

towards a world free of landmines and unexploded

ordnance. Since 2006, Cambodia has contributed to

United Nations peacekeeping operations by sending

mine-clearance experts to a number of countries in

Africa and the Middle East, including the Sudan,

South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Chad and

Lebanon, and very soon to Mali.

On the situation in the Korean peninsula, we

welcome the positive developments between North

Korea and South Korea, which, I hope, will lead to a

significant improvement in inter-Korean relations and

the resumption of the Six-Party Talks. We encourage the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to comply fully

with its obligations to cease its nuclear programme, as

spelled out by the relevant Security Council resolutions.

My country reaffirms its support for the Palestinian

people’s just demand for a sovereign and independent

State of Palestine and for the two-State solution to the

Palestine-Israel conflict. We urge all parties to play a

constructive role in the efforts aimed at resuming peace

talks and to remove any obstacles standing in the way

of such resumption.

With regard to the Syrian situation, Cambodia

strongly condemns human rights violations and the

use of chemical weapons. My delegation fully supports

Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), adopted on

Friday with the aim of destroying Syria’s chemical

weapons.

My delegation also calls for an end to the unilateral

embargo on Cuba, which has caused the Cuban people

decades of untold suffering.

We are seriously concerned about the extensive

levels of sexual violence inflicted on innocent women

and children in armed conflicts around the world.

My country endorses the declaration of commitment

on ending sexual violence in conflict, issued on

24 September at a side event during the general debate.

Since the establishment of the United Nations, in

1945, the world situation has changed so dramatically that

there is an urgent need to strengthen global diplomacy.

In that context, the reform of the United Nations should

be comprehensive and include not only the Security

Council but also other organs, so as to maintain the

Organization’s relevance as a global governance

institution that can cope effectively with world reality.

The General Assembly should be empowered to play a

greater leading role in strengthening the wider United

Nations system, improving international governance

and enhancing multilateralism. At the same time,

the Economic and Social Council should also be

strengthened, so that it can effectively coordinate

international cooperation and efforts to tackle social

and economic challenges. Both the permanent and

non-permanent membership categories of the Security

Council should be expanded in an equitable manner,

so that the Council represents both developed and

developing countries. A comprehensive reform of the

Council to make it a body where real negotiations and

compromises can take place is acutely needed.