Cambodia, 2014

At the outset,

allow me to warmly congratulate Mr. Sam Kutesa of

the Republic of Uganda on his election as President of

the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. I have

full confidence that, under his guidance, the sixty-ninth

session will proceed to a successful conclusion. I would

also like to take the opportunity to extend my great

appreciation to Mr. John William Ashe of Antigua and

Barbuda for his wise leadership and relentless efforts

as President of the sixty-eighth session in guiding us to

many outstanding achievements.

In many ways, the world in which we are living

is at a critical juncture, and the current picture is

rather bleak. The international community remains

seriously concerned over recent geopolitical security

developments in many parts of the world. The self-

declared Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and its

horrendous crimes are menacing peace, security and

stability in those countries, which have already been

seriously hit by armed conflicts and acts of violence.

In Syria, the continued armed hostilities have not only

caused the deaths of thousands of innocent people and

children, but have also led to millions of refugees.

In Africa, some countries have also suffered armed

conflicts and violence, which have placed peace and

stability at risk in that part of the world. All those armed

conflicts and crimes are threatening peace, stability

and human security, not only in those regions, but also

in the world at large.

To contribute to the peace process in the Middle

East and Africa, Cambodia has participated actively

in United Nations peacekeeping operations. We have

dispatched more than 2,000 peacekeepers to Lebanon,

Mali and South Sudan. In November, Cambodia will

deploy another detachment of 216 peacekeepers to

the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated

Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic.

While extremism is threatening the world’s peace

and security, the spread of the Ebola epidemic in Africa

has also become one of the worst threats to the world

today. It is of critical importance that the international

community make concerted efforts to address that

global challenge in an effective and timely manner.

With regard to the hostilities between Palestine and

Israel, despite the fragile ceasefire recently concluded,

the situation remains a serious concern. We call on all

parties to make efforts to resume meaningful peace

talks in order to reach a viable political solution of

two States living peacefully side by side. Cambodia

believes that that is the only way to definitively put an

end to that long-lasting conflict.

The situation in the eastern part of Europe, in spite

of the delicate ceasefire, remains worrisome and its

implications could presage a return to the Cold War.

In Asia, the launching of missiles by the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea has aroused international

concern and aggravated the situation in the region. The

Six-Party Talks should be resumed in order to explore

a possible avenue for peaceful dialogue to bring about

a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Climate change is currently an obvious global

challenge, as well as a human security issue. The rapid

pace of climate change is having devastating effects

for both developed and developing countries. The

developing countries, dependent mostly on agriculture,

suffer more from the various negative effects of climate

change, such as frequent typhoons, storms, floods

and droughts. For instance, in 2013, heavy monsoon

rains caused extensive flooding across Cambodia,

claimed 168 lives, caused $1 billion in damages and

affected 1.8 million people. Even this year, 12 out of

the 25 provinces and various cities of Cambodia have

suffered on account of floods, killing 45 people and

afflicting almost 100,000 families.

According to a report by the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change, the global warming caused

by the increase in greenhouse gases is generated by

humankind’s use of fossil fuels. There is no doubt

that the industrialized countries, which consume most

of the world’s fossil fuels, emit the largest amount of

greenhouse gas, while the developing countries, which

produce only small amounts of such gases, are the main

victims of climate change. It is therefore imperative

that the international community provide further

impetus to revitalize and prioritize actions to address

climate change based on the United Nations principle of

common but differentiated responsibilities.

With that concept in mind and while applauding the

fruitful outcome of the recent United Nations Climate

Summit, held on 23 September in New York, Cambodia

hopes that the twenty-first Conference of the Parties to

the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change, to be held in Paris in December 2015, will

bring about concrete measures to reach a new global

agreement with legal force applicable to all parties

under the Framework Convention.

In line with the United Nations principles for

sustainable development and in order to mitigate

the threat of climate change, Cambodia has adopted

its national strategic plan on green development for

2013-2030, which aims at achieving economic and

social development in a sustainable manner, while at

the same time protecting the environment, through the

efficient use of raw materials and natural resources,

clean development and green preservation. Cambodia

has also adopted several legal instruments for green

growth development, including the memorandum of

understanding on green growth cooperation between

Cambodia and South Korea’s Global Green Growth

Institute and the National Council on Green Growth.

South-East Asia, which is highly vulnerable to

the adverse impacts of climate change, established

the Climate Change Initiative of the Association

of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2009 as a

consultative body to further increase the region’s

capacity in both mitigation and adaptation efforts. As

a member of ASEAN, Cambodia is fully engaged in

the implementation of that ASEAN initiative through

the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change and

the ASEAN Action Plan on Joint Response to Climate

Change, with the goal of enhancing closer and deeper

regional and international cooperation on climate

change.

Next year marks the deadline of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). While some MDG targets

have been achieved, we have to acknowledge that much

more effort is need to reach the set goals of the MDGs,

as progress has been uneven and insufficient. Many

developing countries have not attained their MDG

targets, primarily owing to unfulfilled commitments,

lack of resources, insufficient dedication, and food

insecurity. The situation was further aggravated by the

financial uncertainty in the developed countries, which

has had an impact on their commitment to official

development assistance. Therefore, bolder and more

focused global efforts are needed as we approach the

final year to realize the MDGs.

With the aim of realizing the MDGs, Cambodia

has adopted its own development targets, known as

the Cambodia MDGs, which have been incorporated

comprehensively into our National Strategic

Development Plan 2014-2018. As a result, substantial

progress has been achieved, positioning Cambodia

to meet some goals of the MDGs by the end of 2015.

Cambodia’s target in reducing the poverty rate to

19.5 per cent by 2015 has already been achieved ahead

of schedule, as the nation’s poverty rate had already

fallen to 19 per cent in 2013. As a result, Cambodia

received a United Nations Award for cutting hunger in

half before the deadline.

In combating HIV/AIDS, Cambodia has made great

strides by progressively reducing HIV prevalence to

0.6 per cent in 2013. In order to achieve that indicator, the

Cambodian Government has further adopted a getting-

to-zero policy, aiming to realize zero new infections,

zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination by

2020.

In addition to tracking the Cambodia MDGs

achievements, the Royal Government of Cambodia has

put forth a Cambodia MDGs acceleration framework

with an approach aimed at accelerating progress in

achieving the MDGs and other human development

goals. The framework could provide the essential

input for the implementation of our National Strategic

Development Plan 2014-2018 aimed at completing the

remaining MDGs, as well as at setting the stage for the

preparation of the post-2015 development agenda.

Cambodia shares the view expressed in the

report of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on

the Post-2015 Development Agenda, entitled A New

Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform

Economies through Sustainable Development, to be

adopted during the sixty-ninth session of the General

Assembly, that

“a new development agenda should carry forward

the spirit of the Millennium Declaration and the

best of the MDGs, with a practical focus on things

like poverty, hunger, water, sanitation, education

and health care”.

Cambodia is of the view that the post-2015

development agenda should be realistic and built

upon the lessons learned from the difficulties in

the realization of the MDGs; in particular, it should

ensure that any process towards a broader development

objective is truly balanced and comprehensive.

Next year, 2015, is a crucial year as the United

Nations celebrates the seventieth anniversary of its

creation and the tenth anniversary of the 2005 World

Summit, where world leaders agreed to reform the

United Nations to meet the needs of today’s geopolitical

and global challenges (resolution 60/1). To that end,

the General Assembly should be further empowered

so that it can play a leading role in strengthening the

wider United Nations system. The Security Council, as

a body mandated with the primary responsibility for

the maintenance of international peace and security,

should represent the world’s realities today. In sum, we

think that more equitable representation in the United

Nations organs would assist the Organization in coping

with the urgent global challenges.