Liberia, 2011

Liberia congratulates you,

Mr. President, on your election to the important office

of President of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth

session. We are confident that you will steer the work

of this session in a manner which brings pride to your

great country, the State of Qatar. Mr. President, we

wish you well and pledge Liberia’s full support to you

in pursuit of the priorities which you have identified.

Let me also pay tribute to your predecessor, His

Excellency Joseph Deiss of Switzerland, for the

effective manner in which he conducted the affairs of

the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. His

sound and outstanding leadership enabled the session

to register many achievements.

We warmly congratulate the Secretary-General,

His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his unanimous

re-election, and extend the highest commendation to

him for his vision and foresight, and for the tireless

efforts with which he continues to administer the

Organization. We embrace the priorities which he has

set for his second term, which are centred on

sustainable development.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome and

congratulate the Republic of South Sudan upon its

admission as the 193rd Member of the United Nations

and to assure it of Liberia’s friendship, support and

solidarity.

The theme chosen for this year’s general debate,

“The role of mediation in the settlement of disputes by

peaceful means”, could not have been selected at a

more opportune time. Communities within our world

continue to be polarized by conflicts which have their

roots in political marginalization and socio-economic

inequities. Despite global interdependence, inter-State

relations are still constrained by divergent ideological

convictions and structural inequalities in the global

economic system. These have resulted in divisions

which undermine our efforts to move as one global

community towards sustainable development.

Mediation, as part of preventive diplomacy, is

indeed a powerful dispute-resolution mechanism. The

United Nations has a central role in promoting

mediation in pursuit of peace. The good offices of the

Secretary-General remain critical to the mediation

efforts of the United Nations. Regional and subregional

organizations are assuming an increasingly active and

complementary role in mediation and the peaceful

settlement of disputes. These initiatives must not only

be acknowledged and encouraged but also supported

by the global community.

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As a post-conflict country, Liberia has benefited

immensely from numerous mediation efforts that

include national, regional and international initiatives

aimed at restoring and maintaining stability in the

country. Our experience leads us to suggest that greater

emphasis be placed on preventive measures, and that

the tools of mediation be employed as soon as early

warning signs of conflict emerge. The benefits of

establishing an early-warning system that will deal

with potentially explosive situations before they

degenerate into full-blown infernos are obvious.

It has been nearly a decade since this body and

friendly nations intervened to restore Liberia to

normalcy. That intervention ended a disastrous 14-year

civil war and created conditions for the deployment of

the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the

establishment of a transitional Government and the

democratic election of Africa’s first female President.

Consistent with our commitment to national

recovery and post-war reconstruction, we have

developed programmes and policies specifically aimed

at lifting Liberians to higher levels of productivity,

reviving basic services, restoring infrastructure and

re-establishing the rule of law. Overall, we are making

progress on all of these fronts and building a more

inclusive society in which the full potential of all of

our citizens can be harnessed.

In this endeavour, special emphasis has been

placed on the empowerment of women and their

participation in all aspects of the national endeavour. A

well-crafted gender policy is enabling the Government

to address the concerns of women and girls. We

consider the creation of the gender entity UN-Women

to be an important positive development in the context

of the United Nations effort to promote women’s

empowerment. Liberia pledges its fullest support for

the success of this important body.

Cognizant that youths constitute the highest

percentage of our population, we are committed to

developing programmes that will strengthen and

empower them for future leadership. We hope that the

action plan adopted by the recent United Nations High-

level Meeting on Youth will garner international

support for our youth programmes.

We are continuing to progress in our efforts to

reform our security sector. Special attention is focused

on building the capacity of the Liberian National

Police. However, we remain deeply concerned about

events affecting security in the Mano River Basin. That

is why we are thankful to the Security Council for

extending the mandate of UNMIL.

Liberia is pleased to have been placed on the

agenda of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). The

Liberia configuration of the PBC and the

Peacebuilding Support Office have worked with the

Liberian Government and other stakeholders in

developing the Liberia priority plan, which focuses on

security-sector reform, strengthening the rule of law

and accelerating national reconciliation.

I would like at this juncture to thank His

Excellency Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein,

Permanent Representative of Jordan and Chairman of

the Liberia configuration, and the configuration’s

members for their commitment and dedication. In the

same spirit, I also commend His Excellency

Mr. Eugène-Richard Gasana, Chairman of the

Peacebuilding Commission, and its members for their

support for the configuration.

We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge

the significant role being played by the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the

maintenance of peace and security in the subregion.

ECOWAS member States are contributing tangibly to

peacebuilding in Liberia by strengthening capacity,

especially in the technical area. We are also

collaborating as a subregion in addressing the common

problems of transnational organized crime, human and

drug trafficking, and the illicit trade in small arms and

light weapons.

Liberia is poised to conduct another democratic

election on 11 October. It will test our commitment to

democratic governance and peaceful coexistence.

Every action is being taken to ensure that the elections

are free, fair, transparent and credible. We invite the

international community to observe and monitor these

elections.

Despite the significant gains made in improving

the living conditions of our people, we realize that far

more needs to be done to fully meet their aspirations.

However, negative economic forces continue to hamper

global growth. This situation has had repercussions for

all countries. Although the resulting effects have

impacted developing countries generally, those most

affected are in Africa, where the crippling effects of

external debt, deteriorating terms of trade, decline in

investment and capital flows are debilitating.

9 11-51384

Mr. Cancela (Uruguay), Vice-President, took the

Chair.

Post-conflict countries are even more severely

affected. This is why we have particular appreciation

for the outcome of the Fourth United Nations

Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

convened in Istanbul in May. We hope that the Istanbul

Programme of Action will bring real change for LDCs.

Food security remains a concern for many

developing countries. The World Bank estimates that

44 million people have slipped into poverty since June

because of rising food prices. This unfortunate

situation should be addressed with urgency. We must

act now, effectively and cooperatively, to roll back the

adverse impacts of rising food prices and protect

communities.

Our Government is responding to the current rise

in food prices with immediate action under the policy

Ending Hunger in Liberia, which aims to strengthen

the entire agricultural food chain from securing quality

seeds for farming in productive lowlands to connecting

farmers to local markets and eventually to regional and

global ones. Simultaneously, we are deepening our

partnership with the Food and Agricultural

Organization of the United Nations and other United

Nations bodies for long-term investments in

mechanized agriculture to achieve food security in

Liberia.

While we seek food security, we are equally

mindful of the need for health security. Liberia is

among countries with the highest maternal and child

mortality rates in the world. This is due primarily to

the lack of skilled health workers, poor health delivery

systems and inadequate medicines and supplies. This is

why we welcome the new initiative of the Secretary-

General aimed at improving the health of women and

children.

I wish to state my country’s position on some of

the prevailing situations that threaten peace, security

and international cooperation in our world. The

unresolved riddle in Somalia presents a strong

challenge to the United Nations in relieving the Somali

people of the tragedy and cruelty they have endured for

many years. The phenomenon of famine has

exacerbated the situation in that country and affected

livelihoods in the Horn and East Africa. Those

circumstances necessitate an urgent call for action.

The question of peace in the Middle East has

hovered over the world for far too long. Liberia

believes that whether deliberations take place in the

Security Council or the General Assembly, dialogue

between the parties remains the most viable option for

ending the stalemate towards an independent Palestine.

We therefore call on Israel and Palestine to

demonstrate a concrete commitment to engaging each

other in a constructive dialogue that will achieve the

desired two-State solution.

Suppressive actions by Governments to frustrate

the desire of their people for democratic reforms must

never be condoned because they undermine

international peace and security. Coherent and concrete

actions by the Security Council are critical in

addressing those situations. Liberia welcomes the new

leadership of Libya under the National Transitional

Council (NTC). After more than four decades of

suppression, the Libyan people have high expectations

for the restoration of their freedom and liberties. We

encourage the NTC to move quickly to restore Libya to

normalcy by establishing an inclusive transitional

Government that will organize democratic elections.

As the United Nations grows in membership and

experience, Liberia joins other nations in calling for a

more democratic Security Council that reflects realities

of the twenty-first century. Africa expects to have

greater representation in a reformed Security Council.

More broadly, we encourage the Secretary-General’s

continuing effort to modernize the organization.

Finally, it is my hope that Member States will

work together to advance the cause of our common

humanity, and make the world a better place in which

to live.