Libya, 2010

I am happy to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election to preside over the General Assembly during

the current session. I wish you every success in

managing our business.

It would be remiss of me not to express our

appreciation to your predecessor for his efforts during his

stewardship of the Assembly during the previous session.

I also wish to express the appreciation and thanks

of my delegation to the Secretary-General for his

efforts in the maintenance of international peace and

security, which will not be achieved until the world

gets rid of all weapons of mass destruction and

implements the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

(NPT) with respect to all, without distinction.

I remind the Assembly that my country has

stressed the important need to amend the NPT so as to

enable the International Atomic Energy Agency

(IAEA) to perform its tasks and verify the reduction of

nuclear arsenals, whose existence is the most

dangerous threat to mankind. Equally important, we

must encourage States to possess and use nuclear

energy for peaceful purposes. We have affirmed many

times that the voluntary initiative of our country to

reject all activities related to the production of prohibited

materials should be a role model for countries

possessing, or seeking to possess, nuclear power.

The United Nations was established to meet the

needs and concerns of Member States. An honest and

strict evaluation of the current situation and the

Organization’s achievements shows that we still need to

work in unison to support it. Here we should

contemplate the suggestions of our brother, the Leader

of the Revolution, Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi, in his

address to the Assembly during the sixty-fourth session.

The United Nations is at a crossroads. It must be

reformed in order to achieve equality for all States.

This is the real reform to which we all aspire: that the

General Assembly become the main legislature, the organ

that can produce binding resolutions, as it represents the

real parliament of the world. The Security Council, on

the contrary, should be the executive tool,

implementing the resolutions of the Assembly. We have

time and again called for permanent membership to be

given to certain Member States, but, in order for the

Council to accommodate small States as well, the ideal

solution is to give Security Council membership to

regional groups. That would secure the representation

on the Council of all nations, without the exclusive

veto right, which is contrary to democracy.

The African continent, which has been deprived

of fair representation on the Security Council, should

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have a permanent seat. That is a legitimate request. It

would put the African continent on an equal footing

with all the other geopolitical groupings. The speedy

pace of development in developing countries and the

need to narrow the painful gap between the developing

and developed countries require international cooperation

within the framework of a new and effective partnership.

It goes without saying that the underdevelopment

and poverty of most nations are the remnants of

colonization and plunder, the theft of their resources and

the illegal usurping of their riches. The former colonizers

should apologize for those actions. It is time the

Assembly took the necessary measures to criminalize

colonialism, put the blame on the countries concerned and

make them accountable for their historical responsibilities.

Nations suffered immensely from the two world

wars, after which the United Nations was established.

Since then the world has witnessed wars of aggression

and illegal interventions which are a flagrant violation

of all international customs and conventions.

The invasion of Iraq is a shameful example of

such unfair and heinous wars. In order to achieve

international justice, the United Nations is called upon

to establish an international investigative panel to

understand the motivation behind the invasion and to

investigate the mass killings and executions of

prisoners of war, including the head of State.

At this forum last year, the Leader of the

Revolution, our brother, Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi,

also raised the question of the political assassination of

many personalities, including Dag Hammarskjöld,

John Kennedy, Patrice Lumumba, Martin Luther King,

Maurice Bishop and many Palestine Liberation

Organization leaders. Those assassinations shocked the

conscience of the world and created anger and rage the

world over. However, justice was not done; the

perpetrators enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, impunity.

My country has called for an effective international

instrument to secure an honest investigation of all the

circumstances that led to the assassinations.

An alternative Headquarters for the United

Nations has been suggested. We all know that certain

considerations were in play in choosing the host

country for the current Headquarters. But for the good

conduct of our work, and to facilitate the work of the

diplomatic missions accredited to the United Nations,

it is imperative to choose another Headquarters, in

another country. We must study all the bids presented

by other countries, at the forefront of which is the offer

by the Jamahiriya to host the Headquarters.

Anti-personnel mines are weapons used by weak

States to defend their territories against invaders and to

protect themselves. Strong and mighty States do not need

such weapons, because they possess advanced arsenals. In

this connection, the Convention on the Prohibition of the

Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-

Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, the Ottawa

Treaty, should be amended in a way that takes into

account the security interests of small States. The drafters

should have included a provision for compensation to be

paid to the States where such mines have been planted.

My country suggests a review of the Treaty.

We must distinguish between the heinous

phenomenon of terrorism and the deliberate biased

distortion of the struggle of nations languishing under

occupation. The Palestinian people are waging an

incredible struggle against enemies nourished by a

racist creed, who deny the right of that oppressed

people to existence and self-determination.

The world understands the suffering and losses of

the Palestinian people over 62 years. We cannot deny

the facts of history. This question cannot be settled

through the so-called peace process, because it will go

on indefinitely. The solution, rather, is the establishment

of one democratic State in which all can coexist,

without discrimination, in accordance with the

suggestion by our brother Muammar Al-Qadhafi in his

“White Book” regarding Isratine.

In the framework of strengthening cooperation

between the States of the South and those of the North,

my country is to play host in October to an Arab-

African summit. We shall also host, in November, a

summit of Africa and the European Union, which will

be a major transformation in the relationship between

all the States concerned. We call on all stakeholders

and all States to take part in the two summits at the

highest level, as they are of prime importance.

In current circumstances, and in the framework of

today’s challenges, we have great hope that bold

measures will be taken to strengthen the General

Assembly, its authority and effectiveness so that it

better represents the interests of all nations.