Lesotho, 2008

My delegation associates

itself with the compliments extended to Mr. Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the presidency

of the General Assembly at the present session, to his

predecessor and to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

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We greatly welcome the convening and the

outcomes of the two high-level meetings — one on

Africa’s development needs and the other on the

Millennium Development Goals — that have been held

during the course of this session of the General

Assembly. Let us not lose the momentum generated by

those two meetings.

Let me also thank the President of the General

Assembly for advancing a very appropriate theme,

“The impact of the global food crisis on poverty and

hunger in the world as well as the need to democratize

the United Nations”. The decision of the Secretary-

General to establish the High-Level Task Force on the

Global Food Security Crisis demonstrates the

determination of the United Nations to champion a

unified response to the current food crisis. That is

indeed emboldening, and we welcome the progress that

has been achieved so far by the Task Force in

producing the Comprehensive Framework for Action.

The food crisis poses a serious threat to the

fragile progress that is being made towards the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It

can also be a source of political instability in

developing and often vulnerable countries. Policy

initiatives that should be implemented by relevant

stakeholders to overcome the crisis were adequately

articulated in the outcome documents of the High-

Level Conference on World Food Security: the

Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy, held in

Rome in June 2008. There, the bottom line was clearly

drawn that, while current energy needs are real and

urgent, they cannot and should not be allowed to

compete with the call to ensure food security. The

stakes are too high in many developing countries,

Lesotho included, where abject poverty, malnutrition

and the spread of HIV and AIDS have reached

unacceptable levels. All humankind has a right to food,

and hunger constitutes a violation of human dignity.

That is why my delegation regrets the lack of

progress in the implementation of previous

international commitments to fight hunger, particularly

those contained in the outcomes of the 1996 and the

2002 World Food Summits. The Millennium

Development Goal (MDG) of reducing by half the

number of undernourished people by 2015 will not be

achieved unless there is visible movement from

rhetoric to action.

Lesotho was encouraged by the G8 Statement on

Global Food Security that was recently issued at the

Hokkaido Toyako summit. The Statement highlighted

the importance of stimulating world food production

and of increasing investments in agriculture. Hope-

raising pledges were made at that summit and earlier

ones. What remains to be done as a matter of great

urgency is to deliver on those promises. Also, we call

upon other development partners, including the Bretton

Woods institutions, to scale up their efforts to help

farmers in the least developed countries, particularly in

sub-Saharan Africa, to raise agricultural production and

productivity.

The preparedness of the African continent to

shoulder its responsibilities in this regard was clearly

reflected in a declaration entitled “Responding to the

Challenges of High Food Prices and Agriculture

Development” that was recently adopted at the African

Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in July this

year.

The establishment by the World Bank of two

international Climate Investment Funds in May 2008,

intended to provide innovative financing for

developing countries to pursue cleaner development

paths and also to help protect themselves from the

impact of climate change, was another encouraging

development. Our hope is that the Climate Investment

Funds will be additional to existing official

development assistance, which is so sorely needed by

the developing countries to achieve the MDGs.

Peace and development are closely interrelated

and mutually reinforcing. The United Nations cannot

afford the luxury of complacency in its mandate for the

maintenance of world peace and stability. Most

importantly, let us not forget that the United Nations

was born from the ashes of devastating world wars.

Indeed, the primary purpose of the United Nations was

and continues to be to prevent future wars and to create

sustainable international security, but every year we

witness the emergence of new hotspots and designer

wars as some big and powerful States resort more and

more to the use of force. Every time those States try to

pursue the illusory goal of imposing their will by force

on others, they create a more unstable and dangerous

world.

Let me now address an issue of concern to my

delegation — the abuse of the principle of universal

jurisdiction. The Sharm el-Sheikh assembly of the

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African Union was seized with the issue of the abuse

of the principle of universal jurisdiction by some

countries that seem inclined to use the principle to

target certain African leaders.

Of course, lest I be misunderstood, we do

recognize that universal jurisdiction is a principle of

international law whose purpose is to ensure that

individuals who commit such grave offences as

genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are

brought to justice. That noble principle should be

impartially and objectively applied so that it will not be

abused for the political ends of some individuals or

countries, as that could endanger international order

and security.

It is a trite fact that the need for the application of

the principle by individual States has been rendered

unnecessary by the creation of the International

Criminal Court (ICC). If a State is unable or unwilling

to deal with certain grave situations, such a matter

should be referred to the Court, which will deal with it

impartially. As we know, even the Security Council

refers certain situations to the ICC. We need only

emphasize that the ICC was created by this world body

and must enjoy the support and trust of the entire

membership of the United Nations. It must also be

immune from any external influences.

As we respond to the invitation to comment on

the second part of our theme, “The need to democratize

the United Nations”, we do so against the background

of the integrity and credibility of the Security Council.

We raise the issue of the integrity and credibility of the

Council, recognizing fully its responsibility to uphold

the three pillars of the United Nations: human rights,

development and peace, and security.

The working methods of the Security Council

continue to interest us precisely because the Council is

the most powerful institution within the United Nations

setting. It is charged with the responsibility for the

maintenance of world peace and order and it is a

custodian of human rights. In order to fulfil that

mandate, the Security Council needs to always

preserve its integrity and credibility. It is only when all

Member States are convinced of its integrity and

credibility that they will have confidence in it.

The Security Council can enjoy such confidence,

however, if and only if it is seen to be transparent and

democratic in its structures and accountable and

responsible to the entire membership of the United

Nations; if and only if it submits itself to the rule of

law; if and only if it is objective and impartial in its

work; if and only if the membership of the United

Nations is convinced that it is not used as a policy

instrument of any one State or group of States; and

finally, if and only if it subjects all States Members of

the United Nations to the same and equal treatment.

The Security Council should thus not turn a blind

eye to a situation in one country and then act when a

similar situation obtains in another. It must be an

honest arbiter in conflicts. We all owe it to ourselves to

work towards such reform of the Security Council that

will help to preserve its integrity and credibility so that

it can perform its lofty mandate more efficiently.

Needless to say, the question of numbers, particularly

numbers representing the African continent, is at issue,

but I need not dwell on it as it has been amply covered

by previous speakers.

Lesotho is also concerned that the Security

Council continues to be seen to be encroaching on

matters that fall within the powers and prerogatives of

other organs of the United Nations, including the

General Assembly. We believe that the Council must

desist from assuming the legislative role of the General

Assembly and from adopting binding resolutions that

dictate domestic law for Member States. In some

instances, the Council has sought to interfere in purely

internal political matters that do not pose a threat to

international peace and that, in any case, are being

dealt with at the regional level. In our view, the

usurpation by the Council of the mandates of other

organs, including the Assembly, is not justifiable.

A few days ago, we witnessed a positive

development in the southern Africa subregion when the

leaders of the people of Zimbabwe put aside their

political differences and joined hands to form a

Government of national unity. We congratulate the

people of Zimbabwe on that historic feat. We urge the

international community to support the people of

Zimbabwe in rebuilding their economy and in

determining their destiny in an atmosphere of national

harmony and peace. We also urge the leadership of

Zimbabwe to ensure adherence to the principles of

democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of

law, as such adherence will have a catalytic effect on

socio-economic initiatives in which Zimbabwe is

involved.

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Finally, we urge the Security Council to support

efforts to bring to an end the unilateral economic and

financial embargo that has, for decades now, been

imposed against Cuba. We further urge the Council to

intervene more decisively on behalf of the people of

Palestine and Western Sahara, who have, also for

decades, been denied the right to self-determination.

Lesotho is supportive of any efforts that will

bring about lasting and sustainable peace in the Middle

East and in other conflict areas in Africa, the Balkans

and around our globe. We recall that in his report “In

larger freedom: towards development, security and

human rights for all”, former Secretary-General Kofi

Annan said: “Our guiding light must be the needs and

hopes of peoples everywhere” (A/59/2005, para. 12).

Such is the call and challenge staring the United

Nations in the face: to ensure a peaceful, safe,

dignified and prosperous world in our time and for

posterity.