Luxembourg, 2006

Two years ago, at this same rostrum, as the conclusion

of my statement (see A/59/PV.10), I quoted these

famous verses of the Spanish poet Antonio Machado:

“Traveller, your footsteps

Are the road, and nothing else;

Traveller, there is no road.

The road is made by walking;

Walking makes the road.”

What a road we have travelled since then. Indeed,

the opening of the sixty-first session of the General

Assembly is above all the opportunity for us to look

back and assess the progress we have made,

particularly since the September 2005 World Summit,

but also to try to assess the work that still needs to be

done to implement the noble ambitions we all agreed

06-53323 10

upon one year ago in this Hall where we meet every

year as a real parliament of nations. On that historic

occasion, we forcefully reaffirmed that peace and

security, development and human rights are the pillars

of the United Nations system and constitute the

essential element of a more just and a more peaceful

world order.

One year later, what have we accomplished, and

how can that progress be assessed in the light of these

criteria: the reality of the situation, and the way in

which the complex international situation and the

never-ending future are evolving?

When we look at the current situation, we have to

see that areas of shadow coexist with reasons for hope,

and we have some cause for concern. More than ever,

the Middle East is the centre of deep political, military,

socio-economic and cultural tensions, with military

confrontation on Lebanese lands and bombings in

northern Israel, to mention only the most recent

examples. A month of war has left behind it a terrible

legacy of death and injury, destruction and

contamination by mines and unexploded ordnance, as

well as major economic consequences. My country

immediately joined international solidarity efforts. The

Stockholm conference enabled us to coordinate

international support and to move towards

reconstruction under the aegis of the United Nations

and the Lebanese Government.

But beyond that immediate reaction, now that a

cessation of hostilities has been brought about — late,

it is true — we now have to consolidate the ceasefire

and lay the foundations of a sustainable political

process, the principal elements of which are defined in

Security Council resolution 1701 (2006). As reaffirmed

a few days ago from this podium by the current

President of the European Council, Ms. Tarja Halonen

(see ), the European Union is prepared to

fully play its role in this context. Already, European

contributions — to which my country is committed to

participate — constitute what Secretary-General Kofi

Annan has called the backbone of a strengthened

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

So the task of supporting the emergence of a fully

sovereign and independent Lebanon which can exercise

its sovereignty and a monopoly on armed force

throughout its territory must be completed; all regional

players must make their contribution to this process.

By bringing about the lifting of the blockade of

Lebanon, and by concretely addressing the issue of

prisoners, the Secretary-General has laid the

foundations for a lasting solution. We thank him for his

effective work.

I was in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah a few

days ago, and I realized once again the extent to which

the absence of true peace in this region has had a

negative effect on civilian populations, particularly in

the occupied territories, where the humanitarian

situation is getting worse day by day. I also realized the

extent to which confrontation, violence and despair

tend to spread and become entrenched. It is this

grievous machine that we have to stop. More than ever

before, it is clear that there can be no military solution

or unilateral solution to the continuing conflicts in the

region.

On 15 September, the ministers for foreign affairs

of the European Union reaffirmed our full support for

the search for a negotiated solution. We welcomed the

announcement by President Abbas with regard to an

agreement on the formation of a government of

national unity, and we expressed the hope that such a

government’s programme would reflect the principles

of the Quartet. Two days ago, as we know, the Quartet

too endorsed that position.

However, persistent tension in the Middle East

must not divert our attention from Africa. That

continent continues to be scourged by poverty, disease

and armed conflict. But at the same time there is hope,

thanks to the continent’s extraordinary vitality and

creativity. Although far too many internal conflicts and

international crises remain in many areas in Africa —

for example, in Côte d’Ivoire; the Sudan, in particular

the Darfur region, where a large-scale humanitarian

crisis is looming; the Horn of Africa; and other areas as

well — there are some signs of hope, sometimes fragile

to be sure, are to be seen in countries as diverse as

Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of

the Congo, where an electoral process of

unprecedented scale is under way with the massive

support of the United Nations and the European Union,

among other partners.

The African Union is also playing an increasingly

positive role in crisis management on the African

continent, as illustrated by its action in Darfur through

the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). It is

essential that this crucial action be speedily taken up

by the deployment of an enlarged United Nations

11 06-53323

mission, as provided for in Security Council resolution

1706 (2006).

With the creation and the operationalization a few

months ago of the Peacebuilding Commission, another

World Summit commitment has now been met. The

United Nations now has an innovative instrument to

manage post-conflict situations in order to ensure

optimal transition from peacekeeping and urgent

humanitarian assistance to restarting the development

process. We wish every success to this new body,

which certainly gives rise to great hope throughout the

world.

Before leaving the issue of peace and security, I

must briefly mention two subjects that have a major,

horizontal impact: terrorism and the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction and their delivery

systems.

With regard to the scourge of terrorism, concerted

and decisive action at the international and region

levels must obviously be taken. I am pleased that at the

end of its sixtieth session, under the energetic

presidency of Mr. Jan Eliasson, whom I congratulate

for his work, the General Assembly adopted the United

Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (resolution

60/288). The Strategy must both address the conditions

that encourage the spread of terrorism and seek to

prevent and act against terrorism, including through the

various bodies of the United Nations, while at the same

time guaranteeing respect for human rights and the rule

of law. As European Union ministers for foreign affairs

declared a few days ago, that latter consideration

applies in particular to the treatment of all detainees, as

well as to the problematic issue of secret detention

centres.

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

and their delivery systems continues to give rise to

grave concern at the international level. The attitude

and the activities of North Korea in the area of nuclear

proliferation recently led the Security Council

unanimously to adopt its resolution 1695 (2006).

Another subject of concern is Iran. In its

resolution 1696 (2006), the Security Council defined

the main parameters which will guide the way in which

the Iranian nuclear issue is approached by the

international community and the European Union,

which has been in discussion with Iran for more than

two years. If those demands — particularly the

suspension of all enrichment activity — are met,

negotiations on a comprehensive agreement can begin

and confidence can be restored.

The Summit Outcome Document (resolution

60/1) highlighted in particular the importance of

development, which directly affects the fate of billions

of human beings. While 2005 was the year of great

development commitments, with the holding of the

Group of Eight Summit at Gleneagles and the decision

taken by the European Union — under the Luxembourg

presidency — to meet the target of 0.7 per cent of

gross national income in official development

assistance by 2015, 2006 has been the year of

implementation, particularly with the adoption of

resolution 60/265, which reflects the international

consensus in that area.

For its part, Luxembourg continues to be proud of

its participation — still too limited unfortunately — in

the 0.7 per cent club, with 0.82 per cent of its gross

national income devoted to official development

assistance in 2005. We hope to reach 1 per cent within

the next few years.

The meeting held earlier this week to consider the

implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action

for the Least Developed Countries showed once again

that the establishment of a true development

partnership remains a priority and urgent task.

Unfortunately, that also remains true for international

action against HIV/AIDS, which was the subject of a

high-level meeting in June.

Concerned about improving the quality and

effectiveness of aid to the most impoverished, my

country looks forward with great interest to the

proposals of the High-level Panel on United Nations

System-wide Coherence which will be made public in

the next few months. The maxim “development is the

other name for peace” remains amazingly current.

In September 2005, the participants in the

Summit formally recognized that development, peace,

security and human rights are linked and mutually

reinforcing. To strengthen the international framework

for the promotion and protection of human rights, the

General Assembly decided in March 2006, as we know,

to replace the old Commission on Human Rights with a

Human Rights Council. While the new Council’s first

session enabled it to make some important progress in

terms of standards, we must now bolster its

establishment by providing it with all the means and

instruments it needs — including special procedures —

06-53323 12

to promote the cause of human rights and to react

swiftly and effectively to specific situations of serious

human rights violations.

Likewise, we welcome the recent conclusion of

the negotiations on a draft international convention on

the rights of persons with disabilities. We hope that

that important instrument can be adopted this fall by

the General Assembly. Another significant innovation,

adopted at last year’s Summit — the notion of the

“responsibility to protect” in case of genocide, war

crimes, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity —

should be applied in accordance with the criteria and

conditions defined in the Summit Outcome Document

so that it can progressively become an undisputed

standard to guide the action of the international

community as the situation requires.

While peace and security, development and

human rights are the three basic pillars on which the

United Nations is based, those fundamental values can

be fulfilled and fully expressed in real terms only

through an effective and credible multilateral system.

Multilateralism must not remain only a word. In the

light of recent events in the Middle East, no nation,

large or small, can escape the conclusion that

multilateralism offers the only viable framework for

finding solutions to the conflicts and threats that

confront us.

It is our responsibility to provide the multilateral

system with adequate means to carry out its principal

missions. We must also ensure that the working

methods and decision-making procedures of our bodies

are defined and structured so that they can produce the

best results and can best meet the legitimate

expectations of Member States. Achieving a better

cost-effectiveness ratio to benefit our peoples must be

an objective of all Member States, large or small, of

the North or the South. What is at stake is the

credibility — perhaps even the survival — of

multilateralism as a way to manage the major problems

shared by humanity.

Some progress was made over the past year in

reforming administrative and financial management,

but much remains to be done. We must unite to bring

about essential reform to transform the United Nations

into an instrument fully capable of addressing the

grave and multiple challenges at the beginning of the

twenty-first century.

In that context, we cannot overlook the organ to

which the Charter of the United Nations entrusts a vital

role in the maintenance and preservation of

international peace and security: the Security Council.

For many years, ways and means to strengthen the

legitimacy and effectiveness of that essential body

were the subject of in-depth discussions, without any

significant progress being made. For our part, we are

convinced that Security Council reform remains

indispensable. It must be carried out both to strengthen

the Council’s representativity — by increasing the

number of its permanent and non-permanent members,

but without overburdening its functioning by granting

the right of veto — and to improve its rules of

procedure in order to enhance the effectiveness and

transparency of its work and, thus, the legitimacy of its

action.

I should like to conclude by referring to the

person who has guided us and provided us with

benchmarks as he has led the Organization for the past

10 years. I am, of course, speaking about our

Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan. Although there is

still some time before the end of his mandate — and I

am sure that he intends to carry out a number of

important missions before then — it is important that I

now pay tribute to him and thank him for the work

accomplished over the course of a lifetime devoted to

serving the Organization.

The country that I have the honour to represent in

this Hall, Luxembourg, also intends to be an important

part of the life and the future of the Organization,

which, more than 60 years after its establishment,

continues to represent a noble ideal and hope for

millions and millions of men and women. Luxembourg

wants to put itself at the service of that ideal and of the

international community and to shoulder its part of the

responsibility in that regard. That is why, five years

ago, we decided to submit our candidacy for a non-

permanent seat on the Security Council for the

biennium 2013-2014. Luxembourg, a founding

Member of the United Nations that has not yet held a

Council seat, views this candidacy as a new expression

of its commitment to the purposes and principles of the

Charter, to peace and security, development and human

rights and to an effective multilateral system.

Despite difficulties and obstacles, we must

persevere, through dialogue and diplomacy, to fashion

a United Nations worthy of our expectations. As we do

so, let us be inspired by the reflection of the great

13 06-53323

Michelangelo, who said, “The greatest danger is not

that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too

low and we reach it”.