Luxembourg, 2014

It is a great honour for me to address the General

Assembly for the first time, and I must say that I do

so with great emotion. Commitment, solidarity and

responsibility are the three key words that have guided

and will continue to guide my country’s action at the

United Nations. As a founding Member of the United

Nations, Luxembourg has based its foreign policy on

active participation in multilateral cooperation. That

multilateralism is founded on respect for international

law and cooperation among sovereign and equal States

in order to work collectively for peace, development

and respect for human rights.

For us, the United Nations is at the heart of

multilateralism. We are committed to making the

United Nations as effective as possible so that we can

solve together, in solidarity, issues that far exceed

our capacities as States. We have the responsibility to

overcome such issues for the sake of future generations.

Commitment, solidarity and responsibility also define

the approach that should guide our response to the

challenges facing us on the eve of 2015.

With the President’s choice of the theme for this

sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, he calls

upon us to develop and deliver on a transformative post-

2015 development agenda and to ensure its effective

implementation. That post-2015 development agenda

must be bold and ambitious if we are to live up to our

collective responsibility to eradicate poverty and to

promote sustainable development. It must build on the

Millennium Development Goals and must go further.

The agenda must be holistic, action-oriented and

universally applicable. It must benefit both developing

and developed countries. It must be based on human

rights. It must give the social sectors, health care and

education all the importance that they deserve. The

issues of governance, justice, peace and security, as

well as the protection of the environment, sustainable

consumption and production patterns and sustained

economic growth, must be part of that agenda.

Luxembourg supports and welcomes the important

work accomplished by the Open Working Group on

Sustainable Development Goals. Its report (A/67/941,

annex) and the set of goals that it proposes are a useful

basis for the negotiations that will culminate in a year’s

time in the adoption of the post-2015 development

agenda and a new model for sustainable development

that reconciles “the ambitions of humanity and the needs

of the planet”, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

Aware of its international responsibilities,

my country has a long-standing commitment to

development, motivated by a desire for solidarity with

the poorest people. Since 2000, Luxembourg has been

one of the five industrialized countries to allocate at least

0.7 per cent of its gross national income to development

cooperation. In 2009, our development assistance

reached the level of 1 per cent of gross national income.

The Government is committed to maintaining that high

level despite a difficult budgetary position, which is no

easier in our country than in others. Such aid can offer

upcoming generations prospects and opportunities for

the future and, we should realize, can therefore, I hope,

prevent certain conflicts.

The fight against climate change is an integral part of

any global partnership for development. In that context,

allow me to welcome the holding of the climate summit

on Tuesday. That summit clearly achieved the dual

objective set by the Secretary-General: to demonstrate

the essential political will to reach a global agreement

in 2015 and to act as a catalyst for concrete action on

the ground so as to reduce emissions and to increase

resilience. In the second half of 2015, my country will

assume the presidency of the Council of the European

Union (EU). We will spare no effort to ensure that we

reach an international climate agreement at the 2015

Paris climate summit that is applicable to all countries,

with the objective of keeping global warming below

2°C.

With its European Union partners, Luxembourg has

made binding commitments to reduce its greenhouse

gas emissions and to mitigate the effects of climate

change. Before the upcoming meetings, in accordance

with the timetable that we agreed in Warsaw, the

European Union will present additional contributions

to rise to the challenge.

We are also making commitments at the national

level. I would mention, for example, our support for the

statement on carbon pricing, presented at the Climate

Summit, as well as the new contribution of €5 million

to the Green Climate Fund, which we announced

at the summit, without any reduction in our official

development assistance.

There will be no development without security and

no security without development. And both development

and security also depend on respect for human rights

and the rule of law. We all know Kofi Annan’s saying.

Luxembourg has made it the guiding principle of its

action in the Security Council since 1 January 2013

by devoting its undivided attention to the root causes

of conflict, their humanitarian and economic impact

and human rights, in particular the rights of children

affected by conflict.

To illustrate that approach, I will talk about

the conflict in Syria. That conflict, which has been

raging for three and a half years, now shocks the

human conscience. There are more than 191,000

people dead. There are 10.8 million Syrians in need of

urgent humanitarian assistance, over half of whom are

children. More than 4.5 million Syrians are trapped by

the fighting in areas that are difficult for humanitarian

actors to access. More than 3 million Syrians have been

forced to leave their country, over 1 million of whom

are refugees in Lebanon. Those figures rarely make the

headlines now. However, behind those figures, there is

so much suffering and so many shattered lives.

That cannot continue. We must put an end to the

indiscriminate attacks against civilians, schools and

hospitals, the bombardment with barrel bombs, the

denial of humanitarian assistance and the use of famine

as a weapon of war. At the initiative of Australia, Jordan

and Luxembourg, the Security Council unanimously

adopted two resolutions on access for humanitarian aid

to Syria (Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014) and

2165 (2014)). I strongly hope that those resolutions will

have a real and decisive impact on the ground.

However, humanitarian action cannot be a

substitute for political action. The lasting settlement

of the Syrian conflict requires a political solution — a

political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations

of the Syrian people, in accordance with the Geneva

communiqué of June 2012 (S/2012/522, annex).

Today, we cannot procrastinate in the face of the

war crimes and crimes against humanity committed

by terrorist groups, in particular the Islamic State in

Iraq and the Levant. That group is neither a State nor

Islamic. It defiles Islam and seeks only to spread its

terror regime and to destabilize Syria, Iraq and the

entire region.

My country fully supports the measures adopted

against individuals and entities associated with

Al-Qaida to cut off their channels of financing, to

prevent radicalization and to stem the flow of foreign

terrorist fighters. We do so pursuant to Security

Council resolution 2178 (2014), which we adopted the

day before yesterday at the Security Council summit

presided over by the United States President, Barack

Obama, in which I had the honour to particiapte.

Beyond the fight against terrorism, we must tackle

the root causes of the grave crisis in Iraq. In that

context, we welcome the formation of the new Iraqi

Government of national unity, under the leadership of

Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi. We encourage him

to follow an inclusive approach that respects all ethnic

and religious segments of Iraqi society and that is

responsive to the needs and aspirations of all. The Iraqi

people must regain trust in their country’s democratic

institutions.

For the third time in six years, this summer we

witnessed bloody fighting in the Gaza Strip. The cycle

of violence must stop. The actions that fuel hatred

and discord must cease. Israelis and Palestinians must

finally be able to live in peace, security and dignity.

The two-State solution, the peaceful coexistence of

two democratic States — Israel and Palestine — within

secure and recognized borders, remains the only

possible way forward in that regard. A political solution

must be sought as soon as possible to avoid extremists

from all sides from prevailing and to avoid measures

being taken that would make the two-State solution

impossible. With its partners in the European Union,

Luxembourg is ready to contribute to a global and

sustainable solution.

The time allotted to me does not suffice to do

justice to the manifold crises that we face today. I

would, however, like to say that they all bring one duty

to light, namely, to protect civilians. That duty is at

the heart of the mandates entrusted to the stabilization

and peacekeeping missions of the United Nations and

regional organizations like the African Union in Mali,

the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South

Sudan and now in the Central African Republic. On the

African continent, our credibility and our responsibility

to protect are at stake. Twenty years after the Rwandan

genocide, indifference is no longer an option.

I should now like to say a word about my own

continent, Europe. The crisis in Ukraine has step-by-

step turned into a conflict — one that, unfortunately,

shows that the times when we thought peace on the

European continent had become self-evident are over.

The conflict has already cost the lives of more than

3,000 people. It must end and it must end now. Dialogue

and diplomacy are of the essence.

From Syria to the Central African Republic, from

Iraq to South Sudan, the list of war crimes and crimes

against humanity committed on a daily basis becomes

longer each day. The perpetrators of those crimes, of

grave violations and abuses of human rights, of violations

of international law and international humanitarian

law must be held accountable before justice for their

acts. The fight against impunity must cease to be an

abstract objective and become a tangible reality. The

International Criminal Court has an important role to

play in that regard.

With regard to grave violations of international law

and war crimes, I would like to draw attention to the

violations and atrocities committed against children.

Children are often the first victims of armed conflicts:

they are killed and maimed, they are abducted and

recruited, and they are sexually abused. They are

deprived of their right to education and health care. They

are cruelly denied access to humanitarian assistance.

As Chair of the Security Council Working Group on

Children and Armed Conflict, Luxembourg is working

in a determined way to strengthen and to implement

fully the children and armed conflict agenda. We will

continue to do so beyond our tenure on the Security

Council. Children embody the hope and future of every

society. All together, we must do everything we can to

safeguard that hope and future from the horrors of war.

We cannot acquiesce to sacrificing future generations.

The fight against sexual violence calls for the same

commitment. Sexual violence in conflict spares no one.

It affects adults and children, women and men. We must

resolutely tackle this scourge.

The prevention of conflict is a core purpose of

the Organization. Spotting early-warning signs of a

conflict is of crucial importance if we want to take the

most effective measures at the right time, and if we

want to prevent a situation from escalating into open

conflict. We know that most conflicts are preceded by a

significant deterioration in the human rights situation.

It is on that basis that the Secretary-General launched

the Rights Up Front initiative — rights before anything

else. Its aim is to strengthen the capacity of the United

Nations to act as a smoke detector before it is too late

to prevent the fire from spreading or, to continue that

metaphor, to alert the fire brigade before the fire gets

out of control. Luxembourg welcomes that initiative.

It is a forceful reminder of our collective obligation to

protect and promote human rights. It rightly places the

protection of human rights at the centre of the efforts

undertaken by the United Nations to prevent conflicts.

Tackling the root causes of conflict, poverty,

discrimination, the absence of the rule of law, to name

just those few, is part of the same preventive approach.

However, I also have to recall that in certain

countries, being different is not always accepted. The

rights of minorities must be respected. It is unacceptable

that to this day, a religion or a sexual orientation, for

example, prevents a person from living freely in certain

societies. Diversity is the richness of our society, it is

not a crime.

As I address the Assembly, there are numerous

threats to peace and security we must face that require

a holistic response. I have already addressed terrorism

and our common struggle to eradicate that scourge. The

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction constitutes

another clear threat. The joint plan of action agreed

in Geneva on 24 November 2013 was an important

milestone towards solving the Iranian nuclear issue. I

would like to reiterate Luxembourg’s full support for

the efforts of the EU 3+3 to arrive at a comprehensive

settlement that restores trust in the exclusively peaceful

purpose of the Iranian nuclear programme. I urge Iran

to engage fully and in good faith in order to allow those

discussions to lead to the expected results as soon as

possible.

In Africa as well as in Latin America, small arms are

the real weapons of mass destruction. The devastating

consequences of the unregulated arms trade are well

documented. I am therefore particularly pleased that

the Arms Trade Treaty, which was adopted last year by

a very broad majority of the Assembly, will enter into

force on 25 December. Luxembourg was honoured to

be among the first States to sign and ratify it. It is our

fervent hope that we will be able to achieve our shared

goal of making it a universal treaty.

Also along the lines of threats to international

peace and security, allow me to touch upon the serious

crisis caused by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

This is not a simple humanitarian emergency, far

from it. It is a multidimensional crisis that threatens

the institutions, societies and economies of the three

countries affected by the outbreak — and the region

as a whole. It calls for mobilization at every level:

national, regional and global. The Secretary-General

fully appreciates the magnitude of the challenge, and

we wholeheartedly support the United Nations Mission

for Ebola Emergency Response. There is no time to

lose. Beyond the contributions we have already made

to the World Health Organization, the World Food

Programme, Doctors Without Borders and the Red

Cross, we stand ready to do more, in close consultation

with the countries of West Africa, many of which are

Luxembourg’s partners, as well as with the United

Nations and civil society organizations on the ground.

In conclusion, allow me to return to the three

keywords that guide our efforts: commitment,

solidarity, responsibility. It was our eagerness to work

for strong and effective multilateralism and our resolve

to serve the United Nations that motivated Luxembourg

to aspire to become a non-permanent member of the

Security Council, for the first time in its history,

for the 2013-2014 term. During the past 20 months,

Luxembourg has worked hard every day to show that it

is up to that responsibility. It has worked hard to show

that it is worthy of the honour bestowed upon it by the

General Assembly when it was elected to the Security

Council. We carry out our mandate in the name of all

States Members of the United Nations, and we are quite

aware of that. Today, I would like to take this opportunity

to heartily thank the Assembly, in my personal capacity

and in the name of the Government of Luxembourg, for

the trust placed in us. The Aseembly can rest assured

that we will continue to serve the United Nations to

uphold our common values, the values of humankind.