Madagascar, 2001

It is with strong feelings that we return

today to New York to find it still darkened by

mourning yet ever brightened by the aura of freedom.

New York is the capital of international diplomacy, a

crossroads of cultures and civilizations, a cosmopolitan

city in which nations co-exist. New York is a city

whose heart will forever hold the memory of the

victims of the human folly of 11 September 2001.

To the people and Government of the United

States, under the enlightened leadership of President

George Bush, we reiterate our deepest condolences. We

also thank them warmly for their welcome and for the

facilities placed at our disposal.

On behalf of the delegation of Madagascar, from

this United Nations rostrum I convey to Mr. Han

Seung-soo our sincerest congratulations on his election

to the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session. To

his predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri, we pay well-

deserved tribute for the success of the Millennium

Assembly.

To Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of our

Organization, we express our pride at the important

distinction he has recently been awarded. The Nobel

Peace Prize that he has received is both a recognition

of his unassailable competence and dedication as well

as a reflection of the value of the United Nations and

the trust placed in it by the entire world.

Our Organization is being confronted with new

concerns every day. It is called on to keep up with the

pace of international change in order to better fulfil its

mission as a regulator of inter-State relations, a

facilitator of negotiations and a catalyst of

development. The United Nations remains the supreme

decision-making body and the main guarantor of world

peace and security.

Madagascar supports profound reform and a

streamlining of the Organization’s institutional

structure in order to improve its performance.

Madagascar remains convinced and confident,

however, that our Organization is still a privileged

platform for the exchange and harmonization of views.

Creating together a climate of world peace and

harmony; struggling in unity against poverty, the AIDS

pandemic, transnational crime and environmental

degradation; building in concert a better future for the

coming generation, our children, who are tomorrow’s

decision-makers — these were the expectations voiced

at the Millennium Summit in this very Hall. It was an

ambitious millennium, given the prospects and

programmes of action projected up to the year 2015,

and one of multiple challenges, given that objectives

remain to be achieved and that we have a long road

ahead of us. Above all, it was a millennium for taking

stock and moving forward, since the situation of human

and economic development calls on us to rise to its

expectations and to overcome its hurdles.

A world of well-being is what our children need

today and tomorrow above all. The devotion of my

country and my people to all questions relating to

children is seen in our genuine commitment to

international conventions. On 16 July 2001,

Madagascar ratified International Labour Organization

Convention No. 182 on the Prohibition and Immediate

Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child

Labour. The Hague Convention on the Intercountry

Adoption of Children is currently being considered by

our Parliament. The implementation of the law of 1999

on paedophilia complements the Optional Protocol that

we signed in September 2000 regarding the sale of

children, child prostitution and child pornography.

We welcome enthusiastically the decision to hold

in May 2002 the Summit on the future of children. In

view of our intention to participate in that event, a

national parliament of children has just been

established this year.

The family must remain the basic core of society,

the foundation of the nation, a source of human dignity

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and the guarantor of stable social development.

Consequently, the family must be protected, as must be

the values associated with it.

Madagascar, an island in the Indian Ocean, thus

far little affected by the AIDS pandemic, is nonetheless

not indifferent to this scourge. A strategy and a

programme to prevent and combat AIDS, within an

established institutional framework, are being pursued

by all State and non-State institutions in the country.

Having participated actively in the United Nations

special session on AIDS in June 2001, Madagascar

fully supports the resolutions adopted at that meeting.

Since Africa has a wealth of medicinal plants, any

research in this connection will benefit from consistent

support.

Africa pledges resolutely, and with the full

awareness of its responsibilities, to take its own destiny

in hand. Positive development indicators are imminent,

and are appreciated. Continental integration is

underway within an effective African Union. Regional

mechanisms for African conflict management and

prevention are already operational. The New African

Initiative, including long-term development

programmes for our continent, has benefited from the

support of the international community.

Nonetheless, in the context of globalization, the

economic and commercial rules of the game are not

always in the developing countries’ favour. We deplore

the widening gap between the economies of the

countries of the South and those of the countries of the

North. The World Trade Organization, which is

meeting right now in Qatar, should further encourage

the advanced countries to give greater trade

preferences to the developing countries. Given the

negative impact of a possible complete liberalization of

trade, the economy of the least developed countries

must be taken into consideration by the international

community, because any new multilateral contract

engenders binding obligations.

Integration within regional markets will clearly

make it possible for our countries to adapt steadily to

the demands and constraints of the world market, while

promoting intra-regional and South-South exchanges.

We expect of regional cooperation a concrete transfer

of technology and know-how and a harmonization of

standards.

Madagascar’s economy has followed the

dynamics of growth thanks to steadfast national efforts

and an enterprising partnership. Madagascar joined the

free trade zone of the Common Market for Eastern and

Southern Africa (COMESA), on 31 October 2001. We

have benefited from the Initiative of the Heavily

Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and from the

rescheduling or cancellation of our debts by a number

of our creditors. We are signatories of the Cotonou

Agreement of July 2001, and are beneficiaries of the

African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). All of

this bears witness to the confidence that the

international community has in our country.

However, out of solidarity with all low-income

countries, we believe that there is an urgent need to

review international policy regarding official

development assistance. We welcome the holding in

Brussels last May of the United Nations Conference on

the Least Developed Countries. The time has come for

concrete action, so that the objective of reducing

poverty by half by the 2015 can become a reality.

Madagascar has always been attentive to and

concerned by situations of international conflict, and

more particularly those that affect the African

continent and the Indian Ocean area. In the framework

of the Organization of African Unity and of the

International Organization of la Francophonie, we have

supported the Camoros in their process of national

reconciliation and their return to constitutional

normalcy. We welcome the draft constitution prepared

by the Tripartite Commission, which included different

trends and factions of the three reunited islands, and

the decision to hold the referendum next December.

It goes without saying that the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict claims our full attention. We believe it is

imperative that a special session be convened on this

question by the United Nations and also that an

international force be deployed to protect the innocent

victims. We support the Palestinian people in its

struggle for independence and sovereignty. We also

welcome the continuation of peace negotiations

between the Government of Israel and the Palestine

Liberation Organization. The principle of land for

peace must be respected. This must be done in keeping

with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly

and the Security Council.

Afghanistan, a den of extreme poverty and hotbed

of tension, has recently become a site of war. While the

fight against terrorism is legitimate and is the

responsibility of all States Member of our

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Organization, support for refugees and the civilian

victims of war is a duty that shouts out at all of us.

Humanitarian intervention is therefore imperative.

Madagascar reiterates its commitment to

disarmament efforts, an essential element of the United

Nations strategy for peace and security, according to

the Secretary-General’s most recent report (A/56/1).

My delegation welcomes the holding in July 2001 of

the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in

Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. Of

course, we support the first global Programme of

Action that was adopted. My country reaffirms the

urgent need to implement the conventions of the United

Nations that condemn the production, proliferation and

illicit sale of weapons. Madagascar is a party to several

multilateral treaties regarding disarmament. The Treaty

of Pelindaba, which makes Africa a nuclear-weapons-

free zone, has just been ratified by our Parliament.

Our reunion here in this Hall, in this large United

Nations family, reminds us that we are survivors, and

that it is only a matter of time before the terrorist

sword of Damocles dangerously suspended over our

heads, may again perpetrate its odious carnage. The

fact that we have been spared compels us to mobilize

and to coordinate a united and merciless struggle

against terrorism.

Madagascar, my country and its people, coming

from a mixture of many cultural, religious and ethnic

backgrounds, reiterates its condemnation of the

terrorist barbarity that struck a sister nation, with

victims of all nationalities having perished in the

attacks of 11 September 2001.

Terrorism is the very negation of everything that

we, as leaders of our different nations and institutions

gathered here, do to make of this world a universe of

law, humanity and lasting peace.

Madagascar has already begun the process of

ratifying the 12 conventions against terrorism, and last

October signed the International Convention for the

Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Likewise,

we will immediately proceed to sign the Protocol

against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in

Firearms. We support the draft comprehensive

convention against terrorism, submitted by India,

which is based on existing conventions, with the

emphasis placed on concrete measures that member

countries would be able to apply.

International cooperation in police and judicial

investigations must be consolidated, taking into

account exchanges of information on major trafficking

activity. This would require harmonization of

legislation and the establishment of multilateral

operational structures for the prevention and

suppression of transnational crimes.

The threat of bioterrorism has in recent times

created a psychosis of collective fear that has spread

throughout the world. This means that the international

community must design and urgently put in place

effective protective measures against this danger. The

Convention on Biological and Toxin Weapons is now

before the Parliament of Madagascar for ratification. It

is now imperative that we think deeply and on an

ongoing basis about the subject of terrorism.

Combating terrorism also means identifying and

understanding the causes of this scourge and

eradicating the evil at its very roots. In order to halt its

ramifications we must remove all sources of support,

which involves destroying the many laboratories and

bases for logistical backup and cutting off financing,

weapons acquisition, fund-raising and proselytizing.

On the basis of that conviction, we are pleased

that our Organization has adopted the Programme of

Action for dialogue among civilizations.

In accordance with the United Nations resolution

making 2001 the International Year of Dialogue among

Civilizations, last October Madagascar organized a

workshop in which all those involved in our country’s

development participated. From the discussions

emerged the notion that traditional cultures could serve

as a point of reference for modern nations to design a

code of peaceful behaviour. The prevention of terrorist

acts could also be complemented by educational and

training programmes and information programmes on

the culture of peace.

We have proposed the establishment at the

national level of a non-aggression pact among the

country’s religious institutions in order to head off any

dangers of religious war or other conflicts. This

initiative deserves to be expanded to a wider scale in

order to ensure a climate of confidence and calm. We

must have the courage to denounce the excesses of

fanaticism and religious extremism, which endanger

our common values.

The time has now come for dialogue. It is not too

late to become aware of the value of dialogue. Having

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a dialogue does not mean tolerating misdeeds, nor does

it mean any complicity with criminals, who must be

punished. Above all, having a dialogue means going

beyond terrorism through a new understanding of the

concept of enemy. It is now time to hear each other,

with mutual respect and in a climate of understanding

that takes the other into account. It is now time for

shared responsibilities and continued harmonization of

views for the establishment of a world of trust.