Malta, 2013

I wish to join other delegations

at this gathering in congratulating you, Mr. President, on

your election to the presidency of the General Assembly

at its sixty-eighth session. I am sure that under your

guidance and through your excellent diplomatic skills

we will have a rich exchange of ideas and a fruitful

outcome. I also wish to extend my congratulations and

gratitude to your predecessor, Vuk Jeremi., for his

successful stewardship of the previous session of the

General Assembly. My deepest appreciation also goes

to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, whose

passion and commitment have been instrumental in the

work of the organization.

I will start by taking the Assembly back a few years.

All here will certainly remember how not too long ago

the world waited in anticipation and hope for the clock

to push past midnight to the year 2000. As with most

fresh starts, the new millennium brought with it a sense

of promise and, indeed, something extraordinary was

taking place.

For the first time in history, Governments

had committed themselves to “walk the talk” by

adhering to a set of measurable targets aimed at

lifting millions out of poverty by the year 2015. The

so-called Millennium Development Goals were bold

and ambitious. They became national and global

priorities, setting Government policies and generating

a strong commitment across wide areas towards their

attainment. Failure, it was felt, was not an option.

Undoubtedly, there have been remarkable

successes. The number of people living in extreme

poverty has fallen, as have poverty rates. Access to

sources of clean water has improved. The proportion

of urban slum dwellers has declined substantially, and

there has been visible improvement in the areas of

health and education.

Yet, as significant as those achievements are, we

are now at a watershed moment. The international

community has already recognized the need to push

the Goals further, beyond 2015, and to see that they

become sustainable development goals. An important

stock-taking exercise has been taking place so as to

ensure that no one is left behind, that no human being

feels merely like a scrap of life, living at the edge of

existence.

It would be easy for us to think of poverty as

belonging elsewhere, if we did not see it all around us.

We have the luxury of exercising wilful blindness to

malnutrition and disease, pretending that they belong

to a different culture, to a different nationality, to a

fictitious world that is wiped away as easily as flipping

a television channel. It would also be easy for us to think

that we can be altruistic, since we are lucky enough to

live without want.

But we are not here today to be blind. What brings

us together at the General Assembly, year after year,

to hear speech after speech, is a longing to belong. We

want to be part of something bigger, something that

goes beyond our self-imposed borders of language,

culture and tradition. We want to belong to that global

sea of peoples sharing a single purpose. That longing or

need to come together tugs at our hearts with hope and

empathy for those at the margins of humankind. We

want to do something worthwhile. We want to commit

our intelligence to being effective agents of change.

“Make poverty history,” we once heard, and indeed we

have worked towards that aim.

But, as we hold those noble aims high, we also

question whether our plan is a priority, whether it

will fit within our national budget or our political life

cycles. And then we pause to consider our options, to

choose what will hurt us the least. The poor do not have

the luxury of granting us time to take our decisions.

Humankind cannot wait for a better time, when there

is no financial crisis. We, the international community,

need to forge ahead with determination to reach all our

goals.

I am proud to note today Malta’s long-standing

history of solidarity with other nations all over the

world. Our accession to the European Union took that

solidarity a step further, and my country assumed

responsibilities and obligations in the context of

providing overseas development assistance to

developing countries. That remains a cornerstone of

Malta’s international relations, and we remain firmly

engaged in seeking the eradication of poverty and the

sustainable development of societies in need. We are

proud to form part of the European Union, which is the

world’s largest donor of development aid, and we are

committed to reaching the goals that we have set and to

being a reliable partner for those in need.

I am equally proud to recall that this year marks the

twenty-fifth year since Malta proposed to the General

Assembly that climate conservation should be part of

humankind’s shared concerns, a concept that launched

the process leading to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change. Malta is proud to have

been at the forefront of that discussion. We are adamant

about keeping the issue alive, for we are conscious of

the fact that climate change hits hardest the world’s

most vulnerable.

In defining a common vision for the future, we

believe that the eradication of poverty and the promotion

of sustainable development must be at the heart of the

post-2015 development framework. In the words of the

former President of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela,

“[o]vercoming poverty is not a gesture of charity.

It is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid,

poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be

overcome and eradicated by the actions of human

beings.”

Malta is committed to continuing to engage with its

international partners in developing a post-2015 global

development agenda that delivers on the promise of a

better and fairer world for all.

Malta also understands the need to act in other

very tangible ways. When rickety boats laden with

irregular migrants reach our shores, which happens

each and every day, we see the suffering, we feel the

loss of dignity etched on people’s faces. We understand

that they are caught in a web of poverty and criminal

exploitation. We feel for those fleeing persecution and

poverty. They are desperately searching for safety and

prosperity. We do everything we can to provide them

with the help they need, offering refuge and respite.

Yet Malta cannot do that alone. The international

community must do more in the face of an ongoing

situation that is nothing but tragic evidence of our global

failures. It would be easy to flip channels once again,

to “park it in someone else’s back yard”. But it is not

someone else’s problem. Irregular immigration, human

trafficking and modern-day slavery are everyone’s

problem. We all have to play a part in solving it, not

only regionally but also globally.

There needs to be a sustained evolution in our

thinking. At the threshold of the year 2015, we urge

fellow nations not only to think beyond the current

Millennium Development Goals and how to ensure

their sustainability, but also to think of other goals that

could be included. There can be no unfinished business.

There can be no sustainable development goals without

peace, without fighting corruption, without respect for

human rights and without economic equality, which is

the social justice issue of our time.

The news headlines may not shock us anymore, but

those living in fear of losing their lives and those of

their families do not live in order to make news. They

look to survive. Whether scrapping for food or seeking

shelter from bullets, whether hiding their daughters to

prevent them from falling victim to rape as a tool of

war or keeping sons from being forcibly recruited as

child soldiers, millions of people all over the world live

dreading tomorrow. Each day they die a little bit more.

We bear responsibility for not safeguarding their

sense of belonging as equal human beings on this planet.

Malta firmly believes that the United Nations can and

must do more to safeguard human dignity and stir the

conscience of humankind. No undertaking can be as

fundamental as addressing the needs of the peoples of

the world, and no organization is better situated to see

that that can be done than the United Nations.

Malta’s geostrategic location makes it look most

closely at that which surrounds it. We are proud to be a

people of the sea, of a Mediterranean Sea that has given

us life and marked our history. We are proud of our

contributions towards the health of that sea, the many

exchanges that we support and the good relations we

maintain with all our neighbours, North and South.

But we are also troubled by the conflicts and

suffering that we see around us. Waves of new

tomorrows and hopeful struggles for democracy in

North Africa have given way to new realities that were

unthinkable when the Millennium Development Goals

were drawn up. Sectarian strife, religious tensions and

power struggles have halted or reversed the progress

of development. It is almost correct to say that the

Mediterranean Sea is at a boiling point and that the

next conflict — one over scarce resources, contested

borders or even cultural offences — is just waiting to

happen. But there can be no stalemate or acceptance of

the status quo if we truly believe that the peoples of the

Mediterranean deserve better. No violations of human

rights or shaky institutions can be accepted if we are

to look truly holistically at a new positive agenda for

humankind. The deepening links between the lives of

peoples across countries demand coordinated global

action. We must face that challenge.

Malta firmly believes that more can be done by

the community of nations gathered here to support the

fragile democracies that are struggling to take root

where dictators formerly ruled. More can and should

be done to ensure that the economies of the region are

able to flourish, that intraregional trade is supported

and that cultural exchanges are fostered. More needs

to be done to stop the violence and bloodshed that risk

becoming the norm for those of us who see the evolution

of events.

Malta calls upon the international community to

look with compassion on the innocents in Syria. That

is a humanitarian catastrophe with no end in sight — a

horrendous and indiscriminate tragedy. Each child’s

death and each mother’s wail should shame us all. People

are morally outraged around the world, and justifiably

outraged, for there can never be any justification for the

appalling suffering that is taking place.

The Mediterranean Sea basin remains awash with

promise but polluted with pain and prejudice. The

Middle East remains a hate-filled maelstrom and the

most explosive region in the world. How many more

need to die, not just in that region but everywhere

else because of conflict and terrorism? How many

more need to leave all their belongings to join hurried

convoys, fearful of losing their lives? How much longer

can the rights of others be ignored and trampled upon

while others enjoy their perceived rights? We need to

stop that wildfire. We need to stop the further descent

into brutality and carnage. Those responsible must be

brought to international justice.

Malta is convinced that we cannot start talking of

a post-2015 agenda if we cannot solve our differences

today. We do not have a carte blanche privilege to be

immune and indifferent, for the cost of our inaction

is greater than the cost of our effort and commitment.

Conflict saps the focus from our goals. It drains our

resources and stifles our potential. The United Nations

family, committed as it is to the purposes of peace and

prosperity among nations, understands that.

Malta firmly believes that true peace in our time

needs to be the overriding goal, the one target to which

we should all aspire and for which we should all work.

We need to ensure stable and peaceful societies if

we want to take the Millennium Development Goals

further. The opportunities for all to thrive are at hand.

The United Nations is and should be the force field to

which all nations gravitate in order to solve differences

and push boundaries together.

Our global goals and commitments cannot be solely

time-bound but must also be outcome-oriented. We

need to think inclusively and holistically. Post-2015, we

should not be looking towards rebooting, but towards

continuity with greater purpose and greater ambition.

Fewer people dying every day is a great achievement,

but more people truly living is an astounding victory

for all.

However, to get there we have to realize that

everyone has an equal voice. People need to be involved

in decision-making, since it affects their lives and their

livelihoods. They should be foremost in our minds as we

consider the world’s natural resources and tackle global

concerns such as climate change. There is never only

one way of doing things. We can achieve our targets

only if we listen to the people whom we are meant to

represent and make them part of the decision-making

process.

A few weeks ago, a young girl, Malala, from

Pakistan, spoke in this very Hall of her dream for

girls to get an education and wield the power of the

pen. Yesterday, at a gathering I attended, she said that

everyone should send books, not bombs.

Thirteen years ago, our leaders had a dream: to live

up to the millennium moment and to better peoples’ lives.

As we approach the year 2015, we need to remember the

hope and determination we felt as we crossed into the

new millennium, that determination to make the world

a somewhat better place through the goals we reach

together. We need to carry that forward and continue

to make dreams happen. Every day, millions of people

around the world dream of something more than a scrap

of a life. Indeed, there are no scraps of life.