Qatar, 2003

It

gives me great pleasure to extend to you, Sir, our

sincere congratulations on your election to the

presidency of the fifty-eighth session of the General

Assembly. Allow me to wish you and the members of

the Bureau every possible success. I should also like to

express our thanks and appreciation to your predecessor,

Mr. Jan Kavan, President of the fifty-seventh session, for

his great efforts in conducting the work of the General

Assembly. It also gives me pleasure to recognize

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who deserves our sincere

thanks, respect and admiration for his tireless efforts.

Today, the world is experiencing a difficult,

critical and highly complex phase in international

relations, marked by political and strategic changes

affecting the elements and objectives of those relations.

This is the result of the emergence of a new,

complicated and multifaceted set of problems and acute

regional and international crises, whose root causes we

must deal with promptly and in a serious manner.

Moreover, we must prevent such crises from worsening

and spreading. We must therefore strive to strengthen

the role of the United Nations, enhance its institutions

and provide it with the essential resources so it can

fulfil its mission throughout the world.

First, it is imperative that we mobilize the

political will needed to enable the Organization to

shoulder its responsibilities and carry out its duties.

That is particularly important for the permanent

members of the Security Council because those

countries bear the primary responsibility for achieving

that goal, which will enable the Organization to

perform its functions in a genuinely democratic spirit,

reflecting the new international conditions and the

interests and aspirations of all peoples of the world

without exclusion or preference.

In that context, we underline the need to reach

agreement on a new formula for the composition of the

Security Council and to modernize its working

methods, as it is the international body charged with

the primary responsibility for maintaining international

peace and security. The Council’s current composition,

working methods and decision-making process do not

respond to the needs of the international community or

give Member States an opportunity to speak on the

vital and critical issues that affect us all.

In the State of Qatar, we were shocked and

saddened by the horrific attack on the United Nations

headquarters in Baghdad. That attack claimed the lives

of many innocent victims: the United Nations staff

members who were carrying out their humanitarian

mission, foremost among them the Special

Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Sergio

Vieira de Mello, and many Iraqis. That heinous act of

terrorism illustrates in our view the nature of the

challenges and the seriousness of the threats besetting

the work of the United Nations and international

humanitarian organizations in Iraq and elsewhere. We

also strongly condemn the terrorist act targeting the

United Nations headquarters in Iraq earlier this week.

The difficult and tragic circumstances now

prevailing in the brotherly country of Iraq compel us to

cooperate in order to help the Iraqi people overcome

that situation and its consequences.

I must underline once again the fundamental

principles underlying our position with respect to the Iraqi

crisis and the means necessary to deal with it. We have

consistently affirmed our commitment to the territorial

integrity, national unity and sovereignty of Iraq and to

the right of Iraqis to self-determination, to the restoration

of their independence and sovereignty and to the

reconstruction of their homeland, as well as to their right

to live in dignity and freedom in their own land.

In that context, we look forward to the success of

the international efforts to strengthen security and

stability in Iraq. We call upon the coalition forces to

10

achieve that essential objective and to intensify

coordination with the competent international bodies

and institutions in order to pave the way for the

country’s return to normalcy. We call upon the

coalition forces to allow the Iraqi people, of all factions

and political trends, to exercise their legitimate right to

choose their own political leadership through free,

democratic elections, giving expression to their

aspirations, hopes and wishes.

In that regard, we also welcome the establishment

of the Interim Governing Council and the interim Iraqi

Government that emerged from it; they mark an

important positive step, and we hope that they will

contribute to achieving the desired transition towards

consolidated democracy in the country and the

reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraqi State

institutions. That should be accomplished by drafting a

new constitution, holding free democratic elections,

putting an early end to the occupation through a

specific timetable and allowing Iraq to reclaim its

rightful position in the region and in the larger

international community.

We urge the United Nations to play an effective,

essential role in helping Iraq achieve those objectives.

Moreover, the international community is urgently called

upon to help in Iraq’s reconstruction and to meet the Iraqi

people’s needs in various areas in order to build a new

Iraq of democracy, equality and respect for human rights.

With regard to developing Iraq’s infrastructure of

higher education, it is noteworthy that the consort of

His Royal Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar, Her

Royal Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad,

Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education + 5 of the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO), launched a lofty initiative in

a statement before the World Conference on Higher

Education, held in Paris at UNESCO headquarters. The

initiative called for the establishment of an

international fund for Iraqi higher education, with the

objective of providing both immediate and long-term

assistance for the rehabilitation of higher education in

brotherly Iraq. The State of Qatar has made the first

contribution to the fund, in the amount of $15 million.

My country has also been participating in

international efforts to rebuild Iraq. It has developed a

special programme that includes the building of

hospitals and educational and residential units. In

addition, we have a special programme in Afghanistan

that assists in the rebuilding of that country; the

programme’s cost has amounted to $62 million thus far.

The Arab-Israeli conflict and the question of

Palestine are at the top of the list of the conflicts that

need concerted action in order to achieve a just, final

and comprehensive solution, particularly in the light of

the continuation and acceleration of the bloody

confrontation that has raged between the Palestinian

people and Israeli occupation forces for so many years.

It must be noted that we in the State of Qatar have

welcomed the road map. We expressed our support for

the Quartet’s efforts to have both sides begin

implementing the various stages of the road map, in

keeping with the vision articulated by Mr. George

Bush, President of the United States, as a basis for the

final solution of establishing two States living side by

side. We did so despite the many difficulties, obstacles

and setbacks encountered by those efforts in the past

few weeks. We must also firmly stress that

implementation of the road map cannot be undertaken

by only one side — the Palestinian people. It requires

that the Israeli side also fulfil its obligations and take

the necessary actions in that regard.

All of the aforementioned requires that the

international community and the members of the

Quartet — particularly the United States of America —

intervene, intensify their efforts and increase their

pressure on the Israeli Government so that it will do its

part, in return for the Palestinians’ commitment to do

theirs. Thus, Israeli occupation forces must refrain

from carrying out assassinations, must lift the siege that

they have imposed on Palestinian territories, enable the

Palestinians to live in security, peace and dignity on their

own land and to move freely in their own areas, put an

end to the policies of starvation, humiliation and house

demolition, and cease construction of the buffer wall

currently being built by the Israeli authorities.

In that connection, I cannot fail to note the positive

gesture that we witnessed a few days ago by the Libyan

Government’s closing of the Lockerbie file, an outcome

that was achieved in cooperation with the other parties

concerned and in the context of United Nations

institutions. We should also note the positive response

of the Governments of the United States, the United

Kingdom and France to that gesture, which bore fruit

and ultimately led to the conclusion of an agreement.

The phenomena of terrorism and extremism

continue to be among the most important challenges

facing the world. As we express our total rejection and

condemnation of those subversive phenomena — in all

their forms and manifestations, and regardless of their

sources or motivations — we reaffirm that we stand by

the side of the international community and that we

support whatever efforts and measures are required to

eliminate terrorism and to strengthen the foundations

of security and stability.

Democracy is an expression of responsible

participation in political decision-making. It involves

the establishment of State institutions and adherence to

the rule of law within the State; it provides for

accountability and for assessment of the performance of

governmental institutions; it ensures good governance

and safeguards the rights of citizens. As such, it is the

best way to achieve the priorities of national

development and the objectives of modernization and

reform, to which our peoples and societies aspire. On

the basis of those principles, the State of Qatar recently

conducted a referendum on a political Constitution that

gives women the right to political participation, both as

voters and as candidates for Parliament, which will be

elected through the ballot box for the first time. The

Constitution also governs the relationship between the

Government and the people and provides for the

separation of the three branches of government.

With regard to human rights, an independent human

rights commission has been established in the State of

Qatar. The commission submits its recommendations to

competent State authorities with a view to developing

and improving civil liberties. As promoting awareness

of civil rights requires that we improve education and

upgrade its standards — as well as expanding it to

include all segments of society — we have restructured

our educational system. Moreover, a number of well-

known universities based in developed countries have

set up branches in the State of Qatar.

In conclusion, the fulfilment of our aspirations

lies in affirming the role of the United Nations, in

enhancing its position and in maximizing its potential.

It is through the Organization that we hope to establish

international relations on the basis of understanding,

cooperation and common interests. And it is through

the United Nations that we hope one day to succeed in

settling crises and disputes; eliminating threats of

violence, the use of force and terrorism; and ending the

wasting of resources and energies on wars and

conflicts, directing them instead to the service of

development, progress and prosperity. Similarly, we

aspire to a new world built on the principles of justice,

equality, liberty, democracy and peaceful coexistence

among all the world’s peoples, nations and cultures.

That is an aspiration that our peoples, our youth and

our future generations fully deserve. It is an aspiration

to which we are wedded and which we cherish, because

that vision occupies the highest priority in building the

world of the future: the world that we all seek and

desire. It is a world that we hope one day to attain as an

international community — as one family living

together on this planet, God willing.