San Marino, 2007

On behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of San

Marino, I join the unanimous tribute paid to you,

Mr. Srgjan Kerim, on your election as President of the

General Assembly at its sixty-second session by

expressing my most sincere congratulations on your

election to this high office. I am confident that you will

be able to give new momentum to the process of

renewal and reform of the United Nations.

In particular, I wish to express my gratitude and

appreciation to the outgoing President, Her Excellency

Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, who has carried out

with determination and commitment an intense activity

aimed at implementing the reform programme

undertaken by the Secretary-General.

The Republic of San Marino is deeply concerned

about the latest events in Myanmar and expresses its

solidarity to the families of the victims. We hope that

the violence will soon be stopped and a dialogue

immediately re-established.

The Republic of San Marino firmly believes in

the role and effectiveness of the entire structure of the

United Nations, as well as in the process of progressive

renewal of its main bodies, which is now more than

ever necessary, given time, evolution and the need to

best enhance the participation by the great family of

the Member States in the management of the

Organization.

A small country like San Marino gains

considerable strength and legitimacy from the major

international organizations in its efforts to make its

voice heard regarding the great issues and main

challenges of our time. We are still determined to play

this role and will continue to fulfil the commitments

undertaken, individually or in partnership with other

countries, to affirm those principles of solidarity and

the protection of rights, in which our history is rooted.

In this regard, we believe that forms of

cooperation among small countries can prove

undoubtedly useful to major projects and deliver

positive and effective messages of multilateral

cooperation, in a spirit of mutual belonging to an

international community, albeit still characterized by

large gaps.

In this context, an example is the commitment

taken by San Marino, together with a group of small

European countries, in favour of a United Nations

Children’s Fund project against HIV and destined for

children living in Gabon. At the same time, the small

countries are intensifying their contacts within the

United Nations to adopt further joint intervention

programmes, mainly of a humanitarian character.

The Republic of San Marino promotes and

supports, with the strength of its millenary history of

civilization, peace and respect for human rights, any

call advanced at a national or international level

entailing a moral and civil commitment to the

affirmation of specific ideological and cultural

identities, which, as is the case for San Marino, are

based on the principles of peaceful coexistence and

respect for others.

It is in this spirit that my country believes in and

actively commits itself to the promotion of

intercultural and interreligious dialogue, as a

fundamental instrument to prevent tensions and

conflicts arising from intolerance and to promote peace

based on the principles of respect for fundamental

human rights, justice and international cooperation.

During its six-month chairmanship of the

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe,

which ended last May, the Republic of San Marino

based its activity on the promotion of a culture of

tolerance and mutual understanding by organizing

high-level meetings and debates aimed at fostering

dialogue among cultures and religions. In this context,

the conference organized last April in San Marino on

the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue in

Europe, a priority issue of the San Marino

chairmanship, met with great success. This conference

was attended by the representatives of the Council of

Europe member countries, religious leaders belonging

to the three major European monotheistic religions and

experts from civil society. At the end of its work, the

conference adopted a final document, which testifies to

the wide range of this debate and marks a significant

moment in the process undertaken by the Council of

Europe to promote, stimulate and develop intercultural

dialogue in Europe, with particular reference to its

religious dimension.

Among the initiatives taken in the last few

months on this issue, it is worth mentioning the

meeting organized by the Permanent Mission of San

Marino in New York on dialogue between religions,

with the presence and participation of the Secretary-

General, the President of the General Assembly and

representatives of more than 70 countries.

In line with its history of peace, which makes it

an ideal place for meeting and mediation, the Republic

of San Marino will coordinate, starting from next year,

the future meetings of the Council of Europe on the

religious dimension of intercultural dialogue. It is in

this spirit that I will take part next week in the High-

level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural

Understanding and Cooperation for Peace, organized

by the presidency of the General Assembly.

My country welcomes the adoption of this

initiative, which further stresses the need for us to join

our efforts in support of dialogue among cultures and

religions, as an instrument to strengthen the climate of

confidence indispensable to promote peace, prevent

conflicts and combat the threat of discrimination,

racism, violence and terrorism.

The Republic of San Marino is particularly

sensitive to the issue of climate change, in the

conviction that addressing this problem is an

imperative for each member of the international

community, called upon to take action and share

common strategies to prevent and face situations of

degradation and extreme emergency, which are

becoming increasingly evident and require joint actions

that can no longer be postponed. We are witnessing

alarming phenomena that are deteriorating every

element of the environment, mainly due to human

activities. It is therefore necessary to develop

alternative strategies, which can protect the climate

from the increasingly serious threat posed to the entire

ecosystem.

The San Marino Government has expressed its

strong determination to progressively accede to the

major international instruments, adopted in the

framework of the United Nations, on environmental

protection and gas emissions, from the Vienna

Convention and Montreal Protocol thereto, to the

Kyoto Protocol, in the awareness that the consequences

of climate change are a serious obstacle to the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. At

a domestic level, San Marino is preparing legislation

promoting new technologies based on renewable

energy sources that will substantially modify the

energetic and environmental habits of the entire

country.

Just a few days ago, the Secretary-General

organized a high-level event on climate change, which

gave further momentum to the activity of our

Governments.

It is worth reiterating that we take a strong stance

against the death penalty on the basis of political and

moral principles. Indeed, the death penalty denies the

right to life, and we deem it a groundless deterrent, as

do an increasing number of countries, which are

progressively abolishing it from their legal systems.

The Republic of San Marino expresses its satisfaction

at the steps taken in this direction at a multilateral level

and supports the new interregional initiative. We are

convinced that by promoting first of all a moratorium,

each and every country can gradually achieve a

moderate attitude and eventually reach the decision to

abolish the death penalty.

San Marino fully shares the commitment

undertaken on a global scale to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals and is ready to offer its own

contribution and its partnership to eradicate endemic

problems, by fully recognizing the fundamental rights

of the most vulnerable groups of society, such as the

elderly, women, children and disabled people.

In this regard, I would like to underline in

particular the value of the action carried out by the

United Nations in favour of social policies addressed to

persons with disabilities, which has led to the adoption

of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. In

this context, the Republic of San Marino was one of

the first States to subscribe to these instruments.

To achieve these objectives, which were also

among the main issues included in the programme of

the recent chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers

of the Council of Europe, my country has launched

some awareness raising and effective intervention

campaigns, such as the campaign on violence against

women and in favour of children’s rights.

I wish to refer in particular to the protection of

children’s rights, to which my country pays special

attention, prompted by the conviction that only the

mobilization of Governments and societies can save

children all over the world from today’s sufferings and

from enduring conditions of underdevelopment and

poverty. My country has promoted legislative measures

and solidarity initiatives with the precious contribution

of institutions and civil society, and it commits itself at

a political, moral and social level to providing any

possible instrument of protection and guarantee in

favour of minors.

It is in this spirit and in full agreement with the

principles contained in the detailed study on violence

against children, drafted by United Nations expert

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, that the Republic of San Marino

will soon sign the Convention on the Protection of

Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual

Abuse, adopted by the Council of Europe and aimed at

involving the States in the drafting and implementation

of an international plan to prevent and counter these

phenomena.

San Marino is fully aware of the need for the

United Nations to maintain and strengthen its own

structure by revitalizing the main bodies, to attain

improved efficiency and progressive adjustment to a

broader multilateral context.

In the light of the above and well aware of its

status as a small country, San Marino is however

intensifying its activities within the major international

organizations. It has responsibly taken on the task of

facilitator assigned to it and to Senegal by the

President of the sixty-first session of the General

Assembly in the revitalization process of this organ.

This task, performed by the San Marino

Permanent Mission in New York, attributes to this tiny

State a delicate and important role at an international

level, which certainly represents a significant

recognition of the work done since 1992 to the present

and of the commitment with which the Republic

participates in the life of the international community,

with its renewed efforts to enhance dialogue and

cooperation.

The objective of revitalizing the General

Assembly is a priority in the reform and modernization

process of the main bodies of the United Nations, since

the General Assembly is the main representative and

decision-making body of the Organization, where all

States are permanent members and can and must play

an important role by virtue of the principles of

democracy and equal representation enshrined in this

Organization.

The Republic of San Marino believes it necessary

to strengthen the role of the General Assembly by

enabling it to act efficiently and to cooperate with

other statutory bodies in a more coordinated manner. In

this regard, San Marino expresses the hope that, in

order to fully support the activities of this body, which

is responsible for the whole process of standardization

and codification of international law, the international

community will commit itself to increasingly receiving

and implementing its resolutions.

At the same time, it reiterates the need to reach

the broadest possible political agreement on the reform

of the Security Council. This agreement should be the

result of a concerted and open vision in view of any

adjustments that may be required in the years to come.

For many years, San Marino has constantly paid great

attention to this issue of topical interest, because of its

strategic and structural implications. In this regard, I

believe that today the presidency of the General

Assembly deserves our unanimous gratitude for its

report, which represents an excellent basis to continue

to consider this item on the agenda of the sixty-second

session.

On behalf of a State, the Republic of San Marino,

that has always based its peaceful coexistence with

other States and the spirit of its profound national and

international solidarity on aspirations for international

peace and security, I would like to express my

complete confidence in the long-term effectiveness of

the United Nations system. Each and every State must

try to make a political and ideological contribution

through concrete proposals to that system, on which

every State continues to place high expectations

because of the impact of its activities at a national and

international level.

Allow me to conclude my statement by offering a

brief reflection, by virtue of the fact that I come from a

country without any macroeconomic or military

interests, or any interests regarding the political

balance among the great Powers. I believe that the

space and attention we all devote to the international

commitment and contribution made by every State,

even the smallest, can be a positive investment in the

future of the United Nations, a future characterized by

increased understanding, closer cooperation and the

promotion of dialogue and mutual respect, upon which

the foundations of this Organization rest.

This renewed momentum will therefore provide

large countries with the opportunity to demonstrate

their full respect for international justice and will show

small countries how useful their activities are in the

community of nations activities that translate into

continuous efforts aimed at achieving peace, mutual

understanding and better living conditions for all

peoples.

With those hopes in mind, I express to you, Sir,

my most sincere wishes for a successful presidency of

this greatest of world assemblies, and I assure you that

you can fully rely on our support throughout the sixty-

second session.