Suriname, 2005

It is a distinct honour for

me today to address the sixtieth General Assembly of

the United Nations. At the outset, please allow me on

behalf of the Government and people of the Republic

of Suriname to extend sincere felicitations to the

President on his election to preside over this important

session. I would like to pledge my delegation’s full

support and cooperation in the tasks that lie ahead of us

in this session.

My delegation would also like to express its

gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, President of

the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly of the

United Nations, for his unwavering efforts in steering

the work of the fifty-ninth session. We wish him well

in his future endeavours.

We continue to render our support to Secretary-

General Kofi Annan, especially for his leadership in

the process of restructuring the United Nations.

We are gathered here, in the wake of the High-

level Plenary Meeting, in which world leaders adopted

some measures to advance the cause of development,

human rights and security and the much-needed reform

of this world Organization. The task before us is not an

easy one. We need to redouble our efforts in

implementing the ambitious goals we have set to create

a safer and more prosperous world for ourselves and

generations to come.

Although the world community made some

modest progress towards achieving the Millennium

Development Goals, we have to acknowledge that we

are far from reaching the global commitments made by

world leaders at the dawn of the new millennium to

advance economic and social development for the

world’s poor.

The Government of Suriname remains committed

to achieving the Millennium Development Goals

because we strongly believe that sustainable

development is crucial for the achievement of

international peace and security.

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While we acknowledge our primary responsibility

in the development process, we would like to bring to

mind the commitments made in Monterrey of

establishing a global partnership to advance the

development agenda. A substantial increase in financial

resources, to be provided on a more predictable basis

and free of conditionalities, is needed for this matter.

We commend the various initiatives that have

been launched so far, and we would like to call on our

developed partners to continue rendering their support

to the efforts of developing countries.

Trade can play an important role in promoting

economic growth and development, and in that regard

we reiterate our position for a trading system that is

universal, rule-based, non-discriminatory, open and

equitable. We furthermore expect that the upcoming

multilateral round of trade negotiations will fully take

into account the needs of developing countries.

We would like to note the laudable initiatives of

several developed countries for facilitating market

access for the least developed countries. However, for

many middle-income countries, like Suriname, who are

called upon to diversify their economies, measures

have yet to be taken to facilitate their market access for

goods and services into the markets of the developed

countries.

Sixty years ago, in the aftermath of the Second

World War, world leaders vowed to save succeeding

generations from the scourge of war and thus came

together and established the United Nations. Faced

with both old and new challenges to international

peace and security, the international community should

more than ever be determined to live up to that crucial

promise.

The spread of infectious diseases such as

HIV/AIDS, the indiscriminate effect of the forces of

nature thereby causing widespread despair and

destruction, the uncontrolled proliferation of small

arms and light weapons, just to name a few, are

testimony of the transnational nature of contemporary

challenges the world is facing today.

We therefore need an effective system of

international cooperation to collectively deal with both

old and new threats to international peace and security.

It is imperative to redress the major setbacks in

nuclear disarmament and arms control. We will have

failed future generations if we cannot even reach

agreement on the general principles governing those

important issues.

We cannot but agree with the Secretary-General

when he once stated, “There is nothing small or light

about the consequences of the uncontrolled spread and

misuse of small arms and light weapons” (A/58/138,

p. 4). In Suriname, as is the case for many countries in

the Caribbean region, this phenomenon is associated

with drug trafficking and other cross-border criminal

activity. In this regard we would like to pledge our

support to the ongoing efforts in the United Nations to

address this critical issue that threatens the economic

and social fabric of our society.

My Government strongly condemns all acts of

terrorism committed by whomever, wherever and for

whatever purposes. With the growing interdependence

in the world, terrorism constitutes a grave danger for

rich, poor, large and small countries alike. We would

however like to bring to mind that the fight against

terrorism should, at all times, take place in accordance

with international law and with respect for human

rights, tolerance and the peaceful coexistence of

people.

The fight against terrorism must address its root

causes. Suriname, being a multi-ethnic, multireligious

and multicultural society, believes that increased

tolerance and dialogue could make a positive

contribution to the goal of increased security.

We therefore continue to support the dialogue

among civilizations and remain convinced that a

culture of peace can be significantly enhanced through

this dialogue in order to promote mutual

understanding, respect and tolerance among regions,

cultures and peoples.

Respect for human rights and fundamental

freedoms remains of great importance to the

Government of Suriname. The creation of a Human

Rights Council, as was agreed to in the outcome

document, should not only result in a renaming of the

Commission on Human Rights; we have the daunting

task ahead of us of restoring credibility to the human

rights machinery by addressing the shortfalls of the

Commission on Human Rights and ensuring that the

Human Rights Council becomes a more effective and

objective organ.

The United Nations should resolve to come to the

rescue of people confronted with genocide, ethnic

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cleansing and crimes against humanity. We must

continue to discuss the framework to be associated

with this difficult task. But more importantly, the

United Nations, through its Charter provisions, should

find ways and means geared towards preventing these

atrocities from reoccurring.

The international community has some time ago

expressed the need for a more effective and efficient

Organization that would be better able to address the

many challenges our world is facing today and make it

more responsive to the aspirations of the world’s

people. Suriname continues to believe in the values of

the United Nations as the supreme multilateral

institution and supports the efforts of strengthening the

Organization through reform.

More than ever, good intentions must give rise to

concrete achievements. We must translate

commitments into action. We owe it to the many

people living in extreme poverty who do not have

access to safe drinking water and do not have proper

health care.

Achieving such a global society requires the

involvement, determination and commitment of all

actors — State and non-State — as well as coordinated

and comprehensive actions by all such actors in the

global fight against poverty and injustice.

Our shared objectives require more than a

reaffirmation of the importance of the Millennium

Development Goals and the availability of financial

resources. It requires understanding between developed

and developing countries. It requires political will,

which is a condition sine qua non in our efforts to

achieve our global commitments.

I am convinced that the recently concluded high-

level gathering of world leaders generated the renewed

political commitment to further the cause of global

partnership between the developing and developed

countries to promote development and continue the

fight against poverty and hunger.

In conclusion, let me remark that we have to act

now. We cannot build a world of peace and security

without economic and social development and without

respect for human rights.