Zimbabwe, 2013

Let me begin by extending my

warmest congratulations to Mr. John William Ashe on

his election as President of the General Assembly at

its sixty-eighth session. His election to that esteemed

office is a fitting tribute to the personal and diplomatic

qualities that he has exhibited over the years.

Throughout the world, peace and development have

remained dominant themes of our times. People all over

the world have been raising their voices in favour of

peace, development and cooperation, and against war,

poverty and confrontation. Here at the United Nations

we all acknowledge that peace, security, development

and human rights are the pillars of the United Nations

system and the cornerstones of our collective well-

being.

In that regard, the theme for this session, “The

post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage”, is

quite pertinent and timely, as it gives fresh impetus to

our understanding that achieving the internationally

agreed development goals, including the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs), and mapping the way

forward beyond 2015 requires our collective efforts.

The United Nations, as the centre for international

cooperation, should lead in promoting the envisaged

development.

Thirteen years ago, our global efforts were

mobilized behind the Millennium Development Goals.

We now have less than 1,000 days in which to meet

those targets. Our review and stocktaking exercise

reveals that, while there have been some significant

achievements, there are still gaps and unevenness in the

attainment of the Goals.

In the case of Zimbabwe, we have made progress

towards achieving universal access to primary education

and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

However, some of the Goals are off track owing to

lack of capacity — mainly financial capacity — and

in some areas progress has stalled, including in those

areas relating to the eradication of poverty and hunger,

child mortality, universal access to maternal and

reproductive health, environmental sustainability and

access to potable water and sanitation. As a country,

we are committed to undertaking coordinated efforts to

accelerate progress to complete the unfinished business

of the MDGs in the remaining period leading up to 2015.

Any goals that have not been achieved by then should

be integrated into the post-2015 development agenda.

Zimbabwe fully shares and supports the emerging

consensus that eradicating poverty in all its dimensions

should be the overarching goal of our post-2015

agenda. Eradicating poverty by 2030 may be an

ambitious goal, but it is attainable if we mobilize our

collective efforts. Building on the foundation of the

MDGs, the post-2015 agenda should go beyond the

social development agenda of the MDGs and achieve

structural transformation in our economies that delivers

inclusive and sustainable growth. We expect a shift

that will bring about industrialization, decent jobs and

qualitative change to the lives of our citizens. We are

determined to modernize our infrastructure and ensure

access to sustainable energy for all, food security and

nutrition. However, we recognize that we cannot do that

in isolation from other partners.

In the same vein, we also support calls to prioritize

gender equality, the health-related MDGs, education

and environmental sustainability in the post-2015

development agenda, among other issues. Those are

critical matters in our quest to achieve sustainable

development for all our people.

The lofty objectives of the Charter of the United

Nations in the economic arena will remain unfulfilled

unless all Member States join in efforts, genuinely

and seriously, to address challenges that developing

countries face in their pursuit of development,

including meeting the MDGs. It is therefore imperative

that our discussions address what has so far been the

weakest link, namely, the means of implementation. It

must be understood that, in addition to national efforts,

substantial international support and an enabling

international economic environment are essential if the

MDGs are to be achieved by 2015, especially in Africa.

It is therefore important to fulfil the commitments

made to support Africa in various international forums.

The United Nations should track the fulfilment of those

commitments.

Zimbabwe supports the reform of the United

Nations to strengthen its central role in promoting

multilateralism and to be effective in tackling current

and future global challenges. We are convinced that

reform would strengthen the Organization’s capacity

to fully promote and implement the purposes and

principles of the Charter and improve its democratic

decision-making.

In that regard, the reforms in the economic

and social actions of the United Nations remain of

fundamental importance to us. Our firm belief in

multilateral cooperation means that we place a premium

in the ability of the United Nations system to deliver

efficient development cooperation. The democratic

transformation of the architecture of the international

financial system is essential, as is a root-and-branch

reform of the international trading system. The terms

of trade have hugely burdened developing countries for

too long.

Zimbabwe supports the ongoing efforts to

revitalize the General Assembly, which is the most

representative organ of the United Nations. We believe

that the Assembly should take the lead in setting the

global agenda and restore its primacy, which has over

the years been encroached upon by other organs. We

cannot accept situations whereby the Security Council is

increasingly encroaching upon issues that traditionally

fall within the General Assembly’s purview and

competence, including in the area of norm-setting.

Recent events have revealed that the formal decisions of

the Security Council have provided camouflage to neo-

imperialist forces of aggression seeking to militarily

intervene in smaller countries in order to effect regime

change and acquire complete control of their wealth.

That was the case in Libya, where, in the name of

protecting civilians, NATO forces were deployed with

an undeclared mission to eliminate Al-Qadhafi and his

family. A similar campaign was undertaken in Iraq by

the Bush and Blair forces under the guise of eradicating

weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam Hussein

never possessed.

We appreciate the central role that the United

Nations should play in furthering multilateralism in

preference to unilateralism. In that regard, we applaud

the consultations and negotiations on the eventual

destruction of the chemical weapons in Syria. My

country expresses its gratitude and appreciation to

Russia and China for their principled stand on Syria.

We hope and trust that the Syrian people will soon sit

in dialogue to discuss peace and desirable political

reforms. Those Western countries in pursuit of

hegemony as they pretend to be advocates of democracy

must be resisted.

For Africa, the reform of the Security Council

is especially long overdue. The anachronistic and

unrepresentative character of the Council must be

redressed. For how long should Africa continue to be

denied the right to play a pivotal role in the Security

Council as it decides measures on conflicts within

the borders of that very continent? The Security

Council needs to be more representative, democratic,

transparent, accountable and accessible to the wider

membership for its decisions to have greater legitimacy.

Africa’s case for the correction of the glaring historical

injustice of being unrepresented in the permanent

category and underrepresented in the non-permanent

category has been made through the clear, fair and well

articulated Ezulwini Consensus. Zimbabwe remains

steadfast in its support of the Ezulwini Consensus,

which is, in fact, a demand.

Zimbabwe strongly condemns the use of unilateral

economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to effect

regime change. The illegal economic sanctions imposed

on Zimbabwe by the United States and the European

Union violate fundamental principles of the Charter

of the United Nations on State sovereignty and the

non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign

State. Moreover, those illegal sanctions continue to

inflict economic deprivation and human suffering on all

Zimbabweans. In the eyes of our people, the sanctions

constitute a form of hostility and violence against them

for the simple crime of undertaking the land reform

programme by which land was put in the hands of the

then majority landless Zimbabweans. Our small and

peaceful country is threatened daily by covetous and

bigoted big Powers whose hunger for domination and

control over other nations and their resources knows

no bounds.

Shame, shame, shame, we say to the United

States of America. Shame, shame, shame, we say to

Britain and its allies, who have continued to impose

illegal sanctions on our people. Zimbabwe is for

Zimbabweans; so are its ample resources. I ask those

countries to please remove their illegal and iniquitous

sanctions from my peaceful nation. If those sanctions

were intended to effect regime change, well, the results

of the recent national elections have clearly shown them

that they cannot achieve their agenda.

We are preached to daily by the West on the

virtues of democracy and freedom, which they do not

entirely espouse. Zimbabwe took up arms precisely

to achieve freedom and democracy. There was none

during colonialism, and it was British colonialism, for

that matter. Yet we have been punished by the United

States through the odious Zimbabwe Democracy and

Economic Recovery Act, which it enacted in 2001 to

effect regime change in our country. Now that malicious

intent to continue with the relentless persecution of our

small, peaceful country has shown itself again, through

the rejection by the United States of the recent and

absolutely democratic and fair results of our general

elections of 31 July, even as they were applauded by the

African Union and all our regional organizations.

It appears that when the United States and its allies

speak of democracy and freedom they do so in relative

terms. Zimbabwe, however, refuses to accept that those

Western detractors have the right to define democracy

and freedom for it. We made the greatest sacrifice and

paid the ultimate price for freedom and independence

in Zimbabwe, and we remain determined never to

relinquish our sovereignty, as at the same time we

remain masters of our destiny. As we have repeatedly

and loudly said and asserted, Zimbabwe will never be

a colony again.