Australia, 2001

Sir, let me begin, like

others, by congratulating you on having been elected

President of the fifty-sixth session of the General

Assembly. Let me also very warmly commend you on

your commitment to making the most efficient use of

the Assembly’s time, including — if I may say — by

beginning meetings punctually. I also want to join other

speakers in congratulating the Secretary-General, Kofi

Annan, and the United Nations more generally on their

heartily deserved receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The terrorist attacks of 11 September in

Washington, D.C., and here in New York City were not

just attacks on the United States. Australia, along with

more than 80 other nations, lost innocent civilians. We

are united in our grief for the victims and their

families. Australia condemns these attacks and

reaffirms unequivocally that terrorism is never justified

and must never be tolerated.

Australia has joined the international coalition

against terrorism. We have invoked our mutual security

pact for the first time with the United States, and we

are contributing military forces to the campaign against

those responsible for the 11 September attacks.

The international community is obliged to close

ranks against terrorism. We must starve terrorists of

their support — financial, political and moral. We must

deny terrorists safe haven. We must bring terrorists to

account.

Australia commends Security Council resolution

1373 (2001) of 28 September, which targets

comprehensively the terrorist menace. We will work

closely with the Committee on Counter-Terrorism of

the Security Council.

Australia has introduced new measures to prevent

and suppress the financing of terrorism and is already

party to all but one of the 12 international counter-

terrorism instruments.

A comprehensive convention against terrorism is

potentially a very important symbol of global

commitment on this issue. As the Assembly is aware,

Australia has taken a leading role in the negotiations,

reflecting our strong commitment to strengthening the

international legal framework. While we are

encouraged by the progress this past month, we join the

Secretary-General in urging the parties to conclude the

convention without delay.

The events of 11 September underline how

important it is that we maintain and strengthen

international non-proliferation regimes governing

nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. If we want

to prevent the spread of ballistic missiles and

associated technology — and if we want to strengthen

mechanisms relating to conventional weapons — then

we also need a stronger commitment to other arms

control and disarmament instruments as well.

Let me turn now to East Timor. We all have a

deep interest in a stable, secure, viable and democratic

East Timor. East Timor is no longer an emergency, but,

instead, an emerging nation.

However, much more needs to be done. East

Timor remains vulnerable, and the role of the United

Nations is not complete. We need, after independence,

an integrated United Nations mission of civilians,

police and peacekeepers, under a single Security

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Council mandate funded from United Nations assessed

contributions.

Australia therefore welcomes the Security

Council President’s statement of 31 October endorsing

the Secretary-General’s recommendations for a United

Nations successor mission in East Timor. We look

forward to working with others over the coming

months to set a solid and sensible mandate for a

successor mission.

Cooperative relations between East Timor and

Indonesia are key to East Timor’s longer-term security

and to that of the region as a whole. We very much

welcome steps by both sides to resolve outstanding

issues.

We welcome progress by the Indonesian

Government to resolve the situation in refugee camps

in West Timor, and we urge continued efforts to ensure

security and to facilitate the safe return of refugees.

Justice and reconciliation are important to East

Timor’s longer-term stability and prosperity. Australia

welcomes steps by President Megawati Soekarnoputri

to expand the jurisdiction of the ad hoc human rights

court and her Government’s commitment to bring to

justice those who have perpetrated human rights crimes

in East Timor. That commitment was reconfirmed in a

most welcome way in the Assembly yesterday by the

Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Mr. Hassan Wirajuda.

Australia will continue to support East Timor

generously. We have an agreement to share resources

from the Timor Sea. We are helping to reduce poverty

in East Timor and we are building East Timorese

capacity to govern peacefully and democratically. We

urge others to support East Timor. This is our chance,

collectively in the international community, to ensure

that the United Nations historic mission in East Timor

is remembered as a success.

Let me talk about what we in Australia call

“people-smuggling”. Australia has a proud history as a

major country of migration. We are, as a result of over

a century of planned and managed legal migration, a

tolerant multicultural society. We will continue as a

country of migration and we will continue to take more

than our fair share of refugees.

Regrettably, Australia is also increasingly a

favoured target for illegal migration, assisted by

individuals and criminal syndicates engaged in the

pernicious crime of people-smuggling. Many other

countries — as either transit or destination countries —

are also affected by this problem. As with other

transnational crimes, combating the phenomenon of

people-smuggling requires not just national, but also

concerted regional and multilateral action.

People-smugglers are primarily organized crime

syndicates. They exploit their victims. They find their

clients among people who have experienced conflict or

persecution, economic downturn or extreme

environmental breakdown. They target those desperate

for a better life. The loss recently of more than 350

lives, when a people-smuggling boat headed for

Australia sank, is a tragic reminder of the human costs

involved and of the callousness of people-smugglers.

Irregular migration, facilitated by people-

smuggling, undermines the integrity of the

international protection system. All countries share an

interest in protecting and strengthening the

international protection system. To do so, we must

tackle the problem of people-smuggling. A year ago, at

the Millennium Summit, leaders committed us to fight

people-smuggling and other transnational crimes. We

should redouble our efforts to do so. We need

coordinated, comprehensive approaches and concerted

international action to address all its aspects. Root

causes in source countries need to be addressed. The

humanitarian and other needs of displaced persons in

countries of first asylum need to be addressed. Transit

countries and countries of destination need to

cooperate more effectively.

Australia is working closely with its neighbours

in the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen our capacity to

prevent and deter people-smuggling and to bring

perpetrators to justice. This will continue to be a high

priority for my Government. We will also continue to

contribute to broader international efforts to deal with

the causes of irregular migration. These efforts, which

have the protection needs of refugees at their core, will

continue while we work with others in our region and

internationally to combat illegal migration and people-

smuggling.

Afghans fleeing the devastation of their homeland

pose a particular challenge to the international

community. A renewed focus and a more coordinated

response are needed. Australia supports the efforts of

the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Refugees and those of the countries of first asylum

to protect refugees in South-West Asia. We have

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advocated, consistently and strongly, a comprehensive

response to the Afghan situation and substantially

increased our assistance to displaced and vulnerable

Afghans in South-West Asia.

The international community faces grave new

challenges that threaten global peace and prosperity. At

the same time, as the Secretary-General said in his

statement, the challenges that faced us before 11

September — poverty, disease, development — have

not diminished. The need for international cooperation

has never been greater. It is therefore tremendously

important that agreement was reached in Doha to

launch the development round of world trade

liberalization. Free trade, including in agriculture,

offers benefits for all countries and is crucial for

developing countries to overcome poverty.

Finally, I want to say that Australia stands ready

to support international efforts to combat international

terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass

destruction. Australia stands ready to ensure that recent

United Nations successes — such as in East Timor —

help create vibrant and sustainable democracies in

which people can be assured of their future and that of

their children. Australia stands ready to contribute to

sustained international action against people-smuggling

at source, in transit and at destination. Australia urges

that this fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly

makes substantial progress towards those same goals.