Bahrain, 2003

It is my pleasure to

express congratulations and best wishes to Mr. Julian

Hunte on his election as President of the General

Assembly at its fifty-eighth session, and to express my

confidence in his ability to ensure a productive and

successful session as a representative of his friendly

country, Saint Lucia. It is also my pleasure to express

appreciation for the efforts of Mr. Jan Kavan, former

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, in

presiding over the fifty-seventh session and for the

tireless efforts of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, in reaffirming the contributions and the role of the

United Nations in addressing regional and international

issues to fulfil the will of the international community,

particularly by carrying out its principal responsibility

for maintaining peace and security in the world.

Today, the United Nations is nearing the end of

the sixth decade since its establishment after the

Second World War as part of a world order accepted by

all humanity to avoid the catastrophic consequences of

war. Also today, the world is witnessing unprecedented

threats, conflicts and crises, and it faces challenges that

threaten the noble purposes and principles enshrined in

the Charter of the Organization, a body to which the

world's peoples look to avoid the perils of war, to free

themselves from the fear of force and oppression, and

to seek justice, prosperity and stability.

Since its inception, the United Nations has carried

out the responsibilities set out in its Charter in a wide

range of fields that are relevant both to people's daily

lives and to the international community. Those

responsibilities have included peacekeeping operations,

development programmes, conferences on the

environment, enhancing and expanding the role of

women, protecting human rights, the resettlement of

refugees, combating disease and epidemics, dealing

with national disasters, spreading a culture of peace,

and reaffirming international legality and the rule of

law. However, those great achievements in people's

lives and in Member States of the Organization will

count for nothing in the face of regional conflicts, civil

wars and ethnic strife in many parts of the world.

Many resolutions crucial to the maintenance of

peace and stability continue to be ignored and therefore

fail to serve the will of the international community.

Therefore, all of us leaders, peoples and Governments

have the moral responsibility to reactivate and

implement those resolutions. We must reflect on the

reasons that they have not been implemented; we must

objectively consider why that has taken place; and we

must study the Organization's successes and failures in

that regard. In order to overcome these shortcomings in

the current world order, we must muster the necessary

political will and mobilize the efforts of the States and

peoples that the Organization has comprised since its

inception. Only thus will we be able to bridge the

chasm between hopes and realities and to correct the

misalignment between texts and ambitions and between

resolutions and their implementation.

The Kingdom of Bahrain, under the leadership of

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, has

reaffirmed its strong belief in upholding the principles

and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and

its confidence in the Organization's ability to shoulder its

historic and legal responsibilities to build and maintain

peace and to strengthen the foundations of peace.

Bahrain's leading regional and international role

in comprehensive human development both economic

and political has over the years been consistently

supported by United Nations statistics and reports. The

latest of those reports the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report of 8

July 2003 demonstrates that fact. At the political

level, Bahrain has moved quickly forward with the

consolidation of constitutional democracy and the rule

of law after the overwhelming popular approval of the

National Action Charter, promulgating its Constitution

of February 2002 and establishing the two Chambers of

the National Assembly in October of that year. At the

level of civil society and human rights and in order to

increase the pace of reform and development, Bahrain

took significant steps to enhance constitutional

guarantees of civil and political freedoms and rights

through a royal decree establishing the Constitutional

Court in 2002 and through the Workers Trade Union

law of the same year.

Reaffirming their status and role in society,

women in Bahrain are constitutionally entitled to vote

and to run as candidates in elections, and to hold

important positions in both the public and private

sectors. In addition to that, women participate in the

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broad social activities of the Supreme Council for

Women, part of a coordinated and integrated system of

development efforts that include mother and child care,

achieving equality between men and women in a

society that believes in the unity of the family, values

gender equality and respects the rights of the family.

The Kingdom of Bahrain, a regional centre for

trade, with well-established social and economic

foundations based on a historic tradition of openness, is

today a hub for trade in goods and capital, in a

legislative and social environment in which Bahrainis,

non-Bahrainis and visitors alike enjoy the stability

required for investment and the movement of capital.

These laws guarantee that the country remain an

attractive and successful location for residence and

movement for individuals and investors. Bahrain is

also a fine example of successful economic

liberalization, which has made it an attractive point in

the Gulf area for regional projects and investment.

Achieving economic integration and regional

cooperation between the Gulf and Middle East regions

and other major and free trading blocs depends upon the

strong foundation of a political and strategic environment

conducive to achieving peace and cooperation.

In that context, the achievement of a just and

comprehensive peace in the Middle East can be brought

about only through a recognition of the inalienable legal

rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and

the establishment of their independent State, a return of

sovereignty over territory occupied since 1967 and

control over their economic resources, in accordance

with resolutions of international legality and the

principles and aims of Middle East initiatives, and on

the basis of agreements between the two sides, which

must be fully respected and implemented.

The road map, which has gained consensus among

the international community, supports the establishment

of an independent Palestinian State living in peace and

security, side by side with Israel, as envisaged by

United States President George W. Bush in his peace

initiative of June 2002, as reaffirmed by the

international Quartet comprising United Nations, the

United States, the European Union and the Russian

Federation, and as agreed upon by the Palestinian

Authority. This provides a unique, historic opportunity

to achieve a balanced settlement that will restore the

legitimate rights of the people and achieve a delicate

balance between the obligations of the parties and their

rights to security and peace.

The recent Israeli decision to remove in principle

Chairman Yasser Arafat, the elected Palestinian

President, and its threats to eliminate him, are very

dangerous matters that contravenes the principles of

democracy and the rules of international law. This was

reaffirmed by the adoption of resolution 10/12 at the

tenth emergency special session of the General

Assembly on 19 September 2003.

Bahrain, which expresses its concern at this

dangerous Israeli decision, calls upon the Quartet and

the international community to pressure Israel to prevent

the implementation of this decision, whose repercussions

would weaken current peace opportunities.

Peace in the Middle East must be comprehensive;

it requires the full implementation of resolutions of

international legality, particularly Security Council

resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), which call for

Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories,

including the Golan Heights, and Security Council

resolution 425 (1978), regarding the Lebanese

territories remaining under occupation. The Middle

East today faces great challenges as well as unique

opportunities and crucial moments that will determine

the future of the region for generations to come.

This peace must be a single and indivisible unit.

That applies both to the Middle East and to the Gulf

region. It is a fundamental and vital request by Bahrain

and the Arab world that steps be taken by the

international community, the United Nations and

influential parties, in particular the United States, to

normalize political, economic and civilian life in Iraq,

so that the country can regain its Arab, regional and

international role.

In order for the Iraqis to determine their destiny,

within a constitutional framework that provides for the

rule of law and guarantees political freedom, peace and

security for all Iraq's citizens and ethnic groups a

vital legal requirement the Iraqis themselves must

be allowed to rebuild economic, political and social

foundations, as well as civil society, within an Iraqi

national Government.

The Kingdom of Bahrain believes that the

formation of a new national Government in Iraq is an

important step for the brotherly Iraqi people towards

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taking over their own affairs for a better life and for an

increased regional and international role.

With regard to the Islands of the Greater and

Lesser Tunb and Abu Moussa, which belong to the

brotherly United Arab Emirates, we hope that the

current important dialogue between the United Arab

Emirates and the Islamic Republic of Iran will lead to a

peaceful settlement of this issue and contribute to

security and stability in the Gulf region.

The international commitment to fighting

terrorism, political violence and extremism has become

both an international and a national responsibility,

particularly since the events of 11 September 2001,

which claimed the lives of many innocent people.

Combating terrorism has become an international

obligation, in keeping with the United Nations

commitment to respect human rights, foremost of

which are the rights to life and security.

Accordingly, the Kingdom of Bahrain has backed

all international and regional efforts to combat this

dangerous scourge, which threatens us all and whose

effects can be felt around the world. Most recently, we

have witnessed the evil attack on the United Nations

headquarters in Baghdad, in which Mr. Sergio Vieira de

Mello, Special Representative of the Secretary-General,

and a number of other innocent people lost their lives

while serving the cause of international legality.

In that regard, Bahrain condemns the vicious

orchestrated campaign waged against a sister State, the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by some Western media. We

wish to commend Saudi Arabia for its tangible and

important contribution to the global campaign against

terrorism, to which it itself was exposed. Bahrain fully

supports and endorses all the measures taken by Saudi

Arabia in its attempts to eliminate terrorism and to

consolidate regional security and stability.

The challenges of today's world order,

represented by the United Nations, are greater than any

particular region or State, and encompass all areas of

life and society: the economy, education, health,

technology and information, particularly following the

information and communications technology revolution,

in the context of the comprehensive globalization of

thought, trade, politics, war and peace.

Today, it is neither possible nor acceptable,

within the globalization of international relations at

various levels, for one region to have full prosperity

and abundance while others suffer from poverty and

want, drought and desertification, and from incurable

diseases which science and medicines cannot yet tackle

and to which countries and Governments are unable to

effectively respond or provide medicine or care for

millions of victims.

Against the backdrop of globalization, the

international community cannot ignore these trends.

The summits, conferences and United Nations special

sessions that have been held over the years to deal with

issues such as human rights, the environment,

development, women's rights, habitat, motherhood,

children, culture and civilization reflect the degree to

which those issues are connected to humanitarian,

cultural, social and peace and security issues. Bahrain's

active role and contributions and effective participation

in summits and General Assembly special sessions, and

its involvement in the International Year of Dialogue

among Civilizations in particular, clearly show that

Bahrain's national policies and programmes dovetail

with the priorities of the international community. An

example of that was Bahrain's hosting of high-level

dialogues among religions and cultures in autumn

2002. In the same vein, the Kingdom of Bahrain hosted

a meeting on Islamic-Christian dialogue in October

2002, at which a number of valuable recommendations

were put forward that we hope will contribute to efforts

made in this area. Bahrain also recently hosted an

Islamic forum, in which a number of Islamic scholars

and clerics took part, to promote harmony among

various Islamic schools of thought. Bahrain will

continue to play the role of a haven for brotherhood

and dialogue and a meeting place where various

religions and cultures live side by side in peace.

The Kingdom of Bahrain believes on the basis of

conscientious and free national will that the world

today urgently needs a strong and revitalized United

Nations, as was the case in the wake of the Second

World War, to maintain international peace and security

and effectively contribute to enhancing the dignity and

welfare of humanity. In its quest for peace, the

Kingdom of Bahrain is pursuing national policies of

development and democracy to raise hope for a better

future that will free the individual from fear and

despair, oppression, famine, poverty and ignorance,

provide him with a dignified life and protect him from

natural disasters. Our national and international policies

are closely inspired by the work of the United Nations,

particularly in the development, social, economic and

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humanitarian fields. Those policies are based on

constitutional legality, democracy, transparency and

good governance and guarantee the respect of

individual rights and freedoms. Bahrain aspires to

peace and security within the country, the region and

the world as a whole.