Benin, 2009

I should

like at the outset to express my pleasure at seeing

Mr. Treki so brilliantly execute the lofty tasks of the

presidency of the General Assembly on behalf of

Africa. I offer him my warmest congratulations and

wish him every success in that office. I also take this

opportunity to pay tribute to Secretary-General Ban

Ki-moon for the sincere commitment that he has

shown.

The path laid down by the founding fathers of the

United Nations for the achievement of its goals is that

of dialogue and multilateralism. The United Nations

was created to harness the energies of the international

community to that end. Soon, we will have been at it

for seven decades. Where are we today? Painful

fractures hinder humankind and threaten to

considerably weaken our capacity for common action.

The multifaceted crises that have shaken the global

economy have been caused by its accelerated

globalization without agreed global governance. These

crises have mightily stricken the most vulnerable.

Furthermore, they have exposed the planet to grave

dangers, the signs of which are undeniably evident.

We should accept the facts. The time for

assumptions has passed. The time has come for

proactive anticipation, as we now know the cost of

indifference, inertia and passivity. We must restore the

capacity of the United Nations to fulfil its calling in the

pursuit of solutions to the global problems of

humankind. Through the dialogue of civilizations, we

should reconcile the specificities connected with the

diversity of our cultural heritage with the universal

standards that arise from the inviolability of human

dignity.

The dialogue of civilizations is without doubt an

essential precondition for strengthening

multilateralism. It can help us return to the

fundamental values of respect for life and for nature,

awareness of our common destiny, the quest for mutual

benefit, and the sense of permanence, sharing and

honouring our responsibilities towards future

generations. If we wish to reverse the dismal trends

and outlook that scientists have described, we must

conclude a new alliance between man and nature — a

new common agreement. That is how we can regain

control of the natural and anthropogenic phenomena

that affect our existence on Earth. The Copenhagen

Conference in December will be an excellent

opportunity that we must not squander.

Above all, we should create conditions to ensure

the responsible contribution of all to fully realizing the

potential of humankind. To that end, we must eliminate

all obstacles to its development. The State and public

authorities have a vital role to play in that regard. They

must at all times engage with social partners working

in the service of freedom and progress.

The independent Commission on Legal

Empowerment of the Poor has shown us the virtues of

gradually eliminating old practices that violate the

integrity of the individual both as a living being and as

a legal and social entity. That is a fundamental

precondition to guaranteeing the responsible access of

all to the benefits of modernity and shared prosperity.

That is why Benin has committed to organizing the

regional conference on revitalizing the major

recommendations of the independent Commission.

To that end also, my country has declared a

resolute war on female genital mutilation through an

awareness campaign, the retraining of practitioners and

the vigilant enforcement of unambiguous legislation,

bolstered by a new family code that establishes the

equal rights of men and women. That is also why

Benin worked for the proclamation of 2009 as the

International Year of Human Rights Learning. The

main objective of the Year is to promote the necessary

change in thinking to ensure that humankind moves

towards full and complete adherence to the universal

values enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

The United Nations must be more effective in

supporting national policies to achieve international

standards. The Beninese Government has decided to

entrust the rationalization of its efforts in favour of

women to a recently established women’s institute. To

that end, we are very pleased to welcome the imminent

establishment and operationalization of a composite

entity within the United Nations system for the

advancement of gender equality. It will make it

possible to ensure the coherent and efficient support of

the United Nations system for the efforts of Member

States.

In the context of Africa’s resolute march towards

a new beginning, the Beninese Government has

adopted strategic measures based on the elimination of

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poverty and on reinvigorated economic growth that

will make Benin an emerging country by 2025. The

challenges to be met are huge since nearly one third of

the population of Benin currently lives below the

poverty line in a country vulnerable to the threats of

natural disasters and where food security is not fully

guaranteed.

The measures implemented in particular by the

Government of Mr. Boni Yayi, in place since April

2006 thanks to scrupulous respect for our Constitution,

mark our resolve to move forward. Our economic

performance in 2006 and 2007 proved that our strategic

choices were correct. These measures included

promoting microfinancing as an effective means of

fighting poverty and social exclusion, especially that of

women, by granting microcredit to the poorest —

especially women, who are the most important pillar of

society although economically disadvantaged;

promoting entrepreneurship and youth employment;

and the launching of multiple training programmes in

order to integrate young people into the fabric of our

socio-economic structure. We are also working on

mechanizing agriculture, promoting education by

offering free and mandatory primary education, and

making free Caesarean sections available as a better

approach to reproductive health.

These social measures were implemented at the

same time that major work was begun on

infrastructure. However, the ongoing economic

recession and the worsening harmful consequences of

climate change threaten to seriously jeopardize the

considerable progress made in implementing this

pivotal national project.

Only one year ago, the International Monetary

Fund predicted that the gross domestic product of

sub-Saharan African countries would increase by

6.7 per cent on average in 2009. Those forecasts were

revised downward a few months later to 5.1 per cent,

then to 3.5 per cent and last March to 3.25 per cent,

and nothing guarantees that the growth rate will not

decline further.

This decline in the growth rate has aggravated the

danger of serious budgetary difficulties. We must

maintain our rate of progress despite being subjected to

the gruelling external shocks of the successive crises of

the world economy in full recession. We are making

considerable efforts to mobilize our internal resources.

We welcome the good work done by the United

Nations to mobilize additional resources from

development partners in order to help pilot countries,

including Benin, to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals. These decisions were taken in the

context of implementing the commitments made by the

Group of Eight at Gleneagles, the Millennium

Declaration, the 2001 Brussels Declaration on least

developed countries, and all of the statements that we

warmly welcomed and applauded at the recent Summit

on Climate Change convened here by the Secretary-

General.

The consequences of climate change considerably

complicate the deal. Benin is among the most

vulnerable countries and those least equipped to

address climate change. In addition to torrential rains

that are concentrated in just a few weeks of the year,

coastal erosion due mainly to the rise in sea level has

already been observed in Benin and neighbouring

countries. We also have long and recurrent droughts

and other natural disasters that are affecting our

peoples. Scientists predict that, among other events, the

coastal areas of West Africa will be submerged due to

the rise in sea level of the Atlantic Ocean, whereas

northern countries have already gained land along their

coastlines.

We therefore need help to acquire the

technologies and means necessary to combat coastal

erosion because we cannot sit idly by while this

disaster unfolds. In order to counter the coastal erosion

already engulfing our cities and coastal lands, major

work on infrastructure is crucial. Actions to be taken

will be effective only if undertaken at the level of the

entire subregion so as to ensure that all of the West

African coastline is protected. To that end, we must

mobilize vast resources. Perhaps we should consider

establishing a multilateral investment fund, under the

auspices of the United Nations and the African Union,

to finance the major construction work that will be

needed.

We need a United Nations able to coordinate the

response to these major development challenges, raise

the necessary resources to respond to the financial

needs, and supervise the transfer of resources to be

used by the international community to help the most

vulnerable countries, including the least developed. We

need a United Nations with the moral authority to

involve the affluent countries in thorough reform of the

architecture of governance and of economic and

financial globalization in order to improve the capacity

57 09-52470

of the international financial system to promote

equitable development in all regions of the world.

The initiatives of the Group of Twenty in this

area are laudable and must continue to ensure a

thorough reform of the international economic system

that will allow all countries to be integrated into the

virtuous cycle of economic growth and sustainable

development. We need a United Nations able to help

emerging countries fully to shoulder the international

commitments linked to their new status and to exploit

their strengths to promote South-South and triangular

cooperation in order to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals and to better adapt to climate

change. Convinced that another name for peace is

development and that peace and development are

essential to our survival on Earth, we must find the

essential means to promote peace through and for

development.

We need a United Nations able to assure the

effective prevention of armed conflict, if necessary by

fielding robust peace or development missions to

conduct operations for economic stabilization and the

elimination of extreme poverty. We need a United

Nations that makes full use of the opportunities for

cooperation with regional organizations. In that

connection, Benin calls for consistent implementation

of the proposals made in the Prodi report (S/2008/813,

annex) on cooperation between the United Nations and

the African Union on modalities for support to African

Union peacekeeping operations.

We need a United Nations with strengthened

capacities to contribute to the peaceful settlement of

disputes, inter alia, through mediation and the

promotion of judicial settlements. We need a United

Nations capable of rising to the challenges involved in

settling the Palestinian question definitively;

promoting disarmament and the regulation of the

non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

promoting the rule of law at the national and

international levels; promoting fair trade; countering

terrorism and organized transnational crime; exercising

the responsibility to protect; fighting impunity by

strengthening international justice; and protecting

civilians, in particular children, women and the elderly

in situations of armed conflict; and so on.

United Nations reform must be undertaken

without hesitation in order to strengthen its

effectiveness, legitimacy and credibility. Security

Council reform through expansion in both categories of

membership is, among other things, an unavoidable

necessity of our times, as the Chairman of the African

Union affirmed from this rostrum a few days ago.

The time has come to grant all peoples of the

Earth their due place in the concert of free and

prosperous nations. Benin is ready to cooperate

without reservation in finding the most appropriate

ways to redress the injustices of the past and to

establish a new world order in the Security Council.

Such an order must enable humankind to forge its

common destiny in our common house, namely, the

Earth. We have a sacred duty towards our planet, which

includes behaving in a manner that serves to preserve

its habitability for current and future generations. Yes,

we need a United Nations that is more just and better

able to respond to today’s urgent needs as well as to the

aspirations of the world’s most vulnerable people.