Benin, 2011

I

should like at the outset to convey to you, Sir, my

heartfelt and sincere congratulations on your well-

deserved election as President of the General Assembly

at its sixty-sixth session and to wish you every success

in discharging your mandate.

I should like also to reiterate my heartfelt

congratulations to Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his

reappointment as Secretary-General. I assure him of

the full cooperation of the Government of Benin and

the personal support of its Head of State in the vast

37 11-51670

undertaking that is the modernization of the United

Nations, which he has been working towards since he

took the helm of the Organization.

I should like also to pay a well-deserved tribute

to Mr. Joseph Deiss for the outstanding manner in

which he carried out his mission as President of the

General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session.

I should like to commend the selection of the

theme of the sixty-sixth session, “The role of mediation

in the peaceful settlement of disputes”. This reflects a

recognition of the importance of dialogue and of the

responsibility of third parties in the maintenance of

international peace and security.

Conflicts, crises and wars represent a large part

of the challenges faced by humankind. They undermine

poorer States, whose efforts are often undone by

indiscriminate violence, as deadly as it is destructive.

This legitimate interest in the use of mediation

should serve as a catalyst for raising the awareness of

stakeholders in all regions of the world as to the need

to accord greater importance to dialogue in resolving

problems, nationally and in the context of inter-State,

bilateral, regional and international relations.

We would therefore like to commend the

partnership between the United Nations and the

African Union within the context of the special

political missions, which are an optimum framework

for mediation. Such partnerships can help to avert

redundancy and duplication, which can be counter-

productive and doom mediation efforts to failure.

Benin, for its part, which owes much to dialogue,

very early on grasped the importance of that tool in the

prevention and resolution of crises at the national level.

In that respect, I believe it appropriate here to draw the

attention of the international community to the fact that

the Government of Benin has given high priority to the

issue of mediation in its programme of action and, in

that context, established the Office of the Ombudsman.

We would also like to commend the creation, at the

regional level, of the Association of Ombudsmen of

Member Countries of the West African Economic and

Monetary Union, which Benin chairs; indeed, most of

the countries in the Union are relying on this important

tool for the maintenance of peace.

Perhaps we should go even further and establish

civil entities for mediation and the restoration of peace,

whose members would meet with the parties to a

conflict so as to re-establish dialogue among them and

to prevail upon them to resolve their disputes

peacefully.

The current state of the world makes clear the

urgent need to strengthen multilateralism, with a view

to averting the collective collapse that could result if

appropriate or consensual solutions are not rapidly

found to the global problems afflicting the world today.

At the national level, we require greater cohesion

among the vital forces of the country and greater

determination in the context of actions aimed at

eliminating the obstacles that impede development.

With respect to preserving democratic institutions,

when the fundamental values enshrined in the Charter

are at stake, the United Nations must be at the forefront

of the efforts of the international community.

In that regard, impartiality cannot be synonymous

with neutrality, which would be unfathomable and

make the United Nations a passive bystander to the

triumph of aggression over the rule of law. I should

therefore like to thank the Secretary-General for the

courageous choices he has made.

In Benin, democracy has been strengthened by

the tireless commitment of the United Nations to

ensuring electoral transparency, which it accomplished

through its support for the creation of a computerized

permanent voters’ list, which prevents any

manipulation or other fraudulent manoeuvres and

thereby ensures fairness in our country’s elections.

Based on the success of our young democracy in

Benin, my Government has been working to

consolidate cooperative governance at both the

national and local levels, so as to maximize the impact

of the resources that have been mobilized and

earmarked for the promotion of the well-being of all

the citizens of our country. Accordingly, far-reaching

reforms have been undertaken to reorganize the State

and rid the country of the structural and behavioural

incoherence that has impeded the State in its efforts to

govern effectively.

The strengthening of democratic institutions and

a fresh balance of powers is at the very heart of the

constitutional review that is under discussion. Such a

review must in no way affect the principal mechanisms

that ensure the alternance of power, that is, the number

of terms allowed the President of the Republic —

strictly limited to two — and the age limitation of

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70 years, beyond which one cannot run for the highest

office in Benin.

The fight against corruption is a crucial aspect of

that effort to streamline the State apparatus. The

adoption in late August 2011 of a new law to fight

corruption is in keeping with the national dynamic of

ensuring transparency in the management of the State’s

resources and in the resolute fight undertaken against

any practices that deny citizens the ability fully to

enjoy the fruits of their labour. That new law enables

us to better combat the various forms of illicit

enrichment, as today it is up to the accused to justify

the source of his wealth, not the accuser. This is a

revolutionary development in the context Benin’s

judicial and legislative mechanisms.

At the global level, we believe in the benefits of

multilateralism. That is why we see an ever greater

need for the United Nations, which should be given a

more assertive role in global governance — a United

Nations that would spearhead and lead of actions

aimed at promoting, within an inclusive framework,

comprehensive and sustainable solutions to the

manifold crises that are affecting the world and having

direct repercussions for human rights.

Our Government, throughout its term in the

Human Rights Council, intends, together with other

members of the Council, to work to promote and

protect universally recognized human rights, in a spirit

of cooperation. Benin firmly believes in the

universality, the indivisibility and the interdependence

of all human rights. It has faith in international

cooperation as the most effective means for promoting

and protecting all universally recognized human rights.

Let us recognize the ongoing efforts made in past

years by each of our countries, and collectively through

international organizations both regional and universal,

to manage the consequences of the various crises that

affect the world, particularly developing countries —

food, energy, financial, economic and environmental

crises.

However, the international economic situation

remains sluggish and uncertain. Indeed, the long-

awaited international economic recovery remains slow

and tenuous, while financial and stock market

turbulence continues to affect the international market.

Even today, more than two thirds of the

800 million people in the least developed countries

(LDCs) are living in poverty. The economic indicators

of those nations — which have made prodigious efforts

and heavy sacrifices to emerge from underdevelopment —

call for great prudence with regard to attaining the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Despite that rather bleak picture, we should

continue our efforts to ensure that our countries can

make progress in the spheres of good governance,

development, health, water, sanitation, primary

education for all and the empowerment of women and

youth.

The developing countries, particularly the LDCs,

need more than ever the transfer of modern technology

to increase and diversify production, take a greater part

in international trade and build the infrastructure

required for development. The developed countries and

the countries of the South that are experiencing

significant economic growth should establish facilities

to that end, as was agreed at the Fourth United Nations

Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in

Istanbul from 9 to 13 May 2011. The new programme

of action adopted at that Conference clearly reflects

our shared ambition to ensure that half those countries

move to the category of middle-income nations by

2020.

But however noble the goals set forth in the

Istanbul Programme of Action may be, they cannot be

achieved unless we respect the commitments already

made. For that reason, despite the cyclical difficulties

that characterize the current global economic situation,

we must remain firm in our resolve to move forward.

There is no stable financial support for the

development efforts of the LDCs without stable

sources of financing. Therefore the Government of

Benin strongly supports the innovative financing

initiative for development. We call on the nations of

the Group of 20 to take a closer look at that initiative

so that taxation of financial transactions becomes a

tangible reality during the weeks and months to come.

Threats related to climate change — particularly

the continuing deterioration of the environment and

drought, a source of famine in some parts of Africa —

and the recurrence of natural disasters greatly

undermine the future prospects of the LDCs.

Benin commends the United Nations preparatory

work for the Rio+20 Summit planned for Brazil in June

2012. We hope those meetings will lead to robust

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measures and decisions that match the perils that await

us.

The threats that curtail our ambitions stem from

other factors as well, such as the surge in transnational

organized crime, which is quite pernicious. My

country, Benin, has in recent months been the target of

extremely serious and savage acts of piracy, armed

robbery at sea and an influx of narcotics and

counterfeit medicines. This scourge has not spared

other countries of the Gulf of Guinea, which have also

been affected to varying degrees. We are particularly

distressed not only by the escalating number of such

attacks and the increasingly sophisticated methods the

pirates employ, but also and especially by the

expansion of their field of action and the immediate

effect of these attacks on port activities in Benin.

That situation complicates Benin’s efforts to find

the resources to handle the economic and financial

difficulties related to external shocks, the repercussions

of which severely impact the economy of small

countries like ours. It also seriously hampers our

ability to achieve the MDGs. The Government of

Benin is working with our neighbour Nigeria to

mobilize the countries of the Gulf of Guinea subregion

for a coordinated response by developing and

implementing a regional approach that involves joint

manoeuvres to be launched shortly by the armed forces

of Benin and Nigeria along the coast of Benin.

I call for the effective solidarity of States with

expertise in the area of maritime operations to come to

our assistance. Our resources are laughable, given the

magnitude of the threat. Clearly, the fight against

piracy requires technical and financial resources that a

developing State cannot provide alone. Here I would

like to thank the United States, France, China and other

countries that have already shown spontaneous

solidarity toward Benin.

The matters to which we need to find solutions

grow ever more complex. The United Nations must

continually improve its ability to closely define the

challenges facing humanity and to help States

formulate appropriate responses while preserving the

delicate balance of interests of all stakeholders, as

evidence of its efficiency and efficacy.

Along these lines, the negotiations to reform the

Security Council must be intensified with the adoption

of a specific timetable for their outcome, to be

credible. My sense is that 2015 could be considered a

deadline for completing negotiations and establishing

an inclusive Security Council that would redress the

historical injustice done to Africa with respect to its

permanent representation in that body, which crowns

the collective security system established by the United

Nations Charter.

Benin says no, no, and a third time no. The time

has come to put an end to an intolerable injustice that

excludes an entire continent — the only one, Africa —

from the supreme decision-making body with respect

to international security.

I am certain that completion of Security Council

reform will lead to greater trust and less suspicion in

the management of today’s great challenges in the

realm of international peace and security.

My country has always advocated strengthening

conflict prevention as a means to ensure international

peace and security at less cost. Efforts to that end must

be tirelessly pursued.

Prevention also includes effectively supporting

young people to prepare them for their responsibilities,

protect them from the risks they face and channel their

energies towards participation in the development of

their countries. We need to remove the obstacles that

deter or prevent them from fulfilling their potential and

divert them to risky behaviour of all kinds that harm

public order and the stability of States.

That is why my Government was firmly

committed to the holding of the United Nations High-

level Meeting on Youth. Now that it has taken place,

we need to do our utmost to ensure that its conclusions

on youth are translated into specific actions as soon as

possible. The great interest in that High-level Meeting

shown by young people around the world reflects their

will to become more involved in the search for

appropriate solutions to the challenges facing

humankind.

The Government of my country also believes that

it would be useful for the United Nations to hold youth

hearings every year, or every other year, to enable

youth from around the world to address a specific

subject, with broad participation of young delegates

and young leaders of non-governmental organizations.

Such regular mobilization of the world’s young people

in the heart of the United Nations would make our

world Organization more inclusive and closer to our

peoples.

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For us in Benin — and I quote the President of

the Republic, Mr. Boni Yayi — “there is no doubt that

only those societies that give young people

opportunities will be able to meet the challenges to

come”.

From 16 to 20 November 2010, Benin hosted an

international symposium on the fiftieth anniversary of

the independence of African countries. That meeting

culminated in the drafting of an important historic

document entitled “The Fiftieth Anniversary

Manifesto”. The African Union, at its most recent

summit, held in Malabo on 30 June and 1 July, adopted

the Manifesto as a reference document for the

renaissance of the African continent.

The Anniversary Manifesto details, in the context

of globalization, felicitous prospects with regard the

challenges facing Africa in the coming 50 years, which

will require new partnership approaches to promote

development and more effective collective action for

the renaissance of the continent. I firmly hope that the

Manifesto will be taken to heart equally by the United

Nations and lead to synergy and better coordination of

efforts to mobilize the international community for the

economic development of African countries so as to

meet the legitimate aspirations of the people of the

continent.

In conclusion, I want to note that recent history

teaches us that the greatest threats to international

peace and security come from peoples who have long

been frustrated. The Palestinian question makes the

Arab nation a frustrated nation. The United Nations

today has the means to find a just and lasting solution

to the Palestinian problem, and it must not fail to meet

its historic responsibility.

We support a free and independent Palestinian

State living in peaceful coexistence with the State of

Israel. Benin gives ongoing support to the one-land,

two-State solution and calls upon the Security Council

to facilitate the prompt resolution of the problem, to

bring relief to the Palestinian people, who endure daily

suffering.

We believe in the virtue of mediation. The choice

of that option as a way to resolve conflicts around the

world in this sixty-sixth session of the Assembly offers

a last chance for the two parties to re-engage in

dialogue to finally bring lasting peace to the Middle

East and to the world. The peace that we all so wish for

must be based on universal respect for the cardinal

principles and fundamental values contained in the

United Nations Charter.