Canada, 2002

I would like, through

you, Sir, to congratulate Jan Kavan on his election as

President of the General Assembly and to assure him of

our delegation's cooperation as he undertakes his

important responsibilities this year.

Yesterday, people the world over paused to

remember the victims of the tragic events of one year

ago. I had the opportunity of attending the interfaith

service yesterday, where the President of the General

Assembly and the Secretary-General spoke movingly

about how the commemoration of that event must

reinforce this institution's vocation as the forum

dedicated to world peace.

Canadians entirely subscribe to the sentiments

that were there expressed. The attacks of last

September were a cruel and devastating blow to the

United States and, indeed, to us all. I am proud to say

that Canadians stood in solidarity with our closest ally

at that terrible moment. When the terrorists struck that

day, they were also attacking the very principles of

international law, security and humanitarianism that are

embodied in the United Nations Charter. We believe

that our ultimate response to the challenges of 11

September is thus to rededicate ourselves to our beliefs

and to the principles upon which the United Nations

was founded.

(spoke in French)

Now, more than ever, the main challenge for each

of our countries and for the United Nations is to

manage our interdependence. Environmental

degradation and endemic poverty, the proliferation of

disease and epidemics, the increasing threat of

terrorism and organized crime these are serious,

complex issues that no one nation can confront alone.

To succeed, our countries must work together, while

also drawing on the expertise of civil society. Such

interaction is a formidable challenge and one that the

United Nations is best suited to meet.

Recognition of our interdependence in no way

threatens our respective sovereignty. In fact, it gives

each of us even more tangible means to act and to

succeed through the sharing of our information,

resources and initiatives.

The principles of multilateralism are articulated

with vigour and resolve in the Millennium Declaration,

which assigns a decisive role to the United Nations

Charter and rightly so, for it is much more than our

constitution. Indeed, it is our heart and soul. It

reconciles national interests with the highest moral and

ethical standards that must govern the actions of each

State. For us, the Charter is the key to unlock the door

to the world of peace, security and justice that we hope

to build.

The terrorist threat leads us to work together and,

tragically, illustrates the extent of our interdependence.

It demonstrates the urgency of finding solutions that

are equal to the task at hand and whose effectiveness

hinges on new partnerships among our countries. Our

reaction to terrorism must be steadfast, to be sure, and

we must make no concession to the agents of terror, but

if we want our reaction to be truly effective, it must

enhance both national security and respect for basic

rights. In fact, democratic governance and security find

their most solid foundation in societies in which rights

and freedoms are respected and where, as a result,

dissidence more often than not takes constructive,

rather than violent forms.

What is more, the fight against terrorism

challenges us to find ways to open our hearts and

minds to the diversity of our world, its cultures and its

religions. Now more than ever, we must promote

dialogue, understanding and tolerance with respect to

other people. In this way, we will help to eradicate at

its source much of the pain that all too often translates

26

into rising hatred, extremism and fanaticism of all

sorts.

Multilateralism has definitely proven its worth

over the past year. For example, dozens of countries

have offered their resources and experience to

Afghanistan as members of the coalition against

terrorism or of the Afghanistan Support Group. They

have also contributed to the various United Nations

programmes seeking to establish political stability and

representative Government.

The G8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of

Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, concluded

at Kananaskis in June, is another concrete example of

our joint commitment to battling terrorism and other

threats to peace. Canada, as Chair of the G8, was a

strong advocate of this major effort designed to

strengthen international security and strategic stability.

Canada will continue to work to make this initiative a

success.

At all times, Canada is ready to offer its support

wherever it is needed and we encourage the

international community to continue to do likewise. We

also believe that the multilateral approach is useful in

addressing the obvious challenges posed by sustainable

development. In this regard, the consensus that

emerged from the Monterrey Conference calls on all

countries to work together to forge broader

partnerships between developed and developing

countries.

In this regard, the situation in Africa cries out for

action. For too long now, inaction has taken a heavy

toll in terms of human suffering. However, hope is

beginning to shine through. The New Partnership for

Africa's Development, devised by African leaders

determined to meet the challenges of self-development

and endorsed at Canada's urging-during the G8 summit

in Kananaskis, seeks to provide the people of Africa

with conditions founded on good governance and

democracy, while ending their marginalization and

offering them the chance to achieve prosperity.

As we meet here today, the Israeli-Palestinian

crisis remains at its all too familiar impasse, despite the

fact that everyone knows what is needed to restore

peace. We all know that the targeting of civilians must

stop, that the security of Israel must be assured, that

settlement-building must end, that the humanitarian

needs of the Palestinian people must be met, that the

Palestinian Authority must reform itself democratically

and that the peace negotiations must resume. We all

know, in sum, that a road to a peaceful future must be

built, a future in which two independent, viable, secure

and democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by

side in peace and security.

Canada calls on the Palestinian Authority and the

Government of Israel to start back on the road to peace.

The people and the Government of Canada will

accompany them and support them every step of the

way.

We also meet here today in an atmosphere of

deepening tension caused by Iraq's continued flouting

of the will of the international community and by the

differing opinions that prevail around us on how to

address this situation and bring the crisis to a close. Let

there be no doubt: at the origin of today's tensions is

the persistent refusal of the Iraqi Government to

comply with its obligations to us all under Security

Council resolutions. For the past seven years, Iraq has

refused to demonstrate that it has abandoned its

chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes,

and it remains even today unwilling to do so. But let

there also be no doubt that bringing Iraq into

conformity with its international obligations must be

the work of us all acting together.

We believe that our ability to find a solution to

this challenge, one that is consistent with and, indeed,

that reinforces the international framework that we

have so painstakingly constructed since the last

devastating World War, will define this generation and

create precedents that may determine the future

direction of the world. It is with this in mind that

Canada welcomes the powerful message delivered here

today by President Bush affirming his country's

commitment to work with the Security Council in

resolving this serious threat to our collective peace and

security.

We therefore urge Iraq to seize this opportunity

without delay, and to grant immediate and

unconditional access to United Nations weapons

inspectors in compliance with its Security Council

obligations. The onus is clearly on the Government of

Iraq to take this step now. The onus is equally on us to

ensure that our international institutions emerge from

this crisis reinforced and strengthened.

Such institutions may well be new, as in the case

of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a body that

has the potential to ensure the integrity of our

27

international legal system, upon which so much

depends for the peaceful resolution of our differences.

This week I had the privilege of attending the inaugural

meeting of the Assembly of States Parties here in New

York with many in this Hall and was encouraged by the

depth of international political and public support that

exists for this important new body.

The people of the world want an end to impunity.

They insist that their leaders no longer turn a blind eye

to gross violations of international humanitarian law

like those we witnessed in the past century. Immunity

from the law is simply no longer acceptable. The States

parties to the ICC Statute are more than willing to put

into action the proposition that we can best enforce

rules of law that we have arrived at by our common

accord those indeed that we are willing to have

invoked against us as well. For the 79 States parties

that attended the Assembly of States Parties and the

many observer States close to ratifying the Rome

Statute, our objective remains to work resolutely and

cooperatively to make the Court a reality.

The International Criminal Court represents a

major change in the way the world works. The times

we live in demand many such innovative approaches.

For example, in response to a call from the Secretary-

General, Canada, along with others, launched the

independent International Commission on Intervention

and State Sovereignty. Its landmark report, entitled

`The Responsibility to Protect', has shifted the

parameters of the debate from divisions over

intervention toward agreement on the responsibility of

a State to protect its people. The report holds that

sovereignty entails responsibilities as well as rights:

that sovereignty is responsibility. When States are

unable or unwilling to afford protection to their own

people, the international community has a

responsibility to step in temporarily and to provide that

protection. The report represents, in our view, an

opportunity for us to reinforce the United Nations in its

collective security mission. It also provides an

occasion to affirm the fundamental norm-building role

of the United Nations and to find better ways to

prevent and, where necessary, alleviate human

suffering.

Part of our shared responsibility to raise the

credibility of multilateral institutions is to address their

shortcomings, including those of the United Nations

itself. We are greatly encouraged that the Secretary-

General and his Deputy, Louise FrÈchette, are

proposing far-reaching organizational reforms. They

can count on Canada's support. We also support reform

in other areas, notably in respect to the nearly

moribund Disarmament Commission and its glacial

progress on issues of non-proliferation, arms control

and disarmament, where recent gains such as the

United Nations Programme of Action on small arms

and light weapons and the negotiations on an

international code of conduct on missiles are being

overshadowed by a myriad of compliance problems.

Certainly, there are problems with multilateralism

and the institutions we have created, but that should

not cause us to doubt the desirability of an effective

rules-based system. Our objective should be to address

these shortcomings where we see them and reform

what we must, and in the process answer the criticisms

of those suspicious of an interdependent world. We will

persuade the sceptics only by building better

institutions to implement the international rule of law

and globally arrived-at solutions to our common

problems.

Let us therefore embrace cooperation, not

division. Let us expand our sovereignty by pooling it.

Let us be partners in the larger enterprise of building

peace and freedom. No one country can meet all the

challenges of our times on its own. Let us have

confidence in our common humanity. Let us make the

United Nations our principal instrument of peace. I

pledge to the Assembly today that Canada will spare no

effort in so doing.