Canada, 2005

The

sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations is cause for

inspiration, concern and action. It is a source of

inspiration because 60 years of collective action for

peace and development is an anniversary to celebrate.

And what better time to do so than on the International

Day of Peace? It is a cause for concern because the

challenges, far from diminishing, have continued to

grow, and we have not reached a consensus on a whole

range of essential reforms. Some important

components are missing. It is a call for action because

all of us here have recognized that the United Nations

remains an indispensable instrument and because

change is still needed. We have no choice: we must

move forward.

But we have come a long way. Two years ago, the

United Nations was in a sorry state indeed; the

situation in Iraq not only had divided the membership

but had left deep scars within our institution. That is

why I pay tribute to the Secretary-General for having

established the High-level Panel on Threats,

Challenges and Change, whose report (A/59/565) has

truly revolutionized how all of us think about the

Organization’s future.

Jeffrey Sachs and his colleagues also delivered to

us a remarkable document on “Investing in

Development” — development that Canada has done

so much to promote ever since the era of Lester

Pearson. In “In larger freedom” (A/59/2005), the

Secretary-General summarized that work with clarity

and discernment and set out an ambitious plan for us.

We have not adopted all of his recommendations — far

from it. We could have, and should have, done better.

The summit is by no means the end of the debate. To

the contrary, we have a mandate to continue our efforts

and to make this sixtieth-anniversary year a year of

reform.

We are all aware of the risks of unilateralism or

piecemeal multilateralism. But we are not sufficiently

aware that humanity’s future lies in accepting the

inextricable links among security, development and

human rights.

To predict the future is to understand the past, so

it behoves us all to look back over the 60 years of our

Organization. The contribution of the United Nations

to the progress of humanity is indisputable. The

Organization’s successes, more than its failures, show

us the path to take so that we can meet current and

future challenges.

Let us not forget that in 1945 the whole world

was rising from ruins and States were determined that

that would never happen again. So it is not surprising

that the first objective expressed in the Charter of the

United Nations centred on security so as to “save

succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which

twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to

mankind”.

We have known the horrors of war over the past

60 years, but we have avoided descending into the hell

of a third world war. How did we do that? At the

United Nations, the super-Powers had no choice. Under

the aegis of the Organization, they concluded major

disarmament and arms control agreements. In sum, the

role played by the United Nations in ending the stand

off between East and West is one of the greatest

successes of the past century.

(spoke in English)

Sixty years ago, the nations meeting in San

Francisco set the second objective: to reaffirm faith in

fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of

the human person, in the equal rights of men and

women and of nations large and small. The founders of

the United Nations foresaw that if we were to avoid the

conflicts of the past, the world of tomorrow needed to

be more human. With that in mind, Canada’s John

Humphrey worked hard to help draft the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights.

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We have become ever more demanding about the

protection of human rights — including women’s

rights — as well we should be. We are duty-bound to

prevent or combat flagrant violations, which still

plague the world. The Commission on Human Rights

has played a key role in that respect, but its serious

shortcomings unfortunately eclipse its valuable

contributions, necessitating its replacement.

Mr. Mwakwere (Kenya), Vice-President, took the

Chair.

History shows that democracy and human rights

go hand in hand. The United Nations has entrenched

human rights through a series of legal instruments that

Governments concluded under the Organization’s aegis

and has extended a range of protections, such as

conventions on eliminating discrimination against

women, on children’s rights and against torture.

The United Nations remains a key forum for

debating human rights failures around the world. And

it is in that area that the Organization has played a

leading role in changing global culture, fostering the

acceptance of new standards and setting criteria for

judging Governments’ actions. That is another

remarkable success for the United Nations.

The third objective of the Charter called on

Members to establish conditions under which justice

and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and

other sources of international law can be maintained.

For 60 years, the United Nations has been at the heart

of a vast network of bilateral and regional treaties

covering nearly the gamut of international relations. In

so doing, the Organization has helped to bring about an

infinitely more integrated world where interactions

among peoples take place in a predictable fashion and

within a defined regulatory framework. This global

legal framework is the foundation of peace. Where the

framework has not yet taken shape, conflicts multiply.

The world needs the United Nations to perfect this

tremendous asset.

The fourth objective of the Charter touched at the

heart of our debate today on the Millennium

Development Goals, calling on members to promote

social progress and better standards of life in larger

freedom. That message was prophetic at the time. The

founders of the United Nations already foresaw that

beyond the massive destruction of 1939 to 1945, a

fundamental poverty afflicted almost every country and

region in the world — a poverty that had to be fought

unwaveringly.

Today, we salute their hope and their desire to

create a better, safer and more prosperous world.

Among the surest ways in which to create that type of

world are the growing participation of women in

economic, civil and political life and the emergence of

a middle class, both of which justify hope for real

progress on the road to growth. Those promising trends

need to be accelerated.

The United Nations has played a fundamental

role on that front. Its specialized agencies and affiliates

have helped set development objectives and have

delivered the bulk of international aid. Thanks to those

efforts, the world is a better place to live in today. And

today, five years after the Millennium Development

Goals were adopted, the United Nations is where the

world’s nations recall their common commitment to

development, with a keener understanding, since the

Monterrey summit, of the obligations that we all must

bear.

With respect to the four major objectives of the

Charter, comparing ideals against reality inevitably

brings disappointment. For each major step forward,

there have been many failures, in particular the absence

of a collective will to adapt our institution to current

needs.

Where are we now, and what do we need to do to

better respond to our hopes? The starting point is

clearly the document (resolution 60/1) approved by

heads of State or Government last week. That

document is a foundation on which, with a great deal

of political will on the part of all Members, we can

think of renewing the United Nations. In any case, we

have a working framework for the years to come.

I am especially pleased that the document

includes strong references to development and to the

values and principles that inspire us. The declaration

also provides clear, important directions on United

Nations management, transparency and accountability.

But we need to go much further in that direction.

I would now like to address some of the points

raised in the declaration. First is the “responsibility to

protect”. In recognizing that responsibility, this body

has taken a step that goes beyond utterances of “Never

again” — a step that brings us closer to making

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genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity

things of the past. We now need to implement it.

Secondly, with respect to the Human Rights

Council, Canada is disappointed that members did not

show greater courage. We have not established the

Council; we have only the mandate to work on that

issue this year. We need such a Council because it will

help us take an in-depth look at situations of concern to

us, such as that in Iran. Canada’s position is clear: the

Council must be a permanent body, with members

elected by a two-thirds majority, on the basis of

specific criteria, and it must provide for a system of

peer review, starting with the countries that will sit on

the Council. I am pleased, however, that the High

Commissioner for Human Rights will have a bigger

budget.

(spoke in French)

Thirdly, let me turn to the Peacebuilding

Commission. Here again, our work is unfinished. A

reference to a sequential relationship between the

Security Council and the Economic and Social Council

could have been a solution to the question of relations

between the Commission and existing bodies.

The fourth point is global health. The United

Nations must make every effort to protect threatened

populations. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria still

plague the world, to our collective shame. We have a

shared responsibility to eliminate those diseases; we

can and must do better. We need to prepare for

pandemics, including avian flu, on which Canada

recently hosted an international meeting of health

ministers.

Fifthly, with respect to terrorism, the attacks that

took place this past summer in London, in Egypt and

elsewhere make it more necessary than ever that there

be a global convention in the war on terror.

But we must also bear in mind that the overall

global security architecture must be strengthened, from

light weapons to weapons of mass destruction,

including the whole range of disarmament and arms

control measures. We can certainly be heartened by the

progress that is being made in the Middle East, Haiti,

the Sudan and Afghanistan, high-priority regions for

Canada and where United Nations action is often

exemplary. But that success remains fragile, and the

commitment of the United Nations must continue.

Sixthly, concerning the environment, if we want

to leave future generations a planet that is a healthy

place to live, we need jointly to manage its

environment. In less than two months, Montreal will

play host to a climate-change conference that should

represent a milestone in terms of our common thinking

and action in the face of that phenomenon. We will be

discussing the progress made in implementing the

Kyoto Protocol and new possibilities for action in the

decades to come.

Let me conclude with a few thoughts on what the

final document does not say, or at least does not say

well.

First, on disarmament, it is deplorable that a

United Nations outcome document could contain not

one paragraph on disarmament and non-proliferation at

a time when we are debating Iran’s and North Korea’s

nuclear programmes.

Secondly, on women’s rights, it is deeply

regrettable that the document could not even reiterate

as forcefully the commitments made 10 years ago in

Beijing or Cairo on women’s rights and gender

equality, despite the fact that they lie at the very heart

of the Millennium Development Goals. All Member

States need to implement their provisions and move

from promises to action.

Thirdly, on the International Criminal Court,

Canada regrets the absence of any reference in the

document to the International Criminal Court, as well

as its silence on commitments to end impunity. It is

imperative that the United Nations address the issue of

impunity. Two years ago, when the Rome Statute came

into force, the Secretary- General clearly stated that

“the time is at last coming when humanity no longer

has to bear impotent witness to the worst atrocities,

because those tempted to commit such crimes will

know that justice awaits them”.

We urge all States to sign and ratify the Rome

Statute. Together, we will break the cycle of impunity,

and justice will be done for the victims of such crimes.

We are meeting in New York today to help solve

humanity’s problems. But while this Hall has witnessed

too many unresolved debates and far too much costly

inaction, the challenges and problems we discuss lie far

afield. Over the years we have confronted grave

challenges in the Sudan, Haiti, Kosovo and Rwanda,

and in many other places. In some cases, we can hold

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our heads high; in others, we need to recognize, and

learn from, our mistakes and failures. I think we have

charted the course, but we still have far to travel.