Dominican Republic, 2001

I address this General Assembly grief-

stricken at the death of 260 people in the tragic

aviation accident yesterday in this city of New York.

Most of the individuals stricken were, like myself, of

Dominican nationality. Our profound appreciation goes

to the heads of State and Government, to Ministers and

to representatives who have expressed their

condolences to the people and Government of the

Dominican Republic at this tragedy. I am much obliged

to you, Sir.

On behalf of the Government of the Dominican

Republic I offer our congratulations to the President on

his election to the stewardship of this session of the

General Assembly, convinced as we are that he will

indeed succeed in guiding this session in the very best

interests, and for the good, of the international

community. Likewise, we offer our most heartfelt

congratulations to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, on his having been awarded the Nobel Peace

Prize. That honour, together with that bestowed upon

the United Nations, proves and ratifies the confidence

and recognition felt for the work being done by the

international community represented in this

Organization on behalf of all mankind.

Despite the fact that in September this year — on

the heels of the events of 11 September in New York

and in Washington, D.C. — the United Nations devoted

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a number of plenary meetings to the issue of terrorism,

it is still today impossible for us to separate this from

the other items that we must deal with on the agenda of

this session. The significance of these tragic

developments is of such magnitude that it is imperative

for us, as a matter of conscience, to stop and think in

greater depth about their complexity and their

repercussions on the history that it is our lot to have to

live through, and about the most relevant ways for us

to prevent and combat this scourge. That is so because

it is plain to see that in the time that has elapsed

between September and these days of November, we

have managed to go further and into greater depth,

gaining new insights about the terrorist phenomenon.

We absolutely agree with those who have already

spoken that terrorism cannot be justified in any way,

and that the excuses some would seek to advance to

validate these deeds based on the existence of certain

economic, social, cultural or political situations, are

unacceptable. However paradoxical it may seem to

some, the conviction has also been stressed that, while

terrorism is unjustifiable and inexcusable, it is in those

very situations where terrorism finds its breeding

grounds, where frustrations and lack of prospects can

fan hatred and irrationality, where being shut out and

having no hope, being shunted to the sidelines and

suffering from poverty can incubate and give birth and

impetus to twisted feelings of indiscriminate and

irrational vengeance.

Faced with the sad reality of the events of 11

September just past, we are absolutely convinced that

the direction set for us by the Millennium Summit was

the right one, that is, the path of peace and of

fellowship among people. At that historic gathering the

rationale was analysed and the framework set for

action by the international community to promote

human rights, security, disarmament, economic

development, equality of nations, and the fight against

hunger, poverty, disease, exclusion, social, racial and

gender prejudice, and the abandonment of children, the

disabled and the elderly. There can be no doubt that

these are the priority objectives for the prevention of

violence and crime, that is to say, for the struggle

against wars, against genocide and against terrorism.

The full weight, pain and inhumanity of the

provocations of 11 September must not divert us from

the goals that we set for ourselves in the Millennium

Summit Declaration, nor draw us into any

disproportionate violence. When last month we

addressed this Assembly we stated that the most prized

virtue, indeed the democratic essence of this

Organization, that is of the United Nations, is its

commitment and determination to uphold respect for

human rights. It follows that although we know that

terrorism is the antithesis of that virtue, we must not

therefore act to confront it while failing to live up to

the obligation to protect those very rights. While acting

in a legitimate reaction of self-defence, we should not

be overcome by a spirit of retaliation but should rather

seek to apply international law and justice. That is why

the Dominican Republic cannot ignore the political

measures that surely will also contribute to preventing

and combating terrorism. Thus, we must resolutely

support Security Council resolution 1373 (2001),

adopted on 28 September, and feel ourselves also

bound by earlier resolutions and covenants the United

Nations has worked out over time in its fight against

terrorism.

In 1945 the United Nations Charter highlighted as

its core concern the need to preserve peace. That was

only to be expected after a war that had brought death

to millions of human beings and had wreaked havoc in

the life of many nations. The time that has elapsed has

brought us to the conviction that there is no better way

to preserve peace than to do all that we possibly can to

prevent war. The United Nations is ever more

necessary to attain that end, because within it we find

the underpinnings for promoting a healthy and creative

understanding among nations. Our fidelity to the

foundations of the Organization must be backed up by

a shared political will leading to actions that prove

irrefutably that we believe in and live up to what we

say and promise.

The unanimous adoption of the Millennium

Declaration, inasmuch as it represented a profound

commitment by the vast majority of the world’s

leaders, amounted to a kind of rebirth and renewal of

the United Nations in coming to grips with the

problems and challenges confronting us in the twenty-

first century. In that Declaration it was decided to do

all that we could to establish a just and lasting peace in

accordance with the purposes and principles of the

United Nations Charter, and the determination was

reaffirmed to support all efforts aimed at ensuring the

sovereign equality of States, respect for their territorial

integrity and political independence and the right to

self-determination of peoples that remain under

colonial domination and foreign occupation.

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That pledge makes it incumbent upon us to bring

our full moral force to bear and to avail ourselves of all

possibilities afforded us by the machinery of the

Organization to resolve the conflicts that keep a

number of States around the globe in a state of war. We

have no doubt whatever that the conflict between Israel

and the Palestinian state must come to an end via

compliance with the multiple resolutions towards that

end that have emanated from the General Assembly,

thus honouring what we agreed upon in that

Millennium Declaration.

Moreover, we set for ourselves the purpose of

spurring forward reform of the United Nations Charter

and respecting the equality of the rights of nations.

Ratifying the Millennium Declaration means that there

can be no delay in turning the Security Council into a

body that would respond to the historic realities of the

present world and in establishing a logical set of

democratic balances based on those realities. It seems

to us fair for the non-permanent members to participate

in the Security Council via a rotational system that

would give to all the same opportunity. By the same

token, the Dominican Republic believes that it is also a

matter of equity and historical realism for us to accept

the Republic of China on Taiwan as a Member of the

United Nations. Geopolitical reasons must not override

situations of fact that have been recognized in bringing

other States into the United Nations.

In the Millennium Declaration the problem of

globalization was addressed with the following words:

“We recognize that developing countries

and countries with economies in transition face

special difficulties in responding to this central

challenge. Thus, only through broad and

sustained efforts to create a shared future, based

upon our common humanity in all its diversity,

can globalization be made fully inclusive and

equitable.” (resolution 55/2, para. 5)

As we speak, a Ministerial Meeting of the countries

members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is

being held in Doha, Qatar. Most countries with small

economies are rightfully calling for the fulfilment of all

the agreements of the Uruguay Round. We hope that

they will not be saddled with unbearable new burdens,

that their calls will be heard and that generous

solidarity and cooperation will be shown, as well as

understanding of the imbalances, differences and

asymmetries in the pace of development when

comparing rich countries to poor, small ones.

Among the objectives of the World Trade

Organization are respect for human rights,

strengthening democracy and preserving the

environment. All that will not be possible if the process

of globalization is not carried out with a sincere and

resolute determination to show understanding and to

provide cooperation and technical assistance to help

the majority of the nations on this planet to achieve

development. How are we to understand the deadlines

set by the World Trade Organization for attaining

certain economic objectives, in some cases as soon as

2003 and in others 2005, when the Millennium

Declaration, aware of the inequalities and difficulties

facing most nations, seeks to redress no sooner than

2015 — and only to a certain degree — the poverty of

millions upon millions of human beings whose income

is less than $1 a day? We hope that at the conferences

scheduled by the United Nations, such as the

International Conference on Financing for

Development and the World Summit on Sustainable

Development, light can be shed on these problems in

an effective way, yielding equitable measures designed

to reduce the inequalities separating peoples one from

the other.

Allow me finally to refer to an aspect most

intimately tied to respect for and recognition of human

rights, something that also coincides with the

Millennium Declaration inasmuch as it refers to the

demands of women and gender equality. Indeed, the

International Research and Training Institute for the

Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), based in the

Dominican Republic, is one of the few United Nations

institutions located in a developing country, and the

only international institute devoted to research on and

training for the advancement of women. The Secretary-

General, in his report to the General Assembly

presented in the Third Committee on 17 October 2001,

said that, notwithstanding the difficulties and

uncertainties that INSTRAW has encountered in the

last two years it has managed to obtain the minimum

resources for fulfilling the mandate assigned to it by

the Assembly and the Economic and Social Council.

He went on to say that inasmuch as the Institute

has begun to produce tangible results via the

information system and contact networks in creating an

awareness of gender issues, perhaps the Assembly

would wish to adopt a decision on how Institute would

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be able to operate productively and cost-effectively

beyond the year 2001.

Let us not let INSTRAW — that noble institution,

a pioneer in the advancement of women, particularly of

women in developing countries — perish for lack of

resources. Let us make a consistent and generous

gesture, demonstrating solidarity, so that the General

Assembly will ensure the continued existence of this

institution beyond this year of 2001, by allocating in

the United Nations budget the funds necessary for it to

continue to work towards its fruitful humanitarian

ends.