Finland, 2002

One year after the

terrible attacks of 11 September, we commemorate the

innocent victims of those crimes. The best way we can

honour their memory is by taking up and acting upon

all the many-faceted challenges that terrorism and

other threats pose to human security. The world has

changed irrevocably, although we cannot as yet say

exactly how. We do not even know if our immediate

reaction a year ago has been successfully put to use to

make the world a better and safer place in which to

live.

Afghanistan is no longer a base for global

terrorism, and joint efforts to uproot terrorist networks

are making progress, but the threat of new attacks has

not been eliminated. At some stage we will also reach

the limit of what can be done through military force

and police action alone to stop terrorism. Even where

the use of military force is clearly necessary and

justified, as it was against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, it

is never an adequate answer. In Afghanistan we are

now faced with the need to use a full range of civilian

crisis management capabilities, as well as with the

need for a long-term commitment to reconstruction and

the development of a stable and drug-free economy,

and to enable democracy and respect for human rights

to take root in a country that has suffered from war and

strife for decades. And Afghanistan is only one of

many places in today's world where such a

commitment from the international community is

needed.

We must also come to grips with conditions in

which some people can regard even terrorism as

justified. To say that does not imply any understanding

for indiscriminate terrorism. Terrorism is a crime

whose perpetrators must be brought to justice

irrespective of their motives.

It is vitally important to underline the need to

strengthen the rule of law. When terrorists attack

democracy, humanity and justice, we should not and

cannot fight it with means that are in conflict with

those basic values that the terrorists are attacking. It is

time to review frankly the measures taken after 11

25

September and to rectify any excesses that are not

acceptable in societies based on freedom and justice.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been

in gestation for many years, and its creation can be

regarded as one of the major achievements of the

United Nations. It was not created primarily to deal

with terrorism, but the importance of the ICC has

obviously grown, not diminished, since 11 September.

The ICC is a long-standing goal of Finland and the

European Union, and we must not allow it to be

undermined. The ICC must not become an issue of

international dispute. We must safeguard it as an

effective and independent judicial institution so that we

can convince those States that remain outside it to join

us in making it truly universal.

Terrorism is only one of many new threats to our

security that are no longer linked to the threat of

traditional war between nation-States.

In a world where our entire national defence

policies and our efforts to build collective security

have been based on the need to wage or deter

traditional war, we now need new and fresh thinking. It

is not only that military power has become partly

impotent in delivering security. It is also evident that

we cannot contain these threats through isolation or by

acting unilaterally.

The United Nations and its Security Council have

global responsibility for the maintenance of

international peace and security. Human lives are

equally valuable all over the world. People in crisis

situations need the protection and the action of the

international community. Individual and minor crises

can turn into major threats to international peace and

security. Member States must give the United Nations

the wherewithal that is necessary for meaningful action

in preventing crises, managing conflicts and building

peace after conflicts. Action needs true commitment to

multilateralism, which must exceed national interests

and unilateralism. Multilateralism cannot be exercised

à la carte whenever convenient. Global interests require

global action.

An undeniable success story in the history of the

United Nations is the Organization's peacekeeping

activities. Countless lives have been saved by United

Nations peacekeeping operations. But we know, too,

that possibly even more lives have been lost if and

when the United Nations has not been able or allowed

to operate. The reason has been the lack of political

will or the prevalence of national interests in the

Security Council. I would like to reiterate that the

Security Council is mandated to act on behalf of all

Member States.

The concept of peacekeeping has evolved

considerably during the existence of the United Nations

from purely military operations into versatile, complex

and continuous efforts that extend in some cases to

nation-building. A growing element in them is civilian

crisis management. This should be further

strengthened. Crisis management in its whole

continuum should also be based on broad cooperation

and compatibility. Present complex crises are often too

demanding for any one organization to deal with. All

regional organizations should work closely together

with the United Nations and other organizations

sharing the burden of maintaining international peace

and security.

The Middle East remains the region where our

concerns are most concentrated. The conflict between

Israel and Palestine has, if anything, worsened. We

support all efforts of the “quartet” to get the peace

process working again on the basis of the relevant

United Nations resolutions. We support the Palestinian

administration's effort at reform, which we have rightly

demanded must be undertaken, and we expect a one-

hundred-per-cent effort from it to stop all terrorist

activities. At the same time, the Palestinians must be

given the prospect of a clear commitment and a

timetable for the creation of an independent and viable

Palestinian State. The Palestinian administration has to

be given the resources and conditions with which it can

fulfil the requirements of what the international

community demands of it and of what the Palestinian

people have the right to expect.

Without progress in the Middle East peace

process, any military action in the region can have

extremely dangerous and unforeseen consequences. It

is imperative that efforts to get Iraq to abide

unconditionally with all the resolutions of the Security

Council remain the responsibility of the United

Nations.

When the United Nations was founded, the

world's population was 2.4 billion. Now we are more

than 6 billion, and population growth, while slowly

levelling off, will bring that number to at least 10

billion before stabilizing. This is a huge challenge for

mankind. We have only a few decades, at most, to

26

bring our economic, production and societal models to

conform to the exigencies of sustainable development.

But this is not only an environmental challenge.

Nations and peoples must learn to live and to act

together in an ever-shrinking world where no one can

manage on his own.

In a rapidly globalizing world, the need for keen

international cooperation becomes all the more evident.

Decisions taken in one part of the world have many

effects elsewhere. This can quickly lead to an ever-

widening gap and fragmentation between countries and

within countries. Comprehensive implementation of the

Millennium Declaration will make an important impact

on narrowing that gap. A positive example of the

means we can employ to meet the goals of the

Declaration is the New Partnership for Africa's

Development (NEPAD), which demonstrates the

genuine desire of the African nations to take

responsibility for their future. Finland attaches great

importance to the implementation of NEPAD.

Globalization has wealth-creating potential

through the international division of labour and a more

efficient use of resources. It can increase individual

freedom and make societies more open. But, on the

other hand, it is incontestable that globalization has not

benefited everybody or every country in an equal

manner. Globalization can bring risks and threats to the

environment, core labour standards and trade unions,

and it can challenge national and minority cultures. It

can also be socially damaging. On the whole, however,

globalization is not only inevitable but also potentially

positive. The United Nations has an important role in

managing and harnessing globalization for the benefit

of all. We the Member States must fully participate in

that work.