Ireland, 2006

Let me begin by

congratulating you, Madam President, on your

appointment and assuring you of Ireland’s full support

for the coming year.

This session of the General Assembly is the last

under the stewardship of Secretary-General Annan. I

salute his achievements and pay tribute to his

leadership. He has carried out his heavy

responsibilities with wisdom and dignity. He can step

down from office fully satisfied with the service he has

given to the peoples of the United Nations. I was proud

last year to act as one of his envoys in the vital reform

agenda that he pioneered.

Since the 2005 World Summit significant

progress has been made. The Peacebuilding

Commission and the Human Rights Council have been

established. But there is more to be done. Management

reform is essential to revitalizing the Organization and

ensuring that the Secretariat can focus on the priorities

we all share. It is in the interest of us all — developed

and developing countries alike — for it to succeed.

The continuing stalemate over the reform of the

Security Council leaves it insufficiently representative

of the world as it now is. That serves those who for

their own reasons would challenge its legitimacy. This

situation cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely, so

I welcome recent efforts to restart negotiations on

possible options likely to win widespread support.

The true test of the United Nations is, however,

not the efficiency of its structures, but the effectiveness

of its actions. As the Secretary-General said last week,

three key challenges face the world: first, achieving

sustainable development and the elimination of poverty

and disease; secondly, the promotion of universal

human rights and the rule of law; and, thirdly, ensuring

security, the prevention of conflict and the ending of

war.

In setting our own national aid target of meeting

the goal of 0.7 per cent of gross national income by

2012, three years ahead of the European Union

schedule, Ireland has put the Millennium Development

Goals at the heart of its aid programme, with a special

focus on Africa, poverty reduction, tackling hunger,

and HIV/AIDS. Last week we published a White Paper

which sets out clearly and in detail how we aim to

achieve our development objectives. Sustainable

development must include addressing the immense

global threat of climate change. Development is also

the key to addressing the enormous challenges posed

by migration.

Ireland is deeply committed to Africa. Despite its

huge problems, there are encouraging signs. We are

inspired by the efforts to shape new institutions and

more cohesive societies in the aftermath of conflicts

and cruelties in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Rwanda,

Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ireland is honoured to assist these and other countries

through their difficult transitions, including through aid

and the presence of our troops in the United Nations

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Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). We particularly support

the efforts of the African Union to bring peace and

prosperity to Africa, helping to place Africans firmly in

control of their own destiny.

However, not all of our collective efforts have

met with success. The suffering of the people of Darfur

shames the world. There has been human tragedy there

on a massive scale, with the intimidation, rape and

murder of hundreds of thousands of innocents and the

displacement of vast numbers from their homes. Just

two months ago I visited a displacement camp myself,

in Aboushouk in Darfur. I have seen how precarious

the lives of the people are there and also their

determination to return home to a better future for

themselves and their children.

The people of Darfur have three essential needs.

First, humanitarian aid must be delivered safely and

without restrictions. Secondly, there must be an

international peacekeeping force with a robust

mandate. As set out by the Security Council, it should

be a well-equipped and substantial United Nations

force. I again appeal strongly to the Sudanese

Government to agree to the deployment of such a

force, and to all those with influence on it to persuade

it so to do. I cannot emphasize enough the urgency of

this. Pending the arrival of a United Nations force, the

African Union force — whose continuation I

welcome — should have the resources necessary to

play a more effective role. Thirdly, long-term security

can only be guaranteed by the full implementation of

the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Last year the World Summit defined the

international community’s responsibility to protect

populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic

cleansing and crimes against humanity should national

authorities fail to do so. It would be a disgrace if this

major advance became an exercise in empty rhetoric.

The Government of Sudan has fundamental

responsibility for the safety of its own people. The

international community must find ways to persuade it

to live up to that responsibility, if need be including

further measures against it. We cannot indefinitely

stand by and watch with horror from the sidelines.

There can be no lasting development or security

without full respect for human rights. The human rights

of the most vulnerable are especially important. I

strongly welcome the recent conclusion of negotiations

on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities. The Human Rights Council must, in

developing its new ways of working, build on the

achievements of its predecessor. It must demonstrate

that it can provide strong leadership, particularly in

dealing effectively with grave human rights abuses.

The human rights situation in Burma/Myanmar remains

particularly grave. I again call on the regime to move

towards democracy and to release all political

prisoners, in particular Aung San Suu Kyi.

The centrality of the United Nations to

international peace and security is once again

underlined by the issues dominating the debate in the

Assembly. The question is not whether the United

Nations is relevant, but, rather, whether it can respond

effectively to all the situations which clamour for its

attention. The Peacebuilding Commission adds an

important new dimension. It must be properly

resourced, and Ireland is pleased to be contributing

€10 million to that fund.

The single greatest challenge to international

peace and security is the situation in the Middle East.

The dreadful events of recent months have again

brought before the eyes of the world the continuing

suffering being borne by the peoples of the region.

Frustration at the long agony of the Palestinian people

creates and sharpens wider divisions across the world.

A comprehensive settlement of the interrelated

problems of the region is more urgently required than

at any time in the past 60 years.

In Lebanon there are signs of hope, but there is

no room for complacency. Security Council resolution

1701 (2006) offers a path to a stable peace, and good

progress is being made in its implementation. European

countries in particular have responded well to the call

for contributions to the United Nations Interim Force

in Lebanon (UNIFIL) II. Ireland will very shortly be in

a position to offer its own contribution to that force.

But the conflict between the Israelis and the

Palestinians will continue to generate surges of conflict

across the region until it is resolved. Any illusion that

there can be a unilateral or a military solution has

surely been shattered. This is a conflict about the

sharing of space. The only solution lies in a negotiated

outcome. It is time for a major international effort to

launch serious negotiations for a settlement — the

establishment of two sovereign democratic States

living together in peace and security.

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But to achieve peace there must be partners for

peace. Ireland strongly supports the continuing efforts

of President Abbas to create a national unity

government committed to the peace process and

reflecting the Quartet principles. If he succeeds the

international community must be generous and creative

in response. Israel’s absolute right to exist in peace and

security should be unchallenged. But, not least in its

own interests, Israel must engage seriously and openly

with the Palestinians. It must cease all activities, in

particular the expansion of settlements, which are

against international law and which make a lasting

peace harder to attain.

Ireland shares the Secretary-General’s continuing

outrage at the failure of last year’s Summit to make

any reference to nuclear disarmament. It is simply folly

to let this issue languish. In the next review of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

we must do better. Ireland will work with like-minded

partners to keep this issue on the agenda. Dr. Hans Blix

has already offered us a range of fresh and practical

ideas from which we can draw. The world is right to

insist on nuclear non-proliferation, but progress on

disarmament would make that insistence still more

compelling. Ireland, with its European partners, wants

to see a diplomatic solution to the issue of Iran’s

nuclear programme, and we call on Iran to respond

positively and rapidly to the wide-ranging proposals

that have been put to it. We equally support efforts to

renew the six-party talks on North Korea.

The world must also act to reduce the supply of

small arms and light weapons, which facilitate the

escalation of local tensions into all-out conflicts.

Ireland strongly supports the negotiation of an arms

trade treaty. The disturbing reports from Lebanon also

highlight the need for further restrictions on the use of

cluster bombs.

On behalf of my Government, I pay particular

tribute to Prime Minister Blair for his commitment and

dedication to the peace process in Northern Ireland. He

and my Prime Minister, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, have

devoted almost 10 years to driving it forward. Credit is

also due to the parties in Northern Ireland, who,

despite deep and abiding divisions reaching far back

into our history, are committed to addressing those

divisions purely within the political arena.

In Northern Ireland the word has finally replaced

the weapon as the way to resolve disputes. The

Northern Ireland peace process is now at an important

juncture. We have worked hard to implement the 1998

Good Friday Agreement, but its capstone, a sustained

power-sharing government, has for far too long proved

elusive. The British and Irish Governments are

demanding that the political parties there agree by

24 November this year to form such a government.

That deadline is real, reflecting our shared belief that

drift and uncertainty on the political front are not in the

interests of peace and reconciliation, and cannot be

sustained.

If the parties fail to agree, both Governments will

deepen their cooperation to deliver improvements in

peoples’ daily lives. But that is not our preferred

option. We want local politicians in Northern Ireland

taking responsibility for the issues that concern their

people. The conditions for a power-sharing government

have never been more favourable. It is what the people

want. Inevitably it will happen some time. But if it

does not happen in November the opportunity may not

come again for a considerable time.

The great Irish writer George Bernard Shaw once

said that making war was hard, but that making peace

was infinitely more arduous. Peacebuilding and

conflict resolution are ultimately about psychology —

addressing fears, perceptions and beliefs about the past

and about the future. A conflict does not begin when

the trigger is pulled; it begins in the heart and mind of

the person who pulls that trigger. We have learned this

at first hand in Ireland. We know the pain and

difficulty of dealing with the legacy of division. But

over the years we have learned some things about

building peace, encouraging reconciliation, improving

human rights and the rule of law and addressing social

and economic alienation.

Our own national experience reinforces what we

have learned at the United Nations and from our

development programme. That is why we have just

established in Ireland an Irish Conflict Analysis and

Resolution Support Unit. It will seek to harness our

experience and help to share it. It will work closely

with the Peacebuilding Commission. We do not

overestimate what we can do, nor do we underestimate

the difficulty of peacebuilding, but I genuinely believe

that our track record means that we can bring

something distinctive to the table. I would encourage

all countries represented here to find ways of sharing

their own experience and exchanging and enhancing

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our collective knowledge of how to prevent and resolve

conflict.

Since the establishment of the United Nations the

world has been spared a repeat of the catastrophic

global conflicts that made the first half of the twentieth

century the bloodiest era in human history. But the

challenges ahead of us remain grave and pressing.

When we met here last year we agreed an ambitious

agenda for the twenty-first century. We have made

progress since then, but there is still so much to do. We

must now focus on making our ambitions real.