Libya, 2006

My delegation has already congratulated

the President on her assumption of her high office. I

would like to reaffirm our confidence in her ability to

accomplish her task and to lead our deliberations to a

successful conclusion. I also wish to express our

gratitude to her predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, Foreign

Minister of Sweden, for his conduct of the work of the

General Assembly during the previous session. Lastly,

we are indebted to the Secretary-General for his efforts

to advance the process of reform at the United Nations

and fulfilment of the purposes and principles of its

Charter.

Last year our efforts were focused on reform.

Some progress has now been made, and we have

established the Human Rights Council and the

Peacebuilding Commission. However, there is still a

long way to go, since any reform that does not include

the Security Council and enhance the role of the

General Assembly will be of little value and will not

meet the expectations of our peoples.

Unfortunately, our quest for reform of the

Security Council has met with further encroachment by

the Council on the functions and powers with which

the General Assembly was endowed by the Charter. It

is therefore incumbent on the Assembly to take

immediate action to prevent the Council from

infringing further on its authority.

We also take this opportunity to call on the

permanent members of the Security Council not to

hamper the reform efforts but rather to promote a

genuine reform of the Organization. Such reform

should place the power of decision-making in the

hands of all members of the Assembly, a forum in

which all States are entitled to vote. The Security

Council will then become an executive tool for

implementing the decisions of the Assembly. We can

thus remedy the current situation in which the Council

has become a domineering and inequitable body,

applying double standards, lacking democracy and

open to abuse of the veto.

History bears witness to the fact that the Council

has never achieved peace and security in the world. On

the contrary, it has served as a tool for aggression and

wars and for the curtailment of peace mechanisms.

Consequently, it is the General Assembly, in which all

the peoples of the world are represented, that should

take decisions on peace and war, and the power to

apply Chapter VII of the Charter should be vested

solely in the Assembly. The Security Council, with its

limited membership, cannot be entrusted with such

momentous decisions.

If we fail to agree on such a change, we must find

a new formula for granting permanent membership of

the Council. Permanent membership should be

conferred on geographical groups rather than specific

countries. We therefore demand that the African Union

become a permanent member of the Security Council,

as Africa is the only continent without a permanent seat

on the Council.

More than three decades ago, Libya called for

abolition of the veto. It submitted draft resolutions on

this subject at the thirty-fourth session of the General

Assembly and the six following sessions. Libya holds

that this prerogative of the permanent members is the

greatest of the obstacles preventing the Council from

fulfilling its mandate. It therefore renews its call for

abolition of the veto and urges the Assembly to take

steps to restrict use of the veto until it is finally

abolished. Within the framework of the current

consultations on reform of the Council, we would like

to reaffirm Libya’s adherence to the common African

position issued by the Fifth African Union Summit,

held in Sirte, Libya, on 4 and 5 July 2005, and later

confirmed by the Extraordinary Summit of the African

Union, held in Addis Ababa on 4 August 2005.

Maintenance of international peace and security

is a noble goal of the United Nations. Undoubtedly,

general and complete disarmament, starting with

weapons of mass destruction, constitutes the essential

component for achievement of this goal, which,

however, will remain beyond reach unless all Member

States cooperate in good faith and in a fully transparent

manner. Libya has voluntarily abandoned all its

programmes related to weapons of mass destruction

and has expressed the hope that all States in possession

of weapons of mass destruction or programmes for

such weapons will follow its example.

It is important not to confuse weapons of mass

destruction and nuclear non-proliferation with

programmes for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Under international law, all States have the right to

conduct research and develop their scientific

capabilities for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

06-53341 24

Libya strongly rejects the use of double standards

when dealing with this issue and the practice of

discrimination between States with respect to nuclear

non-proliferation.

The establishment of the Peacebuilding

Commission is an important step in promoting peace in

countries emerging from conflict. We hope to see soon

the achievements of this new body in Africa, where the

African Union has been able, with the assistance of the

international community, to achieve peace in several

African countries. African peoples look forward to the

assistance of the United Nations in the consolidation of

peace in order to implement development programmes

and combat poverty, disease and illiteracy.

Terrorism is a phenomenon that threatens

international peace and security. Such a threat cannot

be countered by the action of a single State or group of

States. Furthermore, it is a problem that cannot be

resolved through attribution to a particular religion or

nationality. It is also shameful and unacceptable to

describe the legitimate struggle of a people against

foreign occupation as an act of terrorism.

Libya was among the first States that called for

coordination of international efforts against

international terrorism. Fifteen years ago it called for a

special session of the General Assembly to study this

phenomenon and develop measures to combat it and

eradicate its root causes. It is high time to respond to

that call so that we can coordinate our efforts, under

the auspices of the United Nations, to study this

phenomenon and reach a clear definition of terrorism

that distinguishes between terrorism and the legitimate

struggle of peoples for self-determination and

independence.

The change of the Human Rights Commission

into the Human Rights Council reflects the great

attention the international community gives to

enforcing human rights and guaranteeing basic

freedoms. We hope that the inception of this Council’s

work will constitute a beginning towards addressing

the issues impartially and non-discriminately, free from

selectivity and double standards. We hope that human

rights issues will not be used as a means of pressure

against small nations. We emphasize that attempts by

some States to use protection of human rights as a

pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other States

will only lead to the destabilization of peace and

security, causing more problems rather than solving

outstanding ones.

Sustainable development is a major challenge

facing developing countries. It is incumbent upon the

United Nations to establish an international partnership

for development that aims to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals, based on the activation of

dialogue between North and South. All this should be

done within the framework of respect for sovereignty,

equality and the sharing of benefits, guaranteeing the

achievement of the agreed goal of a 0.7 per cent

allocation of the gross national product of developed

countries as development assistance to developing

countries. Furthermore, such a partnership should

guarantee the appropriate application of all principles

of free multilateral trade and the enforcement of all

measures related to special and preferential treatment

for developing countries, within the framework of

World Trade Organization, including facilitating the

accession of developing countries to that organization.

Countries with a colonial past bear the greatest

responsibility for assisting developing countries as

compensation for the damage caused them during the

colonial period. The big Powers that waged wars on the

territories of developing countries must bear

responsibility for demining and removal of explosive

remnants left in those countries. They should begin

immediately to provide maps and the necessary

technical equipment for the rehabilitation of the

affected lands in some of the developing countries.

The massacres and repression that are committed

by Israeli occupation forces in occupied Palestine

against the Palestinian people and the flagrant

violations of human rights confirm that the so-called

peace process is but a mirage that will not yield any

results, particularly given the inability of the Security

Council to take any action to protect the Palestinian

people and to compel the occupation force to respect

its commitments and stop its aggression and crimes

against the Palestinian people. Libya therefore

reiterates its emphasis that any proposed solutions that

seek to impose a fait accompli will not resolve the

Palestinian question, nor will they provide peace for

the area. The only solution that can achieve peace is to

guarantee the return of all Palestinian refugees to their

homes and to establish a democratic State on the land

of historical Palestine, in which Arabs and Jews live on

equal footing, similar to South Africa, where blacks

and whites manage to coexist after decades of conflict

25 06-53341

and bloodshed. Unless that is achieved, the region will

continue to live in a state of conflict, in which no one

will enjoy any peace or security.

The recent Israeli aggression against Lebanon and

its targeting of the infrastructure and civilians there

emphasize the need for urgent action to compel the

occupation forces to withdraw from the Sheba’a farms

and return them to Lebanon. Additionally, urgent

action is needed regarding the withdrawal from and

return to Syria of the occupied Syrian Golan. The

Israelis should be forced to pay reparations for the

damage they caused in Lebanon due to their brutal

aggression.

The situation in brotherly Iraq is a cause of

sadness and concern. It is, in fact, a catastrophe

brought about by an occupation that has left behind

tens of thousands of dead and hundreds of thousands of

wounded and handicapped persons. No matter how

optimistic we may be, this catastrophic situation will

not end as long as there are occupation forces in the

country, forces that feed divisions inside Iraqi society

and encourage sectarianism in Government institutions.

We believe it is high time to stop the bloodshed in Iraq

and find a solution to end the crisis so that all Iraqis

may enjoy peace and security, as well as their basic

rights, in a unified and democratic Iraq enjoying full

sovereignty and free from foreign forces and bases.