Libya, 2008

Allow me at the outset, Sir, to express my

country’s heartfelt congratulations to you on your

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at

its sixty-third session. We are confident that your

experience and wisdom will crown our work with

success and will result in further progress on the many

important issues on the Assembly’s agenda.

I would like also to express my appreciation to

your predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, for the efforts he

made during his presidency of the General Assembly at

its previous session. Our thanks go also to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his persistent

efforts to implement United Nations resolutions and

realize the purposes of the Charter.

Humanity faces many problems and serious

challenges, which, no matter how great, would not be

impossible to resolve if we evinced the necessary

political will and made concerted efforts to overcome

them. My country recognizes that peace, security and

stability constitute the cornerstone of progress and

development, especially in Africa. It has therefore

made all possible efforts to resolve disputes in Africa,

as was the case in Chad, the Central African Republic

and the Sudan. My country has also contributed, along

with other African countries and pursuant to

resolutions of the African Union Peace and Security

Council, towards putting an end to the insurgency in

the island of Anjouan in the Union of the Comoros.

United Nations reform remains a matter of

primary importance to the international community.

Reform has indeed become a necessity dictated by the

current dynamics in the international arena. However,

while we commend the efforts of the Open-ended

Working Group on Security Council Reform, which

was chaired by the President of the General Assembly

during its previous session, we feel that the process has

been extremely slow because of broad differences

between the various groups. Nonetheless, we welcome

the consensus reached on the recommendations of the

Open-ended Working Group at the end of the sixty-

second session (decision 62/557). However, we believe

that genuine United Nations reform is reform which

places decision-making power in the hands of the

General Assembly, the world parliament, while

transforming the Security Council into an executive

body that enforces the Assembly’s decisions. We can

thus surmount the veto obstacle which has

concentrated international decision-making power in

the five permanent members of the Council.

My country therefore calls for the convening of a

high-level General Assembly meeting on United

Nations reform, to be held in a European country so

that all world leaders can attend. In that context, we

wish to emphasize that Africa, which is the only

continent with no permanent representation on the

Security Council despite the fact that it represents more

33 08-53135

than one fourth of the total membership of the United

Nations, deserves permanent membership on an equal

footing with other geographical regions. That

representation should be given to the African Union

rather than to any one of its members.

We have reached the midpoint of the period set

for the achievement of the Millennium Development

Goals. We express our concern regarding the inability

of many developing countries and least developed

countries, especially in Africa, to achieve the Goals,

we affirm that it is imperative for the international

community to fulfil its commitments in the field of

development assistance, address problems related to

the international trade system, make the World Trade

Organization more effective, and facilitate the

accession to membership of that organization by

developing countries.

In that regard, we welcomed the convening of the

high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly on

22 September 2008, on the theme of Africa’s

development needs. We support the political

declaration adopted at the meeting (resolution 63/1).

We also welcomed the high-level event on the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), held on

25 September 2008. Furthermore, we look forward to

the international follow-up conference on financing for

development to review the implementation of the

Monterrey Consensus, to be held in Doha and we hope

that the Conference will achieve its desired goals.

In that context, my country has contributed to the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

through its proposed “Qadhafi Road” across the desert,

which will connect the northern parts of the African

continent with the western and southern parts. It will

be an important artery that will enhance trade among

the continent’s countries.

Corruption, bribery, money-laundering and the

smuggling of funds from illegal sources are among the

major factors which hamper development and the

achievement of the MDGs in developing countries,

especially in Africa. Huge damage is inflicted on

developing countries as a result of the smuggling of

funds across borders, which deprives those countries of

the benefits of those funds, which are deposited in

foreign banks. As the General Assembly has

emphasized in its decisions, those funds should be

returned to countries of origin. I must also note that

there are safe havens that have always been associated

with banking confidentiality, to the point where they

have become known as corridors for criminal money-

laundering and safe havens for stolen funds and

plundered wealth.

It is no longer acceptable to remain silent on

those safe havens, whose financial institutions provide

protection for money generated from corruption and

crime. Those funds are often used by terrorist groups

and organized crime gangs to threaten the security and

stability of States.

My country was among the first States to

highlight the food crisis. The High-Level Conference

on Food Security, held in Rome in June, was a

responsible response from world leaders to the food

crisis and the unprecedented increases in the prices of

food, basic commodities and energy. I would like in

that respect to thank the Secretary-General of the

United Nations and the Director-General of the Food

and Agriculture Organization for their efforts in that

field.

To confront that problem, my country has

adopted development projects and programmes which

aim to achieve food security through improved

investment in the agricultural sector and through

support for farmers. In the African sphere, my country

has allocated $5 billion to finance several development

projects in order to achieve food security in a number

of Sahelo-Saharan African States. It is also in the

process of financing seven additional projects in

African countries.

The food crisis has been a topic of personal

concern for our brother Muammar al-Qadhafi, the

Leader of the Revolution, who in June, at the tenth

session of the summit conference of the Community of

Sahelo-Saharan States, held in Benin, presented his

initiative for the provision of food and the mitigation

of the hunger crisis in Africa. The initiative is based on

the establishment of a self-sustaining mechanism and

the harnessing of modern machinery and technology to

reclaim lands and farm vast areas in Africa, through the

launching of a green campaign. The campaign will

make it possible to farm vast areas of land in the

Sahelo-Saharan States by mechanized means instead of

traditional methods.

Developed countries can help Africa find a

solution to the food crisis by increasing agricultural

development assistance and investment in projects such

as hydroelectric dams and development projects in lake

08-53135 34

areas, such as Lake Chad. Such investments will make

a great contribution to agricultural development on the

African continent.

Climate change and its negative impact will

hamper the development efforts of many developing

countries and will undermine their development gains.

Libya is among the States affected by climate change,

as it is located in an arid/semi-arid geographical area,

and most of its territory is desert. Libya also suffers

from desertification and water scarcity. Libya has made

persistent efforts to address these challenges, including

through the Great Man-Made River Project network,

which is intended to overcome the problems of

desertification and drought.

Confronting climate change requires an effective

and well coordinated international effort, based on the

principle of common but differentiated responsibility

agreed upon in the Rio Conference. From that

perspective, we call for accelerated efforts to reach a

comprehensive international agreement to address the

root causes of climate change and to provide

adaptation measures to developing countries.

We believe in the purposes of the United Nations

Charter, which calls for the establishment of a world in

which peace and security prevail. The elimination of

weapons of mass destruction is an essential factor in

building confidence and promoting world peace,

stability and security, and my country has voluntarily

relinquished all its programmes to develop

internationally prohibited weapons of mass destruction,

while emphasizing the right to use atomic energy for

peaceful purposes. But we strongly oppose the use of

double standards on the issue of nuclear

non-proliferation. We condemn any discrimination

between one State and another in this respect and call

for making the Middle East a region free from all

weapons of mass destruction.

The Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines

should be reviewed to reflect the concerns of many

countries, such as requiring States that lay landmines to

remove them and to address the inflicted damage,

including by providing treatment and compensation for

the injured and by rehabilitating the damaged

environment.

Terrorism remains a matter of concern for all

members of the international community. Despite all

the measures taken to combat terrorism, thanks to

international cooperation under the United Nations

umbrella, this issue still poses a challenge to the

international community and is an obstacle to the

achievement of development, security and stability in

many parts of the world.

Eradicating this phenomenon requires the

adoption of a specific definition of terrorism. Terrorism

must not be confused with the legitimate right of

peoples to resist foreign occupation and claim their

right to freedom, independence and self-determination.

Furthermore, associating terrorism with any specific

religion, nationality or culture is bound to inflame

conflict among civilizations, religions and cultures.

Such a situation is untenable and is incompatible with

the goal of international relations based on mutual

respect among States, cultures and systems of

government. In this regard, we wish to point out that

policies and practices of foreign occupation based on

violations of human rights guaranteed by all

international instruments and conventions constitute

one of the worst forms of terrorism in our modern

world.

The United Nations Convention relating to the

Status of Refugees, adopted in 1951, provides an ideal

definition of refugee status, in addition to the definition

included in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human

Rights. It is therefore regrettable that some States use

this concept to camouflage their intentions regarding

other States. Under the pretext of fostering democracy

and respect for human rights, which is a noble goal,

those countries have opened the door of political

asylum to all seekers, including thieves, smugglers of

their countries’ wealth, fugitives from prosecution and

terrorists, enabling them to continue their subversive

activities against their home countries. My country

believes that it is of paramount importance to establish

international criteria and controls governing political

asylum, while carefully observing human rights. We

also believe that such criteria and controls would have

a positive impact on the fight against corruption and

terrorism while promoting democracy and preventing

armed conflict.

The Palestinian people are still suffering under

the Israeli occupation, which has lasted for more than

60 years, subjecting Palestinians to the worst forms of

occupation and destruction directed against civilians.

The achievement of peace and stability in the area is

impeded by the unjust siege imposed by the Israeli

occupation forces on 1.5 million Palestinians in the

Gaza Strip and the continuation of settlement activities

35 08-53135

on occupied Palestinian territory, ignoring and

deliberately breaching the principles of international

humanitarian law and the principles of human rights,

coupled with policies of home demolition, land

confiscation, the displacement of populations and the

intensification of arrests.

Indeed, peace and stability in the area can only be

attained through the return of all Palestinian refugees

to their homeland and the establishment of a

democratic State on the land of Palestine in which

Arabs and Jews can live, enjoying full rights and

obligations, as our brother, the Leader of the

Revolution, proposed in his recent book.

My country has always emphasized that there can

be no comprehensive peace in the Middle East unless

the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan and the

Lebanese territories is ended. In this framework, we

reiterate our call to the international community to

demand and enforce the withdrawal of Israeli

occupation forces from all occupied Arab lands and to

ensure that their rightful owners are compensated for

damages suffered as a consequence of that occupation.

My country welcomes the tangible improvement

in the security situation in Iraq and believes that

stability in that fraternal country depends on the

achievement of genuine national reconciliation which

would overcome sectarian and religious differences

and lead to the withdrawal of foreign forces.

We express our deep concern at the situation in

Somalia. My country is of the opinion that the

international community should expeditiously dispatch

forces to that country, in coordination with the African

Union, to protect civilians and humanitarian workers

and to assist in the implementation of the Djibouti

Agreement, in order to put an end to the long suffering

of the Somali people.