Liechtenstein, 2007

Climate

change, at the centre of the high-level event a week

ago, constitutes one of the greatest challenges of our

generation. It puts to the test our ability to create the

collective political will necessary to counter a

phenomenon of potentially disastrous socio-economic

consequences. It also offers a great opportunity to

make the best use of the unique framework that this

Organization provides. The Bali meeting must bring

about a long-term commitment by all States to

launching an ambitious and practical road map towards

a gradually decarbonized global economy. We can

reach that goal if we translate today’s political

momentum into concrete action that goes beyond

tomorrow’s activities.

Climate change is but one of the areas of concern

to the international community, where it is absolutely

clear that the United Nations is today more than ever

an indispensable Organization. It appears indeed that

its unique nature and potential are more widely

recognized and accepted today than they were until

even very recently. In the words of Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon, the pendulum is swinging back in our

favour. As a strong believer in multilateralism, we

welcome that development.

However, as true friends of the United Nations,

we must also continue to question the ability of the

Organization to fully use its potential and to fulfil the

purposes and principles of its Charter. Our record in

the area of reform, two years after the 2005 World

Summit, is mixed. We yet have to achieve certain

institutional reforms, and the principle of the

responsibility to protect must be translated into

concrete action, such as in the case of the oppressive

policies of the regime in Myanmar against its own

population. Of course, however, reform of an

organization with tasks as diverse and daunting as the

United Nations is never concluded. We must always be

prepared to make the adjustments that are necessary to

improve its impact, its legitimacy and its efficiency.

Today, such adjustments require a two-fold approach.

On the one hand, we must strengthen its operational

parts and, on the other hand, we must ground the work

of the Organization more firmly in its origins, namely,

the Charter of the United Nations.

The demands in the area of peacekeeping are

greater than ever before. That attests to the faith placed

in the United Nations, but it also makes the

deficiencies in the management of the Organization a

more pressing issue. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

was therefore right to propose changes to strengthen

institutional support for the Organization’s field

activities. We look forward to further progress in that

respect, in particular in the area of procurement. We

are not convinced that the lessons from the oil-for-food

scandal, which has done great damage to the United

Nations, have been fully absorbed, let alone fully

translated into concrete action. We must also credibly

improve the financial efficiency and accountability of

the Organization. That will, in turn, allow us to present

to our domestic constituencies the ever-increasing bills

for peacekeeping operations.

All the strengthening of the operational and

managerial capabilities of the United Nations will not

change the fact that, operationally and financially, this

is not a powerful Organization. Its budget will always

pale in comparison to what a number of States spend

on their defence budgets, to cite an obvious example.

The genuine power and strength of the Organization

lies in its foundation in international law. The Charter

itself can be regarded as the greatest achievement in

the history of international law. More important,

though, the United Nations has the unique ability to

bestow legitimacy and legality on international action.

In the eyes of the world, the United Nations

symbolizes the rule of law in international relations.

That is a tremendous asset that we must cherish

and promote wherever possible. The United Nations

and its organs must always be seen as the guardians of

international law. Given its central place in the

institutional architecture of the Organization, that

applies in particular to the Security Council. The

current practice of the Council with respect to the

listing and de-listing of individuals targeted by

sanctions is therefore a cause for concern. We believe

that disregarding international standards of due process

does nothing to improve the effectiveness of sanctions

regimes, but much to undermine the authority of the

Council itself.

Long years and much energy have been spent on

the reform of the Security Council. It would appear

today that we are as far from a solution as ever. We

believe that the legitimacy of the Council’s actions has

a number of sources, the most important of which are

the quality of its decisions and the extent to which they

reflect international law. In addition, the decisions of

the Council have the necessary legitimacy if they are

genuinely taken on behalf of the membership as a

whole, and therefore also on behalf of the vast majority

of States that do not serve on the Council. That can be

achieved through greater involvement by non-member

States, in particular if and when their interests are

directly affected. Finally, of course, the membership of

the Council must be more representative of the overall

membership of the Organization, and of the developing

world in particular.

The past few years have not brought about the era

of the rule of law that some had hoped for. Quite to the

contrary, there have been concerted, and ultimately

unsuccessful, attacks on the importance of the rule of

law in international relations. Nevertheless, we have

achieved very significant progress in some areas, in

particular in the area of international criminal justice.

The Security Council has led the way through the

establishment of international and hybrid tribunals. But

the crowning success, of course, was the establishment

of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The referral of the situation in Darfur to the Court

was a landmark decision, both legally and politically. It

was a strong message by the Security Council that the

international community does not accept impunity for

the most serious crimes under international law. That

message, however, needs to be backed up by

enforcement action, in particular by the arrest of all

indictees sought by the Court. We therefore call on all

States and the United Nations to cooperate with the

ICC to that end.

We will continue to take great interest in the work

of the Security Council. At the same time, of course,

we will focus our energy on making the General

Assembly a more relevant and more essential part of

the United Nations system. In that regard, my

delegation looks forward to the President’s leadership

and to closely cooperating with him on the priority

issues he has identified.