Liechtenstein, 2014

This has been an

enormously difficult year for the United Nations. As

the Secretary-General has pointed out, we are living

in an era of an unprecedented level of crises. I echo

his call for leaders to unite. At a time when the world

seems to be breaking apart, it will serve us well to

remember what unites us. We need to look no further

than the Charter of the United Nations. The preamble

to the Charter offers a vision that seems so difficult

for us to fulfil: we are determined “to save succeeding

generations from the scourge of war”.

The Organization was created, above all, to prevent

war. Indeed, it offers a system of collective security that

is far more effective than anything that existed before.

Yet the events over the past year have shaken its very

foundations. At times, it seems that we revert to the

habits of past centuries. We are disturbed by the acts

of aggression perpetrated against Ukraine and by the

illegal annexation of parts of its territory. Those acts

are massive violations of the principles on which the

Organization was built. They are a major setback for

collective security. As a small country situated in the

heart of Europe and a member of the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe, we hope that we

can quickly re-establish a consensus on security issues

in Europe.

The events in Ukraine also underline the need

to ensure the enforcement of international law — if

necessary in a court of law. We now, for the first time since

the Nuremberg Tribunal, have a historic opportunity to

criminalize the most serious forms of the illegal use

of force in an international court. Jurisdiction for the

crime of aggression before the International Criminal

Court (ICC) will be possible as early as 2017. The

ratification process of the Kampala amendments is well

on track. I welcome the ratifications by Latvia, Poland

and Spain just a few days ago. We look forward to

achieving that goal, together with the largest possible

number of partners.

For truly collective work to maintain peace and

security, we need a collective sense of purpose. That

is difficult to reconcile with the notion that a single

Security Council member is able to block the action

required if the United Nations is to fulfil its purposes

and principles — with no questions asked, no matter

how large the majority in favour of such action. We

of course accept the veto as a reality of the Charter

of the United Nations, as we did when we joined the

Organization. However, we do not accept that the veto

should be used in a manner that contradicts the very

purposes of the United Nations. We have witnessed too

many such instances in recent times. Change is urgently

needed. We therefore look for a commitment from

States serving on the Council not to vote against any

action necessary to prevent or to end crimes of atrocity.

We look to the permanent members in particular to give

a clear commitment to that end.

We are determined to reaffirm faith in fundamental

human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human

person. The United Nations, created as a family of

nations, has the rights and dignity of the individual

at the centre of its efforts. This is a human rights

organization. The General Assembly, which we have

entrusted to your leadership, Mr. President, during

this session, is also a human rights organ. The world is

changing at an ever-increasing speed. That requires our

continued commitment to human rights.

The right to privacy, for example, is at risk of

being lost. The digital era makes large-scale data

collection both easy to undertake and difficult to

detect. Discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual

orientation, nationality, ethnicity, religion, disability or

any other status remains rampant in many parts of the

world.

The rise of religious intolerance is especially

alarming. Conflicts around the world are characterized

by the persecution of religious minorities, be they

Shiites, Yazidis, Christians or others. We are witnessing

a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism. The Assembly should

respond by uniting in a call against the persecution of

any religious minority anywhere in the world. I am also

particularly alarmed about the rising violence against

human rights defenders, such as the recent murder

of Samira Saleh Al-Nuaimi, an Iraqi activist and the

mother of three children. There is nothing Islamic

about that barbaric act, committed by the Islamic State

in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

In times of conflict, international humanitarian

law represents our hope for at least the bare minimum

of human dignity. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 are

among not only the greatest achievements in the history

of international law but also the most successful treaties

with their near-universal acceptance. Nevertheless, their

core principles — proportionality in the use of force and

a distinction between civilians and combatants — are

violated on a daily basis. The recent conflict in Gaza

was carried out at the expense of civilians by both

parties to the conflict. The civilian population of Syria

has been experiencing enormous suffering for more

than three years now. Atrocities have been committed

against men, women and children by the regime and,

increasingly, by other actors. Humanitarian access has

been blocked systematically as a method of warfare.

Civilians in both Syria and Iraq are left at the mercy

of the sickening brutality of ISIL. There has rarely

been a time when civilians were at greater risk of being

victimized by atrocity crimes. We are not living up to

our promise, made some 10 years ago, to collectively

ensure protection against such crimes.

We are determined to reaffirm faith in the equal

rights of men and women. Equality between men and

women was one of the first things on the minds of the

drafters of the Charter of the United Nations just after

the end of the Second World War. Is that not striking?

We have certainly achieved much since then. The

1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women in

particular was a watershed moment in that regard. The

commemoration of its twentieth anniversary is the

best opportunity for us to show that we remain fully

committed to its outcome.

Next year we will also reflect on our progress on

the women, peace and security agenda 15 years after it

was established under Security Council resolution 1325

(2000). Clearly, we will have to find new strategies to

protect women in conflict from violence, in particular

sexual violence. We are still far from using the full

potential of women as agents of peace. Men have

always been in charge of making war and of making

peace: their record is not impressive. Women must

obtain their seat at the negotiating table, where they

belong and where they are needed. I am grateful to the

Secretary-General for taking the lead on that issue and

for increasingly appointing women to high positions in

the areas of mediation and conflict resolution.

We are determined to establish conditions in which

justice and respect for the obligations arising from

treaties and other sources of international law can

be maintained. Justice and the rule of law are areas

where we have made important progress. International

courts and other judicial mechanisms are gaining

greater acceptance. Calls for accountability are

becoming louder. We can look to an impressive body of

international jurisprudence.

That is particularly true for the International

Criminal Court (ICC). Victims of the gravest crimes

around the world place their hopes for justice in the

Rome Statute system. That is a great responsibility

for the Court, an institution which frequently works in

a politically charged context. Those who support the

Court must make that support felt. For that reason, I

have initiated an informal network of ministers who

support the ICC personally as politicians. Our network

has grown to 26 members. We stand ready to defend the

Court and the integrity of the Rome Statute, because we

know that political attacks against the ICC are easy to

launch but difficult to respond to.

The fact that the Court is an entirely independent

institution that follows the law, not politics, does not

make the headlines. The fact that the ICC has jurisdiction

in some places but not in others is easily misrepresented

as selectivity. Our goal therefore remains for the Rome

Statute to become a universal treaty. Victims of crimes

in Syria, Iraq, Palestine and North Korea — to cite just

a few examples — deserve their day in court as much as

those in other parts of the world.

We are determined to promote social progress

and better standards of life in larger freedom. There

could not be a greater challenge for the Assembly than

setting the global agenda for sustainable development

for the next generation. And there could not be a greater

opportunity to show its relevance.

The Millennium Development Goals were a

success. They set the agenda for more than a decade,

galvanized tremendous efforts for development and led

to very significant advances. However, they were also

a learning process. We must be honest about where we

have failed and do better where we can. Three areas

stand out in that respect.

First, accountable institutions, access to justice and

an effective fight against corruption are key ingredients

of development that are truly transformative and

sustainable. That is amply illustrated by national

experiences around the world and is well documented

by research. Placing the rule of law at the heart of the

sustainable development goal agenda will therefore be

one key of success.

Secondly, there is no sustainable development

without the full empowerment of women. Nothing

short of full equality between men and women will be

required for development to be sustainable. We must

therefore fully recognize the empowerment of women

as a key ingredient of sustainable development.

Thirdly, the implementation of international

commitments cannot be left to chance. We need

accountability. We must establish a system to monitor

progress in the implementation of the post-2015

agenda, carried out by us as States but involving all

stakeholders. The High-level Political Forum on

Sustainable Development is the best anchor for such a

system.

Our work to date in developing the post-2015 agenda

gives us cause to be optimistic. Let us make the best use

of the upcoming months to produce an agenda of which

we can be truly proud as a platform for collective action

and an inspiration for future generations.