Malta, 2003

I would first like to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the fifty-eighth session of the General

Assembly. You have an important and challenging task

ahead. In executing your duties, you can be assured of

my full support and that of the Maltese delegation.

I take this opportunity to express our appreciation

to the outgoing President of the fifty-seventh session,

Mr. Jan Kavan, for the dedication and initiative with

which he accomplished his task. I would also like to

express our support for the Secretary-General. The past

12 months have been a particularly difficult time for

him and for the Organization he serves so well. We

respect and admire the patience, tact, wisdom and

determination that he has once again demonstrated in

these trying times.

The attack on the United Nations headquarters in

Baghdad on 19 August has added an unwelcome

dimension of tragedy and urgency to this year’s session

of the General Assembly. Our thoughts are with the

relatives and friends of the victims, to whom we again

express our deepest condolences. Not for the first time

in its history the United Nations is mourning the

violent death of its talented servants in the course of

their duty.

Besides being a human tragedy, it was indeed —

for the first time — also a direct and deliberate attack

on the United Nations itself. In this sense, an analysis

of the implications of the attack in Baghdad needs to

form an integral part of the broader considerations

relating to the structures and objectives of the

international system.

The reality is that in the United Nations the

international community has a system that is both vital

and indispensable. However, it is also a fact that the

international community has taken this system for

granted for too long. Events over the last few weeks

and months constitute a renewed reminder that urgent

reform is necessary. We need to heed the Secretary-

General’s advice that this action has to be radical.

One important element in the process of building

international cooperation and solidarity lies in the

regional dimension. That dimension was given its

importance in the original architecture of the United

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Nations Charter. Over the last 12 months Malta,

together with nine other countries, successfully

concluded negotiations to join one of the most creative

and impressive manifestations of regional cooperation:

the European Union. The results of those negotiations

were confirmed by the people of Malta, first in a

referendum and subsequently in the general elections

held earlier this year. Our desire to join the European

Union stems primarily from our appreciation of both

the history and the present reality of the European-

Mediterranean region, and of Malta’s place and role in

that region.

At the same time, for Malta, the objective of

membership in the European Union has also been a

further means of deepening and reinforcing its

longstanding commitment towards international

cooperation and solidarity.

We are gratified to see how the European Union

is fast becoming one of the main partners of the United

Nations in the collective endeavour towards global

cooperation and solidarity. We are encouraged to discover

how much that partnership enhances the opportunities for

even the smaller members to play a positive and

constructive role in many issues of global concern.

Among such issues, the question of security in all

of its complex dimensions has assumed formidable

proportions this year. One of the more disturbing

aspects in that regard is the way in which the different

dimensions of terrorism and arms control have become

intertwined. That link has become a factor in the

sometimes differing perceptions of the sources of the

security risks faced by States. In turn, that has led to

differences of emphasis in action priorities, even among

States with otherwise very convergent policies and

approaches. When such differences are reflected within

the Security Council itself, there is a risk of erosion to the

still fragile structure of international legitimacy.

On the question of Iraq in particular, it is

critically important for the Security Council to reach

early agreement on the role the United Nations must

play in the re-establishment of order and legitimacy in

that country. We strongly urge all members of the

Council, in particular the permanent members, to spare

no effort to achieve that objective.

The question of armaments today confronts us in

its bewildering complexity. At one extreme is the

outrageous reality of child soldiers brandishing lethal

conventional weapons. At the other extreme is the

increasingly credible prospect that terrorist groups will

procure and use weapons of mass destruction to bring

major tragedy and destruction to the hearts of States.

These extremes have intruded into the more traditional

disarmament process that has itself been moving

forward hesitantly and intermittently over the years.

Yet however hesitant and intermittent it may be,

the disarmament process has produced some results

upon which we can build further. A range of agreements

and instruments are already available concerning both

weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons.

The more immediate challenges in this regard lie in the

areas of compliance and verification.

Over recent months, the European Union has

been working on a comprehensive security strategy on

the issues of non-proliferation and weapons of mass

destruction. One of the key principles underpinning

this strategy is the need to uphold and implement the

multilateral treaties and agreements that exist in this

area. Equally important is the need to support the

multilateral institutions charged with verifying and

ensuring compliance with these agreements. Primary

among these institutions is the United Nations.

Terrorism in our day is a phenomenon that is

unprecedented in terms of motivation, tenacity and

methods. Over the past 12 months terrorist acts have

indiscriminately struck peoples, both in areas of active

conflict and elsewhere. The counter-terrorism measures

put in place following the attack here in New York on

11 September 2001 provide us with tools which can

have an effect if applied forcefully, universally and

consistently. Our response must remain adamant and

clear. At the same time, as the Secretary-General

reminds us, while there is an unquestionable need to

confront terrorist groups with determination, this

should never be at the expense of the commitment to

human rights.

The objective of increased security at the global

level demands efforts across a range of widely different

fronts, ranging from issues relating to peacemaking and

peacekeeping, to issues relating to economic and social

development.

The United Nations has a steady record of

positive involvement in peacekeeping. The recent

experiences in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste and Kosovo

provide encouraging instances of this. The Secretary-

General reminds us that peacekeeping efforts, and

especially what he terms “robust” peacekeeping, must

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be provided with both the necessary capabilities and an

adequate mandate. He also correctly points out that

peacekeeping must be preceded by effective action

towards conflict resolution.

The question of Palestine is one issue with regard

to which sustained efforts at conflict resolution have

not yet prevailed. Over the past few weeks we have

been witnessing the gradual disintegration of yet

another major and sustained effort at peacemaking in

that region.

The immediate obstacles to peace in Palestine

arise from two contrasting directions. On the one hand

is the reality of an illegal occupation of territory

originally achieved, and continuously maintained, by

armed force. On the other is the reality of a resistance

to this occupation that uses unacceptable means of

civilian terror and destruction to pursue its ends.

These two realities feed upon each other in a

vicious cycle of ever-escalating hatred and violence.

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the situation in

Palestine is the fact that each successive failure of

effort towards peacemaking ratchets up the level of

hatred and violence. The international community

needs to find a way of breaking the conditionality

which makes the two extremes feed upon each other.

Israel needs to clearly recognize the illegality of

its presence in the occupied territories. This implies the

reversal of the measures that are accompanying this

occupation — in particular the building and maintenance

of settlements and the construction of the partition wall

on Palestinian territory.

Furthermore, the support of the chosen leadership

of the Palestinian people is necessary if progress

towards peace and stability is to be achieved. In this

spirit, we call upon Israel to desist from any act of

deportation and cease any threat to the safety of the

elected President of the Palestinian Authority.

For their part, the Palestinians must recognize

that all violent acts against civilians are unacceptable

and must stop unconditionally. The Palestinian

Authority needs to assert its control and prevent any

further acts of terrorism.

In spite of the latest setbacks, the approach by the

Quartet still needs to be supported and encouraged. By

virtue of its composition, the Quartet offers the best

prospects for finding ways of breaking the

conditionality that feeds the extremes on both sides.

The hope remains that, at the core of both the Israeli

and the Palestinian populations, the desire for peace

and reconciliation is stronger than the delirium of fear

and hatred.

Malta always views the problem of Palestine

from the perspective of its effect on issues of security

and cooperation in the Mediterranean. Our membership

of the European Union will provide us with enhanced

opportunities to intensify our traditional role in this

regard.

Progress in the process of Euro-Mediterranean

cooperation has been slow but steady since the

European Union launched its Euro-Mediterranean

initiative in 1995. The process has itself been affected

by the vicissitudes of the situation in Palestine over

these years. Yet the general trend has remained

positive, even in the most difficult of times.

The recent resolution of the Lockerbie issue

further helps in creating the right atmosphere for

enhanced regional cooperation.

It is now our hope that the work of the

Secretary-General, accompanied by the efforts of

persuasion of the European Union, will succeed in

resolving one of the still outstanding problems in our

region — the problem of Cyprus. Malta would

welcome in May next year the integration of a reunited

Cyprus into the folds of the European Union.

One of the major strengths of the Euro-

Mediterranean process lies in the linkage that it

maintains between security issues and wider issues of

cooperation in the economic and humanitarian fields.

In his report this year, the Secretary-General underlines

the fact that issues related to development form an

important part of the commitments undertaken under

the Millennium Declaration. The Secretary-General

notes that a stronger consensus has been forged on this

issue. But he also cautions that grave doubts remain as

to whether Member States are sufficiently determined

to act on this consensus.

The failure of the World Trade Organization

meeting in Cancún last week highlights the difficulties

inherent in translating broad consensus into concrete

action. In the area of trade, as in other areas of

development, it is indeed the case that globalization

has exposed a major disequilibrium and great

inequalities in the international arena. In some respects

it has also exacerbated the injustices arising from those

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inequalities. There is an even greater need, therefore,

for the international community to persevere in its

efforts towards more concrete and effective measures

of consensus-building. The high-level meeting on

HIV/AIDS that recently concluded highlights the way

in which problems that have a global dimension need

to be tackled.

The problem of AIDS also underlines the

importance of continuing efforts towards norm-setting

in the various dimensions of international life.

The practice of holding annual treaty events,

instituted following the Millennium Summit, has

proved its value in this regard. This year’s event is

focusing on Treaties against transnational organized

crime and terrorism. On that occasion, Malta will be

depositing its ratification of the United Nations

Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and

two of its protocols. We will have thus already ratified

or acceded to 11 of the 15 Treaties on which the

Secretary-General has focused for this year’s event.

One area where norm setting is in its early stages

concerns the issue of cloning. Malta approaches this

issue from a moral and ethical standpoint based on the

deepest respect for human life. We believe that while

scientific considerations are sometimes relevant in

matters of this nature, final decisions must primarily be

based on fundamental human, ethical and moral

considerations. In this spirit, the draft resolution

proposing a convention that bans all forms of human

cloning fully reflects our views. For this reason we will

support this draft resolution. At the same time, we also

believe that on issues of such deep ethical and moral

sensitivity, real progress can only be achieved through

consensus.

The issues before the General Assembly are many

and wide-ranging. Such a dense and varied agenda

confirms the relevance and vitality of our Organization.

At the same time, it also points to the problems

regarding the effectiveness and functionality about

which so many of us are concerned.

I trust that under your guidance, Mr. President,

the Assembly will find the wisdom and energy to

clearly define its priorities and take the necessary

action. I wish you every success in your endeavours.