Monaco, 2004

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate

you, Sir, on your unanimous election to preside over

the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly, an

election that offers Africa its tenth presidency. The

Gabonese Republic thus has received from the

international community the recognition it deserves

and the French-speaking countries are delighted to see

one of our own guiding our debates. Be assured that

the delegation of Monaco, which I am leading, will

fully support you in your noble mission in the service

of peace and development. I would also like to hail the

Secretary-General for his courage and his unwavering

commitment to peace.

A long time ago, the Organization began a

process of thinking through the reforms that are

required to improve its functioning. In that connection,

I would like to congratulate the outgoing President of

the Assembly, Mr. Julian Hunte, on his work during the

fifty-eighth session; his perseverance made possible

the adoption of new measures to revitalize the work of

the General Assembly. While welcoming that progress,

we know that we must continue along that path.

Dedication to democracy and to the rule of law,

unswerving confidence in the virtues of multilateralism

and respect for our differences allow us to move

forward in a spirit of harmony and to continue to adapt

the Organization to meet the challenges of our time. It

is vital that the Organization be provided with the

means to better respond to the expectations of the

peoples of the world.

This is why the Principality supports initiatives

aimed at improving the Organizationís methods of

work and, in particular, those regarding Security

Council reform. Enlargement of the Council, in both

permanent and non-permanent seats, will strengthen its

capacity to contribute to the essential objectives of the

maintenance of peace by providing more equitable

representation of the diverse regions that compose the

international community.

The fifteenth International AIDS Conference,

held in Thailand last July, once again highlighted the

devastation caused by this terrible pandemic as well as

its disastrous social consequences. However, the

Conference also demonstrated that when international

organizations, Governments and civil society agree to

work together, we can fight this scourge more

effectively. In that struggle, the role of women is

crucial. In my country, Her Serene Highness Princess

Stephanie, my sister, created and chairs the Fight AIDS

Monaco association that gives moral and material

support to AIDS patients and their families while

promoting information and prevention programmes.

For my part, I have expressed the wish that all of

the Principality's school children participate in marking a

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world day for children orphaned by AIDS, to show

their solidarity with these vulnerable children whose

number could reach 100 million by the year 2010.

Once again this year, my country has been

contributing to the Global Fund to fight AIDS,

Tuberculosis and Malaria, which was created following

the twenty-sixth special session of the General

Assembly, the first to be devoted to a disease. We have

been providing regular support for the activities of the

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

(UNAIDS) since its creation, and I am pleased to

announce that the Principality has decided to

strengthen its financial cooperation with the

Programme. We hope that the creation within UNAIDS

of the Programme Acceleration Fund will allow us to

meet specific needs defined by the recipient States

themselves. In effect, we are convinced of the necessity

for States to strengthen, on the one hand, their

capacities in terms of basic social services and

adequate sanitation facilities and on the other hand, to

pursue public awareness and information campaigns.

Upon the initiative of His Serene Highness the

Sovereign Prince, my father, the Principality of

Monaco has always expressed its solidarity to the most

underdeveloped populations. We share the concerns of

world leaders regarding the adverse impact that the

persistence of extreme poverty is having on

international security.

We shall therefore consider most carefully the

elaboration of a new global partnership designed to

eliminate hunger and poverty and to advance economic

development and social justice, as a continuation to the

commitments undertaken at the Millennium Summit

and during the Monterrey Conference.

Terrorism, unfortunately, has become a daily

reality, as is attested to by, among others, the tragedy

that took place in Beslan, which is repugnant to all of

us. Our determination to fight it must remain unshaken

and that is why we welcome the establishment of an

executive directorate of the Counter-Terrorism

Committee. In that domain, international cooperation is

an essential element for effective action. No State,

regardless of its size, can be a weak link that might

endanger the efforts we are conducting together.

Therefore, the Principality intends to play its role

in the battle which our Organization is waging against

terrorism. Thus, Monaco has become a party to all of the

twelve conventions designed to eradicate international

terrorism and has adopted, as domestic legislation,

appropriate measures for their implementation.

But the battle against terrorism also requires that

we act irreproachably in terms of our respect for

human rights. Accordingly, the Principality is making

every effort to guarantee them on its territory; hence

Monacoís forthcoming accession to the Convention on

the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against

Women.

The number of refugees and displaced persons

who are displaced within their own countries continues

to increase, and our response to the unbearable

suffering of those human beings cannot be limited to

our moral indignation. As in any urgent and complex

emergency situation, civilians and the most vulnerable

among them are the targets of harm and the worst types

of abuse. The humanitarian disaster which continues to

take place under our very eyes in Darfur has shown,

once again, how limited we are in our capacity to

enforce respect for human rights and for international

humanitarian law.

In response to the appeal launched by the Office

of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR) during the special session of the

General Assembly on children in 2002, the authorities

of Monaco decided to earmark their traditional

contribution to UNHCR towards primary education for

refugee children. We hope to provide those children,

whose world has been brutally shattered overnight, a

substitute for their traditional educational environment,

by allowing them to escape, albeit a little, those terrible

conditions of daily life dominated by promiscuity and

the anguish of having forever lost their homes.

Championing the interests of the child has always

been one of our major concerns. To build a world fit

for children, in keeping with the commitments

undertaken during the May 2002 special session on

children, the World Association of Childrenís Friends,

presided over by my sister, Her Royal Highness the

Princess of Hanover, organized in the Principality in

April 2003, a round table on that subject.

Unfortunately, the need is becoming clearer each day,

to strengthen the area of international law designed to

guarantee the rights of children and to assure that those

laws are more effectively applied.

Thus, do not those particularly heinous crimes

require an exceptionally strong response? Do we not

need to ensure that the most serious violations of the

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rights of children do not fall under a statute of

limitations and do we not need to extend the powers of

the national jurisdictions by providing them with

universal competence in that area?

The Principality of Monaco urges you to give

thought to this, in other words, to plan for the adoption

of a legal instrument which will make it possible here,

to react against the impunity which continues to

prevail, concerning the enrolment of child soldiers, the

sexual exploitation of children and the despicable trade

of which they are victims - to mention only the most

revolting of those crimes.

The debate held last June in the Security Council

served to reaffirm the timely nature of such

considerations. By abolishing the statute of limitations

for those horrendous crimes, we would be

strengthening their prevention, as well as fulfilling our

duty to honour the memory of the victims. By

expanding the competences of our national

jurisdictions so that borders no longer serve to limit

our actions, we will be better able to cope with the

development of the transnational organized crime

network which defies our States and the legal order

they are trying to establish.

I am fully aware that this essentially moral

struggle - to ensure respect for the rights of the

child - gives rise, given the present state of

international law, to numerous legal difficulties. But is

it not our duty to act when that legislation is no longer

adapted to meet the challenges of our time, at a time

when the international community is clearly closing its

unified ranks, to put an end to those practices which

are abhorrent to all of us?

Let us be courageous and foresighted in

championing the most noble cause that exists - the

defence of innocents. Let us respond to the appeal of

Albert Einstein made so long ago that - there will be

no progress in this world as long as there are unhappy

children.