Philippines, 2001

Let me begin by

congratulating Your Excellency, Mr. Han Seung-soo,

on your election as President of the General Assembly.

I am especially gratified to be addressing the Assembly

when a distinguished Asian is again at its helm.

I congratulate as well His Excellency Mr. Kofi

Annan on the Nobel Prize that he, together with the

United Nations, has received. That prize constitutes

recognition by the international community of the

indispensable role of the United Nations and of the

necessary work it has done on the Secretary-General’s

watch towards world peace and justice.

At the most elemental level, we feel most deeply

the sad and tragic impact of the recent inhuman acts of

terrorism: the lost lives, the orphaned children, the

widowed spouses, the parents struck with the

unimaginable grief of outliving their children and,

worse yet, of watching them die. As we watched the

horror unfold, we felt as though it were happening to

us — as indeed it was, for the United Nations is in a

sense one family. The blow that was struck at this

international city of New York was felt as directly by

the rest of the world. As people the world over stopped

to watch in horror as the twin towers came down, the

world’s economies ground to a virtual halt.

Business activity stopped, investments were

withdrawn, markets shrank, tourism dried up, more

jobs were lost, living standards dropped even further,

destitution spread and the very conditions that favour

terrorism spread and deepened. Our misgivings about a

world slowdown deepened into certainty about a

recession that will be felt most deeply by those least

able to endure it: not just classes but whole countries.

The average growth rate in the gross domestic product

of developing countries could fall from last year’s 5.5

per cent to 2.9 per cent. For most poor countries, that

will translate to sub-zero growth.

The face of terrorism that this city saw over a

month ago is a familiar one to Asians. It has taken a

terrible toll in terms of the lives of our people and the

economies of the region. It has destroyed our credit and

has deterred investment. It has caused Asian

Governments profound embarrassment at being caught

flat-footed and unable to offer their citizens the most

basic security. In the south-western part of the

Philippines, it has taxed our resources and our patience

to the limit, for terrorism is the argument of those who

are not really interested in reasoning but only in getting

whatever they want on their terms alone.

We know terrorism. We are fighting it in the

south-western Philippines. The perpetrators of the first

attack on the World Trade Center were apprehended by

our police. Rather than dismembering our country and

dispossessing our people of their homes, we have been

negotiating with secessionist groups. But we have

thrown the full weight of the law, including the use of

force, at those who have resorted to terrorism. We

know the enemy, and we know that these are not people

you talk to; these are people you fight. As the

Secretary-General has pointed out, there are those who

will hate and who will kill even if every injustice is

ended. You must fight them in the field, when they take

to the field and hunt them in cities when they hide

inside.

It was in the light of that experience in the south-

western Philippines that we immediately condemned

the terrorist attacks on the United States, for we

recognized them immediately as desperate and

despicable acts by that violent minority which seeks to

enslave the world with fear. And indeed, they have

given the world good reason to be afraid. The attack on

the World Trade Center, which aimed to take the lives

of the 50,000 people who worked inside it, shows us an

enemy without pity, without compunction and prepared

to use any means to achieve the greatest destruction.

The Philippines did not need to join the war on

terrorism: it was in that war already, in the south-

western part of our islands. The Philippines could not

have done otherwise than to renew its commitment to

fight terrorism in a wider field in the wake of 11

September. We know that this is an enemy that must be

9

fought everywhere so that it cannot again strike at will

anywhere it pleases.

This is a fight between tolerance and bigotry,

between reason and fanaticism, between law and

anarchy, between justice and murder pretending to be

just. In this fight, there is no side to choose but the one

where the civilized nations of the world — long-time

allies and former enemies — have chosen to stand

united, not least here in this Hall.

The Secretary-General has declared that the 11

September attacks struck at everything our

Organization stands for: peace, freedom, tolerance,

human rights, and the very idea of a united human

family.

I do not know if the future belongs to our side,

but I am convinced that there will be no future if our

side does not prevail in this fight — at least, no future

that any of us would care to live in. In fact, it would

not be a future in which most of us would be allowed

to live. It would be a future where happiness was

suspect, delight was blasphemy, beauty was a cause for

shame and independent thought a capital crime.

But while terrorism cannot be placated, and no

terrorist should be appeased, there is no doubt in our

minds, either, that we must address the concerns that

they pretend are the inspiration for their terrible deeds.

If the world can show that it will carry on, that it

will persevere in creating a stronger, more just, more

benevolent and more genuine international community

across all lines of religion and race, then terrorism will

have failed.

No, terrorism will not stop, but it will have failed.

To stop terrorism, the terrorists themselves will have to

be stopped. What we can do, however, is to strip them

of their moral pretensions and take upon ourselves the

causes that they have perverted.

No nation will indefinitely endure the yawning

gap between rich and poor — a gap that is only

growing bigger, not just within, but across the

countries of the world. It is this growing disparity

between the ever fewer rich and the ever-increasing

poor that has given terrorism the freedom of movement

and impunity from accountability that it has enjoyed.

Poverty can be reduced partly by national

economic growth. But, more than that, societies have to

adopt deliberate policies to ensure that the income

levels of the poor rise faster than those of the rich.

Recent developments in the global economy have

displayed the perils of overdependence on external

markets. We must expand domestic demand and

increase the purchasing power of the masses of our

people.

This is largely the responsibility of each nation.

We in the Philippines are addressing the affront of

mass poverty through housing, education, lower

medical costs, more efficient power, transportation and

communications, infrastructure in the countryside,

credit to small farmers and micro-industries,

productivity, protection of the environment, and

development of the areas farthest from our centre of

political power and economic activity.

The international community also has a

responsibility in the elimination of poverty.

Commitments to devote a certain percentage of gross

domestic product to official development assistance

have a place. But the most effective, and least costly,

anti-poverty measure on a global scale is for developed

countries to open their markets wider to the products of

the developing countries, including in particular those

products turned out by poor people in the poor

countries — agricultural commodities, textiles,

clothing and footwear, as well as electrical and

electronic appliances and components.

The global trading system cannot allow

developed countries to subsidize heavily their

agricultural exports while the developing countries are

without the means to help their own farmers.

The recent Ministerial Meeting of the World

Trade Organization (WTO) decided to launch a new

round of multilateral trade negotiations. To ensure that

the WTO does not lose credibility at this crucial time,

our top priority is to ensure that the Doha round is truly

a development round.

The effort to conquer poverty must embrace all

cultures, all ethnic groups and all religious

communities. Nations must allow all to preserve their

own cultures.

We must make political autonomy accessible to

regions that want it. At the same time, no one must be

allowed to resort to terrorism to further political aims.

10

Respect for culture and religion, resources for

development, openness to political autonomy within

the sovereignty of the nation and rejection of terrorism

are the foundations of the Philippine approach to our

ethnic diversity and to the uplifting of our Muslim and

tribal minorities.

The vision of nations where poverty is rapidly

reduced cannot be attained in places where women and

girls are mistreated and their rights trampled upon. As

a woman head of State, woman head of Government

and woman Commander-in-Chief of the world’s

fourteenth largest nation, I say: we cannot conquer

poverty without liberating women and girls where they

are oppressed. The gender gap is a part of the

development gap and must be addressed with equal

vigour.

The fight against terrorism, the struggle to

eliminate poverty, the work on behalf of social and

international justice, the strengthening of the rule of

law, the promotion of tolerance and mutual respect, the

practice of humanitarian compassion, the liberation of

women, the never-ending quest for peace — these have

long been on the United Nations agenda. We in the

Philippines have been doing this in our region, in

cooperation with our neighbours.

The heightened virulence of terrorism, the

renewed sense of insecurity among the world’s peoples

and the alarming slowdown in the global economy

have intensified the urgency and importance of our

work. Together, let us get on with the job. It is serious.

It is essential. It is urgent.