Poland, 2013

First of all, I would like to

offer my heartfelt congratulations to Mr. John Ashe for

his election as President of the General Assembly at its

sixty-eighth session.

In one month’s time, it will have been 70 years

since the Foreign Ministers of the four major Powers

agreed to set up a universal organization dedicated to

ensuring international peace and security. In Moscow,

in 1943, high representatives of the United States, the

Soviet Union, China and the United Kingdom took that

decision in the very midst of the most devastating war in

human history. They knew that maintaining peace and

the creed of “war no more” required harmonious and

concerted international cooperation. They knew that

it required collaboration among the great Powers and

respect for the principles of international law, as well as

the building of infrastructure for peace. The declaration

published back then rightly spoke of the need to act for

justice among nations. That is important, because it is

from injustice or from the sense of a lack of justice that

many conflicts, both internal and international, have

originated and continue to originate.

On the eve of that anniversary, it is worth examining

to what extent the international community copes

with threats to peace and with open-ended, prolonged

disputes. The Organization and its States Members are

right to be satisfied with the body of work produced

since then to help maintain security and peace. The

United Nations has proven to be an instrument that,

since the Second World War, has made international

relations more civilized in very many areas, not just

in relations among countries but also within them.

Understandably, the world is still far from ideal, but we

should not lose heart. A better world is possible, and

we should not lose sight of that. That is the real ideal

outlined in the Charter of the United Nations, and it

is a duty that belongs to all of us, the Members of the

Organization.

The justified satisfaction with the progress made,

which was ensured with the aid of the United Nations

and enjoyed by the whole of humankind, cannot hide the

weaknesses of the Organization and its ineffectiveness

in situations it was set up to resolve.

One such current situation is the civil war in Syria.

That conflict has led to a large number of victims and

has created a major humanitarian crisis. It is a threat

to regional security and stability. In such situations,

Members of the Organization are authorized to

demand efficient action by the Security Council. That

is a justified expectation of ours based on Article 24

of the Charter. Regrettably, we must conclude that in

the Syrian dispute, members of the Security Council

have spoken out for individual sides in the war and

supported them in various ways, rather than make the

parties stop fighting and commit to peace talks. That

has revealed the lack of capacity and efficiency of the

decision-making mechanisms of the United Nations.

Thisis all the more reason not to procrastinate or

wait for another anniversary as a pretext to return to our

efforts to reform the Security Council in a way that would

also bolster its authority, legitimacy, representativeness

and effectiveness. We are talking about a more systemic

solution that would not limit the Security Council

but would go beyond the Council by reinforcing its

representativeness. We are thinking today about the

significance of the original principle of the right to veto

of the Security Council’s permanent members, in the

light not just of current or future challenges but also of

the changes in the global international order, which are

unfolding before our very eyes. It would be beneficial

if the discussion about those issues could follow a

formula similar to the one that proved successful prior

to the sixtieth anniversary of the Organization, which

brought about a rather ambitious reform agenda for the

Organization, some of which found its way into the

World Summit Outcome adopted by Member States in

2005 (resolution 60/1). Poland was an active participant

in that work and intends to continue its engagement for

further necessary reforms.

The Syrian tragedy, including the use of chemical

weapons, is symbolic of a broader phenomenon — the

ignoring of international values, norms and obligations

adopted by the Organization and the entire international

community. After all, they should apply to everybody to

the same degree, with no one set outside or above them.

Too often, the immediate national interests of countries

have the upper hand. That leads to tragic consequences

in terms of human rights and humanitarian issues,

including the principle of the responsibility to protect,

for which we had such high hopes when it was adopted

in 2005.

Armed conflicts are an extreme manifestation of the

mass violation of human rights. The tragic development

of the situation in Syria, which has claimed more than

100,000 victims by now, could have been prevented,

especially if the Security Council had adopted the

necessary decisions early enough. Therefore, the

solution of the difficult, complex and interrelated

problems of the Middle East entails a comprehensive,

imaginative and impartial approach.

In a context where everyone is focused on security

issues — including new, non-traditional ones, and

where the dominant concerns are the economy. crisis

mitigation, the fight for growth and competitiveness,

competition for markets and land that could provide

valuable raw materials for economic development — we

cannot forget about human rights. Recently, many actors

in the international arena have failed to care about

them. But is it possible for us to ignore them, when, for

instance, the violations are too close to genocide?

Let me remind the Assembly that this year, on

9 December, we will be celebrating the sixty-fifth

anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the

Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,

which was, by the way, initiated and drafted by the

Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin. The message from his

research and initiatives, which started in Warsaw in the

early 1930s, is as follows: we must be alert and sensitive

to the symptoms of future violations of human rights; it

is our duty to respond to them and not just show moral

outrage.

As the effectiveness of the response depends on

international cooperation, the United Nations is to be

a centre for such international cooperation. The United

Nations is the best, and often the only, such centre. We

must not allow the instruments for the protection of

human rights developed by the United Nations to be

eroded. Their effectiveness will depend upon whether

we remain united, and not just in name. It is necessary

to establish a mechanism that would, in an objective and

uncontroversial manner, force harmonious cooperation

between the permanent members of the Security Council

in the face of situations that fall under the principle of

the responsibility to protect, in order to ensure that the

prevention of such crimes and the effective response to

them prevail over individual geopolitical interests.

The practice of exploiting children in armed

conflicts is particularly saddening and causes a lot of

outcry. The fact that many Governments tolerate such

practices and that the Organization, despite existing

conventions and protocols, is unable to do more in

this area is unacceptable. Let me remind the Assembly

that the Convention on the Rights of the Child was

also developed on Poland’s initiative. For children,

their safety, development and rights, it is the family

that matters most. Looking at the family and its role

in society makes us aware of how much the family

means when it comes to respecting human rights. We

are particularly sensitive to that in Poland.

What in many countries is a tangible but slight

deficit in the exercise of economic and social rights,

while in many others it is poverty and chronic

underdevelopment. Poverty and underdevelopment are

not just human rights issues and factors that undermine

the dignity of the individual and entire social groups.

They are also the reason that individuals and nations

are unable to ensure survival on their own, or to fulfil

their creative potential for their own benefit and that of

humankind. That is why international efforts aimed at

helping regions and countries that suffer poverty and are

constantly underdeveloped are so important for them to

be able to take the path of sustainable growth and stop

being chronically dependent upon external assistance.

First and foremost, however, that is necessary so that

fundamental human rights are respected and local

residents regain their sense of dignity in order for their

inherent potential to serve the development and enrich

the diversity of the human civilization.

Those objectives will be served by the climate

negotiations that Poland is going to chair when the

nineteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to

the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change takes place in November.

We know in Poland that just one single generation

can be enough to make unbelievable progress. When

communism fell in 1989, Poland was a poor country,

economically ruined and badly indebted. It needed

international aid, not in the form of non-repayable

borrowing but debt relief and restructuring, technical

and training assistance, access to markets of better

developed countries and foreign investment.

Coupled with the hard-working nature and

entrepreneurial spirit of the Poles, that has all borne

fruit in abundance. Since then, our gross domestic

product has increased by approximately 400 per cent,

while our emissions have dropped by more than 30 per

cent, as compared with the baseline year. That attests

to the fact that it is possible and realistic to achieve

economic growth while curbing the growth of harmful

emissions.

Obviously, we are aware that there is no single

formula for everyone and no single path to sustainable

growth. There are different baseline circumstances,

environments and cultural and geographical conditions.

The Polish example, however, and that of other post-

Communist countries, should be considered in other

regions of the globe.

The same is true for the European development

model of the European Union, which strives to

combine democracy and human freedom, economic

competitiveness, social justice and solidarity. It is

not about being Eurocentric. It is an experience most

appreciated by those who come to Europe from the

furthest parts of the world and want to stay there. Do

not be misled by the economic crisis in the European

Union, which most countries in the Union are already

beginning to overcome. The European development

model remains universally attractive.

Our experience also suggests that even the most

generous foreign assistance will not replace efforts

made internally by a country. It is frequently an

indispensable precondition, yet is insufficient in

itself. Internal efforts and factors — the freedom and

empowerment of individuals, economic freedom and

the stability of the State — always form the foundation.

Good governance is another important aspect

of successfully pursuing sustainable growth, as it

combines democracy, self-government, human rights,

competence, a lack of corruption and the primacy of

the interest of the country as a whole over particular

interests, whether they are political or economic. The

entire notion of good governance is spelled out in a

resolution of the Human Rights Commission initiated

by Poland in the late 1990s. Only with good governance

in place can international aid bring about desirable

results in combating poverty and taking the route of

sustainable growth.

Poland is an active participant in the international

community, and not just through its bilateral relations

and membership regional organizations such as the

European Union, or supra-regional ones such as NATO

and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe. We are also trying to create a better international

order by being active in the United Nations. Poland, an

unflinching believer in the purposes and principles of

the United Nations, is convinced that it is necessary

to respect the treaties and commitments made by the

Organization — by us — and supports institutions and

programmes that facilitate their implementation.

For years, one of the priorities of our policy has been

the promotion of human rights and democracy. Poland

currently holds the presidency of the Human Rights

Council. The European Endowment for Democracy was

established on Poland’s initiative as well. Our country’s

share in development aid is growing, particularly

within the European Union. Next November, Warsaw

will host the climate summit, where we will preside

over the most important development process, namely,

that of climate-related negotiations.

Poland has always been active in efforts aimed

at ensuring the non-proliferation of weapons of

mass destruction, particularly chemical weapons.

Drawing on our experience and rich relations with

other countries, we wish to continue to contribute to

reinforcing international peace and security. That is

why we are seeking a seat on the Security Council for

the period 2018-2019. We believe that as a member of

the Security Council, we will be able to help achieve

the purposes and principles of the United Nations, as

well as represent the interests of Member States in line

with the letter and spirit of the Charter of the United

Nations.