Republic of the Congo, 2010

As we

open this session of the General Assembly the world is

still facing problems of peace and security, crises,

conflicts, inequality among States, poverty, hunger and

disease. To those recurrent problems are added new

challenges, such as climate change, natural disasters,

terrorism, piracy, transnational organized crime, human

trafficking, nuclear proliferation and the world

economic and financial crisis. All these many issues by

their very nature call out to the whole of the

international community and demand global,

collective, coordinated solutions.

The United Nations because of its global nature

offers now more than ever the best framework for

finding lasting solutions. To do that, we need a strong,

reformed Organization that can respond to the new

demands of our time. In this connection, my delegation

welcomes the new entity UN Women and the

appointment at its head of the former President of

Chile, Michelle Bachelet — a brilliant woman, to

whom I wish every success.

We will need to work with determination to bring

about the reforms necessary to restore to the United

Nations its operation as a global Organization and to

make it a real instrument of world governance. The

process must continue with reform of the Security

Council, both in its membership and its working

methods. Also we should continue to deal with the

matter of how to strengthen the General Assembly and

its role.

The High-level Plenary Meeting on the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that ended

22 September culminated in the adoption of an

outcome document (resolution 65/1) that exhorts us to

keep our promises. We welcome it. Indeed, we must

unite to attain these Goals. As I said at that time, just

two days ago, Congo’s commitment to reaching the

MDGs remains firm.

While ten years after the Goals were announced

the overall results in achieving them are mixed,

especially in Africa, it is nevertheless undeniable that

major advances have been made in Africa during that

same period in such other essential areas as peace,

security and democracy. Africa as a whole is

increasingly emerging from a cycle of armed conflicts

that have greatly worked against its forward progress

towards development and prosperity. Today, thanks to

the efforts of the African Union, the backing of the

international community and the involvement of

African leaders themselves, many conflicts have been

or are being resolved. With that in mind, 2010 has been

named a year of peace and security in Africa.

Despite difficulties encountered here and there in

carrying out electoral processes, in a general way

democracy is undeniably making a home in Africa. In

Gabon and Burundi, to mention only those two

countries, the popular will has expressed itself freely.

We nurture the hope that the elections upcoming in the

next months, notably in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, the

Niger, Nigeria, the Central African Republic and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, will play out in a

climate of calm. That is likewise our hope for the

referendum to be held in South Sudan, as called for in

the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In this

connection we call on the international community to

continue supporting that process until it is completed.

On the subject of Central Africa, the United

Nations Office about to open will provide an additional

tool, besides existing mechanisms, to promote good

governance and build peace, cooperation and

development. In the same vein of building confidence

and peace in our subregion, from 15-19 November

Brazzaville will be hosting the thirty-first meeting of

the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on

Security Questions in Central Africa. On that occasion

the States of the subregion will seal their commitment

to fight the traffic in small arms and light weapons, by

signing the Kinshasa Convention.

Since the tragic events that brought such

suffering to my country in the 1990s and early 2000s,

the Congolese Government has invested in the quest

for peace and national reconciliation, and works to

preserve that precious accomplishment. Moreover, our

good neighbour policy — a policy we have always

advocated — is one of the pillars of our foreign policy.

It is evident today in the way in which we are handling

the humanitarian crisis resulting from the arrival in our

territory of over 100,000 nationals from Équateur

Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The signing this past 10 June of the tripartite accord

among the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic

Republic of the Congo and the Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees should make

possible an imminent resolution of the problem and

contribute to stabilizing the situation in our brother

country so in need of peace and security, especially on

the eve of its elections.

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Here I would like to thank the all the bilateral and

multilateral partners, namely France, Italy, the United

States of America, the World Food Programme and the

Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, for all

the assistance they have graciously given us.

We have just dedicated a high-level segment to

biodiversity in this year 2010, which has been

proclaimed the International Year of Biodiversity. Yet

another new challenge of our age, biodiversity is

crucial to life on earth and holds especial interest for

the Congo, since we are one of the countries that

houses the Congo Basin, a major carbon sink. We have

no doubt that the results of this segment will resonate

into the upcoming meetings in Nagoya, Japan, in

October and in Cancún, Mexico, in November and

December.

The President of our Republic, Denis Sassou

Nguesso, holds the question of biodiversity to be of

critical global importance, because tropical forests play

a vital role in regulating and stabilizing the global

climate and generally in providing environmental

services. In this context, the Copenhagen Agreement,

which took into account the process of reducing

emissions from deforestation and degradation, known

as REDD-plus, represented the culmination of major

efforts deployed by the three forest basins, the Amazon

Basin in South and Central America, the Congo Basin

in Central Africa and the Mekong Basin in South-East

Asia.

With our partners in dialogue and cooperation of

the Forest eleven tropical rainforest countries, the

Republic of the Congo reaffirms its will and

determination to meet the challenges of conservation

and the promotion of biodiversity. Such an effort can

bring about lasting results only if it is supported by

additional financing that is sustainable and predictable.

The question of human rights is also on the

agenda for this session. My Government promotes

human rights because they are so closely related to

peace and development. With regard to human rights,

the Congo has always acted within the process of

international legitimacy. That is evident in the

philosophy underpinning our Constitution, in what we

do on a day-to-day basis and in our extensive

participation in the relevant international instruments.

Domestically, besides promulgating a law on the

protection of the child in the Republic of the Congo,

our Parliament will shortly adopt a bill on promoting

and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, which

the Government has just submitted to it. The Republic

of the Congo has undertaken a number of initiatives in

this field, thus taking an important step towards

recognizing, defending and protecting the rights of

minorities. Next November, the Special Rapporteur on

the situation of human rights and fundamental

freedoms of indigenous people will visit Brazzaville.

That will be an opportune moment for dialogue and

consultations on matters related to indigenous peoples.

It should also help us speed up the implementation of

recommendations of the universal periodic review, a

Human Rights Council mechanism of which my

country was the subject from 6 to 8 May 2009 in

Geneva.

My country is a candidate for membership in the

Human Rights Council for the period from 2011 to

2014, and we thus reaffirm our commitment to

fulfilling our international commitments and to

supporting efforts of the international community to

strengthening those rights. I therefore take this

opportunity to appeal for the Assembly’s support for

our candidacy in the elections, which will be held in

May 2011.

On 15 August 2010, my country celebrated the

fiftieth anniversary of its independence. The day was

devoted to the theme of remembering, but also and

above all, of responsibilities and action. On that

occasion, the Government announced a number of

socio-economic measures to benefit our people. Those

measures were made possible by the release of

additional financial resources following the significant

foreign debt relief because of Congo’s accession to the

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

Those measures are part of the Government’s resolve

to move towards attaining the Millennium

Development Goals.

Such an enabling situation will allow my country

to lay the foundations for an emerging economy.

Indeed, it is President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s

ambition to make Congo a modern and prosperous

State that plays its part in the family of free modern

nations. But that ambition, however legitimate, can be

achieved only in a world that is safer, more just and

with more solidarity.

More than ever before, we must return to the

ideals that inspired the founding fathers of the League

of Nations and the United Nations. We must place the

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moral values and the deep aspirations of our peoples at

the heart of our work. This is the world that we all

aspire to. This is the world that we should strive to

build in this Hall.