Romania, 2013

I have

the honour to speak today on behalf of the delegation

of Romania.

First, I welcome last night’s adoption of Security

Council resolution 2118 (2013), concerning the

destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal. We believe

that the resolution’s adoption by the Council represents

a veritable success for the international community

regarding the Syrian dossier.

I would like to commend the President of the

General Assembly for his well-deserved election, and

I wish to assure him of my delegation’s full support

in the discharge of his important responsibilities. We

are convinced that his rich experience as a seasoned

diplomat and the responsibilities that he previously

assumed in the sphere of international relations are

unquestionable assets for the success of this session.

My delegation fully supports the statement

made by Mr. Herman Van Rompuy, President of the

European Council, on behalf of the European Union

(see A/68/PV.8) .

In my statement, I would like to touch upon a

number of matters of interest to my country concerning

the positive developments that have occurred in the

activities of the United Nations since our previous

debate, as well as our expectations for the next period,

in the three main areas of activity of the United Nations,

namely, peace and security, development and human

rights, and democracy and the rule of law.

We believe that the efforts of the international

community and the results obtained to date in Mali

represent an encouraging trend for that country and

for the Sahel region. One year ago, the crisis in Mali

was a major concern for the Malian population and

for neighbouring countries. Following the positive

developments that occurred in the early months of

2013, the Security Council decided on 25 April,

through resolution 2100 (2013), that the United Nations

would participate in restoring the situation in Mali and

in providing support for the democratic transition in

that country. Remarkable progress has been achieved

in the interim. Free and fair presidential elections were

held, with an unprecedented level of participation of

the population. Earlier this month, President Ibrahim

Boubacar Keita was inaugurated, and the Prime

Minister has already established the new Cabinet.

As a member of the European Union, Romania

welcomed the adoption of the Security Council resolution

establishing the United Nations Multidimensional

Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. Similarly,

my country has also supported the participation of the

international community in the process of rebuilding

the capacities and institutions in Mali and has decided

to join those efforts by contributing a contingent of

10 military experts to the European Union’s training

mission in Mali.

(spoke in English)

Allow me to refer to other positive developments

in the field of peace and security in the past year that

confirm the contribution of multilateralism to progress

in the field of peace and security. Ensuring peace and

security through international cooperation is one of the

main tasks of the Organization. Within that framework

we have established important goals for ourselves

in the past couple of years, and we have proved that

working together can lead to concrete achievements and

substantial results. That is the case with the adoption

of the Arms Trade Treaty. We have managed to jointly

deliver a concrete tool meant to ensure a safer world

and address the challenges affecting the security of all

our citizens. We must continue on that path and bring

the Treaty into force as soon as possible. I am pleased

to inform the Assembly that Romania is currently

undertaking legal domestic procedures in order to

ratify the Treaty as soon as possible.

Similar progress is expected in other areas

of multilateral negotiations. Halfway to the next

Review Conference of Parties to the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, proceedings at

the Preparatory Committee, which is being chaired by

Romania and which held its second session in Geneva

in April, have revealed that expectations are growing

that more concrete results will be attained in reaching

the targets established in the 2010 Non-Proliferation

Treaty action plan.

Romania is a strong supporter of all endeavours

aimed at achieving comprehensive peace in the Middle

East. We support all the initiatives of the Quartet and

the full implementation of the road-map vision of two

States — Israel and Palestine — living side by side in

peace and security. We therefore welcome the recent

resumption of direct negotiations as a long-awaited

step forward, made possible by the constant and tireless

efforts of the United States Administration. We are

hopeful that both parties will take courageous steps

aimed at finding a durable solution to a problem of

supreme concern to their peoples, the region and the

international community.

We are gratified that, since our last debate, important

steps have been taken to implement the key provisions

of the final document of the United Nations Conference

on Sustainable Development, “The future we want”

(resolution 66/288, annex). Romania commends the

efforts and dedication of Brazil and Italy in facilitating

the complex and strenuous negotiations that led to the

establishment of the High-level Political Forum and

made it possible to convene its inaugural meeting on

24 September. As a member of the Open Working

Group on Sustainable Development Goals, sharing a

seat with Poland, Romania is joining efforts in that very

important process that will craft a comprehensive and

coherent set of goals for effective delivery and results

at all levels, in accordance with the Rio de Janeiro

Conference decisions. The new framework should

reinforce the international community’s commitment

to poverty eradication and sustainable development.

In that respect, we set up an interministerial ad hoc

working group to develop our national vision to frame

the future goals we wish to promote, along with our

partners, during the ongoing negotiations on this issue.

In our view, the sustainable development goals

(SDGs) should be universal and applicable to all States

and should provide references and clear suggestions

for action and innovative mechanisms for measuring

their implementation, in order to ensure sustainable

development. At the same time, the goals should be

based on national ownership and take into account

differing national circumstances so as to provide

political space and the right to development for each

country, and should address, as cross-cutting issues,

the perspective of human rights, peace and security,

good governance, gender equality, the rule of law and

equity. Not least, we welcome the establishment of the

intergovernmental committee to analyse options for an

effective sustainable development financing strategy,

and we encourage its coordination with the other

relevant processes, in particular the Open Working

Group on the SDGs.

We strongly believe that the time is ripe to combine

efforts to define the global development framework

for the coming decades. The current session of the

General Assembly represents the best opportunity for

comprehensive and multilayered interaction to support

those endeavours. The theme of our political debate,

as proposed by the President of the General Assembly,

“The post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage”,

is a confirmation of that, and we are committed to

contributing actively to that process.

As a current member of the Human Rights Council,

we believe that it is our common responsibility to

create appropriate conditions of human dignity

and welfare around the world and to make progress

towards ensuring equality among all human beings.

The Human Rights Council has proved itself up to its

mandate, addressing in a prompt manner the situations

of grave violations of human rights occurring in some

countries, especially in Syria. We fully commend the

activity of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on

the human rights situation in Syria, which reported on

the violations committed in that country.

We highly appreciate the universal periodic

review mechanism, which we consider a very useful

and successful process. We hope that it will remain

universal. We also commend the professionalism of

the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights, and we strongly believe that its

independence is essential for the fulfilment of the

mandates of both the Council and the Office.

Another major area where the specialized structures

of the United Nations and their dedicated staff deserve

our wholehearted appreciation is that of humanitarian

assistance. In the past year, the number of people in need

of humanitarian assistance reached an unprecedented

level. Internal and international conflicts, organized

crime, poverty, drought and severe violations of human

rights are among the causes of that evolution. In too

many situations, the assistance offered by the United

Nations system, in close cooperation with international

non-governmental organizations and international

donors, is the only hope of survival for many thousands

of people. We commend and support such activities.

Despite limited financial resources, we make efforts to

contribute to the process. In that respect, I would like

to mention the work of the Emergency Transit Centre

in Timisoara, Romania. The Centre has proved to be

a refuge, offering safety to persons in urgent need of

international protection, thus creating humanitarian

space. It is an already well-established link in the

global resettlement process. We are pleased to see that

similar structures have been replicated in other regions

of the world, and we express our readiness to engage

and share our experiences with them.

Allow me now to mention some of our expectations

for United Nations activities in the year to come. The

long-standing crisis in Syria continued over the past

year, with increased violence that has claimed more

than 100,000 victims and produced more than 5 million

refugees. The harsh confrontations between the Syrian

army and opposition forces, which ultimately led to the

use of chemical weapons, have triggered the outrage

and firm condemnation of the international community.

Romania has continuously stated that it is

imperative for the international community to curb the

escalation of violence in Syria. We favour a political

solution under a Syrian-led transition process, based

on the cooperation of all Syrian parties with the

international community, with a view to preserving

Syria’s territorial integrity. With the Security Council’s

adoption yesterday of resolution 2118 (2013), Syria has

been given another chance to return to the right path.

We urge all parties to respect and act in accordance

with the provisions of that resolution, which creates the

conditions for a negotiated peace within the “Geneva

II” process. In that new context, we call on all States

not yet parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention

to undertake the necessary internal measures to join it,

in order to make sure that the use of such weapons in

future is not only prohibited, but made impossible.

I would like to recognize yesterday’s historic call

between President Rouhani and President Obama

as a major breakthrough. The occurrence of such a

one-on-one conversation after more than two decades

of silence gives us hope that Iran’s nuclear programme

will become more transparent and oriented towards

energy alone. We await, with justifiable interest, the

specific plan Minister Zarif will present in that respect

in mid-October in Geneva.

United Nations peacekeeping operations and

special political missions make a major contribution

to achieving the goals of international peace, stability

and security. We welcome the inclusion in the agenda of

this General Assembly session of a new item devoted to

special political missions, and we appreciate the report

prepared by the Secretariat for that item. Member States

will thereby have a possibility to exchange views and

make proposals for policy measures in order to better

adapt special political missions to the expectations of

international, regional and local communities.

Romania welcomes and supports the efforts

to coordinate, at the United Nations level, the

multidimensional and cross-cutting rule-of-law

approach. At the same time, my country supports the

gradual implementation of the responsibility-to-protect

concept, starting with regional capacity-building and

early-warning and preventive functions.

The world is made up of regions, and each and

every region faces its own challenges. Efforts to

identify negotiated solutions to protracted conflicts

in the Black Sea region — the Transnistrian region,

Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia and Ossetia — should

remain high on our agenda.

We believe that the actions of the United Nations

in the field of peace and security could be enhanced

through increased engagement with regional

organizations. In some regions, we have already

experienced the advantages of that kind of cooperation

with regional organizations, whose activities are

complementary to those of the United Nations system.

As a strong advocate of the increased synergies between

the United Nations system and regional organizations, I

would like to bring to the attention of the Assembly the

positive results obtained in recent years in promoting

regional cooperation within the South-East European

Cooperation Process.

Regional dialogue has time and time again proved

to be the most efficient tool for overcoming the

persisting differences of opinion among our countries.

This is particularly true of South-East Europe, where

regional cooperation is now more than ever crucial to

further consolidating relations between countries and,

at the same time, to developing the region itself.

Meeting the challenges of change and

interdependence through regional cooperation

represents the overriding priority of the years ahead

for all the actors involved. The South-East European

Process is the authentic voice of the region, as it is the

only regional format that has significantly contributed,

over the years, to the improvement of the overall relations

among the participating States. Romania, which holds

the chairmanship-in-office of the Process, will focus

on results-oriented actions aimed at contributing, in the

most concrete manner possible, to the development of

the region.

As representatives of a country that has since 1990

carried out a complex process of political, economic and

democratic transition, we believe that the international

community needs to support countries undergoing

democratization processes. The challenges that such

countries face are complex: promoting democratic

governance and the rule of law; addressing specific

aspects of past human rights violations; and promoting

transitional justice.

In order to make a contribution to that process, my

delegation will put forward, during the current session

of the General Assembly, a resolution on human rights,

democracy and the rule of law in the context of the post-

2015 development agenda. Based on our experience

in promoting, during the March 2012 session of the

Human Rights Council, a similar resolution, which

was widely supported by 127 sponsors, we are hopeful

that our initiative will receive the same level of support

from the General Assembly.

In concluding, I would like to reaffirm our

commitment to the values and principles of

multilateralism and to reiterate to the Assembly

my country’s strong support for all of its efforts to

implement the ambitious agenda ahead of us.