South Africa, 2010

My

delegation joins previous speakers in expressing our

congratulations to Mr. Joseph Deiss on his election as

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth

session. We want to take this opportunity to assure him

of our full cooperation and to wish him a very

successful and rewarding term. I also take this

opportunity to thank Mr. Ali Treki for the excellent

work he did in steering this Assembly during his tenure

as President during its sixty-fourth session.

The theme of the sixty-fifth session of the

General Assembly — “Reaffirming the central role of

the United Nations in global governance” — resonates

with what our global citizen, Nelson Rolihlahla

Mandela, said about this body on the occasion of its

fiftieth anniversary:

“The United Nations has to reassess its role,

redefine its profile and reshape its structures. It

should truly reflect the diversity of our universe

and ensure equity among the nations in the

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exercise of power within the system of

international relations, in general, and the

Security Council, in particular.” (A/50/PV.37,

p. 6)

My delegation supports the choice of this theme, and

we wish to reiterate our belief in the centrality of the

United Nations and the system of multilateralism.

Despite the challenges that face humanity in the

twenty-first century, the relevance of the United

Nations as a multilateral mechanism through which a

myriad of complex world affairs can be administered

and resolved cannot be overemphasized. Those

challenges compel us more than ever before to

strengthen the United Nations. South Africa is

committed to working with other Member States to

achieve the full potential of the United Nations to

address the urgent challenges facing the international

community by making it more relevant, more

responsive to the diversity of humankind and more

representative.

The creation of the United Nations was one of the

notable successes of the twentieth century, and thanks

to its existence the world has been spared another war

on the scale and magnitude of the First and Second

World Wars. The exponential growth in the

membership of the Organization over the years, from

51 Members in 1945 to 192 today, clearly demonstrates

the confidence that the peoples of the world have

placed in the United Nations and the ideals contained

in its Charter.

The universal membership of the United Nations

gives it the legitimacy to be at the centre of efforts to

address global challenges. However, the question is

whether the United Nations has leveraged that diversity

of its membership as a source of strength and acted

decisively against any tendency that runs contrary to its

fundamental values and founding principles.

The answer to this is yes because, in the past, the

United Nations played an invaluable role in the

worldwide process of decolonization, transforming the

political landscape of the world and bringing much-

cherished freedom and independence to the peoples of

Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Organization was

instrumental in bringing about the demise of the

universally despised apartheid system in our own

country, South Africa.

When the Organization recognized the right to

development as a human right, it gave voice and hope

to those who know the face of poverty. When the

Organization has sent its troops to far-flung places to

keep peace among neighbours who should be living

together, it has again underscored the reason for which

it was established. Amid all the challenges, the United

Nations has been relevant and responsive to our

diverse interests.

Five years ago, at the World Summit, we agreed

that, if the Organization were to continue to play its

central role in global governance effectively, there was

a need to strengthen and reposition it to deal with the

challenges of the twenty-first century. We believe that

the revitalization of the General Assembly remains one

of the cornerstones of the United Nations reform

agenda. The General Assembly is the chief

deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of

the United Nations and plays a critical role in the

process of standard-setting and the codification of

international law. Its decisions are taken by a collective

among equals for the common good.

We will support measures that are aimed at

enhancing the effectiveness of the General Assembly,

especially regarding its role in the maintenance of

international peace and security. Indeed, we witnessed

with satisfaction how, on several occasions, the

General Assembly acted promptly when the Security

Council was unwilling or unable to respond to grave

developments in the aftermath of the conflict in Gaza

in 2009.

Indeed, no transformation of the United Nations

could be complete without the fundamental reform of

the Security Council. South Africa believes that the

objective of the reform should be to create a Security

Council that is truly representative of the membership

and effectively responsive to international crises, as

mandated by the Charter of the United Nations. Indeed,

it remains a travesty of justice that Africa, which

accounts for a large portion of the work of the Council,

is not represented in the permanent category. Thus,

deliberations about us carry on without us.

The world should be free of weapons of mass

destruction, in accordance with our undertakings on

total disarmament. In that regard, South Africa

welcomes the recently agreed programme of work of

the Conference on Disarmament.

27 10-55109

While the right to development and freedom from

want are central to the work of the United Nations, we

have just ended the High-level Plenary Meeting to

review our performance in achieving the Millennium

Development Goals and agreed that more needs to be

done to act on commitments already made by the

international community in that regard.

The people of Haiti have a story to tell about how

best the international community can respond in unison

and effectively to a nation in distress.

A speedy and satisfactory conclusion of the Doha

Round of the World Trade Organization, which

promised so much for the developing South,

unfortunately remains a dream yet to be fulfilled. At

the same time, the global economic crisis has

highlighted the point that many of us have always

made about the need to work for an international

financial architecture that is sensitive to the

development needs of the South.

The contribution of the Group of 20 (G-20) is a

welcome development in that regard, and we believe

that the Group should complement and reinforce the

good work of the United Nations and not act as an

alternative. In its composition, the G-20 will also need

to mirror the rich diversity of humankind by making

sure that all regions of the world, in particular Africa,

are well represented. We look forward to the full

implementation of the undertakings made to transform

the international financial architecture, including the

reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, as a step

towards building a world system founded on equity and

social justice.

Environmental issues, including climate change,

have also become high on the priorities of the

international agenda. South Africa is fully committed

to a multilateral outcome on the basis of the Bali Plan

of Action, with a two-track negotiated and legally

binding outcome. We are convinced that the

Copenhagen Accord provides political guidance for

future negotiations.

Accordingly, we should work together to ensure

that the forthcoming meeting of the sixteenth session

of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change in Mexico

takes bold and concrete steps to address climate change

and its effects. For our part, South Africa will have the

opportunity to host the seventeenth session of the

Conference of the Parties in December 2011, on the

eve of the end of the first commitment period of the

Kyoto Protocol.

Peace and stability are one of the preconditions

for bringing about an Africa of the new beginning that

the Chairperson of the African Union, His Excellency

President Wa Mutharika of Malawi, spoke of on the

first day of the general debate (see ). The

United Nations has been an important partner to Africa,

working with us through the African Union, whether in

Somalia, the Sudan or the Democratic Republic of

Congo. South Africa is encouraged by the commitment

shown by the international community in trying to

assist the both the Government of the Sudan and

Southern Sudan as they prepare for the upcoming

referendum in January 2011.

The people of Zimbabwe also need the helping

hand of the international community in implementing

their Global Political Agreement. The African Union

and the Southern African Development Community

speak for us, too, in calling for the lifting of sanctions

against Zimbabwe. We will continue to work with the

peoples of Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Burundi,

among others, in their efforts to build and consolidate

peace and democracy in their respective countries.

In the case of Western Sahara, South Africa

remains concerned about the continuing impasse,

which stands in the way of a solution that will result in

the people of Western Sahara exercising their

inalienable right to self-determination. We count on the

United Nations, especially the Security Council, to

continue to make decisions that enable us to decisively

deal with the challenges of peace and security on our

continent.

The United Nations should see Africa as a partner

in the maintenance of international peace and the

management of conflicts, and accordingly do more to

strengthen the working relationship between the

Security Council and the African Union Peace and

Security Council. In this respect, South Africa will

continue to support all international efforts to help the

people of Palestine and Israel in their endeavour to find

lasting peace, leading to the establishment of a viable

Palestinian State, on the basis of the 1967 borders and

with East Jerusalem as its capital, existing side by side

in peace and security with Israel.

We are at one with the call made by several

delegations for the lifting of the embargo on the

Republic of Cuba.

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We have converged here year after year to make

strong statements on Palestine, the embargo on Cuba

and the independence of the Western Sahara. The

ultimate test of the relevance of the United Nations

will therefore be in bringing closure to all these long

outstanding issues in a manner that is consistent with

our decisions and the collective will of nations

represented in this Organization.

In conclusion, we were also privileged recently to

be the stage, and Africa the theatre, of the 2010

Fédération internationale de football association World

Cup tournament. Our people spoke for us during that

soccer event in how they embraced each other and in

their diversity of many nations, consistent with the

spirit of ubuntu, which simply means “I am because

you are”. They gave us hope and confirmed the faith

we have in our belief that a better world is possible.

The role of sport in development and in advancing

peace can never be underestimated. As States, we can

best respond to this message from our people by

making sure that the United Nations, in playing its role

in the global system, is more relevant, more inclusive

and more representative.

Looking ahead, South Africa is honoured to have

been endorsed by the African Union as a candidate for

the Security Council non-permanent membership for

the period 2011-2012. We stand ready to continue to

contribute to the achievement of peace and security in

the world.