South Africa, 2012

I thank you, sir, for the opportunity

to address the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh

general debate. Let me start by congratulating Mr. Vuk

Jeremić and the Republic of Serbia on his election to

preside over the sixty-seventh session of the General

Assembly. We also acknowledge the contribution of

the President of the Assembly at its sixty-sixth session,

Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser.

South Africa fundamentally believes in the

principles and purposes contained in the Charter of

the United Nations, and correctly so, given our nation’s

history. This year, we are proudly celebrating 100 years

of our people’s self less struggle for freedom, led by the

African National Congress movement. We recall with

great appreciation the immense contribution of the United Nations to the creation of a free and democratic

South Africa.

In 1966, the General Assembly labelled apartheid

a crime against humanity in resolution 2202 A (XXI),

which ultimately led to the International Convention

on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of

Apartheid, later known as the Apartheid Convention.

The United Nations defined the crime of apartheid

as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of

establishing and maintaining domination by one racial

group of persons over any other racial group of persons

and systematically oppressing them” (resolution 3068

(XXVIII), annex, article II). The Apartheid Convention

was adopted by the General Assembly on 30 November

1973 and set the tone for vociferous action against

apartheid around the world.

Let me repeat the words our leader and international

icon, President Nelson Mandela, uttered in his very

first address to the General Assembly, in 1994, the first

by a democratically elected leader and Head of State of

our country. He said,

“The millions of our people say ‘Thank you’

and ‘Thank you again, because the respect for your

own dignity as human beings inspired you to act

to ensure the restoration of our dignity as well.’”

(A/49/PV.14, p.7)

The theme of this session is most appropriate as it

takes us back to the basics — to the founding principles

of the United Nations. The founders intended the

United Nations to be the foremost multilateral forum

entrusted with bringing hope, peace and order to the

world. Indeed, the United Nations enjoys universal

membership and is at the centre of global governance

and multilateralism. The theme reminds us that peace is

a choice. We can either choose peace as Member States

or choose the path of conflict.

The founders of the United Nations made that choice

67 years ago. They decided that the United Nations must

lead the world to peace. It is important for the United

Nations and its organs, especially the Security Council,

to execute the Organization’s mandate of working for

peace without fear or favour. We must not steer away

from the founding objectives of the Organization.

The United Nations faces immense pressure when

the world sees the unprecedented loss of lives, as it now

does in Africa and the Middle East. It is of concern

when it appears as if the United Nations were unable to act and assist, and when it comes across as paralysed in

certain instances, due to the actions of some Member

States. We have seen a divided Security Council unable

to muster the collective courage to say “no more” to

warring parties in the interest of peace. That brings

to the fore the need to continue and deepen the reform

of the United Nations and its organs to make it agile

and nimble in addressing the contemporary challenges

facing humanity.

The debate on the reform of the United Nations

and its organs, in particular the Security Council, has

been going on for the past 18 years. However, there

has been no significant movement forward. I would

like to focus in particular on the Security Council.

Given its mandate, the Council has to be legitimate,

democratic and transparent. Its current composition has

a propensity for deadlock and paralysis even in the face

of crisis. It remains unrepresentative and undemocratic

in both its composition and decision-making.

We would like to see a more meaningful

representation of Africa in the Security Council. About

70 per cent of the Council’s agenda is taken up by issues

from the African continent. The Security Council has

to be expanded in both categories, with at least two

seats for Africa in the permanent category and five in

the non-permanent category. In addition to seats for the

continent in the composition of the Council, the United

Nations should also fully recognize and appreciate the

role of regional organizations working with the United

Nations in conflict management and resolution.

In that regard, we urge closer collaboration with the

African Union (AU) peace and security mechanisms,

especially given the progress being made by the AU

in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in some parts

of the continent since its formation 10 years ago.

Therefore, cognizance should be taken of Chapter VIII

of the Charter, in particular when dealing with African

issues.That is why South Africa piloted resolution 2033

(2012) during our rotating presidency of the Security

Council in January.

Currently, the AU continues to address one of the

longest outstanding conflicts on the continent through

one of its mechanisms, the African Union High-level

Implementation Panel on the Sudan. Together, as the

international community, we recently celebrated

the creation of the State of South Sudan. We wish

to congratulate the Somalis and their leadership on

choosing the path of peace, democracy and prosperity.

The international community and the United Nations

must continue to give the people of Somalia all the

necessary support.

Africa is indeed making progress and, with United

Nations support, that could go further. To promote

the peaceful settlement of disputes, we also wish to

emphasize that the Security Council should carry out

its Charter mandate within the confines of international

law.

Any Member State or international body that

implements Council resolutions should be accountable

to the Council, so as to ensure that we avoid the

abuse of internationally agreed principles such as the

responsibility to protect and the protection of civilians.

Those principles must not be used, amongst other

things, to justify the notion of regime change. They

exist to prevent mass atrocities, war crimes, genocide

and ethnic cleansing.We should continue the debate

on them in order to develop norms and standards for

accountability when actions are taken.

It is also of critical importance for the United

Nations to closely guard its impartiality, independence

and objectivity and not allow itself to be dragged into a

conflict to take sides with any party under the guise of

protecting civilians.

The situation in the Middle East, in particular the

Palestine-Israeli question, continues to be of concern

to us. The United Nations should play a central and

decisive role in efforts to resolve the long-standing

conflict in that region. Any act of aggression or

violations of international law should be condemned

unequivocally by the United Nations at all times. As

the United Nations, we cannot be seen to be strong in

condemning some acts while being soft on others. As

South Africa, we remain committed to the two-State

solution based on the 1967 borders, with Palestine and

Israel coexisting side by side in peace.

Let me also emphasize that South Africa fully

supports the application by Palestine for full membership

of the United Nations. It is unacceptable that, even

today, Palestine remains outside the membership of the

United Nations. We trust that that matter will soon be

positively concluded.

In further promotion of the peaceful resolution of

disputes, we believe that the sovereign right of States

to nuclear energy for peaceful and civilian use should

be respected in accordance with international law.

We have taken note that the Director General of the

International Atomic Energy Agency has been able to

draw the conclusion that all declared nuclear material

in Iran is used for peaceful activities. Clarification

of the nature of undeclared materials will enable the

international community to have full confidence

in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear

programme. South Africa therefore encourages Iran to

continue its cooperation with the Agency.

We should also remember that so long as some

States are allowed to operate outside internationally

agreed norms, such as those of the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, it will be

difficult to expect others to operate within them. South

Africa supports the long-standing call for a nuclear-free

zone in the Middle East. In that regard, the peaceful

resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue is very important.

Let me use this opportunity to reiterate our support

for the ongoing struggle for self-determination by the

people of Western Sahara. We urge the international

community to support their quest for freedom, human

rights and dignity.

We also reiterate our call for the lifting of the

economic and financial embargo against the people of

Cuba in order to help the Cuban people to gain their

economic freedom.

Poverty, underdevelopment, lack of opportunities

and competition for scarce resources contribute to

some of the conflicts in the developing world, including

Africa. Therefore, the promotion of sustainable

development and the fight against poverty cannot be

divorced from the quest for peace.

In 2015, the United Nations will be 70 years old

and will also reach the target year for the achievement

of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). World

leaders committed themselves to eradicating extreme

poverty, facilitating universal primary education,

attaining gender equality, improving maternal and

child health, reducing the burden of disease primarily

by combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis,

protecting the environment, and mobilizing global

partnerships for development by 2015. The Heads of

State also committed themselves to promoting gender

equality and the empowerment of women as effective

ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to

stimulate truly sustainable development. We urge the

United Nations to continue promoting the achievement of the MDGs and other instruments whose tenets

advance the human rights of women.

We are concerned that sub-Saharan Africa is

unlikely to meet the targets for the MDGs. Awareness

of that possibility should not make us give up; in the

next three years, we must accelerate the implementation

of the MDGs. We appeal to all who have made financial

commitments to Africa for the achievement of the

MDGs not to renege on those commitments. We would

like to express our appreciation to those development

partners that continue to stick to their 0.7 per cent

official development assistance commitment despite

their financial difficulties at the domestic level.

We support the Secretary-General’s High-level

Panel of Eminent Persons to focus on the acceleration

of the implementation of the MDGs, and would urge

that much of its focus be on assisting Africa in meeting

all its targets. However, we wish to caution against

prejudging the review outcome and prematurely setting

in motion processes that would undermine the ideals of

the MDGs.

The protection and promotion of human rights

and fundamental freedoms should be at the centre of

our collective desire to resolve international disputes

by peaceful means. Racism and racial discrimination

continue to be an affront to the very basic founding

principles of the United Nations and must be fought

relentlessly. We should shun any idea in any part of the

world that seems to suggest that there is a superior race

or human being on the basis of skin colour. The danger

of such ideas is still fresh in our collective memory.

We have learned from the evils of colonialism, two

World Wars and the system of apartheid. We should all

renew our commitment to continue to build on the solid

foundation laid by the Durban Declaration and the Plan

of Action that we adopted more than a decade ago at

the end of the World Conference against Racism, Racial

Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

In Durban last December, South Africa had

the honour of hosting the seventeenth session of

the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change and the

seventh session of the Conference of the Parties

serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto

Protocol. Member States must ensure that agreements

are implemented. In that regard, the Durban Platform

offers an opportunity for progress that we must utilize

to move forward.

Today’s timely debate is a reminder that, ultimately,

peace is a choice. Peace is achievable. The wise and brave

choices we have the power to make can deliver lasting

peace to every corner of the world. We are called upon

at this sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly to

choose peace by reforming and strengthening the United

Nations so that it can play its rightful role and deliver

peace, security, sustainable development and respect

for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout

the world. As the foremost multilateral forum bringing

together all nations of the world, the United Nations is

best placed to play this role. It requires our support as

Member States at all times, both for our sake and for

that of future generations.