Sweden, 2003

In the early morning of

11 September 2003, our Foreign Minister Anna Lindh

died, murdered in a senseless crime. One of Sweden’s

most prominent and respected leaders is gone. We have

lost a part of our future. She spoke for the oppressed,

for the victims of human rights violations. She worked

for international peace and justice and for multilateral

cooperation. The voice of Anna Lindh has been

silenced, but her burning conviction echoes with us.

We meet at a time when the United Nations is

facing difficulties and doubts. The capability of the

United Nations has often been in question. Despite

crises and shortcomings, the United Nations has always

withstood these tests. The United Nations was

indispensable in 1945 and it still is.

Global security cannot be achieved by unilateral

action. Locking ourselves in will not bring peace,

development, democracy or respect for human rights.

We must work together to define and address emerging

challenges for multilateral solutions.

The Secretary-General recently said:

“We can no longer take it for granted that

our multilateral institutions are strong enough to

cope with all the challenges facing them”.

(A/58/323, para. 4)

I welcome Kofi Annan’s challenge to us. The Nordic

countries stand behind him. The United Nations and

we, the Member States, must adapt. Reform is

necessary to stay modern, responsive and efficient and

to retain the trust of global civil society. International

solidarity must be in focus when redefining our

common agenda. Attaining the goals of the Millennium

Declaration is a shared responsibility.

The legitimacy and authority of the Security

Council must be regained. Its composition must better

reflect the world of today. I believe that an agreement

on enlargement with a number of non-permanent

members could be reached fairly quickly, without

excluding the possibility of additional permanent

members at a later stage.

We welcome the Secretary-General’s intention of

establishing a high-level panel to consider threats to

our security and the institutional reforms required for

the United Nations to respond.

North Korea has withdrawn from the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and

remains unclear about its intentions. The nuclear

programme in Iran, the possession of nuclear weapons

by India and Pakistan, and Israel’s refusal to sign the

NPT continue to cause concern. In several countries,

nuclear weapons are accorded a growing importance in

military doctrines. Discussions in the United States

about the creation of a new generation of smaller

nuclear arms are worrying to us. Such weapons would

not contribute to a safer world, but risk lowering the

threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

The threats from weapons of mass destruction can

only be met by multilateral efforts. The negative arms

spiral must be reversed. The non-proliferation Treaty

must be universally complied with. Sweden continues

to work for this goal, together with its partners in the

New Agenda Coalition.

We need new ideas on disarmament and non-

proliferation and on how to strengthen existing

regimes. To this aim, Sweden has initiated an

independent, international commission chaired by Mr.

Hans Blix. Last June, the General Assembly adopted a

forward-looking resolution on the prevention of armed

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conflict. Sweden will continue to work for a

strengthening of the capacity of the United Nations

practical preventive work.

Our focus must be the security of the individual.

Violations of human rights can never be accepted. State

sovereignty also implies responsibility. If Governments

fail to protect their people, the international community

must be prepared to act. In its report The Responsibility

to Protect, the International Commission on

Intervention and State Sovereignty points out important

issues for the international community to take on. How

can we make sure that sovereignty and independence

never become a license to abuse people? How should

the international community live up to its responsibility

when States fail to protect their people?

We must make full use of instruments available to

avoid war. The Security Council must be ready to act

on early warning signals on threats of mass violations

of human rights. Mechanisms to prevent such situations

may be intrusive in character and need to be

strengthened based on accountability and international

law. As the Secretary-General said in his speech on

Tuesday, the Security Council needs seriously to

discuss the best way to respond to threats of genocide

or other comparable massive violations of human

rights. Prevention of genocide will be the topic for the

Stockholm International Forum to be held in my

country in January.

There must be an end to impunity. The

International Criminal Court is now operational. The

Court will act as a deterrent to perpetrators and a

universal and equal tool for justice.

Two years ago, Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was

accompanied to the General Assembly by her then 11-

year-old son David. When he entered the Hall, he

asked: “Mom, where are all the women?” He saw what

many of us seem blind to. There are too few women

here, as in very many decision-making bodies around

the world. Gender equality is about making use of all

human resources.

Women are strong, but they are made vulnerable

through legal, economic and social discrimination.

Women are made victims of violence in war, of abuse

at home, of trafficking, of sexual exploitation. For

these women, gender equality is a question of life and

death. Women’s equal rights to education, to a

professional career and to participate in politics are not

a threat to us men. The absence of these rights is a

threat to the progress of mankind.

Peace operations require joint efforts to be

successful. The cooperation between the United

Nations and regional organizations, such as the recent

experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo —

President Kabila’s discussion of which the other day

we listened to very carefully — the European Union-

led police mission in the Western Balkans and the

military operation in Macedonia, are all examples of

this. We will continue developing the cooperation

between the United Nations and the European Union

and welcome the political declaration on crisis

management.

Many painful lessons can be drawn from the

violent conflicts in West Africa. Sweden welcomes the

large and broadly based United Nations peacekeeping

Mission in Liberia. The international community must

support the United Nations and the Economic

Community of West African States in finding sustainable

solutions for the entire region. The European Union is

trying to strengthen such a partnership through the work

of Hans Dahlgren, its Special Representative to the

Mano River Union countries.

Women are crucial to peace and reconciliation. I

welcome the fact that gender perspectives are now

being incorporated into mandates and activities of all

peacekeeping missions. The number of women in peace

operations at all levels should increase. The

implementation of Security Council resolution 1325

(2000) and the strengthening of the United Nations

capacity in this field are vital.

The decision to cut poverty by half by 2015 is

imperative, but we are not doing well enough. The pace

at which the goal is being realized is far too slow. We

now need new financial mechanisms and partnerships.

In this spirit, we welcome the initiative presented a few

days ago by the President of Brazil.

Official development assistance needs to treble.

In Monterrey, the States members of the European

Union agreed to increase official development

assistance. Sweden is increasing its assistance to 0.86

per cent of its gross domestic product next year.

Pledges must be followed by real cash money. We need

to give the United Nations predictable, long-term

financing. I entirely agree with what President Chirac

said a few days ago: “Failing that, we will end up with

a pick-and-choose United Nations”. (A/58/PV.7)

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The main responsibility for development is borne

by every country itself in promoting democracy, good

governance and respect of human rights. Official

development assistance will always only be

supplementary, as we all know. More important is the

promotion of open and fair trade rules, the dismantling

of tariffs and the reduction of subsidies. We expect the

developed countries to show the way and to bring

forward the Doha Development Agenda. Indeed, we

must all see to it that the setback in the trade

negotiations in Cancún is turned into a new start.

The Swedish Government presented a new bill in

May this year on a coherent policy for global

development. This is our way of translating the

Millennium Declaration into national policy. We will

put particular emphasis on the commitment to the

eighth Millennium Development Goal, which is

specifically about the obligations of the rich countries.

The consequences of climate change affect us all.

The deterioration of the Kyoto Protocol must be halted.

We need a global system for migration that

protects immigrant’s rights and provides security for

people who cross borders to study, research or work.

Sweden and Switzerland support the Secretary-General

in wishing to strengthen the role of migration on the

United Nations agenda, including the establishment of

a global commission on migration and development.

The General Assembly has rightly condemned the

Israeli decision to deport President Arafat. Both parties

must implement their obligations in accordance with

the road map. We urge the Palestinian Authority to take

action to cease the suicide bombings. Israel’s

extrajudicial killings are contradictory to international

law and must be stopped immediately.

The international community must do its utmost

to assist the parties in the peace process. The road map,

as Jack Straw pointed out only a few minutes ago,

should be implemented immediately with a view to the

establishment of a peaceful and democratic Palestinian

State in 2005. International monitors and observers

should be sent to the area and Sweden is willing to take

part in such a monitoring mechanism.

Sergio Vieira de Mello and many of his

colleagues lost their lives in the bombing of the United

Nations headquarters in Baghdad about a month ago, a

terrible loss for the international community. Sergio

Vieira de Mello personified, better than most, the

strength and commitment of the international

community at its best.

The situation in Iraq remains volatile and

dangerous. We are concerned about the security of the

Iraqi people and of those who are in Iraq to ease their

suffering. The bombing in Baghdad was aimed at the

purposes that the United Nations stands for — to

maintain international peace and security. It will not

make us waiver. The United Nations will stay in Iraq.

The international community needs the legitimacy of

the United Nations as the only authority to be derived

from in helping the Iraqi people recover self-

government and rebuild their country. The handling of

the conflict must remain an exception and not become

a rule.

The future of the United Nations now lies in the

hands of the Member States. If the United Nations

fails, we all fail. In the statements most referred to so

far in this year’s debate, the media have competed in

finding differences and disputes, but there is one thing

that we all agree on. That is the belief in our United

Nations. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has the world

behind him.