The Gambia, 2005

Let me begin by

congratulating you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its sixtieth

session. I have no doubt that, with your skills and vast

experience, you will guide our deliberations to a

successful conclusion. Let me also commend my dear

friend His Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, the outgoing

President of the General Assembly, for the excellent

manner in which he directed the affairs of the fifty-

ninth session. In addition, I commend the Secretary-

General for his leadership, especially in advancing the

United Nations reform and revitalization agenda. My

country has full confidence in his integrity and

competence, which he has demonstrated over the years,

both as a staff member and at the helm of the

Organization.

As we celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the

Organization, we must pause and take stock of the

record of our collective response to the many different

global challenges that mankind has had to face. From a

membership of only 50 States at its inception, the

Organization has grown to 191 Members today. That

rapid expansion, together with the sophistication that

the United Nations has acquired over the years, calls

for an assessment of its strengths and weaknesses with

a view to making it more effective. It is no secret that

the voice of the General Assembly has grown weaker

over the years, that the credibility of our human rights

procedures and mechanisms has been reduced, that

democracy, accountability and transparency in the

Security Council have become blurred and that the

Economic and Social Council needs to be more

relevant and effective.

On several occasions since 1945, we have

witnessed instances of genocide, war crimes and

crimes against humanity, as well as the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction. Civil strife and terrorism

are undermining human and State security. Poverty,

hunger and diseases still decimate countless

communities, while our capacity to respond to

humanitarian crises needs to be reassessed and

revitalized.

This is the backdrop of the challenges we as an

organization face. They do not represent failure; they

simply underscore that more needs to be done to make

the world a safer and better place for all of mankind.

Therefore, as we celebrate our achievements, let

us rededicate ourselves to remaining true to our

mission and also fashion a new vision that captures the

realities of our world in the twenty-first century. In this

connection, my delegation would like to express its

gratitude to the Secretary-General for the

comprehensive reform agenda he has laid out in his

report “In larger freedom: towards development,

security and human rights for all” (A/59/2005). We

agree that the world needs to be steered towards a

greater focus on those larger freedoms.

The majority of the world’s people today are in

chains — the chains of poverty and underdevelopment.

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For them, development means freedom from want,

freedom from fear and hunger and, above all, freedom

to live in dignity. Reforming the United Nations so that

it is better poised to more effectively address

humankind’s quest for these larger freedoms, is a real

necessity for the greater relevance and impact of our

Organization.

Indeed, the following objectives should be our

collective focus for the next decade: absolute poverty

and its attendant woes such as diseases, hunger and

illiteracy must be eliminated from the face of the earth;

the proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass

destruction must be halted and a total ban on nuclear

weapons should be imposed on all States; peace must

be allowed to reign throughout the world; there must

be greater tolerance and mutual respect in dealing with

each other’s differences; the world’s ecosystems and

natural resources must be judiciously conserved and

utilized; political systems must work to achieve greater

cooperation; multilateralism should replace unilateralism

in dealing with conflicts, disputes or disagreements

between Member States, and reconciliation should

replace confrontation and conflict.

If, in the next decade, we succeed in achieving

those objectives, we will have provided for ourselves

those larger freedoms that we crave today.

While we must focus on those long-term

objectives, we must also not lose sight of the

imperatives of our time. We must continue working in

concert towards the realization of global peace,

assigning highest priority to those conflict situations

that pose the greatest threat to the peace of the whole

world. In this, we must begin with the Middle East.

Without a just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli

conflict peace will continue to elude the Middle East

with consequences that will affect the whole world. My

delegation supports the vision of a two-State solution,

with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace

and security. We also welcome Israel’s withdrawal

from Gaza and the West Bank as a step towards a

complete withdrawal from the rest of the occupied

Palestinian territory.

The unstable situation in Iraq is causing

undesirable ripples all over the world. The situation is,

by no means, unconnected with the soaring price of oil,

which is causing serious problems in the global

economy and threatening the economic gains made by

many developing countries. The sooner stability is

brought to the region, the better it will be for that

country and the rest of the world.

We are encouraged by the positive contributions

of the United Nations and the African Union towards

the peaceful resolution of conflicts in Africa.

In Guinea-Bissau, another milestone has been

reached with the election of President Nino Vieira.

After many years of trials and tribulation, the people of

Guinea-Bissau have finally placed the country on a

solid path to recovery, peace and development. As

Chair of the Friends of Guinea-Bissau at the United

Nations, as well as a member of the Ad hoc Advisory

Group on Guinea-Bissau, my delegation calls for an

early convening of a donors conference to show

solidarity with the people of Guinea-Bissau and a

commitment to lasting peace in that country.

Equally in Burundi, the democratic transition has

been completed with the recent election of President

Pierre Nkurunziza. We extend to him and the people of

Burundi, our heartiest congratulations and best wishes

for a new era of peace, stability and development.

This year has witnessed major strides towards

sustainable peace in the Sudan. My delegation

commends the Government of the Sudan and the

Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement for their

commitment to that historic accord meant to bring

lasting peace to the country. We are encouraged by the

steps they have taken so far to implement the accord,

and it is my fervent hope that their collective

leadership will continue tirelessly to pursue the Sudan

of their dreams. We sympathize with all the Sudanese

people on the tragic death of their leader and Vice-

President, Mr. John Garang, who did so much to

advance the peace process. We are confident that his

successor will continue in his footsteps until all the

pending issues are peacefully resolved.

An underlying factor in all of these conflicts is

the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. We

must commit ourselves to denying non-State actors,

terrorists and organized criminal networks the

acquisition of these weapons of mass terror. We shall

have an opportunity to further refine our response to

this scourge during the 2006 review of the United

Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms.

Our Organization must be the ultimate defender

of the rule of international law, to which all States in

the comity of nations must adhere. Any attempt to

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weaken or undermine our rules-based international

system should be rejected without compromise. An

institution like the International Criminal Court, with a

mandate to end impunity, deserves all the support it

can garner from the international community. The

Rome Statute is a beacon of hope to all of humanity,

and my delegation appeals to those States that have not

yet done so, to consider speedily becoming party to it.

My delegation strongly condemns the application

of unilateral coercive measures as a means of settling

disputes. These measures have an adverse impact on

the lives of innocent people, who lack any means of

recourse or redress. We therefore call for the complete

and immediate lifting of the sanctions imposed on Cuba.

As we clamour for reform and renewal of our

Organization, we should widen our horizons and

undertake a sober and dispassionate reassessment of

our policy towards the Republic of Taiwan. The

concerns of the 23 million hard-working and peace-

loving people of that great country continue to be

ignored. The Republic of Taiwan is a democratic,

sovereign State. Its democratically elected Government

defends the interests of the people of Taiwan in the

world. The Taiwanese people display the same concern

we all do about global problems such as international

peace and security, HIV/AIDS, the spread of disease,

environmental pollution, and all the other issues that

engage us at the United Nations. Yet, they are not here

at the table with us, contributing their share in the

search for solutions to the problems that confront

humankind today. We therefore call on all the peace-

loving nations of the world to support the participation

of the Republic of Taiwan in all the affairs of the

United Nations as a full Member without delay. The

twenty-first-century United Nations should include all

people the world over without political discrimination.

The United Nations should also be committed to that

goal: a twenty-first-century, reformed United Nations

that includes the people of the Republic of Taiwan.

Their plight is more sharply amplified by our present

preoccupation with the conflicts raging today that pose

a serious threat to international peace and security.

The reform agenda has been with us for decades

now. Finally, this year, a number of reports, including

one by the Secretary-General himself, seem to have

spurred all of us to action.

My delegation fully supports the proposed reform

of the Economic and Social Council and endorses the

establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission. In

that regard, we hope that the wealth of experience

which the United Nations has gathered over the years,

especially in dealing with countries emerging from

conflict, will be brought to bear in elaborating the

structure, functions and mandate of the Commission.

We equally support the proposed reform of the

Commission on Human Rights. However, we should

remember that human rights are everyone’s concern

and their enforcement is not the prerogative of a select

few. A smaller human rights body would reinforce that

notion and entrench the credibility crisis that the

current Commission suffers from. While the

Commission may have structural deficiencies, it is its

working methods that we must focus on in order to

eliminate bias, subjectivity and selectivity.

Revitalizing the General Assembly is equally

long overdue. It is time for the Assembly to be more

assertive within the mandate accorded it by the Charter.

The reform of our Organization would be

incomplete without Security Council reform. The

current size and composition of the Council makes a

mockery of the larger membership of the United

Nations and the realities of the world today. No amount

of politics or procrastination can silence Africa’s

legitimate quest for full representation on the Security

Council. International peace and security are

everyone’s business. Without reform and a thorough

review of the Council’s working methods, the

legitimacy of the decisions it takes will be increasingly

questionable.

We shall also have to look into the issue of the

veto once again. The purpose for which the veto was

instituted and the grounds on which it was assigned 60

years ago are no longer valid in today’s world. In fact,

Africa’s position on the veto, which my delegation

wholeheartedly supports, is that it should be abolished.

In fact, veto power should be given only to the General

Assembly, to be exercised by a majority vote. If that is

done, the United Nations and the world will be able to

boast of a universal democratic system that will usher

in a new and more peaceful world order.

The Security Council as presently constituted is

not conducive to the maintenance of world peace and

security. If it cannot be reformed, it should be

abolished and its mandate assigned to the General

Assembly with decisions taken by a majority vote. In

that event, any action taken by the United Nations in a

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given situation would be taken on behalf of all of us.

That would put a definitive end to unilateralism in

resolving international disputes and issues.