Ukraine, 2003

I should like at the

outset to congratulate Mr. Julian Hunte on his election

to the high post of President of the General Assembly

at its fifty-eighth session. I should also like to pay

tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Jan Kavan, for his

professionalism and very fruitful work at the helm of

the General Assembly during the previous session.

Three years ago here at United Nations

Headquarters we solemnly adopted the Millennium

Declaration, which embodied our hopes and

expectations for a more secure and just world. Shortly

thereafter, however, the world had to face new and

daunting challenges. Unfortunately, the tragic events of

11 September 2001 were not the last in a sequence of

horrible acts of terror.

Just last month, on 19 August, the United Nations

suffered irreplaceable losses in Iraq. With a feeling of

deep sorrow, I bow my head in memory of the United

Nations staff who lost their lives. We lost excellent,

talented and dedicated people, among them the Head of

the United Nations Mission in Iraq, the outstanding

Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello.

It is a sad and disturbing fact that during recent

years United Nations staff have been facing growing

insecurity. This makes it all the more urgent for all

members of the international community to fully

comply with the relevant international treaties, first and

foremost, the Convention on the Safety of United

Nations and Associated Personnel. As one of the

initiators of that Convention, Ukraine decisively calls

upon all States that have not yet done so to accede to

the treaty.

Our country joined the anti-terrorist coalition at

the very outset and has made a significant contribution

to its activities. We are determined to remain in the

ranks of the coalition until international terrorism as a

global threat can be taken off the world's agenda. I

believe, however, that not everything has been done to

date to prevent terrorist activities.

I have in mind first of all effective measures to

counter the proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction. Ukraine unreservedly stands for a

comprehensive strengthening of the system of universal

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international treaties aimed at preventing the nuclear

threat.

An effective response to new challenges requires

urgent action to reform the United Nations, first and

foremost the Security Council. I am confident that

further delay in the long-overdue reforms could result

in a serious crisis of confidence for the United Nations.

We cannot let that happen. There can be no viable

alternative to the United Nations as a unique global

Organization. As for the task of reforming the United

Nations, we must admit that today there are more

questions than there are answers.

In this context, the successful reforms in the area

of United Nations activities for peacekeeping and

conflict prevention can serve as a good example for all

of us. In many situations of armed conflict, the United

Nations now acts flexibly, rapidly and effectively. I am

pleased to note that over the past several years Ukraine

has been playing a leading role among the countries

contributing troops to United Nations peacekeeping

operations. I believe that conflict prevention should

become a key element of the philosophy of the work of

the United Nations in the new millennium. Ukraine

fully supports the Secretary-General's efforts aimed at

strengthening that component of United Nations

activities.

In my address at the Millennium Summit, I

stressed the need for the international community to

elaborate a comprehensive strategy on conflict

prevention. In my opinion, peacekeeping operations

with a preventive mandate from the Security Council

could become one of the key instruments of such a

system. We also need to further develop and improve

the principles and mechanisms relating to the

application of international sanctions aimed at curbing

the supply of weapons to conflict zones.

With regard to the situation in Iraq, I would like

to express confidence that the tragic losses in Baghdad

will not diminish the international community's

commitment to providing support to the Iraqi people

for the renewal of their country. The sense of common

responsibility for the destiny of the long-suffering Iraqi

nation and for peace and security in that region was the

imperative that guided our decision to dispatch a

military contingent to the Persian Gulf.

I hope that the adoption by the Security Council

of a resolution on the establishment of an international

force for the maintenance of peace and security in Iraq

under the auspices of the United Nations will enable as

many countries as possible to join those efforts.

After many months of a slide towards the abyss, a

truly historic opportunity arose for achieving peace in

the Middle East. Last May, the United Nations

International Meeting in Support of Middle East Peace

was held in Kiev at the initiative of Ukraine. It became,

in effect, the first international forum at which the road

map put forward by the Quartet gained the support of a

large number of States Members of the United Nations.

We sincerely hope that the resumption of the Israeli-

Palestinian peace dialogue will not be blocked by

obstacles created by the current controversies.

Ukraine shares the concern expressed in the

report of the Secretary-General on the implementation

of the Millennium Declaration that the international

community is not paying sufficient attention to trying

to resolve the chronic global development problems

such as poverty, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, environment

pollution and other issues. Despite repeated

declarations primarily by the developed countries

of their readiness to increase the volume of financial

and other assistance to tackle issues of sustainable

development, the actual efforts that have been

undertaken have not been sufficient for the timely

attainment of the goals set forth in the Millennium

Declaration.

In this context, I would like to recall that Ukraine

made a tangible contribution towards a peaceful and

safe world in the twenty-first century by renouncing its

nuclear arsenal one of the most powerful on

Earth and by decommissioning the Chernobyl

nuclear power plant. In assuming the burden of the

large-scale effort to transform the area of the

catastrophe into an ecologically safe zone and to

resolve unprecedented economic, social and

humanitarian problems, we relied upon the

understanding and support of the entire international

community.

Today, welcoming the work of this Organization

and its Member States with regard to the

implementation of the United Nations strategy on

Chernobyl, I express the hope that more decisive steps

will be taken in support of our efforts. I am confident

that the adoption of a resolution on this question at the

current session of the General Assembly will provide

additional impetus for our cooperation on the

Chernobyl issue.

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Finally, I would like to draw the attention of the

participants of this meeting to one other matter.

Seventy years ago the totalitarian Soviet regime

engineered an artificial famine in Ukraine, which

claimed the lives of between 7 million and 10 million

of our compatriots.

Unfortunately, the world did not respond to our

tragedy back in 1933. The international community

believed the cynical propaganda of the Soviet Union,

which was selling bread abroad while, in Ukraine,

hunger was killing 17 people every minute. From this

rostrum, I should like to call upon all Members to

support Ukraine's initiative that the United Nations pay

tribute to the memory of those who perished. We do

not want to settle scores from the past; we simply want

as many people as possible to learn about our tragedy.

That knowledge will help us to avoid similar

catastrophes in the future.

As the Secretary-General recently stated - and

quite rightly - thanks to the past century's

achievements, the world became a world of increasing

openness and freedom; of growing mutual confidence;

above all, a world of hope.' Today, we are

demonstrating the ability to take concerted and

responsible action in the face of conflicts, challenges

and global threats. In that, the principal guarantee I see

is that we will be able to achieve the noble goals

solemnly proclaimed three years ago in the Millennium

Declaration.