Ukraine, 2011

I

sincerely congratulate His Excellency Mr. Nassir

Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his election to the post of

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth

session. I am convinced that his considerable

experience will contribute to the achievement of

significant results on behalf of States Members of the

United Nations and the entire Organization.

This year, the great family of States Members of the

United Nations was enriched by a new 193rd Member. On

behalf of Ukraine, I would like to express our support

for the Government and people of South Sudan in the

process of State-building, and to assure them of

Ukraine’s readiness to develop equal and mutually

beneficial cooperation with a new member of the

international community.

This is a special session given the number of high-

level meetings devoted to issues of a global scale —

nuclear safety and security, the prevention of

non-communicable diseases, desertification and land

degradation, racism and discrimination.

During this session, the delegation of Ukraine has

actively participated in discussions on the issues that

are most topical for our State — nuclear security and

disease control. With regard to the theme of the general

debate, “The role of mediation in the settlement of

disputes”, I note that the issue of preventing armed

conflict, and the loss of human lives and the suffering

triggered by them, was one of the cornerstones of

Ukraine’s first membership, as an independent State, of

the Security Council in 2000-2001.

Preventive diplomacy and mediation at the

regional and international levels, from the frozen

conflicts in the post-Soviet space to a peaceful

settlement in the Middle East and the restoration of

stability in North Africa, remain an integral part of

Ukraine’s foreign policy. We pursue that policy in the

United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, and will

continue to do so during Ukraine’s presidency of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in

2013.

Regrettably, conflict prevention efforts are often

not effective enough, and conflict settlement takes too

long. Our main duty in such cases is to save lives and

to alleviate the fate of civilians who find themselves in

danger. Ukraine will always provide help to those who

suffer. In addition to humanitarian efforts, we are ready

to support all constructive international peace

initiatives and preventive measures.

We believe that, in armed confrontations, top

priority must be given to respect for human rights, first

of all by ensuring the safety of civilians. Guided by

this principle, Ukraine was among the first to carry out

a humanitarian mission in Libya at the beginning of

this year. The Ukrainian amphibious landing ship

Konstantin Olshansky was used to evacuate almost

200 citizens of 20 nationalities, more than half of them

women and children, from the conflict zone.

Ukraine has just celebrated the twentieth

anniversary of its independence. Today, we are

assessing the road we have travelled and rethinking

some important moments in our modern history in

order to find effective solutions to the issues that have

remained unresolved for many years. It is precisely for

that purpose that I have initiated sweeping reforms in

the country, aimed at social and economic

transformations and at further strengthening the

democratic system and the rule of law in Ukraine.

The foundations of all reform processes in

Ukraine are the fundamental democratic values that

Ukrainians share with other Europeans. That is why the

guiding principles we have determined for the

modernization of the country are directly related to the

ambitious objectives contained in the future

Association Agreement between Ukraine and the

European Union.

The twentieth anniversary of our independence is

only an instant in historical terms, yet the roots of our

statehood can be traced back thousands of years. Since

ancient times, Ukraine has been developing a European

spirit and culture, while cherishing the traditions of

tolerance and inter-ethnic and intercultural harmony in

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our society. We believe that straightforward and frank

dialogue based on universal values is the only way to

find a common language in each country and in

international relations alike.

Ukraine’s position on the need to uphold human

rights at all times and everywhere as the highest value

has always been crystal clear. Examples of that

commitment are seen in Ukraine’s activities during its

two terms of membership in the Human Rights Council

from June 2006 to June 2011. We will not lessen our

attention to this subject and are planning to rejoin the

Council in 2018.

As Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the

Council of Europe from May to November this year,

Ukraine is focused on the issues of children’s rights,

the development of local self-governance and the rule

of law. We are convinced that the rule of law and

respect for human rights, as the bases for building a

society, are needed to counter many contemporary

threats, including the complex challenges of terrorism.

Recently, the world shuddered from the attack on

the United Nations building in Nigeria, which offered

yet further proof that the ugly face of terrorism is

becoming more repulsive and brazen. The blow was

struck directly against our Organization, which is of

particular concern and requires increased security for

United Nations premises.

As one of the State initiators of the Convention

on the Safety of United Nations and Associated

Personnel, and as a party to all universal anti-terrorist

conventions currently in force, Ukraine resolutely

condemns any manifestations of terrorism. We believe

that all terrorist acts, regardless of who commits them

and where or why they are committed, violate a

fundamental human right — the right to life — and

therefore constitute a crime against humanity. I pay

tribute to the memory of those killed 10 years ago, on

11 September 2001, as well as to all other victims of

terrorist attacks.

I am sincerely proud of the significant

contribution of Ukraine to the peaceful coexistence of

humankind. I refer not only to our voluntarily

abandoning nuclear arms and large stockpiles of highly

enriched uranium. The awareness of the global scale of

the effects of the Chernobyl disaster was the impetus

for my initiative to convene the Kyiv Summit on the

Safe and Innovative Use of Nuclear Energy in April.

The Summit enabled us to enhance international

cooperation in strengthening nuclear safety and in

responding adequately to accidents and emergencies. I

sincerely thank all the participants in the Kyiv Summit

and all of the donor countries that announced their

contributions to Chernobyl projects.

We also welcome the holding of the high-level

meeting on nuclear safety and security, scheduled for

tomorrow. We are committed to jointly working further

on this issue. Our country has unique experience in the

rehabilitation of the area and the population victimized

by the Chernobyl disaster. We are ready to share this

experience. Ukraine consistently supports efforts to

ensure gradual and irreversible nuclear disarmament

for the purpose of completely eliminating nuclear

weapons from the world. We continue to insist that

security assurances for non-nuclear and non-aligned

States should be enshrined in a legally binding

international instrument. I urge the leaders of other

States to consciously follow the example of Ukraine

and its practical actions to promote disarmament and

non-proliferation.

Ukraine is actively participating in United

Nations efforts to maintain international peace and

security. Throughout its 20 years of independence, over

34,000 Ukraine’s soldiers and police have taken part in

peacekeeping missions in more than 20 operations

under the United Nations mandate. Ukraine is a

dedicated supporter of United Nations peacekeeping

reform, the goal of which is to strengthen the

Organization’s capacity and eliminate existing

shortcomings. Utmost attention should be paid to

ensuring the mobility of aviation resources in United

Nations peacekeeping, as well as to enhancing legal

protection for Blue Helmets. We are grateful to

Member States for their support of Ukraine’s initiatives

in this area, and we hope for effective joint work to be

undertaken in this direction.

One year ago, we held a High-level Plenary

Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals.

Ukraine is committed to its obligations in achieving

national development goals. Among our main priorities

are poverty reduction, ensuring quality education,

environmental protection, improving health and

reducing child mortality, curbing the spread of

HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and ensuring gender

equality.

Working on today’s immediate tasks, we believe

it is necessary to pay greater attention to the

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increasingly acute issue of climate change and

environmental protection. We endorse the idea of

creating an effective international mechanism for the

environmental protection of Earth as our common

planet — a global environmental organization with

universal membership functioning on a permanent

basis. We also call upon Member States to study the

idea of developing a new universal instrument that

could serve as a so-called environmental constitution,

give all countries clear guidelines from the cultural

perspective, and identify compulsory principles for the

sustainable development of the global green economy

and the environmental safety of the planet.

We consider it necessary to work on improving

global energy security. We encourage the development,

under United Nations coordination, of an effective

multilateral cooperation mechanism aimed at achieving

development goals in the energy field.

In overcoming the impact of the global economic

crisis, we must avoid new challenges to the financial

sector that affect trade and investment. It is our belief

that economic and social development should be

facilitated by the further liberalization of trade.

In recent years, we have come to see how

vulnerable any one nation can be to various security

threats and natural or manmade disasters. All these

examples have shown us the need for effective

international mechanisms for combating such

phenomena. It is high time that the United Nations and

its specialized agencies seriously strengthened their

role in coordinating international efforts aimed at

preventing, responding to and overcoming the impacts

of catastrophes and severe humanitarian crises. We

look forward to strengthening the specialized United

Nations agencies and improving their effectiveness.

Ukraine stands ready to continue its active involvement

in the practical humanitarian efforts of the World Food

Programme. A few days ago, Ukraine decided to

provide, through the United Nations, humanitarian

assistance in the form of wheat for the purpose of

combating hunger in the Horn of Africa.

Ukraine supports the greater involvement of the

General Assembly in international life and

strengthening its voice in addressing a wide range of

global issues. The modern world is presenting the

United Nations with new, complex and increasingly

difficult issues. We will not be able to improve the

effectiveness of our joint work, however, without

comprehensive reform of the Organization and its

principal bodies, including the Security Council.

Ukraine is open to discussing all progressive

concepts of reform that can bring Member States to the

broadest possible agreement. The consideration of the

interests of every regional group is an indispensable

component of the process of reforming the Council.

Ukraine believes that at least one additional

non-permanent seat of an expanded Security Council

should be given to the Group of Eastern European

States.

I am confident that the sixty-sixth session of the

General Assembly will strengthen the United Nations

in the face of global challenges and threats, reliably

guaranteed by our strong political commitment and a

clear vision of our common goals. I believe in our

shared success.