Zimbabwe, 2010

Allow me once again to

extend to you, Sir, our warmest congratulations on

your election as President of General Assembly at its

sixty-fifth session. I would, at the same time, like to

assure you of Zimbabwe’s support and cooperation

during your presidency.

We are meeting today to reaffirm our

commitment to the United Nations and, in particular, to

its comprehensive agenda for the promotion of peace

and security, sustainable development and human

rights. We are, however, concerned that the world

today continues to witness unbridled acts of

aggression, wars, conflicts, terrorism and rising levels

of poverty. We are also alarmed that powerful States,

which daily preach peace and good governance,

continue to trample with impunity upon the

sovereignty of poor and weak nations. Zimbabwe

yearns for a community of nations that recognizes and

respects the sovereign equality of all nations, big and

small, in accordance with the Charter of the United

Nations. We all have positive roles to play in

promoting peace and development for the benefit of

present and future generations.

As Members of the United Nations, we have

recognized the pressing need to reform our

Organization to make it better able to carry out its

various mandates. Zimbabwe stands ready to work

closely with you, Sir, as well as with other Member

States, to ensure that the reform process is speeded up

and carried out on the basis of consensus and

democratic participation.

Most immediately, we must find ways and means

to re-establish and assert the pre-eminent role of the

United Nations in advancing peace and security,

development and the achievement of internationally

agreed goals, particularly the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs). Why are the developed Western

countries, especially those permanent members of the

Security Council with the veto, resisting the

democratization of the United Nations organs,

especially the Security Council? Are they not the ones

who talk glibly about democracy in regard to our

developing countries? Or are they sanctimonious

hypocrites whose actions contradict their sermons to

us?

As we all know, the General Assembly is the

most representative organ of the United Nations. Its

position as the chief deliberative policymaking organ

of the United Nations should therefore be respected.

We need to move with haste and find common ground

on how to revitalize the Assembly to enable it to fulfil

its mandate as the most important body of the

Organization. Most important, this process of

revitalization must redress the continued encroachment

by the Security Council on issues that fall within the

General Assembly’s purview and competence.

Our position on the reform of the Security

Council is well known. It is completely unacceptable

that Africa remains the only continent without

permanent representation on the Council. That

historical injustice must be corrected. We therefore

urge Member States, including those that have vested

interests in maintaining the status quo, to give due and

fair consideration to Africa’s legitimate demand for

two permanent seats, with full powers of veto, plus two

additional non-permanent seats. Africa’s plea for

justice cannot continue to be ignored. We all have an

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obligation to make the Council more representative,

more democratic and more accountable.

Zimbabwe continues to advocate greater equality

in international economic relations and decision-

making structures. We therefore recognize the

centrality of the United Nations in setting the global

development agenda and believe that it is only a more

coherent United Nations system which can better

support the realization of all the internationally agreed

development goals.

The developing world, particularly Africa,

continues to suffer from the effects of the global

economic and financial crises. It is important to

understand that the critical issues we face today cannot

be addressed effectively when so many countries and

regions are left out of the key decision-making

processes of the institutions of global governance.

We need to participate in the making of policies

and decisions that affect our very livelihoods. It is for

this reason that we have called, and continue to call,

for the reform of multilateral financial institutions,

including the Bretton Woods institutions.

It is clear that climate change is now one of the

most pressing global issues of our time. Copenhagen

failed to produce a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, an

outcome that many of us had hoped for. Yet that

Conference was significant in its own way. It

demonstrated the futility of attempts by the rich and

powerful to impose their views and policies on the

poor and weak.

What we need is not an imposition of solutions

based on self-interest, but a consensus on the reduction

of harmful emissions and a climate-change regime that

balances adaptation and mitigation backed by the

transfer of technology and resources.

We need to pay special attention to the three

pillars of sustainable development, namely, economic

growth, social development and environmental

protection. In doing so, we should implement the

principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

It is our hope that when our negotiators meet in

Cancún, Mexico, this December, they will produce an

outcome that addresses the needs of those most

affected by the effects of climate change.

Global food security continues to be a matter of

great concern, particularly in the light of increased

drought and flooding. We reiterate our call for an

urgent and substantial increase in investment in

agriculture in developing countries. Global efforts to

address the food crisis, the impact of climate change,

and the drive to achieve the MDGs must go hand in

hand.

It is disappointing that the Doha Development

Round has stalled, despite nine years of negotiations,

mainly due to the intransigence of some countries. The

Doha Round of trade must not be allowed to die but

must, instead, remain focused on development, as was

originally envisaged.

We also call on the developed world to show

commitment to global food security by increasing trade

and access to their markets. Developing countries need

to break away from the unending cycle of humanitarian

assistance, and this can be achieved if they have

increased access to developed- country markets.

Zimbabwe strongly condemns the use of

unilateral economic sanctions and other coercive

measures in international relations. Such measures are

completely at cross purposes with the principles of

international cooperation as enshrined in the Charter of

the United Nations. I say this because my country

continues to be a victim of illegal sanctions imposed by

the European Union and the United States without any

reference to the United Nations and with the evil

intention of causing regime change. These illegal

sanctions have caused untold suffering among

Zimbabweans, who alone should be the deciders of

regime change.

Our Inclusive Government is united against these

illegal sanctions and has made repeated appeals

without success for their immediate and unconditional

removal. The rest of the international community,

including the Southern African Development

Community, the Common Market for Eastern and

Southern Africa and the African Union, has similarly

called for the removal of the sanctions, but these calls

have gone unheeded.

We urge those who imposed these iniquitous

sanctions to heed the call by the international

community to unconditionally remove them. The

people of Zimbabwe should, like people of every other

sovereign State, be left to freely chart their own

destiny.

Every year, this body adopts a resolution on

ending the economic, commercial and financial

9 10-54965

embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba. To this

date, those resolutions have gone unheeded by the

United States and the result has been the continued

suffering of the people of Cuba. Zimbabwe joins the

Non-Aligned Movement and other well-meaning

countries which call for the immediate lifting of the

ruinous embargo.

Zimbabwe has expressed its concerns with regard

to the continued stalemate in the Middle East peace

process. It is unacceptable that, decades on, peace

continues to elude that part of the world. We call upon

all parties involved, particularly Israel, to respect the

relevant resolutions passed by the United Nations. It is

our sincere hope that the current negotiations under

way will be inclusive and eventually lead to the

cherished goal of a sovereign State of Palestine, thus

ending decades of suffering for the Palestinian people.

Since its inception in February 2009, our

Inclusive Government has fostered an environment of

peace and stability. Several reforms have been

implemented, and the Government has created and

instituted constitutional bodies agreed to in the Global

Political Agreement (GPA). The constitutional outreach

programme is currently under way and upon its

conclusion a new draft constitution will be formulated

as precursor to a referendum next year, hopefully to be

followed by an election.

Achievements in the economic area include the

revitalization of capacity utilization in industries, the

containment of inflation, improvement of service

delivery in health and education, as well as the

rehabilitation of basic infrastructure such as roads,

water and sanitation facilities. The three parties to our GPA have worked hard to

implement most of the issues that we agreed on. To

maintain the momentum, we need the support of the

region and that of the international community. In this

regard we commend the Southern African

Development Community, the African Union, the Non-

Aligned Movement and indeed like-minded members

of the international community for giving us their

support. We believe that constructive engagement, and

not isolation and punishment, will bring the necessary

impetus to the efforts of our inclusive Government.

Our great country is indeed marching forward in peace

and unity.