I would like to congratulate
Ms. Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa on her election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-first
session. I am confident that her efforts will ensure a
successful outcome of this session. I would also like to
take this opportunity to thank the outgoing President,
His Excellency Jan Eliasson, with whom the Assembly
worked over the past 12 months on the successful
implementation of many of the major reform tasks
agreed upon at the Summit last year.
The theme chosen by the President for this year’s
session — “Implementing a global partnership for
development” — strikes at the heart of the challenges
facing mankind today. It also reflects the Summit’s
emphasis on the interlinked and mutually reinforcing
nature of development, peace and security and human
rights. Sustainable development in the economic,
social and environmental sphere constitutes a key
element of the overarching framework of United
Nations activities. We support that approach and,
convinced of the ripple effect of development policies
that benefit all mankind, urge the General Assembly to
increase its focus on development issues.
Poverty eradication and the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the
priorities for this decade. In this regard, the Millennium
Development Goals Report 2006 indicates that certain
regions of the world have made much less progress
than others. Extreme poverty remains a daily reality for
the more than 1 billion people who subsist on less than
one dollar a day. Whereas Asia leads the way in
reducing poverty rates, the number of poor people in
Africa is rising. In terms of per capita income, 18 of
the 20 poorest countries in the world are in Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest poverty rate in the
world, and the situation of chronic food insecurity has
not improved over the past decade. Four fifths of
armed conflicts occur in Africa and Asia. Clearly, there
can be no development without security and no
security without development.
The realities of poverty, conflict and insecurity
are at the root of the phenomenon of mass migration
from Africa to Europe along the major routes — into
the Canary Islands and mainland Spain in the eastern
Mediterranean, and into Malta and Italy in the central
Mediterranean.
Lack of development, security and good
governance has a direct effect on a country such as
mine, which, with 1,200 persons per square kilometre,
is already one of the most densely populated countries
in the world. In addition, it is a small island State with
a small population of 400,000.
The burden of underdevelopment and lack of
security in Africa, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, is
therefore inordinately borne by my country, which is
suffering real hardship as thousands of illegal migrants
reach our shores. The 2005 statistics of the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) rank Malta as the country with the second-
highest number of asylum applications, in contrast to a
15.6 per cent decrease in asylum applications across
the rest of the European Union.
We urge the United Nations and its agencies to
address the issue of mass illegal immigration
holistically and with vigour and urgency. In that
endeavour, all the countries of world are called upon to
combat criminal organizations that, across frontiers,
are taking advantage of the aspirations of human
beings who have nearly lost all hope. The rule of law
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must be respected. International obligations undertaken
by countries in accordance with public international
law must be honoured. Ignoring or insufficiently
addressing the phenomenon of illegal immigration puts
at risk the hard-won rights of genuine refugees and
persons who must be protected with humanitarian
status under international law.
I therefore call on the General Assembly and the
United Nations as a whole — but in particular the
UNHCR — to lend their full support to those countries
that, like Malta, have an inherent fragility arising from
density of population and smallness of territorial size
in their efforts to combat illegal immigration and
address the hardships that they experience as countries
of destination.
Malta needs support — including from the
UNHCR — in the resettlement of refugees and persons
with humanitarian status. It needs support in
shouldering the financial burden that it assumes in
providing for the basic needs of the illegal immigrants
on its soil. It needs international support in combating
the criminal organizations that are benefiting
financially from illegal immigration while putting the
lives of immigrants at risk.
No country can tackle such an overwhelming
phenomenon on its own. Illegal immigration requires a
holistic international approach that includes combating
criminal organizations — particularly in the countries
of origin and transit — and strengthening border
control; promoting good governance, economic
development and the rule of law; resettling refugees
and persons with humanitarian status; and returning
illegal immigrants to their countries of origin and
transit and reintegrating them into society. As part of
such a holistic approach, we must take into
consideration the special characteristics of a number of
particularly vulnerable countries on the routes of
migration between Africa and Europe, which, as
countries of destination, are carrying a burden far
greater than they can bear.
This issue was also examined in detail during the
High-level Dialogue on International Migration and
Development, which took place last week. Malta,
which took an active part in the Dialogue, looks
forward to greater engagement on the part of countries
of origin, transit and destination. In particular, we look
forward to the high-level conference on migration of
the European Union and the African Union, scheduled
to be held in Tripoli, Libya, before the end of this year.
Such engagement, which should have the active
support of international organizations operating in this
field, would continue the process of “trialogue”, which
was successfully undertaken at the Rabat Conference
last July. It could also serve as effective follow-up to
the recent United Nations Dialogue.
In focusing on development issues, we must
emphasize that development needs to be sustainable, to
respect the environment and to take into account the
rights of future generations, children, young people and
those yet unborn. Development does not mean a free-
for-all attitude towards the exploitation of the Earth’s
bountiful resources. There must be sustainable
development that allows our forests to regenerate, our
air to be pure and our seas to be free of pollution.
Climate change and global warming are not
issues that can be relegated to intellectual exercises.
Positive political action is required to address the
problems related to global warming and to prevent an
exacerbation of the consequences of lack of care for
the environment. As a number of dramatic experiences
have already shown, the consequences of lack of
respect for the planet and its environmental balances
have been borne in particular by the world’s poor,
whether in developing or developed economies. A
concerted effort by all mankind is therefore required in
this area. The United Nations is the appropriate forum
for addressing these issues, which affect all countries.
The fragility of our planet and its ecosystem means that
all of us have a greater responsibility to act rapidly and
together.
A global partnership for development needs to be
carried out in peace and stability. However, in today’s
world, global peace and security are constantly
threatened by destructive and violent events. In that
regard, we must pay particular attention to the
prolonged impasse that has thwarted the work of the
Conference on Disarmament. That impasse is
endangering the very multilateral mechanisms that
were created to foster peace, security and cooperation.
States members of the Conference have a grave
responsibility towards all United Nations Member
States in helping humanity to address the challenges of
non-proliferation, disarmament and arms control. As
the Secretary-General stated in his address to the
Conference on Disarmament last June, “With political
will, this Conference can reclaim its former mantle and
generate tangible benefits that could shape the course
31 06-53329
of history” (CD/PV.1028, p. 5). That is a challenge for
us all.
Another challenge for us all is to persevere in all
our efforts to resolve conflicts, even if they seem to
persist over long periods of time and regardless of the
number of peace initiatives undertaken by the
international community.
The recent conflict in Lebanon was a tragic
reminder of how easily a population can slide quickly
back into a conflict situation. Today, the clouds have
lifted a little so that new rays of hope can break
through. We wish that country well. We believe that it
could serve as a unique laboratory for democratic and
cultural pluralism within a peaceful society in the
Middle East.
In the same region, a resolution of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict remains elusive. Fatalism is not an
option. The international community, through the
United Nations and other mechanisms such as the
Quartet, must maintain its concerted and determined
efforts to find a comprehensive, just and lasting
solution to this long-festering conflict, which has a
bearing on all other issues in the Middle East and,
indeed, in the wider global context. We welcome the
intense and frank debate that took place last week in
the Security Council on this issue (see S/PV.5530).
The President returned to the Chair.
Malta respects and supports the aspirations of the
Palestinian people to nationhood and dignity, and in
equal measure respects and supports the aspirations of
the Israeli people to live in peace within secure
borders. Those two aspirations are mutually compatible
and achievable through peaceful and just means. A
solution can be achieved only through strict and
abiding respect for the rules and norms of international
law, including humanitarian law.
On the ground, the continuing and increasingly
deteriorating humanitarian situation of the Palestinian
people is an intolerable burden on the international
conscience. We must acknowledge and applaud the
sterling work being carried out by the Commissioner-
General of the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA), Ms. Karen AbuZayd, and all of the
Agency’s dedicated staff to assist the refugee
population in no fewer than 58 refugee camps in Gaza,
the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, where one
third of Palestinian refugees live.
The international community needs to continue to
strengthen its tools for addressing natural emergencies
wherever in the world they occur, in a spirit of
solidarity with nations and human beings. In that
regard, the decision taken earlier this year — as a
follow-up to the Summit — on the revitalization and
upgrading of the Central Emergency Revolving
Fund — now the Central Emergency Response Fund —
is an important step forward. In that context, the role of
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, under the able leadership of
Under-Secretary-General Jan Egeland, continues to be
a crucial mechanism for dealing with the coordination
needed to strengthen humanitarian responses to natural
disasters and complex emergencies.
The tragic experience of the December 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami galvanized
efforts to plot the outlines of an international early
warning system across all oceans. That experience and
its aftermath, however, show that much still remains to
be done to respond more rapidly, efficiently and
effectively to natural disasters and other humanitarian
emergencies.
In this context, I note with great interest the
valuable work done to date by the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission’s Intergovernmental
Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning
and Mitigation System in the North-Eastern Atlantic,
the Mediterranean and Connected Seas. Located at the
centre of the Mediterranean and fully aware of the
havoc that a tsunami could cause in the basin, Malta
calls for speeding up the implementation of a
Mediterranean tsunami early warning and mitigation
system. This goal needs to be achieved as soon as
possible. We are prepared to play a proactive role
together with other States in the region in establishing
a fully functioning tsunami warning system.
In such phenomena, not just regional but full
global coverage is essential to the success of the
system. The Assembly should examine what needs to
be done to achieve this in the shortest time possible. In
particular, recent tsunami phenomena which were
smaller but which also claimed lives have shown that
while it is important for countries to have early
warning systems that are interlinked, it is equally
crucial to transmit the early warning received by a
06-53329 32
country immediately to people on the beaches and in
the most vulnerable coastal areas and to have in place
crisis management mechanisms that can accelerate
evacuation to safety. This requires the setting of
international warning-transmission standards across the
globe, which, if effectively implemented, can save
lives.
Malta believes that this should be a joint task for
the international community as a whole and calls on
the international community to consider immediately
the best means to respond to tsunami experiences with
appropriate legal and other instruments that address the
need for standards of transmission of early warnings to
population in the most vulnerable areas in all the
countries of the world. The setting of international
standards for preparing for phenomena such as
tsunamis can provide countries with an appropriate up-
to-date measuring stick and continuously upgraded
preparation.
The international community needs
multilateralism. The process of institutional reform is
another necessary and important component of efforts
to enhance effective multilateralism. Over the past
months, some slow progress has been made in
following up the decisions taken at last year’s World
Summit in this regard. We are all conscious of the
efforts that need to continue at this session of the
General Assembly on various aspects of institutional
reform, including the most sensitive one, relating to the
enlargement and reform of the Security Council. That
matter has gained in urgency; the impasse should be
broken by flexibility and openness to a search for
common ground.
A new Secretary-General will be taking the reins
of this Organization in the new year. The person
elected will need all our encouragement and support to
fulfil the vital and demanding tasks of that unique
office. To the outgoing Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, we express our immense sense of gratitude and
admiration for the way in which he has conducted his
work over the past 10 years and for his total dedication
to the cause of peace and the international rule of law.
The cause of peace and the international rule of
law are threatened daily by cultural and religious
incomprehension. An alliance of civilizations, mutual
respect and tolerance, acceptance of the other and of
diversity, peaceful coexistence and cooperation and
dialogue and education are the means which the
international community has at its disposal to
counteract the ugly phenomena of extremism and
fanaticism. We cannot ignore this threat to peace and
stability, a threat that is compounded by poverty and
mass migration. We must further strengthen
multilateralism as a means of world governance.
In this context, we need to keep in mind the
general without losing sight of the specific. The United
Nations must remain the focus of the debate on this
issue and needs to continue to engage with the world
media to spread the message and spirit of fraternity in a
world where large or small does not count. Equally,
experience has amply illustrated that small countries,
just as large ones, are essential to global security,
cultural interchange and respect and tolerance for
diversity.
As a Mediterranean State, as a member of the
European Union, as current Chair-in-Office of the
Commonwealth and, generally, as a member of the
international community of States, Malta is determined
to continue to make a contribution in all those
forums — and in this forum — towards the interests of
peace, justice and the rule of international law in the
world today and in the future.