This has been an
enormously difficult year for the United Nations. As
the Secretary-General has pointed out, we are living
in an era of an unprecedented level of crises. I echo
his call for leaders to unite. At a time when the world
seems to be breaking apart, it will serve us well to
remember what unites us. We need to look no further
than the Charter of the United Nations. The preamble
to the Charter offers a vision that seems so difficult
for us to fulfil: we are determined “to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war”.
The Organization was created, above all, to prevent
war. Indeed, it offers a system of collective security that
is far more effective than anything that existed before.
Yet the events over the past year have shaken its very
foundations. At times, it seems that we revert to the
habits of past centuries. We are disturbed by the acts
of aggression perpetrated against Ukraine and by the
illegal annexation of parts of its territory. Those acts
are massive violations of the principles on which the
Organization was built. They are a major setback for
collective security. As a small country situated in the
heart of Europe and a member of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, we hope that we
can quickly re-establish a consensus on security issues
in Europe.
The events in Ukraine also underline the need
to ensure the enforcement of international law — if
necessary in a court of law. We now, for the first time since
the Nuremberg Tribunal, have a historic opportunity to
criminalize the most serious forms of the illegal use
of force in an international court. Jurisdiction for the
crime of aggression before the International Criminal
Court (ICC) will be possible as early as 2017. The
ratification process of the Kampala amendments is well
on track. I welcome the ratifications by Latvia, Poland
and Spain just a few days ago. We look forward to
achieving that goal, together with the largest possible
number of partners.
For truly collective work to maintain peace and
security, we need a collective sense of purpose. That
is difficult to reconcile with the notion that a single
Security Council member is able to block the action
required if the United Nations is to fulfil its purposes
and principles — with no questions asked, no matter
how large the majority in favour of such action. We
of course accept the veto as a reality of the Charter
of the United Nations, as we did when we joined the
Organization. However, we do not accept that the veto
should be used in a manner that contradicts the very
purposes of the United Nations. We have witnessed too
many such instances in recent times. Change is urgently
needed. We therefore look for a commitment from
States serving on the Council not to vote against any
action necessary to prevent or to end crimes of atrocity.
We look to the permanent members in particular to give
a clear commitment to that end.
We are determined to reaffirm faith in fundamental
human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human
person. The United Nations, created as a family of
nations, has the rights and dignity of the individual
at the centre of its efforts. This is a human rights
organization. The General Assembly, which we have
entrusted to your leadership, Mr. President, during
this session, is also a human rights organ. The world is
changing at an ever-increasing speed. That requires our
continued commitment to human rights.
The right to privacy, for example, is at risk of
being lost. The digital era makes large-scale data
collection both easy to undertake and difficult to
detect. Discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual
orientation, nationality, ethnicity, religion, disability or
any other status remains rampant in many parts of the
world.
The rise of religious intolerance is especially
alarming. Conflicts around the world are characterized
by the persecution of religious minorities, be they
Shiites, Yazidis, Christians or others. We are witnessing
a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism. The Assembly should
respond by uniting in a call against the persecution of
any religious minority anywhere in the world. I am also
particularly alarmed about the rising violence against
human rights defenders, such as the recent murder
of Samira Saleh Al-Nuaimi, an Iraqi activist and the
mother of three children. There is nothing Islamic
about that barbaric act, committed by the Islamic State
in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
In times of conflict, international humanitarian
law represents our hope for at least the bare minimum
of human dignity. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 are
among not only the greatest achievements in the history
of international law but also the most successful treaties
with their near-universal acceptance. Nevertheless, their
core principles — proportionality in the use of force and
a distinction between civilians and combatants — are
violated on a daily basis. The recent conflict in Gaza
was carried out at the expense of civilians by both
parties to the conflict. The civilian population of Syria
has been experiencing enormous suffering for more
than three years now. Atrocities have been committed
against men, women and children by the regime and,
increasingly, by other actors. Humanitarian access has
been blocked systematically as a method of warfare.
Civilians in both Syria and Iraq are left at the mercy
of the sickening brutality of ISIL. There has rarely
been a time when civilians were at greater risk of being
victimized by atrocity crimes. We are not living up to
our promise, made some 10 years ago, to collectively
ensure protection against such crimes.
We are determined to reaffirm faith in the equal
rights of men and women. Equality between men and
women was one of the first things on the minds of the
drafters of the Charter of the United Nations just after
the end of the Second World War. Is that not striking?
We have certainly achieved much since then. The
1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women in
particular was a watershed moment in that regard. The
commemoration of its twentieth anniversary is the
best opportunity for us to show that we remain fully
committed to its outcome.
Next year we will also reflect on our progress on
the women, peace and security agenda 15 years after it
was established under Security Council resolution 1325
(2000). Clearly, we will have to find new strategies to
protect women in conflict from violence, in particular
sexual violence. We are still far from using the full
potential of women as agents of peace. Men have
always been in charge of making war and of making
peace: their record is not impressive. Women must
obtain their seat at the negotiating table, where they
belong and where they are needed. I am grateful to the
Secretary-General for taking the lead on that issue and
for increasingly appointing women to high positions in
the areas of mediation and conflict resolution.
We are determined to establish conditions in which
justice and respect for the obligations arising from
treaties and other sources of international law can
be maintained. Justice and the rule of law are areas
where we have made important progress. International
courts and other judicial mechanisms are gaining
greater acceptance. Calls for accountability are
becoming louder. We can look to an impressive body of
international jurisprudence.
That is particularly true for the International
Criminal Court (ICC). Victims of the gravest crimes
around the world place their hopes for justice in the
Rome Statute system. That is a great responsibility
for the Court, an institution which frequently works in
a politically charged context. Those who support the
Court must make that support felt. For that reason, I
have initiated an informal network of ministers who
support the ICC personally as politicians. Our network
has grown to 26 members. We stand ready to defend the
Court and the integrity of the Rome Statute, because we
know that political attacks against the ICC are easy to
launch but difficult to respond to.
The fact that the Court is an entirely independent
institution that follows the law, not politics, does not
make the headlines. The fact that the ICC has jurisdiction
in some places but not in others is easily misrepresented
as selectivity. Our goal therefore remains for the Rome
Statute to become a universal treaty. Victims of crimes
in Syria, Iraq, Palestine and North Korea — to cite just
a few examples — deserve their day in court as much as
those in other parts of the world.
We are determined to promote social progress
and better standards of life in larger freedom. There
could not be a greater challenge for the Assembly than
setting the global agenda for sustainable development
for the next generation. And there could not be a greater
opportunity to show its relevance.
The Millennium Development Goals were a
success. They set the agenda for more than a decade,
galvanized tremendous efforts for development and led
to very significant advances. However, they were also
a learning process. We must be honest about where we
have failed and do better where we can. Three areas
stand out in that respect.
First, accountable institutions, access to justice and
an effective fight against corruption are key ingredients
of development that are truly transformative and
sustainable. That is amply illustrated by national
experiences around the world and is well documented
by research. Placing the rule of law at the heart of the
sustainable development goal agenda will therefore be
one key of success.
Secondly, there is no sustainable development
without the full empowerment of women. Nothing
short of full equality between men and women will be
required for development to be sustainable. We must
therefore fully recognize the empowerment of women
as a key ingredient of sustainable development.
Thirdly, the implementation of international
commitments cannot be left to chance. We need
accountability. We must establish a system to monitor
progress in the implementation of the post-2015
agenda, carried out by us as States but involving all
stakeholders. The High-level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development is the best anchor for such a
system.
Our work to date in developing the post-2015 agenda
gives us cause to be optimistic. Let us make the best use
of the upcoming months to produce an agenda of which
we can be truly proud as a platform for collective action
and an inspiration for future generations.