Lesotho

My delegation associates itself with the compliments extended to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at the present session, to his predecessor and to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 13 08-53129 We greatly welcome the convening and the outcomes of the two high-level meetings — one on Africa’s development needs and the other on the Millennium Development Goals — that have been held during the course of this session of the General Assembly. Let us not lose the momentum generated by those two meetings. Let me also thank the President of the General Assembly for advancing a very appropriate theme, “The impact of the global food crisis on poverty and hunger in the world as well as the need to democratize the United Nations”. The decision of the Secretary- General to establish the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis demonstrates the determination of the United Nations to champion a unified response to the current food crisis. That is indeed emboldening, and we welcome the progress that has been achieved so far by the Task Force in producing the Comprehensive Framework for Action. The food crisis poses a serious threat to the fragile progress that is being made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It can also be a source of political instability in developing and often vulnerable countries. Policy initiatives that should be implemented by relevant stakeholders to overcome the crisis were adequately articulated in the outcome documents of the High- Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy, held in Rome in June 2008. There, the bottom line was clearly drawn that, while current energy needs are real and urgent, they cannot and should not be allowed to compete with the call to ensure food security. The stakes are too high in many developing countries, Lesotho included, where abject poverty, malnutrition and the spread of HIV and AIDS have reached unacceptable levels. All humankind has a right to food, and hunger constitutes a violation of human dignity. That is why my delegation regrets the lack of progress in the implementation of previous international commitments to fight hunger, particularly those contained in the outcomes of the 1996 and the 2002 World Food Summits. The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing by half the number of undernourished people by 2015 will not be achieved unless there is visible movement from rhetoric to action. Lesotho was encouraged by the G8 Statement on Global Food Security that was recently issued at the Hokkaido Toyako summit. The Statement highlighted the importance of stimulating world food production and of increasing investments in agriculture. Hope- raising pledges were made at that summit and earlier ones. What remains to be done as a matter of great urgency is to deliver on those promises. Also, we call upon other development partners, including the Bretton Woods institutions, to scale up their efforts to help farmers in the least developed countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to raise agricultural production and productivity. The preparedness of the African continent to shoulder its responsibilities in this regard was clearly reflected in a declaration entitled “Responding to the Challenges of High Food Prices and Agriculture Development” that was recently adopted at the African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in July this year. The establishment by the World Bank of two international Climate Investment Funds in May 2008, intended to provide innovative financing for developing countries to pursue cleaner development paths and also to help protect themselves from the impact of climate change, was another encouraging development. Our hope is that the Climate Investment Funds will be additional to existing official development assistance, which is so sorely needed by the developing countries to achieve the MDGs. Peace and development are closely interrelated and mutually reinforcing. The United Nations cannot afford the luxury of complacency in its mandate for the maintenance of world peace and stability. Most importantly, let us not forget that the United Nations was born from the ashes of devastating world wars. Indeed, the primary purpose of the United Nations was and continues to be to prevent future wars and to create sustainable international security, but every year we witness the emergence of new hotspots and designer wars as some big and powerful States resort more and more to the use of force. Every time those States try to pursue the illusory goal of imposing their will by force on others, they create a more unstable and dangerous world. Let me now address an issue of concern to my delegation — the abuse of the principle of universal jurisdiction. The Sharm el-Sheikh assembly of the 08-53129 14 African Union was seized with the issue of the abuse of the principle of universal jurisdiction by some countries that seem inclined to use the principle to target certain African leaders. Of course, lest I be misunderstood, we do recognize that universal jurisdiction is a principle of international law whose purpose is to ensure that individuals who commit such grave offences as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are brought to justice. That noble principle should be impartially and objectively applied so that it will not be abused for the political ends of some individuals or countries, as that could endanger international order and security. It is a trite fact that the need for the application of the principle by individual States has been rendered unnecessary by the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC). If a State is unable or unwilling to deal with certain grave situations, such a matter should be referred to the Court, which will deal with it impartially. As we know, even the Security Council refers certain situations to the ICC. We need only emphasize that the ICC was created by this world body and must enjoy the support and trust of the entire membership of the United Nations. It must also be immune from any external influences. As we respond to the invitation to comment on the second part of our theme, “The need to democratize the United Nations”, we do so against the background of the integrity and credibility of the Security Council. We raise the issue of the integrity and credibility of the Council, recognizing fully its responsibility to uphold the three pillars of the United Nations: human rights, development and peace, and security. The working methods of the Security Council continue to interest us precisely because the Council is the most powerful institution within the United Nations setting. It is charged with the responsibility for the maintenance of world peace and order and it is a custodian of human rights. In order to fulfil that mandate, the Security Council needs to always preserve its integrity and credibility. It is only when all Member States are convinced of its integrity and credibility that they will have confidence in it. The Security Council can enjoy such confidence, however, if and only if it is seen to be transparent and democratic in its structures and accountable and responsible to the entire membership of the United Nations; if and only if it submits itself to the rule of law; if and only if it is objective and impartial in its work; if and only if the membership of the United Nations is convinced that it is not used as a policy instrument of any one State or group of States; and finally, if and only if it subjects all States Members of the United Nations to the same and equal treatment. The Security Council should thus not turn a blind eye to a situation in one country and then act when a similar situation obtains in another. It must be an honest arbiter in conflicts. We all owe it to ourselves to work towards such reform of the Security Council that will help to preserve its integrity and credibility so that it can perform its lofty mandate more efficiently. Needless to say, the question of numbers, particularly numbers representing the African continent, is at issue, but I need not dwell on it as it has been amply covered by previous speakers. Lesotho is also concerned that the Security Council continues to be seen to be encroaching on matters that fall within the powers and prerogatives of other organs of the United Nations, including the General Assembly. We believe that the Council must desist from assuming the legislative role of the General Assembly and from adopting binding resolutions that dictate domestic law for Member States. In some instances, the Council has sought to interfere in purely internal political matters that do not pose a threat to international peace and that, in any case, are being dealt with at the regional level. In our view, the usurpation by the Council of the mandates of other organs, including the Assembly, is not justifiable. A few days ago, we witnessed a positive development in the southern Africa subregion when the leaders of the people of Zimbabwe put aside their political differences and joined hands to form a Government of national unity. We congratulate the people of Zimbabwe on that historic feat. We urge the international community to support the people of Zimbabwe in rebuilding their economy and in determining their destiny in an atmosphere of national harmony and peace. We also urge the leadership of Zimbabwe to ensure adherence to the principles of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law, as such adherence will have a catalytic effect on socio-economic initiatives in which Zimbabwe is involved. 15 08-53129 Finally, we urge the Security Council to support efforts to bring to an end the unilateral economic and financial embargo that has, for decades now, been imposed against Cuba. We further urge the Council to intervene more decisively on behalf of the people of Palestine and Western Sahara, who have, also for decades, been denied the right to self-determination. Lesotho is supportive of any efforts that will bring about lasting and sustainable peace in the Middle East and in other conflict areas in Africa, the Balkans and around our globe. We recall that in his report “In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all”, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: “Our guiding light must be the needs and hopes of peoples everywhere” (A/59/2005, para. 12). Such is the call and challenge staring the United Nations in the face: to ensure a peaceful, safe, dignified and prosperous world in our time and for posterity.