My delegation has already congratulated
the President on her assumption of her high office. I
would like to reaffirm our confidence in her ability to
accomplish her task and to lead our deliberations to a
successful conclusion. I also wish to express our
gratitude to her predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, Foreign
Minister of Sweden, for his conduct of the work of the
General Assembly during the previous session. Lastly,
we are indebted to the Secretary-General for his efforts
to advance the process of reform at the United Nations
and fulfilment of the purposes and principles of its
Charter.
Last year our efforts were focused on reform.
Some progress has now been made, and we have
established the Human Rights Council and the
Peacebuilding Commission. However, there is still a
long way to go, since any reform that does not include
the Security Council and enhance the role of the
General Assembly will be of little value and will not
meet the expectations of our peoples.
Unfortunately, our quest for reform of the
Security Council has met with further encroachment by
the Council on the functions and powers with which
the General Assembly was endowed by the Charter. It
is therefore incumbent on the Assembly to take
immediate action to prevent the Council from
infringing further on its authority.
We also take this opportunity to call on the
permanent members of the Security Council not to
hamper the reform efforts but rather to promote a
genuine reform of the Organization. Such reform
should place the power of decision-making in the
hands of all members of the Assembly, a forum in
which all States are entitled to vote. The Security
Council will then become an executive tool for
implementing the decisions of the Assembly. We can
thus remedy the current situation in which the Council
has become a domineering and inequitable body,
applying double standards, lacking democracy and
open to abuse of the veto.
History bears witness to the fact that the Council
has never achieved peace and security in the world. On
the contrary, it has served as a tool for aggression and
wars and for the curtailment of peace mechanisms.
Consequently, it is the General Assembly, in which all
the peoples of the world are represented, that should
take decisions on peace and war, and the power to
apply Chapter VII of the Charter should be vested
solely in the Assembly. The Security Council, with its
limited membership, cannot be entrusted with such
momentous decisions.
If we fail to agree on such a change, we must find
a new formula for granting permanent membership of
the Council. Permanent membership should be
conferred on geographical groups rather than specific
countries. We therefore demand that the African Union
become a permanent member of the Security Council,
as Africa is the only continent without a permanent seat
on the Council.
More than three decades ago, Libya called for
abolition of the veto. It submitted draft resolutions on
this subject at the thirty-fourth session of the General
Assembly and the six following sessions. Libya holds
that this prerogative of the permanent members is the
greatest of the obstacles preventing the Council from
fulfilling its mandate. It therefore renews its call for
abolition of the veto and urges the Assembly to take
steps to restrict use of the veto until it is finally
abolished. Within the framework of the current
consultations on reform of the Council, we would like
to reaffirm Libya’s adherence to the common African
position issued by the Fifth African Union Summit,
held in Sirte, Libya, on 4 and 5 July 2005, and later
confirmed by the Extraordinary Summit of the African
Union, held in Addis Ababa on 4 August 2005.
Maintenance of international peace and security
is a noble goal of the United Nations. Undoubtedly,
general and complete disarmament, starting with
weapons of mass destruction, constitutes the essential
component for achievement of this goal, which,
however, will remain beyond reach unless all Member
States cooperate in good faith and in a fully transparent
manner. Libya has voluntarily abandoned all its
programmes related to weapons of mass destruction
and has expressed the hope that all States in possession
of weapons of mass destruction or programmes for
such weapons will follow its example.
It is important not to confuse weapons of mass
destruction and nuclear non-proliferation with
programmes for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Under international law, all States have the right to
conduct research and develop their scientific
capabilities for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
06-53341 24
Libya strongly rejects the use of double standards
when dealing with this issue and the practice of
discrimination between States with respect to nuclear
non-proliferation.
The establishment of the Peacebuilding
Commission is an important step in promoting peace in
countries emerging from conflict. We hope to see soon
the achievements of this new body in Africa, where the
African Union has been able, with the assistance of the
international community, to achieve peace in several
African countries. African peoples look forward to the
assistance of the United Nations in the consolidation of
peace in order to implement development programmes
and combat poverty, disease and illiteracy.
Terrorism is a phenomenon that threatens
international peace and security. Such a threat cannot
be countered by the action of a single State or group of
States. Furthermore, it is a problem that cannot be
resolved through attribution to a particular religion or
nationality. It is also shameful and unacceptable to
describe the legitimate struggle of a people against
foreign occupation as an act of terrorism.
Libya was among the first States that called for
coordination of international efforts against
international terrorism. Fifteen years ago it called for a
special session of the General Assembly to study this
phenomenon and develop measures to combat it and
eradicate its root causes. It is high time to respond to
that call so that we can coordinate our efforts, under
the auspices of the United Nations, to study this
phenomenon and reach a clear definition of terrorism
that distinguishes between terrorism and the legitimate
struggle of peoples for self-determination and
independence.
The change of the Human Rights Commission
into the Human Rights Council reflects the great
attention the international community gives to
enforcing human rights and guaranteeing basic
freedoms. We hope that the inception of this Council’s
work will constitute a beginning towards addressing
the issues impartially and non-discriminately, free from
selectivity and double standards. We hope that human
rights issues will not be used as a means of pressure
against small nations. We emphasize that attempts by
some States to use protection of human rights as a
pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other States
will only lead to the destabilization of peace and
security, causing more problems rather than solving
outstanding ones.
Sustainable development is a major challenge
facing developing countries. It is incumbent upon the
United Nations to establish an international partnership
for development that aims to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, based on the activation of
dialogue between North and South. All this should be
done within the framework of respect for sovereignty,
equality and the sharing of benefits, guaranteeing the
achievement of the agreed goal of a 0.7 per cent
allocation of the gross national product of developed
countries as development assistance to developing
countries. Furthermore, such a partnership should
guarantee the appropriate application of all principles
of free multilateral trade and the enforcement of all
measures related to special and preferential treatment
for developing countries, within the framework of
World Trade Organization, including facilitating the
accession of developing countries to that organization.
Countries with a colonial past bear the greatest
responsibility for assisting developing countries as
compensation for the damage caused them during the
colonial period. The big Powers that waged wars on the
territories of developing countries must bear
responsibility for demining and removal of explosive
remnants left in those countries. They should begin
immediately to provide maps and the necessary
technical equipment for the rehabilitation of the
affected lands in some of the developing countries.
The massacres and repression that are committed
by Israeli occupation forces in occupied Palestine
against the Palestinian people and the flagrant
violations of human rights confirm that the so-called
peace process is but a mirage that will not yield any
results, particularly given the inability of the Security
Council to take any action to protect the Palestinian
people and to compel the occupation force to respect
its commitments and stop its aggression and crimes
against the Palestinian people. Libya therefore
reiterates its emphasis that any proposed solutions that
seek to impose a fait accompli will not resolve the
Palestinian question, nor will they provide peace for
the area. The only solution that can achieve peace is to
guarantee the return of all Palestinian refugees to their
homes and to establish a democratic State on the land
of historical Palestine, in which Arabs and Jews live on
equal footing, similar to South Africa, where blacks
and whites manage to coexist after decades of conflict
25 06-53341
and bloodshed. Unless that is achieved, the region will
continue to live in a state of conflict, in which no one
will enjoy any peace or security.
The recent Israeli aggression against Lebanon and
its targeting of the infrastructure and civilians there
emphasize the need for urgent action to compel the
occupation forces to withdraw from the Sheba’a farms
and return them to Lebanon. Additionally, urgent
action is needed regarding the withdrawal from and
return to Syria of the occupied Syrian Golan. The
Israelis should be forced to pay reparations for the
damage they caused in Lebanon due to their brutal
aggression.
The situation in brotherly Iraq is a cause of
sadness and concern. It is, in fact, a catastrophe
brought about by an occupation that has left behind
tens of thousands of dead and hundreds of thousands of
wounded and handicapped persons. No matter how
optimistic we may be, this catastrophic situation will
not end as long as there are occupation forces in the
country, forces that feed divisions inside Iraqi society
and encourage sectarianism in Government institutions.
We believe it is high time to stop the bloodshed in Iraq
and find a solution to end the crisis so that all Iraqis
may enjoy peace and security, as well as their basic
rights, in a unified and democratic Iraq enjoying full
sovereignty and free from foreign forces and bases.