The President of the Republic of Benin, His Excellency
Mr. Thomas Boni Yayi, has asked me to deliver this
message to the Assembly on his behalf.
At the outset, I would like to congratulate Mr. Sam
Kutesa on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. We pay tribute
to the country of Uganda for its leadership. I would
also like to congratulate the outgoing President of the
General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. John Ashe,
whose enthusiasm enabled consensus to be reached
on important issues considered during the Assembly’s
sixty-eighth session. Without a doubt, he successfully
fulfilled his mandate, laying the groundwork for the
post-2015 development agenda, in particular with the
successful conclusion of the work of the Open Working
Group on Sustainable Development Goals. My gratitude
also goes to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
for his continuing efforts to strengthen the role of the
United Nations as an effective force for stability, peace,
collective security and the promotion of human dignity
and sustainable development. I would like to express to
him my firm support for his initiatives aimed at easing
tensions and settling conflict situations in order to pave
the way to building a world that is more just, based on
equality, justice, respect for human rights and solidarity
among peoples, and to curb climate change.
The theme of the current session, “Delivering on and
implementing a transformative post-2015 development
agenda”, is of prime importance for the least developed
countries (LDCs), a group for which Benin serves as
Chair through September 2015. It clearly describes the
major work to be done and on which we should focus
our energies throughout the Assembly’s sixty-ninth
session in order to forge consensus around actions to
be taken to make “The future we want” a reality. In
that regard, the post-2015 development agenda must
take into account the lessons learned and experiences
acquired throughout the 15 years we have just gone
through in the implementation phase of the Millennium
Development Goals. Efforts must therefore be pursued
to eliminate extreme poverty, promote more equal and
inclusive economic growth, establish transparent and
responsible institutions that are able to stimulate the
process of sustainable development, bring about the
professionalization of young people, and create decent
jobs for the long term through the implementation of
integrated social protection schemes that cover all forms
of vulnerability. Once adopted, the implementation
of the post-2015 development agenda should receive
stepped up attention and energy so that no one will be
left behind. The High-level Panel of Eminent Persons
on the Post-2015 Development Agenda have sent the
Secretary-General their recommendations on the
programme.
The third International Conference on Financing
for Development should be prepared with an open mind
towards innovation. In that regard, it is important to
create strategies and find the means to implement them
in order to accelerate structural transformations in the
least developed countries so as to reduce the gap that
separates them from developed countries, notably with
regard to access to the benefits of modernity, and in
order to meet basic needs, which should now be seen
as a fundamental right to be guaranteed to all human
beings. It is necessary to put an end to exclusion in all
its forms and at all levels and to integrate all countries
affected by marginalization into the global economic
growth by re-establishing the balance that has been
disrupted among the three dimensions of sustainable
development, namely, economic efficiency, social
stability and environmental preservation.
I would like to recall that the Istanbul Action
Programme set as a major goal halving the number of
LDCs by 2020. The Programme made the productive
capacity-building of LDCs one of its foremost priorities
in order to achieve that goal. With a view to mobilizing
the international community to implement that effective
programme, in its capacity as Chair of the Global
Coordination Bureau of the Group of Least Developed
Countries, Benin took the initiative to organize the
Ministerial Conference on New Partnerships for
Productive Capacity-Building in LDCs, held in Cotonou
from 28 to 31 July.
In its resolution 68/224, of 20 December 2013,
the General Assembly expressed its expectations with
regard to the outcomes of the Ministerial Conference.
Today, I can report those outcomes to the Assembly.
The Ministerial Conference adopted the Cotonou
Agenda for productive capacity-building in LDCs. It
advocated innovative approaches in that area through
specific recommendations both for LDCs and for
their development partners. It also requested that the
General Assembly include on its agenda for the sixty-
ninth session the issue of productive capacity-building
in LDCs.
On behalf of the Government and people of Benin,
I would like to thank our partners, in particular,
Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain
and Italy, for their contribution to the success of that
Conference, which is of historic importance to LCDs,
since it affects a crucial aspect of their development
and of their integration into the world economy. I would
also like to thank Belgium, co-Chair of the Group of
Friends of LDCs, and the European Union, which
assisted in implementing the initiative. The Office
of the High Representative for the Least Developed
Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and
Small Island Developing States, the United Nations
Office for South-South Cooperation, the United
Nations specialized agencies, funds and programmes,
civil society and the private sector provided valuable
technical support for the knowledgeable preparation of
the Ministerial Conference. The Cotonou Agenda for
productive capacity-building in LDCs will clearly be
a road map for promoting the implementation of the
Istanbul Programme of Action.
In 2015, we will undertake a comprehensive review
of the major efforts undertaken and the results achieved
in all areas targeted by the Millennium Development
Goals. The most recent performance assessments put
Benin, my country, among the leading 20 countries
for the greatest progress made in absolute terms of
the proportion of their population that has emerged
from poverty. Benin, my country, is singled out by the
introduction of free kindergaren and primary education
and the provision of facilities at the secondary and
higher education levels for pupils and students in
need, thereby allowing a significant increase in school
enrolment, in particular among girls.
In the area of health, the actions of my Government
have improved the management and provision
of services for the prevention of mother-to-child
HIV/AIDS transmission, nutrition, water supply,
hygiene and sanitation. On the basis of the established
health-care infrastructure network, the Government
was able to launch a universal health insurance plan,
which provides a level of social protection to people
at an affordable cost. The provision by the State of
Caesarean operations, as well as free health care to
children under 5 years of age, have also been life-saving
measures for thousands of Beninese families. Also,
efforts have been made by the Government of Benin
to alleviate poverty by providing substantial support
to microcredit institutions. That has had a significant
impact on improving the living conditions of many
rural populations.
The willingness of development partners to
support Benin in its vision for long-term development
and in underpinning the progress made in the areas of
policy and administrative governance, the management
of social justice and the economic governance was
strengthened by the very encouraging results of the
round table on Financing for Development in Benin, held
in Paris from 17 to 19 June, with funding commitments
to the tune of approximately $12 billion over a period
of five years.
The facts demonstrate every day that peace,
security, good governance at the national and the
international levels and the flawless exercise of
sovereign functions by States are the best guarantees
for international peace, security and stability. In that
regard, it is urgent to strengthen the effectiveness of
the United Nations with regard to efforts to ensure
better conflict prevention and to combat injustice and
the various forms of criminality rampant in the world.
In that connection, with regard to Africa, in general,
and the Sahel region, in particular, it is necessary to
improve the United Nations support mechanism in
order to prevent further conflict and to promote the
necessary stability for the development of the States of
the region.
There is a crucial need to address the root causes of
conflicts, which, at the global level, are used as a pretext
for extremism and terrorist organizations. I would
like to welcome the mobilization of the international
community and the steadfastness of the United Nations
in response to the actions of those armed groups. Thanks
to the effectiveness of the actions undertaken, the main
theatres of conflict in Africa are seeing an easing of
tension. Benin will continue to provide its modest but
quality contribution to United Nations peacekeeping in
that regard.
Coastal African States, in particular those in the
Gulf of Guinea, also face piracy and armed robbery
at sea, as well as transnational organized crime. That
greatly hampers their economic growth. The steps
taken to address such criminality have clearly produced
encouraging results. However, we need to further
strengthen those steps through the ongoing vigilance
and greater support of the international community in
order to rapidly implement the measures adopted on the
basis of the outcome of the ministerial meeting held in
Cotonou on 18 and 19 March 2013 and the summit held
in Yaoundé on 24 and 25 June 2013 with regard to the
implementation of Security Council resolutions 2018
(2011) and 2039 (2012).
Moreover, the tranquillity of West African nations
has been shaken for some months by the outbreak of the
Ebola virus, whose rapid spread has already caused more
than 3,000 deaths, half the number of those infected.
The scale of the phenomenon requires the deployment
of a coordinated health mechanism throughout the
countries of the region in order to contain it.
From this rostrum, I commend the diligence shown
by the Secretary-General and by the World Health
Organization in leading the international community
to take measures commensurate with the challenge
to humankind and to establish a series of emergency
measures to counter and to contain that global threat
beyond the affected States. The crisis underscores the
need to promote human security and, in particular,
health security in order to increase the resilience of
populations.
The state of the world is undoubtedly taking a very
worrying turn. Humankind is at a crossroads. It is more
necessary than ever that the United Nations affirm its
leadership so as to reverse the alarming trends. In that
regard, it is urgent to find a negotiated solution to the
situation in the Middle East, which has continued for
too long. Maintaining the status quo is untenable in all
respects. The recognition of Palestine as a sovereign
State and a full Member of the United Nations, living
in harmony with Israel, cannot be delayed any longer.
Such recognition will clearly facilitate the momentum
for reducing tensions in the Middle East and establish
favourable conditions for a just and lasting settlement
of the other conflicts and complex problems afflicting
that region.
Benin deplores the escalation of violence in Ukraine
and the radicalization of the parties to the conflict, which
is leading to increase in the loss of human lives and the
damage suffered by the affected civilian populations.
I would also urge the United Nations to work towards
the settlement of that conflict in the higher interest of
international peace and security.
In addition, Benin advocates for the peaceful
settlement of existing disputes in the context of the
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. We call for the
mobilization of the international community with
regard to the holding and the success of the next
Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapon, with an African
Chair. We draw the Assembly’s attention to the issue
of the funding for the preparations for the Review
Conference, the responsibility for which cannot rest
solely with the upcoming Chair, particularly since that
country is an LDC.
The universality, indivisibility and interdependence
of all human rights are fundamental values for Benin.
We are strongly committed to human dignity and the
sacred nature of human life. For that reason, out of a
national belief, Benin acceded to the international
instrument for the abolition of the death penalty. That
enables us to join the countries at the forefront of
the global campaign for the abolition of that form of
punishment. We welcome that commitment.
That campaign must continue so that the idea that
the death penalty, far from serving justice, instead
represents a failure of justice is more broadly shared.
The increasing number of countries that support the
moratorium or have acceded to it by law or in deed
strengthens our hope for the universal abolition of
the death penalty. In the context of that campaign, the
Government of Benin, in cooperation with the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, organized
a regional conference on the abolition of the death
penalty in Africa in Cotonou from 2 to 4 July. The
conference called on African States to abolish the death
penalty throughout the continent.
My Government remains committed to strengthening
the principles of democracy and the rule of law and the
implementation of effective development policies. That
is why my Government strives daily to find ways and
means of strengthening those norms in Benin, which
requires the creation of jobs and opportunities for all.
That noble goal can be achieved only by effectively
combating corruption.
The difficult times that the world is currently
experiencing require both globally and nationally a
united front in support of the values of mutual respect,
solidarity, inter-faith dialogue and, in particular,
ongoing talks between Muslim and Christian leaders
in order to establish a common space of friendship,
essential to the flourishing of peoples. Taking into
account the seriousness of that problem in Africa, my
Government decided to support an initiative of the
Pan-African Social Prospects Centre, headquartered in
Benin, to hold an international symposium on Islamic-
Christian dialogue in Cotonou in March 2015. That
multifaceted project seeks to promote education on
peace and development among peoples in the context of
a harmonious coexistence of religions. I encourage all
people of goodwill to respect such ideals and to support
Benin’s initiative.
In conclusion, I recall the need for intensified
negotiations to achieve the reform of the United
Nations, in particular, the Security Council. Benin
strongly hopes that in 2015, the seventieth anniversary
of the Organization will be marked by the adoption
of significant measures commensurate with the
challenges and opportunities of the new era in order to
make the composition of the Council fairer and more
representative and its working methods more inclusive
so that it can fulfil its mandate more effectively.
Moreover, all our efforts must seek to achieve our
shared desire to see the United Nations regain its full
capacity to promote an inclusive, transparent and more
effective global governance in the context of productive
multilateralism so as to build a balanced world order
that promotes stability and harmony to the clear benefit
of our peoples. In such conditions, all Member States
would be able to take the virtuous path of sustainable
development and shared prosperity so that equality,
peace, brotherhood and the effective solidarity of
nations lead to that better world for which we yearn.