It is a great honour for me to address the General
Assembly for the first time, and I must say that I do
so with great emotion. Commitment, solidarity and
responsibility are the three key words that have guided
and will continue to guide my country’s action at the
United Nations. As a founding Member of the United
Nations, Luxembourg has based its foreign policy on
active participation in multilateral cooperation. That
multilateralism is founded on respect for international
law and cooperation among sovereign and equal States
in order to work collectively for peace, development
and respect for human rights.
For us, the United Nations is at the heart of
multilateralism. We are committed to making the
United Nations as effective as possible so that we can
solve together, in solidarity, issues that far exceed
our capacities as States. We have the responsibility to
overcome such issues for the sake of future generations.
Commitment, solidarity and responsibility also define
the approach that should guide our response to the
challenges facing us on the eve of 2015.
With the President’s choice of the theme for this
sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, he calls
upon us to develop and deliver on a transformative post-
2015 development agenda and to ensure its effective
implementation. That post-2015 development agenda
must be bold and ambitious if we are to live up to our
collective responsibility to eradicate poverty and to
promote sustainable development. It must build on the
Millennium Development Goals and must go further.
The agenda must be holistic, action-oriented and
universally applicable. It must benefit both developing
and developed countries. It must be based on human
rights. It must give the social sectors, health care and
education all the importance that they deserve. The
issues of governance, justice, peace and security, as
well as the protection of the environment, sustainable
consumption and production patterns and sustained
economic growth, must be part of that agenda.
Luxembourg supports and welcomes the important
work accomplished by the Open Working Group on
Sustainable Development Goals. Its report (A/67/941,
annex) and the set of goals that it proposes are a useful
basis for the negotiations that will culminate in a year’s
time in the adoption of the post-2015 development
agenda and a new model for sustainable development
that reconciles “the ambitions of humanity and the needs
of the planet”, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
Aware of its international responsibilities,
my country has a long-standing commitment to
development, motivated by a desire for solidarity with
the poorest people. Since 2000, Luxembourg has been
one of the five industrialized countries to allocate at least
0.7 per cent of its gross national income to development
cooperation. In 2009, our development assistance
reached the level of 1 per cent of gross national income.
The Government is committed to maintaining that high
level despite a difficult budgetary position, which is no
easier in our country than in others. Such aid can offer
upcoming generations prospects and opportunities for
the future and, we should realize, can therefore, I hope,
prevent certain conflicts.
The fight against climate change is an integral part of
any global partnership for development. In that context,
allow me to welcome the holding of the climate summit
on Tuesday. That summit clearly achieved the dual
objective set by the Secretary-General: to demonstrate
the essential political will to reach a global agreement
in 2015 and to act as a catalyst for concrete action on
the ground so as to reduce emissions and to increase
resilience. In the second half of 2015, my country will
assume the presidency of the Council of the European
Union (EU). We will spare no effort to ensure that we
reach an international climate agreement at the 2015
Paris climate summit that is applicable to all countries,
with the objective of keeping global warming below
2°C.
With its European Union partners, Luxembourg has
made binding commitments to reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions and to mitigate the effects of climate
change. Before the upcoming meetings, in accordance
with the timetable that we agreed in Warsaw, the
European Union will present additional contributions
to rise to the challenge.
We are also making commitments at the national
level. I would mention, for example, our support for the
statement on carbon pricing, presented at the Climate
Summit, as well as the new contribution of €5 million
to the Green Climate Fund, which we announced
at the summit, without any reduction in our official
development assistance.
There will be no development without security and
no security without development. And both development
and security also depend on respect for human rights
and the rule of law. We all know Kofi Annan’s saying.
Luxembourg has made it the guiding principle of its
action in the Security Council since 1 January 2013
by devoting its undivided attention to the root causes
of conflict, their humanitarian and economic impact
and human rights, in particular the rights of children
affected by conflict.
To illustrate that approach, I will talk about
the conflict in Syria. That conflict, which has been
raging for three and a half years, now shocks the
human conscience. There are more than 191,000
people dead. There are 10.8 million Syrians in need of
urgent humanitarian assistance, over half of whom are
children. More than 4.5 million Syrians are trapped by
the fighting in areas that are difficult for humanitarian
actors to access. More than 3 million Syrians have been
forced to leave their country, over 1 million of whom
are refugees in Lebanon. Those figures rarely make the
headlines now. However, behind those figures, there is
so much suffering and so many shattered lives.
That cannot continue. We must put an end to the
indiscriminate attacks against civilians, schools and
hospitals, the bombardment with barrel bombs, the
denial of humanitarian assistance and the use of famine
as a weapon of war. At the initiative of Australia, Jordan
and Luxembourg, the Security Council unanimously
adopted two resolutions on access for humanitarian aid
to Syria (Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014) and
2165 (2014)). I strongly hope that those resolutions will
have a real and decisive impact on the ground.
However, humanitarian action cannot be a
substitute for political action. The lasting settlement
of the Syrian conflict requires a political solution — a
political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations
of the Syrian people, in accordance with the Geneva
communiqué of June 2012 (S/2012/522, annex).
Today, we cannot procrastinate in the face of the
war crimes and crimes against humanity committed
by terrorist groups, in particular the Islamic State in
Iraq and the Levant. That group is neither a State nor
Islamic. It defiles Islam and seeks only to spread its
terror regime and to destabilize Syria, Iraq and the
entire region.
My country fully supports the measures adopted
against individuals and entities associated with
Al-Qaida to cut off their channels of financing, to
prevent radicalization and to stem the flow of foreign
terrorist fighters. We do so pursuant to Security
Council resolution 2178 (2014), which we adopted the
day before yesterday at the Security Council summit
presided over by the United States President, Barack
Obama, in which I had the honour to particiapte.
Beyond the fight against terrorism, we must tackle
the root causes of the grave crisis in Iraq. In that
context, we welcome the formation of the new Iraqi
Government of national unity, under the leadership of
Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi. We encourage him
to follow an inclusive approach that respects all ethnic
and religious segments of Iraqi society and that is
responsive to the needs and aspirations of all. The Iraqi
people must regain trust in their country’s democratic
institutions.
For the third time in six years, this summer we
witnessed bloody fighting in the Gaza Strip. The cycle
of violence must stop. The actions that fuel hatred
and discord must cease. Israelis and Palestinians must
finally be able to live in peace, security and dignity.
The two-State solution, the peaceful coexistence of
two democratic States — Israel and Palestine — within
secure and recognized borders, remains the only
possible way forward in that regard. A political solution
must be sought as soon as possible to avoid extremists
from all sides from prevailing and to avoid measures
being taken that would make the two-State solution
impossible. With its partners in the European Union,
Luxembourg is ready to contribute to a global and
sustainable solution.
The time allotted to me does not suffice to do
justice to the manifold crises that we face today. I
would, however, like to say that they all bring one duty
to light, namely, to protect civilians. That duty is at
the heart of the mandates entrusted to the stabilization
and peacekeeping missions of the United Nations and
regional organizations like the African Union in Mali,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South
Sudan and now in the Central African Republic. On the
African continent, our credibility and our responsibility
to protect are at stake. Twenty years after the Rwandan
genocide, indifference is no longer an option.
I should now like to say a word about my own
continent, Europe. The crisis in Ukraine has step-by-
step turned into a conflict — one that, unfortunately,
shows that the times when we thought peace on the
European continent had become self-evident are over.
The conflict has already cost the lives of more than
3,000 people. It must end and it must end now. Dialogue
and diplomacy are of the essence.
From Syria to the Central African Republic, from
Iraq to South Sudan, the list of war crimes and crimes
against humanity committed on a daily basis becomes
longer each day. The perpetrators of those crimes, of
grave violations and abuses of human rights, of violations
of international law and international humanitarian
law must be held accountable before justice for their
acts. The fight against impunity must cease to be an
abstract objective and become a tangible reality. The
International Criminal Court has an important role to
play in that regard.
With regard to grave violations of international law
and war crimes, I would like to draw attention to the
violations and atrocities committed against children.
Children are often the first victims of armed conflicts:
they are killed and maimed, they are abducted and
recruited, and they are sexually abused. They are
deprived of their right to education and health care. They
are cruelly denied access to humanitarian assistance.
As Chair of the Security Council Working Group on
Children and Armed Conflict, Luxembourg is working
in a determined way to strengthen and to implement
fully the children and armed conflict agenda. We will
continue to do so beyond our tenure on the Security
Council. Children embody the hope and future of every
society. All together, we must do everything we can to
safeguard that hope and future from the horrors of war.
We cannot acquiesce to sacrificing future generations.
The fight against sexual violence calls for the same
commitment. Sexual violence in conflict spares no one.
It affects adults and children, women and men. We must
resolutely tackle this scourge.
The prevention of conflict is a core purpose of
the Organization. Spotting early-warning signs of a
conflict is of crucial importance if we want to take the
most effective measures at the right time, and if we
want to prevent a situation from escalating into open
conflict. We know that most conflicts are preceded by a
significant deterioration in the human rights situation.
It is on that basis that the Secretary-General launched
the Rights Up Front initiative — rights before anything
else. Its aim is to strengthen the capacity of the United
Nations to act as a smoke detector before it is too late
to prevent the fire from spreading or, to continue that
metaphor, to alert the fire brigade before the fire gets
out of control. Luxembourg welcomes that initiative.
It is a forceful reminder of our collective obligation to
protect and promote human rights. It rightly places the
protection of human rights at the centre of the efforts
undertaken by the United Nations to prevent conflicts.
Tackling the root causes of conflict, poverty,
discrimination, the absence of the rule of law, to name
just those few, is part of the same preventive approach.
However, I also have to recall that in certain
countries, being different is not always accepted. The
rights of minorities must be respected. It is unacceptable
that to this day, a religion or a sexual orientation, for
example, prevents a person from living freely in certain
societies. Diversity is the richness of our society, it is
not a crime.
As I address the Assembly, there are numerous
threats to peace and security we must face that require
a holistic response. I have already addressed terrorism
and our common struggle to eradicate that scourge. The
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction constitutes
another clear threat. The joint plan of action agreed
in Geneva on 24 November 2013 was an important
milestone towards solving the Iranian nuclear issue. I
would like to reiterate Luxembourg’s full support for
the efforts of the EU 3+3 to arrive at a comprehensive
settlement that restores trust in the exclusively peaceful
purpose of the Iranian nuclear programme. I urge Iran
to engage fully and in good faith in order to allow those
discussions to lead to the expected results as soon as
possible.
In Africa as well as in Latin America, small arms are
the real weapons of mass destruction. The devastating
consequences of the unregulated arms trade are well
documented. I am therefore particularly pleased that
the Arms Trade Treaty, which was adopted last year by
a very broad majority of the Assembly, will enter into
force on 25 December. Luxembourg was honoured to
be among the first States to sign and ratify it. It is our
fervent hope that we will be able to achieve our shared
goal of making it a universal treaty.
Also along the lines of threats to international
peace and security, allow me to touch upon the serious
crisis caused by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
This is not a simple humanitarian emergency, far
from it. It is a multidimensional crisis that threatens
the institutions, societies and economies of the three
countries affected by the outbreak — and the region
as a whole. It calls for mobilization at every level:
national, regional and global. The Secretary-General
fully appreciates the magnitude of the challenge, and
we wholeheartedly support the United Nations Mission
for Ebola Emergency Response. There is no time to
lose. Beyond the contributions we have already made
to the World Health Organization, the World Food
Programme, Doctors Without Borders and the Red
Cross, we stand ready to do more, in close consultation
with the countries of West Africa, many of which are
Luxembourg’s partners, as well as with the United
Nations and civil society organizations on the ground.
In conclusion, allow me to return to the three
keywords that guide our efforts: commitment,
solidarity, responsibility. It was our eagerness to work
for strong and effective multilateralism and our resolve
to serve the United Nations that motivated Luxembourg
to aspire to become a non-permanent member of the
Security Council, for the first time in its history,
for the 2013-2014 term. During the past 20 months,
Luxembourg has worked hard every day to show that it
is up to that responsibility. It has worked hard to show
that it is worthy of the honour bestowed upon it by the
General Assembly when it was elected to the Security
Council. We carry out our mandate in the name of all
States Members of the United Nations, and we are quite
aware of that. Today, I would like to take this opportunity
to heartily thank the Assembly, in my personal capacity
and in the name of the Government of Luxembourg, for
the trust placed in us. The Aseembly can rest assured
that we will continue to serve the United Nations to
uphold our common values, the values of humankind.