Mr. President, the Holy See takes this opportunity to
congratulate you on your election and looks forward to
working with you. At the same time, it is my pleasure
to greet the Secretary-General, His Excellency
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and wish him well at his first full
session of the General Assembly.
Less than a year ago, the General Assembly
approved the project to renovate these United Nations
Headquarters. Such material renovation seems an
appropriate reminder for States of the need to be
constantly renewed in the pursuit of the great
objectives that inspired the creation of the Organization
of the United Nations.
Sixty-two years ago, the United Nations was
established in order to save future generations from the
scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in fundamental human
rights and in the dignity and value of the human
person, to ensure respect for international law and to
promote social progress in universal freedom. Today,
once more, we must reaffirm those values in order to
deliver a forceful “no” to war and an equally forceful
“yes” to human dignity.
The Preamble of the Charter of the United
Nations, in its reference to the fundamental rights and
the dignity of the human person, uses the word “faith”
and links it to dialogue and cooperation among nations.
In this way it is affirmed that there is such a thing as
universal and transcendent truth about man and his
innate dignity, which is not only prior to all political
activity but determines it, so that no ideology of power
can eliminate it.
This innate dignity also determines the just
measure of national interests, which may never be
considered absolute, and in defence of which not only
is it never right to harm the legitimate interests of other
States, but there is an obligation at the same time to
help promote the common good of all people. Respect
for human dignity, therefore, is the deepest ethical
foundation in the search for peace and in the building
up of international relations corresponding to the
authentic needs and hopes of all the peoples of the
Earth. To forget or to accept partially and selectively
that principle is what lies at the origin of conflict,
environmental degradation and social and economic
injustice.
The terrorist attacks that marked the beginning of
the twenty-first century have given rise to pessimistic
visions of humanity based on a supposed clash of
civilizations. At times, people respond by returning to
extreme forms of nationalism, or by extending
justification for the use of force, or by further
relativizing values essentially tied to human dignity, in
particular the universal right to life and to religious
freedom.
Nowadays, the binomial “culture and religion” is
increasingly heard in this Hall. The Holy See welcomes
the initiative to hold a High-level Dialogue on
Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and
Cooperation for Peace, which will take place here on
5 October under the leadership of the General
Assembly President. Indeed, dialogue among peoples
of different cultures and religions is not an option; it is
something that is indispensable for peace and for the
renewal of international life.
The Holy See hopes that the increased interest on
the part of non-religious bodies and institutions will
contribute to a greater respect for religious freedom
everywhere. Today, the right to religious freedom
continues to be disregarded, and even violated, in
certain places. Such violations have become a pretext
for various other forms of discrimination. If religious
leaders and believers expect States and societies to
respect them and acknowledge their religions to be true
instruments of peace, they themselves must respect
religious freedom; they must show that they pledge to
promote peace and shun violence; they must
demonstrate that religion is not and must not become a
pretext for conflict; and they must declare without
ambiguity that to promote violence or to wage war in
the name of religion is a blatant contradiction.
At the difficult crossroads at which humanity
finds itself today, the use of force no longer represents
a sustainable solution. It is important to help the
Conference on Disarmament find a way out of the
impasse in which it has been languishing for more than
a decade, to relieve the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons from the severe strain to which it
has been increasingly subjected lately, and to give new
impetus to recognizing the value of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. This year’s fiftieth
anniversary of the entry into force of the Statute of the
International Atomic Energy Agency is a most fitting
occasion to reaffirm our commitment to a peaceful
future through the non-proliferation of nuclear
weapons, the reduction and definitive dismantling of
existing nuclear weapons and the non-discriminatory,
peaceful and safe use of nuclear technology.
Moreover, this Organization must take further
steps on arms control in the field of conventional
weapons, including small arms and light weapons. The
Holy See associates itself with all appeals that
underline the importance of adopting a common
approach aimed at combating not only illegal traffic in
such weapons but also other connected activities, such
as terrorism, organized crime and trafficking in drugs
and in precious raw materials.
Another important area in which the Holy See
urges serious and effective action on the part of the
international community is that of cluster munitions. A
rapid response to this problem is becoming an ethical
imperative because of the high cost in human life, the
majority of the victims being civilians, especially
children.
This Organization has expressed its willingness
many times to devote more resources to conflict
prevention, particularly in the area of mediation. In this
regard, the Holy See has a particular interest in the
efforts of the Department of Political Affairs to create a
standing team of expert mediators as part of the
Secretary-General’s goal to make more effective use of
his good offices for conflict prevention. While the
multiplication of peace operations could mean that
there has been a failure to prevent conflict situations
from erupting into full-scale armed conflicts, it is also
a sign of the trust that the international community
places in the mechanisms of the United Nations and in
their cooperation with regional agencies. In this
context, we look forward to the day that peacekeeping
efforts in Darfur will finally be fully operational.
I wish to recall the contribution of the United
Nations towards a just and final solution to the
conflicts that for too long have caused bloodshed in the
Middle East. There is need for renewed commitment
on the part of all Member countries in the pacification
and reconstruction of long-suffering Iraq, a
reconstruction that is more moral and political than
economic. There is a need for renewed commitment in
the search for a solution through dialogue of the
conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, one which is
capable of recognizing the legitimate expectations of
each side.
Renewed commitment is needed in ensuring that
Lebanon will continue to be a free and independent
country, a democratic, multicultural and multi-
confessional society, equitable and respectful of all
people and of the various trends present in its midst,
like a common home open to others. This is
particularly necessary in the present crucial period
leading to an election of the new head of State.
Finally, I cannot but make reference to what is
happening in Myanmar, which these days occupies the
attention and concerns of the General Assembly and of
the whole international community. I wish to reiterate
the appeal made yesterday by Pope Benedict XVI:
through dialogue, good will and a spirit of humanity,
may a solution to the crisis be found quickly for the
good of the country and a better future for all its
inhabitants.
The creation two years ago of the Peacebuilding
Commission was based upon the conviction that it is
not enough to put an end to wars, but it is also
necessary to help reconstruct individual lives and the
social and institutional fabric. Now, the biggest test for
the international community is to give the
Peacebuilding Commission the mandate and the means
to prove on the ground that it can successfully manage
and support the difficult transition from war and
misery to peace and development.
Many of the problems that are attributed today
almost exclusively to cultural and religious differences
have their origin in economic and social injustice.
Freedom from want, illness, hunger and ignorance is a
necessary precondition for a serene dialogue of
civilizations. Forty years ago, in his encyclical
Populorum Progressio, Pope Paul VI stated that
development is the new name for peace. The Holy See
is concerned about the inability of rich countries to
offer the poorest countries, especially those in Africa,
financial and trade conditions capable of promoting
their sustainable development.
I salute the high-level event on climate change
held here on 24 September. The Holy See wishes to
underline once again the moral imperative incumbent
upon each and every one of us in safeguarding the
environment our fundamental common good.
We are approaching the sixtieth anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, yet many
have never heard of it or been given the benefits of its
principles. Those rights are not based on the mere will
of human beings, or in the reality of the State or in
public powers, but rather are grounded in the objective
requirements of the nature bestowed on man.
The most important part of our work in that
context is to ensure that the right to life is respected
everywhere. That fundamental right must be protected
from conception until natural death. Therefore, we
must work to stop and reverse the culture of death
embraced by some social and legal structures that try to
make the suppression of life acceptable by disguising it
as a medical or social service. In that sense, the
abolition of the death penalty should also be seen as a
consequence of full respect for the right to life.
The legitimate quest for equality between men
and women has achieved positive results. Nevertheless,
inequalities in the exercise of basic human rights
unfortunately still persist in many places. That leads to
a breakdown in the social fabric and results in women’s
objectification and exploitation. The vindication of
equality needs to be accompanied by the awareness
that it goes hand in hand with and does not endanger,
much less contradict, the recognition of both the
difference and the complementarity between men and
women.
The Holy See looks forward to the
commemorative high-level meeting on the follow-up to
the outcome of the special session on children,
scheduled for 11 and 12 December 2007. It will be an
opportunity to refocus our commitments to children
and to redouble our efforts to promote their rights, end
violence against them and support the family.
Faith in human dignity demands that the problem
of migration be approached in the context of human
rights, family rights and children’s rights. While it is
essential to fight human trafficking and legitimate to
curb illegal migration, no one can justify measures
which put lives at risk or gravely offend human dignity
and human rights. The Holy See welcomes the
momentum created by the first meeting of the Global
Forum on Migration and Development, held in
Brussels in July, and looks forward to more progress in
that regard.
We must continue to ensure that peace and
security and development and human rights are
effectively combined and mutually reinforcing, in
order to show the international community that the
renovation of United Nations Headquarters is not only
physical, but also a renewal of the Organization’s
ideals and intentions. A renewal that reaches into the
deepest corners of the Organization is one in which all
nations of the world will rightly take pride.