Lesotho

My delegation associates itself with the compliments extended to Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his election to preside over the General Assembly at this session and to his predecessor, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa of Bahrain. I also wish to take this opportunity to welcome His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon and to assure him of my country’s unconditional support during his tenure as Secretary-General of the United Nations. Lesotho congratulates the presidency on having invited Member States to comment on the theme “Responding to Climate Change” during this session. In 1992, the first Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, was held in Rio de Janeiro. It was at that conference that we committed ourselves to achieving sustainable development in the twenty-first century. We reaffirmed our commitments in Johannesburg at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. It would seem that, for far too long thereafter, we agreed to disagree until we were confronted by the glaring and compelling scientific evidence that the link between global warming and human activities was unequivocal. We waited for the adverse effects of climate change to begin to be felt all over the globe before we could acknowledge that consensus was essential for concerted action on climate change. Sadly, natural disasters have begun to strike. As is usually the case, it is the poorest nations and the most vulnerable countries that are being worst affected. My country is one of these. Unfavourable climatic conditions that are attributable to climate change have led to severe drought, which has resulted in acute food shortages. In order to address that crisis, my Government has declared a state of emergency on food security. As the world prepares for the United Nations climate change conference, which will take place in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, we need to be reminded of the urgent need to build a solid and sustainable consensus on a global response to climate change for the period following the expiry of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol in the year 2012. My delegation calls upon the international community to endeavour to reach consensus on, among other things, steps that must be taken to reach the 60 to 80 per cent emission cuts that are required to stabilize the atmosphere. In that regard, the industrialized countries must assume the major responsibility, because scientific evidence has confirmed that it is the greenhouse gas emissions from those countries that are making natural disasters worse. The international community must also reaffirm its commitment to assisting the regions, such as Africa, that are the most vulnerable to climate change. In addition, my delegation calls upon developed countries to assist developing countries in strengthening their capacity to adapt to climate change. Allow us further to share our thoughts on what we consider to be the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century. Our thoughts cover three areas: democracy, conflicts and development. The United Nations was formed against the backdrop of colonialism, particularly on the African continent. As colonial rule slowly but surely ended, it left behind a legacy of undemocratic Governments. African countries were characterized by coups d’état day in, day out. Very few African countries have not had the “pleasure” of military rule. Faced with that disturbing reality, some regional organizations adopted instruments to deal with unconstitutional changes of Government by carrying out sanctions. Here, mention should be made of the Organization of African Unity; its successor, the African Union; and the Commonwealth group of nations. Significantly, however, our Organization, the United Nations, has not adopted any instrument to carry out sanctions against defaulting Member States. That is what the United Nations must now do. Today, the overwhelming majority of the world’s countries adhere to the principles of democracy. Those countries hold periodic elections. However, the broadest common denominator of developing countries is the non-acceptance of election results; it has become a tradition for losing political parties to dispute them. Regrettably, that is done through unlawful means more often than not, despite the fact that there are always lawful mechanisms for challenging election results. This is one area in which we see a role for the United Nations, as the universal institution with the capacity necessary to assist requesting Member States in reversing these trends. Just as the United Nations plays a critical role in world economic development, it should see as part of its role aggressively inculcating the culture of democracy in all nations. In particular, the Organization must help developing countries fight the culture of impunity. The common understanding must be a simple one: “When the people have spoken, respect their voice”. Victors must learn to accept victory with humility and magnanimity, and losers to accept defeat with grace. In that way, the post-election period can be devoted to development, with all sides joining hands in a collective national effort. We must hasten to acknowledge the role that the United Nations is now playing in democratization processes, but we feel that it can do more. That brings us to the second area: conflicts. Conflicts always feature prominently in our addresses before the Assembly. We must acknowledge that inter- State conflicts are on the decline across the globe. The same, however, cannot be said about internal conflicts. It cannot be denied that intra-State conflicts occur where there is little or no regard for democratic governance. If a country is not accustomed to holding elections or to accepting election results, conflicts arise. Other causes, which are also attributable to lack of democratic governance, include a lack of judicious sharing of a country’s wealth, rampant poverty and ethnic strife. In all such conflicts, small arms and light weapons have become weapons of choice. We therefore still consider it regrettable that in the year 2005, Member States were not able to adopt a legally binding international instrument on the marking and tracing of small arms and light weapons. We share the view that such an instrument could curtail the production, transfer and civilian possession of illicit small arms and light weapons. It is the urgent responsibility of the United Nations to facilitate the adoption of an effective international instrument for curbing the illicit trade in conventional weapons, which would make it harder for such weapons to end up in the hands of criminals. We hope that the arms trade treaty that is being proposed can be concluded expeditiously. We must recall that in the year 2005, the Assembly solemnly proclaimed that the role of the entire international community, acting through the United Nations, was to protect populations from genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening on the ground. We still notice inaction on the part of the Security Council, or its reaction coming too late. The harrowing experiences of Rwanda and now Darfur are living testimony to that. We attribute such inaction to the skewed composition and powers of the Council, especially the right of veto, which we are now convinced, more than ever before, is extremely subjective and exercised according to the interests of the concerned permanent member. That has, in some instances, caused a breaking of the ranks among the big five. We continue to witness unilateral economic and financial blockades being imposed against other countries, and the denial to peoples of their right to self-determination, while others are still subject to occupation. Cuba, Palestine and the Western Sahara are here cases in point. We submit that it must remain the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century to proactively preserve international peace and security. Our call is therefore that, where peace and security are threatened, the United Nations, through the Security Council, must act swiftly and decisively at all times. But the United Nations can do so only if its structures are reformed to make them democratic and representative. Our basic premise would continue to be that the United Nations in the twenty-first century should inculcate democracy not only in Member countries, but also within itself. It is a hard fact that the reform of the United Nations will not be complete without the reform of the Security Council. Members of this body have on several occasions reiterated the fact that the Security Council in its current form does not reflect the realities of today’s world, and yet, for more than a decade now, the Assembly has remained stagnant on that issue. The presentation per se of various positions by major stakeholders, as well as various attempts to bridge major differences in those positions, have thus far failed to produce tangible results. Hence, my delegation shares the view that it is now time to move forward and begin intergovernmental negotiations. However, we wish to underline that, while the reform of the Security Council is possible, all Member States need to garner the necessary political will to attain that goal. The credibility of the Council is at stake. Sustainable world peace and stability create the necessary space to deal with the development challenges of our countries and peoples. The world has acknowledged that the HIV and AIDS pandemic represents the top most challenge. The untold miseries brought about by that scourge are common cause. To the extent that no cure is available, HIV/AIDS will continue to be a threat to human existence. That threat, particularly in Africa, is compounded by worsening poverty and famine levels brought about, in most cases, by unfavourable weather conditions, compliments in large measure, of climate change. It is our view that, in a country enjoying political stability, the potential for all sectors of that nation to address those challenges is greatly enhanced. Moreover, no economic development can take place without democracy, peace and stability. Of course, the support of the developed countries will always be called for; hence, the need for them to fulfil their promise on official development assistance, which plays such a critical role in the economic development of the developing countries. My delegation congratulates the Secretary- General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his commitment to the strengthening of the Organization. For this Organization to acquit itself successfully in the twenty- first century, the role of its Secretary-General must remain sacrosanct. He must remain immune to influence by the interests of any groups or Powers. He must be faithful to the interests of all in the service of our family of nations. Above all, he must help, through the United Nations, to create a world at peace with itself.