I am grateful for the
opportunity today to address this sixty-second annual
gathering of the General Assembly.
On behalf of my nation, I would like to
congratulate the Secretary-General on his innovative
leadership and on the exceptional progress he has made
in his first nine months. His steadfast vision for peace
in Darfur, his commitment to rallying the world to
combat climate change and his determination to
eradicate global poverty stand true to the founding
principles of this institution.
Let me also extend my congratulations to
Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his assumption of the presidency
of the General Assembly and express our appreciation
to his predecessor, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa,
for her very effective leadership.
Today, in this great Hall, we have an opportunity
to reaffirm one of the core principles of the United
Nations "the right of every individual to pursue a life
of liberty in dignity” by voicing our support for
hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters, monks
and ordinary citizens, daring to seek freedom for the
people of Myanmar. We must stand fast with them. It is
my deepest hope that we will look back and remember
this saffron revolution of the Burmese monks as
another step in the inevitable march of liberty across
the planet. It echoes the rose and orange revolutions
that freed the peoples of Georgia and Ukraine from
hopelessness and stagnation just a few years ago.
When we returned Georgia to its rightful path of
peace, democracy and transparency, we did so in the
knowledge that our country was not an island. We
knew that, in order for our freedom to endure, we
would have to help advance the peaceful aspirations of
others around the world, as a responsible member of
the international community of democratic nations.
That is why Georgia has lent its sons and daughters to
peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
And just this month, we committed a new battalion to
serve under French command in Kabul.
This is why we have reached out to our
neighbours in Europe, Central Asia and beyond to
promote peace through cooperation, trade and deeper
engagement. Together, we are working to help ensure
new and diverse supplies of energy for European and
global markets. We contribute to the integrated effort
by building new roads, railways and pipelines that
weave together the countries of our region, ensuring
that people and goods flow across our borders in a
manner that is safe, legal, predictable and fair. In short,
our vision for the region is guided by the belief that
mutual interdependence brings mutual benefit.
I believe that the people of Georgia have served
as a catalyst and a living example of how governing
transparently, through democratic principles, breeds
lasting stability and shared prosperity. This is not, of
course, a new path for Georgia, but rather a return to
our European home and our European vocation, so
deeply enshrined in our national identity and history.
And, while our most challenging relationship
today remains with our neighbours in the Russian
Federation, my Government is committed to addressing
this subject through diplomatic means, in partnership
with the international community. I can say this with
confidence, because Georgia is a nation that is rooted
in justice, the rule of law and democracy. This is an
irreversible choice made by the people of my country.
For evidence of that, one merely has to look at how
Georgia has responded to the many provocations it has
faced in the past year, which range from missile attacks
to full-scale embargoes and even destructive pogroms.
Rather than lash out angrily, we have redoubled our
commitment to democratic development and
comprehensive reform. My Government and I have
done everything we can to show how much can be
achieved when good governance opens the door to the
development of human potential.
Today Georgia's economy is growing at over 14
per cent. Our gross domestic product per capita has
more than doubled in four years. Corruption is the
lowest among transition economies around the world
and one of the lowest in Europe, according to the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
And as of today, our country has taken its place
alongside some of the most developed economies in
the world like Australia, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong, Iceland, when
the World Bank and the International Financial
Corporation ranked Georgia as the 18th easiest and
best place to do business because of institutionalized
transparency and a lack of corruption.
We were 140th in world, one of the worst
rankings, and now we have one of the best rankings
for business and in terms of economic development
and economic conditions. That is proof of what can be
achieved when institutions function and when rhetoric
is replaced with results.
Four years ago, I spoke at this Assembly about
Georgia being a test case for the modern challenges of
democratic transition. Today, it is clear that Georgia's
transition has led to real transformation. I could recite
a long list of other successes since the Rose Revolution
and, equally, I could elaborate upon the many profound
challenges that remain. But let me focus on what is
perhaps our most important duty; the imperative to
create a better future for the next generation.
We will not rest until every school in Georgia is
filled with empowered and confident students, who
have the benefit of new books, a modern curriculum,
full Internet access, many computers, until every
student gets a computer, and motivated teachers. Just
four years ago our schools were barren and
desperate - many lacked desks, windows, heat and,
above all, hope.
Today, reforms in education are sowing the seeds
of lasting prosperity, and our students are leading the
way. That is the Georgia we promised. And that is the
Georgia we have created. It is also the Georgia we will
and we must defend.
For our democratic project is not yet complete -
far from it. Georgia today is not whole. The vast
majority of residents from the regions of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia have been unable to reap the benefits of
the Rose Revolution that I have just shared with you.
Tens of thousands of children in these regions are
raised amidst the sounds of gunfire instead of
fireworks. Their homes are not their own, and their
dreams are distant and frightening. They are prisoners
of the morally repugnant politics of ethnic cleansing,
division, violence and indifference.
But we will not rest until justice is restored, until
the rule of law is accessible to everybody.
Today, I regret to say that signs of hope are few
and far between. The story of Abkhazia, where up to
500,000 men, women, and children were forced to flee
in the 1990s, is of particular relevance - one of the
more abhorrent, horrible and yet forgotten ethnic
cleansings of the twentieth century. In the time since
Russian peacekeepers were deployed there, more than
2,000 Georgians have perished and a climate of fear
has persisted.
It is worth pausing to remember that today's
Abkhazia is populated by less than 20 per cent of its
pre-war population. It is an area with very fertile land,
beautiful beaches, lovely resort areas and wonderful
landscapes. Yet it is all deserted, houses have been
destroyed, and signs of hopelessness, desperation and
annihilation abound.
The brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing uprooted
ethnic Georgians, Armenians, Estonians, Greeks, Jews,
Russians and others who had lived peacefully in that
land for centuries, creating a depopulated and
criminalized wasteland.
President Ilves of Estonia spoke today of the
parallels between Darfur and Abkhazia. Of course, we
should remember Darfur, but we should not forget
Abkhazia. President Ilves knows of what he speaks
because tens of thousands of ethnic Estonians were
also deported and their houses confiscated. In 1992, the
Estonian Government had to evacuate some of these
people by air under the fire of the people that were
attacking this peaceful middle-class population in
Abkhazia.
The United Nations has tried to bring peace to
this region, but it has not succeeded in making Georgia
whole again, despite its unwavering recognition of
Georgian sovereignty. Every day that passes without a
peaceful resolution to the conflict, every day in which
forcibly displaced persons are not allowed to return
home, marks a slow erosion of the credibility of this
House and of its ability to fulfil its mission. We cannot
allow this situation to continue.
Fourteen years have passed without a single in-
depth analysis being carried out as to why peace has
not triumphed or why the legal framework has not been
restored and has therefore failed. For this reason and in
order to inject a new and positive dynamic into the
process, I am calling on the United Nations today to
launch a comprehensive review of all aspects of the
Georgian peace process. The necessity of this review of
the peace process is self-evident, and it must result in
fundamental changes.
Changes are necessary in the negotiation format,
which has stalled, and is stagnant and
counterproductive. That in turn must lead to real
changes in operations on the ground. Years of biased
and unbalanced actions by supposed peacekeeping
forces must be replaced with competent and neutral
ones that will be engaged in peacebuilding and
peacemaking, rather than in trying to maintain the so-
called status quo, while in fact being biased and
preserving the injustices that have happened there.
That is the only path forward. Out of this process,
we can expect genuine and relevant changes in the
legal framework. Although we need effective economic
rehabilitation, the main thing we need is a meaningful
and implementable plan to bring about the return of
displaced persons, guaranteeing their property rights,
the establishment of lasting security and the
resumption of direct dialogue on the ground without
any preconditions and without any adverse movements
from sides that are against dialogue.
Because of the lack of political will, countless
lives in that part of Georgia are being wasted. And
inaction has its costs.
One of the greatest voices for peace in the last
century, Martin Luther King, captured the essence of
the problem when he said:
"Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated
by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is
also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those
who are good".
Let us fill the vacuum with new energy, new
commitments and a new common resolve. I want to
take this opportunity to elaborate on the foundations of
our proposals for a lasting and peaceful settlement.
First, we offer the alternative of security and prosperity
to those who have been poisoned by the separatist
illusion. We offer and recognize the right to full self-
governance for all who live in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, within our sovereign territorial borders under
international guarantees. We offer constitutional
changes to enshrine the protection of minorities
including language rights, the protection of culture and
education. And we are even willing to offer special
property rights to all interested groups in order to
enhance their identities and to guarantee and secure
that their long-term survival will be protected by the
State and the international community. Finally, we
offer and welcome a robust role for the European
Union and a greater role for its engagement on the
ground.
In short, we offer a level of autonomy grounded
in the very same principles that have guided the rest of
Europe in promoting peace and prosperity throughout
its multi-ethnic tapestry.
The continued ignorance of the ethnic cleansing
in Abkhazia, Georgia is a stain on the moral account
book of the international community. These disputes
are no longer about ethnic grievances; they are about
the manipulation of greed by a tiny minority of
activists, militants, militias and their foreign backers,
at the expense of the local population, the displaced
and those who are deprived of their property and
fundamental rights - even the right to speak and study
in their own language.
The choice is between a Georgia that is willing to
welcome them back with every constitutional
recognition of their identity and their rights or a bleak
future where they are the objects of propaganda, fear
and poverty, and where they are pawns in a big
geopolitical game.
I have faith that we will succeed. Their masters
and foreign manipulators will not succeed.
Where does the international community stand?
My dear friends, that is the essence of the issue.
But the violent hold of the armed separatists and
their patrons is not unbreakable. In South Ossetia, the
courage of the people, of common men and women
who have chosen dialogue over division, and
reconciliation over recriminations, is making a
difference. Unfortunately, those who do not share a
vision of peace and reconciliation have chosen to
oppose peace in South Ossetia, fearful that the power
of the people and the desire to live in freedom may
undermine their cynical plans.
As I speak before you today, elements from
Russia are actively and illegally building a new, large
military base in the small town of Java, in South
Ossetia, in the middle of Georgia, on the other side the
Caucasian ridge, very far from Russian territory,
hoping that arms and violence will triumph over the
will of the people. And this dangerous escalation is
taking place under the very noses of international
monitors, whose job it is to demilitarize the territory.
I have brought a very conclusive body of
evidence with me today, to show our friends in the
international community the truth that others conceal. I
bring that disturbing fact to the Assembly's attention
because reckless acts such as that must be highlighted
and countered. Our collective job today is not to ask
how this is possible. Rather, it is to act with
determination and unity. We have all the evidence, we
have video footage, documented facts and all the other
evidence, and we will present it to the international
community, to anybody who has voiced interest in this
issue.
Sooner rather than later, the march of liberty will
prevail. In the past year, the residents of South Ossetia
have started down a different path. They are seeking to
participate in Georgia's economic growth, to benefit
from our new hospitals and our revived schools and to
share in and contribute to our democracy. It is the
ordinary residents of South Ossetia engaged in
extraordinary acts of heroism who are making a
difference. It is the children who took their summer
holidays on Georgia's seacoast, only to return home
and be barred from their schools or menaced by official
authorities, who will tear down the barriers of hate. It
is the residents rebuilding their towns under gunfire. I
have specially met with the workers who continued to
build schools, movie theatres and even discos under the
gunfire of elements that wish to stop them. These are
very courageous people of different ethnicities who
want to live in peace and who are willing to take risks,
even with their own lives for the sake of peace and a
better future for their children.
It is the courage of local leaders such as Dmitry
Sanakoev, a former separatist leader of South Ossetia
who once bore arms against Georgia, who will lead the
way. He was chosen by the people of South Ossetia in
democratic elections to represent them. This vision will
be embraced. I believe we should respect the
courageous expression of the ethnic Ossetians who
have decided to take that path within Georgia.
The only obstacle to the integration of South
Ossetia is a separatist regime that basically consists of
elements from security services from neighbouring
Russia that have no historical ethnic or cultural links to
the territory whatsoever. I think that is a very
temporary development Now is the time to seize this
historic opportunity to avoid the escalation of violence,
which is a possibility and a major risk, especially in the
territory of South Ossetia.
In closing, I would like to share the insights of a
woman whose name is on our minds and in our hearts
today: Aung San Suu Kyi. Her courage, her resolve and
her reflections on peace and democracy, cannot be
imprisoned. They travel across every border and barrier
to inspire us all. Her words are of profound relevance
to the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. I believe
they also must be a beacon for all of us in this Hall.
"Even under the most crushing State machinery,
courage rises up again and again, for fear is not
the natural state of civilized man. It is man's
vision of a world fit for rational, civilized
humanity which leads him to dare and suffer to
build societies free from want and fear."
Those words poignantly reflect what is taking
place today in the streets of Burma.
In our own corner of the world, for the past four
years, the people of Georgia have invested their own
sweat and treasure to build such a society - one free
from want and fear. We now must ensure that Georgia
whole and free includes all the people of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia.
I believe I have been clear in stating Georgia's
intentions and equally clear as to where we are
unshakeable in our principles - principles, I stress,
that are shared by all nations that seek legality and
stability in the international system.
We are committed to a peaceful and honest path.
Unfortunately, our interlocutors do not seem to be. This
morning, a senior Russian official made the very
unconstructive, unsubstantiated and untrue accusation
that Georgian forces killed two innocent people in
Upper Abkhazia. What the senior Russian official
failed to say, however, is that one of the people was a
lieutenant colonel of the Russian military and that he
was killed during a law enforcement operation against
armed separatist insurgents. One has to wonder, what
was a lieutenant colonel in the Russian army doing on
in the Georgian forests, organizing and leading a group
of armed insurgents on a mission of subversion and
violence? I want to ask our Russian friends: is there not
enough territory in Russia? Are there not enough
forests in Russia for Russian officers not to die in
Georgian forests, on Georgian territory, for them not to
fight on foreign territory for God knows what cause for
their nation? Whatever the explanation, we regret any
loss of life. That person was recruited from Russian
peacekeepers and State and local militia. We do not
wish anybody such an end to their life.
Indeed, we will do everything possible to avoid
violence and further hostility and confrontation. This
reckless and dangerous pattern of behaviour must not
continue.
In conclusion, I want to express the gratitude of
Georgia for the efforts of the United Nations and its
staff. I trust that I have demonstrated that we have the
opportunity and, in Georgia, the desire to resolve our
common challenges so that the international
community can commit its resources to resolving the
great challenges of our age. Let us not lose any more
time.