Swaziland

It is a great pleasure for me to address the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. Let me begin by extending warm greetings from the Kingdom of Swaziland to the entire United Nations family. It befits this moment that I extend our congratulations to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, upon his appointment. We trust that he will continue in the footsteps of his predecessors in carrying out the important mission of the United Nations. The Kingdom of Swaziland pledges its support to him as he continues to promote and protect the noble goals of multilateralism. The role of the United Nations is to promote peace and security, sustainable development, human rights and fundamental freedoms. The United Nations should continue to shape situations for the betterment of the lives of all the peoples of the world. If it is to succeed, there is a need for the United Nations to reform its main bodies. We have met regionally as countries; consensus decisions have been reached and recommendations made, and we look forward to their implementation. As the United Nations achieves reform, it is likely to undertake meaningful action so that when decisions are taken, the Organization will be respected by all. Many of our countries the world over are facing countless challenges, and we look to this Organization to come up with lasting solutions. My country, Swaziland, is still undertaking development programmes to implement the Millennium Development Goals that were set by the United Nations for individual countries to achieve. We have programmes for building a very sound economy so that our people will have good jobs that will make their living standards better. As part of our human capital development and capacity-building programme, we are educating and training our people in every aspect to acquire more knowledge and information, and we look to the well- developed countries to share their experiences and ideas. One area of great concern is that, as we continue to implement our development programmes, we are faced with the challenges of globalization that will affect our preferential markets. That will be detrimental to us, the developing countries, since companies have big loans to repay that were taken out on the basis of better markets. We hope that, as the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules come into force, there shall be considerations to ensure that all developing countries meet WTO standards. In that way, we shall be able to implement the rules equitably and effectively. HIV/AIDS and other health problems remain some of the major challenges that we face as developing nations. We have programmes in place that we are trying to follow in dealing with the situation, but we are unable to meet our targets because of our limited resources. We have heard of many foundations that have been announced worldwide and we hope to be able to access them. We look forward to those responsible for such foundations sharing the information on how to reach the funds, as well as technical support. We acknowledge the contribution made by the Global Fund in the fight against the scourge. My country is one of the beneficiaries of such funding, and we have been able to offer a lot of comfort to many of our people. We encourage the United Nations to continue to appeal on our behalf for continued support in eradicating the problem of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, to name just a few. We also recognize the role of various United Nations agencies working with our communities in the provision of shelter, nutritional support and education to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. I am pleased to state that our fight is showing some signs of success, as recent statistics have shown a decline in the prevalence rate. We are faced with persistent droughts that have set us back as we continue to develop our country, and that has been worsened by the wildfires that have recently occurred, destroying properties, crops, livestock and our forest industry. My country is doing everything it can to help those that have been affected by this unfortunate situation. We would like to thank the countries and organizations that have come forward to help us during this period of hardship and we do make an appeal to others for support; which is still needed. Some of the problems I have mentioned that are affecting my country are the result of climate changes. That is why we believe that the summit we had is very important, and we would like to commend the Secretary-General for convening the high-level summit on climate change held earlier this week. A political momentum has been generated, and it is our hope that the necessary negotiations on the matter will commence in Bali later this year during the meeting of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Kingdom of Swaziland has developed some sector policies that are climate-change friendly, such as our pro-green energy policy and water resources policy, to mention a couple. However, there is a need to enhance education, training and public awareness with regard to the adaptation and promotion of individual and institutional capacity-building in order to manage appropriate technology development and transfer. We note that there is a general need for favourable access to and transfer of environmentally sound technologies, in particular from developed countries to developing countries, through supportive measures that promote technology cooperation. This will enable the necessary technological know-how to be transferred and economic, technical and managerial capabilities to be built for the efficient use and further development of transferred skills. We would like to encourage the private sector, and in particular the multinational corporations, to be responsible enough to practise the same environmental and waste management principles in the developing world. We would also like to discourage the irresponsible dumping of harmful waste materials in developing countries. The Kingdom of Swaziland is deeply committed to the United Nations Charter. Moreover, recent events in the world have been living proof that the United Nations is needed now more than ever before. Sadly, the realities of wars and violence still continue in different parts of the world. Conflicts, tensions and terrorism continue to destroy the social and economic fabric of the era that we are living in. We welcome the report of the Secretary-General on the relationship between disarmament and development (A/62/112), in particular its recognition that armed violence and conflict impede the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. In this regard we applaud the United Nations Development Programme for its efforts to prevent armed violence through its contribution to the disarmament and development agenda by promoting and participating in a number of policy-oriented initiatives. We further commend the efforts of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa both for its continuation of the operation of the small arms and light weapons register for Africa for participating States, with a view to promoting transparency in the flows of small arms and light weapons, and for its programme entitled “African Security Sector Reform Programme”, which carries the objective of transforming governance within the African security sector. However, we are concerned about the situation in Somalia and Darfur and its far-reaching consequences for regional security. The continued human suffering in this region is unacceptable, and we hope that current efforts aimed at improving the situation will not be deprived of the opportunity to succeed. On a more positive note, we welcome the Security Council decision to deploy the joint African Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force. The Middle East continues to face challenges and the accumulation of crises and tensions in the region. It is therefore imperative that all parties concerned make an effort to achieve comprehensive, fair, just and durable settlements. I would like to take this time to applaud the United Nations for its role in promoting its Charter, especially the principle of universality. There is one country, however, that is not benefiting from this principle, as it has been excluded from the family of nations. I am talking about Taiwan: the Kingdom of Swaziland wishes to reiterate its appeal to the United Nations with respect to the question of Taiwan. We note that Taiwan exercised a well-founded right in international law to apply for membership in the United Nations. Regrettably, the application was rejected without due process. The Government and people of Taiwan have shown their willingness and capacity to contribute actively to global development and peace, through disaster relief and health and development support to many regions. We continue to support the cause of the over 23 million people of Taiwan who are not represented in the one organization that should be truly global. I would like to challenge all nations to take my appeal seriously. While our world experiences ever-accelerating political, economic and social changes, it is vital that we cooperate with each other in order to tackle and manage these issues. Cordial, balanced and respectful relations between nations based on the principles of the United Nations Charter will enable us all to meet and overcome future challenges of our time, and make this world a safer place for future generations.