I
would first like to congratulate you warmly, Sir, on
your election to the presidency of the General Assembly
at its sixty-eighth session, and to renew our support
for and highlight the efforts that Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon has made at every level to enable our
Organization to fulfil its role and responsibilities in
dealing with the challenges of today’s world.
We commend your choice of theme for our debate,
Sir, “The post-2015 development agenda: setting
the stage”, which is very relevant and enables us to
exchange views. From this rostrum, we pay tribute to
the Secretary-General’s tireless efforts to integrate the
Millennium Development Goals into the Organization’s
strategic objectives. We hope that are our deliberations
will help to strengthen international consensus on
pursuing the complete and integrated fulfilment of our
commitments and on formulating a road map with clear
directions and specific goals for the post-2015 period.
Morocco, while itself a stable country, is part of the
Sahel-Sahara region, which is highly unstable — hence
the importance for the Kingdom of Morocco of the
situation in the brotherly country of Mali and the
dangerous challenges it has been dealing with recently.
We congratulate our Malian and African brothers and
the international community on the success of the
recent elections there and the progress Mali has made
in achieving stability. The international community
should continue to support it at every level. The visit of
His Majesty King Mohammed VI to Mali to participate
in the investiture ceremony for the new President of
Mali afforded an excellent opportunity for Morocco
to renew its wholehearted commitment to supporting
Mali’s security, unity, stability and development. In
his speech, King Mohammed said that the solutions to
other security crises demonstrated that the crisis in Mali
required an approach that went beyond mere security.
That is why we support a three-pronged approach. The
first dimension would be educational and ideological
and would aim at spreading a culture of moderation
and centrism and instituting a dialogue between the
two peoples and their States, leading to the launching
of cooperation in Islamic affairs and the training of
500 mosque imams to be sent to Mali.
The second dimension would consist of
development, with emphasis on bringing developing
countries together, particularly countries stricken by
drought and poverty, among other problems and crises,
and empowering their people, as well as strengthening
their capacity to achieve progress and development.
That is why we have launched development programmes
in coordination with Mali and other countries in the
region.
The third key thrust would be the humanitarian
dimension. Security crises provoke unspeakable
suffering for individuals and countries. Mali has seen
tens of thousands of refugees leave the country and go
to neighbouring countries, which is why it is important
that there be a coordinated regional approach. In
Bamako, the capital of Mali, we established a country
hospital to relieve the suffering of the people in that
area.
With respect to the Great Lakes region, the Kingdom
of Morocco welcomes the signing of the Peace, Security
and Cooperation Framework Agreement, which will
greatly facilitate the real settlement of the crisis in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has gone on
for too long. We hope that all parties will respect the
Framework Agreement and that they will honour their
commitments and pledges and support the international
community’s efforts to establish a peace process, while
respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Those challenges are part of various crises that we
see occurring in the Sahel and Saharan regions. The
Secretary-General has deployed many efforts along
those lines. We are pleased with the high-level dialogue
on the Sahel that he organized on the margins of the
General Assembly for the second consecutive year,
as well as the visit he hopes to make to the region,
accompanied by a representative of the World Bank.
We hope that the United Nations integrated strategy
for the Sahel will be finalized. Once again, Morocco
reiterates that it will participate in all efforts to protect
the countries of the Sahel and the Sahara in order to
strengthen stability, security and development in the
region.
Morocco reaffirms once more the need to set up
initiatives for the Atlantic coast States, given their
security, political, economic and social interrelationship
and the challenges that obtain. We believe that
stability and security in the region go beyond regional
frameworks. We are therefore talking about a Sahel-
Moroccan space for the purpose of maintaining stability
in the region.
We condemn the recent terrorist attacks in Kenya.
We would ask the international community for greater
efforts to bolster security and stability in that region.
The second issue that concerns us and the rest of
the international community is Syria. In that respect,
we commend the international community and the
Security Council for adopting resolution 2118 (2013),
on the Syrian chemical weapons programme, and
the announcement of the date of 15 November for
the holding of the “Geneva II” Middle East peace
conference in order to stop the violence in Syria and
reach a political solution through dialogue that would
maintain the territorial integrity of Syria and the
stability of its neighbours. In that regard, I would like
to thank the Secretary-General for his efforts. I would
also like to thank the Secretary-General of the League
of Arab States, the League itself, its member States
and Joint Special Envoy Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi for the
joint efforts they have made during this period with
regard to the shedding of Syrian blood, the agreeing
on a resolution and the reaching of a solution prior to
Geneva II, with a view to putting an end to the crisis
in Syria.
We would like to reaffirm once again the
importance of the humanitarian aspect of the crisis.
There are 2 million refugees and tens of thousands
of displaced persons, and thousands have been killed
or wounded. This is the degree of suffering that the
international community is called upon to reduce. The
Kingdom of Morocco and its King have paid particular
attention to the humanitarian dimension, which is
why we established a rural hospital in Jordan a year
and a half ago to provide health services to our Syrian
brothers.
It is well known that Morocco has been involved in
the establishment of a Maghreb Union. Now is the time
for coming together regionally, not for isolation. It is the
time for cooperation and openness, not for unilateralism.
Therefore, we are reactivating the Maghreb Union
project in order to fulfil the hopes of the peoples of
the five Maghreb countries and to help them to achieve
stability, prosperity and sustainable development.
His Majesty the King has called for a promising and
ambitious Maghreb Union, and the Secretary-General
has made a similar appeal. The Maghreb Union would
implement peace and stability by taking a number
of initiatives, including a joint mediation initiative
undertaken with neighbourly Spain, pursuant to the
appeal by the General Assembly in favour of mediation.
The Kingdom of Morocco answered the call by launching
the initiative and establishing partnership agreements
between Moroccan and Spanish mediation centres to
provide training and invite the participation of other
countries in the region. The initiative was launched in a
spirit of rapprochement, dialogue and cooperation and
to promote mediation, which is important not only to
stop conflicts when they have broken out but also to
prevent them from occurring in the first place.
The Kingdom of Morocco’s decision to protect
human rights is irreversible. It is part of a comprehensive
strategy and relies on an approach that favours the
participation and advancement of people and the
protection of their dignity within the framework of a
development-focused democratic model. Morocco has
therefore launched a number of projects and workshops,
as well as major reforms, and made tremendous
progress in broadening the sphere of individual and
collective rights and freedoms, of preserving human
dignity and of strengthening the protection of the rights
of its citizens, especially the rights of women, children
and persons with special needs.
In its amended 2011 Constitution, the Kingdom
of Morocco dedicated a chapter to respect for human
rights as they are recognized internationally. Morocco
has always desired to preserve a balance between
its international and national commitments and
priorities. As a founding member of the Human Rights
Council, Morocco has participated effectively and
constructively in the formulation and implementation
of the institutional texts of the Council, in particular
the universal periodic review. When it was decided
to take another look at the rules and mechanisms in
2011, Morocco was given the task of conducting the
negotiations on them. At the same time, the Kingdom
of Morocco enjoyed positive cooperation with the
various institutions and mechanisms and interacted
with their recommendations, in particular the universal
period review, treaties and special measures, whose
assessments Morocco continues to welcome, facilitate
and answer with its observations. Morocco hopes to
gain the Assembly’s support for its candidacy for the
Human Rights Council for the period 2014-2016, in
order to further contribute to strengthening the role of
the Council and to ensure the effectiveness necessary
for its operation.
In that connection, we have recently launched
an initiative relating to immigration, especially
illegal migration. Morocco wished to establish other
mechanisms for refugees in connection with how we
address the issue and rights of immigration, especially
illegal migration, and asylum. A few days ago, a new
statute on immigration was enacted and the right
to asylum, so as to give new rights and documents
to political refugees. All of this is a very important
development for our country.
I would like also to touch on the key issue of the
territorial integrity of Morocco and the issue of the
Moroccan Sahara. For several years now our authorities
have followed the diligent efforts of the Secretary-
General and the Security Council to resolve the Sahara
issue. Morocco complies with all Security Council
resolutions and has acted in good faith with respect to
those resolutions and to the efforts of the Secretary-
General. The most recent resolutions called for a
new round of negotiations among the parties so as to
achieve a sustainable political solution accepted by all.
Morocco therefore launched an initiative on autonomy,
a practical and moderate solution that enjoyed the
support of many countries friends of Morocco as well
as of several regional organizations. Unfortunately,
however, the other parties involved, committed to their
30-year stance and proposals, did not allow progress to
be made in the political process. I reiterate that Morocco
is committed to working effectively and in good faith
with the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy in
all their efforts and with the Security Council in order
to implement the successive resolutions adopted by the
Security Council.
Finally, on behalf of the Kingdom of Morocco, I
wish to say that with the approach of the seventieth
anniversary of the founding of the Organization, we
reaffirm our sincere commitment to its principles and
to the active mobilization of our efforts so as to update,
empower and strengthen it, given that it is the unique
and optimal framework for meeting current and future
challenges.