I have
the honour to speak today on behalf of the delegation
of Romania.
First, I welcome last night’s adoption of Security
Council resolution 2118 (2013), concerning the
destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal. We believe
that the resolution’s adoption by the Council represents
a veritable success for the international community
regarding the Syrian dossier.
I would like to commend the President of the
General Assembly for his well-deserved election, and
I wish to assure him of my delegation’s full support
in the discharge of his important responsibilities. We
are convinced that his rich experience as a seasoned
diplomat and the responsibilities that he previously
assumed in the sphere of international relations are
unquestionable assets for the success of this session.
My delegation fully supports the statement
made by Mr. Herman Van Rompuy, President of the
European Council, on behalf of the European Union
(see A/68/PV.8) .
In my statement, I would like to touch upon a
number of matters of interest to my country concerning
the positive developments that have occurred in the
activities of the United Nations since our previous
debate, as well as our expectations for the next period,
in the three main areas of activity of the United Nations,
namely, peace and security, development and human
rights, and democracy and the rule of law.
We believe that the efforts of the international
community and the results obtained to date in Mali
represent an encouraging trend for that country and
for the Sahel region. One year ago, the crisis in Mali
was a major concern for the Malian population and
for neighbouring countries. Following the positive
developments that occurred in the early months of
2013, the Security Council decided on 25 April,
through resolution 2100 (2013), that the United Nations
would participate in restoring the situation in Mali and
in providing support for the democratic transition in
that country. Remarkable progress has been achieved
in the interim. Free and fair presidential elections were
held, with an unprecedented level of participation of
the population. Earlier this month, President Ibrahim
Boubacar Keita was inaugurated, and the Prime
Minister has already established the new Cabinet.
As a member of the European Union, Romania
welcomed the adoption of the Security Council resolution
establishing the United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. Similarly,
my country has also supported the participation of the
international community in the process of rebuilding
the capacities and institutions in Mali and has decided
to join those efforts by contributing a contingent of
10 military experts to the European Union’s training
mission in Mali.
(spoke in English)
Allow me to refer to other positive developments
in the field of peace and security in the past year that
confirm the contribution of multilateralism to progress
in the field of peace and security. Ensuring peace and
security through international cooperation is one of the
main tasks of the Organization. Within that framework
we have established important goals for ourselves
in the past couple of years, and we have proved that
working together can lead to concrete achievements and
substantial results. That is the case with the adoption
of the Arms Trade Treaty. We have managed to jointly
deliver a concrete tool meant to ensure a safer world
and address the challenges affecting the security of all
our citizens. We must continue on that path and bring
the Treaty into force as soon as possible. I am pleased
to inform the Assembly that Romania is currently
undertaking legal domestic procedures in order to
ratify the Treaty as soon as possible.
Similar progress is expected in other areas
of multilateral negotiations. Halfway to the next
Review Conference of Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, proceedings at
the Preparatory Committee, which is being chaired by
Romania and which held its second session in Geneva
in April, have revealed that expectations are growing
that more concrete results will be attained in reaching
the targets established in the 2010 Non-Proliferation
Treaty action plan.
Romania is a strong supporter of all endeavours
aimed at achieving comprehensive peace in the Middle
East. We support all the initiatives of the Quartet and
the full implementation of the road-map vision of two
States — Israel and Palestine — living side by side in
peace and security. We therefore welcome the recent
resumption of direct negotiations as a long-awaited
step forward, made possible by the constant and tireless
efforts of the United States Administration. We are
hopeful that both parties will take courageous steps
aimed at finding a durable solution to a problem of
supreme concern to their peoples, the region and the
international community.
We are gratified that, since our last debate, important
steps have been taken to implement the key provisions
of the final document of the United Nations Conference
on Sustainable Development, “The future we want”
(resolution 66/288, annex). Romania commends the
efforts and dedication of Brazil and Italy in facilitating
the complex and strenuous negotiations that led to the
establishment of the High-level Political Forum and
made it possible to convene its inaugural meeting on
24 September. As a member of the Open Working
Group on Sustainable Development Goals, sharing a
seat with Poland, Romania is joining efforts in that very
important process that will craft a comprehensive and
coherent set of goals for effective delivery and results
at all levels, in accordance with the Rio de Janeiro
Conference decisions. The new framework should
reinforce the international community’s commitment
to poverty eradication and sustainable development.
In that respect, we set up an interministerial ad hoc
working group to develop our national vision to frame
the future goals we wish to promote, along with our
partners, during the ongoing negotiations on this issue.
In our view, the sustainable development goals
(SDGs) should be universal and applicable to all States
and should provide references and clear suggestions
for action and innovative mechanisms for measuring
their implementation, in order to ensure sustainable
development. At the same time, the goals should be
based on national ownership and take into account
differing national circumstances so as to provide
political space and the right to development for each
country, and should address, as cross-cutting issues,
the perspective of human rights, peace and security,
good governance, gender equality, the rule of law and
equity. Not least, we welcome the establishment of the
intergovernmental committee to analyse options for an
effective sustainable development financing strategy,
and we encourage its coordination with the other
relevant processes, in particular the Open Working
Group on the SDGs.
We strongly believe that the time is ripe to combine
efforts to define the global development framework
for the coming decades. The current session of the
General Assembly represents the best opportunity for
comprehensive and multilayered interaction to support
those endeavours. The theme of our political debate,
as proposed by the President of the General Assembly,
“The post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage”,
is a confirmation of that, and we are committed to
contributing actively to that process.
As a current member of the Human Rights Council,
we believe that it is our common responsibility to
create appropriate conditions of human dignity
and welfare around the world and to make progress
towards ensuring equality among all human beings.
The Human Rights Council has proved itself up to its
mandate, addressing in a prompt manner the situations
of grave violations of human rights occurring in some
countries, especially in Syria. We fully commend the
activity of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on
the human rights situation in Syria, which reported on
the violations committed in that country.
We highly appreciate the universal periodic
review mechanism, which we consider a very useful
and successful process. We hope that it will remain
universal. We also commend the professionalism of
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights, and we strongly believe that its
independence is essential for the fulfilment of the
mandates of both the Council and the Office.
Another major area where the specialized structures
of the United Nations and their dedicated staff deserve
our wholehearted appreciation is that of humanitarian
assistance. In the past year, the number of people in need
of humanitarian assistance reached an unprecedented
level. Internal and international conflicts, organized
crime, poverty, drought and severe violations of human
rights are among the causes of that evolution. In too
many situations, the assistance offered by the United
Nations system, in close cooperation with international
non-governmental organizations and international
donors, is the only hope of survival for many thousands
of people. We commend and support such activities.
Despite limited financial resources, we make efforts to
contribute to the process. In that respect, I would like
to mention the work of the Emergency Transit Centre
in Timisoara, Romania. The Centre has proved to be
a refuge, offering safety to persons in urgent need of
international protection, thus creating humanitarian
space. It is an already well-established link in the
global resettlement process. We are pleased to see that
similar structures have been replicated in other regions
of the world, and we express our readiness to engage
and share our experiences with them.
Allow me now to mention some of our expectations
for United Nations activities in the year to come. The
long-standing crisis in Syria continued over the past
year, with increased violence that has claimed more
than 100,000 victims and produced more than 5 million
refugees. The harsh confrontations between the Syrian
army and opposition forces, which ultimately led to the
use of chemical weapons, have triggered the outrage
and firm condemnation of the international community.
Romania has continuously stated that it is
imperative for the international community to curb the
escalation of violence in Syria. We favour a political
solution under a Syrian-led transition process, based
on the cooperation of all Syrian parties with the
international community, with a view to preserving
Syria’s territorial integrity. With the Security Council’s
adoption yesterday of resolution 2118 (2013), Syria has
been given another chance to return to the right path.
We urge all parties to respect and act in accordance
with the provisions of that resolution, which creates the
conditions for a negotiated peace within the “Geneva
II” process. In that new context, we call on all States
not yet parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention
to undertake the necessary internal measures to join it,
in order to make sure that the use of such weapons in
future is not only prohibited, but made impossible.
I would like to recognize yesterday’s historic call
between President Rouhani and President Obama
as a major breakthrough. The occurrence of such a
one-on-one conversation after more than two decades
of silence gives us hope that Iran’s nuclear programme
will become more transparent and oriented towards
energy alone. We await, with justifiable interest, the
specific plan Minister Zarif will present in that respect
in mid-October in Geneva.
United Nations peacekeeping operations and
special political missions make a major contribution
to achieving the goals of international peace, stability
and security. We welcome the inclusion in the agenda of
this General Assembly session of a new item devoted to
special political missions, and we appreciate the report
prepared by the Secretariat for that item. Member States
will thereby have a possibility to exchange views and
make proposals for policy measures in order to better
adapt special political missions to the expectations of
international, regional and local communities.
Romania welcomes and supports the efforts
to coordinate, at the United Nations level, the
multidimensional and cross-cutting rule-of-law
approach. At the same time, my country supports the
gradual implementation of the responsibility-to-protect
concept, starting with regional capacity-building and
early-warning and preventive functions.
The world is made up of regions, and each and
every region faces its own challenges. Efforts to
identify negotiated solutions to protracted conflicts
in the Black Sea region — the Transnistrian region,
Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia and Ossetia — should
remain high on our agenda.
We believe that the actions of the United Nations
in the field of peace and security could be enhanced
through increased engagement with regional
organizations. In some regions, we have already
experienced the advantages of that kind of cooperation
with regional organizations, whose activities are
complementary to those of the United Nations system.
As a strong advocate of the increased synergies between
the United Nations system and regional organizations, I
would like to bring to the attention of the Assembly the
positive results obtained in recent years in promoting
regional cooperation within the South-East European
Cooperation Process.
Regional dialogue has time and time again proved
to be the most efficient tool for overcoming the
persisting differences of opinion among our countries.
This is particularly true of South-East Europe, where
regional cooperation is now more than ever crucial to
further consolidating relations between countries and,
at the same time, to developing the region itself.
Meeting the challenges of change and
interdependence through regional cooperation
represents the overriding priority of the years ahead
for all the actors involved. The South-East European
Process is the authentic voice of the region, as it is the
only regional format that has significantly contributed,
over the years, to the improvement of the overall relations
among the participating States. Romania, which holds
the chairmanship-in-office of the Process, will focus
on results-oriented actions aimed at contributing, in the
most concrete manner possible, to the development of
the region.
As representatives of a country that has since 1990
carried out a complex process of political, economic and
democratic transition, we believe that the international
community needs to support countries undergoing
democratization processes. The challenges that such
countries face are complex: promoting democratic
governance and the rule of law; addressing specific
aspects of past human rights violations; and promoting
transitional justice.
In order to make a contribution to that process, my
delegation will put forward, during the current session
of the General Assembly, a resolution on human rights,
democracy and the rule of law in the context of the post-
2015 development agenda. Based on our experience
in promoting, during the March 2012 session of the
Human Rights Council, a similar resolution, which
was widely supported by 127 sponsors, we are hopeful
that our initiative will receive the same level of support
from the General Assembly.
In concluding, I would like to reaffirm our
commitment to the values and principles of
multilateralism and to reiterate to the Assembly
my country’s strong support for all of its efforts to
implement the ambitious agenda ahead of us.