At the outset, on behalf of the Holy See, I have
the honour to congratulate Ambassador John Ashe on
his election to the presidency of the General Assembly
at its sixty-eighth session. I am also pleased to convey
to the President and to other participating delegations
the warmest greetings from His Holiness Pope Francis,
who assures the Assembly of his kind thoughts and
prayers that the session will be crowned with success.
In the first days of his pontificate, Pope Francis
inspired enthusiasm and hope for a new horizon based
on a culture of togetherness that should form the basis
of all personal, societal and international relations.
That culture specifically recognizes the value of others:
the individual, social groups and States. It is founded
on human dignity and transcendence. It acts to reaffirm
faith, which is perceived with fear in certain segments
of contemporary society and wrongly accused of
leading to intolerance — when in fact it promotes
understanding and unity among peoples and peace.
It is my hope that this session of the General
Assembly will be inspired by the same spirit of
universal solidarity that was demonstrated during the
international day for prayer convened by the Pope on
7 September, which brought together religious leaders
of all faiths. May the session follow that path and inspire
a new dynamism such that all nations will take action
to resolve the ongoing conflicts and heal the wounds of
humankind.
The choice of the theme for this session — “The
post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage” — is
a timely one. The process of the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including
the progress made and the limitations and difficulties
encountered, has demonstrated the importance of
establishing common goals for all members of the
international community that will bring them together,
galvanize them and assess their efforts — including
the United Nations and its specialized entities, regional
organizations and States. In that regard, it is important
that at this session the Assembly revisit the fundamental
concepts that make up the heart of the United Nations,
as they remain relevant to setting new goals for the
post-2015 agenda.
In the context of comprehensive human
development, the foregoing should be guided by
promoting the family, based on the union of a man and
a woman and the protection of the rights of the family
as the basic social nucleus and the foundation of all
stable and sustainable development. Those goals should
also promote a dignified life for all humankind, from
the oldest to the youngest child still at home, as well
as those living in the most difficult social situations or
most isolated areas.
As the deadline set to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals approaches, it is easy to see that
they have not been universally achieved. That is due, in
part, to limitations and lack of clarity, including along
ethical lines, and especially due to the difficulty in
creating an efficient consensus on the implementation
of Goal 8, in view of the resources necessary to achieve
the seven others.
In terms of that Goal, the decisions made following
the 2008 crisis aimed to find an equitable way to
manage the international financial sector and reform
the international financial institutions. Nevertheless,
it is regrettable to note that discussions on measures
to control the global economy took place among small,
limited groups of States, such as the Group of 20
(G-20); they did not include the poorest or least
populated States. While that was justified from a
practical point of view, such an approach does not
legitimize its decisions, which could have important
consequences for other States Members of the United
Nations that are neither direct nor indirect participants
in the G-20.
In order to guarantee the future implementation of
common goals for the post-2015 agenda, international
legal mechanisms must urgently be devised to ensure the
participation of all States in drafting and implementing
sweeping shared economic decisions. At the same time,
it will be insufficient to create financial or business
structures that are recognized as fair and equitable by
all States if we do not assess the results of the goals in
the long term, with the aim of guaranteeing that the
lives of those in need are clearly improving.
The future development goals of the post-2015
agenda should therefore identify monitoring and
adjustment mechanisms to deal with economic trends
and promote the elimination of hunger worldwide, the
gradual disappearance of slums, universal access to
drinking water and improved sanitation for all, among
other things.
That framework would be incomplete without
considering an external development factor that is
essential to the implementation of the MDGs, namely,
peace. While it is true that injustice and excessive
social and economic inequalities among peoples and
nations represent a constant threat to peace and lead
to war, it is also true that war, terrorism, organized
crime and other forms of armed violence at the national
and international levels represent the most significant
obstacles to development. Therefore, the matter of the
post-2015 development agenda should today be viewed
in the context of the serious conflicts under way — first
and foremost the conflict in Syria.
In facing such wars and massacres, it is crucial
that the international community choose the path of
development, with greater determination and courage.
If peace is considered the sine qua non of comprehensive
human development, it is important to return to certain
basic principles that the international community
solemnly swore to follow nearly 70 years ago.
The United Nations was created, at that time, “to
save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”
and “to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the
institution of methods, that armed force shall not be
used, save in the common interest”. The right to wage
war, which authorized the political and autonomous
use of military force, was replaced by providing the
Security Council with the power to authorize the use of
force which, under the Charter of the United Nations,
includes only one exception, namely, legitimate self-
defence, the conditions and limitations of which are
described in Article 51 of the Charter.
In that context, it is possible to consider that
following the tragedies of the First World War and the
Second World War, States created an international set
of norms that provide legal instruments that establish
the law based on the highest sense of justice. Indeed,
international law is no longer synonymous with the
laws of the international community, that is, laws based
on the traditions and customs of various States. Based
on the Charter of the United Nations, States sought
to reaffirm that international law was a legal system
whose fundamental objective, even if it is not the
only one, was to control the use of violence between
States, and in which the limitation of the use of force
to cases and under the conditions stipulated in the
Charter itself represents a fundamental constitutional
norm. Therefore, the limitation of the use of force is the
primary and essential principle in terms of the ultimate
goal of any legal system aimed at the protection of
individuals and their fundamental rights.
It is tragic that today, in spite of the valuable
United Nations legal principles, the implementation
mechanisms and procedures have not managed to
prevent serious civil and regional conflicts or protect
people. The African continent has many real or potential
situations of conflict, with dozens of armed groups that
sow death and suffering throughout the population.
In that regard, I would particularly like to refer to the
situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo and in the Central African Republic.
The Middle East continues to be a subject of
great concern, and in some countries of the American
continent drug trafficking has reached the level where
traffickers can wage war against States. There are
also significant hotbeds of tension in many regions of
Asia. In many of those conflicts, there have been or are
still United Nations peacekeeping operations working
in coordination with regional organizations. In that
regard, a tradition of great merit has been established,
which dates back to the origins of the Organization
itself. However, history has also shown that, when
the necessary means are insufficient or the prevailing
national and international interests weigh too heavily,
United Nations intervention cannot be realized or, if it
is undertaken, has only limited success.
Despite those difficulties, the whole experience
of peacekeeping and peacebuilding developed by the
United Nations should be seen as positive, including
those operations that have had weak immediate
results, because it is itself a concrete expression of the
two key principles of natural law, namely, the rights
intrinsically linked to human dignity. The first requires
that we do everything reasonably possible to avoid war,
given the evils and injustice that war leads to; and the
second affirms the permanent validity of moral law
during armed conflict. In that regard, acts deliberately
contrary to individual’s rights and those universal
principles are crimes, which in the most serious cases
can be described as crimes against humanity.
It is clear that, in the lives of people, armed conflicts
have led to deep divisions and serious harm that require
many years to heal. Today the example of greatest
concern to the entire world is the serious conflict that
has developed in Syria, which has already led to 110,000
dead, 4 million internally displaced persons and more
than 2 million refugees in neighbouring countries,
including in Lebanon and Jordan. It risks becoming
an international conflict at any moment. In addition to
the terrible loss of life, the conflict is destroying some
of the richest heritage of history, culture and human
coexistence, strongly linked to the three monotheistic
religions and the whole European culture heritage. In
recalling the long history during which, together, the
different parts of society built that heritage and sewed
the fabric of human relationships, I would like to note
the deep concern of the Holy See for the fate of the
Christian communities and other minorities, who should
not be forced in any way into exile, but rather should be
given a leading role in the future configuration of their
country, given their contribution to the common good.
The most recent report of the Independent
International Commission of Inquiry, established by the
Human Rights Council, demonstrates that massacres
and other serious violations of human rights have been
committed by the parties to the conflict. The same
experts vehemently affirmed that there was no possible
military solution. In that context, the Holy See would
like to reaffirm that any action that might aggravate or
even extend the conflict and increase the unspeakable
suffering of innocent people should be avoided.
In his recent letter to the Group of 20 leaders
meeting in Saint Petersburg, the Holy Father, recalling
the responsibility of the international community
with regard to Syria, described as regrettable the
fact that too many partisan interests had prevailed
since the Syrian conflict began and had prevented
the finding of a solution to the pointless massacre we
are witnessing. In recalling his words, I would like to
urge the leaders of States not to remain indifferent in
the face of the tragedies that have been afflicting the
Syrian people for far too long. To each and every one
of the leaders, in repeating the Pope’s words, I would
like to make a heartfelt appeal that they find ways to
overcome their differences and give up any useless
attempt at a military solution. On the contrary, there
should be a new commitment to seek, with courage and
determination, a peaceful solution through dialogue
and negotiation between the interested parties with the
firm support of the international community. Moreover,
all the Governments of the world have the moral duty
to give priority to any initiative that would promote the
provision of humanitarian assistance to those who are
suffering on account of the conflict within and outside
the country.
We would also note that, during the Syrian crisis,
the bodies and agencies of the United Nations system
have sought to deploy all available means to protect
civilians. Member States have, for far too long, shown
a lack of the courage needed to give priority to the
international resolution of the conflict. The Secretary-
General recently spoke of the collective failure of the
international community’s ability to prevent and avoid
the atrocities committed in Syria. Along those lines, I
would like to recall the concept of the responsibility
to protect, which the Secretary-General also referred
to, and I would also like to underscore the importance
of that responsibility for the Holy See. The adoption
of a political and legal concept of the responsibility
to protect during the 2005 World Summit, held from
14 to 16 September 2005, was a great step forward
by the international community. Unfortunately,
the responsibility to protect has sometimes been
erroneously understood to be a justification for the
use of arms, but in reality it means something quite
different. It is a profound and urgent spirit of solidarity
that calls upon everyone, starting with heads of State, to
understand their responsibilities with regard to serious
humanitarian crises wherever they occur and to commit
to ensuring that all emergency measures are put in
place — diplomatic and economic measures and those
related to public opinion, as well as the mechanisms
stipulated by the Charter of the United Nations — to
arrive at an effective solution. To provide continuity
to the ongoing debate on the responsibility to protect,
it would be a good idea to consider ways to explicitly
include that concept in the mandate of the Security
Council, under Article 24 of the Charter, and possibly
under Article 39.
In that context, the Syrian tragedy is both a
challenge and an opportunity for the United Nations
to breathe new life into all its bodies, mechanisms and
procedures in a specific, creative and positive manner.
In that regard, we must welcome the unanimous
adoption by the Security Council of resolution 2118
(2013), on 27 September. My delegation hopes that
the agreement that was reached on that document will
provide a definite impetus to the Geneva process, so as
to make it finally possible to restore stability and bring
about reconciliation in the country.
A peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict
in Syria would set a significant precedent for the
upcoming century and would indicate the path to be
taken in addressing other conflicts that the international
community has not yet been able to resolve. It would
greatly facilitate the inclusion of the principle of the
responsibility to protect in the Charter of the United
Nations. And, more generally from the point of view
of economic and social development, it would be the
most clear demonstration of the will to undertake,
with honesty and effectiveness, a path of sustainable
development post-2015.
Pope Francis, through his prophetic words and
actions on 7 September, launched a huge global
movement of prayer for peace, the results of which
were immediately clear in the public’s spontaneous and
sincere support for that goal. The scope of that effort
went beyond differences of religion, culture, nationality
or geographical origin, and exerted a strong influence
on world leaders. Accompanying the Holy Father and
under his leadership, the competent authorities of the
Holy See also took diplomatic action aimed at stopping
the violence and promoting dialogue between the parties
involved in the conflict, thereby putting into practice
one of the main goals of their international presence.
Along with the Pope and in line with the theme for this
session, we would like to reiterate here at the general
debate that war is the specific refusal to commit to the
achievement of the major social and economic goals that
the international community has set for itself. Indeed,
there can be no economic development without peace.
Armed conflict never leads to peace, which is crucial
for that development.
The Holy See believes, in line with the theological
and ethical teaching of the Catholic Church, that
because of the evils and injustices that any war entails,
we must do everything possible to avoid it. This is also
why the Church strongly urges everyone to pray and
act so that divine goodness frees us from the ancient
bondage of war.
My delegation, recalling those ethical principles
that inspire and animate the international activity
of the Holy See, has no ambition other than to make
a contribution of a moral nature to this session of the
General Assembly, while at the same time expressing
its recognition for the work done by various bodies and
United Nations agencies to relieve the suffering caused
by the Syrian crisis and other conflict situations. We
encourage them to continue their humanitarian work.
My delegation also strongly appeals to all Member
States to exercise responsibility. Peace will come about,
and the objectives of comprehensive human development
for each inhabitant of the Earth, especially for the
weakest and those who have no voice or representation,
will be achieved if, and only if, every State is capable of
fully assuming its own responsibilities for the common
good of all.