Netherlands

This year, we celebrate the centennial of the Peace Palace in The Hague, seat of the International Court of Justice (ICC) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and symbol of the pursuit of peace by means of law. Next year, we will commemorate the centennial of the first of two suicidal world wars that caused unspeakable human suffering, horrible crimes against humanity and the oppression of half of Europe’s population until the Berlin wall came down in 1989. Out of the ashes of those global conflagrations grew the desire of the peoples of the world to put an end to violent conflict and to guarantee human rights for every human being in every country. “Never again” is what humankind wanted. Unfortunately, so far it is not what we have been able to deliver to everyone. During the festive celebrations this year in The Hague, which gave fresh impetus to the peaceful settlement of disputes, there were scenes of unspeakable violence in Syria, including the use of chemical weapons. More recently, in Nairobi, dozens of people were killed by terrorists. One of the victims was Dr. Elif Yavuz, a young Dutch woman who was eight months pregnant with her first baby. My heart goes out to Dr. Yavuz’s family, to all the victims of the Nairobi attack and to their loved ones. The powerlessness of the international community to put an end to abuses like those has led in the past to the establishment of new bodies and instruments. After the Second World War, the United Nations was founded and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. Following more recent genocides, the International Criminal Court was established. The use of chemical weapons by Saddam Hussein led to the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). So the institutions and instruments are in place. The question is, what is preventing them from delivering results? Perhaps the answer to the question was given already four centuries ago by Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza when he wrote: “Peace is not an absence of  war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice”. It is my conviction that the international community must keep working on the project we launched a hundred years ago. We should follow the example of Dr. Yavuz, who was committed to helping people suffering from HIV/AIDS and malaria. We should work to achieve her aims and uphold her ideals. We should make clear that terrorism will never triumph. We should invest in the United Nations and support it as effectively as we can. We strongly support the Secretary-General and the message he delivered here on Tuesday (A/68/PV.5). We will join him on the road to peace, justice and development. The Netherlands advocates a coherent agenda for strengthening the international legal order. A peaceful world demands a sustainable legal order and a powerful agenda for development. It demands a strategy for disarmament and a focus on human rights. Those are the principles of the foreign policy of the Netherlands. A partnership for peace, justice and development is the cornerstone of the Dutch candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the Security Council in 2017-2018. The world was shocked to discover that an attack with chemical weapons had taken place in Syria on 21 August. The attack violated one of the most important peremptory norms of international law. The 1925 Geneva Protocol, to which Syria is a party, bans the use of chemical weapons. The situation in Syria poses a clear threat to international peace and security. The Netherlands calls on the Security Council to take concerted action to address that threat. We have just heard from the representative of Australia what is going to happen today. Syria does not comply with the international norm that requires it to protect its citizens. But the international community also has a responsibility. The Netherlands supports the proposal that permanent Security Council members should henceforth refrain from using their veto power in votes on intervention to stop the mass atrocity crimes identified by the 2005 World Summit. They should show that they are serious about their responsibility to protect vulnerable populations, underlining our consensus that genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing must never be tolerated. As the Secretary-General said, those responsible for the atrocities in Syria should be held accountable in accordance with international law. The use of chemical weapons is a war crime under the Rome Statute. If the Syrian Government itself sees no possibility of tracking down and prosecuting the guilty parties, it can ask the ICC to do so. If Syria makes no request, the Security Council must take action. Finally, as the Secretary- General also said, we can hardly be satisfied with the destruction of chemical weapons while the wider war continues to destroy Syria and kill innocent people. A peaceful solution is needed. And the women of Syria should be involved in making that happen, as there can be no solution without them. Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security provides an outstanding tool for promoting inclusive conflict resolution. This week we hosted a side event marking the importance of women’s political participation for successful transitions in the Middle East and North Africa. The Executive Director of UN-Women told me earlier this week that courage is every woman’s middle name. It certainly is in Syria. The Netherlands supports John Kerry’s efforts to encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to arrive at a two-State solution through direct negotiations. The international community should support the Israeli- Palestinian talks. Only a political solution can lead to lasting peace. Fifty years ago, United States President John F. Kennedy expressed the fear that in the 1970s there would be 15, 20 or even 25 nuclear-weapon States. Thanks in part to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, that danger was averted, but the risk of further proliferation of nuclear weapons has not receded. While much has been achieved in the field of disarmament, there is still a long way to go. In his speech in Berlin in June, President Obama warned of the danger of nuclear weapons. “As long as nuclear weapons exist, we are not truly safe”, he said — and he is right. He plans to take new steps to reduce strategic nuclear arsenals. He also wants to make substantial reductions in the number of United States and Russian non-strategic weapons in Europe. The Netherlands is in favour of those steps, strongly supports the efforts and wants to contribute to them. In March of next year, the Nuclear Security Summit will convene in The Hague. My country’s hosting of the Summit is in keeping with our tradition as a country of  peace, justice and security. Nuclear materials can play an important role in curing our illnesses and heating our homes. And fortunately, the likelihood of terrorists using nuclear materials in an attack is small. But if it did happen, the consequences for the world would be very serious indeed. The Nuclear Security Summit is meant to give fresh impetus to global efforts to ensure nuclear security and prevent nuclear terrorism by making and implementing agreements at the highest multilateral level. Governments, businesses, researchers and organizations from many countries are working together to reduce the quantities of nuclear materials, to enhance the security of the materials that remain, and to combat nuclear smuggling. The centennial of the Peace Palace is a good occasion to highlight the peaceful settlement of disputes. The Netherlands has used the celebrations to strengthen instruments for peaceful settlement. We advocate taking three interrelated steps. First, we need to encourage countries to recognize the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. As States Members of the United Nations, we recognize the Court as a principal organ of the United Nations. In my view, recognizing its compulsory jurisdiction is a logical and necessary next step. Secondly, we must help countries realize how useful and flexible arbitration is as a way of settling disputes. The Security Council and the General Assembly could draw parties’ attention to that instrument more often and we should advocate it more often in the public debate. Thirdly, we must reduce the obstacles to the peaceful settlement of disputes by making alternatives available. This is why the Netherlands enthusiastically supports the Department of Political Affairs and non-governmental organization that promote mediation. In his 2011 report on the responsibility to protect (A/65/877), the Secretary-General rightly pointed out the importance of mediation as a means of preventing atrocity crimes. National legal systems are the foundation of the international legal order. Strengthening national legal systems should make it possible to keep the courtrooms of the International Criminal Court closed. The ICC is inextricably linked to the global chain of legal institutions. It delivers justice in the wake of international crimes, thus helping to prevent future offences. So it is crucial that countries continue to accede to the Rome Statute and that popular support for it be maintained. We need to ensure that countries that have acceded to the Statute continue to work with the ICC. This year marks the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the twentieth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration. The Universal Declaration is an enduring source of inspiration. It was adopted without a single dissenting vote under the inspired leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, who acted as a change agent before the expression was coined. Just before the vote she said, “We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind” (see A/PV.180). The World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna underlined that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Twenty years after Vienna, the blueprints of our human rights infrastructure are complete. Now it is time to ensure the necessary implementation, political will, capacity, financial resources and treaty body reforms. To that end, Dutch human rights policy stresses the importance of forging trilateral partnerships in different regions of the world. We focus on protecting human rights defenders and promoting LGBT and women’s rights. Without development, there can be no global peace and security. We are fast approaching 2015, and have made great progress. In the next two years we can still make a difference and advance towards the Millennium Development Goals. The post-2015 development agenda will also benefit from a single, unified framework. We cannot talk about the plight of the world’s poorest people in isolation from the environmental problems endangering life on our planet. It is crucial to ensure that development is sustainable so that we can balance and integrate its economic, social and ecological dimensions. Peace, security and the rule of law constitute a fourth vital element of sustainable development. The key words for the post-2015 development agenda are better aid, more trade and stronger policy coherence for sustainable development. Also, we need to promote women’s rights. That includes sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as equal opportunity. I have four children — two of them are girls. It would be unbearable for me, as a parent, if they did not have equal opportunity as their brothers.  It goes without saying that a nation that was built by claiming its lands from the sea is concerned when rising sea levels might endanger that claim. Therefore, we feel a strong solidarity with other countries that are threatened in the same way. The Netherlands wants to strengthen the synergy between climate and poverty- reduction policies, particularly in the field of water and food security. Exactly 75 years ago today, British Prime Minister Chamberlain said, in a radio address on the Sudetenland crisis, “How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.” Czechoslovakia was dismembered shortly afterwards. That was not just the fault of the signatories of the Munich Agreement. The entire international community — especially Czechoslovakia’s fellow democracies in Europe, including my own country, the Netherlands — looked the other way. Today we can no longer pretend to know nothing of quarrels in faraway countries or of the people who live there. If we fail, it is not because of the deficiency of the legal instruments that we have developed. It is because of the international community’s deficient sense of responsibility. It is our duty to take responsibility in addressing the crisis in Syria. The Secretary-General talked earlier this week about leadership and identified Nelson Mandela as a shining example. I wish we would all listen to “Madiba” more often. On Syria, we should follow the Secretary- General’s lead and make peace and justice a reality. Investing in the United Nations is an investment in our common future. We are shareholders with a long-term interest. We need to have the instruments for peace, justice and development ready for the moment that they can help avert catastrophe. That is why we invested in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which has now proved crucial in the Syrian crisis. That is why we should invest in the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Security Council. That is why we should work as hard as we can to come up with a clear and ambitious post-2015 sustainable development agenda. We are all in this together; we should invest together in our United Nations.