First of all, I would like to
offer my heartfelt congratulations to Mr. John Ashe for
his election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-eighth session.
In one month’s time, it will have been 70 years
since the Foreign Ministers of the four major Powers
agreed to set up a universal organization dedicated to
ensuring international peace and security. In Moscow,
in 1943, high representatives of the United States, the
Soviet Union, China and the United Kingdom took that
decision in the very midst of the most devastating war in
human history. They knew that maintaining peace and
the creed of “war no more” required harmonious and
concerted international cooperation. They knew that
it required collaboration among the great Powers and
respect for the principles of international law, as well as
the building of infrastructure for peace. The declaration
published back then rightly spoke of the need to act for
justice among nations. That is important, because it is
from injustice or from the sense of a lack of justice that
many conflicts, both internal and international, have
originated and continue to originate.
On the eve of that anniversary, it is worth examining
to what extent the international community copes
with threats to peace and with open-ended, prolonged
disputes. The Organization and its States Members are
right to be satisfied with the body of work produced
since then to help maintain security and peace. The
United Nations has proven to be an instrument that,
since the Second World War, has made international
relations more civilized in very many areas, not just
in relations among countries but also within them.
Understandably, the world is still far from ideal, but we
should not lose heart. A better world is possible, and
we should not lose sight of that. That is the real ideal
outlined in the Charter of the United Nations, and it
is a duty that belongs to all of us, the Members of the
Organization.
The justified satisfaction with the progress made,
which was ensured with the aid of the United Nations
and enjoyed by the whole of humankind, cannot hide the
weaknesses of the Organization and its ineffectiveness
in situations it was set up to resolve.
One such current situation is the civil war in Syria.
That conflict has led to a large number of victims and
has created a major humanitarian crisis. It is a threat
to regional security and stability. In such situations,
Members of the Organization are authorized to
demand efficient action by the Security Council. That
is a justified expectation of ours based on Article 24
of the Charter. Regrettably, we must conclude that in
the Syrian dispute, members of the Security Council
have spoken out for individual sides in the war and
supported them in various ways, rather than make the
parties stop fighting and commit to peace talks. That
has revealed the lack of capacity and efficiency of the
decision-making mechanisms of the United Nations.
Thisis all the more reason not to procrastinate or
wait for another anniversary as a pretext to return to our
efforts to reform the Security Council in a way that would
also bolster its authority, legitimacy, representativeness
and effectiveness. We are talking about a more systemic
solution that would not limit the Security Council
but would go beyond the Council by reinforcing its
representativeness. We are thinking today about the
significance of the original principle of the right to veto
of the Security Council’s permanent members, in the
light not just of current or future challenges but also of
the changes in the global international order, which are
unfolding before our very eyes. It would be beneficial
if the discussion about those issues could follow a
formula similar to the one that proved successful prior
to the sixtieth anniversary of the Organization, which
brought about a rather ambitious reform agenda for the
Organization, some of which found its way into the
World Summit Outcome adopted by Member States in
2005 (resolution 60/1). Poland was an active participant
in that work and intends to continue its engagement for
further necessary reforms.
The Syrian tragedy, including the use of chemical
weapons, is symbolic of a broader phenomenon — the
ignoring of international values, norms and obligations
adopted by the Organization and the entire international
community. After all, they should apply to everybody to
the same degree, with no one set outside or above them.
Too often, the immediate national interests of countries
have the upper hand. That leads to tragic consequences
in terms of human rights and humanitarian issues,
including the principle of the responsibility to protect,
for which we had such high hopes when it was adopted
in 2005.
Armed conflicts are an extreme manifestation of the
mass violation of human rights. The tragic development
of the situation in Syria, which has claimed more than
100,000 victims by now, could have been prevented,
especially if the Security Council had adopted the
necessary decisions early enough. Therefore, the
solution of the difficult, complex and interrelated
problems of the Middle East entails a comprehensive,
imaginative and impartial approach.
In a context where everyone is focused on security
issues — including new, non-traditional ones, and
where the dominant concerns are the economy. crisis
mitigation, the fight for growth and competitiveness,
competition for markets and land that could provide
valuable raw materials for economic development — we
cannot forget about human rights. Recently, many actors
in the international arena have failed to care about
them. But is it possible for us to ignore them, when, for
instance, the violations are too close to genocide?
Let me remind the Assembly that this year, on
9 December, we will be celebrating the sixty-fifth
anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
which was, by the way, initiated and drafted by the
Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin. The message from his
research and initiatives, which started in Warsaw in the
early 1930s, is as follows: we must be alert and sensitive
to the symptoms of future violations of human rights; it
is our duty to respond to them and not just show moral
outrage.
As the effectiveness of the response depends on
international cooperation, the United Nations is to be
a centre for such international cooperation. The United
Nations is the best, and often the only, such centre. We
must not allow the instruments for the protection of
human rights developed by the United Nations to be
eroded. Their effectiveness will depend upon whether
we remain united, and not just in name. It is necessary
to establish a mechanism that would, in an objective and
uncontroversial manner, force harmonious cooperation
between the permanent members of the Security Council
in the face of situations that fall under the principle of
the responsibility to protect, in order to ensure that the
prevention of such crimes and the effective response to
them prevail over individual geopolitical interests.
The practice of exploiting children in armed
conflicts is particularly saddening and causes a lot of
outcry. The fact that many Governments tolerate such
practices and that the Organization, despite existing
conventions and protocols, is unable to do more in
this area is unacceptable. Let me remind the Assembly
that the Convention on the Rights of the Child was
also developed on Poland’s initiative. For children,
their safety, development and rights, it is the family
that matters most. Looking at the family and its role
in society makes us aware of how much the family
means when it comes to respecting human rights. We
are particularly sensitive to that in Poland.
What in many countries is a tangible but slight
deficit in the exercise of economic and social rights,
while in many others it is poverty and chronic
underdevelopment. Poverty and underdevelopment are
not just human rights issues and factors that undermine
the dignity of the individual and entire social groups.
They are also the reason that individuals and nations
are unable to ensure survival on their own, or to fulfil
their creative potential for their own benefit and that of
humankind. That is why international efforts aimed at
helping regions and countries that suffer poverty and are
constantly underdeveloped are so important for them to
be able to take the path of sustainable growth and stop
being chronically dependent upon external assistance.
First and foremost, however, that is necessary so that
fundamental human rights are respected and local
residents regain their sense of dignity in order for their
inherent potential to serve the development and enrich
the diversity of the human civilization.
Those objectives will be served by the climate
negotiations that Poland is going to chair when the
nineteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change takes place in November.
We know in Poland that just one single generation
can be enough to make unbelievable progress. When
communism fell in 1989, Poland was a poor country,
economically ruined and badly indebted. It needed
international aid, not in the form of non-repayable
borrowing but debt relief and restructuring, technical
and training assistance, access to markets of better
developed countries and foreign investment.
Coupled with the hard-working nature and
entrepreneurial spirit of the Poles, that has all borne
fruit in abundance. Since then, our gross domestic
product has increased by approximately 400 per cent,
while our emissions have dropped by more than 30 per
cent, as compared with the baseline year. That attests
to the fact that it is possible and realistic to achieve
economic growth while curbing the growth of harmful
emissions.
Obviously, we are aware that there is no single
formula for everyone and no single path to sustainable
growth. There are different baseline circumstances,
environments and cultural and geographical conditions.
The Polish example, however, and that of other post-
Communist countries, should be considered in other
regions of the globe.
The same is true for the European development
model of the European Union, which strives to
combine democracy and human freedom, economic
competitiveness, social justice and solidarity. It is
not about being Eurocentric. It is an experience most
appreciated by those who come to Europe from the
furthest parts of the world and want to stay there. Do
not be misled by the economic crisis in the European
Union, which most countries in the Union are already
beginning to overcome. The European development
model remains universally attractive.
Our experience also suggests that even the most
generous foreign assistance will not replace efforts
made internally by a country. It is frequently an
indispensable precondition, yet is insufficient in
itself. Internal efforts and factors — the freedom and
empowerment of individuals, economic freedom and
the stability of the State — always form the foundation.
Good governance is another important aspect
of successfully pursuing sustainable growth, as it
combines democracy, self-government, human rights,
competence, a lack of corruption and the primacy of
the interest of the country as a whole over particular
interests, whether they are political or economic. The
entire notion of good governance is spelled out in a
resolution of the Human Rights Commission initiated
by Poland in the late 1990s. Only with good governance
in place can international aid bring about desirable
results in combating poverty and taking the route of
sustainable growth.
Poland is an active participant in the international
community, and not just through its bilateral relations
and membership regional organizations such as the
European Union, or supra-regional ones such as NATO
and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe. We are also trying to create a better international
order by being active in the United Nations. Poland, an
unflinching believer in the purposes and principles of
the United Nations, is convinced that it is necessary
to respect the treaties and commitments made by the
Organization — by us — and supports institutions and
programmes that facilitate their implementation.
For years, one of the priorities of our policy has been
the promotion of human rights and democracy. Poland
currently holds the presidency of the Human Rights
Council. The European Endowment for Democracy was
established on Poland’s initiative as well. Our country’s
share in development aid is growing, particularly
within the European Union. Next November, Warsaw
will host the climate summit, where we will preside
over the most important development process, namely,
that of climate-related negotiations.
Poland has always been active in efforts aimed
at ensuring the non-proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction, particularly chemical weapons.
Drawing on our experience and rich relations with
other countries, we wish to continue to contribute to
reinforcing international peace and security. That is
why we are seeking a seat on the Security Council for
the period 2018-2019. We believe that as a member of
the Security Council, we will be able to help achieve
the purposes and principles of the United Nations, as
well as represent the interests of Member States in line
with the letter and spirit of the Charter of the United
Nations.