Zimbabwe

Let me begin by extending my warmest congratulations to Mr. John William Ashe on his election as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. His election to that esteemed office is a fitting tribute to the personal and diplomatic qualities that he has exhibited over the years. Throughout the world, peace and development have remained dominant themes of our times. People all over the world have been raising their voices in favour of peace, development and cooperation, and against war, poverty and confrontation. Here at the United Nations we all acknowledge that peace, security, development and human rights are the pillars of the United Nations system and the cornerstones of our collective well- being. In that regard, the theme for this session, “The post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage”, is quite pertinent and timely, as it gives fresh impetus to our understanding that achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and mapping the way forward beyond 2015 requires our collective efforts. The United Nations, as the centre for international cooperation, should lead in promoting the envisaged development. Thirteen years ago, our global efforts were mobilized behind the Millennium Development Goals. We now have less than 1,000 days in which to meet those targets. Our review and stocktaking exercise reveals that, while there have been some significant achievements, there are still gaps and unevenness in the attainment of the Goals. In the case of Zimbabwe, we have made progress towards achieving universal access to primary education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. However, some of the Goals are off track owing to lack of capacity — mainly financial capacity — and in some areas progress has stalled, including in those areas relating to the eradication of poverty and hunger, child mortality, universal access to maternal and reproductive health, environmental sustainability and access to potable water and sanitation. As a country, we are committed to undertaking coordinated efforts to accelerate progress to complete the unfinished business of the MDGs in the remaining period leading up to 2015. Any goals that have not been achieved by then should be integrated into the post-2015 development agenda. Zimbabwe fully shares and supports the emerging consensus that eradicating poverty in all its dimensions should be the overarching goal of our post-2015 agenda. Eradicating poverty by 2030 may be an ambitious goal, but it is attainable if we mobilize our collective efforts. Building on the foundation of the MDGs, the post-2015 agenda should go beyond the social development agenda of the MDGs and achieve structural transformation in our economies that delivers inclusive and sustainable growth. We expect a shift that will bring about industrialization, decent jobs and qualitative change to the lives of our citizens. We are determined to modernize our infrastructure and ensure access to sustainable energy for all, food security and nutrition. However, we recognize that we cannot do that in isolation from other partners. In the same vein, we also support calls to prioritize gender equality, the health-related MDGs, education and environmental sustainability in the post-2015 development agenda, among other issues. Those are critical matters in our quest to achieve sustainable development for all our people. The lofty objectives of the Charter of the United Nations in the economic arena will remain unfulfilled  unless all Member States join in efforts, genuinely and seriously, to address challenges that developing countries face in their pursuit of development, including meeting the MDGs. It is therefore imperative that our discussions address what has so far been the weakest link, namely, the means of implementation. It must be understood that, in addition to national efforts, substantial international support and an enabling international economic environment are essential if the MDGs are to be achieved by 2015, especially in Africa. It is therefore important to fulfil the commitments made to support Africa in various international forums. The United Nations should track the fulfilment of those commitments. Zimbabwe supports the reform of the United Nations to strengthen its central role in promoting multilateralism and to be effective in tackling current and future global challenges. We are convinced that reform would strengthen the Organization’s capacity to fully promote and implement the purposes and principles of the Charter and improve its democratic decision-making. In that regard, the reforms in the economic and social actions of the United Nations remain of fundamental importance to us. Our firm belief in multilateral cooperation means that we place a premium in the ability of the United Nations system to deliver efficient development cooperation. The democratic transformation of the architecture of the international financial system is essential, as is a root-and-branch reform of the international trading system. The terms of trade have hugely burdened developing countries for too long. Zimbabwe supports the ongoing efforts to revitalize the General Assembly, which is the most representative organ of the United Nations. We believe that the Assembly should take the lead in setting the global agenda and restore its primacy, which has over the years been encroached upon by other organs. We cannot accept situations whereby the Security Council is increasingly encroaching upon issues that traditionally fall within the General Assembly’s purview and competence, including in the area of norm-setting. Recent events have revealed that the formal decisions of the Security Council have provided camouflage to neo- imperialist forces of aggression seeking to militarily intervene in smaller countries in order to effect regime change and acquire complete control of their wealth. That was the case in Libya, where, in the name of protecting civilians, NATO forces were deployed with an undeclared mission to eliminate Al-Qadhafi and his family. A similar campaign was undertaken in Iraq by the Bush and Blair forces under the guise of eradicating weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam Hussein never possessed. We appreciate the central role that the United Nations should play in furthering multilateralism in preference to unilateralism. In that regard, we applaud the consultations and negotiations on the eventual destruction of the chemical weapons in Syria. My country expresses its gratitude and appreciation to Russia and China for their principled stand on Syria. We hope and trust that the Syrian people will soon sit in dialogue to discuss peace and desirable political reforms. Those Western countries in pursuit of hegemony as they pretend to be advocates of democracy must be resisted. For Africa, the reform of the Security Council is especially long overdue. The anachronistic and unrepresentative character of the Council must be redressed. For how long should Africa continue to be denied the right to play a pivotal role in the Security Council as it decides measures on conflicts within the borders of that very continent? The Security Council needs to be more representative, democratic, transparent, accountable and accessible to the wider membership for its decisions to have greater legitimacy. Africa’s case for the correction of the glaring historical injustice of being unrepresented in the permanent category and underrepresented in the non-permanent category has been made through the clear, fair and well articulated Ezulwini Consensus. Zimbabwe remains steadfast in its support of the Ezulwini Consensus, which is, in fact, a demand. Zimbabwe strongly condemns the use of unilateral economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to effect regime change. The illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and the European Union violate fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations on State sovereignty and the non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign State. Moreover, those illegal sanctions continue to inflict economic deprivation and human suffering on all Zimbabweans. In the eyes of our people, the sanctions constitute a form of hostility and violence against them for the simple crime of undertaking the land reform programme by which land was put in the hands of the then majority landless Zimbabweans. Our small and  peaceful country is threatened daily by covetous and bigoted big Powers whose hunger for domination and control over other nations and their resources knows no bounds. Shame, shame, shame, we say to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame, we say to Britain and its allies, who have continued to impose illegal sanctions on our people. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans; so are its ample resources. I ask those countries to please remove their illegal and iniquitous sanctions from my peaceful nation. If those sanctions were intended to effect regime change, well, the results of the recent national elections have clearly shown them that they cannot achieve their agenda. We are preached to daily by the West on the virtues of democracy and freedom, which they do not entirely espouse. Zimbabwe took up arms precisely to achieve freedom and democracy. There was none during colonialism, and it was British colonialism, for that matter. Yet we have been punished by the United States through the odious Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, which it enacted in 2001 to effect regime change in our country. Now that malicious intent to continue with the relentless persecution of our small, peaceful country has shown itself again, through the rejection by the United States of the recent and absolutely democratic and fair results of our general elections of 31 July, even as they were applauded by the African Union and all our regional organizations. It appears that when the United States and its allies speak of democracy and freedom they do so in relative terms. Zimbabwe, however, refuses to accept that those Western detractors have the right to define democracy and freedom for it. We made the greatest sacrifice and paid the ultimate price for freedom and independence in Zimbabwe, and we remain determined never to relinquish our sovereignty, as at the same time we remain masters of our destiny. As we have repeatedly and loudly said and asserted, Zimbabwe will never be a colony again.