It was
in my country, in Ypres, during the First World War,
that chemical weapons were used in a conflict for the
first time. We can all recall the dreadful suffering of
thousands of those soldiers. Almost 100 years later,
that same suffering is being inflicted on thousands of
Syrians. Despite the international Geneva Protocol of
1925, the history of the world — a shared history — is
repeated, from Ypres to Damascus.
This is the second year that I have addressed the
General Assembly from this rostrum. In one year, so
many hopes have been raised and fulfilled but, at the
same time, so many additional war crimes have been
committed. A year ago, I spoke of 30,000 Syrian
deaths. Today there are 120,000. And that conflict is
not the only one. While we are talking here, atrocities
continue in various parts of the world.
All of us here must show as much courage as the
men and women who are fighting in the streets for their
freedom and dignity. Within the United Nations, we
have everything we need to act, while those who are
fighting often have nothing but their courage to live on.
If a veto must be cast, it should be a veto on tyrants and
their crimes.
No one can end a famine or stop a tyrant alone.
Peace is a shared responsibility. That is why there is
no alternative to multilateralism and politics, if we
seek to improve the lot of humankind. That is what
motivates Belgium’s commitment, which is political,
financial and at times even military, as the fifteenth
most significant contributor to the United Nations.
My country is also of the view that among
our responsibilities we have the responsibility to
protect — that is to say, the responsibility to prevent and
fight the particularly atrocious crimes of genocide, war
crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
Belgium fully supports the actions of the United
Nations in that regard. In 2014, we will organize an
international conference in Brussels on the prevention
of genocide.
When we work together, we achieve results. Mali is
proof of that. But let us not forget that nothing is ever
settled forever. For it to last, peace must be continuously
nourished. I would like to commend in particular the
recent efforts of the international community in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The population
of the north-east of the country has for years suffered
massacres, mass rapes, the forced recruitment of
soldiers, including of child soldiers, pillage and forced
displacement. Just yesterday, witnesses told me of
martyred children. That is shameful.
The efforts of the Secretary-General and the
Security Council to strengthen the mandate of the
United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are bearing
fruit. The Intervention Brigade is playing an active
role in protecting the population. The Addis Ababa
Framework offers a genuine possibility for the
stabilization of the entire region. However, let us make
no mistake: agreement at Kampala is essential for the
process to be successful. Pragmatic solutions must
also be found — without, however, accepting general
amnesty or allowing for impunity for war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
Belgium stands ready to contribute to such solutions.
The territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo must also be respected. All external
interference must cease. Belgium urges the Congolese
authorities to implement the structural reforms needed
in the army and the police, so as to re-establish the
rule of law throughout the national territory and to
guarantee the prosperity of the Congolese people.
Going to war, building walls and curtailing rights
is always easier than building bridges and keeping
the peace. It is easier to build walls than to organize
a democratic system or build hospitals and schools.
In our contemporary globalized world, conflicts can
be resolved only by political solutions. That is why
Belgium supports the efforts of Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi,
Joint Special Representative of the United Nations
and the League of Arab States, as he seeks to bring
the parties to the negotiating table. In that regard, I
welcome the American-Russian initiative to hold the
“Geneva II” conference.
It is not death that metes out justice; it is respect
for the law. It is the law that organizes human societies,
protects the weak and prevents violence. Law is
essential because a world without rules — whether in
terms of civil interactions, trade or finance — leaves
humankind face to face with its worst enemy: itself.
Respect for the law is a foundation of the life we share.
Laws must be respected, including in situations of
conflict. I am referring in particular to humanitarian
law, so that victims can receive assistance and care.
Belgium has echoed and tirelessly backed the calls
from humanitarian agencies for the obstacles to their
activities to be lifted. We demand that access to health
care be improved on the ground everywhere, including
in Syria. All parties must respect international
humanitarian law. My country participates actively
in efforts to provide assistance to populations that
have been victims of fighting. The onset of winter
and the sharp rise in the number of victims, refugees
and displaced persons mean that the international
community must step up its efforts further still.
The law must also stop impunity. Peace cannot ever
be built on amnesty for the worst crimes, or turning a
blind eye thereto. Together with 56 other States, Belgium
has called for the situation in Syria to be referred to the
International Criminal Court. The work of the Court is
contributing to bringing about an era of responsibility.
All States should cooperate with the Court.
The law must also make it possible to bring
dictatorships and oppression to an end. In 2010, all
those who defend democracy welcomed the advent of
the Arab Spring. I am not one of those who today have
turned their backs on that hope. Let us not forgot all
of the women and men in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and
elsewhere who wish to live in peace. We must support
them and promote the holding of free elections. We
should encourage them to draft constitutions that
guarantee fundamental rights, justice and equality. We
should also recall that winning an election or exercising
authority following elections does not give someone
the right to oppress minorities. True democracy means
respecting and protecting minorities.
The law must guarantee individual freedoms.
Freedom means, for example, the right of young women
to study and to choose their partners for themselves
or to remain single. Freedom also means the rights
of women to move in public as they please. Freedom
also means to right to practice one’s religion or to
practice none at all. Freedom also means the right of
heterosexual and homosexual couples to walk hand in
hand in the street or in other public spaces. I am proud
that Belgium guarantees those fundamental freedoms.
I am also proud that my country promotes efforts to
spread such freedoms everywhere in the world.
While I am speaking of continuing our efforts
and making them lasting, I would like to mention the
resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It is
absolutely vital that we seize the opportunity afforded
by our American friends. A solution must be arrived at
now, based on the coexistence of two States, with the
State of Israel and an independent State of Palestine
living side by side in peace and security. We have also
made it very clear that we are against colonization.
In that context, Belgium is ready to host a conference
in Brussels aimed at ensuring that private economic
partners provide support for the peace process. We
believe that there can be no economic plan, however,
unless there is a political plan with a concrete timetable.
Peace and security also depend on harmonious
prosperity, whose benefits must be shared equitably
around the globe and among its citizens. According to
scientists, the world’s ecological footprint now exceeds
the world’s capacity for regeneration by about 50 per
cent. That situation is untenable and affects everything
on the planet.
I welcome the United Nations initiative to convene
Heads of State and Government here in New York for
a forum on sustainable development. It is here that
less developed and developed countries can solve the
huge challenge of sustainable development together.
Every country has problems that are either shared or
complementary and interconnected. By that I mean
extreme poverty, desertification, the exodus for
ecological reasons of millions of people, the exhaustion
of natural resources and climatic warming.
Despite the progress that has been made,
much remains to be done to meet the Millennium
Development Goals. Hunger, poverty and unequal
access to education and health care are intolerable
injustices. We must continue to mobilize to fight them.
That is why Belgium asks that the efforts made under
the rubric of post-2015 development be merged with the
goals of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development in a single negotiation framework within
the United Nations. That single framework should
bring together the economic, social and environmental
aspects that are becoming facts of life for all of us.
I would like to touch on one final subject, that is,
espionage and cybercrime. Our colleague President
Dilma Rousseff asked a true question for today (see
A/68/PV.5). Is it permissible to ignore privacy laws in
the name of security and the fight against terrorism,
two areas that are basic for all peoples? I support
the call by the President of Brazil for protecting the
private lives of citizens everywhere, in particular
on the Internet. She proposed the establishment of a
multilateral framework designed to effectively ensure
the protection of data online. The Internet must not
become an invisible battleground. It should remain an
instrument of freedom and development for all, a place
where all can communicate in peace and security.
In 2014, along with other nations, Belgium will
solemnly commemorate the centenary of the First
World War. We will do it out of duty to the memory
of the young men from more than 50 countries who
came to die on the battlefields of my country in order
to liberate us. They were not even 20 years old. We will
also commemorate the war’s centenary in order to teach
young people of today, so that they too can become
militants for peace.