Italy is about to celebrate
the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its
unification. We are a young country, but a people with
deep roots and ancient traditions. By our history,
geographic location and age-old international outlook,
we are proud of our illustrious legacy. By necessity and
vocation, we are dedicated to dialogue, respect for
diversity and mutual understanding.
There is no alternative to this inclusive approach,
even when it requires compromises or concessions. I
prefer to call it idealistic pragmatism, since our
ultimate goal is to spread peace, freedom and
prosperity, an ambition that is best achieved through
cooperation. This propensity for dialogue is one of
Italy’s greatest contributions to the United Nations.
Italy is a strong supporter of the central role of
the United Nations in global governance and in the
management of international crises. By virtue of its
universality and impartiality, the Organization has the
legitimacy to intervene in crisis situations. Italy
participates in peacekeeping missions not only by
contributing large numbers of highly qualified troops,
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but also by drafting strategic plans and protocol, and
by providing training and logistic support. We are the
sixth largest contributor to the United Nations regular
and peacekeeping operations budgets and, since 2006,
the top troop contributor to the United Nations among
the members of the European Union (EU) and Group
of Western European and Other States.
Approximately 8,000 Italian troops are assigned
to operations under the aegis or the mandate of the
United Nations. Our presence is spread across
22 missions throughout the world: from Lebanon to
Haiti, the Balkans to Afghanistan. Through its
experiences in these difficult areas, Italy has learned
important lessons. In particular, our comprehensive
approach provides valuable insight into how to
integrate the military aspects of a mission with the
commitment to economic, institutional and civil
reconstruction.
We are convinced that to meet the challenges of
the twenty-first century, the United Nations system
must be strengthened, starting with its capacity to
contribute to the maintenance of international peace
and security. The United Nations must be empowered
to fulfil its role as a “producer” of security and
stability, a role designed to foster reconciliation,
strengthen democracy and, ultimately, help to create a
more stable world.
This is why we support the Secretary-General’s
New Horizon and Global Field Support Strategy
initiatives. We must also continue to foster synergies
between the United Nations and regional organizations
that play a key role in bringing peace to crisis areas. I
refer to the African Union and, above all, to the
European Union. The Treaty of Lisbon includes new
arrangements for the EU’s international representation.
Once the resolution on EU participation in the work of
the United Nations has finally been approved, I
sincerely hope the European Union will be able to
make a greater contribution to General Assembly
responsibilities and to enhance the Assembly’s capacity
for providing political guidance.
In the field of security, a commitment to
disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction has always been a feature of Italian
foreign policy. Proliferation is a growing threat that
can only be countered through international
cooperation and, in this regard, the Italian Government
has just put forth some concrete proposals. We need to
set the goal of a zero-nuclear option in an appropriate
time frame, but without conveying the impression that
it is an unrealistic aspiration.
The year 2010 is a key date on the road to
achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In this
endeavour, our collective responsibility and credibility
are at stake. Italy is a strong proponent of a holistic
approach to development. For the sake of true
democratic ownership, the donor community, in
collaboration with the private sector and civil society,
must work in a partnership that makes the beneficiary
countries the protagonists of development.
The time has come for the international
community and the United Nations to increase their
commitment to two regional crises. Somalia is the most
serious and urgent situation on the African continent
today. In the past two years, the Italian Government
has contributed considerable financing to the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somali
security forces, but this is not enough. International
support for AMISOM must be stepped up.
The second crisis is in Pakistan, where the recent
floods have devastated the lives of 20 million people.
The Italian Government is disbursing an additional aid
package of €80 million to bring relief to the Pakistani
population.
But in addition to providing aid, we need to act
wisely. This is why Italy has called for new trade
measures to increase market access for Pakistani goods
and bolster Pakistan’s economic recovery. A natural
disaster of this magnitude also demonstrates the urgent
need to address the effects of climate change through
collective and shared measures.
Globalization has generated a new demand for
belonging and identity. But a fruitful dialogue among
cultures cannot take place without universal values. It
is imperative to defend the universal validity of
fundamental rights and avoid the risks of relativism.
Given the strength of its humanistic heritage that
affirms the human being as the measure of all things,
Italy is well-equipped to play an important part in this
dialectic.
True to this heritage, the Italian Government has
promoted a campaign for a moratorium on the death
penalty. We welcome the strengthening international
trend towards achieving this objective, and hope it will
be confirmed when Italy and a broad alliance of
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countries present a resolution on the moratorium in the
upcoming months.
Religious tolerance is a prerequisite for peace and
a founding principle of our civilization. The right to
search for truth through the word of God is the
freedom of freedoms, but in some areas of the world
people are afraid to freely and openly profess their
faith because they face persecution by extremists. Italy
is strongly committed to protecting freedom of religion
and will always oppose discrimination against religious
minorities. In fact, Italy together with its EU partners is
actively involved in the preparation and presentation of
the annual resolution on religious intolerance.
Another target of our fight against discrimination
is the international initiative to ban female genital
mutilation. Since September 2009, Italy, together with
a group of African countries, has promoted such an
initiative, which, hopefully, will lead to the
presentation here in the Assembly of a resolution that
fully respects African ownership.
Female genital mutilations, which violate a
woman’s physical integrity, affect millions of women
and girls throughout the world, including in my
country, where 35,000 such cases have been reported.
Women’s rights and national progress go hand in hand,
but, nevertheless, women are still suffering in many
countries throughout the world.
By pooling together our efforts we can ensure the
necessary consensus for resolutions that safeguard our
own and future generations from prejudice and
intolerance. In this spirit, we very warmly welcome the
creation of UN Women within the Secretariat and hope
that it quickly becomes operative.
Reaffirming the central role of the United Nations
in global governance requires a constant commitment
to the comprehensive reform of the Organization. Such
reform should affect the Secretariat, the various funds,
agencies and programmes of the United Nations and,
obviously, its decision-making bodies.
In regard to reform of the Security Council, we
seek realistic compromise solutions that garner the
broadest possible consensus and ensure an adequate
representation of African, Arab and other
underrepresented groups of countries. More than
15 years of negotiations have demonstrated that the
membership is profoundly divided. It is now time to
search for genuine and far-reaching compromise. Italy
and its Uniting for Consensus partners are ready to
participate constructively in the reform process and
have already demonstrated their flexibility. We look
forward to engaging with the rest of the membership
during the current session of the General Assembly.
The process of revitalizing the General Assembly
should strive to restore its central role. The Assembly’s
universal character gives it potential for providing
political guidance that should be realized. The
Assembly is the place where we could jointly identify
the main problems that threaten the security, stability
and development of all Member States and draft
common strategies to address them effectively.
In conclusion, the vision for the future to which
my country, Italy, aspires — a future of peaceful
coexistence and mutual enrichment between values and
cultures — can only be ensured through the successful
completion of the many reform processes under way.
We can achieve this future if we build our actions on
dialogue and mutual understanding. And when we do
achieve peaceful coexistence and mutual enrichment,
the United Nations system will be equipped with the
tools it needs to fulfil the main principles and values of
the Charter. One of these stands above all the others in
importance: each and every individual throughout the
world is endowed with inalienable and absolute rights
concerning which no kind of compromise can ever be
tolerated.