Mr. President, I would like to
join other delegations that have preceded me in
offering my congratulations and those of my delegation
on your election as President of the General Assembly
at its sixty-fifth session. I am convinced that your
political experience and diplomatic skill will assist and
guide this Assembly in its deliberations, especially in
addressing important and critical issues on the
international agenda.
I also congratulate your predecessor, Mr. Ali
Abdussalam Treki, for the excellent manner in which
he presided over the sixty-fourth session of the
Assembly. Through his commitment and leadership
role, Mr. Treki successfully guided the Assembly in
dealing effectively with a number of priority issues
facing our Organization.
I also take this opportunity to express our sincere
appreciation to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his
dedication and untiring efforts to ensure that our
Organization lives up to the purposes and principles of
the Charter of the United Nations. His comprehensive
report on the work of the Organization (A/65/1)
indicates in no uncertain terms the progress the United
Nations has made under his leadership and guidance,
for which Malta is extremely grateful.
During the past 12 months, the international
community has been overwhelmed by the global and
financial crises. The crises have been exacerbated by
many humanitarian tragedies around the world. Natural
disasters, terrorist attacks, armed violence and internal
conflicts have continued to produce havoc, destruction,
loss of life and the increased forced displacement of
people worldwide. In the face of these negative
realities, our Organization has continued to be the
refuge of the most vulnerable and deprived of our
societies, to address increasing inequalities, to respond
cohesively and rapidly to disasters and calamities, and
to seek to improve the very nature of the existence and
survival of humankind. It is an accepted norm that
there is no development without security, no security
without development, and neither without respect for
human rights.
Important achievements have been registered in
recent months in the area of disarmament and
non-proliferation. The new Treaty on Measures for the
Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic
Offensive Arms, designed to replace the 1991 START I
agreement and signed in Prague in April by the
Presidents of the United States and the Russian
Federation, created the appropriate political momentum
for preparing the way for a successful outcome to the
2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
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Malta is particularly pleased that among the
agreed actions taken by the Conference was the
endorsement by the NPT States parties of the
convening by the Secretary-General, the Russian
Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States,
in consultation with the countries of the region, of a
conference in 2012 to address the establishment in the
Middle East of a zone free of nuclear and all other
weapons of mass destruction.
The General Assembly’s resolutions recognize
that positive developments worldwide, but particularly
in Europe, the Maghreb and the Middle East, can be
enhanced by closer Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in
all spheres. Thirty-five years ago, on 1 August 1975,
the Conference on Security and Cooperation in
Europe — now the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) — meeting in Helsinki,
Finland, adopted the Final Act, incorporating an
important chapter dedicated exclusively to the
Mediterranean that affirmed, among other things, that
security in the Mediterranean is closely linked to
European security, as well as to international peace and
security.
Malta, a European country but nonetheless
Mediterranean, has worked for many years, and even
since becoming a Member of this Organization,
towards a Euro Mediterranean foreign policy that
embraces confidence- and security-building initiatives
that further enhance dialogue and understanding in our
region. Indeed, my country has been present at the
creation of all the Mediterranean forums in existence
today. Through its membership of the European Union,
Malta has solidified these efforts in a manner that
promotes the ever-increasing connectedness of the
European-Mediterranean partnership.
Today, Malta is the host of the European
Commission-League of Arab States Liaison Office,
which has formalized relations between the European
Commission and the Arab world in a way that has
never been done before. Indeed, Malta has translated
its character as an interlocutor with a European identity
and Mediterranean characteristics into the role of a
political and cultural bridge to our neighbours to the
North and South, and even beyond.
But our commitment to the Mediterranean
dimension does not stop there. Malta continues to seize
every opportunity to contribute further to this dialogue
of partners. This has certainly been the case within the
Union for the Mediterranean, where Malta has played
an active part in ensuring that the requisite momentum
is maintained despite occasional political hurdles. In
the institutional domain, Malta has nominated a Deputy
Secretary-General, an honour accorded to six Union
members. The Maltese Deputy Secretary-General has
been entrusted with the portfolio covering social and
civil affairs, an area undoubtedly of vital interest to all
Union partners.
Next month, Malta will host the Mediterranean
Conference of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, which will address, from a
Mediterranean perspective, issues currently being
debated within the OSCE in the dialogue on the future
of European security. On 8 and 9 November, Malta will
be the venue for the first regional conference for the
Mediterranean of the United Nations Alliance of
Civilizations. The regional conference is expected to
adopt a strategy document and an action plan
expressing the commitment of the Group of Friends of
the Alliance to advancing goals in concrete terms in a
region where intercultural dialogue and cooperation
have great potential for success in overcoming the big
challenges the region faces.
In the first half of 2011 Malta, a member of the
Western Mediterranean Forum since 1991, intends to
host the second Summit of Heads of State and
Government of the Forum, known as the 5+5. The
convening of the Summit, the second of its kind in
seven years, should, among other purposes, serve to
reaffirm the relevance of the 5+5 dialogue in the
current context. Malta continues to attach great value
to this informal mechanism as a platform for open and
frank discussion between North and South.
It is also of satisfaction to record the successful
first joint International Meeting in Support of Israeli-
Palestinian Peace, held in Malta last February, and
organized by the United Nations Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People and the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Mediterranean. In this context I would like to
recognize the importance of resolution 64/124, adopted
by the General Assembly in December 2009, whereby
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean,
whose seat is in Malta, was granted observer status and
invited to participate in the sessions and work of the
General Assembly.
3 10-55264
That brings me to an issue that closely involves
the Mediterranean region. I am referring to the
situation in the Middle East, with the Palestinian
question at its core. Malta joins other Member States in
welcoming the decision reached last month between
the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume direct
negotiations to resolve all permanent status issues. The
launching of direct negotiations on 2 September in
Washington, D.C., followed by the Sharm el-Sheikh
and Jerusalem meetings, has renewed the sense of
urgency and expectation for the resolution of an issue
that has been on the international agenda for these last
62 years. The intense and unstinting efforts made
during these past few months by the Quartet, the
Secretary-General and the Arab League, as well as the
Israelis and Palestinians themselves, in addition to the
valuable contribution of the United States
Administration, have opened new possibilities for the
emergence of an independent, democratic and viable
Palestinian State living side by side in peace and
security with Israel. As a member of the international
community, Malta will continue to play its part within
the United Nations, the European Union and other
international, regional and subregional forums to
support the creation of the right conditions for all
peoples of the Mediterranean and the Middle East to
live in peace and prosperity.
This year has brought us stark reminders of the
devastation and loss of life that we can expect from
climate change if it continues unabated. Yet, despite
such warnings, the international community has yet to
adopt a sufficiently ambitious response strategy that
would bind us all to contributing fairly to mitigating
climate change, keeping it within manageable limits.
Important steps have indeed been taken over the past
two decades, but the great expectations of a decisive
push forward in Copenhagen last year were not
realized. Nevertheless, we must persevere on the road
ahead — perhaps more pragmatically than
dramatically. Copenhagen did produce several seeds of
agreement that can be harvested in Cancún in
December, where operational decisions could advance
action on several fronts of broad interest to Member
States.
Integrating the expected climatic impacts into our
vision of the future is in fact a requirement for all of
us, large and small. Yet the topic often lingers on the
sidelines of policymaking. We must give adaptation the
political and economic attention it deserves and ensure
well-targeted financial support to vulnerable countries
or communities most in need of it. I would also like to
underline the potential of cooperative action on
adaptation at regional levels, and it is in this context
that Malta is supporting the Mediterranean Climate
Change Initiative announced by the Prime Minister of
Greece.
The protection of the human being continues to
constitute a top priority for my country. In this regard,
we have witnessed during the past year important
developments within the United Nations that will
significantly contribute to delivering results for a more
just world and to putting system-wide coherence into
practice. We note the progress, small but most
welcome, on the discussion on the responsibility to
protect. It will be recalled that five years ago, the 2005
World Summit Outcome (resolution 60/1) called for an
expansion of the United Nations capabilities for early
warning and assessment of possible genocide, war
crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity,
in addition to supporting the establishment of an early
warning capability. Malta therefore highly commends
the interactive dialogue that took place in July and
commends the initiative of the Secretary-General to set
up a United Nations joint office to deal with the
prevention of genocide and the wider range of crimes
and violations covered by the responsibility to protect.
Another important development has been the
United Nations Global Plan of Action against
Trafficking in Persons (see resolution 64/293, annex).
Still another aspect of human trafficking is the
smuggling of human beings. The phenomenon of
illegal immigration, stoked by the greed and callous
operations of organized criminal groups in the
Mediterranean, is putting at risk the lives of hundreds
of immigrants on the threshold of Europe. Malta has
for some years now been a country of destination,
attracting a disproportionate influx of illegal
immigrants and asylum-seekers. Malta’s need for
assistance in providing beneficiaries of international
protection with a durable solution has been recognized
by many. While Malta affirms its commitment to
abiding by its international obligations, at the same
time we reiterate our calls on the international
community to continue to assist us in the process of
resettling these unfortunate people.
While not new phenomena, piracy and armed
robbery at sea against vessels continue to be an issue of
grave concern for international navigation and the
10-55264 4
safety of commercial maritime routes. Malta, as one of
the leading flag States in the world, is very much
concerned about the increase in the frequency and
ferocity of pirate attacks on merchant ships off the
coast of Somalia. It is to address that concern that we
intend to promote a debate within the international
community on new issues, such as piracy, in the sphere
of the law of the sea which have cropped up since the
adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea in 1982.
We intend to launch a fresh and constructive
debate among like-minded States on the question of
human responsibilities. Even though we are here
treading on ground that may prove to be difficult, we
believe that while the fundamental rights and freedoms
of the individual form the cornerstone of a free and
democratic society, so do human responsibilities.
Rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. Our
commitment to duties should be as firm as that to
rights. Stressing the rights of society and our duties
towards others — which in no case should overshadow
our attention to the rights of the individual — puts
emphasis on that which keeps society together. Malta
shall take up this matter to achieve a measure of
progress in this field in the international community.
Before concluding, allow me to pay a tribute in
memory to President Guido de Marco, one of my
predecessors, who as Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and as President of Malta,
bestowed honour on his country and the people of
Malta, which he loved dearly. His passing away last
month left a great void not only among the Maltese
population, but also for the many who worked with
him for the betterment of those in the international
community who are oppressed, weak and vulnerable.
Twenty years ago, this Assembly elected him to
serve as President at the forty-fifth session. His strong
belief in and steadfast support of the United Nations
can be encapsulated in his own words at the opening
plenary of the session on 18 September 1990 when, in
referring to the enormous challenges that lay ahead, he
stated that
“equally enormous is the political will to
guarantee that mankind’s destiny is safeguarded
not only by individual countries, but by a strong
United Nations” (A/45/PV.1, p. 22).
His election as President ushered in, among other
things, new initiatives for the revitalization of our
General Assembly — a legacy that has continued and
continues today. By following Guido de Marco’s vision
for and love of the United Nations, my country shall
continue supporting this Organization and its
Secretary-General to make our world a better place for
present and future generations.