I am happy to congratulate you, Sir, on your
election to preside over the General Assembly during
the current session. I wish you every success in
managing our business.
It would be remiss of me not to express our
appreciation to your predecessor for his efforts during his
stewardship of the Assembly during the previous session.
I also wish to express the appreciation and thanks
of my delegation to the Secretary-General for his
efforts in the maintenance of international peace and
security, which will not be achieved until the world
gets rid of all weapons of mass destruction and
implements the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) with respect to all, without distinction.
I remind the Assembly that my country has
stressed the important need to amend the NPT so as to
enable the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) to perform its tasks and verify the reduction of
nuclear arsenals, whose existence is the most
dangerous threat to mankind. Equally important, we
must encourage States to possess and use nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes. We have affirmed many
times that the voluntary initiative of our country to
reject all activities related to the production of prohibited
materials should be a role model for countries
possessing, or seeking to possess, nuclear power.
The United Nations was established to meet the
needs and concerns of Member States. An honest and
strict evaluation of the current situation and the
Organization’s achievements shows that we still need to
work in unison to support it. Here we should
contemplate the suggestions of our brother, the Leader
of the Revolution, Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi, in his
address to the Assembly during the sixty-fourth session.
The United Nations is at a crossroads. It must be
reformed in order to achieve equality for all States.
This is the real reform to which we all aspire: that the
General Assembly become the main legislature, the organ
that can produce binding resolutions, as it represents the
real parliament of the world. The Security Council, on
the contrary, should be the executive tool,
implementing the resolutions of the Assembly. We have
time and again called for permanent membership to be
given to certain Member States, but, in order for the
Council to accommodate small States as well, the ideal
solution is to give Security Council membership to
regional groups. That would secure the representation
on the Council of all nations, without the exclusive
veto right, which is contrary to democracy.
The African continent, which has been deprived
of fair representation on the Security Council, should
10-55276 2
have a permanent seat. That is a legitimate request. It
would put the African continent on an equal footing
with all the other geopolitical groupings. The speedy
pace of development in developing countries and the
need to narrow the painful gap between the developing
and developed countries require international cooperation
within the framework of a new and effective partnership.
It goes without saying that the underdevelopment
and poverty of most nations are the remnants of
colonization and plunder, the theft of their resources and
the illegal usurping of their riches. The former colonizers
should apologize for those actions. It is time the
Assembly took the necessary measures to criminalize
colonialism, put the blame on the countries concerned and
make them accountable for their historical responsibilities.
Nations suffered immensely from the two world
wars, after which the United Nations was established.
Since then the world has witnessed wars of aggression
and illegal interventions which are a flagrant violation
of all international customs and conventions.
The invasion of Iraq is a shameful example of
such unfair and heinous wars. In order to achieve
international justice, the United Nations is called upon
to establish an international investigative panel to
understand the motivation behind the invasion and to
investigate the mass killings and executions of
prisoners of war, including the head of State.
At this forum last year, the Leader of the
Revolution, our brother, Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi,
also raised the question of the political assassination of
many personalities, including Dag Hammarskjöld,
John Kennedy, Patrice Lumumba, Martin Luther King,
Maurice Bishop and many Palestine Liberation
Organization leaders. Those assassinations shocked the
conscience of the world and created anger and rage the
world over. However, justice was not done; the
perpetrators enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, impunity.
My country has called for an effective international
instrument to secure an honest investigation of all the
circumstances that led to the assassinations.
An alternative Headquarters for the United
Nations has been suggested. We all know that certain
considerations were in play in choosing the host
country for the current Headquarters. But for the good
conduct of our work, and to facilitate the work of the
diplomatic missions accredited to the United Nations,
it is imperative to choose another Headquarters, in
another country. We must study all the bids presented
by other countries, at the forefront of which is the offer
by the Jamahiriya to host the Headquarters.
Anti-personnel mines are weapons used by weak
States to defend their territories against invaders and to
protect themselves. Strong and mighty States do not need
such weapons, because they possess advanced arsenals. In
this connection, the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-
Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, the Ottawa
Treaty, should be amended in a way that takes into
account the security interests of small States. The drafters
should have included a provision for compensation to be
paid to the States where such mines have been planted.
My country suggests a review of the Treaty.
We must distinguish between the heinous
phenomenon of terrorism and the deliberate biased
distortion of the struggle of nations languishing under
occupation. The Palestinian people are waging an
incredible struggle against enemies nourished by a
racist creed, who deny the right of that oppressed
people to existence and self-determination.
The world understands the suffering and losses of
the Palestinian people over 62 years. We cannot deny
the facts of history. This question cannot be settled
through the so-called peace process, because it will go
on indefinitely. The solution, rather, is the establishment
of one democratic State in which all can coexist,
without discrimination, in accordance with the
suggestion by our brother Muammar Al-Qadhafi in his
“White Book” regarding Isratine.
In the framework of strengthening cooperation
between the States of the South and those of the North,
my country is to play host in October to an Arab-
African summit. We shall also host, in November, a
summit of Africa and the European Union, which will
be a major transformation in the relationship between
all the States concerned. We call on all stakeholders
and all States to take part in the two summits at the
highest level, as they are of prime importance.
In current circumstances, and in the framework of
today’s challenges, we have great hope that bold
measures will be taken to strengthen the General
Assembly, its authority and effectiveness so that it
better represents the interests of all nations.