First of
all, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your
assumption of the presidency of this session of the
General Assembly. Your character, distinguished career
and knowledge of current international affairs will
surely contribute to the management and success of our
work. I would like to convey Algeria’s full support for
your efforts in the course of your term of office. I also
pay tribute to your predecessor, my brother Ali
Abdussalam Treki, for his efforts and commitment to
the principles of multilateralism and respect for the
founding values of the Charter. Additionally, I wish to
express our satisfaction and gratitude to Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon for the breadth and quality of
the efforts which he has tirelessly exerted to add to the
role of the Organization in our joint quest to achieve
and strengthen its ideals.
Despite the recent emergence of some
encouraging signs of economic recovery, the world
continues to suffer from the aftermath of the financial
and economic crisis. The steps taken thus far to address
its most devastating effects and to relaunch the global
economic engine lead us to believe even more firmly
39 10-55122
that the best way to prevent worse crises from
occurring is to rethink global financial and economic
governance in a rational manner that leaves no room
for speculation and the vagaries of the market and that
serves as a fair model for developing countries.
The main trends in the world since the last
session have led us to examine the depth of the
economic crisis in the poorest countries, especially in
Africa. Crises such as this hamper progress in the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), notably in the areas of maternal and child
health and in combating poverty. It is important that
the international community respect its commitments
in the area of official development assistance and
provide recipient countries with additional assistance
so that they can achieve the Millennium Development
Goals. Several options could be explored in that
regard, some of which seem very promising to us. They
include debt moratoriums for developing countries that
have difficulty in paying their debts and easier access
to the markets of developed countries.
The fact that a high-level meeting on biodiversity
will take place in a few weeks’ time in Nagoya, Japan,
provides us with a valuable opportunity to launch an
urgent appeal requesting the international community
to mobilize to preserve the biological resources of our
planet, which are being threatened by unbridled
economic development that does not take future
generations into account. In that context, I would like
to stress the need to strengthen the role of the United
Nations in protecting biodiversity in developing
countries and in promoting North-South cooperation
that is mutually beneficial.
The issue of climate change presents another
considerable challenge for the international
community, given the manifold threats it poses to
ecosystems and economies. The limited and modest
results achieved in Copenhagen should serve to
encourage all States to redouble their efforts to make
progress at the next meeting of the Conference of the
Parties, to be held in Cancún, towards establishing a
legally binding agreement based on the Kyoto
Protocol’s Framework Convention.
No doubt due to climate change, the extreme
gravity of the natural phenomena that have lately
plunged Pakistan, Russia, China, India and other
countries into disaster means that we need to
restructure international mechanisms to respond to
natural disasters of this kind. On the basis of humanism
and solidarity, Algeria launches an appeal for a joint
international reflection on the best way to achieve
genuine comprehensive natural disaster management.
Countries that do not possess nuclear weapons,
such as Algeria, have the right to ask nuclear States to
truly embrace nuclear disarmament. The results of the
2010 eighth Review Conference of the Parties to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
constitute a positive step in that regard, thanks in
particular to the launching of a process that should give
rise to a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.
In order to rise to the multiple challenges
confronting international peace and security, the
Conference on Disarmament should make the most of
the favourable international circumstances and the
positive momentum generated by the results of the
2010 Review Conference to restart its work and
comply with its mandate. To that end, Algeria
continues to be committed to the effective relaunching
of the work of the Conference on Disarmament.
Algeria believes that the goals and contents of the
programme adopted in 2009 continue to be valid today
and could be the basis for the work of future sessions.
The issue of peace and security is also linked to
the exacerbation of terrorism and its links with
transnational organized crime, the taking of hostages
and trafficking in arms, drugs and human beings. My
country welcomes the adoption of resolution 1904
(2009), on criminalizing the payment of ransoms to
armed groups based on the principle that this
condemnable practice is a significant source of
financing for terrorism. Nevertheless, the international
community must still make considerable efforts to
eradicate this transnational threat, not just in the
context of comprehensive and systematic
implementation but also in the light of the increase in
hostage-taking by terrorists and the payment of
ransoms to them. This is an issue that must be
addressed with determination, strength and
responsibility.
Algeria calls on the international community to
act to prevent the criminal use of international satellite
images via the Internet. We believe that the
comprehensive treaty to combat terrorism, which
Algeria fully supports, will be a main factor in
checking piracy, once it has been adopted.
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With regard to respect for the principles
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, Algeria
fully participates in regional integration attempts as a
crucial element in combating international terrorism.
Algeria has launched several recent initiatives,
including an initiative to strengthen bilateral and
regional cooperation among States in our region in
order to bolster peace, security and development. It is
committed to pursuing common efforts to build the
Arab Maghreb union and endow it with dynamic
institutions to ensure that the project comes into being
as the ideal framework for economic cooperation and
complementarity in the region. It has also launched
Maghreb-wide economic and social programmes and
development projects to encourage regional
integration.
The Palestinian people, who continue to aspire to
build a viable State, are still held hostage by the
indecision of certain parties. That is being aggravated
by policies of aggression and unjust siege. We reiterate
our call to the international community to show resolve
and unity with regard to this conflict by bringing
pressure to bear on the occupation forces. We believe
that a definitive, comprehensive and just solution
requires the implementation of the Arab Peace
Initiative. In that context, on behalf of the Algerian
people and Government, I should like to express our
friendship and support to our Palestinian brothers.
Algeria would like to see an immediate halt to
settlements, the return of Palestinian refugees, the
return of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as the
capital of a Palestinian State and a return to the borders
of 4 June 1967. The other occupied Arab territories in
Lebanon and the Golan should also be returned.
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary of the
adoption of resolution 1514 (XV), which enshrined the
principle of freeing oppressed people from the yoke of
colonialism, we unfortunately continue to see that there
still exist Non-Self-Governing Territories whose
populations continue to aspire to self-determination. To
that end, and in keeping with our duties and
responsibilities, Algeria is willing to extend its full
support to the efforts of the United Nations and of
Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Christopher
Ross in order to resolve the Western Sahara conflict.
We express our adherence to the human rights
dimension of the issue and the need for it to be taken
into account by the Human Rights Council and other
international mechanisms in that area, in line with the
relevant provisions of the United Nations Charter, so as
to reach a just political solution that allows the people
of Western Sahara to exercise their right to self-
determination through a referendum. I reiterate my
country’s belief, in line with the view of the African
Union Summit held in Kampala, that there cannot be
an international justice system that operates at two
different speeds and focuses on a single region of the
world, for this issue poses a threat to regional peace
and security.
Algeria also rejects the imposition of
extraterritorial laws and rules and all forms of coercive
economic measures, including unilateral sanctions
against developing countries. In that regard, Algeria
reiterates the need to end the economic, commercial
and financial embargo that has been imposed against
the Cuban Government and people for more than half a
century.
The African Union has proclaimed 2010 the Year
of Peace and Security in Africa, as an expression of the
will of its member States to make every peaceful effort
to resolve all ongoing and new conflicts and crises on
our continent. We encourage the African Union to
integrate economically and politically so that it can
become a partner to reckon with in international
affairs.