Finland

One year after the terrible attacks of 11 September, we commemorate the innocent victims of those crimes. The best way we can honour their memory is by taking up and acting upon all the many-faceted challenges that terrorism and other threats pose to human security. The world has changed irrevocably, although we cannot as yet say exactly how. We do not even know if our immediate reaction a year ago has been successfully put to use to make the world a better and safer place in which to live. Afghanistan is no longer a base for global terrorism, and joint efforts to uproot terrorist networks are making progress, but the threat of new attacks has not been eliminated. At some stage we will also reach the limit of what can be done through military force and police action alone to stop terrorism. Even where the use of military force is clearly necessary and justified, as it was against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, it is never an adequate answer. In Afghanistan we are now faced with the need to use a full range of civilian crisis management capabilities, as well as with the need for a long-term commitment to reconstruction and the development of a stable and drug-free economy, and to enable democracy and respect for human rights to take root in a country that has suffered from war and strife for decades. And Afghanistan is only one of many places in today's world where such a commitment from the international community is needed. We must also come to grips with conditions in which some people can regard even terrorism as justified. To say that does not imply any understanding for indiscriminate terrorism. Terrorism is a crime whose perpetrators must be brought to justice irrespective of their motives. It is vitally important to underline the need to strengthen the rule of law. When terrorists attack democracy, humanity and justice, we should not and cannot fight it with means that are in conflict with those basic values that the terrorists are attacking. It is time to review frankly the measures taken after 11 25 September and to rectify any excesses that are not acceptable in societies based on freedom and justice. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been in gestation for many years, and its creation can be regarded as one of the major achievements of the United Nations. It was not created primarily to deal with terrorism, but the importance of the ICC has obviously grown, not diminished, since 11 September. The ICC is a long-standing goal of Finland and the European Union, and we must not allow it to be undermined. The ICC must not become an issue of international dispute. We must safeguard it as an effective and independent judicial institution so that we can convince those States that remain outside it to join us in making it truly universal. Terrorism is only one of many new threats to our security that are no longer linked to the threat of traditional war between nation-States. In a world where our entire national defence policies and our efforts to build collective security have been based on the need to wage or deter traditional war, we now need new and fresh thinking. It is not only that military power has become partly impotent in delivering security. It is also evident that we cannot contain these threats through isolation or by acting unilaterally. The United Nations and its Security Council have global responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Human lives are equally valuable all over the world. People in crisis situations need the protection and the action of the international community. Individual and minor crises can turn into major threats to international peace and security. Member States must give the United Nations the wherewithal that is necessary for meaningful action in preventing crises, managing conflicts and building peace after conflicts. Action needs true commitment to multilateralism, which must exceed national interests and unilateralism. Multilateralism cannot be exercised à la carte whenever convenient. Global interests require global action. An undeniable success story in the history of the United Nations is the Organization's peacekeeping activities. Countless lives have been saved by United Nations peacekeeping operations. But we know, too, that possibly even more lives have been lost if and when the United Nations has not been able or allowed to operate. The reason has been the lack of political will or the prevalence of national interests in the Security Council. I would like to reiterate that the Security Council is mandated to act on behalf of all Member States. The concept of peacekeeping has evolved considerably during the existence of the United Nations from purely military operations into versatile, complex and continuous efforts that extend in some cases to nation-building. A growing element in them is civilian crisis management. This should be further strengthened. Crisis management in its whole continuum should also be based on broad cooperation and compatibility. Present complex crises are often too demanding for any one organization to deal with. All regional organizations should work closely together with the United Nations and other organizations sharing the burden of maintaining international peace and security. The Middle East remains the region where our concerns are most concentrated. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has, if anything, worsened. We support all efforts of the “quartet” to get the peace process working again on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions. We support the Palestinian administration's effort at reform, which we have rightly demanded must be undertaken, and we expect a one- hundred-per-cent effort from it to stop all terrorist activities. At the same time, the Palestinians must be given the prospect of a clear commitment and a timetable for the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian State. The Palestinian administration has to be given the resources and conditions with which it can fulfil the requirements of what the international community demands of it and of what the Palestinian people have the right to expect. Without progress in the Middle East peace process, any military action in the region can have extremely dangerous and unforeseen consequences. It is imperative that efforts to get Iraq to abide unconditionally with all the resolutions of the Security Council remain the responsibility of the United Nations. When the United Nations was founded, the world's population was 2.4 billion. Now we are more than 6 billion, and population growth, while slowly levelling off, will bring that number to at least 10 billion before stabilizing. This is a huge challenge for mankind. We have only a few decades, at most, to 26 bring our economic, production and societal models to conform to the exigencies of sustainable development. But this is not only an environmental challenge. Nations and peoples must learn to live and to act together in an ever-shrinking world where no one can manage on his own. In a rapidly globalizing world, the need for keen international cooperation becomes all the more evident. Decisions taken in one part of the world have many effects elsewhere. This can quickly lead to an ever- widening gap and fragmentation between countries and within countries. Comprehensive implementation of the Millennium Declaration will make an important impact on narrowing that gap. A positive example of the means we can employ to meet the goals of the Declaration is the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which demonstrates the genuine desire of the African nations to take responsibility for their future. Finland attaches great importance to the implementation of NEPAD. Globalization has wealth-creating potential through the international division of labour and a more efficient use of resources. It can increase individual freedom and make societies more open. But, on the other hand, it is incontestable that globalization has not benefited everybody or every country in an equal manner. Globalization can bring risks and threats to the environment, core labour standards and trade unions, and it can challenge national and minority cultures. It can also be socially damaging. On the whole, however, globalization is not only inevitable but also potentially positive. The United Nations has an important role in managing and harnessing globalization for the benefit of all. We the Member States must fully participate in that work.