Ireland

I congratulate the Mr. Jan Kavan on his election as President of the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly. I look forward to working closely with him as the Czech Republic, a good friend of my country, moves ever closer to membership in the European Union. Our thanks are due to Mr. Han Seung-soo for his work as President of the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly. I am delighted to welcome Switzerland as a new Member of the Organization and look forward to the imminent membership of East Timor, a nation whose birth was fostered by this Organization. Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark has already addressed the General Assembly on behalf of the European Union. Ireland associates itself fully with his remarks. We are all still haunted, a year later, by the shadow of the terrible deaths and events of 11 September 2001. Last year in the delayed general debate, I spoke about the implications of those atrocities. I set out my thoughts on how we as the international community should respond. My conclusions last year and my message today are the same. The United Nations is at the centre of our system of collective security. It is a mirror of our determination and our political will. This is the world body invested by the peoples of the world with unique legitimacy and unique authority. Around the world people look in hope and idealism to the United Nations. We must be worthy of that trust. I want to fully endorse the Secretary-General's address to the Assembly yesterday. As the Secretary- General said, All States have a clear interest, as well as a clear responsibility, to uphold international law and maintain international order' (see A/57/PV.2). States must honour their international obligations. Unless we consistently call to account those who defy or flagrantly violate their obligations, our system will be discredited. The choice we face is stark. Either we stand by and strengthen the international system and the rule of law, or we invite anarchy. The great Irish poet W. B. Yeats put it graphically in The Second Coming': Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world'. That was what the perpetrators of 11 September wanted. Their vicious attack was not just on the innocent people of many nationalities, including my own in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania; not just on the United States; but on the very values we cherish and that are the foundation on which this Organization is built. They will have succeeded if we are provoked into abandoning those values and laws. Ultimately they can be defeated, and the scourge of international terror ended, only if we stand united in defence of our international obligations and the rule of law. Within our system, the Security Council is charged with responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. When there are threats to international peace and security, the Member States concerned are obliged to bring these matters to the attention of the Security Council. When the Security Council acts in such cases, all Member States are obliged to implement its resolutions. Regrettably, they sometimes fail to do so. Any law that is flagrantly violated becomes weakened over time. That is why flagrant violation and defiance of Security Council resolutions should be a matter of the utmost concern to all Member States. The terrorist attacks of 11 September required an urgent response from the international community. It was vital that the Security Council was at the centre of the international community's response. The Council, to quote the Secretary-General, responded with patience, creativity and determination'. The Security Council adopted resolution 1368 (2001), demanding the fullest possible cooperation of the international community in bringing the perpetrators to justice. It subsequently authorized the deployment of an international security force to Afghanistan. It put in place measures to counter international terrorism. 30 The establishment by the Security Council of the Counter-Terrorism Committee to oversee the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001) was a landmark development. Its work has been instrumental in making it more difficult for international terrorist networks to organize and finance their activities. Continued persistence and vigilance are required. We still have much more to do. We must make it impossible for the agents of international terror to operate. We must persevere with initiatives such as the freezing of assets and the denial of safe haven. At the same time, we must ensure that everything we do respects the United Nations Charter and the body of international human rights law we have so painstakingly constructed. That is our best guarantee against evil and its perpetrators. In his address to the General Assembly yesterday, the Secretary-General also correctly identified four serious current threats to world peace. First, on the Middle East, there can be no doubt that there is a need for greater urgency in the efforts to bring an end to the conflict. The vision of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 1397 (2002) must be implemented. For far too long the Palestinian people have been denied their legitimate rights. Today they exist in a state of deep impoverishment. Ireland strongly believes that in order to reach a settlement that will give the Israeli people the security they deserve and that will give the Palestinian people their legitimate rights and sovereignty, the parties must move forward. They must in particular address not just the security issues but also the economic and humanitarian needs of Palestinians, and they must establish a concrete target for a political settlement. For its part, the European Union, working closely with the United Nations, the United States and Russia through the quartet', will continue to encourage and assist the parties to end the conflict and move towards a permanent peace. This conflict has been an ongoing source of suffering for the peoples of the region and also a focal point of instability for the rest of the world. It remains a threat of the utmost gravity to international peace and security. We can and must give it the highest priority. Secondly, the Secretary-General mentioned Iraq. Iraq has been in violation of Security Council resolutions, in particular on arms inspection, for some considerable time. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been engaged in serious efforts to encourage Iraq to comply with its obligations under those Security Council resolutions. We will continue to strongly support his good offices. Let us express wholehearted agreement with the call by the Secretary-General for Iraq to comply with its obligations for the sake of its own people and for the sake of world order. If Iraq's defiance continues, the Security Council must face its responsibilities. We call on Iraq to respect its obligations and to implement in full and without preconditions all the Security Council resolutions addressed to it. The weapons inspectors must be allowed in to do the work authorized by the Council. Iraq's leadership has it within its own power to end the current predicament and to alleviate the great hardship on its people. It should do so without delay. Thirdly, it is essential for the international community to maintain its strong and active support for the people and the Government of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has come through great trials over the past year. We should not overlook the fact that, despite the best efforts of the international coalition to ensure that the use of force was targeted and proportionate, many innocent Afghans have died. We should remember them, too, in our thoughts and prayers. Ultimately, they are just as much victims of the terrorist groups who carried out the attacks of 11 September as those who were murdered in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Considerable progress has been achieved in Afghanistan with the help of the international community. There are clear signs that, overall, the quality of life is improving. Nonetheless, there is still a long way to go if Afghanistan is completely to escape the violence and instability of the past. The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains acute. The sustained and wholehearted support of the international community remains essential, therefore, if progress is to be maintained. For its part, Ireland has been active in the Security Council, particularly in highlighting the humanitarian situation. We have pledged $12 million over the next three years, the majority of which has 31 already been dispensed. We are also contributing personnel to the international stabilization force. Fourthly, as regards India and Pakistan, we welcome the decrease in tension between these two countries. The risk of open conflict between two nuclear-capable countries is a matter of the utmost concern to all of us. We encourage the leaders of India and Pakistan to address the underlying causes that give rise to the potential for conflict. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction chemical, biological and nuclear is, of course, an issue that goes far beyond Iraq. They represent a major threat to international peace and security. The international instruments and regimes to control the spread, and bring about the elimination, of such weapons must be strengthened and fully implemented. Ultimately, the long-term control and elimination of weapons of mass destruction can be achieved only through a comprehensive and rigorous system of international treaties and obligations that are verifiable and universal. Ireland, together with our New Agenda partners, will continue its efforts in this regard during this year's session of the General Assembly. We call on all States that are concerned about these issues to become more constructively engaged in the period ahead. All of us recognize that conflict prevention, not just conflict resolution, is the central challenge facing the United Nations. Poverty, inequality and injustice are all too often the breeding ground for instability and for threats to peace. They are an affront to the international conscience. We must tackle the injustices that all too often allow conflict situations to develop. Our challenge is to show that there is a peaceful and legitimate way of dealing with these problems. It is only through the development of integrated strategies that address the underlying causes of conflict poverty, injustice and the abuse of fundamental rights and freedoms that the international community can bring about long-term peace and stability. The Millennium Summit Declaration confirmed the commitment of the world's leadership to tackling the root causes of conflict. The Secretary-General has since called for the United Nations to move from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention. Ireland fully supports the implementation of the Secretary- General's report on conflict prevention (A/55/985). The United Nations must be equipped with the necessary tools to develop coherent conflict-prevention policies. Let us commit ourselves to supporting the Secretary-General in his ongoing reform initiatives. We must revitalize the General Assembly so that it can play its proper role. Let us re-engage on reform of the Security Council so that it reflects modern geopolitical realities. We need a Security Council which is as representative as possible of the international community, while being in a position to function efficiently, and we must provide the United Nations with sufficient resources to meet its responsibilities. Sustainable development focused on poverty eradication is the most powerful instrument which the international community has to address the long-term root causes of conflict and to promote peace. Let us also remind ourselves of the international community's long-standing commitment to meeting the United Nations target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national product on overseas development assistance. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, my Prime Minister, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, confirmed Ireland's commitment to meet that target by 2007. Let us restate our commitment to providing universal access to basic health care. We must be relentless in the campaign to eliminate diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The spread of those diseases threatens to undermine our development programmes. We must step up our efforts to eradicate them. We must aim for the targets set out in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted by the General Assembly in June 2001. We must ensure that the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is adequately resourced. The Johannesburg Summit agreed upon a global comprehensive action plan for sustainable development which will help guide our policies and programmes in the coming years. The Summit Declaration's commitment on sustainable development has the potential to make an important contribution to conflict prevention, particularly in Africa. Effective conflict prevention is also about putting necessary structures in place. The Brahimi report on United Nations peace operations (A/55/305) acknowledged the pressing need to establish both long- term and short-term conflict prevention strategies. I would like to reiterate Ireland's support for the 32 Secretary-General's initiatives and for the role that United Nations peacekeeping has to play in an integrated conflict prevention strategy. Peacekeeping is at the heart of Ireland's contribution to the United Nations. We are immensely proud of the contribution which Irish personnel have made to United Nations peacekeeping. We reserve a special place in our hearts for those who have given their lives in the service of the United Nations. This was demonstrated once again in a moving ceremony which was held to mark the standing down of the Irish battalion from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon after 24 years of service. As a member of the European Union, Ireland welcomes the deepening cooperation between the European Union and the United Nations on conflict prevention and peacekeeping. This will be given further concrete expression when the European Union takes over the United Nations police operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina next January. Respect for human rights is a core dimension in conflict prevention. This is the very foundation on which peace and security surely depend. Human rights must be integrated into all United Nations activities. The entry into force of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court sends a clear signal of determination to bring to justice those who perpetrate genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. I would urge those who have not ratified the Rome Statute to do so. The international community is at its strongest when it stands unified, bound together by the strength of the rule of law. I would like to take the opportunity presented by this address to the General Assembly to pay tribute to Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, who has just completed her term as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. We are deeply proud of her achievements. We know that she will continue to be a fearless champion of the universality of human rights. Turning to the situation in Northern Ireland, we have seen substantial progress across the key areas of implementation of the Good Friday Agreement since I last addressed this Assembly. The political institutions of the Agreement are operating on a positive and inclusive basis, bringing tangible benefits across the board. An independent international commission has overseen two acts of arms decommissioning by the Irish Republican Army. The Patten Commission report's vision of a new beginning for policing in Northern Ireland is being progressively realized. I call on all to fully play their part in laying a foundation for and strengthening the new policing arrangements. Welcome progress has been made in normalizing security arrangements on the ground. However, more needs to be done, and we need to see further early progress, especially in the South Armagh area. The considerable record of achievement, however, has not made us complacent about the difficulties and challenges that remain. The level of street violence in the interface areas of Belfast and the sectarian attacks on vulnerable households, for instance, have given us all cause for serious concern. These have had a corrosive effect on community confidence. They need to be addressed urgently in all their dimensions, including through effective policing measures leading to convictions. The Irish and British Governments remain absolutely committed to the Good Friday Agreement and to its implementation in full. Its core principles constitutional stability based on consent, partnership politics, inclusive political institutions and structured North-South cooperation on the island of Ireland represent the only viable basis for a workable political accommodation. In short, the Agreement, which has been much praised and admired by States Members of the Assembly, continues to be the only template for political progress in Northern Ireland. Before concluding, I would like to refer briefly to Ireland's membership of the Security Council, which comes to an end on 31 December 2002. Ireland's experience as a member of the Council has strongly reinforced our belief in the system of collective global security. The central role of the Security Council in the aftermath of 11 September 2001 underlined the importance of its role as guardian of international peace and security. It must now build on that achievement. Ireland has, I believe, made a substantive contribution to the work of the Council. We will seek to continue to do so in the remaining months of our term. Our mission in the United Nations is to continually strive for a world that is fair and just. This can best be done through our system of collective security, through international economic and social development and through respect for human rights and international law. If we can commit ourselves to respect the decisions of the Security Council and all 33 our other international obligations, then innocent lives can be saved and seemingly interminable conflicts resolved. We have the methods and the means to peaceably resolve the dangers that threaten us. It should not be beyond our talent and resources to achieve this. But to do so, we need to assert the core values of multilateralism in particular, and its capacity to achieve, for all our people, a better and safer world.