Let me begin by
praising His Excellency Mr. Nassir Abdelaziz
Al-Nasser for his steady stewardship as the President
of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly. In
his work he can count on the constructive engagement
of the Bulgarian delegation. Allow me also personally
to praise him for the theme he has chosen for this
session. I also take this opportunity to pay tribute to his
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss, for his
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outstanding leadership of the previous session’s busy
agenda. Last but not least, let me congratulate the
Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his
reappointment to the helm of the United Nations. He
has proven himself to be a diligent, hard-working
leader who believes strongly in consensus and
harmony, qualities that the United Nations needs now
in its top administrator and will undoubtedly need even
more in years to come.
I begin by welcoming the work of delegations at the
United Nations High-level Meeting on non-communicable
diseases. Cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic
respiratory diseases and diabetes are now responsible
for more deaths than all other causes combined.
Bulgaria welcomes the negotiated final document.
More than 80 per cent of cardiovascular and diabetes
deaths, almost 90 per cent of deaths from chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease and more than two
thirds of all cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-
income countries. Bulgaria also particularly welcomes
the High-level Meeting on nuclear safety and security.
The effects of nuclear accidents have no respect for
national borders. To adequately safeguard our people
we must have firm international consensus and action,
as well as agreement on stringent international safety
standards.
Today we stand on the doorstep of historic
change in the Middle East, the scale of which can only
be compared to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
sweeping transformation of Central and Eastern Europe
after the end of communism. Both processes are quite
different but share a fundamental similarity — people
have come out of the bondage of fear. Although the
circumstances in each country are different, the root
causes for what is happening in the Middle East are
quite similar. Corrupt leadership breeds dissent, and
with no democratic process in place, that dissent pours
out on to the streets. Young people want to be engaged
in the future of their countries, not forced into a world
of virtual reality by frowning aging dictators. Millions
of people who live on the brink of poverty and see a
privileged few reap the benefits of economic freedom
will demand fair economic opportunities for all.
Add to that the feeling of revival and the demand
of millions of young Arabs to be respected, and you
have the makings of a revolution of Arab dignity and
self-respect, an historic revolution indeed. As change
swept across the Middle East and North Africa, some
leaders cringed in fear, others embraced it. Those who
opposed their people are no longer in positions of
power, and their countries are moving on and looking
to democratic elections. Those who embraced change
have initiated far-reaching reforms and responded to
the legitimate demands of their people. His Majesty
King Abdullah II of Jordan and His Majesty King
Mohammed VI of Morocco should to be commended
for their vision and willingness to reform. They have
shown the way forward.
At the same time, the international community
has been appalled by the developments in Syria.
Instead of responding to the legitimate demands of the
Syrian people for the fulfilment of promised reforms,
the Government cracked down violently on protesters.
The protesters did not have unrealistic demands. They
did not ask for anything out of the ordinary. According
to the United Nations more than 2,600 people have
been killed since March. The Government in Damascus
questions those numbers. Even if only one person had
been killed, it would have been one person too many.
The responsibility for repression lies squarely
with the authorities and no one else. I use this
opportunity to call on President Al-Assad, who has
made many promises to his people and the
international community, to come out from the
shadows, change the Constitution, dismantle the
machinery of repression and immediately call for
internationally supervised elections. The people of
Syria have the right to elect their own Government and
hold it accountable. The time for transition has come.
At this session we welcomed the 193rd Member
of the United Nations. Our hearts go out to the people
of South Sudan, who have struggled for independence,
and we commend the visionary leadership of their
Government for paving the way for their independence
in a peaceful manner. We also welcomed the new
representatives of a free Libya, free from the
oppression of the Al-Qadhafi dictatorship. It was at the
gates of Benghazi in February that the international
community, acting on a mandate of the United Nations
Security Council, acted swiftly to prevent a massacre
and protect civilians against attacks from their own
Government.
The people of Libya proved that they could stand
up and defend their right to freedom. Our thoughts go
out to the families of all those who lost their lives in
this struggle and fell victim to the crazed ambitions of
a deluded dictator. Bulgaria stands ready to assist the
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people of Libya in rebuilding their country. Our
friendship is strong and has been tested through the
years.
We know at first hand the brutality that
Al-Qadhafi was capable of. The five Bulgarian nurses
and a doctor who spent eight years of their lives in a
Libyan jail, much of it on death row, are still haunted
by their tortures. Let me quote one of them who
recently said in an interview, “We died every time the
cell door opened.” Now safely back home, they need to
be able to close that chapter of their nightmares. Like
the nurses, innocent victims of a brutal dictatorship,
the Libyan people do want to see justice, not revenge.
Such justice will be sought when the dictator and his
cronies are brought before a court of law.
No matter how successful we are individually we
cannot truly enjoy the fruits of our own development if
we live in an insecure environment. Regional
cooperation and good-neighbourly relations are vital
for the well-being of our countries and our societies.
Let me turn briefly to the Balkans.
The European Union was created to make war
impossible in a continent that has seen at least a
century of conflicts. Europe will not be whole and
complete until our neighbours in the Balkans are part
of our Union. It falls to us to say it loud and clear: to
make war impossible in the Balkans we must see all
countries that have emerged from the former
Yugoslavia as part of the European Union. That is our
historic mission. It is our destiny. That is why we will
continue to work tirelessly to remove the obstacles to
European Union enlargement in the Balkans, to
strengthen regional cooperation and develop good-
neighbourly relations in a region that has seen too
much division and violence.
With particular vigour, we will continue to
encourage the European Union-facilitated dialogue
between Belgrade and Pristina. Bulgaria welcomes the
pragmatic approach taken by both Kosovo and Serbia
during their first meetings. It is important that they
build on this momentum and continue to engage in a
constructive and pragmatic manner. All must show
restraint and prevent the build-up of tension. That is
vital for the security, prosperity and, ultimately, the
European perspective of the region.
Bulgaria is a country that has a proud and
turbulent history. Our history teaches us that nations
are strong when their civic spirit is strong. It teaches us
that you must find pride not only in great historic
battles and ancient legends but in great feats of civic
activism, in standing up for your values and protecting
your neighbours. One such inspiring example is the
fact that the Jews of Bulgaria survived the Second
World War because hundreds of religious and
community leaders, politicians, ordinary men and
women, stood up and refused to be part of Hitler’s
madness. My country today is the product of the
traditions of Christians, Jews and Muslims, who all
form the fabric of the Bulgarian nation. That is our
richness and makes us quite unique in the Balkans.
That is why we cannot remain uninterested in
developments in the Middle East, particularly with
regard to the elusive prospects for peace between the
people of Israel and the people of Palestine.
Over the course of the past year, we have seen the
tireless efforts of the United States Administration and
the European Union High Representative for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy, Mrs. Catherine Ashton,
trying to find a way to resume direct negotiations.
Those efforts, including the agreed Quartet statement
of today, need to be applauded, encouraged and
supported by all. It was in the United Nations in 1947
that the State of Israel was born. It was born as a home
for the Jewish people, a beacon of hope for a
community that had been persecuted and oppressed for
thousands of years. Today, the landscape is changing.
Slowly but surely the region is moving towards
democracy. Democracy, accountable government and
the rule of law are ultimately in the long-term interests
of all, Jews and Muslims, Arabs and Israelis.
The Palestinian people have a right to a State of
their own. Indeed we, the international community,
have an obligation to support the establishment of a
viable and democratic Palestinian State in the West
Bank and Gaza: a Palestine that lives side-by-side with
the State of Israel, a Palestine that lives in security and
mutual recognition with the State of Israel, a Palestine
that has secure borders based on the 1967 lines with
mutually agreed land swaps.
Both Palestine, as the home of the Palestinian
people, and Israel, as the home of the Jewish people,
must guarantee that all ethnic and religious groups
have full rights and protection under law. Let me also
make one point very clear. To refuse the right of Israel
to exist means to refuse the right of the Palestinian
people to have a State of their own. I can accept
criticism of the policies of any Government but I
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cannot stand idly by when the right of existence is
denied to anyone, no matter what their religion or
ethnicity is. To dismiss the importance of such policies
would mean to fail the very values of our civilization.
Bulgaria will never accept that, nor should any other
nation in the global community.
Bulgaria believes very strongly that the definitive
solution to peace can only come through direct
negotiations, but direct negotiations can resume only
on the basis of trust and a real understanding of the
security concerns and legitimate aspirations of both
sides. Rebuilding trust between both parties is a
prerequisite to resuming negotiations. Unilateral
action, changing the realities on the ground cannot be a
substitute for negotiations.
Obstacles should be overcome, and preconditions
should be removed. If the leaders of Palestine believe
that the settlement policy is an obstacle to peace, the
leaders of Israel must refrain from such activities in
order to give peace a chance. If the leaders of Israel
believe that no preconditions to a final settlement
should be put in place, then the Palestinian leaders
must refrain from such actions to give peace a chance.
Bulgaria recognized the Palestinian State in 1988.
We hold our friendship with both Israel and the
Palestinian people dear. That is why we urge the
immediate resumption of negotiations as the only road
to peace. Bringing both sides to the negotiating table
remains our top priority. I am sure that the United
States, working in concert with the European Union,
can facilitate this process based on a vision outlined by
President Obama.
Allow me to turn briefly to my delegation’s
vision for the kind of leadership, the kind of United
Nations we need for the next decade. An Organization
created by 51 Member States functions today with
193 Members.
In order for the United Nations to be adequate to
the challenges facing it today its institutions need to be
reformed, first and foremost in the composition of the
United Nations main body that guarantees international
peace and security. We must build on the progress
achieved so far in the negotiations on Security Council
reform and move the process to a more results-oriented
phase. Bulgaria considers that enlargement of the Council’s
two categories of permanent and non-permanent members
is one option that enjoys the support of a considerable
number of delegations. The increase in the number of
non-permanent seats should provide for a just
representation of the Eastern European Group, whose
membership has more than doubled over the past two
decades.
Transparency is impossible without
accountability. First, the United Nations must be
accountable to its Member States through a continued
striving to improve management and the enforcement
of strict budgetary discipline, especially in the current
period of economic turmoil. We, the Member States,
must also be accountable to the United Nations by
fulfilling all our commitments, including by paying our
financial contributions to the Organization fully,
unconditionally and on time — a principle that
Bulgaria upholds and adheres to closely.
We all also need to be accountable to future
generations for our actions. It is easy to speak of
sustainable development, but at the moment we are not
even remotely close to making it a reality. On the
contrary, the damage we have done to the planet’s
geology, climate and ecosystems for most of the last
century is so significant that scientists are increasingly
asserting that the human race has actually managed to
push the Earth much faster than usual into a new,
possibly more unstable and dangerous geological
period.
We need both wise and courageous leadership
from the United Nations in our efforts to guarantee
peace and security — wise, so as to avoid the
temptation to use force when it seems to get results
faster than mediation and negotiation, and courageous,
to take responsibility when the use of force is a must.
The United Nations will benefit much from
strengthening its cooperation with regional security
organizations. The cooperation with the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization in Afghanistan is an excellent
example. International support has to continue beyond
2014 for Afghanistan. We were all saddened by the
brutal murder of a great Afghan leader, former
President Rabbani. His work must inspire us to
continue supporting the Afghan Government’s efforts
to achieve reconciliation and reintegration.
It is high time for bold and decisive actions in the
field of disarmament and non-proliferation as well. It is
the legal and moral obligation of all of us to honour the
commitments undertaken under the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the
outcome document of the 2010 Review Conference. A
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strengthened and robust NPT regime is in the interest
of all States, especially with the growing risk of
non-State actors getting access to weapons of mass
destruction. All States Parties, including the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are bound by
the NPT regime. Leaving the NPT should not be
without consequences. Cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also
essential. As long as Iran continues not to provide
greater transparency with regard to of its nuclear
activities, the concerns of the international community
will remain valid. Full compliance with Security
Council resolutions and with the provisions of the
IAEA safeguards agreement is crucial for a diplomatic
solution of this case.
The sad anniversary of the 11 September 2001
attacks in New York, which we commemorated this
year, the more recent tragic events in Oslo, the terrorist
attacks in Mumbai and other cities of the world prove
that terrorism is a global cancer that does not
discriminate against developed or developing countries
and societies. Its eradication requires decisive action.
The successful conclusion of the negotiations on the
comprehensive convention on international terrorism
has Bulgaria’s full support.
I began my statement by focusing on the
challenge of tackling non-communicable diseases.
Human suffering caused by various illnesses is further
exacerbated owing to the effects of the series of global
crises in food, finance and energy and the threats
associated with climate change. Taken together, these
and other new challenges impede progress towards the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
We must be twice as vigilant as we have been until
now. Our world today faces challenges that will shape
its tomorrow. We need to be able to meet these
challenges in a bold manner, with a clear vision for the
future, and tackle them together as a global community
of nations.