Nearly 66 years ago, in
1946, one of my predecessors was privileged to
represent Canada at the first session of the General
Assembly. It is an honour to follow in those footsteps
and to renew Canada’s commitment to the founding
principles of the United Nations, namely, to maintain
international peace and security; to prevent and
remove threats to peace; to suppress acts of aggression;
to respect the principle of equal rights and the self-
determination of peoples; to strengthen universal
peace; and to promote and encourage respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. This
Hall symbolizes the promise of humankind and what
we can accomplish by working together to uphold
those founding principles.
Yet, only a short distance from here is an entirely
different symbol - ground zero. The date 9/11 was a
stark reminder that evil exists, that life is fragile, that
freedom has enemies, and that the poison of radical
terrorism is all too real. It serves as a reminder that, as
far as humankind has advanced, threats to peace,
security and human dignity remain.
In that context, I wish to share reflections on
three areas: first, the principles that motivate Canada’s
approach to foreign policy; secondly, the basis for
Canada’s support of multilateral organizations and
multilateral action; and thirdly, a way forward for the
United Nations.
The founding principles of these United Nations
are more than mere words. It is our duty to pull them
from the printed page, to breathe life into them and to
practise them every day. In everyday practice, it is not
easy to uphold principles. It requires struggle and
sacrifice. Some pay the ultimate price.
The world remembers Secretary-General Dag
Hammarskjöld, who was killed 50 years ago this
month. We honour him for his integrity, his principles
and for his great courage in confronting power. We also
remember that it was Canada’s Prime Minister, John
Diefenbaker, who, just a year earlier, stood at this very
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rostrum to respond to unjust attacks against him.
Canada did not hesitate to defend the Office and the
person of the Secretary-General.
That is the Canadian tradition — standing for
what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is
popular, convenient or expedient. Over the past
century, the world was infected by a lethal combination
of utopian ideology and brutal despotism that spawned
totalitarian regimes that enslaved their own peoples.
Apologists tried to persuade us that the ideology of
Communism was benign. Canadians knew better. We
took a stand for freedom and fundamental human
rights. We stood against oppression in Germany and in
Ukraine. We stood with its brave people, and those of
the other captive nations of central and Eastern Europe.
Canada does not go along in order to get along.
We will go along only if we go in a direction that
advances Canada’s values: freedom, democracy, human
rights and the rule of law. Also, Canada would not go
along to support the farce of a major proliferator of
nuclear arms presiding over the Conference on
Disarmament. When North Korea relinquished the
presidency, we resumed our engagement in the
Conference. Canada’s tough economic sanctions
against that rogue regime remain in place, and we
continue to advocate and advance reform in how the
President of that important body is selected.
We would not go along with appeasement of the
former Al-Qadhafi regime, nor would we look the other
way when the Lockerbie mass murderer received a
hero’s welcome and the Colonel’s embrace. We would
not look the other way as the Al-Qadhafi regime,
blatantly disregarding human rights and the rule of law,
waged war on the people of Libya.
Canada backs our principles with action:
providing military support to NATO’s Operation
Unified Protector; recognizing the National Transitional
Council as Libya’s transitional Government; co-founding
the Libya Contact Group; and giving early, strong and
continuing support to the Libyan people’s struggle
against tyranny.
Canada would not simply go along or look
elsewhere when the Al-Assad regime started killing
Syrian men, women and children in a despicable and
desperate attempt to cling to power. We imposed tough
sanctions on the regime and its backers.
Canada will not go along with a double standard
that castigates some United Nations Members for
alleged failings, while ignoring the notorious abuses of
others. We supported the aspirations of those peoples
who sought brighter futures for themselves and their
countries during the Arab spring that has just passed.
However, we will not go along with the unilateral
actions of the Palestinian Authority. Just a few days
ago, the Quartet laid the foundation for a return to
negotiation. Our Government’s position has been
clear — the only solution to the issue is one that is
negotiated by the two parties themselves. We continue
to encourage both sides to accept those principles and
to return to direct talks, based on a two-State solution,
without delay or precondition.
We uphold Israel’s right to exist. We uphold its
fundamental right, like any Member State, to defend
innocent civilians against acts of terrorism. Just as
Fascism and Communism were the great struggles of
previous generations, terrorism is the great struggle of
ours. Far too often, the Jewish State is on the front line
in our struggle and its people are the victims of terror.
Canada will not accept or stay silent while the
Jewish State is attacked for defending its territory and
its citizens. The Second World War taught us all the
tragic price of going along just to get along. It was
accommodation and appeasement that allowed Fascism
to gather strength. As Winston Churchill said, an
appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will
eat him last.
We respect State sovereignty, but Canada will not
go along or look the other way when a minority is
denied its human rights or fundamental freedoms. It is
our common duty to uphold the rights of the afflicted
and to give a voice to the voiceless.
As citizens of the global community, we have a
solemn duty to defend the vulnerable, to challenge
aggression and to protect and promote human rights
and human dignity, at home and abroad: women,
Christians, Baha’i and other victims of persecution in
Iran; Roman Catholic priests, other Christian clergy
and their laity, driven to worship underground in
China; Christians being driven out of Iraq by Al-Qaida;
and Copts being assaulted and killed in Egypt. In
Burma, the regime discriminates against several forms
of Buddhism and restricts the activities of Muslims. In
other places, the Ahmadiyya community faces real
violence. Gays and lesbians are threatened with the
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criminalization of their sexuality in Uganda, and other
minorities are subjected to persecution, oppression or
violence. Our nationalities are many but we share one
humanity.
I am pleased to report that Canada will be
creating an office of religious freedom within our
Government at the heart of my own Department. The
office will promote freedom of religion and of
conscience as key objectives of Canadian foreign
policy. The long history of humankind has proved that
religious freedom and democratic freedom are
inseparable. As Franklin Roosevelt observed on the eve
of global war,
“[w]here freedom of religion has been attacked,
the attack has come from sources opposed to
democracy. Where democracy has been
overthrown, the spirit of free worship has
disappeared. And where religion and democracy
have vanished, good faith and reason in
international affairs have given way to strident
ambition and brute force”.
That brings me to Canada’s support of
multilateral institutions and multilateral action. Some
years ago, a former Secretary-General referred to
enlightened multilateralism as the guarantor, not the
enemy, of State sovereignty and the integrity of State.
State sovereignty is not created by multilateral
institutions. Instead, multilateral institutions exist and
derive legitimacy from the independent decisions of
sovereign States.
Canada’s position in that regard was explained by
our Prime Minister just last year. Referring to
multilateral action to address the world economic
crisis, Stephen Harper said that he saw world
leadership, at its best, as a glimpse of a hopeful future
where we act together for the good of all; the world we
have been trying to build since 1945; the world we
want for our children and for our grandchildren. It can
be done if we act together.
Enlightened sovereignty, multilateral institutions
and multilateral action result from a collection of
sovereign decisions based on individual States’ own
interests, not narrow self-interest in sovereignty’s
name, but an expanded view of mutual interest in
which there is room for all to grow and for all to
prosper. Canada calls that enlightened sovereignty. It is
the natural extension of enlightened self-interest.
As Canada’s Prime Minister noted when he
addressed the General Assembly last year, the United
Nations Charter is animated by “the idea that what is
good for others may well be the best way to pursue
one’s own interests” (A/65/PV.11, p. 46) — in other
words, enlightened sovereignty.
The world knows that we can accomplish great
things by working together. This year, collective action
under United Nations sanction helped to limit the loss
of life in Libya and ultimately ended a criminal,
illegitimate regime’s war on the people whom it
claimed to represent. Canada was tremendously proud
to take part in its demise. Our Royal Canadian Air
Force flew 10 per cent of the total strike sorties against
Al-Qadhafi’s forces and our Royal Canadian Navy
helped enforce the maritime blockade.
Canada has paid heavily, both in dollar terms and
in a costly human toll, to fulfil our United Nations
obligation to support the lawful Government of
Afghanistan. We used our chairmanship of the Group
of Eight to reach out to leaders from Africa and the
Americas and to secure an agreement to enact the
Muskoka Initiative for maternal, newborn and child
health.
That progress will help to meet the Millennium
Development Goal of reducing the appalling mortality
among mothers and children in developing countries.
Working with like-minded nations, Canada continues
to make significant financial contributions towards
peace, humanitarian assistance, development aid and
security in the Sudans. Collective action does not mean
uniformity.
For example, Canada works closely with like-
minded countries to advance human rights and
democracy in Burma. At the same time, we imposed
the toughest sanctions in the world against that
country’s repressive military regime. Similarly, when
Canada placed strong restrictions on Syria’s current
regime, we acted independently, but in close
consultation and cooperation with other nations.
In the defence of freedom and human rights, form
cannot prevail over substance. The determinant is
which route produces the best results. While
multilateral action should be preferred, failure to
achieve consensus must not prevent the willing from
acting to uphold human rights and the founding
principles of the United Nations.
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Margaret Thatcher was once reported to have said
that “consensus seems to be the process of abandoning
all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is
something in which no one believes”. That leads to my
third topic — the challenges to the relevance and the
effectiveness of this important Organization.
Canada has been a consistently reliable and
responsible participant in United Nations initiatives
around the world. We are the seventh largest
contributor to United Nations finances. The citizens of
the world deserve that the United Nations abide by the
same principles observed by so many Governments of
Member States: accountability, transparency and
ethics; financial responsibility and fiscal austerity;
efficiency and the elimination of waste and
duplication; regular reviews to sunset unnecessary,
redundant and obsolete mandates; and zero tolerance
for conflicts of interest, fraud and corruption.
Yet, the challenges faced by this Organization
extend beyond financial probity and operational
effectiveness. This Organization is a forum for debate
and dialogue, but it must also be a force for positive
action to make the world a better place. As a former
Canadian Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, told this
Assembly during his defence of the world’s persecuted
minorities: “We are not here in this Assembly to win
wars of propaganda. We are here to win victories for
peace.” (A/PV.871, para. 225)
The relevance and effectiveness of the United
Nations are imperilled when the founding principles
are observed in word but not in deed. Such is the case
when the presidency of the Conference on
Disarmament passes to a regime involved in the illicit
transfers of weapons, material and technology; or when
Iran, which mocks the values of this Organization
through such outrages as refusing to allow entry to
United Nations observers on human rights, is permitted
to seek leadership roles, such as the vice-presidency of
the General Assembly and a seat on the Commission on
Population and Development; or when objection is
taken on petty, procedural or process-based grounds to
reporting that speaks about credible allegations of war
crimes committed in Sri Lanka; or when blatant
violators of women’s rights are welcomed to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, often despite
reservations that are incompatible with the object and
purpose of the very Convention.
Canada has consistently opposed the debasement
of multilateral institutions by conduct that is
inconsistent with their values. For example, this year
marks the fiftieth anniversary of Canada’s principled
refusal to support membership in the Commonwealth
of Nations by South Africa’s then apartheid regime.
The greatest enemies of the United Nations are
not those who publicly repudiate its actions. The
greatest enemies of the United Nations are those who
quietly undermine its principles or, even worse, who sit
idly, watching its slow decline. We cannot sit idly.
Canada is a vigorous defender of freedom,
democracy and the rule of law. As our Prime Minister
remarked earlier this month,
“we are not a country that makes war for gain or
for territory. We do not fight for glory. If we
covet honour, it is only a reputation for doing the
right thing in a good cause”.
That is all. That is enough. If I may be so bold,
that is why the countries of the world came together in
the United Nations - to do the right thing in a good
cause. The cause is peace, justice, freedom and
opportunity for all.