I have the pleasure of congratulating you, Sir,
on your election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. I assure you of the
full and sincere collaboration of the Holy See. I also
congratulate the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
who during this session, on 1 January 2012, will begin
his second term.
I would also like to cordially welcome the
delegation of South Sudan, which became the
193rd Member State of the Organization last July.
Every year, the general debate offers the
opportunity to address the principal questions that
concern humanity in search of a better future for all.
The challenges facing the international community are
many and difficult. They bring ever more clearly in
focus the profound interdependence within the family
of nations, which sees in the United Nations an
important agent, despite its limitations, for identifying
and implementing solutions to major international
problems.
Without attempting an exhaustive survey, my
delegation wishes to reflect on a few of the priority
challenges so that the concept of the family of nations
can increasingly take shape.
The first challenge is a humanitarian one. It calls
the whole international community — or better, the
family of nations — to look after its weakest members.
In certain parts of the world, such as the Horn of
Africa, we are, sadly, facing grave humanitarian
emergencies that force millions of people — the
majority women and children — to leave their homes,
large numbers of them being victims of drought,
famine and malnutrition.
The Holy See renews its appeal to the
international community, expressed many times by
Pope Benedict XVI, to amplify and support
humanitarian policies in those areas and to work to
concretely address the various factors that amplify
their vulnerability.
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These humanitarian emergencies make clear the
need to find innovative ways to put to work the
principle of the responsibility to protect, at the base of
which is the recognition of the unity of the human
family and the innate dignity of every man and every
woman. As is known, that principle points to the
responsibility of the international community to
intervene in situations in which Governments on their
own cannot — or do not wish to — comply with their
primary responsibility to protect their populations
against grave violations of human rights and the effects
of humanitarian crises. If States are no longer capable
of guaranteeing that protection, the international
community must intervene with the juridical means
foreseen in the United Nations Charter and other
international instruments.
However, it must be recalled that there is a risk
that that principle may be invoked in certain
circumstances as a pretext to use military force. It is
good to recall that even the use of force in keeping
with the United Nations rules should be a temporary
solution, a true emergency measure, accompanied and
followed by a concrete commitment to pacification.
For that reason, in taking up the challenge of the
responsibility to protect, we must engage in a deeper
search for the means to prevent and manage conflicts,
exploring all possible diplomatic avenues through
negotiation and constructive dialogue, noting and
encouraging even the weakest signs of willingness to
negotiate or desire for reconciliation on the part of the
parties involved.
The responsibility to protect must be thought of
not as military intervention alone — which should
always be the last recourse — but above all as a
requirement that the international community be united
in facing crises. It must create forums for genuine,
sincere negotiations, support the moral force of law,
seek the common good and encourage Governments,
civil society and public opinion to find the causes of
and offer solutions to crises of all kinds. I must act in
close collaboration and solidarity with the affected
populations and place above all else the integrity and
security of all citizens.
It is therefore important that the responsibility to
protect, understood in that sense, should be the
criterion and motivation that underlies all the work of
States and of the United Nations to restore peace,
security and the human rights. Moreover, the long and
generally successful history of peacekeeping
operations and the more recent initiatives in
peacebuilding can offer valuable lessons for conceiving
models for implementing the responsibility to protect
in full respect for international law and for the
legitimate interests of all the parties involved.
Respect for freedom of religion is a fundamental
factor in peacebuilding, the recognition of human
dignity and the safeguarding of the human rights. This
is the second challenge I would like to reflect on.
The situations in which the right to freedom of
religion is violated or is denied to believers of different
religions are unfortunately many. We have witnessed
rising intolerance for religious reasons. Christians are
the religious group that currently suffers the greatest
persecution because of their faith.
The lack of respect for freedom of religion
threatens security and peace and hinders authentic
integral human development. The particular weight of
a given religion in a nation should never mean that
citizens of other faiths are discriminated against in
social life or, worse still, that violence against them is
tolerated. In that connection, it is important that a
common commitment to recognize and promote the
religious freedom of every person and every
community be promoted by engaging in sincere
interreligious dialogue, encouraged and supported by
Governments and international bodies.
I reiterate the concerned appeal made by the Holy
See to authorities and religious leaders to adopt
effective measures for the protection of religious
minorities, wherever they are threatened. In that way,
believers of all faiths everywhere will be able to live in
security and continue to make a contribution to their
society.
In thinking about the situation in some countries,
I would like to repeat in particular that Christians are
citizens like any other citizens, connected to their
homeland and faithful to all of their national duties. It
is natural that they should enjoy all the rights of
citizenship, freedom of conscience and worship,
freedom in teaching and education and freedom in the
use of communications media.
Moreover, in some countries, although much
importance is placed on pluralism and tolerance,
paradoxically there is a tendency to consider religion
as something foreign to modern society or even as a
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destabilizing force. Various means are sought to
marginalize religion and prevent it from having any
influence on social life.
But how can anyone deny the contribution of the
world’s great religions to the development of
civilization? As Pope Benedict XVI stressed, the
sincere search for God has led to greater respect for
human dignity. For example, Christian communities,
with their heritage of values and principles, have
contributed much to making individuals and peoples
aware of their own identity and their dignity, as well as
to the establishment of rule-of-law institutions and the
recognition of human rights and their corresponding
responsibilities. From that standpoint, it is important
that believers, today as yesterday, feel free to offer
their contribution to the promotion of a more just
human order, not only through their responsible
involvement in civic, economic and political life, but
also through the witness of their charity and faith.
A third challenge that the Holy See would like to
bring to the attention of the Assembly is the continuing
global economic and financial crisis.
We all know that a fundamental element of the
current crisis is the deficit in ethics in the economic
structures. Ethics are not an external element of the
economy; the economy has no future if it has no moral
element. In other words, the ethical dimension is
essential in addressing economic problems. The
economy does not function only through market self-
regulation, and even less through agreements that are
limited to accommodating the interests of the most
powerful.
The economy needs an ethical raison d’être in
order to work for humankind. The notion of producing
resources and goods — that is, the economy — and of
managing them strategically — that is, politics —
without seeking to do good through those same acts —
that is, without ethics — has proven to be a naïve or
cynical illusion, and always fatal. Moreover, every
economic decision has a moral consequence.
The economy therefore needs ethics to function
properly — not just any ethic, but a people-centred
ethic that can offer prospects to new generations.
Economic and commercial activities oriented towards
development should be able to effectively reduce
poverty and alleviate the suffering of the most
disenfranchised.
In that regard, the Holy See encourages
strengthening official development assistance in
accordance with the Group of Eight commitments
made at Gleneagles. My delegation hopes that the
debates on this theme at the forthcoming High-level
Dialogue on Financing for Development will bring the
expected results.
Furthermore, the Holy See has repeatedly
stressed the importance of new and more in-depth
thinking on the meaning of the economy and its
objectives, as well as a forward-looking review of the
global trade and financial architecture to correct its
dysfunctions and distortions. This review of
international economic rules must form part of wider
efforts to forge a new global development model.
Indeed, the state of our planet’s environmental health,
and above all the cultural and moral crisis of
humankind — the symptoms of which have been
evident around the world for some time — demand
this.
These considerations should also inspire the work
of the forthcoming United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development, to be held in June, on the
conviction that “Human beings are at the centre of
concerns for sustainable development”, as stated in the
Principle 1 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development.
The sense of environmental responsibility and
preservation should be guided by our awareness of
being a family of nations. The idea of “family”
immediately evokes something more than merely
functional relationships or a simple convergence of
interests. A family is by nature a community based on
interdependence, mutual trust, mutual aid and sincere
respect. Its full development is based not on the
supremacy of the strongest, but on the attention paid to
the weakest and most marginalized, and its
responsibility extends to future generations. Respect
for the environment should make us more attuned to
the needs of the most disenfranchised. It should create
a development strategy centred on the individual that
promotes solidarity and the shared responsibility of all,
including future generations.
This strategy can only benefit from the United
Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, planned
for 2012. An unregulated and non-transparent arms
trade has significant negative repercussions. It hampers
integral human development and heightens the risk of
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conflicts, especially internal conflicts, and instability.
It fosters a culture of violence and impunity, which is
often linked to such criminal activities as drug
trafficking, trafficking in human beings and piracy.
These are becoming ever more serious international
problems.
The results of the current arms trade treaty
process will test the true willingness of States to
assume their moral and legal responsibilities in that
regard. The international community, conscious of the
great numbers of people affected by the illegal trade in
arms and ammunition and aware of their suffering,
must focus on concluding an arms trade treaty that is
effective and enforceable. Indeed, the primary
objective of the treaty should be not only to regulate
the trade in conventional arms and obstruct the black
market, but also and most importantly to protect human
life and build a world more respectful of human
dignity.
Indeed, the United Nations’ contribution to
building a world more respectful of human dignity will
demonstrate its ability to effectively carry out its
mission, which is to help the family of nations to
pursue the common objectives of peace, security and
integral development for all.
The Holy See is also concerned about the events
unfolding in some countries of North Africa and the
Middle East. I would like to take this opportunity to
renew the appeal made by the Holy Father Benedict
XVI, who called on all citizens, particularly young
people, to do their utmost to promote the common
good and build societies in which poverty is overcome,
in which every political choice is inspired by respect
for human beings and in which peace and harmony will
triumph over divisions, hatred and violence.
A final observation concerns Palestine’s request
for recognition as a Member State of the United
Nations, made here on 23 September by the President
of the Palestinian National Authority, Mr. Mahmoud
Abbas. The Holy See views this initiative as an attempt
to find a definitive solution, with the support of the
international community, to the question already
addressed by the General Assembly in its resolution
181 (II) of 29 November 1947. That fundamental
document sets down the legal framework for the
existence of two States. One of them has already been
born, while the other has not yet been established,
although nearly 65 years have passed.
The Holy See is convinced that if one desires
peace, brave decisions must be taken. It hopes that the
competent bodies of the United Nations are resolved to
help effectively implement the final objective, that is,
achieving the Palestinians’ right to have their own
independent and sovereign State and the Israelis’ right
to security, both States with internationally recognized
borders.
The response of the United Nations, whatever it
may be, will not be a complete solution. Lasting peace
can be achieved only through good-faith negotiations
between Israelis and Palestinians, avoiding actions or
conditions that contradict declarations of goodwill. The
Holy See therefore urges the parties to return to
negotiations with resolve. It urgently appeals to the
international community to increase its commitment
and stimulate its creativity and initiatives in order to
reach a lasting peace, in respect for the rights of the
Israelis and the Palestinians.