Belgium echoes the congratulations that have been
extended to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session, and wishes him every success.
During the past year, the international community
has faced unprecedented challenges. As we gather here
in New York, a major crisis of confidence is shaking
the financial markets. This has an impact, of course, on
the world economy. The spectre of a global recession
has been added to the already onerous challenges that
have arisen in recent times, such as the food crisis, the
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spike in energy prices, global warming, terrorism and
the danger of nuclear proliferation.
In addition, our world is changing and becoming
increasingly multipolar. In that regard, 8 August 2008
will remain symbolic: the very day on which China
offered us the unique spectacle of the opening of the
Olympic Games, Russia and Georgia were colliding in
a conflict with harmful repercussions for peace on the
European continent. The very foundations of the
balance that had existed since the 1990s seemed to be
called into question. This uncertain situation has far-
reaching consequences for international organizations.
We could imagine that, in the face of these
enormous challenges, all the world’s countries would
come together to combat them jointly. Unfortunately,
that is hardly what is happening. Belgium believes that
only through close cooperation and enhanced
multilateralism will we be able to respond to these
challenges. More than ever, whether we like it or not,
we are in a situation of mutual dependence. Crises
affect all of us, and the actions taken by some have an
impact on everybody else. That is particularly true for
the current serious financial crisis. If we can stabilize
the financial markets in the coming few days through
proactive measures, that will benefit not only the major
banks and their employees, but also the entrepreneurs,
consumers and citizens of the whole world, including
those in the least developed countries. Those countries
have already been heavily affected by the sharp
increase in the prices of agricultural and energy
products and are the least equipped to deal with a
tightening of credit conditions.
Stabilizing the markets is certainly necessary, but
it must not make us lose sight of the lessons to be
learned from the crisis and the corresponding medium-
and long-term measures to be taken to ensure that the
world does not again become victim to financial
management that at times is risky and immense
speculation with borrowed money.
We are well aware that the crisis goes far beyond
the capacity of a single country, however powerful it
may be. Better regulation of financial markets and the
drawing up of control regulations are essential, in
particular with regard to short selling, hedge funds and
structured products. That is a task that can be
undertaken only at the international level, in close
cooperation among the world’s economies.
Understand what I am saying: Belgium is
convinced of the advantages of globalization and free
trade. We must not forget that thanks to that
globalization of trade, in recent decades the world has
seen remarkable development and that hundreds of
millions of men and women have escaped extreme
poverty and today have a better daily life, even if the
sharing of wealth still remains too unequal.
The developed countries have the duty to
spearhead a better organization of the financial world.
The European Union has already taken steps in that
direction, and we welcome that. However, there
remains much to do. Here, I make an appeal that we
embark on that task together, with energy and
dedication.
The emergence of new economies is an asset for
the world. Ever more countries are determined to
become players in the international system. They must
take their due place, as the French President
emphasized last Monday on behalf of the European
Union (see A/63/PV.5). It is also in everyone’s interest
to demonstrate responsibility.
I would like to stress today that the emerging
economic Powers, from Brazil to India and from China
to South Africa, have, more than we do and more than
ever, a need for trade that is both open and fair to
continue to develop their economies at the pace they
deserve, without however causing imbalance in the
pillars of international trade. Here too, we must again
find the constructive political will necessary to restart
the Doha trade negotiations that unfortunately failed in
Geneva last July.
We all must also show ourselves to be responsible
players, in order to try and find solutions to the
challenges posed by the food crisis and the huge
increase in energy prices and to combat the causes and
effects of climate change. Those challenges we face,
issues that are extremely complex and closely
interlinked, are different facets of one and the same
question, a question that is at the heart of the concerns
of my country: that of sustainable development. None
of us can resolve these problems alone. They call for
solutions at the world level. It is thus crucial that we
successfully conclude in December 2009 the
negotiations for a global agreement on climate, as we
pledged in Bali.
Nor is it by closing in upon ourselves that we
shall reduce the huge inequalities that still characterize
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global development. Better distribution of the fruits of
economic growth is a world responsibility that
concerns us all. The Millennium Development Goals
must remain our main guiding principle. The Follow-
up International Conference on Financing for
Development to Review the Implementation of the
Monterrey Consensus, which will take place in Doha at
the end of this year, will be an important moment. The
developed countries must do more, and I reiterate
Belgium’s determination to achieve the objective of
devoting 0.7 per cent of its gross domestic product to
official development assistance by 2010.
However, this is a shared responsibility, which
first and foremost falls to the Governments of the
countries involved. That is why Belgium will continue
to work actively in promoting the concept of good
governance.
In that regard, the issue of natural resources is
particularly important to me. It is not a matter of
calling into question the sovereignty of any country.
But sovereignty also carries with it responsibilities —
indeed, responsibilities first and foremost. Natural
resources may be a driving force of development to
draw populations out of poverty if their exploitation is
undertaken in a transparent way to benefit the economy
of the country. Unfortunately, experience shows that
frequently that is not the case and that illegal
exploitation often fuels conflict. Therefore, we must
work towards achieving greater transparency and
fighting illegal exploitation. That is why Belgium
organized last year a debate on that subject in the
Security Council (see S/PV.5705), and why it would
like extensive debate on natural resources during the
current session of the General Assembly.
As a member of the Security Council, Belgium
has had the opportunity to be at the heart of the
international system. That has bolstered our conviction
that we can meet those great challenges only through
increased international cooperation and has further
strengthened our determination to work for effective
multilateralism. The key to that effectiveness is not to
be sought only in structures and mechanisms. It lies
also and above all in our political will to make them
work and together to find solutions to our common
problems.
Here, I note with regret a certain turning inwards,
even a return to sovereignty-based concerns. I want to
be clear: I have great respect for the sovereignty of
States. That goes without saying. That is one of the
fundamental principles upon which our international
system is founded. However, being a sovereign State
also means that a State must shoulder its
responsibilities in the international community, even
more so with regard to its own population. Being a
sovereign State does not mean that it can neglect the
needs of its citizens in terms of development, security,
the rule of law and human rights. Sovereignty does not
give carte blanche for conduct that is incompatible
with the values and commitments to which we have
subscribed within the United Nations. Sovereignty
must be a force for good, and not an excuse for a State
not to meet its responsibilities and to avoid its
international and humanitarian obligations. Otherwise,
it becomes what I would call souverainism: an abuse of
sovereignty behind which to hide and escape its duties.
Too often the argument of respect for sovereignty
prevents the international community from acting when
the situation in a country is deteriorating before our
eyes, resulting in the population suffering and an
increase in serious human rights violations. The
examples are well known and strike us all. Myanmar,
Darfur, Zimbabwe and the eastern Congo all confront
us with a responsibility to protect, a responsibility that
the international community is called upon to exercise
when a sovereign State cannot or, worse, refuses to
assume that responsibility. That can be undertaken
through humanitarian instruments, the civil
administration of crises, peacekeeping or peace-
restoration missions, or, earlier on, crisis prevention.
In that context, I wish to speak of combating
impunity. Belgium is convinced that there cannot be
lasting peace without justice. That principle guides our
foreign policy. It is achieved in the first place by
bolstering the rule of law and justice at the national
level before, during and after a conflict. For the gravest
crimes, we actively support the development of
international criminal law. This is not the time to let
any doubts persist with regard to our active support for
the International Criminal Court by putting forward, as
some do, other, more regional solutions. That is
particularly true now when the Court is preparing its
first trial.
Peace and security are the responsibility of the
international community as a whole, and it is in that
spirit that Belgium approached its mandate in the
Security Council, nearly two years ago: seek
constantly, in a constructive and non-dogmatic manner,
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the best way to move things forward. It is particularly
pleased with the progress in crisis management and the
extraordinary expansion of peacekeeping operations.
From that perspective Belgium calls for a renewal of
the United Nations Organization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo with a strengthened
mandate, which is a key factor in maintaining in the
eastern Congo the prospects for settling the crisis and
avoiding a Somalian scenario.
Belgium also welcomes efforts of regional
organizations and their collaboration with the United
Nations. I am thinking, for instance, of the European
Union alongside the United Nations in Chad and the
Central African Republic.
We need to make further progress with regard to
an integrated and comprehensive approach to conflict
resolution. The establishment of the Peacebuilding
Commission is a real step forward in that area. That is
why Belgium has assumed the chair of the country-
specific configuration on the Central African Republic.
Major progress has been made, but much remains to be
done, in particular in order to better help countries
during that delicate phase when they are emerging
from crisis.
We will soon celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That will
be the time for us to remember the values that it
represents and that we all share, and to which we all
subscribed and which we should implement for the
benefit of our citizens and for greater well-being
throughout the world. It is a responsibility that we must
remember, particularly since it seems to be called into
question at a time when we are faced with the major
challenges that I have just described. Together and on
the basis of our shared values, we should assume those
responsibilities.
That is the real challenge. It is not through less,
but more international cooperation and multilateralism
that we will achieve solutions.