Belarus

This session’s general political debate and high-level meetings once again convince us of the need to move in international relations from confrontation based on narrow national interests towards equal, mutually respectful dialogue and cooperation. Otherwise, it will not be possible to achieve progress in addressing the urgent global and regional problems facing humanity. The advent of the twenty-first century raised many hopes, but thus far the world has not been able to avoid wars as a means of achieving its objectives. Imposing or dictating one’s will and pressure by individual States increase conflict and make it difficult to overcome obstacles. Today, we are dealing with global challenges that not only impede humankind’s development but also threaten our civilized existence. This situation imposes special responsibilities on all stakeholders in international relations, irrespective of their geographical location, their geopolitical influence or their socio-political systems. Equality, non-confrontation, mutual respect and proper dialogue: those are the keys to overcoming the obstacles to effective progress on development. Over recent years, we have often spoken of the need to increase the effectiveness of the work of the General Assembly and its influence on overall global processes. That can be achieved only if each State that seeks to make its own modest but positive contribution to addressing global problems can be sure that its approaches and proposals will be closely and impartially studied in the General Assembly. In the eight years since the Millennium Summit, we have seen that the Millennium Development Goals, on which the fate of millions of individuals depends, will continue to be mere words on paper if the more developed States do not cease to view efforts to establish the conditions conducive to development in countries in the South and to provide those countries with financial and economic support from the perspective of their own geopolitical interests. Let us just admit honestly that the global partnership for development that is mentioned so often in this Assembly still does not exist in practice. Unless we deal with the energy and food crises, we will not achieve any progress. We must work in the interests of all and not serve the wishes of a narrow group of influential countries. We also need to clearly determine how we will target our efforts and act in a systematic way. The challenges we are facing are interrelated: climate change and energy and food shortages, to a large extent, are due to existing patterns of energy use. Humankind has an increasing impact on the atmosphere and the biosphere; environmental problems due to the increasing impact of human activity lead to climate change; climate change, in turn, leads to reduced agricultural harvests; and that, in turn, exacerbates the food crisis. Thus, we are faced with a single, multidimensional global challenge, and the value of this session will be magnified if at this international forum we hear new, justified and forward-thinking proposals for a coordinated response to the challenges facing humankind. Such an approach should undergird the work on a post-Kyoto agreement, and today it is 31 08-53141 clear that talks on that accord must include a broader range of issues than simply agreement on quantities and quotas for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Belarus has stated on many occasions that future approaches to the problem of how to ensure economic growth while not harming the environment will be based on international cooperation to spread throughout the world energy-saving technology and technology for the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy. An intrinsic, fundamental and vital element of that cooperation should be ensuring fair access by all States to such technology by establishing, through the United Nations, a global mechanism to control the process. The first step in that direction has been defined and can be adopted in the very near future: their Tehran ministerial meeting, on the initiative of Belarus the non-aligned States proposed holding at the sixty-third session of the General Assembly a thematic debate on ensuring access for all States to energy- efficient technology and the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy — naturally with due respect for intellectual property rights. Particular attention must be paid to establishing a multidimensional energy agenda at the United Nations, which should take into account the interests of producer, transit and user countries. Responsible energy cooperation can be a key factor in regional security. Turkmenistan’s proposal to discuss ways to ensure reliable transit for fuel is also promising. In the context of establishing a fair system of international economic relations, particular attention must be paid to a code of conduct for transnational corporations in exploiting oil and gas fields and the mineral resources of developing countries. We need reliable protection against the practice of international oil cartels of finding concessions that are profitable to them, but that amount to slavery for the host country. Such deals are often challenged, but the oil companies use the media to justify their measures, citing threats to regional security. We look forward to the discussion of that important initiative and those issues during this session of the General Assembly. Indeed, attempts to get access to resources are the basic cause of many current conflicts. Here, we are talking not only about oil and other energy resources: people are also dying because of local conflicts linked to the lack of drinking water. Given the fact that 97 per cent of global water resources are found in the oceans and seas, finding practical ways to desalinate seawater should be a priority for scientific research in the coming decades. The United Nations can play a role in defining the future of such technology, and we believe that this should belong to all mankind. To ensure that, we must put in place mechanisms to avoid the concentration of such technologies in the hands of a chosen few. One of the main keys to successfully addressing global problems facing mankind is speedily achieving agreements and understandings among the whole international community. Any delay in addressing climate change is unacceptable, because it affects other issues on the international agenda. We believe that one of the main concerns on that agenda should be human development and the prevention of exploitation of nations and individuals. A United Nations action plan to fight human trafficking is an important stage in efforts to counter contemporary forms of slavery. Within the United Nations, work on that plan is under way: we have set up an inter-agency coordination group; resolutions have been adopted by the General Assembly and by the Economic and Social Council; and we have held thematic debates in the General Assembly. We call on all delegations to take an active and constructive role in that process, which will raise the issue of human trafficking to a new level. An inadequate response to the threat will promote the exploitation of entire nations and establish a new chain of human trafficking, and the number of new slaves will increase. Criminals will begin to select the best from among their victims, and, as a result, there will be growth in colonialist thinking in the new framework of globalization, which would render the problem particularly dangerous. We do not have the right to allow such a situation to develop. From its very beginning, the United Nations was seen by its founding States as the most democratic of international institutions, a universal mechanism for involving all countries and peoples in establishing a new and just world order. As a founding Member of the United Nations, Belarus supports the initiative of the President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session, Mr. d’Escoto Brockmann, to give particular attention to the democratization of the Organization. We support that process within the United Nations, and we support allowing all Member States equal 08-53141 32 opportunities and the same rules of the game. We favour strict respect for all the principles set out in the United Nations Charter. The results-oriented proposal for democratization includes enlarging the membership of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. Over the 20 years since the accident at Chernobyl, Belarus has acquired unique experience in studying the effects of radiation on individuals and the environment, and we would like to have the opportunity to share that experience with other States within the framework of the Scientific Committee. We call on all States to support the admission of Belarus as a member of the Committee, which was established on the recommendation of the First Committee, adopted as resolution 913 (X), entitled “Effects of atomic radiation”. We also support efforts to democratize the Secretariat. The management of each Secretariat department should respect the principle of equitable geographic representation. The top five jobs in each department should be distributed among the five regional groups. Establishing that principle will be an important step forward in creating confidence among Member States. We hope that we are moving towards several important international events. In Doha, there will be an international conference on financing for development. Work is continuing on a post-Kyoto accord, and discussions on the reform of the Security Council are entering a new phase. Their success depends on us all. Will we be able to have a constructive dialogue and a non-confrontational approach and reach a deeper understanding of the real interests of all peoples throughout the world than we have today? Most answers to those key issues of the contemporary world are to be found in our own history. All we need to do is look back at our own history and draw the right lessons from the past in a timely way.