Lesotho

On behalf of the Government and people of Lesotho, I extend our most sincere congratulations to the President on his election to preside over the fifty-fifth session, and wish him every success in the discharge of his duties. We are confident that his personal, diplomatic and leadership qualities will guide us through the session, and assure him of our support and cooperation at all times. Let me also pay a well deserved tribute, and express our thanks and gratitude, to his predecessor, our colleague, Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia. We thank him in particular for his statesmanship, sterling guidance and effective organization during the difficult times of the fifty-fourth session. We also remain deeply indebted to Secretary- General Kofi Annan for his continued dynamic leadership and commitment to our Organization, and for his relentless efforts in achieving the Organization's goals. The admission of a new Member to our Organization is always a moment of joy, and that of Tuvalu is no exception. 19 This, the first session of the General Assembly in the new millennium, offers an opportunity for us to reflect on the challenges and threats we face as we enter the new century, a century that has ushered in a revolution that future generations will likely characterize as one that had the greatest impact on human civilization since the advent of the telegraph, radio and television. The world is indeed witnessing a revolution in the information systems and their integration into the lives of men, women and children, leading to the term “information age “. The information age of the twenty-first century is taking root as it impacts on the lives of all sectors of society at both the national and international levels. There can be no doubt that for some information technology and globalization are beginning to turn theoretical possibilities into fact, as the use of computers and computer-dependent systems have resulted in improvements in basic health conditions and increases in life expectancy, efficiency and productivity, thus offering tremendous economic potential and prosperity. Unfortunately, the majority of others who have been left out of that prosperity continue to live in conditions of extreme poverty, remain embroiled in unending conflicts and are ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other diseases. The challenge for the United Nations of the twenty-first century is to eliminate those disparities by bringing poor countries into the digital age, thus making them extract value from globalization instead of watching globalization extract value from them. Education remains the key for the attainment of these objectives. In fact, our message from Lesotho here is: education, education, education. A disturbing phenomenon for the international community, and in particular for Africa, is that while the rest of the world is experiencing an increased flow of financial resources Africa's development prospects continue to be hampered by unsustainable debt servicing obligations. Just as we have placed poverty eradication at the centre of economic and social development, it is equally necessary to accord similar importance to the debt problems of developing countries. In our view, that would be a vital contribution to the realization of the goal of halving the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day by 2015. Lesotho falls into the category of countries that are not eligible for debt relief under the existing framework. In our Millennium Summit Declaration we made pledges to grant more generous development assistance to poor countries that plan to apply their resources to poverty reduction and to deal comprehensively with their debt problems. We need to concretize these pledges by adopting measures to accelerate debt relief such as the cancellation of the official debt of those countries and the expansion of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative. This would assist us in ensuring that by 2015 the majority of our people have access to safe drinking water, that all children complete a full course of primary education, and that joblessness is reduced among our youth. It would also help us curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and assist the children orphaned by this scourge. The Government of Lesotho adopted poverty reduction as its highest development priority in its sixth and seventh National Development Plans. We have taken firm measures to reduce poverty. Based on our democratic dispensation and peaceful environment, we have successfully embarked on an aggressive investment promotion campaign for job creation. I am pleased to report that we are experiencing initial success in attracting foreign investment. We believe that South-South cooperation is an important tool for developing and strengthening the economic independence of developing countries. To this end, we in southern Africa have made modest but encouraging progress with respect to South-South cooperation by accelerating the entry into force of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Trade Protocol, which encompasses deeper economic cooperation, cross-border investment and trade, free movement of factors of production, and free movement of goods and services. The Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, to be held in Brussels next year, is both timely and crucial. Since this body recognized, some years ago, the least developed countries as the poorest of the developing countries, there has not yet been any improvement in the weak economic situation of those countries, whose numbers have instead increased from 25 in 1971, to 48 in 1997. Lesotho therefore looks forward to the Conference, which will review the internal constraints to the development of the least developed countries and 20 the adequacy of international support measures in the critical areas of official development assistance, debt relief, market access and trade. The High-level International Intergovernmental Event on Financing for Development, to be held in 2001, will come to naught unless we are resolved to undertake it armed with the requisite political commitment and global solidarity to achieve our development goals nationally, regionally and internationally. The Government of Lesotho remains keenly aware that good environmental management requires concerted efforts from all members of the community. Therefore, we have established partnerships at the international, regional and national levels to address the problems of environmental degradation. We believe that the environment is too important an issue to be left in the hands of one Organization. In this regard, we look forward to the process of the 10-year review of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), at which we will share our experiences with, and learn from, our counterparts in the international community. Regarding the integrated and coordinated implementation of, and follow-up to, the major United Nations conferences and summits, my delegation values the review meetings because they offer us the opportunity to evaluate our performance and to consider the way forward. They also rekindle our political commitment to achieving global developmental goals. We therefore feel that the review process should continue in the twenty-first century, with a stronger emphasis on the evaluation of achievements and constraints. Like globalization of the economy, globalization of human rights cannot be avoided. Today human rights are well established as the legitimate concern of all humanity. If, as the world agreed in Vienna in 1993, “the promotion and protection of all human rights is a legitimate concern of the international community” (A/CONF/157/24,chapter III, section I, para.4), this calls for a more pragmatic approach in identifying pertinent situations requiring the protection of humanity, including in situations where a state has collapsed or disintegrated. Among the promising developments as we begin the century is the growing world consensus on the need to stop impunity by punishing those responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, as evidenced by the number of signatories and ratifications to the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This momentum has rekindled our hope for peace and for an end to the persistence of human rights violations. Lesotho's ratification of the ICC Statute is a further clear indication of its commitment to the protection of human rights and to bringing to justice all those who commit gross violations of these rights. As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, we must be reminded that the goal of gender equality is far from being achieved. Despite pessimistic forecasts, and despite different evaluations of the achievements of the special session on women, the Beijing + 5 conference's adoption of a final document proposing a series of actions and initiatives in the 12 critical areas identified in Beijing is an indication of the international community's renewed commitment to women's rights. Implementation of the norms enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women remains critical for the attainment of the goals set in Beijing. As technology brings the peoples of the world closer together, thus removing political and other barriers, societies continue to be ravaged by racial discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, exemplified by “ethnic cleansing”, racial hatred and new forms of slavery. A challenge for the United Nations is to define goals and global strategies focused on urgent and effective measures to eliminate racial discrimination and ethnic conflicts. Lesotho thus welcomes the convening of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be held in South Africa in 2001. This Conference will offer an opportunity for us to develop action-oriented measures to rid the world of these scourges. Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, chemical and biological — remains one of the most important tasks facing humankind in the twenty-first century, as these weapons remain a major threat to world peace. The pursuit of arms reduction and the challenge of achieving sustainable disarmament thus remain the 21 only bulwark against the use or threat of use of weapons of mass destruction. While we welcome the nuclear-weapon States' undertaking to eliminate their nuclear arsenals, their failure to agree to a specific timetable for doing so is regrettable. The challenge is to translate these undertakings into concrete actions to eliminate all nuclear dangers. We thus support the Secretary- General's call for a new international conference on eliminating nuclear dangers as a means of advancing our disarmament goals. We also remain convinced of the need and desirability of convening a special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament. Thanks to the efforts of all actors, both governmental and non-governmental, the world is beginning to witness tangible results as the production, trade and use of landmines slowly drops, thus lowering the number of casualties. This, however, should not lead to any complacency, as evidence of the use of mines in some conflict areas, particularly in Africa, continues to surface. We look forward to a day when the world will be free of these weapons and encourage all those who continue to use mines, as well as those who remain outside the Convention banning landmines, to heed the rapidly growing international and regional momentum for the ban on those weapons. Lesotho supports the convening of a United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects in June and July 2001, as mandated by General Assembly resolution 54/54. We share the view that the outcome of the Conference should be a global action plan with specific timetables for the implementation of commitments on issues such as codes of conduct, legislative and regulatory measures, control, enforcement, transparency, and tracing measures and mechanisms. The proliferation of armed conflicts in Africa continues to hamper efforts to achieve progress in economic and social development. The lack of political will to find lasting solutions to ongoing conflicts and the emergence of new ones continues to effectively cripple the productive activities of those countries as well as further erode the poor social infrastructure that exists in many countries. The illicit trade in arms, diamonds and other natural resources, as well as the diversion of resources from development to military activities, continue to fuel these conflicts, thus undermining democracy and development. The challenge for Africa remains the management and resolution of conflicts, the avoidance of war and the strengthening of democratic institutions. These are enormous challenges which require Africa's commitment to stability and the rule of law, but, above all, they require strong political will on the part of the Africans themselves and resources from the international community to reinforce democratic government, to deter attempts to overthrow it and even to reinstate it where it has been overthrown by illegal means. We in Lesotho have bitter experience of attempts to overthrow a legally and democratically elected Government. Thanks to our SADC partners, order has been restored in Lesotho and the Government is vigorously pursuing a programme of reconstruction, which includes the creation of a climate of political reconciliation on which the consolidation of democratic gains and democratic culture can rest. The Government of Lesotho remains fully committed to developing a culture of democracy, good governance, observance of human rights and constitutionality. The international community's assistance remains indispensable to the success of these efforts. We therefore stand solidly behind the position held by the Organization of African Unity, SADC and the Commonwealth of disallowing Governments that come into power by illegal means from participating in our councils. This should include our councils in the United Nations. Despite positive steps being taken by the Government of Angola to stabilize the situation in that country, peace continues to elude the people of Angola because of the non-fulfilment by Jonas Savimbi of the Lusaka Protocol. We urge the international community to observe all Security Council resolutions against UNITA and to fully cooperate with the United Nations to ensure the effective implementation of sanctions against UNITA. We appeal to all parties to the Congolese conflict to honour their obligations under the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement and to lend their support to the process of internal dialogue under the facilitation of Sir Ketumile Masire of Botswana. We support all measures aimed at ending the illicit trade in diamonds in Sierra Leone and applaud the Economic Community of West African States for its efforts to bring peace to that country. We are 22 gratified to see the cessation of hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea and call on both parties to that conflict to redouble their efforts for a lasting peace. We also urge all armed groups in Burundi to fully and effectively participate in the negotiations so as to facilitate the speedy conclusion of a ceasefire agreement and a comprehensive peace accord. We look forward to the conclusion of the process in Western Sahara so that the people of that country can freely determine their own future. We reaffirm the right of the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights and we urge parties to the Middle East peace process to redouble their efforts to find durable peace in the Middle East. The real test for the United Nations in this century is how far it is prepared to go in addressing all these challenges and how far it will go in turning promises into reality, thus enabling the large majority of the people of the world to fulfil their potential and realize their aspirations. While we appreciate the magnitude of these challenges, we continue to have faith in the United Nations capacity to solve global problems, its broad universal support and its ability to uphold and reaffirm our shared values of peace, equity, social justice, democracy and human rights.