I should
like at the outset to express my pleasure at seeing
Mr. Treki so brilliantly execute the lofty tasks of the
presidency of the General Assembly on behalf of
Africa. I offer him my warmest congratulations and
wish him every success in that office. I also take this
opportunity to pay tribute to Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon for the sincere commitment that he has
shown.
The path laid down by the founding fathers of the
United Nations for the achievement of its goals is that
of dialogue and multilateralism. The United Nations
was created to harness the energies of the international
community to that end. Soon, we will have been at it
for seven decades. Where are we today? Painful
fractures hinder humankind and threaten to
considerably weaken our capacity for common action.
The multifaceted crises that have shaken the global
economy have been caused by its accelerated
globalization without agreed global governance. These
crises have mightily stricken the most vulnerable.
Furthermore, they have exposed the planet to grave
dangers, the signs of which are undeniably evident.
We should accept the facts. The time for
assumptions has passed. The time has come for
proactive anticipation, as we now know the cost of
indifference, inertia and passivity. We must restore the
capacity of the United Nations to fulfil its calling in the
pursuit of solutions to the global problems of
humankind. Through the dialogue of civilizations, we
should reconcile the specificities connected with the
diversity of our cultural heritage with the universal
standards that arise from the inviolability of human
dignity.
The dialogue of civilizations is without doubt an
essential precondition for strengthening
multilateralism. It can help us return to the
fundamental values of respect for life and for nature,
awareness of our common destiny, the quest for mutual
benefit, and the sense of permanence, sharing and
honouring our responsibilities towards future
generations. If we wish to reverse the dismal trends
and outlook that scientists have described, we must
conclude a new alliance between man and nature — a
new common agreement. That is how we can regain
control of the natural and anthropogenic phenomena
that affect our existence on Earth. The Copenhagen
Conference in December will be an excellent
opportunity that we must not squander.
Above all, we should create conditions to ensure
the responsible contribution of all to fully realizing the
potential of humankind. To that end, we must eliminate
all obstacles to its development. The State and public
authorities have a vital role to play in that regard. They
must at all times engage with social partners working
in the service of freedom and progress.
The independent Commission on Legal
Empowerment of the Poor has shown us the virtues of
gradually eliminating old practices that violate the
integrity of the individual both as a living being and as
a legal and social entity. That is a fundamental
precondition to guaranteeing the responsible access of
all to the benefits of modernity and shared prosperity.
That is why Benin has committed to organizing the
regional conference on revitalizing the major
recommendations of the independent Commission.
To that end also, my country has declared a
resolute war on female genital mutilation through an
awareness campaign, the retraining of practitioners and
the vigilant enforcement of unambiguous legislation,
bolstered by a new family code that establishes the
equal rights of men and women. That is also why
Benin worked for the proclamation of 2009 as the
International Year of Human Rights Learning. The
main objective of the Year is to promote the necessary
change in thinking to ensure that humankind moves
towards full and complete adherence to the universal
values enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
The United Nations must be more effective in
supporting national policies to achieve international
standards. The Beninese Government has decided to
entrust the rationalization of its efforts in favour of
women to a recently established women’s institute. To
that end, we are very pleased to welcome the imminent
establishment and operationalization of a composite
entity within the United Nations system for the
advancement of gender equality. It will make it
possible to ensure the coherent and efficient support of
the United Nations system for the efforts of Member
States.
In the context of Africa’s resolute march towards
a new beginning, the Beninese Government has
adopted strategic measures based on the elimination of
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poverty and on reinvigorated economic growth that
will make Benin an emerging country by 2025. The
challenges to be met are huge since nearly one third of
the population of Benin currently lives below the
poverty line in a country vulnerable to the threats of
natural disasters and where food security is not fully
guaranteed.
The measures implemented in particular by the
Government of Mr. Boni Yayi, in place since April
2006 thanks to scrupulous respect for our Constitution,
mark our resolve to move forward. Our economic
performance in 2006 and 2007 proved that our strategic
choices were correct. These measures included
promoting microfinancing as an effective means of
fighting poverty and social exclusion, especially that of
women, by granting microcredit to the poorest —
especially women, who are the most important pillar of
society although economically disadvantaged;
promoting entrepreneurship and youth employment;
and the launching of multiple training programmes in
order to integrate young people into the fabric of our
socio-economic structure. We are also working on
mechanizing agriculture, promoting education by
offering free and mandatory primary education, and
making free Caesarean sections available as a better
approach to reproductive health.
These social measures were implemented at the
same time that major work was begun on
infrastructure. However, the ongoing economic
recession and the worsening harmful consequences of
climate change threaten to seriously jeopardize the
considerable progress made in implementing this
pivotal national project.
Only one year ago, the International Monetary
Fund predicted that the gross domestic product of
sub-Saharan African countries would increase by
6.7 per cent on average in 2009. Those forecasts were
revised downward a few months later to 5.1 per cent,
then to 3.5 per cent and last March to 3.25 per cent,
and nothing guarantees that the growth rate will not
decline further.
This decline in the growth rate has aggravated the
danger of serious budgetary difficulties. We must
maintain our rate of progress despite being subjected to
the gruelling external shocks of the successive crises of
the world economy in full recession. We are making
considerable efforts to mobilize our internal resources.
We welcome the good work done by the United
Nations to mobilize additional resources from
development partners in order to help pilot countries,
including Benin, to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. These decisions were taken in the
context of implementing the commitments made by the
Group of Eight at Gleneagles, the Millennium
Declaration, the 2001 Brussels Declaration on least
developed countries, and all of the statements that we
warmly welcomed and applauded at the recent Summit
on Climate Change convened here by the Secretary-
General.
The consequences of climate change considerably
complicate the deal. Benin is among the most
vulnerable countries and those least equipped to
address climate change. In addition to torrential rains
that are concentrated in just a few weeks of the year,
coastal erosion due mainly to the rise in sea level has
already been observed in Benin and neighbouring
countries. We also have long and recurrent droughts
and other natural disasters that are affecting our
peoples. Scientists predict that, among other events, the
coastal areas of West Africa will be submerged due to
the rise in sea level of the Atlantic Ocean, whereas
northern countries have already gained land along their
coastlines.
We therefore need help to acquire the
technologies and means necessary to combat coastal
erosion because we cannot sit idly by while this
disaster unfolds. In order to counter the coastal erosion
already engulfing our cities and coastal lands, major
work on infrastructure is crucial. Actions to be taken
will be effective only if undertaken at the level of the
entire subregion so as to ensure that all of the West
African coastline is protected. To that end, we must
mobilize vast resources. Perhaps we should consider
establishing a multilateral investment fund, under the
auspices of the United Nations and the African Union,
to finance the major construction work that will be
needed.
We need a United Nations able to coordinate the
response to these major development challenges, raise
the necessary resources to respond to the financial
needs, and supervise the transfer of resources to be
used by the international community to help the most
vulnerable countries, including the least developed. We
need a United Nations with the moral authority to
involve the affluent countries in thorough reform of the
architecture of governance and of economic and
financial globalization in order to improve the capacity
57 09-52470
of the international financial system to promote
equitable development in all regions of the world.
The initiatives of the Group of Twenty in this
area are laudable and must continue to ensure a
thorough reform of the international economic system
that will allow all countries to be integrated into the
virtuous cycle of economic growth and sustainable
development. We need a United Nations able to help
emerging countries fully to shoulder the international
commitments linked to their new status and to exploit
their strengths to promote South-South and triangular
cooperation in order to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals and to better adapt to climate
change. Convinced that another name for peace is
development and that peace and development are
essential to our survival on Earth, we must find the
essential means to promote peace through and for
development.
We need a United Nations able to assure the
effective prevention of armed conflict, if necessary by
fielding robust peace or development missions to
conduct operations for economic stabilization and the
elimination of extreme poverty. We need a United
Nations that makes full use of the opportunities for
cooperation with regional organizations. In that
connection, Benin calls for consistent implementation
of the proposals made in the Prodi report (S/2008/813,
annex) on cooperation between the United Nations and
the African Union on modalities for support to African
Union peacekeeping operations.
We need a United Nations with strengthened
capacities to contribute to the peaceful settlement of
disputes, inter alia, through mediation and the
promotion of judicial settlements. We need a United
Nations capable of rising to the challenges involved in
settling the Palestinian question definitively;
promoting disarmament and the regulation of the
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
promoting the rule of law at the national and
international levels; promoting fair trade; countering
terrorism and organized transnational crime; exercising
the responsibility to protect; fighting impunity by
strengthening international justice; and protecting
civilians, in particular children, women and the elderly
in situations of armed conflict; and so on.
United Nations reform must be undertaken
without hesitation in order to strengthen its
effectiveness, legitimacy and credibility. Security
Council reform through expansion in both categories of
membership is, among other things, an unavoidable
necessity of our times, as the Chairman of the African
Union affirmed from this rostrum a few days ago.
The time has come to grant all peoples of the
Earth their due place in the concert of free and
prosperous nations. Benin is ready to cooperate
without reservation in finding the most appropriate
ways to redress the injustices of the past and to
establish a new world order in the Security Council.
Such an order must enable humankind to forge its
common destiny in our common house, namely, the
Earth. We have a sacred duty towards our planet, which
includes behaving in a manner that serves to preserve
its habitability for current and future generations. Yes,
we need a United Nations that is more just and better
able to respond to today’s urgent needs as well as to the
aspirations of the world’s most vulnerable people.