As I take the floor before the General Assembly at its seventy- sixth session on behalf of the Central African Republic, I would like to warmly congratulate His Excellency Mr. Abdulla Shahid on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly and wish him every success in carrying out his noble task. His election to the presidency of this session is well-deserved tribute to his qualities and an honour that speaks to the standing of his country, the Republic of the Maldives. I must also commend President Volkan Bozkir on the excellent work he accomplished under exceptional circumstances during the seventy-fifth session, which just ended.
The seventy-sixth session has a poignantly topical theme: “Building resilience through hope — to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people and revitalize the United Nations”. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, which continues to pose a challenge to the community of nations, can be overcome only with more active international solidarity.
In that regard, I must pay a heartfelt tribute to the memory of the direct and indirect victims of the pandemic. With determination, despite limited resources, the Central African Republic has set about containing the epidemic, the disastrous effects of which on all sectors of our national economy have jeopardized our growth predictions for 2020 and 2021, undermining our socioeconomic gains under the National Recovery and Peacebuilding Plan in the Central African Republic. Estimates show that, if the crisis is brought to an end in the next six months, the national economy will have lost 5.8 per cent of its projected gross domestic product (GDP). However, if the crisis extends beyond six months, that loss will be 8.9 per cent of GDP.
To limit the effects of the pandemic, my Government is ensuring that we are safeguarding the capacities to finance our development. In that regard, we are pressing ahead with the reform of our public finance management system, the strict implementation of which will enable us to conclude a second programme with the International Monetary Fund covering the period 2021 to 2022.
To tackle the shocks caused by COVID-19, we must strengthen our population’s resilience and invest more in the health-monitoring system and tirelessly pursue collective awareness. Furthermore, we must do everything to achieve herd immunity while stepping up our search for safe and effective preventive and therapeutic medicines. Universal access to vaccines for least developed countries must be an international security priority in the name of the fundamental principles of human solidarity.
However, mobilization against COVID-19 should not overshadow the other challenges we face individually as States, but also collectively as the international community. One of the biggest challenges we face as we seek to meet the needs of the planet collectively and individually is the preservation of our environment, which is threatened by various types of harmful emissions and climatic and atmospheric pollutants. It is now clear that human activity is the main cause of climate change. We consume more than what nature can offer us in the course of one year because of our increasingly conflicting interests.
Global warming, due to an excessive production of greenhouse gases, has resulted in changes in the climate, which themselves cause floods during the rainy season, as well as water shortages. The overexploitation of water, forestry and agricultural resources is exacerbating the degradation of ecosystems. We have a historic responsibility to save succeeding generations by changing our behaviours and ensuring that we immediately put into operation a governance framework that will enable us to achieve coordinated and sustainable management of our natural resources.
My country has contributed modestly by coming up with a national sustainable development strategy, along with our Vision 2050, which is part and parcel of our environmental policy statement, based on investment
in education and the establishment of equitable environmental justice.
Over the past 75 years, our common Organization has made creditable progress thanks to the intelligent pooling of our efforts. Faced with new challenges, sweeping reforms of the organs of the United Nations are essential for the Organization to remain the forum par excellence for multilateralism. To do that, one important step remains that of redressing the historic inequality that continues to deprive the African continent of a permanent seat on the Security Council.
It is here, and nowhere else, that solutions to safeguard international peace and security must be found in respect of the principles, values and commitments of the Charter of the United Nations. The Charter, whose essence is respect for human rights, is strongly echoed in my country, which has enshrined it in the Preamble to our Constitution through the principle of Zo Kwe Zo, which, in the Sango language, is the affirmation of the sacred nature of the human being.
Through our determined action to fight against impunity, we demonstrate our adherence to international mechanisms for the protection of human dignity. As proof of this, I note that, as soon as we became aware of the report of the Human Rights Division of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) alleging cases of abuses committed by the Central African Armed Forces and their allies during counteroffensives and sweeps on the national territory against the rebels of the so-called Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement (CPC), we promptly decided to take action. We promptly decided to fully investigate the matter by creating, on 4 May 2021, a special national commission of inquiry tasked with shedding light on those allegations of serious crimes, human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law, which has already made an initial visit to MINUSCA in Bangui.
Furthermore, the operationalization of the Truth, Justice, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission is a major contribution to ensuring the success of the peace process and national reconciliation, and complements efforts to fight impunity.
My Government is working to preserve the constitutional order, entrench democracy and consolidate peace and stability. It is engaged in security sector reform and the reform of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme, and is taking action to enable the massive return of refugees and internally displaced persons. It is also accelerating the implementation of the post-conflict development plan and is preparing local elections, which last took place in 1988.
Scrupulous respect for the commitments set out in the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic remains my compass. Against the backdrop of the armed groups of the CPC that signed the Agreement yet continue their abuses against civilians, the Central African Republic, through me, calls for unwavering solidarity in the name of the principles of the Charter — equality, the promotion of peace and respect for the sovereignty of States. We must definitively reduce these negative forces if we are to achieve a virtuous dynamic of national reconstruction.
From this rostrum and through me, the Central African Republic renews its call for the total lifting of the embargo that unjustly weighs on our national army, depriving it of its sovereign mission of protecting the civilian population and ensuring the integrity of our territory.
My leitmotif continues to be to bring my compatriots together to make our shared Central African Republic shine and overcome all divisions. I have shown this by calling on the population to hold a republican dialogue in order to share ideas that could help strengthen the peace option set out in the Political Agreement.
I would be remiss if I did not pay tribute to MINUSCA’s Blue Helmets and to our Russian and Rwandan allies, who have championed fundamental rights, democracy and peace in the Central African Republic, at times making the ultimate sacrifice.
To all the guarantors and facilitators of the peace agreement, including the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, MINUSCA and the European Union, the Central African Republic expresses its eternal gratitude. To Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, I express my deep gratitude for his ongoing commitment to global peace and development, and in the Central African Republic in particular. I hope that the global community remains mobilized in this surge of international solidarity, alongside the people of my country, in their quest for peace and economic recovery. I wish our work every success. Long live international cooperation and solidarity.