Since the last session of the General
Assembly, we have witnessed various actions and
developments that have left their negative impact on
international joint efforts to address the threats and
challenges that still face our world, particularly in the
areas of security, stability and sustainable
development.
Among the most notable implications of those
challenges, whose consequences transcend national
borders, are the international financial crisis,
deterioration of the environment, the increase in
unemployment and poverty, the outbreaks of infectious
diseases, lack of security and stability in a number of
countries, and the stalemate in the Middle East peace
process.
The United Arab Emirates would like to seize this
opportunity to express its pride that the international
community has selected Masdar City in Abu Dhabi as a
seat for the International Renewable Energy Agency. In
that context, we renew our commitment and readiness
to cooperate fully in providing all facilities and
technical resources required for the success of this
international agency.
We wish to stress that the United Arab Emirates’
interest in developing a programme for the peaceful
uses of nuclear energy stems from its desire to meet its
growing energy needs in the future. By developing a
peaceful nuclear energy model that complies with the
highest standards of operational transparency while
fulfilling the highest requirements of nuclear safety
and security and non-proliferation, in cooperation with
the International Atomic Energy Agency and other
responsible and experienced States, the United Arab
Emirates hopes that a new course will be charted for
the safe and beneficial use of nuclear energy.
The United Arab Emirates’ commitment not to
enrich uranium and reprocess fuels locally is among
the most salient features of this model, which is one
supported by enhanced international transparency and
cooperation mechanisms.
The United Arab Emirates renews in this forum
its disappointment at the continued occupation by the
Islamic Republic of Iran of the three United Arab
Emirates islands: Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu
Musa since 1971. The United Arab Emirates demands
the return of those islands under conditions of full
sovereignty, including their regional waters, airspace,
continental shelf and their exclusive economic zone as
integral parts of the national sovereignty of the United
Arab Emirates.
The United Arab Emirates also affirms that all
military and administrative measures taken by the
Iranian Government on those islands are null and void
and have no legal effect, regardless of how long the
occupation might last. In that context, we call upon the
international community to urge Iran to respond to the
peaceful and sincere initiatives of the United Arab
Emirates. These initiatives were supported and adopted
by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the League of
Arab States, and they call for a just settlement of that
issue.
This could be done either through direct and
serious negotiations between the two countries or by
referring the issue to the International Court of Justice,
in accordance with the United Nations Charter and the
provisions of international law.
We also hope that the Iranian Government will
respond positively and fairly to this sensitive and
important issue. Such action would strengthen good-
neighbourly relations and create a base for confidence-
building measures in the Arab Gulf region.
09-52592 24
We note with satisfaction the gradual withdrawal
of foreign troops from Iraq and the extension of the
national authority of its Government over all its
territory. In this context, we reaffirm our long-standing
support to the people and the Government of Iraq. In
particular, we support their efforts to expedite the
rebuilding of their security, legislative and economic
institutions as well as their efforts to achieve national
reconciliation.
However, we are also deeply concerned at the
deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in
Iraq, and we strongly condemn the recent terrorist
bombings in that brotherly country. In that context, we
call for respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty
and independence of Iraq and non-intervention in its
internal affairs. Its Arab and Islamic identity must be
upheld; we condemn all attempts to divide or
dismember the Iraqi State.
The United Arab Emirates expresses its
disappointment at the state of the peace process in the
Middle East, which has deteriorated owing to
continuing Israeli aggression against and occupation of
Palestinian and Arab territories. This includes the harsh
blockade imposed on the Palestinian people, in
particular in Gaza, the ongoing confiscation of land,
property and homes of the Palestinian people, and the
building of more settlements and the separation wall in
the occupied territories. That is all carried out with a
view to Judaizing occupied East Jerusalem and
changing its Arab identity in flagrant violation of
international law and resolutions of international
legitimacy.
The United Arab Emirates welcomed the positive
positions expressed by United States President Barack
Obama in this Hall on 23 September. We believe that
his address (see ) set out a firm basis for
negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israeli
Government. We hope that Mr. Obama will continue to
closely pursue that important issue.
We also welcome the cautious positions stated by
the European Union, the other members of the Quartet
and the international community regarding the Israeli
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
However, we believe that those positions are not
sufficient. More effective efforts are needed in order to
resume serious negotiations with the Palestinian
Authority.
In that context, we emphasize that the
achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace
in the Middle East requires an end to the Israeli
occupation of all occupied Arab and Palestinian
territories and the establishment of an independent
Palestinian State, with Al-Quds as its capital, based on
the principle of land for peace and in accordance with
the Arab Peace Initiative and resolutions of
international legitimacy.
The United Arab Emirates will continue to stand
by the Palestinian National Authority and the
Palestinian people and to support their just cause. In
that context, we commend His Excellency President
Mahmoud Abbas for his tireless efforts to restore the
legitimate rights of his people, to establish a
Palestinian State with Al-Quds as its capital and to
achieve development and peace there. The United Arab
Emirates also supports all ongoing efforts, particularly
those undertaken by the sisterly Arab Republic of
Egypt, with a view to achieving national reconciliation
in Palestine.
The United Arab Emirates attaches particular
importance to African countries. It is strengthening its
cooperation and partnerships with those countries in
line with the United Nations Millennium Declaration
(resolution 55/2), with special focus on goals to combat
poverty and to ensure that Africa, which represents the
largest part of the South, receives a fair and equitable
share of global prosperity. The United Arab Emirates
reiterates its decades-long energy policy, which is
based on maintaining the volume and flow of its energy
supplies without restriction or political or non-political
impediment.
Furthermore, the United Arab Emirates has long
and consistently been pursuing a foreign policy based
on the principles and purposes of the United Nations,
in particular with regard to the settlement of
international disputes by peaceful means,
non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and the
protection of national sovereignty. In that context, we
affirm our continued commitment to the one-China
policy.
The United Arab Emirates, as an active member
of the international community, is always ready to
reiterate its commitment to respecting the principles of
human rights in the light of its human values and
national principles and in line with the provisions and
machinery of relevant international conventions. The
25 09-52592
universal periodic review on the United Arab Emirates
was adopted by the Human Rights Council in Geneva
last December.
The United Arab Emirates attaches great
importance to the conditions of migrant workers and
the protection of their full rights, in accordance with
the constitution of the United Arab Emirates, national
legislation and the standards of the International
Labour Organization. My Government has recently
adopted a set of policies and measures aimed at
enhancing many aspects of labour protection. It has
taken steps to intensify regional cooperation among
labour-exporting and labour-importing countries in
Asia with what is known as the Abu Dhabi Dialogue,
which aims to promote the protection of workers at all
stages of contractual labour. Also, the United Arab
Emirates actively participates in the International
Forum on Migration and Development and supports its
activities and research work. The forum was initiated
by the High-level Dialogue on International Migration
and Development, held on the sidelines of the General
Assembly in the autumn of 2006.
Women and children occupy an important place
among the national priorities of the United Arab
Emirates Government, in particular with regard to
education, health, knowledge and human development.
The empowerment of women and the care and
protection of children are among the major success
stories of our national development project. The United
Arab Emirates has also made efforts to combat all
forms of violence, extremism, crime, violation of
human rights and human trafficking through
partnerships that are based on equality and mutual
respect and contribute to achieving peace, stability and
sustainable development.
In conclusion, we hope that our deliberations on
the items on the Assembly’s agenda this session will
lead to positive results that will enhance our joint
efforts to establish a more just, peaceful, tolerant and
developed world.