We look back
on a year that has been exceptional in so many
respects. Twelve months ago, a bank only a few
hundred metres away from here collapsed and brought
the global financial system to the verge of breakdown.
The ensuing turbulence in the finance sector led to a
severe global economic downturn.
This illustrates the interconnectedness of our
world. It reminds us that other issues, such as climate
change, the food crisis, migration, pandemics,
terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction are not confined by national borders.
Rising to these global challenges requires determined
and coordinated action at the national, regional and
international levels. International cooperation has
become vital. The United Nations is the place where
this cooperation happens. Today, the world needs the
United Nations more than ever.
The United Nations should continue along its
path of reform in order to reinforce its legitimacy. At
the same time, exchanges between the United Nations
and other forums such as the Group of 20 (G-20) —
which is meeting today — must be strengthened. The
G-20 has taken over a role in discussing important
global issues. This development must not take place at
the expense of other nations or global institutions such
as the United Nations. The G-20 lacks legitimacy;
basic considerations of due process are absent in the
sanctions procedures. The members of the G-20
themselves are not subject to the same scrutiny.
Switzerland advocates a level playing field.
The financial and economic crisis continues to be
of concern to all of us. Governments and central banks
have put together vast stabilization packages. However,
quantity is not everything. What counts is quality.
Economic activity must revert to fundamental values
and virtues. It must focus on economic, social and
environmental sustainability. Through institutions such
as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank
and the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), the United Nations has the knowledge and the
instruments needed to combat the financial and
economic crisis. It is important to ensure that the
voices of these institutions too be heard within the
G-20.
The present crisis has occasionally been used in
some quarters as an opportunity to question the market
economy and, indeed, globalization. I do not dispute
that reform is necessary. The failures and abuses have
been too big to ignore. Nevertheless, we must remind
ourselves that it is also thanks to a liberal economic
order and open markets that much of the world’s
population has been lifted out of poverty. Here, we
share the concerns of those who believe that the current
growing trend towards protectionism will lead us
straight towards disaster. My country therefore
welcomes the call made at the United Nations World
Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis for
the swift conclusion of the Doha Round.
People in the developing countries have been hit
particularly hard by the financial and economic crisis.
There is a significant risk that the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals will be delayed. As for
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Switzerland, we have pledged to maintain our level of
development aid despite stringent budget constraints.
Developing and developed countries are jointly
responsible for achieving the Millennium Development
Goals. Next year, the United Nations conference
marking the tenth anniversary of the Millennium
Declaration will provide us with the opportunity to
reinvigorate this partnership and to improve the
effectiveness of development aid.
Sustainable development must also be our
guiding principle in the fight against climate change.
This is why the climate conference in Copenhagen
must be a success. Switzerland wants and is able to set
a good example. We will achieve our CO2 reduction
targets for 2012. For the period until 2020, we are
prepared to cut our CO2 emissions by 20 per cent. At
the global level, the costs of adaptation to climate
change will amount to several tens of billions of
dollars per year of which more than half will be at the
expense of developing countries. Switzerland has
therefore proposed the creation of a global carbon tax
which is based on the polluter-pays principle, in order
to deal with these emerging needs.
Violent conflicts continue to plague the planet,
rendering a life in dignity, peace and security elusive
for too many people. The unique legitimacy of the
United Nations allows it to play an active role in
conflict prevention, mediation, the protection of
civilians, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. My country
welcomes the greater involvement of the United
Nations in these areas and especially advocates the
strengthening of United Nations prevention and
mediation capacities. Switzerland is also active in the
area of peacebuilding. It has taken over the
chairmanship of the Peacebuilding Commission’s
country-specific configuration on Burundi and will
continue its initiative on armed violence and
development.
This year we celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of
the Geneva Conventions. Since their creation, the
Geneva Conventions have set indispensable rules for
situations of armed conflict. New forms of armed
conflict and new means and methods of warfare make
it increasingly difficult to ensure respect for these
rules. It is unacceptable that civilian populations
should be so often the target of deliberate attacks and
that humanitarian aid personnel should be so often
denied rapid and unimpeded access to populations in
need.
In an effort to identify ways of improving
compliance with the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland
is organizing a ministerial side event on Saturday here
in New York. In November we will hold an
international conference of experts in Geneva, open to
all State parties to the Geneva Conventions. The
conference will focus on the current and future
challenges faced by international humanitarian law.
Human dignity is an inalienable right of all
human beings, regardless of their gender, origin or
religion. The Human Rights Council is the principal
forum for discussing human rights within the United
Nations. Both its special procedures and its universal
periodic review process have demonstrated their
effectiveness. This said, a great many challenges
remain. Switzerland will continue to work vigorously
for an effective Human Rights Council and will present
its candidacy for a second term starting in 2010.
The protection of human rights, along with the
promotion of democracy and the strengthening of the
rule of law will also be priorities of the Swiss
presidency of the Council of Europe from November
2009 to May 2010. Under the Swiss presidency, efforts
will be made to increase cooperation between the
United Nations and the Council of Europe.
2010 will thus be a symbolic year for the United
Nations. Five years will have passed since the adoption
of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document and ten
years since the signing of the Millennium Declaration.
Next year’s summit will be an opportunity to assess the
status of implementation of these declarations and to
initiate new, more comprehensive reforms. These are
necessary steps because only a reformed United
Nations will be in a position to find appropriate
responses to the global challenges.
In this context, it is my great pleasure to
announce to Member States that Switzerland has put
forward the candidature of Joseph Deiss, former
President of the Swiss Confederation, for the
presidency of the sixty-fifth session of the General
Assembly.
I will conclude with the following: the challenges
to be met are huge, however we must not yield to
pessimism. Throughout history, human beings have
demonstrated time and again that with courage,
imagination and persistence they are capable of great
achievements. The Swiss writer Max Frisch once said:
“A crisis can be a productive state. You just have to get
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rid of the aftertaste of disaster.” I absolutely agree. So
let us be productive and seize the opportunity to create
a prosperous, just, peaceful and sustainable world.