UN Chronicle | 2002 Assembly Session: A 'Rich and Powerful' Debate

2002 Assembly Session
A 'Rich and Powerful' Debate
By Jonas Hagen for the Chronicle

Article

The President of the fifty-seventh General Assembly, Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic, in his closing remarks on 20 September described the general debate as "rich and powerful". Among the 188 speakers, the Assembly heard 33 heads of State, 14 heads of Government, 14 Deputy Prime Ministers and 110 Foreign Ministers. They debated a range of issues during the ten-day deliberation, which opened after a day of mourning commemorating the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Major themes that emerged from the debate were peace and security, terrorism, globalization, HIV/AIDS and sustainable development. The Chronicle covers the Assembly debate organized around these themes in individual sections (see below).

The issue of Iraq was prominent, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan underscoring that "efforts to obtain Iraq's compliance with the [Security] Council resolutions must continue". President George Bush of the United States said that if Iraq did not meet the demands of the Council, "action will be unavoidable".

The Middle East was an important topic in the debate, and a number of speakers recognized the need for two viable States-Israel and Palestine-with recognized and secure borders. Juli Minoves-Triquell of Andorra said that nations had come out of the ruins of the Second World War to build a better world for all and that this belief enabled him to envision a "glorious city on the hill. A new Jerusalem. A Jerusalem of all religions, all beliefs."

Countries voiced their support of the new regime in Afghanistan (see "Do Not Send Us Your Weapons"). Many delegates warned the Assembly that the international community should not abandon the country again, and that there can be "no room for complacency" toward the rebuilding effort there, as Abdulaziz Kamilov of Uzbekistan said. Post-war dislocation, economic disaster, remnants of militant groups and drug production and trafficking still endanger the young democracy in Afghanistan, he said.

All participants in the debate denounced terrorism, and many Member States outlined concrete measures that they had undertaken to combat it (see "Respect for Human Life, Justice, Tolerance …"). States also voiced their support for the newly established International Criminal Court. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fog Rasmussen, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said: "People do not need revenge; they want justice. They do not wish for impunity; they want accountability. This is what the International Criminal Court is all about."

Developing countries expressed frustration at agricultural subsidies and the ill-distributed benefits of globalization (see "In Modern Times There Has Never Been Free Trade"). Poverty eradication was also a major concern. Saying it was impossible to aim at a climate of peace and security while half the world was subject to poverty, malnutrition and disease, Cape Verde Prime Minister Jose Maria Pereira Neves called on the international community to commit to the Millennium Development Goals so as to "give meaning and hope to the lives of millions of our brothers and sisters that today look toward the future without any hope". Warning that debt was crippling the poorest countries, Jakaya M. Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania reported that his Government had been able to make unprecedented investments in basic social services, thanks to the cancellation of a portion of its external debt. "More people had gotten access to clean water, classrooms, textbooks, and health care as a result."

Ambassador Philip Sealy of Trinidad and Tobago said that the International Conference on Financing and Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002, was a "noble attempt" and that he was "heartened' by its outcome. He said that the Conference had defined necessary actions to address pressing problems in areas of development, international trade, financial and technical cooperation for development, and external debt. At that summit, donor countries set their official development assistance (ODA) goals at 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product. Urging leaders to make speedy progress toward the 0.7 per cent target, Norway's Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik announced to the General Assembly that his country intended to increase its ODA to 1 per cent by 2005. Member States reiterated the disastrous levels of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the need for broad international cooperation to help treat infected people and stop the spread of the virus (see "A Generation of Orphans").

Delegates commented on the International Conference on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, with varying degrees of satisfaction and dismay (see "Don't Leave Us Alone to Pay the Price"). Regarding the Millenium Development Goals and the Johannesburg and Monterrey Conferences, delegates agreed that the objectives were clear, and many agreed with Mircea Geoana of Romania, who stated it was time to "deliver in a coherent and pragmatic way on the commitments". Numerous participants felt that the era of high-level mega-summits had come to an end, and that "bigger is not always better", as Ernst Welch of Liechtenstein said. These conferences had developed good standards, and it was time for action.

Delegates voiced confidence in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which was adopted by the General Assembly, as a multilateral initiative that, with the support of the United Nations and the international donor community, could lead Africa towards a prosperous future.

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