Co-Chairmen,
Secretary
General,
Distinguished
Heads of State and Government,
Your
Excellencies,
Throughout
the forty-five years of our UN membership, Ireland has been an unwavering supporter of
this organisation. We have consistently valued its achievements, even if we have sometimes
been frustrated by its shortcomings or grieved by its failures. We have striven to take
the responsibilities of membership seriously in,
for example, our contributions to peacekeeping, disarmament, development, human rights and
humanitarian action.
The
credentials Ireland brings to this Millennium Summit, therefore, are those of a deeply
committed LIN member.
But
this Summit must take us beyond restatements of commitment. This must be a Summit of plain
speaking and precise objectives.
The
two major documents prepared for our meeting "We
the Peoples", by Secretary General Annan, and the Report of the Panel on LIN
Peacekeeping go in the right direction. Both
are lucid texts, which challenge us with frank analysis and specific proposals. They
oblige us to refocus on the fundamental tasks of this organisation: dealing with war and
dealing with want.
Freedom from Want: A Fair World Order
The statistics of poverty and
inequality in our world are shocking and shameful. Half the world's population struggling
on less than $2 a day; over a billion on less than $1. A quarter of a billion children of
14 and under working, sometimes in terrible conditions. Death from preventable and
treatable diseases ten people will die of
malaria in the five minutes I take to address you.
There was
much talk some years ago of a "new world order". A new order is indeed dawning.
The capacity of globalisation to transform our economies and societies is enormous. But,
unless shaped by a value system, globalisation will mean an ever more lopsided world. The
level playing field will remain an illusion as long as a majority of players are ill-fed,
ill-trained and ill-equipped.
Perhaps
the phrase 'fair world order' better sums up what we should strive for. It recognises that
we live in a society, not a market-place. It admits of concepts of justice and human
solidarity. It acknowledges that, while not everyone will live in the same way, we are all
entitled to dignity and decency.
A genuine
commitment to fairness has implications for policy making in every area: in trade,
investment and debt reduction as well as in health, labour, gender equality and a host of
others. 'Coherence' may be an over-used word but it is an under-used approach. I am
pleased that the Declaration we are about to adopt at this Summit has such a broad range
of commitments. And the specificity of the language and the timescales mean that we can
and will be held accountable for delivery. If we urge policy coherence
and precise targets on the UN, we must be individually prepared to adopt the same
disciplines.
Ireland's
current prosperity places a particular responsibility on our shoulders. One hundred and
fifty years ago we were a country ravaged by famine. When we joined the United Nations in
1955, we were markedly poorer than most of our European neighbours. Today, we are one of
the fastest growing economies in the world.
Our
history should make us generous. And it has: Irish people have a long tradition of working
abroad in the service of others and have consistently shown extraordinary generosity in
their private donations to development projects.
Over the
past two years, Ireland's official development assistance has grown at the fastest rate in
the OECD.
Today, on
behalf of the Government and people of Ireland, I wish in this forum publicly to make a
commitment to fully meeting the United Nations target of spending 0.7% of GNP on Official
Development Assistance. We are putting in place an interim target for the expansion of the
programme by the end of 2002 of 0.45% of GNP and we will reach the UN target by the end of
2007.
To help us
make sure that this major expansion has the greatest impact, we are commencing a review of
the structure and range of our aid programmes. We will however maintain a clear focus on
poverty alleviation and our policies will reflect the essential link between human rights
and human development. We will particularly work to expand access to primary education,
tackle the AIDS epidemic and improve the position of some of the world's most vulnerable
groups.
Freedom from War: the UN must do better
Ireland's commitment to disarmament is well known, with a broad
consistency of position running from our NPT initiative forty years ago to our current
activities in the New Agenda Coalition. We are deeply concerned that the post Cold War
opportunities are not being fully grasped; we will continue to avail of every
opportunity to push for greater progress.
Our
commitment to conflict resolution around the world has been sharpened by the success of
our own peace process, in which the support of the international community has been both
indispensable and deeply appreciated. We, in turn, are ready to share our experience in
any situation where it may be felt helpful.
In many
cases, conflict resolution requires effective peace-keeping. The report of the Panel on
United Nations Peace Operations has a sobering conclusion: "Without renewed
commitment on the part of the Member States, significant institutional change and
increased financial support, the United
Nations will not be capable of
executing the critical peacekeeping and peace-building tasks that the Member States assign
to it in coming months and years".
This must
jolt the Security Council and the membership generally into action. The recommendations
for change policy, institutional and
organisational must be studied as a matter of
urgent priority, and then acted upon. And there has to be the broad political will to do
so. Ireland has for forty years been among the leading contributors of personnel to UN
peacekeeping operations. We are rightly proud of the strength and quality of the
contribution to UN peacekeeping by our army and police. We fully intend to maintain that
contribution. But we want to do so in a context where there is clarity of purpose,
realistic planning, coherent organisation and adequate funding.
Renewing the United Nations
The
Secretary General in his Report rightly states that, when it was created, the UN reflected
humanity's greatest hopes for a just and peaceful global community. Let us, as Member
States, accept our collective responsibility to help the organisation realise its
potential. This task is well under way and the reforms which have been implemented in
recent years have already helped to strengthen and revitalise the organisation.
However,
much remains to be done and, in particular, we must redouble our efforts to make the
Security Council more representative of the modern world and to work for equitable
geographic representation. Ireland wants to play its full part in this exercise of
renewal. That is why, for only the third time ever and for the first time in twenty years,
we are seeking a seat on the Security Council in next month's elections.
Never has
there been a more critical and challenging time to be a Security Council member. But we
believe that our experience and our commitment fit us to rise to the challenge.
Co-Chairmen,
distinguished delegates,
Our
deliberations this week take place in the rarefied atmosphere of international diplomacy.
But what the United Nations does, or fails to do, has an effect on the real lives of
countless people around the world. Despite all our shortcomings, we can together make a difference. That should and must concentrate our
minds at this Summit. Let us leave here with a renewed sense of our shared goals and of
how, urgently, we can achieve them.
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