Mideast peace process – SecGen statement/Banqueting House, Whitehall – Press release (excerpts)

London, United Kingdom, 10 February 2005 – Secretary-General's speech at the Banqueting House, Whitehall

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Perhaps not everyone realises how much the UN is already moving with the times. Twenty years ago the world could still be categorized, rather crudely, into democracies and autocracies. It would have been practically unthinkable for the UN to take sides between the two, or seek to intervene in the internal affairs of its member states.

Today, by contrast, almost all member states accept democratization as something desirable, at least in theory. Rather than being divided into two camps, they are strung out along a continuum. Some, like Britain, are fully fledged democracies of long standing. One or two others are still unashamedly autocratic – or worse. Many have made the transition to democracy since the end of the cold war, and many more are still on the road – definitely more open and tolerant than they used to be, but still subject to hesitation and backsliding.

Democratization, in other words, is a process. Credible elections are an important staging post, but not the finishing line.

And in that great process, the UN is playing an important role. Our Development Programme no longer confines itself to narrowly economic issues. It focuses increasingly on questions of governance, which we all now realise are decisive for development, as I was saying earlier.

UN human rights staff are now posted in some 39 countries, and dozens more have benefited from technical and advisory missions or from visits by special rapporteurs and other human rights experts.

And one of the main divisions of our Department of Political Affairs, these days, is devoted to Electoral Assistance. And we have here in the room Sir Kieran Prendergast – Head of the Department of Political Affairs. In the past 13 years it has either organized elections, or helped and advised local organizers, in 95 countries. Most recently, we are very proud of the role we have played in helping the people of Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq take significant steps on the long, hard road to democracy.

Indeed, the latest developments in all three countries are encouraging.

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In Palestine and Israel, there is a real sense of opportunity: that forward momentum can be generated and maintained. Elected leaders on both sides have just announced a cessation of violence, after four years of death and suffering. There is a chance for the peace process to resume at last. We owe it to both Palestinians and Israelis to do everything we can to help ensure that this precious opportunity is not lost. The conference which you, Prime Minister, have convened on 1st March here in London could not be better timed. I look forward eagerly to attending it, as well as the accompanying Quartet meeting, which I hope will be an occasion to re-launch the Road Map.

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