YouSaid · the spoken record

Alexander Downer

lines on the record: 162
first: 1996-09-24
most recent: 2005-09-24
sittings or episodes: 7
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Australia does not believe that the United Nations is the answer to all the problems of the world. But the Organization does have a role to play. When we call on the United Nations, it must be able to fulfil that role effectively and expeditiously. The publics of the world expect nothing less.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“What does it say when the international community proves to be unwilling to act when misrule has caused life expectancy to plunge in what was one of Africa’s most promising countries — from around 63 years in the early 1990s, to just under 34 years in 2004? Would today’s United Nations be able to prevent another Rwanda? We and the publics of the world expect much of the United Nations, and rightly so. The stakes are too high in this complex and challenging security environment to accept anything less. We all have a part to play. There was some welcome progress at the summit; but where we have fallen short we must acknowledge it and be ambitious in pursuing more meaningful reform. Large challenges loom before us. We should approach them with a degree of realism.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“A firmer and more active Security Council role on the issue of weapons of mass destruction is also sorely needed. Australia is a committed and long-term supporter of the United Nations and of the vital role that it can play in promoting international peace and security. We have a proud record of contributing to United Nations activities, funding and debates, extending back to its formation in 1945. But we are not an uncritical supporter. The need to reform the United Nations has been a consistent theme since I first addressed the General Assembly at its fifty-first session in 1996. Such a need is all the more compelling today. The reality is that there continue to be States failing or in precipitous decline for no reasons other than poor leadership and poor governance — with disastrous results for human lives.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Australia — together with the overwhelming majority of States — remains unwavering in its support for the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and we will continue to take a leading role in universalizing the Additional Protocol on strengthening nuclear safeguards, making it a precondition for the supply of uranium to non- nuclear-weapon States. It is not acceptable, in the current global climate, that we have not started negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty, a treaty which would reduce the risk of leakage of fissile material to proliferators or terrorists and would buttress nuclear disarmament gains made to date. I am pleased to be chairing the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Article XIV Conference this afternoon, looking for ways to accelerate that Treaty’s entry into force.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“A dangerous new dimension to this global challenge is the known ambition of terrorists to acquire weapons of mass destruction. It is therefore imperative that we take practical action against proliferation as it occurs, through innovative measures such as the Proliferation Security Initiative that complement and reinforce multilateral regimes. Earlier this year I saw firsthand the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons be thwarted by a few countries determined to prevent consensus.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“The world today is confronted by a menace not envisaged at the time the Geneva Conventions were drafted — terrorist organizations and their foot soldiers, like those captured in Afghanistan, who bear arms on a battlefield but pay no heed to the laws of 6 war, fight for no regular army, wear no uniform and bear no recognizable insignia. Just as international law evolved to deal with a scourge of another age — piracy — so today a comprehensive convention against terrorism is needed to help deal with these perpetrators of terrorist acts. The summit was a lost opportunity on disarmament and non-proliferation. Multilateral non- proliferation regimes are being tested now by a small minority of Governments that flout the norms and standards observed by the rest of the international community and which in doing so imperil the security of us all.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Australia welcomed the General Assembly’s adoption of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism in April this year. Our Prime Minister, John Howard, signed that Convention for Australia at the summit. It is now imperative that we redouble our efforts to conclude a comprehensive convention against terrorism during this session of the General Assembly. Closing the gaps in the counter-terrorism legal framework is an essential complement to our concerted efforts to prevent future attacks and to prosecute those who commit terrorist acts. Effective international efforts to criminalize such acts are a vital step forward.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“There remains an urgent need for nations to come together to confront terrorists in the battle of ideas, contest extremist ideologies, and build greater and more productive dialogue between faiths and civilizations. Australia is doing its utmost in our region to tackle terrorism and the ideology that feeds it. United Nations machinery must also play a part. Many Member States still need assistance to implement United Nations counter-terrorism standards and build their counter-terrorism capabilities — the kind of outcomes Australia is already pursuing in cooperation with its regional partners. Leaders made some progress in this direction last week but did not adopt the Secretary-General’s counter-terrorism strategy.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“In the last year we have seen the people of Afghanistan and Iraq exercise restored democratic rights. The international community must continue support for their transformations, help them to leave behind the experience of brutal dictators and narrow regimes, and ensure that progress and democracy take root. Ceding any ground in Iraq or Afghanistan to the tyranny of terrorism and the violent suffering it brings would be a backward step in our global campaign, a campaign we continue to fight but have not yet won, as the July terrorist attacks in London and the ongoing terrorist menace in South-East Asia and elsewhere make clear.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“In Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo, action taken was too little, too late. Today, the situation in Darfur epitomizes those shortcomings. As the Summit Outcome makes clear, all States have a responsibility to protect their own population from egregious crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Where a population is suffering serious harm, and the relevant State is unwilling or unable to stop this, the principle of non-intervention should yield to the collective responsibility to protect. The Security Council must now rely on this new consensus to respond more effectively to humanitarian crises. We have a responsibility to react faster to situations of compelling human need, and we must do more to help countries rebuild, recover and reconcile after conflicts or disasters.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Finally, the management reforms agreed at the summit are a step in the right direction, but they are just that — one step. The Secretary-General needs more authority and flexibility to manage the United Nations. And — as recent inquiries have highlighted in sobering detail — the United Nations accountability, audit and oversight systems must be massively strengthened. It will not be easy, but we must address anew our failures. The summit heralded an historic shift in our thinking on humanitarian intervention, showing a willingness to embrace a new mindset, one which addresses our responsibility to watch out for each other in times of need — our collective “responsibility to protect”. Too often the world has stood by watching humanitarian disasters unfold before international machinery has creaked into action.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“We were disappointed that the summit missed the opportunity to make progress on Security Council reform to ensure that the Council’s membership and 5 functioning match the priorities and the realities of this century. While the summit resolved to create a Human Rights Council, the outcome document is disappointingly short on detail. A new Human Rights Council must overcome the credibility deficit that plagues current human rights machinery and that sees some of the most egregious human rights abusers elevated to positions of leadership. Australia will participate constructively in negotiations on the shape of this new Council. We will also more than double — to $650,000 — our contribution to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“The outdated ideology that too many delegations brought to negotiations was a damningly deep reflection on the intergovernmental process at the United Nations. We did not grasp the opportunity provided by the largest-ever gathering of world leaders to produce a political declaration defining acts of terrorism. How can some nations continue to assert that the deliberate maiming and targeting of civilians is sometimes justified? How is it — after atrocities in Sharm el-Sheikh, Istanbul, Jakarta, Riyadh and on a daily basis in Iraq — that some continue to employ double standards, deceiving themselves into believing that such terrorists could ever be considered to be “freedom fighters”? This is not an argument about the merits of a particular cause. It is about the moral imperative to outlaw behaviour that offends civilization.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“As a nation that strongly supports an ambitious outcome of the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations and recognizes the crucial importance of this to developing countries, Australia also welcomes the pledge and challenge put forward by President Bush a week ago (see A/60/PV.2): that the United States is ready to eliminate all tariffs, subsidies and other barriers if other nations do the same. But alongside these welcome outcomes, many questions and, in some cases, vast disappointments remain. On arms control and non-proliferation, we have absolutely nothing to show — an extraordinarily poor outcome given a contemporary global security environment in which proliferation threats are so clearly evident.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“We are pleased that, on development, the Summit Outcome (resolution 60/1) recognizes what already underpins Australia’s approach to development assistance: that good governance, sound economic policies, anti-corruption measures and trade liberalization are critical elements in fighting poverty and promoting economies and stable communities. Australia has a proud record of assistance in these areas, further underscored by our announcement last week of an increase in Australia’s overseas aid allocation to about 4 billion Australian dollars by 2010 — a doubling of aid from 2004 levels — as well as generous contributions of 10 million Australian dollars to the Democracy Fund and 3 million to the Peacebuilding Fund over three years.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Australia welcomes the summit’s progress in some important areas, particularly the agreement to establish a Peacebuilding Commission to assist fragile States, a field of endeavour where Australia has long been active in its own region, as I have outlined in previous addresses to the General Assembly. We also welcome the fact that States have agreed for the first time that the international community, through the United Nations, has the responsibility to act to protect populations from gross and systematic violations of human rights. We also welcome the call for early conclusion of a comprehensive terrorism convention and early entry into force of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Australia is a founding Member of the United Nations, and we have long supported this Organization’s important role in world affairs. The United Nations has many achievements to celebrate in its sixtieth year. Equally, the sixtieth anniversary places the shortcomings and indeed the failings of the United Nations under a microscope for all to see. In approaching this occasion, the United Nations and its Members have been presented with a challenge: to find practical and workable ways to bring greater security and prosperity to the people of the world through a reformed United Nations system. This has not been easy. The reform agenda is simultaneously vast and urgent, with agreement on approaches difficult — at times impossible — to achieve, as the recent summit process made clear.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“That would form the basis for greater regional cooperation within the United Nations system, for greater engagement and problem-solving on a regional scale. In short, we must work urgently on a bold blueprint for revitalization, which we should consider by the summer of next year. That is why we welcome the Secretary-General’s proposal for a high-level review panel. Real commitment to change — which can be endorsed at a second San Francisco Conference — will be necessary if the United Nations is to rediscover its credibility and its promise.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“We support an overhaul of the United Nations architecture, particularly in the light of new security threats. The functioning of all the major United Nations organs needs to be re-examined, as does the inter-relationship among them. Old shibboleths — such as the excessive homage to sovereignty, even at the 33 expense of the preservation of humanity and human values — should not constrain us. We must end absurd duplication of effort. We should refocus the United Nations on areas where it can and should make a very real difference. But we must be imaginative and bold. The group system, for example, needs modernization. Australia could become part of an East Asia and Pacific grouping, and the old divide of Eastern and Western Europe should be dispensed with to reflect the new, converging European reality.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“The Secretary-General’s reforms to date — in particular the Brahimi peacekeeping changes — have been a valuable start. Radical and fundamental change is now needed. The Secretary-General rightly states that the General Assembly is bogged down with an unwieldy agenda and repetitive and sterile debates. We need to ask ourselves, if much of the activity of the General Assembly — or indeed of the Economic and Social Council — did not occur, what practical difference would it make, and would anyone notice? Again, as Australia has long argued, the composition of the Security Council is out of step with geopolitical realities. The permanent membership of the Security Council should be expanded to reflect the current realities — with the addition of countries such as Japan, India, Brazil, Indonesia and an African nation.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“First-hand experience in East Timor reminds us of that fact, and we look to the United Nations for continuing contributions to ensuring its stability. Australia also appreciates the work of the United Nations in rebuilding civil society in Iraq. Of the $100 million Australia has committed to humanitarian and reconstruction assistance in Iraq, much has been directed through United Nations agencies. Those are two examples in which the United Nations is playing a positive role. Nevertheless, the role of the United Nations in international affairs is under critical scrutiny, and with good reason. The United Nations, through its Member States, needs to do much more to adapt to the evolving global environment. Australia has long been an advocate of a more focused, efficient United Nations system.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“The major global disarmament and non- proliferation treaties remain critical to setting norms of international order. But ultimately, those instruments must be enforced. States are not merely entitled, but obliged, to take action to uphold those norms, especially when the transfer of weapons of mass destruction outside internationally agreed frameworks is involved. The conviction that States must uphold international norms — particularly in relation to weapons of mass destruction — led Australia to join the coalition to disarm Iraq, and, in the same way, we recently joined with others in what is known as the Proliferation Security Initiative. Australia believes the United Nations has a critical role in promoting international peace and security.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Indeed, we will continue to concentrate on improved standards of governance, which are central to our assistance in our own region. The Pacific Island Forum leaders recently endorsed efforts to promote more effective regional institutions and, where appropriate, the pooling of resources to ensure that services are both deliverable and sustainable. The virtues of collective action are self-evident. But collectivity ought not serve as a mantra which is an obstacle to effective action. Sometimes the most effective means of preserving security — and indeed international law — occur alongside the traditional mechanisms of multilateral diplomacy. Australia is a strong supporter of multilateral institutions and processes, but only insofar as they are a means to an effective end.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“These enhance practical, operational- level liaison among regional security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies that have seen terror attacks prevented, networks disrupted and terrorists arrested. Similarly, we are developing regional approaches to confront the dangers of State failure. Together with our Pacific Island Forum partners, we are restoring hope for a better future to the people of Solomon Islands. This Regional Assistance Mission has already made excellent progress in its efforts to restore law and order and to rebuild the institutions of governance. Requested by the Government of Solomon Islands and supported and implemented by Pacific island nations, the Mission is consistent with the United Nations Charter’s original vision of strong regional efforts to maintain international peace and security.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“That can occur only if we are all prepared to accept the disciplines that global trade liberalization imposes. While the prospects, post-Cancún, do not seem particularly favourable, pursuing the Doha objectives 32 remains the best way to alleviate poverty and its attendant ills in the developing world. In confronting these challenges — such as security, governance, poverty, terrorism and pandemics — collective action is likely to yield the best results, since not even the most powerful among us can bear the burden alone. Effective regional action also remains important. Australia has built, with its neighbours, a network of bilateral counter-terrorism arrangements.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“The possibility that weapons of mass destruction might fall into the hands of terrorists makes it an absolute imperative. Terrorism and proliferation do not occur in a vacuum — except, of course, a moral vacuum. It is no longer open to us to ignore the failed States which have become their incubators or the transnational crime on which they depend. The promotion of good governance and democratization are imperatives both morally and pragmatically. They have become preconditions for international security. Good governance serves both global and national interests, as improved governance will fortify the United Nations itself. Without it, developing States will never be able fully to realize the opportunities that globalization presents: chiefly, the potential to erase divisions between themselves and the developed world.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“That such a man, engaged in such vital tasks — along with so many of his colleagues — should have been swept by a terrorist bomb into the silent democracy of death epitomizes the struggle between civilization and the unthinkable alternative. We cannot allow terrorists to succeed in determining the course of world events. We must overwhelm their efforts to disrupt global security and prosperity, to undermine democratic countries or destabilize nation-building. Terrorism has also created a new urgency in solving a more familiar problem — the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Efforts by rogue States to develop and traffic in weapons of mass destruction materials underpin the priority we give to non- proliferation.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Despite the war on terror — a war we are winning — terrorism continues to be a scourge to which neither age, nationality, religion or political affiliation provides immunity. It takes a considerable act of imaginative engagement to see these new forms of nihilism for what they really are. They are a negation of civilization and of the discourse that sustains it. I referred earlier to the visionary and innovative work which sometimes only the United Nations can do. In that context, I want to pause to pay tribute to the Secretary-General’s senior representative in Baghdad, Sergio Vieira de Mello, well known to many of you here.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“But a combination of pragmatism, vision and reforming innovation is necessary if, as I have already warned, this Organization is to avoid frittering away its credibility and influence by failing to exercise its power effectively. In the words of Secretary-General Annan, we should not shy away from the need to improve and, where necessary, change the structure and function of the United Nations and other international institutions to make sure they remain effective in promoting security and peace. I alluded to the global challenges which confront us. First among them is the emergence of the “age of terror”. Where once it was possible to view terrorism as the lamentable legacy of a few unsafe regions, today almost no country has been left untouched.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“an institution which is humanity’s prayer to itself to be saved from itself.” Recently one of Australia’s foremost novelists, Frank Moorhouse, wrote a meditative essay on this theme. In it he discerned a new pair of parallel world orders: “For the first time in our lives, there are two very powerful agents in world affairs … the United Nations Security Council … and the United States.” He noted that “for all the cynicism about the futility of international intervention, pragmatically, people are being helped daily by the United Nations” and that “visionary and innovative international missions” continue to be conceived and achieved within it. Moorhouse’s estimation of the significance of the United Nations is debatable.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“To stand again at this podium today, representing Australia as its Foreign Minister, entering into the great conversation of nations, is an unsettling experience. Seldom has this 31 forum been confronted with so many dimensions of uncertainty, so many challenges to global peace, security and orderly economic reform. Seldom has its own capacity for regeneration to deal with them been so insistently put to the test. Conor Cruise O’Brien, one of Ireland’s finest writers, an official and later ambassador here, famously remarked: “The cynicism necessary in the approach to the United Nations must at some point be made to yield to reverence: the reverence which is appropriate to ...”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“And we are especially concerned that major United Nations conferences have become so large and unwieldy that their fundamental purposes have been obscured. Australia strongly supports the process of reform proposed by the Secretary-General for his second term. This provides a unique opportunity to address these questions and to `re-tool' the Organization so as to build on its strengths. As Member States, we are the United Nations. The Organization is there to serve our collective interests. In order to address new threats and challenges, the United Nations must be focused and responsive, and its key organs must function efficiently and effectively. We must continue to work together to enable it to meet our expectations. I am confident that together we can achieve success.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“We also need to revitalize and reform the way in which the key organs of the Organization the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Security Council function. The Security Council, in particular, should be reformed, including by expanding its membership. 26 We also need to think again about the relationship between these organs and the Secretariat: time is not a free good, nor are meeting services, nor are the Secretary-General's reports, and nor is the capacity or will of Member States to provide resources without limits. We need to look at how we can more effectively use existing Unite Nations mechanisms particularly the General Assembly and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as bodies of review.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“We helped establish the Asia-Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS and Development to engender greater cooperation in the region, and we applaud the appointment of a United Nations regional envoy for HIV/AIDS. The United Nations has a heavy agenda. But it cannot and should not try to do everything. To make a difference it must be selective and focused, matching its activities to its capabilities and to the priorities that we, the Member States, set for it. The Millennium Declaration gave us clear, agreed priorities. And the Monterrey Financing for Development Conference and the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development have built on these, giving us a framework to shape and direct our work.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“I would like to pay tribute to Sergio Vieira de Mello's efforts in East Timor, and to congratulate him warmly on his appointment as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. HIV/AIDS is a global issue that tears at the fabric of our society, and threatens the economic development of entire continents. The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June last year brought home to Member States their responsibilities to marshal national and regional responses to HIV/AIDS. Australia hosted a regional ministerial meeting in Melbourne in October 2001. Ministers agreed on the need to develop strategies to fight HIV/AIDS, and on the need to share lessons and cooperate in priority areas.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“In May we celebrated East Timor's independence. We are now about to welcome East Timor as a new member of the United Nations. That we have arrived at this point owes much to the resolve and courage of the East Timorese. It owes much also to the United Nations and United Nations authorized missions that brought stability and order and renewed hope for the future. I congratulate the Secretary-General and the Security Council for providing the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) with the necessary support, not just for peacekeeping and policing, but also for developing stable governance in East Timor. Sustained United Nations and international support will be critical in East Timor's formative years. Australia is determined to provide such support.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“Ministers from thirty-eight countries committed themselves to stopping the people who deal cold- heartedly in human cargo. We agreed that, in the first instance, people-smuggling must be legislated against as a serious crime. There is much more we need to do, and Australia welcomes international discussion and action on the issue, including within the United Nations system itself. Australia welcomes the addition of the International Criminal Court to the international legal framework. It is an example of positive international cooperation which will complement the efforts of States to end impunity for the worst violations of international humanitarian law. United Nations work in East Timor is another outstanding example of how the organization can, and does, make a difference in this case in response to a humanitarian crisis.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“We also need to deal with other transnational challenges: not just terrorism but other transnational crimes, including the smuggling of arms, drugs and people. Transnational crimes threaten all countries. They require us to cooperate further in law enforcement, intelligence and financial controls much like the war on terrorism. People-smuggling and trafficking, in particular, are a truly transnational problem. This lucrative criminal enterprise undermines the international refugee protection system, and legal migration programs, that have enabled millions to build new and prosperous lives in countries like Australia. Combating people-smuggling and trafficking in persons is particularly important to Australia and to the Asia- Pacific region. This year, Australia co-hosted a regional ministerial conference with Indonesia.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“Otherwise, if Iraq's pursuit of these abhorrent weapons is allowed to continue, we may shortly be asking ourselves why we failed to act. The terrorist threat has given new urgency to our disarmament and non-proliferation goals, and puts demands on us for a renewed effort to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction both to non-state 25 and state actors. We have to be alive to the willingness of terrorist groups to develop and use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Australia, for its part, intends to pursue practical and effective measures through international non- proliferation treaty regimes and export-control arrangements. These regimes and arrangements have delivered tangible security benefits, and should be supported strongly.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“If Iraq has nothing to hide, then it has nothing to fear. Indeed, by meeting these demands, Iraq and its people have everything to gain. Let us also be very clear: Iraq's flagrant and persistent defiance is a direct challenge to the United Nations, to the authority of the Security Council, to international law, and to the will of the international community. We cannot stand by and allow ourselves to be ignored. Nor must protracted negotiations be allowed to weaken and eventually paralyse efforts to allay fears about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. We all must demonstrate a clear, collective determination to uphold the authority of the Security Council, and to ensure that its resolutions on Iraq are implemented in full.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“Grave concerns remain about Iraq's present capabilities. Up until 1998 United Nations weapons inspectors did much good work in finding and destroying Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. But the work of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was never finished, because in 1998 the inspectors were effectively thrown out of Iraq. Four years later, there is little doubt that Iraq has been working hard to rebuild its chemical and biological weapons programmes. Moreover, serious questions also remain about Iraq's nuclear weapons programme. This state of affairs cannot be left unresolved. Iraq must give immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to inspectors to all areas, facilities, equipment, records and Iraqi officials. In short, Iraq must fulfil the requirements of all relevant Security Council resolutions.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“For over a decade, Iraq has flouted legally binding obligations to disclose and eradicate its programmes for weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has defied United Nations resolutions, United Nations inspections and United Nations sanctions, and it has ignored some 23 of the 27 United Nations obligations imposed on it under 16 Security Council resolutions. The Secretary-General has been patient, flexible and assiduous in his efforts to get Iraq to comply with Council resolutions. But Iraq has refused to work with the United Nations in efforts to dismantle its programmes for weapons of mass destruction. Until this occurs, Iraq is a grave threat to its neighbours and to the world. Iraq's well documented aggression towards its neighbours and its past use of chemical weapons underline the potency of the threat it poses.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“The decisive response of the United Nations after 11 September, embodied in Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), created a framework for Member States to join forces in suppressing, prosecuting and punishing terrorist acts and terrorist financing. All Member States must implement the commitments made in resolution 1373 (2001). Australia has strengthened its counter-terrorism legislative and law enforcement framework. We are party to 10 of the 12 anti-terrorism instruments and will ratify another later this month. Australia is also assisting other countries in the Asia-Pacific region to implement their obligations. We face another grave threat to international peace and security, one that tests the very authority of the United Nations.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“We can take some comfort in knowing that the international community has responded, deliberately and resolutely, to international terrorism. The coalition in the war against terrorism led by the United States and joined by others, including Australia has accomplished a great deal. The Al Qaeda network in Afghanistan has been disabled. The Taliban regime has been defeated. Now the world is a safer and more humane place. But terrorism cannot be stamped out by military effort alone. Together we must choke off support financial and otherwise for terrorism. We must stop the patrons and bankrollers of the trade in terror, and together face this insidious threat.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“Let me begin by congratulating you, Sir, on your election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session. I am also pleased to welcome Switzerland as a new Member of the United Nations. Let me acknowledge also two other significant developments: the establishment of the African Union, and the creation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Both raise real hope for a new era of political stability and economic growth for Africa. We meet at this General Assembly in the shadow of the terrorist attacks on this great city one year ago. Those chilling events were an attack on the values of the great civilizations represented here today, values that are central to the United Nations Charter and this Organization.”
2002-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 57 (2002)
“The need for change is clear and urgent, but I believe that it is not beyond the ingenuity and good will of our generation to emulate our predecessors in grasping the reform nettle. At the Millennium Summit the world's leaders highlighted the need for the United Nations to meet the challenges of the new century. Let us heed their call, and work together with renewed determination and commitment to make this Organization mo”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Australia reiterates its call on Indonesia to fulfil its responsibility to provide effective security in West Timor, including by bringing to an end militia activity, bringing to justice those responsible for crimes, creating the necessary conditions for the return of UNHCR and resolving the refugee situation. We urge the Indonesian authorities to take all possible steps in this direction, including cooperating with the proposed Security Council mission. If the United Nations is to remain relevant and credible, it must work on its strengths and maintain a strong commitment to a continuing programme of reform and renewal. The challenges that face the Organization are formidable, but not insurmountable.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Australia is playing a major role in the territory's reconstruction through the United Nations and other organizations, as well as bilaterally. We are committed for the long term to helping the East Timorese build their emerging nation not only for the benefit of the East Timorese, but in the interests of stability and security in our region. Regrettably, the pro-integration militia continue to pose a significant threat to security and stability. Intimidation and violence against Timorese refugees and humanitarian aid personnel in the camps on the East-West Timor border must be halted. The killing of workers of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier this month deserves the world's strongest condemnation.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“This includes placing the financing of peacekeeping on a surer footing and paying our assessed contributions in full and on time. I cannot conclude without referring to the question of East Timor. When I addressed this Assembly one year ago East Timor was in the throes of the most appalling violence at the hands of a brutal and lawless militia. Since then important progress has been made in restoring security and building the foundations of an independent East Timor. Australia pays tribute to the men and women of the International Force in East Timor and of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor for their commitment and, in too many cases, their sacrifice. East Timor faces a long and difficult path to peace and prosperity.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Fifthly, United Nations peace operations must have a clear exit strategy. This is linked in particular to the clarity of Council mandates: as the Brahimi report rightly stresses, mandates must be clear, credible and achievable. It is also linked to the efficacy of accompanying peace processes and peace-building efforts. We welcome the attention given to these issues in the Brahimi report. We also support the point that the United Nations must be given the resources it needs to carry out the demands that we make of it. There is no question that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations needs to be strengthened and reformed. Ultimately, it is our responsibility, as Member States, to support a stronger and more effective United Nations peacekeeping capacity.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)