Dáil debates

Thursday, 6 October 2005

3:00 pm

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Taoiseach and I, along with the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Conor Lenihan, represented Ireland at the UN World Summit 2005 in New York from 14 September to 16 September. I was honoured to act on behalf of the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, as one of five envoys helping to do the groundwork for a summit outcome that would reinforce the multilateral system and enhance the capacity of the United Nations to address the threats and challenges of the 21st century.

The Secretary General's recommendations for a decision at the summit were based on the premises that without development there can be no security, without security there can be no development and without respect for human rights there can be neither. While the summit outcome did not contain everything we would have wished, it nonetheless contains important commitments and agreements on critical issues in these areas. It also sets out a programme of reform of the United Nations, and its secretariat, to better equip it to meet today's challenges and help enhance political and public confidence in the organisation.

The outcome unequivocally commits states to the millennium development goals. Donor countries agreed to step up efforts on official development assistance, financing for development, and debt. Developing countries are committed to ensuring the effective use of assistance through sound development policies, good governance and the rule of law. The imperative to meet the special needs of Africa and to combat HIV-AIDS and other communicable diseases was acknowledged.

As Deputies will be aware, the Taoiseach in his address to the summit committed Ireland to reaching the UN official development assistance target of 0.7% of GNI by 2012, which is three years ahead of the EU target, and to reaching an interim target of 0.5% by 2007.

The summit reached important decisions in the area of security. It reaffirmed the authority and primary responsibility of the Security Council to mandate coercive action. It supported the efforts of the European Union and other regional bodies to develop peace support capacities. The significant decision to establish a peace-building commission by the end of this year will help countries emerging from conflict to avoid a return to strife.

The General Assembly has been mandated to complete and adopt a counter-terrorism strategy on the lines proposed by the Secretary General and to conclude without delay the negotiation of a comprehensive international convention on terrorism.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Leaders reaffirmed universal human rights and agreed on the need to strengthen the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations. The collective acknowledgment of the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity is an important concrete achievement of the summit. Leaders decided to double the budget of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to enable it better to assist states to implement their obligations to their citizens. The summit decided in principle to establish a human rights council to replace the Commission on Human Rights and to complete negotiations on its establishment as soon as possible. A key concern for Ireland is that the positive aspects of the Commission on Human Rights, particularly the involvement of civil society, should be preserved. The summit also supported the Secretary General in his efforts to strengthen the UN's secretariat and management, and invited him to make further proposals in this regard.

In light of these valuable and far-sighted commitments and decisions, it is deeply disappointing that the outcome is silent on disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and on the need to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, NPT. The UN Secretary General has described this failure as "inexcusable". The Taoiseach made it clear at the summit that he agreed with him, as did I at the General Assembly. Efforts to strengthen and ensure respect for all the provisions of the NPT, which remains the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime and the essential foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament, must remain our highest priority as we pursue the twin and mutually reinforcing aims of disarmament and non-proliferation.

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