Transcription
Will now hear an address by His Excellency Matame Serel Rosa, President of the Republic of South Africa. I request protocol to escort His Excellency. I invite him to address the assembly.
[Music]
Thank you, Your Excellency, the Chair of the Assembly. We take this opportunity to thank the United Nations Assembly for giving us a chance to speak.
Thirty years ago, South Africa was born as a new nation—equal, united, and free from apartheid. We adopted a new constitution as the birth certificate of our new nation. Our first democratic elections brought the tyranny of apartheid to an end, a system that this General Assembly had declared to be a crime against humanity in adopting Resolution 2202A in 1966, as later endorsed by the Security Council in 1985.
The United Nations was a beacon of hope in our quest for justice. The great wave of solidarity from the peoples of the world, led by the United Nations, turned the tide against apartheid. Today, democracy flourishes in South Africa. We have a progressive constitution, an entrenched human rights culture, and strong institutions. We have laws to advance equality and programs to protect society's most marginalized and vulnerable.
We continue to transform our economy so that it is in a more competitive position to create jobs, attract more investment, and benefit all. South Africa is a party to global treaties on human rights, gender equality, children's rights, refugee protection, and environmental protection.
A few days ago, South Africa also endorsed the PCT that charts the way for a better future for global governance and the attainment of the sustainable development goals. As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, we are contributing our fair share towards the global effort and have a just energy transition plan to guide our carbon journey and climate-resilient development.
Through the African Union, we are working to advance Agenda 2063. We are involved in mediation and conflict resolution across our continent and actively contribute to peacekeeping missions. Our political culture has evolved, and it continues to mature. We have just held our seventh free and fair general elections since our democracy, paving the way for the formation of the Government of National Unity. Ten political parties have coalesced around a common agenda for economic growth, job creation, poverty eradication, and sustainable development.
South Africa is in a new era—an era of great promise and what some have called our second miracle. South Africans of all races have rallied behind the Government of National Unity. We are making headway in resolving some of our most pressing challenges. Our economy has started to improve, and investor confidence is on the rise. Our country's prospects look bright, and we look to the future with great hope.
The South African story bears witness to the enduring role of the United Nations in global matters, in supporting our struggle. The United Nations affirmed the principles of the UN Charter, the fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of every person, and the equal rights of nations large and small. It affirmed the aspiration contained in the Universal Declaration of Rights that we should strive for a world free of barbarous acts that outrage the conscience of humankind.
Genocide was declared to be a stain on the conscience of the world, and the world community took a stand against it. Apartheid was declared a crime against humanity and a stain on the conscience of the world. The United Nations took a stand against apartheid. These were seen as crimes against humanity then, and they continue to be crimes against humanity now.
It has been 11 months since the mass attack that killed 1,200 people and where hostages were taken. As South Africa, we have condemned this attack. In response, Israel embarked on an act of collective punishment in its assault on the people of Gaza. The torment of the people of Gaza is continuous and unabated. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed; homes, hospitals, churches, mosques, and schools lie destroyed. Famine and disease stalk the streets of Gaza.
This cannot but shock our collective humanity. The violence the Palestinian people are being subjected to is a grim continuation of more than half a century of apartheid that has been perpetrated against Palestinians by Israel. We, South Africans, know what apartheid looks like. We lived through apartheid; we suffered and died under it. We will not remain silent and watch as apartheid is perpetrated against others.
[Applause]
Through the United Nations and the instruments it wields, we must end the suffering that Palestinians are being subjected to. We are called upon to uphold the principles of the UN Charter and to uphold consistently and in their entirety the fundamental tenets of international law. International law cannot be applied selectively. No one state is more equal than any other.
In December last year, South Africa approached the International Court of Justice seeking an order to prevent Israel from committing genocide against the people of Gaza. We did so in terms of our obligations as a state party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
As South Africa, we welcome the support that a number of countries have given to the case that we have launched at the ICJ. The ICJ's orders make it clear that there is a plausible case of genocide against the people of Gaza. They further make it clear that states must also act to prevent genocide by Israel and to ensure that they are not themselves party to the violation of the genocide convention by aiding or assisting in the commission of genocide.
We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire and for the release of all hostages. The only lasting solution is the establishment of a Palestinian state—a state that will exist side by side with Israel, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Our moral conscience further demands that we exert every effort to bring peace also to other countries, especially the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Sudan, to Ukraine, and other parts of the African continent. We must realize the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination.
Achieving and maintaining peace and security requires the collective will of the community of nations gathered here. It requires that the UN Security Council should be a more representative body and inclusive. Seventy-eight years since its formation, the structure of the United Nations Security Council remains largely unchanged. Africa and its 1.4 billion people remain excluded from its key decision-making structures.
This cannot continue. The Security Council has not fulfilled its mandate to maintain international peace and security. The UN Security Council must be reformed as a matter of urgency. We would like to see the Security Council being more inclusive so that the voices of all nations can be heard and considered; it cannot remain an exclusive club of just five nations to the exclusion of the many nations in the world.
Africa stands ready to play its role in building a safer global order by participating in the work of the UN Security Council on the basis of respect and acceptance. The African Union and its member states are engaged in mediation, dialogue, and diplomacy across our continent to create conditions under which peace and development can take hold.
There must be greater collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union towards resolving a number of conflicts and also in addressing the root causes of conflicts that continue to rage. Pandemics pose a serious threat to us all. We are concerned by the spread of diseases across the world and in Africa in particular.
We urge the international community to mobilize vaccines and other medical countermeasures for deployment where they are most needed. Economic prosperity is key to sustainable peace. Through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, we are establishing the foundation for a massive increase in trade and investment in infrastructure in our continent.
The AFCFTA will further integrate regional economies and accelerate Africa's industrialization and economic growth. The climate crisis is now a full-blown climate emergency in the world.
It impacts devastatingly both countries and citizens of many nations. Extreme weather, such as flooding, fires, and droughts, is wreaking havoc on societies, economies, and the livelihoods of ordinary people. Despite being least responsible for climate change, developing economies and particularly African countries are bearing the brunt of what they did not create and are on the front line.
As South Africa, we remain committed to contributing our fair share to reduce global emissions, guided by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. We have adaptation and mitigation programs and policies in place and have passed a climate change law to further support our emissions reduction targets.
It is essential that climate actions do not deepen global inequality or stifle the developmental aspirations of the global South. The industrialized nations are not honoring their climate commitments, and we repeat the call for predictable and sustainable financing for climate action. We must operationalize the agreed-upon climate financing and capacity building instruments to advance mitigation and adaptation.
Pursuing sustainable development necessitates that those with greater means should support those who lack them. The world faces an annual financing gap of some $4 trillion to achieve sustainable development. We call on better-resourced countries to scale up their levels of support to developing economies.
Debt is the millstone around the neck of many developing economy countries, stifling their potential and development. Debt servicing is robbing a number of countries of much-needed funds to support health, education, and social spending.
South Africa endorses the United Nations Secretary-General's call for the reform of the global financial architecture to enable developing economy countries to lift themselves out of the quicksand of debt. We must commit to systems for financing development that are more accessible, agile, and equitable.
In 2025, South Africa will assume the presidency of the G20. We will use this important role to advocate for the peoples of Africa and all of the global South for their development and advancement.
South Africa welcomes the adoption of The Pact for the Future and congratulates our sister country Namibia, as well as the Federal Republic of Germany, for having steered the United Nations towards the adoption of the resolution in this regard.
This Pact for the Future is a platform for us to focus on the actions we need to take together to build a world in which the equal worth of every person and the equal worth of every country is recognized and valued. We particularly welcome the commitments to place poverty eradication at the center of all our efforts and for the sustainable development goals financing gap in developing countries to be closed.
The disparities in wealth and development within and between countries are simply unjust and unsustainable. We must continue to strive for equal treatment, equal opportunity, and advancement for all individuals and all nations.
The Pact for the Future must reinvigorate international solidarity. Like veins that carry sustenance to every part of the body, solidarity is the lifeblood of human progress. It binds us together to nourish the greater good.
It is achieving the greater good for the common good to which we all strive. Through dialogue, through respect for the rule of law, through the advancement of human rights, through cooperation and solidarity, we can and will be able to achieve a better world for all the people of the world.
I thank you.
[Music]
[Applause]
On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the President of the Republic of South Africa.