SPEECHES
November 10, 2005
MONTREAL, Quebec
2005/42
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NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY
THE HONOURABLE PIERRE PETTIGREW,
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
“CANADA’S INTERNATIONAL POLICY STATEMENT
AND UN REFORM”
I would like to thank the United Nations Association in Canada for their invitation. I
appreciate the chance to speak, here in my home city, on a subject close to my
heart—and to the hearts of most Canadians: our engagement in the United Nations
system.
During his visit to Ottawa in March 2004, Kofi Annan told parliamentarians:
In fact, it would be difficult to imagine the United Nations without Canada. I would
even go so far as to say that it would be difficult to imagine Canada without the
United Nations. Multicultural and bilingual, your country is a model amongst the
members of the organization.
During its six decades of existence, Canadians have believed in the UN and have
supported it. But believing in something and supporting it are two very different
undertakings.
We who believe in the UN must never take that support for granted, or allow an inertia
to set in that would diminish Canada’s engagement with the multilateral system, of
which the UN is the centrepiece. To do so would be to ignore our own interests as well
as those of the larger world.
In this 60th anniversary year of the San Francisco Conference and the ratification of the
UN Charter, it is important that we commemorate the end of the war and the birth of the
UN.
But this is also a time to look ahead, to ways to improve the UN. That is one of the
reasons why we are gathered here today.
It has been an event-filled year for the UN, but the results have been disappointing.
There was the report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, as
well as the Secretary-General’s response, In Larger Freedom.
Then in September, at the World Summit, leaders from 154 countries met to thrash out
a declaration on the way forward for the UN. Sad to say, the outcome was not the
overwhelming success we might have wished for. But we cannot take this setback as a
definitive statement of the UN’s value. Even though the World Summit in New York was
a disappointment, the UN did not shut down: the UN system continues to function
around the world.
The UN provides immunization, resolves conflicts, and shelters refugees and internally
displaced persons. And there are hundreds of other important jobs in thousands of
places around the world.
That said, this is not a time for faint hearts. If there is one failure of the UN in the past
two decades, I think it is its inability to meet our expectations of what it could do.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the emergence of 24-hour news channels in the late
1980s, we thought that the world would change overnight—that the so-called peace
dividend from the end of the superpower conflict would make for a safer world and that
easier communication would lead to greater mutual understanding.
Instead, the most pessimistic predictions came true. There were more small wars and
internal conflicts instead of fewer. Some dictators became more powerful, not less.
But now is the time to recognize that the current of history does not flow in minutes or
days or weeks. Certainly, change may sometimes happen rapidly, but societal,
economic and especially political change does not take place in a CNN [Cable News
Network] or RDI [Réseau de l’information] minute.
It takes time and effort—enormous effort—to meet the challenges of a changing world.
And perhaps now the world and the UN are ready for change. For out of chaos often
comes order.
The UN is no more than the sum of its member states. As our former ambassador to
the United Nations, Paul Heinbecker, said, “The UN is structured more like a club than
a government or a corporation, and the members are very much in charge.”
And as Canadians, who care so much about the UN and its goals, we are the most
frustrated when the UN does not work.
While our government has sometimes criticized the UN system for its inefficiency,
overlap and failure to act, no one would recommend a reduced commitment to the UN,
or that we should seek out alternatives to it. Indeed, we look for a greater commitment
by all nations to the United Nations. That is the only way this great institution can work.
As Canadians we recognize that without the multilateral system we are very limited in
our options. Either we act bilaterally as a satellite of the United States, or we work
multilaterally with the U.S. and other partners.
Canada is a medium-sized country, with a vast territory, that relies on trading
relationships with other countries. We are engaged actively in a wide variety of
multilateral organizations, because it serves our interests to work within a rules-based
international system. And the UN is at the heart of that system.
We need the multilateral system. Whether confronting terrorism or poverty or dealing
with infectious diseases, collaborative action is always needed. To paraphrase John
Donne [the English poet], no state is an island.
In Canada’s International Policy Statement, we set out our priorities for multilateral
cooperation, including working with the UN system to help the developing world. As you
may know, multilateral organizations deliver more than 40 percent of Canada’s aid
program, including our responses to crises and humanitarian emergencies.
Multilateral organizations also play a central role in achieving the Millennium
Development Goals. They enable us to extend our reach beyond what is possible
through bilateral programs in areas such as HIV/AIDS and education. These
organizations are also the coordinators of major global initiatives, such as the Global
Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the Global Environment Facility, that
address critical global issues affecting the public good.
Canada’s International Policy Statement also recognizes the need for a new approach
to diplomacy. This approach will help revitalize the multilateral system’s ability to
address global issues such as climate change, overfishing, poverty and disease.
To this end, Foreign Affairs Canada will concentrate on diplomacy that is adapted to a
globalized world. We must deal with the number one global security problem: failed and
fragile states. The Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force [START] was
established to give Canada a new rapid reaction capacity to respond to crises. It will
ensure that responses are better coordinated and faster.
We will also invest $500 million in a new Global Peace and Security Fund to support
START, as well as to build human security and assist peacekeeping in Africa. All of
these initiatives flow from Canada’s International Policy Statement, a landmark
document that establishes for the first time coordinated government priorities in trade,
defence, development and diplomacy.
United Nations Reform
Let me offer some background on reform and then make some predictions as to what
may happen in the months to come. The past year produced a great deal of
groundbreaking work in reform. Canada was a significant contributor to that work.
In November 2003, Kofi Annan gave a mandate to a group of 16 people with past
experience in government and the UN system. This High-Level Panel on Threats,
Challenges and Change spent a year examining the UN system and hearing briefs
before tabling a wide-ranging report.
There were other commissions as well: the Cardoso Commission on the role of the UN
and civil society, the Sachs Report on the Millennium Development Goals.
Notably, Kofi Annan asked Prime Minister Paul Martin and former Mexican President
Ernesto Zedillo to co-chair a commission on the private sector and development. Their
report was released in March 2004.
In the summer of 2004, Canada made submissions to the High-Level Panel on the
responsibility to protect, terrorism, threats to health, the environment, peacebuilding and
coherence.
So, in the area of UN reform, no one can doubt that Canada has been a major player.
The High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change had a wide-ranging
mandate, and in December 2004 it produced a searching and profound report with 101
recommendations, appropriately titled A More Secure World: Our Shared
Responsibility.
Then in March of this year, Secretary-General Annan set out his own vision in his report
In Larger Freedom. In this document, he responds to the challenges highlighted by the
commission on the UN and civil society: the role of the private sector and development,
the need to meet the Millennium Development Goals and, of course, responding to the
High-Level Panel’s report. Most significantly, he draws a direct link between security,
development and human rights.
In Larger Freedom, as you might expect, prompted simultaneous conversations within
governments and between foreign ministries as the World Summit approached. During
negotiations on the Summit outcome document, we found that Canadian, Mexican and
European positions on UN reform were similar. We cooperated to ensure that good
ideas such as the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council were part
of the final outcome document, and we intend to continue this work until these
recommendations are implemented in the UN.
We have two points of view on the Summit outcome. The final declaration, while
making genuine headway in some areas, did not endorse efforts in nuclear
non-proliferation, disarmament or providing a definition of terrorism.
We were disappointed at the poor language on the International Criminal Court and on
women’s rights. We would also have liked to have seen genuine concrete steps taken
to ensure the creation of the Human Rights Council.
As noted in the Summit outcome document, development, security and respect for
human rights are interconnected. Human rights are not luxuries that are afforded only
after the war on terrorism has been fought, economic development attained, prosperity
achieved and political stability maintained. Human rights are essential to sustainable
development, legitimate and effective democracies, and improved security and stability.
We are determined to ensure the creation of the Peacebuilding Commission. As we
speak, Canadian representatives, led by our Ambassador to the UN, Alan Rock, are
working with colleagues from around the world to establish the foundation for the
Commission.
As Prime Minister Martin said, “Building the peace is a huge undertaking and, to do it
well, we need to bring order out of chaos.”
On the positive side, the Summit declaration answers our expectations on UN
management and oversight, health and development. For Canada, the most notable
achievement was the acceptance of the concept of a “responsibility to protect” in the
international system.
This principle, developed by the Canada-sponsored International Commission on
Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001, has catalyzed a substantial shift in the
debate on intervention for human protection. Importantly, it has placed the core focus
on the needs of people at risk and recognized for the first time the collective
responsibility to take action for their protection.
The responsibility to protect fared well, thanks in no small measure to support from
Mexico, the European Union and others. The Prime Minister was very active in lobbying
heads of government to endorse the concept in the Summit outcome document. And I
worked with my counterparts in foreign ministries to ensure that our key priorities made
it into the final declaration.
The fact that the outcome document does not mention increasing the number of
permanent seats on the Security Council is consistent with Canada’s position that it is
more important that reform make the Council more effective, transparent and
accountable. We consider that it would be best to give the divisive issue of Council
expansion a rest and work on other priorities.
We do not want Security Council reform to dominate the ongoing discussion on UN
reform, to be a “deal breaker.” Of the 101 recommendations of the High-Level Panel,
eight dealt with the Security Council. In the Secretary-General’s report, two of 41 did.
When member states turned from discussion on Security Council reform, real progress
was made on what we consider the substantive issues.
But the game is not over. Like a Speech from the Throne, the Summit declaration sets
out guidelines for debate. It is not the final result but rather an outline to be fleshed out
by delegates in the General Assembly, through the resolutions that are the legislation of
the UN.
In hockey terms, the regular season has only just begun. We will not know the outcome
until spring, when the playoffs have concluded. At this moment, Canadians are working
overtime to ensure the drafts in the Summit outcome document have real meaning. And
we will continue to work, and lobby, to ensure the innovations we support enter into the
operational rules and doctrine of the United Nations.
There is a strong desire for UN reform in our government, within the office of the
Secretary-General and in the greater international community. But because the UN is
the creation of its members, little can happen unless a majority of member states
develop the collective will to support reform.
Conclusion
It has taken time, but the time to act is now. As the Prime Minister said last week, we
have no choice. In his words, “Failure to reform is not an option.”
The UN is clearly not perfect. It could be criticized at length for all the times it did not
meet expectations.
But, as Lester Pearson wrote, “The growth of the United Nations into a truly effective
world organization was our best, and perhaps our last, hope of bringing about a creative
peace if mankind was to end a savage tradition that the strong do what they can and
the weak suffer what they must.”
Canadians are not willing to give up on the UN. We believe that it can work better. We
believe multilateral cooperation can make a difference in dealing with the root causes of
poverty, ignorance, terror and despair.
I began by saying that the failure of the United Nations was its inability to meet our
expectations. Let us look forward a decade, to a United Nations that meets the
challenges of the world with an activist and effective multilateral engagement.
If the Security Council was more effective and applied the doctrine of the responsibility
to protect, we would have the capacity to prevent conflicts by calling upon states to
meet their commitments to populations or, if they did not, by intervening where
necessary with appropriate means.
If the General Assembly focused on emerging issues and was more streamlined, it
would be a genuine world forum.
There would be an Economic and Social Council, cutting waste and cooperating with
the Peacebuilding Commission, working to assist fragile states in meeting the challenge
of moving from relief to development.
A Human Rights Council composed of representatives of democracies, working with the
Commissioner of Human Rights, would be a genuine watchdog, setting standards for
our fellow global citizens—because development, security and respect for human rights
are interconnected, and human rights are essential to sustainable development,
legitimate and effective democracies, and improved security and stability.
If the specialized agencies and the organizations of the UN system were more efficient,
less competitive and worked more closely with the NGO [non-governmental
organization] community, more could be done to cure illness, clean up our environment,
help the hungry feed themselves and even help the poorer countries raise themselves
up by building their economies.
These are the challenges that we will hear about in the months and years to come. This
is the potential of the World Summit from which we have most recently emerged.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I give this solemn commitment: Canada will use all of its
moral and political capital to ensure that this promise is fulfilled—so that our
expectations of the future are not dashed on the shoals of disappointment.
But there are also challenges facing you and your generation. It is not dissimilar to the
charge that might have been given to your counterparts at a similar conference a
generation ago. But in the intervening time, the world has changed so much that the
urgency is profound.
And that is because, on this 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the
creation of the UN, raising awareness of and support for the role and work of the UN is
the best way to strengthen its foundations.
These are the challenges that you and I face.
Thank you.
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