International Day of Peace

Mr. State Councillor Moutinot
Ambassador Strohal
Distinguished panellists
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a privilege to welcome you all to the Palais des Nations for our annual commemoration of the International Day of Peace, which this year is devoted to disarmament and non-proliferation. Allow me, first of all, to thank our co-hosts – the Spanish Society for International Human Rights Law. Protection and promotion of human rights is a necessary foundation for a peaceful world and is closely connected to the need for disarmament. Together, disarmament and human rights form the core of the concept of human security.

Disarmament and non-proliferation are at the heart of the United Nations’ mission. It is recognized in the Charter as necessary to maintaining international peace and security and to creating an environment favourable to human advancement. In short, it is central to making progress across the three pillars of our work: security, development and human rights.

Over the past 100 days, the United Nations has been raising awareness through a count-down campaign to this International Day, under the slogan “We Must Disarm”, of the need to take forward disarmament and non-proliferation. But, the global commemoration is not the conclusion. It is the starting point for strengthened efforts. As the Secretary-General said earlier this month, the world is over-armed and peace is under-funded. Today is our opportunity to make sure that these critical issues are neither under-estimated nor under-exposed.

The stakes are high. Global military expenditure is now close to 1.5 trillion dollars. It has increased by 45% over the past decade. This arms build-up not only undermines stability, but it drains much-needed resources away from development. Strategic disarmament could free up significant funds that could be channelled towards realizing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals – our blueprint for progress for the world’s most vulnerable.

Encouraging developments over the past months have provided a window of opportunity. In May of this year, in this very room, the Conference on Disarmament adopted by consensus a Programme of Work for the first time in over a decade. It opened for the possibility of engaging in negotiations and substantive discussions on strategic disarmament, and it was the clearest illustration so far of a new spirit of flexibility and compromise.

It is important that the Conference now build on the positive momentum provided, not only with the adoption of the Programme of Work, but also through a number of initiatives by States and their leaders relevant to the work of the Conference, with a view to early commencement of substantive work during the 2010 session. Despite the adoption of the Programme of Work, procedural disagreements have, unfortunately, prevented the Conference from transforming it into substantive work before the end of its annual session yesterday. I take this important opportunity – on the International Day of Peace – to encourage all Members to allow the Conference to advance when the new session starts.

Next week, the Security Council will convene a historic high-level summit to address nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. It is only the fifth such meeting in the history of the United Nations, and it is only the first time that a President of the United States will chair a meeting of the Security Council, with participation of other Heads of State and Government.

In the margins of the General Assembly, which opens in New York next week, the United Nations will host a special meeting to promote the efforts toward the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty – the CTBT.

All of this testifies to a promising atmosphere that could enable meaningful advances. Indeed, global awareness of the need for progress on disarmament and non-proliferation is greater than it has been for a long time. We must capitalize on these trends.

Next year, the States Parties will come together for the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We cannot afford a repeat of the failure of the 2005 Review Conference; we need to make concrete and substantial progress.

Dear Friends:

It is particularly appropriate to commemorate the International Day at the Palais des Nations this year. Earlier this month, we marked the 80th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of this unique building. Over eight decades, the Palais des Nations has embodied the international community’s vision of a world at peace. It is the focal point for many of the international community’s disarmament and non-proliferation activities and a symbol of Geneva as the “world’s disarmament capital”. It is therefore a special pleasure to have with us Mr. Moutinot, representing the State Council, which over the years has also played an important part in cementing this role for Geneva by welcoming the international community.

As we take forward multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation, the Palais des Nations and Geneva will continue to provide a key platform for our collective efforts.

Today, we recommit to a common future of peace. We can only realize this vision through collective action. Multi-stakeholder cooperation remains absolutely indispensable to advancing nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Governments, international organizations and civil society must work together with unity of purpose towards this noble goal.

I thank you all for joining us today as a demonstration of our shared and firm resolve.

Thank you very much.