IRELAND: The following is an extract of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen's address last night to the UN General Assembly in New York.
We are all still haunted, a year later, by the shadow of the terrible events of September 11th. The UN is at the centre of our system of collective security. It is a mirror of our determination and our political will. This is the world body invested by the peoples of the world with unique legitimacy and unique authority.
Around the world people look in hope and idealism to the UN. We must be worthy of their trust.
I want to fully endorse the secretary-general's address to this assembly yesterday. As the secretary-general said, "all states have a clear interest, as well as a clear responsibility, to uphold international law and maintain international order".
States must honour their international obligations. Unless we consistently call to account those who defy or flagrantly violate their obligations, our system will be discredited.
Within our system, the Security Council is charged with responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. When there are threats to international security, member-states are obliged to bring these matters to the attention of the Security Council. When the Security Council acts in such cases all member-states are obliged to implement its resolutions. Regrettably, they sometimes fail to do so.
Any law that is flagrantly violated becomes weakened over time. That is why flagrant violation and defiance of Security Council resolutions should be a matter of the utmost concern to all member-states.
The terrorist attacks on September 11th required an urgent response from the international community. It was vital that the UN Security Council was at the centre of the international community's response.
The establishment by the Security Council of the Counter-Terrorism Committee to oversee the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1373 was a landmark development. Its work has been instrumental in making it more difficult for international terrorist networks to organise and finance their activities.
Continued persistence and vigilance is required. We still have much more to do. We must make it impossible for the agents of international terror to operate. We must persevere with initiatives such as the freezing of assets and the denial of safe haven. At the same time, we must ensure that everything we do respects the UN Charter and the body of international human rights law we have so painstakingly constructed. That is our best guarantee against evil and its perpetrators.
Iraq has been in violation of Security Council resolutions, in particular on arms inspection, for some considerable time.
Secretary-general Kofi Annan has been engaged in serious efforts to encourage Iraq to comply with its obligations under these Security Council resolutions. We will continue to strongly support his good offices.
Let us express wholehearted agreement with the call by the secretary-general for Iraq "to comply with its obligations for the sake of its own people and for the sake of world order. If Iraq's defiance continues the Security Council must face its responsibilities."
We call on Iraq to respect its obligations and implement in full and without preconditions all the Security Council resolutions addressed to it. The weapons inspectors must be allowed in to do the work authorised by the Security Council. Iraq's leadership has it within its own power to end the current predicament and to alleviate the great hardship on its people. It should do so without delay.
The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological and nuclear - is an issue that goes far beyond Iraq. They represent a major threat to international security. The international instruments and regimes to control the spread of such weapons must be strengthened and fully implemented.
Ultimately, the long-term control and elimination of weapons of mass destruction can only be achieved through a comprehensive and rigorous system of international treaties and obligations that are verifiable and universal.
I would like to refer briefly to Ireland's membership of the Security Council which comes to an end on December 31st. Ireland's experience as a member of the council has reinforced our belief in the system of collective global security. Ireland has, I believe, made a substantive contribution to the work of the council. We will seek to do so in the remaining months of our term.