Mr. President, dear colleagues,

In debating the notion of Global Public Goods, we are in fact examining a mult-faceted, all-embracing concept pertaining to the quality of human life. The definition of the term has expanded over time to include such cardinal issues on human rights, peace and security, knowledge and information, public health and the environment. In this respect, it should be noted that a study by the United Nations Development programme underlines that the major world crises of the late 20th century could have been averted if governments and international organizations invested more in the management and protection of global public goals.

It follows that since these goods constitute international assets that benefit all of humanity, action to enhance access to these assets and ensure their equitable distribution calls for concerted and sustained action at the world level. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held last year, should be viewed as a solid basis for the implementation of specific measures in the domain of Global Public Goods. To give just one example, at the Summit, Governments reaffirmed the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015. The number of these people, astonishingly, is at present over one billion!

Inevitably, the discussion leads us to other phenomena which are burdened with inequalities and constitute an essential part of the wider gap between the developed and the developing worlds, although they may also be features of tension within countries themselves. Such phenomena include insufficient or unequal access to knowledge and new information technologies, including internet facilities, whose potential benefits should also be reaped by developing countries. In needs hardly stressing, therefore, that adequate funding, including use of international financial institutions and private sources, should be made available and that this funding as pointed out in the draft resolution, should not take place at the expense of traditional sources of development finance.

Moreover, viewed in its correct perspective, the concept of Global Public Goods, is inextricably linked to economic growth compatible with sustainable development, including such aspects as reduction of greenhouse gases and trans boundary water management. In addition, since health also constitutes a Global Public Good, international efforts should be stepped up to combat diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberecuosis.

Mr. President,

One of the most fundamental Global Public Goods is respect of human rights, including the rights of women and children, as well as of minorities. Human rights are directly related to peace and security in the world, as well as to compliance with international law. Acts of aggression, invasion and foreign occupation of the territory of sovereign states contravene bluntly the Charter of the United Nations and international law and result in gross violations of the most fundamental human rights, as is the case in Cyprus and other parts of the world. The enjoyment of human rights and world peace as paramount Global Public Goods requires therefore absolute universal respect of international human rights instruments and the avoidance of the use of double standards.

On this basis, peoples around the world can hope for access to all other Global Public Goods.

September 2003