Toespraak van minister Koenders op de diplomatieke academie in Mexico

Toespraak | 12-05-2015

Mr Minister, your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Queridos amigos, diplomaticos de Mexico. Estoy muy feliz de estar aqui con ustedes en su precioso pais. Pienso siempre con mucha emocion en Mexico - y no solo por el partido de futbol entre nuestros paises durante el Mundial, que con bastante suerte ganamos! Penal o no, esa siempre sera la pregunta! Mexico es un pais que me inspira y donde me siento en casa.

It is a great honour and pleasure to be here in Mexico at this institution. Thank you for inviting me to speak here.

This is not the first time that I've engaged in dialogue with Mexico in my capacity as foreign minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Earlier this year I had the pleasure to receive Foreign Secretary Meade, who is here with us today. Our talks made it clear to me that our two countries - although geographically far apart - share very much similar views of the world and the same analysis of the problems that are troubling the international community. We have a lot to offer each other in terms oftrade and investment. And we have many shared political interests: regionally, for instance, when it comes to Caribbean security; and globally – as we take the same approach to the human rights and sustainable development agenda.

In the Netherlands, Mexico and its citizens have a great appeal. We were all taught the history of the Mexican Revolution and the developments since then, notably the political tensions in the 1960s and the enormous economic revitalisation. We look with admiration to Mexico’s membership of the G20 and the OECD, its trade agreements with over 40 countries, and its innovation in social policy which have been copied by many Latin American countries.

This is not my first time in Mexico either. I worked in this great city some 20 years ago, in 1993-94, as a political adviser to the UN. It was a Special Political Mission requested – rather confidentially at the time – by the Mexican government to make the democratic governance more transparent and credible during the elections. I was placed in Yucatan and Quintana Roo. There were lots of political developments happening in those places at the time.

I have fond memories of those days. In 1993 Mexico had just won its first CONCACAF Gold Cup. In 1994 NAFTA took effect, fundamentally changing the geopolitical landscape of North America. It had an immediate impact on Mexican politics, leading to the Zapatistas’ emergence in public. Those were complicated and fascinating times.

Much has changed since those days. In former years the choice seemed simple: it was the US or the USSR. The European Community or Comecon. The free market or state ownership. In those days ‘bipolar’ didn’t refer to a mental disorder, it was the natural state of the world.

Today this black-and-white divide has been replaced by well over 50 shades of grey. Yet it is a simplification to say that the world of the 1960s and '70s was a simpler place. Professional diplomats know that the present state of the world is preferable in many ways to the situation 40 of 50 years ago. But relative stability of the Cold World has been replaced by crises in Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. I shall say more about that in a minute. We are faced with a world full of proxy wars, regional powerplay and extremist groups - especially in the chaotic Middle East, but we see at the same time economic and political governance improving in other parts of the world.

Generally speaking, democracy and the rule of law have taken a foothold in regions that were rocked by violent international and internal conflicts 50 years ago. I know that the challenges are huge. I am still more aware of that, having visited Guatemala in recent days. In this region issues of inequality, criminal structures, and drug trafficking can jeopardize gains made and I think the issue of impunity requires the utmost attention. Socio-economic and political rights are priorities, as are the issues related to violence against women, disappearances and the independence of the judiciary. Any modern economy should respect these vital elements to be successful.

At the same time, the Western Hemisphere is a haven of tranquillity compared with the ring of instability surrounding Europe, or compared with the situation that existed in this region well into the 1980s. The peoples in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Southern Africa are testimony to the point made by the British philosopher Bernard Williams: ‘Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.’

But there is a paradox at work, and it is this paradox that I want to talk about today. In a world that seemingly has less to fear than in the past from domination by one or two superpowers, why is global governance becoming more difficult, more complicated, more challenging? How can we work together to reduce the fragmentation of our world order? More specifically, how can Mexico and the Kingdom of Netherlands, together, make a difference in this respect?

My main message has three parts: First: countries with shared values have shared interests. It is not their size or their location that matters. We need to carefully analyse how and where we can best pursue these shared interests.Second: the UN is still at the apex of the global governance system, especially in matters of peace and security. And third: our two countries should join forces to make sure that the UN remains effective, especially as a force for peace and security. And we should identify niches where we can make a credible difference, both within and outside of the UN system. Our recent collaboration on cyberspace is a good example.

This is the more important, since global consensus making seems more difficult than ever, ideological and political battles reach the international arena, and a non reformed UN Security Council finds it difficult to reach consensus in places like Syria and Ukraine.

The year 2014 was a particularly difficult one for the world community. We faced many unexpected crises. We saw the number of refugees and IDPs rise to the highest level in history. With the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17,the Kingdom of the Netherlands experienced, in a very direct way, how intertwined today’s global crises are. A foreign crisis became a domestic tragedy. Foreign affairs became horribly personal, not only for many of my compatriots, but for hundreds of families in 10 countries on three continents. We are still working hard with all those involved to facilitate  investigations aimed at holding those responsible accountable.

The year 2014 showed us also how powerful the UN can be.The UN Secretary-General responded vigorously to the Ebola crisis by establishing UNMEER, the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response. UNHCR coordinated humanitarian assistance for more refugees than ever before. UN peacekeepers provided a safe haven for thousands of innocent civilians in South Sudan. And the joint OPCW/UN mission was able to complete the elimination of Syria’s declared chemical weapons programme.

At the same time, 2014 showed that we need to do more. The Security Council has been paralysed in responding to the atrocities in Syria, I already mentioned that. While we have made great progress on the MDGs, there are still 800 million hungry people. Even if the MDGs are achieved, poverty will persist. Despite Resolution 1325, women are still not taken seriously in many peace processes. When I was at the Mali peace negotiations in Tunis, there were no women at the negotiating table.

In Europe and its immediate surroundings many complex situations have arisen, quite often interlocked. Zones of instability are surrounding the old continent and let me mention the most important for an audience that might not follow this every day:   

1.  in Eastern Europe there is the violent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, on top of existing frozen conflicts in other parts of the former USSR – Georgia, Moldova, Nagorno Karabakh. The EU and her NATO partners response is clear, calling for de-escalation and at the same time strengthening our resilience. To use a metaphor: we are reacting with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, the fist and the open hand.
2. In Libya, where increasing instability is leading to migration flows of historic proportions, and the necessity to formulate an integrated policy of migration, stability and development.
3. In Syria where the terrible civil war has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people killed or wounded. No clear solution is in sight, and we support the efforts of de Mistura and the SG of the UN.
4. We are importing instability through the movement of Foreign Terrorist Fighters, men and women, and quite often boys and girls that are attracted to the cult of hatred, violence and death propagated by entities like ISIL. Prevention of their departure and criminal prosecution upon their return must go hand in hand if we want to control this phenomenon.
5. Our norms and values have come under pressure and these developments are symptomatic of this pressure. Common principles like the inviolability of borders and the territorial integrity of the countries, respect for international law and human rights are no longer self-evident truths. We have to work hard to make them relevant again, especially in the immediate surroundings of Europe.
6. It is clear to all that there is much to improve in our diplomacy if we want the return of peace, stability and security in our immediate neighbourhood. Further investments in our Common Foreign and Security Policy are necessary if we want to secure the future of Europe.

These are major developments. In fact: they are so huge that one would run the risk of overlooking the bigger picture, of losing sight of the global perspective. Because by even greater force of logic there is a need to invest in global governance, as embodied by the United Nations.

In 2015 the United Nations will mark its 70th anniversary. I believe that 2015 will be a pivotal year for the UN. We will have to come up with responses to many of the challenges we faced in 2014. The best birthday present we can give to the world and to future generations is an even stronger UN, which can prevent new tragedies and meet the many challenges to peace, justice, development. This requires a more outward looking multipolar system, in which the EU and Latin America, especially Mexico should work closely together as we share many values and interests.

I would like to highlight five areas where we member states can help make the UN more effective.

• Ending poverty, saving the planet and addressing special needs: we need to agree ambitious, feasible Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) whose attainment will help eradicate poverty by 2030. This agenda needs to be underpinned by a universal climate agreement involving all relevant players. It involves also strategies to increase productivity and widespread shared prosperity.
• Supporting peace, protecting civilians: we need to focus the UN’s goals and actions on conflict-affected countries and make sure they are not forgotten. We need to improve the effectiveness of peace operations, sharpen the tools for conflict prevention, and make sure they centre on protecting civilians and establishing national ownership.
• Supporting women’s rights: the UN should champion realising the promises we have made to the world’s women. This year we commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. I am delighted that Mexico and the Netherlands are planning to collaborate on expanding gender capacity in peacekeeping operations.
• An effective UN Security Council: we urgently need a more effective and legitimate UN Security Council to address conflicts that cannot be ignored. The Council can and should make more of a difference in combating terrorism, and in addressing conflicts in countries like Syria and Ukraine.
• Supporting Ban Ki-moon: we need to support the Secretary-General’s vision of UN reform, as he expressed it at the start of the 70th anniversary year. I welcome his pleas for tolerance in the face of today’s threats, and his Human Rights Up Front initiative. The credibility of this agenda requires that we practice what we preach in our own countries. And I fully support his agenda for the administrative reform of the Secretariat.

It is clear that sustained and eventually successful actions in areas A, B and C – poverty reduction, maintaining  peace and supporting women’s rights – will crucially depend on breaking the deadlocks in areas D and E: reforming the Security Council and supporting the Secretary-General’s organisational reforms. This is where I think new coalitions and partnerships will prove useful. And I believe that our two countries are very well suited for that purpose.

We need to make tangible progress towards Security Council reform. I think that has always been the elephant in the room. Let’s be open about that. We urgently need a more effective and legitimate Security Council that reflects today’s realities.

We need to equip the UN to act decisively to address threats to international peace and security, not just after the fact, but also by doing more on conflict prevention. We are not in favour of veto rights for new Security Council members: we have seen how the present system of veto rights can hamper effective decisionmaking.

I used to work with the IMF and the World Bank as Minister for Development Cooperation. Changes in the power structure of those institutions came about automatically, because of the realities of financial markets. The IMF and the World Bank could not be effective without changes that ensured the representation of countries that had gone unrepresented.

Change is possible, and clearly it is needed, in the Security Council as well. We have talked about it for many years now. I think there are opportunities to move forward by improving the Council’s working methods. The Council needs to be strengthened and reformed. The tragic case of Syria has demonstrated how the veto system is hampering the Council’s functioning, to the point of seriously undermining its legitimacy. This is why both the Netherlands and Mexico actively support the French initiative to voluntarily restrict the use of the veto in situations where mass atrocities are occurring. I am pleased that Franco-Dutch cooperation on this issue has led to our jointly organising an event in The Hague to galvanise support for the initiative among UN member states.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is committed to helping improve the functioning of the Security Council. And we hope to contribute from within when we are elected to the Council for the 2017-2018 term, thereby continuing our efforts as your partner for peace, justice and development.

In the field of peace and security, the UN is and should remain the lead player. In the areas of economics and development, there is a wider variety of actors. The Bretton Woods institutions and the traditional regional banks don’t have an automatic monopoly any more, as the recent creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank shows.

That doesn’t mean that the UN has become superfluous in the areas of development and economic cooperation. It still has the advantage of being the only truly universal organisation. It is also the only institution that can set benchmarks. In the current discussions about the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN is acting as a true ‘Parliament of Man’. For the first time in history we are having a genuinely global debate about the overall future of humankind. Without the platform that the UN can offer, such a debate would have had no direction or purpose.

If the UN can reach agreement on the SDGs, this will be a major success. Other institutions and organisations can help in reaching them too: regional organisations, NGOs, the private sector and individual countries. Nor should we overlook the potential role of individual people and the foundations that they set up: Bill and Melinda Gates, Mo Ibrahim and Carlos Slim, to name only a few.

Our two countries work together in a very specific partnership on the ‘how’ of development, aimed at improving effective delivery on the SDGs. This Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-Operation is now co-chaired by the Netherlands, Malawi and Mexico. I am proud of that partnership between Mexico and the Netherlands. Not only because of the vital role effective development has to play in delivering on the SDGs, but also because I was a co-chair of the partnership in its previous incarnation: the OECD-DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness. The partnership has come a long way since my time in the Working Party. I would like to commend Mexico for playing such a leading role and showing the way for emerging economies.

It is a proof that coalitions of countries can make a difference. Mexico’s unique and enviable position enables you to play a constructive and innovative role in forging coalitions. You are the linchpin between the northern, Caribbean and southern parts of the American continent. You are a member of the OAS, the OECD and the G20. You are part of NAFTA and the Pacific Alliance. You are involved in both the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks and the negotiations on a trade and investment agreement with the EU.

The Netherlands cannot compete with Mexico in terms of the extent and variety of its international ties. But I would point out that we are the host country of international institutions that help sustain the international legal order, a major donor of development and humanitarian aid, and one of the top ten contributors to the UN.

As to our national characteristics, the one thing I would most like to stress is this: the Kingdom of the Netherlands is partly European and partly American, with three of its four constituent nations situated in the Caribbean Sea. This makes Mexico and the Kingdom neighbours.

We share many common interests and face similar challenges, ranging from security to drugs trafficking, from energy to disarmament. Above all, we share the same values: democracy, human rights, the rule of law, free trade and a rules-based international system. Now we need to ensure we have the credibility to pursue this agenda further.

Both our countries seek to play a responsible role at the UN on the basis of these values. And we are doing so: I already mentioned that we are stepping up our partnership on peace building. The increasing convergence between our multilateral efforts is also reflected in our common approach in the UN Human Rights Council. At the most recent Human Rights Council, Mexico and the Netherlands stood firm against countries that wanted to limit the independence of the High Commissioner and his secretariat. We both promoted the right of NGOs to join in the Council’s deliberations.

The non-governmental and private sectors play a crucial role in the area of human rights and business. This is a relatively new theme for the human rights community. But it is difficult to overstate its importance. The impact of business on the daily lives of people is enormous. It can be a force for good, but unfortunately it sometimes has negative effects. From child labour to land-grabbing, and from environmental damage to modern slavery.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, adopted in 2011, affirmed a corporate responsibility to respect human rights. We want companies to uphold the same standards abroad that they are bound by at home. For this reason, we were one of the first countries in the world to adopt a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, in 2013. We were glad to learn that Mexico also intends to develop its own action plan. We are more than willing to share our experiences and lessons learned with our Mexican partners, as I discussed yesterday with the Governor of Oaxaca.

There is similar scope for cooperation in the fight against impunity. As a State Party to the Rome Statute, we are not only committed to working with the International Criminal Court; we are also convinced of States Parties’ obligation to properly implement the Rome Statute and proactively uphold the principle of complementarity. It is vital to strengthen the international framework for legal assistance and extradition in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. This can increase the effectiveness of national criminal proceedings and thus fully meet our obligations as states to bring perpetrators of these most heinous crimes to justice. The Netherlands, Argentina, Belgium and Slovenia have taken a joint initiative for a multilateral treaty in this area. I call on Mexico to join us.

Let me conclude by briefly addressing a topic that will dominate the international discourse on security in the future: cyberspace.

We are living in a complex security environment; this applies to both the physical and virtual worlds. In the hybrid warfare that we face today, the distinctions between conventional warfare, irregular warfare and cyber warfare are blurring. Regular military forces are faced with guerrilla groups, terrorists and common criminals. In an environment like this it can be difficult to tell friend from foe, ally from enemy. The same holds true in cyberspace. Clearly, cyber attacks can pose a threat to international peace and stability.

By organising the Global Conference on CyberSpace (GCCS) last month in The Hague, we put this issue squarely on the international agenda. During the GCCS, cyber security was trending on Twitter in Mexico. So it’s only logical that you have decided to host the next GCCS in 2017. This is a straightforward example of how our two countries are shouldering our international responsibility and complementing each other’s efforts.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me add one last point. Seventy years ago the world witnessed the birth of the UN. It was created in response to the horrors of the Holocaust and of the war in Europe, Africa and Asia. Our two countries were allies in that war, something my compatriots may not always remember.

The Mexican armed forces may not have been active in Europe, since their operations were in the Pacific theatre. Yet many individual Mexicans did fight and die on European soil, albeit in US uniforms. In the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten you will find the grave of Vicente Zepeda, who was killed in action on 15 December 1944. He was born in Mexico, on an unknown date. His sacrifice proves that Mexico and the Mexican people do not shirk their responsibilities. Mexicans died for the liberation of Europe. For this, I am deeply grateful.

I am aware that Mexico is strict in demanding that international actions today always be mandated by the UN. Yet there are tragic international situations that continue to drag on because a UN mandate is difficult or impossible to achieve, for reasons we are all aware of. In view of the atrocities of ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Libya, how long can we remain passive? In view of the actions undertaken by Russia in neighbouring countries, must we wait for UN-mandated sanctions?

With these open questions, I will close for now. I’m looking forward to a fruitful and frank discussion on these issues and any other questions that you may have.

Muchas gracias! Y viva la cooperacion Holando-Mexicana