The 16th Summit of the world’s second largest international body, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), has started in Iran’s capital city of Tehran with more than 120 countries participating in the event at highest levels.
Al-Moallem: The Syrian Delegation Withdrew from NAM Summit during Speech of the Summit’s Former President
Aug 30, 2012
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Walid al-Moallem, on Thursday stressed that the Syrian delegation went out from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit currently held in Tehran while the former president of the summit, Mohammad Mursi, was delivering his speech.
Al-Moallem said the Syrian delegation’s withdrawal from the meeting came in protest of the content of Mursi’s speech which constituted a breach of the conventions of the summit’s presidency and an interference in Syria’s internal affairs and in rejection of the instigation for continuing the shedding of the Syrian blood included in the speech.
The Minister added that the Syrian delegation to the NAM summit reentered to follow up the summit’s activities after the end of Mursi’s speech.
The following is the full text of Ayatollah Khamenei’s inaugural address delivered on August 30, 2012 at the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Tehran.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Two Worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the greatest and trustworthy Messenger and on his pure progeny, his select companions, and all the prophets and divine envoys.
I welcome you honorable guests, the leaders and delegations representing the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement, and all the other participants of this great international summit.
We have gathered here to continue a movement with God’s guidance and assistance and to give it new life and momentum on the basis of the current conditions and needs in the world. The movement was founded almost six decades ago thanks to the intelligence and courage of a few caring and responsible political leaders who were aware of the conditions and circumstances of their time.
Our guests have gathered here from different geographical locations, far and near, and they belong to different nationalities and races with different ideological, cultural and historical characteristics, but just as Ahmad Sukarno, one of the founders of this movement said in the famous Bandung Conference in the year 1955, the basis of establishing the Non-Aligned Movement is not geographical or racial and religious unity, but rather unity of needs. At that time, the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement were in need of a bond that could safeguard them against authoritarian, arrogant and insatiable networks and today with the progress and spread of the instruments of hegemony, this need still exists.
I would like to point out another truth. Islam has taught us that in spite of their racial, linguistic and cultural differences, human beings share the same nature, which calls them to purity, justice, benevolence, compassion and cooperation. It is this universal human nature which – if it can safely steer away from misleading motives – guides human beings to monotheism and understanding of God’s transcendent essence.
This brilliant truth has such potential that it can form the foundation of societies which are free and proud and at the same time enjoy progress and justice. It can extend the light of spirituality to all material and worldly endeavors of humankind and it can create a paradise on earth for human beings in advance of the other-worldly paradise, which has been promised by divine religions. And it is this common and universal truth that can form the foundations of brotherly cooperation among the nations that do not share any similarities in terms of outward structures, historical background and geographical location.
Whenever international cooperation is based on such a foundation, governments will build their relationships with each other not on the basis of fear and threats, or greed and unilateral interests, or mediation of treasonous and venal individuals, but on the basis of wholesome and shared interests and more importantly, the interests of humanity. In this way, governments can relieve their awakened consciences and put the minds of their peoples at ease.
This values-based order is the exact opposite of the hegemony-based order, which has been upheld, propagandized and led by hegemonic Western powers in the recent centuries and by the domineering and aggressive government of America today.
Dear guests, today after the passage of nearly six decades, the main values of the Non-Aligned Movement remain alive and steady: values such as anti-colonialism, political, economic and cultural independence, non-alignment with any power blocs, and improving solidarity and cooperation among the member states. The realities of today’s world fall short of those values, but the collective will and comprehensive efforts to change the existing realities and achieve these values, though full of challenges, are promising and rewarding.
In the recent past, we have been witness to the failure of the policies of the Cold War era and the unilateralism that followed it. Having learnt lessons from this historical experience, the world is in transition towards a new international order and the Non-Aligned Movement can and should play a new role. This new order should be based on the participation of all nations and equal rights for all of them. And as members of this movement, our solidarity is an obvious necessity in the current era for establishing this new order.
Fortunately, the outlook of global developments promises a multi-faceted system in which the traditional power blocs are replaced with a group of countries, cultures and civilizations from different economic, social and political origins. The striking events that we have witnessed over the past three decades clearly show that the emergence of new powers has coincided with the decline of the traditional powers. This gradual transition of power provides the non-aligned countries with an opportunity to play a significant and worthy role on the world stage and prepare the ground for a just and truly participatory global management. In spite of varying perspectives and orientations, we member states of this movement have managed to preserve our solidarity and bond over a long period of time within the framework of the shared values and this is not a simple and small achievement. This bond can prepare the ground for transitioning to a just and humane order.
Current global conditions provide the Non-Aligned Movement with an opportunity that might never arise again. Our view is that the control room of the world should not be managed by the dictatorial will of a few Western countries. It should be possible to establish and ensure a participatory system for managing international affairs, one that is global and democratic. This is what is needed by all the countries that have been directly or indirectly harmed as a result of the transgression of a few bullying and hegemonic countries.
The UN Security Council has an illogical, unjust and completely undemocratic structure and mechanism. This is a flagrant form of dictatorship, which is antiquated and obsolete and whose expiry date has passed. It is through abusing this improper mechanism that America and its accomplices have managed to disguise their bullying as noble concepts and impose it on the world. They protect the interests of the West in the name of “human rights”. They interfere militarily in other countries in the name of “democracy”. They target defenseless people in villages and cities with their bombs and weapons in the name of “combating terrorism”. From their perspective, humanity is divided into first-, second- and third-class citizens. Human life is considered cheap in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and expensive in America and Western Europe. The security of America and Europe is considered important, while the security of the rest of humanity is considered unimportant. Torture and assassination are permissible and completely ignored if they are carried out by America, the Zionists and their puppets. It does not trouble their conscience that they have secret prisons in various places on different continents, in which defenseless prisoners who have no legal representation and have not been tried in a court of law are treated in the most hideous and detestable way. Good and evil are defined in a completely one-sided and selective way. They impose their interests on the nations of the world in the name of “international law”. They impose their domineering and illegal demands in the name of “international community”. Using their exclusive and organized media network, they disguise their lies as the truth, their falsehood as true, and their oppression as efforts to promote justice. In contrast, they brand as lies every true statement that exposes their deceit and label every legitimate demand as roguish.
Friends, this flawed and harmful situation cannot continue. Everybody has become tired of this faulty international structure. The 99 percent movement of the American people against the centers of wealth and power in America and the widespread protests of the people in Western Europe against the economic policies of their governments show that the people are losing their patience with this situation. It is necessary to remedy this irrational situation. Firm, logical and comprehensive bonds between member states of the Non-Aligned Movement can play an important role in finding a remedy.
Honorable audience, international peace and security are among the critical issues of today’s world and the elimination of catastrophic weapons of mass destruction is an urgent necessity and a universal demand. In today’s world, security is a shared need where there is no room for discrimination. Those who stockpile their anti-human weapons in their arsenals do not have the right to declare themselves as standard-bearers of global security. Undoubtedly, this will not bring about security for themselves either. It is most unfortunate to see that countries possessing the largest nuclear arsenals have no serious and genuine intention of removing these deadly weapons from their military doctrines and they still consider such weapons as an instrument that dispels threats and as an important standard that defines their political and international position. This conception needs to be completely rejected and condemned.
Nuclear weapons neither ensure security, nor do they consolidate political power, rather they are a threat to both security and political power. The events that took place in the 1990s showed that the possession of such weapons could not even safeguard a regime like the former Soviet Union. And today we see certain countries which are exposed to waves of deadly insecurity despite possessing atomic bombs.
The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear, chemical and similar weapons as a great and unforgivable sin. We proposed the idea of “Middle East free of nuclear weapons” and we are committed to it. This does not mean forgoing our right to peaceful use of nuclear power and production of nuclear fuel. On the basis of international laws, peaceful use of nuclear energy is a right of every country. All should be able to employ this wholesome source of energy for various vital uses for the benefit of their country and people, without having to depend on others for exercising this right. Some Western countries, themselves possessing nuclear weapons and guilty of this illegal action, want to monopolize the production of nuclear fuel. Surreptitious moves are under way to consolidate a permanent monopoly over production and sale of nuclear fuel in centers carrying an international label but in fact within the control of a few Western countries.
A bitter irony of our era is that the U.S. government, which possesses the largest and deadliest stockpiles of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction and the only country guilty of its use, is today eager to carry the banner of opposition to nuclear proliferation. The U.S. and its Western allies have armed the usurper Zionist regime with nuclear weapons and created a major threat for this sensitive region. Yet the same deceitful group does not tolerate the peaceful use of nuclear energy by independent countries, and even opposes, with all its strength, the production of nuclear fuel for radiopharmaceuticals and other peaceful and humane purposes. Their pretext is fear of production of nuclear weapons. In the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they themselves know that they are lying, but lies are sanctioned by the kind of politics that is completely devoid of the slightest trace of spirituality. One who makes nuclear threats in the 21st century and does not feel ashamed, will he feel ashamed of lying?
I stress that the Islamic Republic has never been after nuclear weapons and that it will never give up the right of its people to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Our motto is: “Nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none.” We will insist on each of these two precepts, and we know that breaking the monopoly of certain Western countries on production of nuclear energy in the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty is in the interest of all independent countries, including the members of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Islamic Republic’s successful experience in resistance against the bullying and comprehensive pressures by America and its accomplices has firmly convinced it that the resistance of a unified and firmly determined nation can overcome all enmities and hostilities and open a glorious path to its lofty goals. The comprehensive advances made by our country in the last two decades are facts for all to see, as repeatedly attested by official international observers. All this has happened under sanctions, economic pressures and propaganda campaigns by networks affiliated with America and Zionism. The sanctions, which were regarded as paralyzing by nonsensical commentators, not only did not and will not paralyze us, but have made our steps steadier, elevated our resolve and strengthened our confidence in the correctness of our analyses and the inborn capacities of our nation. We have with our own eyes repeatedly witnessed divine assistance in these challenges.
Honored guests, I deem it necessary to speak about a very important issue, which though related to our region has dimensions extending far beyond it and which has influenced global policies for several decades. This issue is the agonizing issue of Palestine. The summary of this matter is that on the basis of a horrible Western plot and under the direction of England in the 1940s, an independent country with a clear historical identity called “Palestine” has been taken away from its people through the use of weapons, killings and deception and has been given to a group of people the majority of whom are immigrants from European countries. This great usurpation – which at the outset was accompanied with massacres of defenseless people in towns and villages and their expulsion from their homes and homeland to bordering countries – has continued for more than six decades with similar crimes and continues to this very day. This is one of the most important issues of the human community.
Political and military leaders of the usurping Zionist regime have not avoided any crimes during this time: from killing the people, destroying their homes and farms and arresting and torturing men and women and even their children, to humiliating and insulting that nation and trying to destroy it in order to digest it in the haraam-eating stomach of the Zionist regime, to attacking their refugee camps in Palestine itself and in the neighboring countries where millions of refugees live. Such names as Sabra and Shatila, Qana and Deir Yasin have been etched in the history of our region with the blood of the oppressed Palestinian people.
Even now after 65 years the same kind of crimes marks the treatment of Palestinians remaining in the occupied territories by the ferocious Zionist wolves. They commit new crimes one after the other and create new crises for the region. Hardly a day passes without reports of murder, injury and arrests of the youth who stand up to defend their homeland and their honor and protest against the destruction of their farms and homes. The Zionist regime, which has carried out assassinations and caused conflicts and crimes for decades by waging disastrous wars, killing people, occupying Arab territories and organizing state terror in the region and in the world, labels the Palestinian people as “terrorists”, the people who have stood up to fight for their rights. And the media networks which belong to Zionism and many of the Western and mercenary media repeat this great lie in violation of ethical values and journalistic commitment, and the political leaders who claim to defend human rights have closed their eyes on all these crimes and support that criminal regime shamelessly and boldly and assume the role of their advocates.
Our standpoint is that Palestine belongs to the Palestinians and that continuing its occupation is a great and intolerable injustice and a major threat to global peace and security. All solutions suggested and followed up by the Westerners and their affiliates for “resolving the problem of Palestine” have been wrong and unsuccessful, and it will remain so in the future. We have put forth a just and entirely democratic solution. All the Palestinians – both the current citizens of Palestine and those who have been forced to immigrate to other countries but have preserved their Palestinian identity, including Muslims, Christians and Jews – should take part in a carefully supervised and confidence-building referendum and chose the political system of their country, and all the Palestinians who have suffered from years of exile should return to their country and take part in this referendum and then help draft a Constitution and hold elections. Peace will then be established.
Now I would like to give a benevolent piece of advice to American politicians who always stood up to defend and support the Zionist regime. So far, this regime has created countless problems for you. It has presented a hateful image of you to the regional peoples, and it has made you look like an accomplice in the crimes of the usurping Zionists. The material and moral costs borne by the American government and people on account of this are staggering, and if this continues, the costs might become even heavier in the future. Think about the Islamic Republic’s proposal of a referendum and with a courageous decision, rescue yourselves from the current impossible situation. Undoubtedly, the people of the region and all free-thinkers across the world will welcome this measure.
Honorable guests, now I would like to return to my initial point. Global conditions are sensitive and the world is passing through a crucial historical juncture. It is anticipated that a new order shall be born. The Non-Aligned Movement, which includes almost two-thirds of the world community, can play a major role in shaping that future. The holding of this major conference in Tehran is itself a significant event to be taken into consideration. By pooling our resources and capacities, we members of this movement can create a new historic and lasting role towards rescuing the world from insecurity, war and hegemony.
This goal can be achieved only through our comprehensive cooperation with each other. There are among us quite a few countries that are very wealthy and countries that enjoy international influence. It is completely possible to find solutions for problems through economic and media cooperation and through passing on experiences that help us improve and make progress. We need to strengthen our determination. We need to remain faithful to our goals. We should not fear the bullying powers when they frown at us, nor should we become happy when they smile at us. We should consider the will of God and the laws of creation as our support. We should learn lessons from what happened to the communist camp two decades ago and from the failure of the policies of so-called “Western liberal democracy” at the present time, whose signs can be seen by everybody in the streets of European countries and America and in the insoluble economic problems of these countries. And finally, we should consider the Islamic Awakening in the region and the fall of the dictatorships in North Africa, which were dependent on America and were accomplices to the Zionist regime, as a great opportunity. We can help improve the “political productivity” of the Non-Aligned Movement in global governance. We can prepare a historic document aimed to bring about a change in this governance and to provide for its administrative tools. We can plan for effective economic cooperation and define paradigms for cultural relationships among ourselves. Undoubtedly, establishing an active and motivated secretariat for this organization will be a great and significant help in achieving these goals.
Thank you
A peaceful solution should be implemented in Syria through Islamic states’ mediation,” #Maliki told reporters on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit here in #Tehran on Thursday.
He warned certain states against sending arms to the Syrian rebels, and cautioned that the crisis in Syria will spill over into other regional and neighboring states if it does not come to an end.
“Any kind of foreign meddling and arming the conflicting parties by certain countries is rejected,” the Iraqi prime minister said.
On Wednesday, Foreign Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement agreed to take action to help resolve the Syrian crisis in cooperation with the United Nations.
Speaking to reporters after a two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the NAM member states, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi reminded the problems in Syria as a member of the bloc, and said, “The NAM troika and a remarkable number of other countries stated in a straightforward manner at the ministerial meeting that when other parties and international bodies have stepped into the Syrian issue, it would be wrong for the Non-Aligned Movement to stay aside.”
“Therefore, it was recommended that the #NAM troika step into this issue in cooperation with other international bodies, specially the #UN which has taken good measures in this ground,” he continued.
Salehi said the international grouping is required to deal with the crisis in #Syria as a member state to help the country manage the present problems so that “the people of that country sustain the least harms and pressures”.
India’s prime minister has met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, where they talked about the long standing cultural and historical ties between Iran and India.
Manmohan Singh, who is in Tehran to attend the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), held talks with Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Wednesday.
Ayatollah Khamenei described Tehran-New Delhi relations as a suitable basis to further develop bilateral ties in various fields, especially in business and infrastructure.
The Leader said Iran and India share similar viewpoints on Syria and Afghanistan, noting that Tehran and New Delhi should expand cooperation on regional issues.
For his part, Singh expressed his country’s willingness to develop ties with Iran in the energy and infrastructure sectors.
He emphasized that New Delhi is opposed to any foreign interference in Syria and the solution lies in the will of the Syrian people.
Head of Arab Relations of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Ezzedin, has said that cooperation between Iran and Egypt can put an end to the crisis in Syria.
Speaking to Press TV in the Iranian capital, Ezzedin said on Wednesday that there is no place for military intervention in Syria and described negotiations as the only solution to end the country’s months-long unrest.
“The American administration and some of their allies in the region unfortunately, instead of taking their responsibility in order to solve the problem in Syria they are taking part in that … contributing to the fight [and] playing a very dirty game,” he added.
Ezzedin also stated that “there is a very big conspiracy that is targeting Syria and its position in the region” and the conflict in the Arab state has been going on for one and a half years now because of the country’s support of the “resistance movement.”
The Hezbollah official referred to the presence of Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi in the ongoing Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran as “a positive indication” saying that “coordination and cooperation” of Egypt with “the Islamic republic of Iran which will receive the presidency of the NAM” will help to put an end to the conflict in Syria.
Ezzedin is currently in Tehran to attend the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
Since March 2011, Syria has been experiencing unrest fuelled by a number of Western and Middle East states, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey which are arming and funding insurgents fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said last week that Tehran will present a “rational and acceptable” proposal to resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria during the 16th NAM summit in Tehran.
Salehi had previously said that Iran is ready to facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition to end the violence in the country.
The two-day foreign ministerial meeting of the NAM summit began on Tuesday. The meeting of the heads of state will open on Thursday with an inaugural speech by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran to participate in the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
The Sudanese president was welcomed by Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini upon his arrival in Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport.
Al-Bashir is in Iran to take part in the meeting of the NAM heads of state which will open on Thursday with an inaugural speech by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
More than 100 countries are partaking in the NAM meeting which kicked off at the expert level in Tehran on Sunday.
At the opening ceremony of the NAM expert-level meeting, Iran assumed the rotating presidency of the movement for three years. Egypt’s Ambassador to the United Nations Mootaz Khalil formally handed over the presidency to Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says the Non-Aligned Movement countries oppose the adverse consequences of the current world order, stressing the United Nations must make fundamental reforms in its structure.
“Six decades since its establishment, the United Nations needs fundamental reforms in order to adapt to the modern global developments,” Salehi said during the opening ceremony of the NAM expert-level meeting in Tehran on Sunday.
Press TV has interviewed Iran’s former Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Kazem Sajjadpour to elaborate more on the issue of the NAM summit in Iran.
Sajjadpour is joined by political analyst Sara Marusek from Beirut.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: We are looking at your former post here, so I would like to zoom in on the UN and Iran’s concerns regarding the UN, its concerns [which are] shared by many of the NAM countries; 120 of these countries and that is the power increase of the UN Security Council and also the need for reforms generally speaking.
Can you address the shortcomings of the UN and how NAM is going to be able to move towards, perhaps, solving some of these shortcomings?
Sajjadpour: Actually the most vivid shortcoming as you said is the decision-making process in the United Nations Security Council, where we have veto power of few world powers and they can veto the decisions.
Of course it is not a very white and black issue. It is very complicated but there has been a great, let us say, movement towards redefining it. However, it has not been successful because UN is not just about good words, it is real politics, you know, which works there, but politics is a matter of pressure, lobbying, putting your weight here and there, and I think in that context not just NAM in particular but the world at large requires reforming the United Nations.
But I have to underline that changing the United Nations’ system is going to be very incremental. There is a lot of resistance.
I would like to end at this specific point that the UN also should not be equated with the United Nations Security Council. If you put aside the United Nations Security Council, the UN system by and large is a ‘South Institution.’ Most of the members are from the South, most of the members are from developing countries and really it is reflective of the international society in that sense that every nation state is there with equal power, with equal voting, but the Security Council is different and we have not to equate the totality of the United Nations system with the Security Council.
So this is very important that when we look at NAM, NAM is a bloc within the United Nations, within the General Assembly and all its agencies and all its discussions and through this, let us say channel, NAM exerts power and influence on decision makings, on debates and in that respect you can see incremental changes come also from these sources.
Press TV: OK. That is a very important point that you made there and it is a point well-taken.
But I would like to, I guess, then zoom in on the UN Security Council and let us bring in the situation in Syria, in which, it is very vivid the statements that were made by the ambassador of the United States to the UN when the veto vote came in from Russia and China; and very blatantly she said, ‘we are going to work outside of the UN to support the [Syrian armed] opposition’.
So explain this to me how the United States, given that they hold veto wielding power, can come out in the open, say that, which means in essence, ‘We use the UN when we think it is to our advantage,’ is not it the conclusion that is reached by a statement like that?
Sajjadpour: Very good question, first of all as I said the United Nations is reflective of real politics, I mean it is not about morality or good behavior.
So her statement reflects the United Nations’ intention towards Security Council and the United Nations at large.
Every nation state, including world powers, use the United Nations for its own purposes, but what happened in the Security Council after the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, there was mostly a unanimity in the Security Council. That means China and Russia were onboard with the West mostly. You have just two or three situations were these two countries vetoed previously.
That is the case of human rights in Myanmar and also the election in Zimbabwe, but the other Security Council resolutions were all passed with China and Russia being onboard.
But what happened after the Libyan case, Resolution 1973, which was not exactly about using military forces, but the West, the United States and its partners, used a phrase in these resolutions to justify their military operations against Libya. China and Russia came to this conclusion, now [that] it is over, if we want to just yield to the pressure of the West and accept this resolution, we are going to be their followers.
So they had a different approach on Syria and now West came to this conclusion, including, I mean with the leadership of the United States, that they have to look at the alternative channels for military interaction.
I think that it is not going to be easy for them, it does not mean whatever the superpowers want immediately they can do it. It would lack international legitimacy and I think that international legitimacy is very required component of any action that they want to make, but they may use excuses here and there. However, the UN by itself, is not, let us say, a super place where everything should be gauged against certain values. I think it is reflection of world politics and we have to take into account that world politics changes and the changes have reflection there.
Press TV: Let us talk about that point, international legitimacy, here if we can Mr. Sajjadpour and I would like you to please elaborate more about how the UN can gain that, when you say international legitimacy, I am assuming obviously 120 countries need to be the ones that they have to get this legitimacy from and if you can combine that with the fact that the US and some of these Western countries are on the decline.
So they are in need more of these countries [NAM member states] because maybe before they could have dictated the rules of, let us say, finances but now they do not have that strong support base, financially speaking anymore.
So if you can describe how the UN can gain this international legitimacy from the NAM countries?
Sajjadpour: I think that your question first of all leads to international legitimacy then on the NAM and the international legitimacy.
In response to your question I have to say, you know, power cannot be exerted very nakedly. You have to have acceptance by those whom these powers or these instruments of power are going to be exerted.
So here comes legitimacy. You have to accept why this action is taken. The rationale, the reasoning comes usually with legitimacy.
The United Nations is one of the sources of international legitimacy, but it does not mean that it is complete or every, let us say, single international action should be approved by the United Nations. No! It is not the case. It is one of the sources.
When the majority of the United Nations member states approve a decision, it does not mean that that is absolutely right or 100 percent legitimate, but it means that it has support at least by the states and do not forget that the United Nations is the global states. It is assumed that the states are representatives of their nations.
So there is a linkage here where NAM comes to the picture when the decision is at a level where the General Assembly, where other institutions, save the Security Council, are involved.
In that case, of course the NAM can have its influence and I have to say that UN is a very technical issue… UN mechanism is very technical. When you want to have a discussion it should go through what we call it in the United Nations system ‘rules of procedure.’
sabinachiaburu 