Saudi Press Agency

NEW YORK, 30 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia yesterday criticized the growing trend of unilateral action outside the framework of international legitimacy and said this risked undermining the UN principle of collective security.

“This excessive trend to resort to unilateral action on the basis of the right to self-defense could undermine the principle of collective security on which the UN Charter was founded,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said. Prince Saud was speaking on the day a Libyan national was sentenced to one year in prison for attempting to assault him in a Cairo hotel earlier this month.

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Prince Saud called for swift and collective action to deal with challenges to world security and stability. The prince said Saudi Arabia had launched a determined war against terrorism and had enacted regulations to punish those who perpetrate, incite, and sympathize with terrorist acts.

“We have introduced counterterrorism as one of the main subjects in the school curriculum and have taken a series of measures to close any loopholes in the way charities collect money in order to prevent funds being diverted for unlawful purposes,” he pointed out. The foreign minister called for international cooperation to crack down on terrorist groups and eradicate them.

He said the current global war on terrorism would not be fruitful without addressing its root causes. “We should not overlook the importance of exerting early efforts to combat drugs as being the other face of the problem,” he added. Prince Saud urged the international community to implement the resolutions adopted on the Arab-Israeli conflict and criticized the use of veto power.

“We see resolutions being adopted but turned to mere ink on paper, and when time comes for their implementation, the power of veto is invoked to abort implementation. The only way out of this vicious cycle, from our perspective, is for the permanent members to pledge not to use the veto power when dealing with resolutions or measures aimed at implementing the substance of resolutions previously adopted.

“This matter may be one of a series of issues that the reform team proposed by the UN secretary general should consider in order to invigorate the role of the United Nations in handling current issues and challenges,” he said.

Prince Saud underlined the significance of the Saudi-initiated Arab peace plan, which was endorsed by the Arab League summit in Beirut.

“We believe that the Arab Initiative, which has received a historic consensus from all the Arab states, provides a possibility for achieving a just and comprehensive peace between the Arabs and the Israelis,” he said. He also called for a more effective UN role in Iraq. “Iraq today is more than ever in need of an effective role for the United Nations, one that would guarantee the preservation of its territorial and national integrity and restoration of its independence and sovereignty,” he said.