In his speech on this occasion, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that “joining the UN Security Council is an event of historical importance for Albania. It marks yet another critical stepping stone in our transformation drive to fulfill the aspirations as a nation, and to make the world a better place. ”

Rama said that “the challenge for us is how the Council can intervene in an intelligent, reflective and timely manner to prevent atrocities, to stop conflicts and to guarantee lasting peace and security.”

Joining the Security Council is an event of historical importance for Albania. It marks yet another critical stepping stone in our transformation drive to fulfill our aspirations as a nation and contribute to making the world a better place for us and for all.

“Only a wild imagination would have the bravery to dream all this just three decades ago. I even doubt that no wild imagination could have had the bravery to dream all this three decades ago. At that time Albania was a bunker in darkness. For almost half a century it crawled under one of the most oppressive communist regimes in Europe, which made our country be, I need to say it, the North Korea of Europe. The dictatorship came crumbling because of the people’s appeal to what human nature has as its inherent exigencies, freedom, equality, democracy and the rule of law. Many times, the wheels of history move in odd directions. For us Albanians, the awakening came rather late but we kept our sight on the appealing light and have since moved in one single direction, that of freedom, democracy, human rights, dignity, development and reforms. Seeking our deserved place in the region and Europe has remained our compass ever since, even in the most difficult moments on our long and difficult road towards a democratic society, to the family we seek to join, the European family where we belong. The world has changed and transformed during the last 66 years since the day we entered the United Nations. Many countries and societies have seen their life change profoundly. They can say without doubt that Albania’s transformation is one of the most remarkable and the most impactful to the point that I tend to agree with friends who tell us that in the course of the last three decades Albania has transformed more than during the last three centuries. This is our record, one we are proud of, one we only seek to further improve Nowadays we notice that the values we used to take for granted as aspirations to attain have been put into doubt, but for us we have survived through dark times, these are doubts we do not harbour because we know that the alternative to such values is. We have placed international law and human rights at the heart of our agenda for our mandate in the Security Council. We see them as priorities in the world’s most powerful body. I do not know how many in this room or outside agree or disagree with me that wherever human rights are observed, wherever women are respected and empowered, wherever the needs of the citizens are placed first , there is sustainable development and genuine progress. For us human rights are at the heart of the critical issues of peace and security. The recognition of the universality of rights asks for a clever balance between conflicting principles, sovereignty of nations which we must respect and human rights protection which we must abide by. The Security Council is made to speak out and intervene in the service of these values, when gross violations happen. For us the challenge is how the Council can intervene in an intelligent, reflective and timely manner to prevent atrocities, stop conflicts and ensure lasting peace and security. No one doubts the strength of Security Council. Our challenge is to make just what is strong and make strong what is just. For an organ as powerful as the Security Council, not being just is not an option, so we must unite with justice because there would be no peace without it. Security cannot be established and let alone last without justice to be raised. Thus, in our view Security Council should seek to achieve peace and security but also establish justice and accountability . It is through accountability that we can go towards reconciliation, which cements lasting peace. It is in this that lies the task for a small nation like Albania. We do not bring material strength to the Security Council, at least not for now, but strength is not what the Security Council lacks, nor is the sheer strength that is required for the Council to address the most pressing challenges for peace and security today. We have committed to bring our voice, our values and norms in the shared work of the Security Council as a contribution to peace. We wish to share with others our lived experience, our lessons learned. Our direct way to contribute to alleviate suffering to those in need has been to give what we have, what we could, when we had to do it: Open our homes and hearts to those needing rescue and shelter whether it is the Jews during the Holocaust, when Albania became the only country to have more Jews after the war than before or for a half a million of Kosovars fleeing the ethnic cleansing from the brutal regime of Slobodan Milosevic or thousands of MEKs sheltered secure in Albania and most recently thousands of Afghans escaping the Talibans’ reprisal. We claim no credit for all of this. It goes for the dignity of every human being irrespective of their creed, religion, ethnicity, gender or whatever orientation. This is not a slogan, it is a lived practice. We do not act according to this Code of Honour because we can, but simply because we must. It comes with our sense of who we are as Albanians and who we want our children to be. Dear friends, in our long journey until we found our way, we have seen everything: war, occupation, dictatorship, self- imposed isolation, extreme poverty. The only thing we have not experienced and, there is a fundamental reason for this, is religious-based conflict. This is because we have learned the hard way to place what is common first and what is individual next. We have come to believe in our frank dialogue or better said “the fusion of horizons.” Dialogue for us is a method to achieve mutual understanding, mutual respect and recognition, without which peace would remain a mirage, an elusive aspiration. We will be able to fight the root causes of violent conflict by recognizing the other in ourselves and ourselves in others. Ultimately, we are all a community of fate. Our future in this only and unique place called Earth is ultimately tied to our ability to understand and learn to live with our differences, with shared aspirations in peace and dignity. That is a task we take upon ourselves to keep the bright horizon at the heart of the work in the Security Council.
/sm/