Political Issues

Iran

Heads of State and Government of the G8 countries continue to beseriously concerned about recent events in Iran. We reiterate our full respectfor the sovereignty of Iran. At the same time, we deplore post-electoralviolence, which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians. Interference withmedia, unjustified detentions of journalists and recent arrests of foreignnationals are unacceptable. We call upon Iran to solve the situation throughdemocratic dialogue on the basis of the rule of law and we remind it of itsobligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.We agreed that Embassies in Iran must be permitted to exercise theirfunctions effectively under the Vienna Convention, without arbitraryrestrictions on, or intimidation of, their staff.We remain committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the issue of

Iran’s nuclear program and of Iran’s continued failu

re to meet itsinternational obligations. We welcome the readiness of the U.S. to enter intodirect talks and the invitation from China, France, Germany, Russia, theUnited Kingdom and the United States to Iran to restart negotiations, as wellas the constructive involvement of other G8 partners in the process. We stressthe need for unity of action on the basis of agreed policy. We sincerely hopethat Iran will seize this opportunity to give diplomacy a chance to find anegotiated solution to the nuclear issue. At the same time we remain deeply

concerned over proliferation risks posed by Iran’s nuclear programme. We

recognise that Iran has the right to a civilian nuclear programme, but thatcomes with the responsibility to restore confidence in the exclusively peacefulnature of its nuclear activities. We strongly urge Iran to cooperate fully withthe IAEA and to comply with the relevant UNSC Resolutions, withoutfurther delay. The G8 meeting on the margin of the United Nations General

Assembly opening week next September will be an occasion to take stock ofthe situation.We condemn the declarations of President Ahmadinejad denying theHolocaust.

Comprehensive Approach to Peacekeeping / Peacebuilding

We will continue to pursue a comprehensive approach to sustaining globalpeace encompassing security, post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction.

We welcome our peacekeeping/peacebuilding experts’ report, which reviews

progress in building capacity for peace support operations, and note withsatisfaction the major advances made toward achieving the ambitious targetsset at Sea Island and subsequent Summits. Given the continuing increase innumber and complexity of peacekeeping operations in crisis areas, wecommit to maintaining our focus on developing rapid, effective andsustainable capacity, and endorse the conclusions of the report in this regard.We commit, in particular, to continue building capacity globally, with afocus on preparing troops and robust police components for peacekeeping,and on developing civilian personnel for peacebuilding, as emphasized at theToyako Summit. Our attention to police and rule of law components will bestrengthened as crucial elements on the road from conflict to stability. Wewill augment international coordination, strengthening consultations amongG8 experts, as well as with major emerging economies and other countriesand international organizations. Such enhanced coordination will ensure thebest application of resources, help assess emerging needs and buildconsensus for decisive action. We will continue to strive for greaterinteroperability of forces and to assist in logistics support, including bypromoting partnerships in training, equipping and sustainment. We call onall countries to join in assisting trained troops and police to deployeffectively.We support the leading role of the United Nations, in particular theSecurity Council in the area of peacekeeping operations, and encourageefforts to improve their planning, mandating and management. To that end,we will assist the UN to further develop partnerships with regionalorganizations, contributing countries and other actors. We further encourage

the important efforts of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and thestrengthening of its role.Supporting peace in Africa remains central to our efforts. We commendthe progress of the African Union in developing peace and securitycapacities, and will continue to assist in this regard. We will seek to provideflexible, predictable and sustainable support for African-led peace supportoperations. Reinforcing the African Peace and Security Architecture,including the African Standby Force are crucial to success in meeting thechallenges ahead.

Transnational Organized Crime

Today’s world is confronted by ever

-increasing and destabilizingchallenges, such as terrorism (on which we have issued a separate statement),trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, drug and fire arms trafficking,cash smuggling, money laundering and corruption. These issues constitute aserious threat to domestic and international security. Furthermore, theincreasing interconnections between these criminal activities and theirdetrimental effect on human security

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as also highlighted during the G8Rome Conference on Destabilizing Factors and Transnational Threats (23-24April 2009)

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are source of additional concern to G8 countries and requireurgent attention by the international community.In particular, we are concerned about the links between terrorism andtransnational criminal networks. As emphasized by the UN Conventionagainst Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo, December 2000), theseconverging threats require a constant update of our strategies, targetedmeans and better coordinated multilateral efforts and law enforcementinitiatives. The G8 represents an appropriate forum to develop commonresponses to these global challenges, and to increase support also from otherlike-minded States. Our collective response will continue to be developedwithin the framework of relevant United Nations conventions and protocols,and in close coordination with the Conference of the Parties to the PalermoConvention, other competent UN bodies (e.g. the United Nations Office onDrugs and Crime, UNODC) and relevant international organizations, such asINTERPOL and other regional fora.