A/38/PV.100 General Assembly

101.  New international humanitarian order: report of the Secretary-General 1. Mrs. SANGARE-KABA (Guinea), Rapportl;ur of the Third Committee (interpretation from French): I have the honour to present to the General Assembly the reports of the Third Committee on agenda items 12, and 91 to 101, which appear, respectively, in documents A/38/ 680,A/38/681,A/38/682,A/38/683,A/38/S84,A/38/ 685,A/38/686,A/38/68?,A/38/688,A/38/689,A/38/ 690 and A/38/691. 2. In paragraph 66 of its report on agenda item 12 [A/38/680], the Third Committee recommends to the Assembly the adoption of 18 draft resolutions. Draft resolutions I, 11, VII to XIV and XVIII were adopted by the Committee without a vot~; the four draft resolutions relatbg to special cases of assistance to refugees or dis- placed persons-draft resolutions III to VI-were adopted without a vote following a point of crder raised by the representative of Zaire. 3. The C .. It'1ittee adopted the following draft resolu- tions by 1P' .rded votes: draft resolution XV, entitled "Situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Guatemala", which was adopted by 80 votes to 14, with 36 abstentions; draft resolution XVI, entitled "Situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in El Salva- dor", which was adopted by 78 votes to 13, with 41 absten- tions; and draft resolution XVII, entitled "Situation of 24. As for the particular draft resolution referring to El Salvador, its contents are quite frankly deplorable. Only those who are not familiar with the situation in the country could find any balance in the draft resolution. For any impartial observer and for the Salvadorians them- selves-and after all, they are the ones directly concern~d -the draft resolution is badly drafted, tendentious and negative. It is the product of preconceived political ideas and certain alignments, and is designed to satisfy the minority public. It tries to garner support from certain foreign extraneous groups which have the audacity to act as though they know El Salvador better than the Salva- dorians themselves. 25. The draft resolution claims-in vain-to be bal- anced. The mere fact, however, of including two para- graphs that criticize the extreme right and the extreme left in regard to certain manifestations of violence does not mean that the whole draft resolution is objective and balanced. Indeed, the whole concept and structure of the draft resolution are in no way a constructive element for the promotion of human rights in El Salvador. The result of this exercise is a fragmented text drafted with atavistic interventionist motives and reflecting the political myopia of its sponsors. 26. Without going into a detailed analysis of the draft resolution, I should like to make the following points: first, the draft resolution, instead of referring to the free and open elections in which all the political trends par- ticipated-which means that no faction was excluded- indirectly criticizes the elections, although elections are the basis of the strengthening of any democratic process; secondly, the draft resolution places on a footing of equality a legitimate Government and opposition minor- ity groups, a point of view that no country that respects its own interests could accept; thirdly, instead of referring to reforms that have been made with regard to the eco- nomic situation, the text maliciously disregards what has been happening in El Salvador and uses language that relegates these events to oblivion; fourthly, under this draft resolution the State would be left without the neces- sary means of defence against its opponents who resort to violence in order to take power. What country repre- sented in this Hall would give up its national security-a sovereign obligation of every Government?; fifthly, the draft resolution refers to regular resort to bombarding urban areas which are not military objectives, without in any way proving that statement (which cannot be proved -proof does not exist; on the contrary, such actions are being carried out by the armed opposition groups); sixthly, the draft resolution would give the El Salvador Peace Commission more powers, when in fact its terms of reference have already been established. 27. I shall confine myself to those points, which demon- strate the interventionist and politically loaded nature of the draft resolution. Far from being based on humani- tarian considerations, it reflects other types of interests. That is why we shall vote against draft resolution XVI, entitled "Situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in El Salvador". We believe that this draft resolution is, moreover, a violation of Article 2, para- graph 7, of the Charter.