A/41/PV.20 General Assembly

This morning the Assembly will hear an address by the President of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and principe. Mr. Manuel Pinto da Costa, President of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, was escorted into the General Assembly Ball. The PRESI~: On behalf of the General Assembly~ I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations the President of the Democratic RepUblic of Sao Tome and Principe, His Excellency Mr. Manuel Pinto da Cost~and to invite hi~ to address the General Assembly. Pr~sident da COSTA (spoke in Portuguese; English text furnished by the delegation): On behalf of the Republic of Sao Tcme and Principe, I should like to express our best wishes for the success of the work of the General Assembly at its forty-first session. We bring with us a message of confidence in the United Nations, and the conviction that, today as in 1945, the Organization is the most complete expression of the hope of all peoples for a better world. -The United Nations for a better worldwas indeed the apposite theme chosen by the Assembly to mark the fortieth anniversary commemoration. Like all other anniversaries, that commemoration was a special occasion. By the high level of the delegations present and by their reaffirmation of their adherence to the Charter, irrefutable endorsement was provided for a mission and measures for which there has been no viable substitute or logical alternative in the turbulent world of the community of nations, which we represent here. Along with reaffirming its ideals, the General Assembly has also taken note of criticism by M~~er countries with regard to deficien~ies in the modus operandi of the Organization. Although reaffirmation of adherence to the purposes and (President da Costa) principles of the Charter and criticism of the United Nations are equally important for the life of the Organization, they carry different weight with us. Reaffirmation of the Organization's purposes and principles constitutes the fundamental, and most relevant, element of the equation, because renewed adherence to the ideals of the United Nations justifies and gives constructive meaning to the criticism. The criticism itself constitutes, and should be understood as, a commitment to the constant improvement of the organization. In our view, the critici~m should be understood and accepted as the right of each one of us! the Members of the Organization, as interested parties, because the united Nations expresses the will and collective action of its Member countries: any criticism is, after all, self-criticism. The General Assembly's adoption of resolution 40/237, by which it created the Group of High-level Intergovernmental EXPerts to Review the Efficiency of the Administrative and Financial Functioning of the united Nations, constituted, in our opinion, the right step towards confronting the serious problems which the present financial crisis represents. (President da Costa) We agree with those who urge us to face the fundamental causes of the crisis and draw attention to the absence of decisive political will as the essential problem. ~everthel~ss, re,cognition of such a need should not prevent us from • '" ........4,. ¥,', facing the problem in its most~~gute manifestations. The financial crisis is here, . ' - ......:..1. and we need to deal with it now. -......_-... *~ . A ca~eful reading of the repeJrt submitted by the high-level Group of Experts is an unquestionabie confirm~tion of our assertion. Beyond interests and intentions whose motivati.ons We question, beyond hard-to-conceal i1Ieasures which seek to subvert the fundamental principles of the Charter, beyon~~proposals whose efficacy we auestion as a viable alternative to the present situation, is the unquestionable fact that adjustments, reforms in methods and institutions, ~~ elimination of some practices and ,procedures are all required. "'fl,t. To maintain~~~~e status qUo or limit the range and efficacy of the numerous ~~~~~~ recommendations included in the re~!~~in the name of questionable interests, would be, in our modest opinion, to fall short of our collective responsibility, it 1~~1' would 'be to put at risk our determination to reform th~ ti~ited Nations into an -':lli"""". operative instrument for resolving the problems of our time. The measure of our success cannot be determined merely by the majorities we attain in the adoption of various resolutions or declarations, but rather by the impact and the actions such resolutions may have on the events which occur beyond the conference rooms of the united Nations Thus, the necessary point of d~parture and the reference point for our d~~iberations should be the analysis of the effects that such decisions will have on those who will'~ake their implementation possible - that is, the Member States and international public opinion. (President da Costa) We believe, forexample, that resolution 1514 QXV1 exerted the historic influence that everyone is familiar with, not only because it corresponded to an aspiration shared by the great majority of world public opinion but also because there was a political will for action to put an en~ to colonialism. This relationship between our decisions ana objective reality is, in our view, indispensable. The Assembly will recognize with us, however, that many of the resolutions we adopt h~re do not respect this relationship - hence they fail to be implemented. The fortieth session adopted, for example, some 353 resolutions covering areas as diverse as outer space and the sea-bed. I wonder how many countries were able to analyse those resolutions and the reference documents, let alone to begin the implementation process of such measures. Talleyrand once said that everything that is excessive soon becomes meaningless. We need to ask ourselves the qu~stion whether such a great number of resolutions attains the goals to which we aspire. The r2sponaibility for the increase in perennial questions in successive agendas of the United Nations is often attributed, implicitly if not explicitly, to the Member States which joined the Organization as a result of the decolonization process. We will say on this point that such a situation results from the legitimate exercise of the rights of each country. Secondly, it is important to keep in mind that as participants in a system of international relations characterized until our independence by relationships of dominance and injustice, it is legitimate for us to use the machinery provided in the Charter for the realization of those objectives which the Charter itself calls for. (President da Costa) Our initiatives towards the proces9 of deco1onization, the establishment of a more just international economic order, and the progressive dev~lopment of international law, to cite a few examples, all move in this direction. If we often repeat ourse~ves, &nd if many resolutions are no more than declarations of intent, this aoes not arise from the deliberate intention to act in this way, but rather from the lack of political will on the part of our partners in assuming their responsibilities under the Charter. We will refer to the question of Namibia as an example. After more than a decade of deliberations and decisions, it was to be expected that the adoption of Security Council resolution 435 (1978) would constitute the final stage in the solution to the Namibian question. To whom should we attribute the responsibility for the reso1u1tions, conferences and special sessions which took place after 1978? To the Member States which use every means to impose respect for the decisions of the united Nations or to those which are not in conformity with the duties and rights pledged in the Charter and the international community? Recognized as it is today that the arms race, especially in the nuclear sphere, puts the very existence of humanity in danger, in addition to diverting important human and financial resources so necessary to resolving present world problems, to whom should we attribute the responsibility for the deluge of resolutions adopted every year in the Assembly? On this subject, I should like to submit the following for the consideration of the majority that in the Assembly has made the adoption of such resolutions possible. (Pres ident da Costa ) The tenth special session, devoted to disarmament, adopted by consensus a Final Document containing a Declaration and Prograllllle of ktion which established the basis of international disarmament, aimed at general and canplete disarmament under effective international control. While reoognizing the difficulties and canplexities of the negotiations and the legitimate coocerns of the principal actors in this process, in truth the arms race continues on its course. To express our frustration arising from our cootinupd coocern, we need at most two resolutions: one to express our frustratioo, and the second to renew our appeal to the super-Powers. Not being participants in the arms race, let us not be participants in a "resolution race". let us channel the limited resources of our organization towards more productive aims, such as suppor t for noo-governmental organizations, which perform an active role in the mobilization of world public opinion, or support for research institutions in the disarmament area. We deliberately direct the attention of representatives to the problems confrooting our Organizatioo. We have reached this point for two reasoos. The first rests on the importance and nature we think the general debate should assume in the context of our year ly meetings. We under stand the sta temen ts trade here, not as ends in themselves, bu t ra ther as a process of in tercommunica tion meant to find the comprehensioo and understanding necessary to search for consensus and orien ted towards common action. The seoond reasoo is based on the idea, accepted in diplomatic tradi tioo, according to lolhich countries have no permanent friends but ra ther permanent interests. It is the permanent interest of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Pr incipe that the Uni ted Nations may effectively reach the objectives assigned to it by the Charter. (President da Costa) A small island country whose greatest ambition is the attainment of the wellbeing and social progress of its. population and whose only aspiration is to share in the common destiny of the human race, we do not want to be part of, much less an instrument of, the policies of confrontation between politico-military blocs. We will not compromise our sovereignty or our dignity in dealings of any kind. We do not take part in ideological crusades of any nature whatsoever~ We regard as the common heritage of the human race the scientific and social discoveries and advances under the various economic systems of our planet, and we claim the right freely and independently to adopt the various contributions of existing systems which are most in accoraance with our reality and most conducive to the fulfilment of our aspirations. Geographically isolated, conditioned by a deliberate cultural isolation, condemned by the colonial system to a regime of monoculture, we seek, in our privileged and historic relationship with the African portuguese-speaking countries and the countries of the subregion of central Africa, ~~1e contours of our identity and the complementarities necessary to our ~evelopment. Like other countries of the world, we desire open and advantageous collaboration which will provide us with the contributions necessary for the optimization of our resources and our potential. In any event, we are guided in our relations by strict respect for the Charter and the norms of international law which it legitimizes and inspires. This is the contribution which we think we can make towards the attainment of the objectives of the Charter, beyond our modest participation in those actions and activities which the Charter makes possible. We will not refer here to our serious concern over the conflicts in western Sahara, East Timor, Afghanistan, Kampuchea, the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula, Cyprus and Central America. This is necessary because of constraints of time and (Pres ident cia Costa) because the analysis of such situations has already been made and the possiblt! solutions have already been formulated. The only thing lacking is the {X)litical will to implement them. Furthetm«e, our positions wUl be shown in the voting process that will take place dur ing the session. Ne'!1ertheless, I hope I may be permitted to refer in particular and briefly to the situation in southern Aftica. An unprecedented consensus among the international comnunity has been noted on this sooject. After mch hesitatiCX'l, attempts at evasion and dubious canpromises on the part of certain members of the international colllDunity, today no one questions the need for mandatory sanctions against the racist South African regime or the fact that they are the last peaceful means available to compel the South African Government to dismantle the apartheid system, put an end to its illegal occupation of Namibia and terminate its direct or indit'ect attacks on the People's Republics of Angola and MOZallbique, as well as on the other front-line States. We agree that the sanctions will, in some cases, have devasta ting effects on the region and on South Africa's own {X)pulation. However, far from constituting a justificatioo for the failure to apply sanctioos, this should encourage the international community to take a more canprehensive, effective positioo. The responsibility does not end with the imposition of sanctioos; quite the contrary. To ensure effectiveness, it is essential that measures of support for the neighboUl ing countr ies be adopted simUltaneously. In the name of the internatiCX'lC4l community, Ml06e ideals have been attacked, the front-line States, in a demonstration of courage and true internationaJ.ism, will accept the burden of the consequences which the effects of the sanctions and the economic might of South Africa will for their economies, already weakened by the economic crisis affecting the African cCX'ltinent. It is the duty of both developed and developing countries to transform our verbal solidarity into actions of concrete, co-ordinated and universal support. The Marshall Plan represented for Europe a response to Nazi devastation, and the countries of southern Africa need similar determined commitment by the international community. Only in this way will sanctions be an effective response and not just a fortuitous and inevitable political expedient. Civilized coexistence among nations presupposes that force will give way to agreements and negotiations and that relations among nations will be in accordance with the imperatives of the international legal order. If, historically, the use of force has been a means of resolving differences, controlling aggressive impulses or ensuring the victory of true ideals, the bi~th of the united Nations was intended to establish a new historic period characterized by rejection of the use of force as an instrument in carrying out certain policies. Even admission of the principle of the use of force in response to aggression was conditioned by and subordinated to the failure of all the peaceful measures outlined in the Charter. The structure built on the objective principles and Articles of the Charter signed in 1945 and the resulting development of international law which it inspired and enhanced were intended to initiate and project human coexistence free of the stigmas of war, whose devastating effects were experienced during the last world conflict and are being felt even today in several regions of the world. Do we forget nothing and learn nothing? Today let us affirnl that indeed we forget nothing, but w€ learn what is essential. We shall not forget Woodrow Wilson's declaration. He said: WNo nation should try to extend its power over any other nation or people, but, rather, every people should be free to determine its own destiny, its own way of development, without restraints, free from threat or fear, the small nations as much as the great and powerful ones. w (President da Costa) we shall always bear in mind the essential idea expressed by John P. lteMedy before this Assembly in 1961: -Mankind must put an end to war, or 1Iifmr will Plt an end to lIankind.· <!L'?V.1013, para. 40) The PRESmmT: On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the President of the DeDDcratic Republic of Sao '1'oIIle Md Principe for the important statement he has just made. Mr. Manuel Pintn da Costa, President of the DemoClratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, was escorted frOll the General Assemly Hall.