A/42/PV.1 General Assembly

Permit me to thank representatives for the confidence they have placed in me by electing me President of the General Assembly at its forty-second session. First and foremost, I regard this as an expression of esteem for my country, the German Democratic Republic, and its policy of peace and mutual understand ing. An important part of my life has been connected with the united Nations, and my conviction has been strengthened that the world organization is uniaue. There is no alternative to it. All countries, large, medium and small, need it. The united Nations is the sole political organization of States that is universal, a forum for dialogue and concerted international action, which serves to find solutions to the fundamental issues of the present and the future. From this place I wish to pay tribute and express appreciation to my distinguished predecessor in the presidency, Mr. Humayun Rasheed Choudhury, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. with his wealth of experience and great diplomatic skill he has guided the General Assembly'S work successfully at a difficult time. For that, we are indeed indebted to him. (spoke in French) I believe that ! am speaking on behalf of all representatives when I convey my thanks to the Secretary-General of the organization, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, for his indefatigable and energetic commitment to the service of international peace and security. To all the words of gratitude we have heard about his It activities, ! should like to add my own best wishes for good health and energy. is with great pleasure that! look forward to continuing our constructive and co-operative relationship. I should also like to take thia opportunity to welcome very cordially the ne~ under-secretary-General for Political and General Assembly Affairs, Joseph Verner Reed, with whom 'We all - inclUding myself as President of the Genera Assembly - will undoubt&dly uintain relations Of excellent co-operation. At the same time let me 8Uure representatives that, in all conscience and loyal to our Organization '8 Charter I I shall spare no effort to accomplish the performance of the very ser ious dUtilllB incumbent upon me as President of the General Assembly at its forty-seCO,nd huion. (continued in Russian) At this session some difficult and painstaking work lies ahead, because the international situation is complex and in a state of flux. Nevertheless, there is definite potential for po11tical sueCeBll in important areas. Let us make use of this in the best possible way« A change for the better, towards an easing of tension in international relations, is certainly feasible, It can be achieved through a joint act of political will on the part of responsible statesmen, marked by dialogue and a read iness for lllutual understand ing. Such a change is' essential given the overwhelming burden of the global problems that face mankind and Overshadow our future. According to statistics pUblished by our organization on 11 July 1987, here we are talk ing about the future of 5 billion persons. The twentieth century is draWing to a close and its challenges are no longer merely national but have global scope, These challenges face the united Nations a~ well, There is a grOWing awareness of the interdependence of our world - an awareness of global problems that affect us all. I have in mind the following: the danger of hum;n ciVilization h-i of nuclear arms, the ~ ng destroyed because devastating consequences of the i 1 io-economic sp ra ling arms race for the soc development of all countriesJ such burning world problems as underdevelopment, malnutrition and illiteracYJ of eaual importance, the squandering of resources and the threat to the environmentJ and, finally, the remarkable achievements of scientific and technological development in the areas of high technology and communication, which must be used for man's benefit. (The President) The people of the world expect from the present session recommendations and decisions that are conducive to the solution of problems. It is my hope that constructive activities on our part will lead to a convergence of positions and to agreement, or at best a consensus, on as many resolutions and decisions as possible. This concerns first and foremost the fundamental issues of preserving world peace and strengthening international security. As members know, Article 1 of the Charter is specific in calling upon us to take effective collective measures to that end. It was no accident that at its thirty-sixth session the General Assembly decided to declare the opening day of its regular session International Day of Peace. I am sure that we all shar.:: the hope that 1986, the International Year of Peace, will be followed by only peaceful years. It is encouraging to note that ill significant documents adopted by important groups of States increasing attention is paid to similar problems and there is an observable tendency towards converging approaches to their solution. This holds true, for example, in the case of the statements made at the Eighth Conference of ~ads of State or Government of l-lon-Aligned Countries, in Harare, the conference of .inisters for Foreign Affairs of the countries members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in Reykjavik, and the meetings of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty States in Berlin. The need to end the conventional and nuclear arms races is recognized as presenting a global problem. 1 have no doubt that our Organization will be able to assist in disentangling the knot of genuine and imaginary security interests that has kept going the arms race in all its aspects. Reduction of the nuclear threa t to mankind is no longer a utopian dream. There is a clear possibility of achieving nuclear disarmament through an agreement on the elimination of United States and loviet medium-range missiles. Here we can see what can be achieved when the Luclear Powers and the five permanent members of the Security Council; in >articular the Soviet Union and the United States, act in accordance with their lpecial responsibility. At the same time it should be pointed out that proposals lnd discussions on disarmament are no longer confined to a small group of Stat~s or l few experts) they have now become a pUblic issue in the best sense of the term. The arms race on earth must be halted and reversed. Such was the mandate of the first special session of the General Assembly on disarmament, in 1978. In view )f this, would it be logical to extend the arms race into outer space? Considerable hopes are placed in the conclusion of a convention on the prohibition of chemical weaPons and efforts to bring about conventional Hsarmamen t. Cer ta in sceptics descr ibe disarmament negotiation as a Sisyphean task. A more apt comparison, however, would be with the 12 labours of the hero of Greek mythology, Herocles. The International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development, which has just concluded its work, demonstrated the timeliness of the formula "disarmament for developnent". Reduction of the overwhelming burden of military expenditures would release resources with which to tackle the global tasks that face us. In other words, what we are addressing here is the need to create the conditions for lasting and comprehensive international security in the spirit of the Charter and in accordance with the realities of the nuclear age. More trust t securl'ty are the means by which to bring this and disarmament and grea er common about. I hope that there will be a serious, thorough exchange of views on these (The President) matters as a result of which joint conclusions will be formulated and the necessary steps ou tlined. The General Assembly would be performing a valuable service for mankind if at this session it were to adopt unanimously the draft declara tion on the enhancement of the effectiveness of the principle of non-use of force in international relations. This document, which contains fundamental provisions on peaceful relations between States, the inalienable right of every nation freely to choose its own social system, the indivisibility of peace, security and fundamental freedoms and economic and social development, testifies to the possibility of mutual understanding even in difficult in terna tional si tua tions provided that all parties are guided by common sense and realism and have the necessary political wilL As a ci tizen of a European country I venture to refer to European exper ience. The process of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) is, in '{ opinion, evidence of the possibility of solving diverse problems no matter how ifficult they may appear. Th is process is a new phenomenon, based on the principles in the United Nations Charter, according to which countr ies with different social. sys terns, coun tries members of different mili tary coali tions and economic groupings and neutral and non-aligned States are basing their relations on an agreed code of principles of peaceful coexistence. The CSCE process is and will continue to be an element of international relations which inspires hope and makes for peace on ear th. (The president) The range of possibilities that' exist for reaching an understanding was demoristrated only recently by the joint communique agreed on during the visit of the HE::ad of Sta te of the German Democra tic Republic to the neighbouring Federal Republic of Germany. To bring about peace on earth it is necessary to curb the conflicts that threaten the existence of mankind. Not only have those conflicts taken a heavy toll on the parties involved, but there is a risk that they will get out of control and even plunge the world into catastrophe. Clearly, the causes of the conflicts are diverse. Their roots cannot necessarily be sought in the East-West confrontation: that would narrow the possibility of resolving them. The task of the General Assembly at this forty-second session should rather be to promote and assist all efforts to resolve international conflicts through negotiation, dialogue, a joint search for solutions and the adoption of essential decisions. Chapters VI and VII of the Charter offer a full range of possibilities for action. There are some that we have not yet managed to utilize. This does not necessarily prove that they are lacking in effectiveness. There is a growing awareness of the dangers inherent in the focuses of Conflict. There is a growing aspiration on the part of long-suffering peoples to end them, whether they be in South-East Asia, southern Africa, the Middle East or Cen tral America. Realistic proposals have been put forward, with regard to all these conflicts, proposals that take due account of the interests of the parties involved and which would, if acted upon, eliminate the danger. I am referring in particular to the negotia tions on the si tua tion around Afghanistan, or the recent proposals for the passing judgement on any particular state or people. I have in mind the recent peace plan for Central America and the Contadora process, and further efforts to reach an understanding on the question of Cyprus. Of exceptional importance are the steps taken recently, with the active participation of the Security Council, b put an end to the tragic and disastrous conflict between Iraq and Iran. We cannot allow our Organization to assume the role of a wailing Wall. The United Nations can, and indeed should, proceed to carry out the activities envisaged in its Charter. Questions relating to the social and economic development of peoples, the restructuring of international economic relations and the external debt are among the global issues which face mankind and the United Nations. I agree with what my predecessor in this high office said at the beginning of the forty-first session, namely: "Many of the gr ea tes t hopes of mank ind centr e on economic and social progress, which must remain a primary goal of the United Nations system." (A/41/PV.I, p. 22) In his statement at the opening of the session of the Economic and Social Council at Geneva this summer, the Secretary-General of the Uni ted Nations drew a very critical, and at the same time realistic, picture of the world economic si tuation. He rightly noted that: "The international community must be more responsive to the increasingly complex problems of today but, equally impor tant, better prepared for the challenges of the coming decades. 11 The solution of the acute and complex problems of the developing countr ies al i the O\7ercoming of underdevelopment concern us all, I believe. Ways to resolve thl rI are shown in decisions adopted by the United Nations. (The president) Efforts to find' a global and just solution to the problem of the external debt are undoubtedly a matter of high priority. They should be duly responsive to the interests of the developing countries and to the requirements of a stable development of the world economy. Various attempts are being made to reorganize the sorely disturbed international monetary and financial relations after the destruction which has quite clearly taken place. In my opinion, it is equally important that an understanding on a just and dell'Ocratic basis should be in the interests of all. It is well known how much the developing countries are suffering from a drain on their resources and unequal terms of trade and exchange. It is becoming more important for th·~ developing countries to pool their efforts to overcome their underdevelopment and to strengthen their economic independence, as can be noted following several conferences on South-South co-operation. Likewise, it remains the task of all States to participate actively in removing obsolete structures and developing equal and mutually advantageous economic relations throughou t the world. This fact and the growing interdependence of national economies and the current revolutionizing scientific and technological processes call for predictability and stability in international economic relations. Global problems need global solutions. In this interdependent world, policies bas,ed on the law of migh t, the monopoly' of solutions or unila teral action could lead not only to a dead end but, indeed, to disaster. There are more than enough international problems for us to cope with - and new ones ar e ar is ing • concern. The same is true of the struggle against narcotic drugs and against the disease of AIDS (acquired immuno deficiency syndrome), whose consequences cannot yet be foreseen. We should highly commend and promote the efforts being made in the united Nations system to bring about international co-operation in these areas. The disturbed interaction between nature and society, of which there are mar causes, is one of those factors which reminds us of the limits of the burdens OUI planet can bear. These problems are clearly elucidated in the united Nations Environment Programme CUNEP) report, "Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond", as well as in the Brund1andt report, entitled "Our Common Future". They deserve our constant and vigilant attention. One of the main items to be discussed at this session of the General Assembly - as indeed it has been at previous sessions - is the situation in southern Africa, which continues to pose a serious threat to international peace and security. World-wide solidarity with those in South Africa who are strugg1il against apartheid and racial discrimination will, I am sure, lead to political changes. An independent and non-aligned Namibla, as called for in General Assem resolutions, would undoubtedly serve as a stabilizing factor in southern Africa. Our Organization's tradition in implementation of human rights - political, economic, social and cultural - is well known, it has become a part of history. The united Nations can be justly proud of what it has achieved in codifying international law in this field. The contribution made by our Organization in helping to ease and solve humanitarian problems throughout the contemporary wor] has been universally acknowledged. Let us ensure that the attention of world public opinion will continue to be drawn to instances of mass violations of hums rights. All these global problems of today's and tomorrow's world can be resolved provided that a new thinking gains ground and Member States both within and outside the Organization faithfully engage in close co-operation based on trust and the renunciation of old stereotypes and prejudices. What is needed now more than ever before is dialoque, a frank exchange of views and mutual understanding. As I see it, we are not confronted with a crisis of multilateralism; rather, we have to carry out successfully the casks of multilateral organizations - something which will be to the benefit of all. In this endeavour, we must meet each other half-way, always guided by a sense of responsibility and realism. To my mind there can be no doubt that the united Nations has the proper tools, which we should fully utilize. The Charter is a viable document; the United Nations is a viable Organization. This is evidenced by the wide response to the fortieth anniversary session of our Organization, as well as by the numerous events organized in 1986, the International Year of Peace. This has been borne out by increased activity on the part of a broad range of non-governmental organizations in promoting the cause of the United Nations. Let us always recall the historic significance of the conclusion drawn by the founding fathers of the United Nations following the terrible experience of the Second World War: world peace can no longer be achieved by confrontation, it can be established only through co-operation. Today, in the nuclear era, this conclusion has lost none of its relevancy, on the contrary, it has acauired even greater significance. Our Organization has acauired ample experience, both positive and negative. The diversity of the interests of states is reflected in it. Nobody can or should ignore that. As the Assembly is aware, the art is in balancing those diverse interests of all States - large, medium and small - and achieving consensus. Such should be our contribution to the much needed stability in international reI tions for which we are striving. In performing the duties of the office to which you have elected me I s all be anxious to continue proved traditions, to be open to new ideas and to carry ut the presidency relying constantly on collective wisdom. I intend always to seek the advice and assistance of the Vice-Presidents, of the Chairmen of the Committ es and of the delegations. The dimensions of the tasks before us call for further reconsideration f the methods and procedures we have been applying in our Organization's work. Tt re is agreement about this. The report of the Group of 18, the valuable recommenc t ions made by former Presidents of the General Assembly, and resolution 41/213 she • us the way. Much has already been done to enhance the effectiveness of our Organization, but much remains to be done. The Security Council has worked intensively, in particular during the] 1st few months. Without doubt it has the potential to promote the effectiveness of lur Organization's work. What could be said against the Security Council's COnE .dering periodically, and at a high level, essential issues concerning the safeguarc .ng of peace, and adopting appropriate decisions? What could be said against makir I more effective USe of the possibility of taking preventive measures to avoid conl Lict, as provided for in the Charter? (The Pres ident) All that in my view would be desirable and urgently necessary. The enh ancemen t of the role and effectiveness of the Gener al Assembly is in our hands, hence the need to concen tra te on pr incipled decisions and purposeful actions and to relegate particular interests to the background. As I see it, there are, today more than ever, opportunities to achieve the objectives we have set ourselves and to enhance the political weight of the General Assembly. I strongly appeal to the plenary Assembly and its Main Committees to exhaust every possibility of reaching mutual understandings - for example, by means of binding consensuses. Labour undertaken to bring that about will not be labour lost. (spok e in Engl ish) May the forty-second session of the General Assembly, which we open today, make a noticeable contribution towards the fulfilment of mankind's dream to live a peaceful and creative life when all peoples can develop in accordance with their own will and achieve happiness and prosperi ty. ORGANIZATION OF WORK

As announced in the Journal, immediately following this plenary meeting we shall hold consecutive meetings of the Ma in Commi ttees for the purpose of electing their Chairmen and, thereafter, the second plenary meeting will be convened for the election of the Vice Presidents of the General Assembly. The meeting rose at 4.10 p.m.