A/52/PV.5 General Assembly

This morning, the General Assembly, in accordance with the decision taken at its 4th plenary meeting on 19 September 1997, will first take up agenda item 10, entitled “Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization”, to hear a brief presentation by the Secretary-General of his annual report. I give the floor to the Secretary-General.

Congratulations, Mr. President, on your election to this important post, made all the more so by the weighty deliberations through which you will be guiding this Assembly. I am grateful for the opportunity to address the General Assembly just before the general debate begins. This is the first time in the 52-year history of the Organization that the Secretary-General has been so honoured. My presence here today reflects the importance that you attach to the proposals for United Nations reform I presented to Member States on 16 July 1997. Indeed, let this be the Reform General Assembly. Let it be remembered as a time when all of us joined forces and seized the opportunities created by the new era to revitalize our United Nations — this unique and universal instrument for concerted action in pursuit of the betterment of humankind. Before I turn to the issue of reform, permit me to say a few words about the ongoing work and challenges of the Organization and to raise several matters of serious international concern that require urgent attention. In my recently released annual report, I described myself as prudently optimistic about the overall state of the United Nations today. The past year’s progress includes the adoption of the Agenda for Development, expressing a new consensus to guide our activities in this critically important field. It includes major achievements in disarmament, particularly the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Ottawa process to ban anti-personnel landmines, which I have vigorously supported. In the area of peacekeeping, significant movement is taking place among a group of countries towards forming a standby high-readiness brigade within the framework of United Nations standby agreements. Such a brigade would enable the Organization to act in crises before they unravel into escalating spirals of violence. Responding to ever more frequent requests from Member States, we have expanded our programmes in My annual report also acknowledges disappointments. The benefits of economic globalization remain too concentrated to benefit the vast majority of developing countries, even as official development assistance continues to decline. New paradigms of cooperation are needed in which major increases in assistance are combined with selective debt relief, access to markets and investment strategies. All societies, including those currently marginalized by the forces of globalization, must have the opportunity to become active participants in the new international economy. The achievements of disarmament do not yet encompass the remaining nuclear stockpiles, nor have they contained the proliferation of light weapons and small arms, including in conflicts that the United Nations is mandated to resolve. The department for disarmament and arms regulation that I have proposed is intended to bolster the capacity of the Organization to pursue such aims. What is more, in a growing number of conflicts, civilian populations have become the explicit targets of factional combatants and humanitarian missions have been impeded, denied access and subjected to attacks. Violence against women has become the most pervasive human rights violation, respecting no distinction of geography, culture or wealth. We will have to erase these ugly stains from the canvas of contemporary life. The nineteenth special session of the General Assembly — Rio +5 — made it clear that little progress has been made in achieving or implementing the agreements reached at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. We must do better at Kyoto in December and secure legally binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which we know to cause global warming. I also draw your attention to several areas of ongoing concern that you may wish to address during this debate. Since assuming office in January, I have taken initiatives to begin or revive peace processes in several conflict situations, some of which have long defied In Afghanistan, however, despite our best efforts, the parties continue to wage a brutal and futile civil war, with heavy civilian casualties. A renewed commitment on the part of regional and international actors is required to prevent further bloodshed and a humanitarian crisis of dreadful proportions. In the Great Lakes region, despite the combined efforts of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity, bitter legacies persist, as do intolerance and violence. I urge the countries of the region to pursue the path of peace, democracy, reconciliation and reconstruction — with full respect for human rights — and to work with the international community to assist and sustain their efforts. In Bosnia, the international community must be prepared to consolidate the gains achieved and to prevent a relapse into the horrors that triggered its involvement. We must ensure that our collective investments — military, political and financial — have not been in vain. Doing so will require patience and persistence by all concerned. Finally, the international community cannot but view with grave concern the mounting threats to the Israeli- Palestinian peace process. We call on all sides to take the courageous decisions required to re-establish mutual confidence and rededicate themselves to achieving a lasting peace. I now turn to the item on your agenda that surely is the most significant for the future role of our Organization: the challenge of reform. I presented detailed proposals to you in this Hall more than two months ago, on 16 July 1997. It is my hope that when this session ends more than two months from now, we will have reached consensus and can begin the process of implementation. Permit me to recapitulate the main objectives and key features. What are the objectives of the reforms? We aspire to a United Nations that can act with greater unity of purpose, coherence of efforts and responsiveness in pursuit of peace and progress; a United Nations that can We aspire to a United Nations that recognizes and joins in partnership with an ever more robust global civil society, while helping to eliminate uncivil elements like drug traffickers, criminals and terrorists; a United Nations that will view change as a friend — not change for its own sake, but change that permits us to do more by doing what we do better. For whom do we seek these objectives? We seek them for those who most need a renewed and revitalized United Nations because they lack the power and wealth to shape the international environment to their advantage. We seek them for the global public interest. We seek them in the interest of the future of the Organization itself. And how do we propose to meet these objectives? By rationalizing and streamlining our operations at Headquarters and in the field. By creating new management structures that will permit us to act as one within and across our diverse areas of activities. By encouraging a new institutional culture that stresses excellence in promoting the collective good. By enhancing the accountability that Member States deserve and creating the flexibility that the Secretariat needs. And we intend to meet these objectives by promoting at all times the particular needs of the most disadvantaged societies among us through the creation of the United Nations development group, a new office of development financing, a new system of multi-year pledges for development cooperation and a development dividend funded from administrative savings, as well as by strengthening the role of the Economic and Social Council, especially in the area of macroeconomic dialogue. Momentum has been building since I announced the reform package on 16 July. Press reports from around the world have been encouraging. Individual Governments as well as groups of Governments have expressed support. Civil society organizations and the private sector are approaching us with ever greater frequency to work with us and to lend their assistance. The extraordinarily generous and historically unprecedented $1 billion gift from Mr. Ted Turner for the Lastly, I fully expect to have implemented those reform measures that are within my own jurisdiction before the end of this calendar year. Now I ask you, the Member States, to act. Some of you I ask to do what your legal obligations require: to liquidate your arrears and to pay your future assessments in full, on time and without conditions. All of you I ask to move expeditiously to consider the package of reforms that is before you, with the aim of reaching political consensus and providing budgetary authority before this session ends. We live in a new day, and it requires a new way. Therefore, let this be the Reform Assembly. This is the moment to re-imagine the role of the United Nations, giving it new life for the new century. When I launched my reform plan, I pledged to narrow the gap between aspiration and achievement at the United Nations. I say to you today that we must move to close another gap — the one between the rhetoric and the reality of the common world. To close that gap we need the most effective instrument possible for collective deliberation and concerted action. The United Nations can be that instrument, just as the Charter envisioned it, provided that we act and we act now. This is our chance. We must not let it pass.

I thank the Secretary-General for his very important statement. We have concluded this stage of our consideration of agenda item 10.

Before giving the floor to the first speaker in the general debate, I should like to remind members of the decision taken by the General Assembly at its 4th plenary meeting, on 19 September, that congratulations should not be expressed inside the General Assembly Hall after a speech has been delivered. In this connection, may I also remind members of another decision, taken by the Assembly at the same I should also like to remind representatives that, in accordance with the decision taken by the General Assembly at its 4th plenary meeting, the list of speakers will be closed on Wednesday, 24 September, at 6 p.m. May I request delegations to be good enough to provide estimated speaking times that are as accurate as possible. This will facilitate the work of the Secretariat. I now give the floor to the first speaker in the general debate, the Minister of External Relations of Brazil, His Excellency Mr. Luiz Felipe Lampreia.

On behalf of the Brazilian delegation, I would like to congratulate you, my dear colleague, Hennadiy Udovenko, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, on your election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-second session. Brazil has a significant and active community of Ukrainian origin. We Brazilians are thus very glad to see this session headed by a distinguished son of the Ukraine, a country that is close to us. I want to express my recognition to the Permanent Representative of Malaysia, Ambassador Razali Ismail, for the way he conducted the work of the fifty-first session. Ambassador Razali’s dynamic presidency paved the way, through extensive consultation, for an imaginative and comprehensive proposal to advance Security Council reform. I also pay tribute to our new Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, chosen to oversee the political and administrative challenges of modernization. He has been the focus of justifiable expectation on the part of the international community at a difficult moment in the life of our Organization. We welcome the Secretary-General’s proposals for reform and institutional strengthening as a sign of renewed vitality within the United Nations. These proposals and Ambassador Razali’s contribution will certainly warrant close attention in the General Assembly and in parallel consultation. We will help to consolidate a new spirit that should inspire our Organization. This new spirit is called leadership — that driving force of history altering the course of events within countries and in the international scenario, opening new horizons, giving hope to the peoples Ambassador Razali and Secretary-General Kofi Annan have, in a way, revived the leadership of the creators of the United Nations. They have shown the same idealism in establishing goals and pragmatism in carrying them out. It was also the leadership of men such as Dag Hammarskjöld and Brazilian statesman Oswaldo Aranha, twice President of this Assembly, that often led the United Nations to a decisive role as a factor of change in international relations. This kind of leadership has given the world a forum without parallel in history, a stage for negotiation and a political force in favour of international peace and security. Although the United Nations has not always been able to prevent or to deter conflict, it has certainly reduced its occurrence and avoided some of its more serious consequences. For this reason, the United Nations has been a mandatory reference, a sign of hope and a moral force for world public opinion. We are witnessing today the rebirth of this leadership, feeling its effects through a remarkable change in the heart and soul of our Organization. There is greater optimism. There is greater motivation among delegates and staff. There is greater expectation on the part of many Governments. A new atmosphere of hope embraces the United Nations. This is something we must nurture and promote — something we must filter to the public in order to renew the trust of the international community in our Organization. The agenda of the fifty-second session is vast and reveals the continuing complexity and the numerous conflicts of interests that animate international relations in our times. A new international dynamic combines three positive impulses: first, modernization and political and economic opening in most countries; secondly, economic integration in regional contexts, with multiple political and security benefits; and thirdly, the internationalization of the economy on a global scale. These impulses tend to generate, foster and consolidate international peace and security. They are based on confidence and understanding and should allow us to prosper and achieve the desired material and spiritual results. Economic integration is increasingly the great bulwark of international peace and cooperation. It must be given emphasis and further promoted. The concrete interests that bring together the countries of South America — trade, investment and the reinforcement of our international standing through MERCOSUR — are an unyielding factor of unity and cohesion. There is no threat of military destabilization in Latin America. There is no danger of an arms race in the absence of political, economic and strategic conditions for such. A regional initiative towards self-imposed limitations on conventional arms purchases is therefore unjustified. It would be tantamount to disarming those already disarmed. Our preoccupation, on the other hand, should be the fight against the arms trade that sustains organized crime and drug trafficking. This is the real and grave problem perpetuating a major source of instability that has, unfortunately, also affected our region severely. Only determined and coordinated action on the part of the international community, especially through tighter controls on the production and selling of weapons in private hands, can curb or even suppress this trade; which feeds crime cartels and leads to violence, fear and desperation. Brazil strongly urges all countries, and particularly those in the Western Hemisphere, to intensify cooperation in the fight against arms trafficking. We have taken great strides in areas of concern and growing visibility. Disarmament and, most specifically, efforts towards the elimination of anti-personnel landmines have increasingly held the attention of the international community. Today, we can speak of significant accomplishments, such as the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the willingness of an overwhelming majority to make firm commitments, In these two instances, Brazil has sought to add its own efforts to those of the international community. This was the main thrust of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s decision to submit the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to congressional approval. Brazil can and should make an additional contribution to nuclear disarmament. We want to take a constructive part in discussions within the framework created by the indefinite extension of the NPT, the most universal of disarmament treaties. This is also the guideline for our participation in the Oslo conference and in the Ottawa process. Brazil stands firmly behind the interdiction of landmines in all types of conflict. The international community should do everything in its power to help poor countries devastated by war. They suffer the perverse and prolonged effects of landmines irresponsibly planted in their territories. The interdiction of anti-personnel landmines and their removal must become an effective commitment on the part of the international community. This a question of ethics, a question of observing the most elementary principles of humanitarian law. We hope that the international convention agreed upon in Oslo and the important commitments it enshrines find universal acceptance. These positive tendencies might lead to the impression that the United Nations is less in demand today than 10, 20 or 50 years ago. This is a false impression. We are still subject to the effects of disintegrating factors. Some are, unfortunately, by-products of new global trends, such as marginalization within and among nations, transnational crime and conflicts of interest that find expression through violence and the threat or use of force. The persistent and overbearing nature of terrorism continues to be one of the most serious threats to international peace and development. It breeds despair and suffering. In the Middle East, terrorism and intolerance jeopardize a peace process that was once full of promise for the peoples of the region. In other countries, some of them in Latin America, terrorist acts reveal the existence of groups that still insist on employing tactics incompatible with the values of civilization and human dignity. We must not falter in condemning those who, in disregard of all moral values, resort to cowardly violence in seeking to advance their own obscure purposes. Brazil is emphatic in repelling these practices and exhorts the In addition, conflicts that had apparently been surmounted by a spirit of understanding and constructive action on the part of the United Nations still show signs of resistance that demand a strong reaction from the international community. Angola is a case in point. Hope and promise cannot be constantly undermined by the factors that have wrought so much destruction and suffering upon a valiant people to whom we Brazilians feel so closely linked. Angola is now a decisive test for the United Nations. We cannot accept even the slightest possibility of regression. Brazil, currently holding the presidency of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, calls upon the international community, and in particular the members of the Security Council, to exercise close scrutiny over the Angolan peace process. We must do everything to ensure that the people of Angola once again find the road of development in a context of democracy and pluralism. The United Nations has an irreplaceable role in a world that still combines forces of integration and cooperation with forces of disintegration and aggression. But we have allowed the United Nations to lose its strength as an instrument of universal peace and understanding and as a promoter of cooperation and development. We have done this through inaction, through a lack of consensus, through obstructionism and through excessive politicization of issues. We must react to this situation. We must once again find the cardinal notion of leadership. The past few years have shown that reform of the United Nations can no longer be put off. We cannot lose sight of major institutional issues or waste further precious energy. The report of the Secretary-General entitled “Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform” is thus timely and opportune. The Brazilian Government welcomes it with satisfaction and enthusiasm. The strength of our Organization derives from its universality and from the all-encompassing nature of its mandate. The United Nations must not be held to the performance of tasks better suited to other international organizations or specialized agencies. We cannot be made prisoners of inertia, nor must we condemn our debates to irrelevancy. The General Assembly must urgently move towards an agenda focused on what is essential to ensuring a relevant role for the United Nations in international affairs. For the United Nations to make a difference and provide leadership in today’s complex world, Member States must create political conditions for effective action by the United Nations and make the commitment to setting priorities and eliminating the superfluous. Only then will our Organization as a whole — not just the Secretariat — be able to devote itself to those fundamental tasks. The Secretary-General has assumed a leadership role by putting forth ideas that must be objectively discussed by all Member States. Brazil is committed to working constructively with Mr. Kofi Annan on his proposals to strengthen our Organization. Brazil has taken an active part in the debate on reform of the Security Council. We have adopted an open-minded and constructive approach because we believe this to be a central element in the reform of the Organization. Brazil has upheld a concept of reform that would strengthen the Council and the United Nations as a whole. It is not geared to the individual interests of any one country. We want the Council to be representative of contemporary international realities, as it was in its early years. The Council must be enlarged both in its permanent membership, to take account of the industrialized and the developing worlds, and in its non-permanent membership, to allow for more frequent participation by interested States. We repudiate all discrimination in the conception or assignment of new seats. We must not create a third or fourth category of member. This would weaken and depreciate the participation of the developing world, and of Latin America in particular, in the reform process and in an enlarged Council. We have always said that in identifying new permanent members we must exercise realism and pragmatism by means of a democratic selection process that leads to universally recognized representation without renouncing regional support. Brazil has expressed, through President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, its willingness to accept the responsibilities of permanent membership in the Security Council, if called upon by the international community to do so. In such a case, Brazil would be determined to carry out the role of permanent member as the representative of Latin America and the The Brazilian Government notes with satisfaction that we are moving, if not towards consensus, at least in the direction of a significant majority in favour of certain basic notions about how to reform the Security Council, particularly enlargement of its permanent membership to take account of the developing world. The proposal by Ambassador Razali, presently under discussion in the Working Group, constitutes a firm basis for a negotiating process leading to a decision by the General Assembly. Ambassador Razali has helped us regain the ideal of Council reform as a means of strengthening the entire Organization. Our priority is now to define the most suitable format for an enlarged Security Council. This must be the prime focus of attention. The international community needs a strong, efficient and ever-present United Nations. We will continue to rely on the political body with the universality and moral strength that, in the history of humankind, only the United Nations has been able to muster. We must display in this session the determination to create the conditions for the United Nations to be an effective instrument for promoting international peace and security. The same spirit of leadership that we have seen in the Secretary-General and in Ambassador Razali has driven many delegations. A new willingness to make a constructive contribution to the Security Council reform process and to other reforms is clearly felt by Member States. There is a new thrust to negotiations. There is leadership, as well as carefully crafted proposals. We must take advantage of this unique opportunity in the history of the United Nations. We must not let the moment pass. Reform has become more than a key concept; it has become the order of the day for the United Nations in 1997. Let us do it with that “fierce urgency of now” felt by Martin Luther King, a symbol of political leadership and of the forces of change in our century. “This is no time”, said King in his most famous speech, “to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquillizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time...”. Let us do it, then. Address by Mr. William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States of America

On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations the President of the United States of America, His Excellency Mr. William Jefferson Clinton, and to invite him to address the Assembly. President Clinton: Five years ago, when I first addressed this Assembly, the cold war had only just ended and the transition to a new era was beginning. Now, together, we are making that historic transition. Behind us, we leave a century full of humanity’s capacity for the worst and its genius for the best. Before us, at the dawn of a new millennium, we can envision a new era that escapes the twentieth century’s darkest moments, fulfils its most brilliant possibilities and crosses frontiers yet unimagined. We are off to a promising start. For the first time in history, more than half the people represented in this Assembly freely choose their own Governments. Free markets are growing, spreading individual opportunity and national well-being. Early in the twenty-first century, more than 20 of this Assembly’s members — home to half the earth’s population — will lift themselves from the ranks of low-income nations. Powerful forces are bringing us closer together, profoundly changing the way we work, live and relate to each other. Every day, millions of our citizens on every continent use laptops and satellites to send information, products and money across the planet in seconds. Bit by bit, the information age is chipping away at barriers — economic, political and social — that once kept people locked in and ideas locked out. Science is unravelling mysteries in the tiniest of human genes and in the vast cosmos. Never in the course of human history have we had a greater opportunity to make our people healthier and wiser, to protect our planet from decay and abuse and to reap the benefits of free markets without abandoning the social contract and its concern for the common good. Yet today’s possibilities are not tomorrow’s guarantees. We have work to do. These twenty-first-century predators feed on the free flow of information, ideas and people we cherish. They abuse the vast power of technology to build black markets for weapons, to compromise law enforcement with huge bribes of illicit cash and to launder money with the keystroke of a computer. These forces are our enemies. We must face them together because no one can defeat them alone. To seize the opportunities and move against the threats of this new global era, we need a new strategy of security. Over the past five years, nations have begun to put that strategy in place through a new network of institutions and arrangements, with distinct missions, but a common purpose: to secure and strengthen the gains of democracy and free markets while turning back their enemies. We see this strategy taking shape on every continent: in expanded military alliances, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), its Partnership for Peace and its partnerships with a democratic Russia and a democratic Ukraine; in free trade arrangements, such as the World Trade Organization and the global Information Technology Agreement, and in the movement towards free-trade areas by nations in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere around the world; in strong arms-control regimes, such as the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; in multinational coalitions with zero tolerance for terrorism, corruption, crime and drug trafficking; and in binding international commitments to protect the environment and safeguard human rights. Through this web of institutions and arrangements, nations are setting the international ground rules for the twenty-first century, laying a foundation for security and prosperity for those who live within them, while isolating those who challenge them from the outside. This system will develop and endure only if those who follow the rules of peace and freedom fully reap their rewards. Only then The United Nations must play a leading role in this effort, filling in the fault lines of the new global era. The core missions it has pursued during its first half century will be just as relevant during the next half century: the pursuit of peace and security, promoting human rights and moving people from poverty to dignity and prosperity through sustainable development. Conceived in the cauldron of war, the United Nations first task must remain the pursuit of peace and security. For 50 years the United Nations has helped prevent world war and nuclear holocaust. Unfortunately, conflicts between nations, and within nations, have endured. From 1945 until today, they have cost 20 million lives. Just since the end of the cold war, each year there have been more than 30 armed conflicts in which more than 1,000 people have lost their lives — including, of course, a quarter of a million killed in the former Yugoslavia and more than half a million in Rwanda. Millions of personal tragedies the world over are a warning that we dare not be complacent or indifferent; trouble in a far corner can become a plague on everyone’s house. People the world over cheer the hopeful developments in Northern Ireland, grieve over the loss of innocent lives and the stalling of the peace process in the Middle East and long for a resolution of the differences on the Korean peninsula, between Greece and Turkey or between the great nations of India and Pakistan as they celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their birth. The United Nations continues to keep many nations away from bloodshed: in El Salvador and Mozambique; in Haiti and Namibia; in Cyprus; and in Bosnia, where so much remains to be done but can still be done because the bloodshed has ended. The United Nations record of service has left a legacy of sacrifice. Just last week we lost some of our finest sons and daughters in the crash of a United Nations helicopter in Bosnia. Five were American, five German, one Polish and one British — all citizens of the world we are trying to make, each a selfless servant of peace. The world is poorer for their passing. At this very moment, the United Nations is keeping the peace in 16 countries, often in partnership with regional organizations such as NATO, the Organization of American States, the Association of South-East Asian At the same time, we must improve the United Nations capabilities after a conflict ends to help peace become self-sustaining. The United Nations cannot build nations, but it can help nations build themselves by fostering legitimate institutions of government, monitoring elections and laying a strong foundation for economic reconstruction. This week the Security Council will hold an unprecedented ministerial meeting on African security, which our Secretary of State is proud to chair, and which President Mugabe, Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, will address. It will highlight the role the United Nations can and should play in preventing conflict on a continent where amazing progress towards democracy and development is occurring alongside still too much discord, disease and distress. In the twenty-first century our security will be challenged increasingly by interconnected groups that traffic in terror, organized crime and drug smuggling. Already, these international crime and drug syndicates drain up to $750 billion a year from legitimate economies. That sum that exceeds the combined gross national product of more than half the nations in this Hall. These groups threaten to undermine confidence in the fragile new democracies and market economies that so many of you are working so hard to see endure. Two years ago I called upon all the members of this Assembly to join in the fight against these forces. I applaud the recent United Nations resolution calling on its Members to join the major international anti-terrorism conventions, making clear the emerging international consensus that terrorism is always a crime and never a justifiable political act. As more countries sign on, terrorists will have fewer places to run or hide. I also applaud the steps that Members are taking to implement the Declaration on Crime and Public Security that the United States proposed two years ago, calling for increased cooperation to strengthen every citizen’s right to basic safety, through cooperation on extradition and asset forfeiture, shutting down grey markets for guns and false documents, attacking corruption and The spread of these global criminal syndicates also has made all the more urgent our common quest to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. We cannot allow them to fall into or remain in the wrong hands. Here too, the United Nations must lead, and it has led — from the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq to the International Atomic Energy Agency, now the most expansive global inspection system ever devised to police arms-control agreements. When we met here last year, I was honoured to be the first of 146 leaders to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), our commitment to end all nuclear tests for all time, the longest-sought, hardest- fought prize in the history of arms control. It will help prevent the nuclear Powers from developing more advanced and more dangerous weapons. It will limit the possibilities for other States to acquire such devices. I am pleased to announce that today I am sending this crucial Treaty to the United States Senate for ratification. Our common goal should be for the CTBT to enter into force as soon as possible. I ask for of you to support that goal. The United Nations second core mission must be to defend and extend universal human rights and to help democracy’s remarkable gains endure. Fifty years ago the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated the international community’s conviction that people everywhere have the right to be treated with dignity, to give voice to their opinions and to choose their leaders; that these rights are universal — not American rights, not Western rights, not rights for the developed world only, but rights inherent in the humanity of people everywhere. Over the past decades these rights have become a reality for more people than ever, from Asia to Africa, from Europe to the Americas. In a world that links rich and poor, North and South, city and countryside in an electronic network of shared images in real time, the more these universal rights take hold, the more people who do not enjoy them will demand them. Armed with photocopiers and fax machines, e-mail and the Internet; supported by an increasingly important community of non-governmental organizations, they will make their demands known, spreading the spirit of freedom — which, as the history of the last 10 years has shown us, ultimately will prevail. The United States welcomes the Secretary General’s efforts to strengthen the role of human rights within the United Nations system and his splendid choice of Mary Robinson as the new High Commissioner for Human Rights. We will work hard to make sure that she has the support she needs to carry out her mandate. Finally, the United Nations has a special responsibility to make sure that as the global economy creates greater wealth, it does not produce growing disparities between the haves and have-nots or threaten the global environment, our common home. Progress is not yet everyone’s partner. More than half the world’s people are two days’ walk from a telephone, literally disconnected from the global economy. Tens of millions lack the education, the training and the skills they need to make the most of their God-given abilities. The men and women of the United Nations have expertise across the entire range of humanitarian and development activities. Every day they are making a difference. We see it in nourished bodies of once-starving children, in the full lives of those immunized against disease, in the bright eyes of children exposed to education through the rich storehouse of human knowledge, in refugees cared for and returned to their homes and in the health of rivers and lakes restored. The United Nations must focus even more on shifting resources from handouts to “hand ups”, on giving people the tools they need to make the most of their own destinies. Spreading ideas and education and technology — the true wealth of nations — is the best way to give the people the chance to succeed. The United Nations must continue to lead in ensuring that today’s progress does not come at tomorrow’s expense. In these efforts, the United Nations no longer can, and no longer need, go it alone. Innovative partnerships with the private sector, non-governmental organizations and the international financial institutions can leverage its effectiveness many times over. Last week a truly visionary American, Ted Turner, made a remarkable donation to strengthen the United Nations development and humanitarian programmes. His gesture highlights the potential for partnership between the United Nations and the private sector, in contributions of time, resources and expertise. I hope more will follow his lead. In this area and others, the Secretary-General is aggressively pursuing the most far-reaching reform of the United Nations in its history — not to make the United Nations smaller as an end in itself, but to make it better. The United States strongly supports his leadership. We should pass the Secretary-General’s reform agenda at this session. On every previous occasion I have addressed this Assembly, the issue of our country’s dues has brought the commitment of the United States to the United Nations into question. The United States was a founder of the United Nations. We are proud to be its host. We believe in its ideals. We continue to be, as we have been, its largest contributor. We are committed to seeing the United Nations succeed in the twenty-first century. This year, for the first time since I have been President, we have an opportunity to put the question of debts and dues behind us once and for all and to put the United Nations on a sounder financial footing for the future. I have made it a priority to work with our Congress on comprehensive legislation that would allow us to pay off the bulk of our arrears and assure full financing of America’s assessment in the years ahead. Our Congress’s actions to solve this problem reflect a strong bipartisan commitment to the United Nations and to America’s role within it. At the same time, we look to Member States to adopt a more equitable scale of assessments. Let me say that we also strongly support expanding the Security Council to give more countries a voice in the most important work of the United Nations. At the dawn of a new century so full of hope but not free of peril, more than ever we need a United Nations where people of reason can work through shared problems and take action to combat them, where nations of goodwill can join in the struggle for freedom and prosperity and where we can shape a future of peace, progress and the preservation of our planet. We have the knowledge; we have the intelligence; we have the energy; we have the resources for the work before us. We are building the necessary networks of cooperation. The great question remaining is whether we have the vision and the heart necessary to imagine a future that is different from the past — necessary to free ourselves from destructive patterns of relations with each other and within our own nations and to live a future that is different. A new century in a new millennium is upon us. We are literally present at the future, and it is the great gift we are obligated to leave to our children.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the President of the United States of America for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear a statement by the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark.

I have great pleasure in welcoming the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark, Mr. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, and inviting him to address the General Assembly. Allow me to reflect a bit on the fact that three decades ago a Danish Prime Minister, Mr. Jens Otto Krag, presented our yearly address to the twenty-second session of the General Assembly. The challenges of today are not very similar to those of that time, and yet they are no less complex nor of lesser magnitude. For the United Nations to face these challenges, the Organization must adapt. It must reform, must change and must modernize. That is why reform must be a priority for this session of the General Assembly. And that, in all humility, is why I am here today: to support the Secretary-General and the General Assembly and to do what I can on behalf of my country in order to reach our goal at the end of this session and to help make decisions that are necessary in order to modernize and to reform. Since the twenty-second session of the General Assembly, 30 years ago, we have seen disappointments. We have seen civil wars. We have seen frustrations, backlashes and incredible suffering. Yet we have also seen light. We have seen peace where war once raged. We have seen former enemies living peacefully together. Indeed, we have seen apartheid disappear. We have seen the Berlin Wall fall. We have seen the oppressed coming out of jails and being elected leaders of their countries, and some of them rank among the world’s most outstanding leaders. We have seen the winds of change sweep over entire continents. I believe this: if our generation cannot believe in the impossible, who can? If our generation cannot take the decisions that are necessary, who else can? All in all, I think this is of crucial importance for the United Nations. A reform programme for the United Nations is not only about a more efficient use of scarce resources. It is also, and more importantly, about strengthening and revitalizing the Organization so that it can effectively carry out its core activities and meet the challenges of the future. It must be a reform closer to the people, a reform closer to non-governmental organizations and parliamentarians, a reform unifying Governments, the United Nations and peoples. Denmark gives its full support to the reform programme of the Secretary-General. We consider the programme, in its totality, to be a significant contribution towards strengthening the Organization and towards making it more responsive, legitimate and efficient. I also note the spirit of the Secretary-General in creating much greater motivation among the employees of the United Nations and much shorter lines between the Secretary-General and all the rest of the people working for our common goal and cause, here in this House and all around the world. Reform is about shifting resources to the core functions of the United Nations: shifting resources from administration to development — in short, getting more value for money, centrally, on the national level and locally. The reform programme constitutes a package. It should be dealt with by the General Assembly as such. The programme as a whole should receive the political endorsement of the Assembly in the coming weeks. My country endorses the package fully and wholly. Ground-breaking work has been carried out on the way towards Security Council reform. Expansion of the membership of the Council is essential to enhance its legitimacy. At the same time, its effectiveness and decision- making capacity must be safeguarded. But — and I think that there is a “but” — we must unify in order to reform. We are gathered to reform, to open a new chapter of reforming and modernizing the United Nations. It has to be said that no institution can discharge its functions without a sound financial basis. Member States’ fulfilment of their financial obligations must be considered the touchstone of their attachment to the United Nations. I Political instability, violence and the collapse of the structures of society have led to massive movements of refugee populations. Large numbers of people — millions of people — have fled to regions far from their homes. We are deeply concerned about this situation. We must do our utmost to support the humanitarian organizations in their efforts to assist refugees and other displaced persons as close to their local environments as possible: as close to their homes as possible. Yet refugees and other displaced persons cannot return to their homes so long as anti-personnel mines remain scattered throughout the countryside, so long as human beings by the thousand are being injured or killed when they work their fields, so long as children cannot go to school without risking losing a limb on their way. Mr. Secretary-General, you said it yourself in your speech in Oslo: you underlined that the very presence, or just the fear of the presence, of only one mine can stop the work in a whole village, can stop the work in a whole field, can make it impossible for families, or whole villages, to survive and to create proper living conditions. We must realize that, without mines, we would have countries that could double or triple their agricultural production and thereby help themselves. We must get rid of these anti-personnel mines and must do it today rather than tomorrow. I look forward to the day when the last anti- personnel mine has been produced. That will be a good day for mankind. I look forward to the day when the last anti-personnel mine has been removed. That will be a good day for mankind, and that day must come soon. I look forward to the day when a United Nations convention will settle this matter so that it never comes before us again. In the past year we have once again experienced how quickly crises can break out in different parts of the world. This underlines the need for the international community to be able to react swiftly and in unity in order to prevent the spread of violence and human suffering. As the Secretary- General has noted, my country, Denmark, has taken the initiative to establish a multinational standby high readiness brigade (SHIRBRIG) within the framework of United Nations standby agreements. The planning element for the brigade was officially inaugurated by the Secretary-General earlier this month in my country. The initiative is being taken to increase the rapid-reaction capability, and it must be carried forward. Improvements in the planning capacity of the United Nations are under way and will help reduce the overall response time. Capacity within other areas must be enhanced as well. Civilian police has proved crucial in many of the recent operations. We must improve both the capacity and the training of civilian police officers. Next year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of a major achievement in the history of mankind: the 1948 adoption by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The noble object of the Declaration is the protection of individuals — not the interests of States. All human beings are equal and deserve equal protection against abuse. Therefore the standards of the Declaration are by their very nature universal. Any denunciation of human rights obligations is unacceptable and demonstrates a lack of respect for human dignity. On the subject of credibility, I wish to underline that a connection must also be made between violence and human rights violations and the consequences. I think, therefore, that a significant recent development since the adoption of the Declaration is the establishment of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I welcome the new High Commissioner, Mrs. Mary Robinson. She will receive our full support in her endeavours to promote and ensure universal respect for human rights. But respect for human rights demands also international justice. After the Nuremberg trials we all believed that the Holocaust would never happen again, and yet new genocides are haunting us. Therefore, we need a The need to assist the poorest countries is as important as ever. The poorest countries do not, I believe, attract sufficient private capital flows, nor do they have the potential to benefit from the liberalization of international trade. It is time for action. It is time to narrow the gap between rhetoric and action. I would remind the Assembly of the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen, and I would recall the obligations undertaken there and our vision of narrowing the gap between rhetoric and practical action. Education, health and participation for women are fundamentals. The role of the United Nations system in the field of economic and social development is indispensable. I should like to emphasize in particular the importance of the United Nations as an Organization operating with a global mandate and on the basis of a global approach of sustainable development, security and good governance. Let me mention by way of example the World Conference on Women, held in Beijing. It should be a primary task for the United Nations system to ensure an effective follow-up to these conferences. The United Nations should be at the forefront of the global efforts to ensure sustainable development for all. And yet let us be direct, clear and honest. The United Nations development organizations concerned are entirely dependent on voluntary contributions, and these have, regrettably, followed a decreasing trend in recent years. I think it is fair to say that the United Nations development organizations themselves can be partly blamed for the emerging funding crisis. All too often they have failed to cooperate. Many donors have been frustrated to see United Nations organizations engage in a costly competition for funds. The mere fact that it has not been possible until now for the United Nations organizations to establish common premises at the country level is an example of this situation. Here again I feel that the Secretary-General’s reform proposals are a significant contribution towards redressing this unfortunate situation. Let us have one coordinated United Nations house in each country, and let us not compete among United Nations organizations but The many, many problems faced by minorities in our world, and not least by indigenous peoples, must be addressed in a coherent manner. We must ensure that indigenous peoples are given real influence on matters pertaining to them. That is why my country, Denmark — in close cooperation with the indigenous population of Greenland — has called upon the United Nations and its Member States to establish, within the framework of the Economic and Social Council, a permanent forum for indigenous peoples. This forum should have a broad mandate to cover a wide range of issues. Indigenous peoples themselves must be ensured the possibility of active and effective participation in its establishment and in its function. The United Nations is the future for all of us on this globe — a future that can be improved by closer cooperation with regional organizations. This cooperation must be strengthened. Since the political changes in Europe that began at the end of the 1980s, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has taken on an important role in that region. This role is a natural expression of its status as a regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations. The OSCE cooperates closely with the United Nations in a number of areas. By taking on responsibility within its own geographical area, the OSCE contributes to the United Nations ability to deal with crises elsewhere. As Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, my Foreign Minister has given high priority to strengthening the relationship between the OSCE and the United Nations. We have frequent contact with the Secretary-General and have encouraged closer relations between the secretariats. Let me conclude. It is time for reform, as the Secretary-General so wisely said, and I should like in this connection to make three points. My first point is that the reform programme put forward by the Secretary-General deserves our full support. If adopted, it will leave this Organization in much better shape. For the sake of our common future this is needed. Let us decide and let us follow up. My second point is this: we need the United Nations, and the United Nations needs us. We must ensure the necessary funding for the world Organization and its Finally, my third point: we must address the negative legacies of the past. We cannot solve the problem of refugees and displaced persons without making it possible for them to return to their homes. They cannot and will not do that as long as their physical well-being is threatened by inhumane anti-personnel mines and as long as their political future is threatened by war criminals who have not been brought to justice. Human rights are not just about words. It should also be a human right to be able to live a secure life. At the World Summit for Social Development at Copenhagen, we said, “You cannot any longer have secure States without secure people inside”. This is what we need the United Nations to help us with. This is not a perfect world, but I remain an optimist. With the United Nations as an organization for the people and by the people, we can make this world a better place. Let us join hands to make the twenty-first century a happier one.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by The Honourable Major-General Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, Prime Minister, Minister with Special Responsibility for the Constitution Review and Minister for Regional Development and Multi-Ethnic Affairs of the Republic of Fiji.

I have great pleasure in welcoming the Prime Minister, Minister with Special Responsibility for the Constitution Review and Minister for Regional Development and Multi-Ethnic Affairs of the Republic of Fiji, His Excellency The Honourable Major-General Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, and inviting him to address the General Assembly. Major-General Rabuka (Fiji): My country and my delegation warmly congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty- second session. Your election to this high office is a tribute both to you and to your great country, Ukraine. I wish to assure you of my delegation’s fullest cooperation during your tenure of office. It also gives me great pleasure to convey our profound gratitude and appreciation to the outgoing president of the General Assembly at its fifty-first session, Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia, who presided over the session with such consummate skill, expertise and diplomacy, and distinguished himself by his firm management of the session through his dedication to and thoroughness in the discharge of his assignment. I am also pleased to extend our sincerest congratulations to the new Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan. My delegation is convinced that Mr. Annan will make an outstanding contribution to the role and responsibilities of the United Nations in international affairs and to the management of the Organization. We wish to reassure him of our fullest cooperation during his tenure of office. The greatest challenge facing our world today is economic development, specifically the promotion of sustained economic growth with equitable social development, particularly in the developing countries of the world. For small island developing States like Fiji, and for many developing countries of the world in general, we need an international economic environment that is buttressed by economic justice. We need an international economic environment that ensures a better life in all the countries of the world and not in just a few. The slow pace of economic development and even the lack of such development in many countries of the world, circumscribed by the evils of unemployment and poverty, are threats to international peace and security. The Charter of the United Nations calls for the promotion of the international economic and social advancement of all peoples. Implicit, if not explicit, in it is embedded the principle of economic justice. As Members of the United Nations, we have a collective moral and humanitarian obligation to help and assist each other. We have a collective duty to make our world a better place to live in. The time has come for the developed nations of the world, and all international organizations which can help, to cooperate and ensure justice by enabling developing countries in their own efforts towards the acceleration of sustained economic and social development. There are a number of ways in which the developing countries can be assisted towards achieving sustained economic and social development. Developing countries, even those endowed with natural resources, are handicapped by a lack of capital to mobilize these resources to their advantage. Developing countries need continuous foreign-direct-investment capital flows to stimulate and sustain economic growth. Both foreign direct investment and private-sector investment are needed to help diversify and increase economic activities, especially where industrialization is an option. Through the diversification of our economies we can produce more for export and trade. In fact, trade is the best means for sustained income generation and development. The present globalized international trade is ideally aimed at ensuring an open, secure, equitable, transparent and predictable multilateral system wherein all participants can benefit. The reality we face is very different from this espoused ideal. We do not live in an ideal world, but in the real world, where international trade is dominated by the industrialized, developed nations. Fiji and other developing and least-developed countries of the world My country firmly believes that globalization is the phenomenon of today’s international trade. The transformation of international trade rules from the Uruguay Round to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been marked by rapid changes that can marginalize small developing countries like mine. The appellate body of the WTO has significantly narrowed the scope of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)/WTO waiver to the European Community in respect of the Lomé Convention. Fiji is among other African, Caribbean and Pacific countries which will be adversely affected by these new arrangements if the arrangements of the Lomé Conventions are eroded. Furthermore, it has opened up room for policies and actions, leaving weak developing countries unprotected and exposed to economic stagnation. While the WTO is insisting on a level-playing-field approach, peculiarities that pose problems for small island developing countries persist. As for Fiji, our smallness, remoteness and inaccessibility to foreign markets remain our biggest hurdles in international trade. Annual natural disasters, a consequence of the climatic conditions in our location, continue to be a big drain on the Government’s savings in terms of rehabilitation projects. Such angry seasonal visitations of nature can wreak havoc on budget plans and our scarce resources. Small island States like Fiji have a very limited range and volume of exports and they cannot and will not dominate and overwhelm any sector of trade commodities. In that context, my delegation is extremely disappointed at the recent decision of the World Trade Organization appeal body against banana exports from Caribbean countries to the European Union. We are not asking for favours. We are merely making a plea for a sensible and reasonable transition period to enable us to adjust. This cannot be done overnight; thus, special arrangements must remain to allow us the The blind pursuit of free trade, resulting in dire consequences for small nations and leading to the loss of other fundamental freedoms, will not serve the purposes of eradicating poverty and eliminating social and economic inequalities. We seek an equality of opportunity in a world dominated by inequalities of resources and economic might. The World Trade Organization must bring a sense of equity and justice in its deliberations and decisions, and consciously eschew paths which disadvantage even further already disadvantaged developing nations. We seek an equality of understanding for the position of the weak and the small. We seek the creation of genuine freedom in trade, for trade remains the best means for sustained development for developing nations. The access of developing countries to new, environmentally sound technologies is also pivotal to economic development and sustained economic growth. There is a need for developing countries like Fiji to participate in, benefit from and contribute to the rapid advances in the technologies of developed, industrialized countries. Developing countries should be facilitated access to reliable information on environmentally sound technologies and helped in institutional development and capacity-building to accommodate the transfer of such technologies. Accessibility to knowledge for development is a right, the right of all nations, not merely of a powerful few to retain as a monopoly for their own selfish ends. Official development assistance is an important catalyst for development, yet its value remains unrealized. Only four countries have met or surpassed the official development assistance target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product. A renewed commitment to this target is essential in order to fulfil the imperatives established by the Charter of the United Nations. At this stage of our development, it is a much needed catalyst to our own efforts. External debt repayments continue to be a major constraint on economic development and sustained economic growth in major developing countries. Burdensome debt repayments not only cause economic development to stagnate, but stifle social development as well. I call for the adoption of an effective and equitable development-oriented solution to the debt problem, so that I have emphasized economic growth for sustained development as the direction we must pursue. My country and Government are fully committed to this goal. Yet, for economic growth to be sustainable, as well as beneficial and of quality, the environmental factor must be brought to the forefront in all our development efforts. Despite the convening of the recent special session of the General Assembly for the purpose of an overall review of the implementation of Agenda 21, there are still no clear commitments on the part of many developed countries to work towards achieving such environmental goals as, for instance, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to internationally specified levels. The South Pacific Forum island countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change in terms of sea level rise and global warming. It is therefore imperative that all members of the international community should strive for a firm political commitment before the next Kyoto Conference, to adopt a stronger protocol to strengthen the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In this connection, my delegation joins others in expressing our appreciation to the private sector and civil society for the supportive interest they have shown in the search for an acceptable international solution to such global concerns. A most welcome demonstration of this is the recent donation of $1 billion by the Turner Foundation in support of certain crucial activities of the United Nations. We need more of such assistance to further sustain and strengthen the work of the United Nations in achieving its targets. I would now like to turn my attention to the issue of international security. Today we are witnessing a most significant period of change in our world, a change which bodes well for permanent and lasting peace and security. The cold war has been over for some time now and the tensions and threats to peace and security which it generated are behind us. As a consequence, and with the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), we have moved a step further towards nuclear disarmament. While this is gratifying, there is much more to be done to achieve the objective of our Organization to turn our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has added to the impressive list of political and legal My delegation urges the international community to begin negotiations as soon as possible on a treaty to halt and prohibit, with acceptable verification, the production and development of all nuclear weapons. My delegation further urges the nuclear-weapon States to destroy all stockpiles and arsenals of nuclear weapons, with acceptable international verification, and thereby rid the world of nuclear weapons, once and for all. My delegation warmly welcomes the finalization in Oslo last week of a draft treaty prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retaining or transferring of anti-personnel landmines. We call on all nations of the world to sign and ratify the treaty. In the achievement of all these objectives, whether they relate to sustained development or disarmament, the United Nations has a crucial role. It must possess a dynamism to be effective. It cannot be cumbersome, unwieldy and partial. To meet new challenges, the United Nations must be streamlined. A meaningful international organization such as ours must adapt to changes, enhancing its relevance and competence. The entire international community, including my country, has been calling for the reform of the United Nations. It has taken some time, but at last our new Secretary-General has presented his recommendations for a restructured Organization that can carry us over the threshold into the new millennium. I would like to thank the Secretary- General for his comprehensive, constructive and coherent recommendations. My delegation will carefully study the bold and far- reaching recommendations for reform, and we endorse the proposals in principle. I make a plea that in the implementation of these reforms there must also be positive benefits for the small Member States, including their increased participation in the United Nations system. I am particularly pleased that the Secretary-General has I fully support the submission that peacekeeping will remain an indispensable instrument of the United Nations. My country, small though it is, has played its part in international peacekeeping programmes in virtually every theatre of the world since we joined the United Nations in 1970. In fact, in terms of size of population, Fiji is presently among the largest troop contributors to United Nations peacekeeping programmes. In the process, several of our peacekeepers have lost their lives. But as a nation we remain committed to the goal of permanent and lasting peace in our world. I might add here that it is a cause of great pride, but pride tempered with humility, that one of our nationals, Major-General Jioje Konrote, has been appointed Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). It reflects the degree and extent of the commitment of our small nation of fewer than a million people towards the peace and security of our world. The proposals for the reform of the United Nations encompass new management and efficiency measures which should reduce administrative costs, but the financial predicament of our Organization will not be resolved entirely by cost-cutting measures. It can be resolved if Member countries pay their contributions promptly. We call on all Member States which are in arrears to settle those arrears promptly, fully and without conditions. As we press ahead with the reform of the United Nations, it becomes incumbent on us to ensure that this extends to the Security Council. My country continues to advocate that the Security Council should be expanded to reflect an equitable geographical distribution, taking into account the substantial increase in the membership of the United Nations. Reforms affecting the Security Council should encompass opportunity for participation in its decisions, transparency in its work, a constructive relationship with the General Assembly and the limited scope and use of the veto power. I further submit that in the same way that the Caribbean forms a special subregion of the Latin American Group, the South Pacific region comprising 14 independent island States, eight of which are members of the United Nations, and Australia and New Zealand, should become a special subregion, ensuring continuous membership from our region. These changes are prerequisites for a dynamic United Nations with credibility in the next millennium. Now more than ever, our international community needs a system of preventive diplomacy that can respond promptly, positively and peacefully to potential conflicts and threats of genocide. My country continues to call for a special United Nations division or unit to undertake preventive diplomacy in conflict prevention and conflict resolution. The division should have the capacity to receive, collate, analyze and interpret intelligence information and reports, with a view to early detection of potential conflicts and early reaction to minimize, contain and resolve such conflicts in collaboration with the relevant Member States. May I reiterate that in such a division, adequate representation of skills and expertise from small States must be mandatory, for the division must not become a device or a creature of the powerful to impose their will on their own terms. Speaking as the head of Government of a small island developing country, I totally support the principle of capacity to pay as a fundamental criterion and a firm benchmark on which the contribution of member countries to the United Nations should be assessed. My country therefore fully supports the recommendation of the Committee on Contributions that the scale of assessments for all Member States whose share of adjusted national income is below the current floor rate of 0.01 per cent should be assessed at their actual share of adjusted income. We also support the recommended minimum assessment rate of 0.001 per cent. We further urge that the ceiling should not be lowered any further because a reduction will negate the effect of reducing the recommended minimum floor rate. My country strongly emphasizes that the protection and security of small States should remain a central concern of the United Nations. Increasingly, elected Governments and the sovereignty and security of their States are threatened by transnational networks of crime, narcotics, money-laundering and terrorism. These scourges are expanding, and international cooperation and action are essential to counter them. The Middle East continues to be a cauldron aboil with conflict, tension, violence and early death, the latter sadly reaching tragic proportions since last year’s session of the General Assembly. We call upon all parties involved to engage in genuine negotiations towards a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. We call upon the international community, too, to contribute towards a just and lasting peace. Last year, I commended both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan for their efforts toward reconciling their differences. I wish to renew my plea to them to work towards unity. We in Fiji enjoy excellent relations with both of them, though we adhere firmly to our One China policy. We in the Pacific continue to enjoy their generosity and their concern for the welfare of the people of the South Pacific. Both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan enjoy our friendship and trust. Fiji and the other 15 member countries of the South Pacific Forum welcome their participation in the annual post-Forum dialogue and consultation with each of them. It is our fervent wish that they will, together, find a solution for their common future. Likewise, I urge South and North Korea to negotiate a solution that will bring lasting peace and unity to the people of Korea. Fiji is an oceanic State. As in many island countries, our progress and development depend as much on our land territory as on the sea around us. We are, therefore, concerned that the seas are utilized in a manner that is environmentally sound and that the development of marine resources is orderly and sustainable so that they can serve In the past decade, our region has adopted a number of treaties and declarations that address the issue of better management of oceans. More recently, following a decision of the heads of Governments of the South Pacific Forum, the region has taken the initiative to negotiate with distant-water fishing States the establishment of a regional fisheries management organization in order to give effect to the provisions of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Agreement relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. This is an important initiative which is designed to promote sustainable use of the region’s valuable fish resources to the benefit of both the coastal States and distant-water fishing nations. We look forward to a successful outcome to these negotiations. As Fiji was the first State to ratify the Convention on the Law of the Sea, in 1982, I feel gratified that, thanks to the efforts of many, including my own country, in resolving the outstanding problems, the Convention today enjoys universal support and near universal participation. All States benefit from the stability and certainty that has been achieved in the new regime of the Law of the Sea. By defining the jurisdiction of States in marine areas, and by setting out the rights and duties of States, the Convention represents an important contribution to international peace and security. The institutions established under the Convention, namely the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the work being done with respect to the oceans in the United Nations itself, require the support of the international community if the achievements of the Convention are to be consolidated and its promise of benefits to the peoples of the world is to be realized. Last year, I lent my strong support to an early adoption of the draft United Nations declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples. I renew my call here. We are informed in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 1997 about the bleak future for indigenous people in almost all societies where they are to be found. It is a great tragedy indeed The observation of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, the programme of activities associated with it and the efforts of the international community to prepare a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, will mean little or nothing if the indigenous people remain a disadvantaged people in our world. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, however meaningful, is a mere drop in the ocean of what is required to really facilitate the development of the indigenous people. The World Bank programme to assist indigenous people is too limited in scope and application. The Member States of the United Nations and the international community should do more. The survival of the indigenous people is at stake. My own country is the home of two indigenous groups, Fijians and Rotumans, but it is also the home of others who came into our country more recently. These newcomers represent nearly half the population of my country. A major challenge for us has been to accommodate the interests and aspirations of these citizens and to reconcile them with the sensibilities, perceptions and pre-eminent status of our indigenous people. We are ensuring peaceful co-existence and cooperation with security and respect for the fundamental rights of all our citizens. It gives me great pleasure to address briefly recent developments in my own country, Fiji, before this Assembly. Our delegation has kept the Assembly up to date with political developments in our country, in particular our efforts to formulate a new Constitution that is acceptable to all the ethnic communities in the country. Our current Constitution, the 1990 Constitution, was promulgated to secure adequate representation in Parliament for the indigenous people in order to guarantee, protect and enhance their future in their country. That Constitution was reviewed by a Commission last year. Following the submission of the report of the commission, a Parliamentary Select Committee comprising representatives of all the political parties in our Parliament gave due consideration to the report and reached a consensus to amend the 1990 Constitution. The changes were written into the Constitution Amendment Bill of 1997 which was unanimously approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate and signed into law by our President on 25 July 1997. The amended Constitution comes into effect on 27 July 1998. A unique feature of the Constitution is the inclusion of a Compact which recognizes certain principles, including the following: the preservation of the ownership of land, including the ownership of indigenous Fijian land according to Fijian custom; the right of all persons to practice their religion freely and to retain their language, culture and tradition; and a commitment by all political parties and their leaders to cooperate in the formation of a broadly based Government to ensure that the interests of all communities in Fiji’s multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society are taken fully into account. Indeed, an innovative feature of our new Constitution is the provision for the formation of a multi- party Government. This is to allow for the representation in Cabinet of all political parties that secure seats in Parliament through general elections. We have no doubt — in fact, we are very confident — that with the commitment, goodwill and cooperation of all, this pioneering approach of bringing all communities together in national decision-making, in government and in Parliament, is the best way of consolidating and promoting enduring peace, unity and progress in our little country of Fiji. From our ethnic and cultural diversity, we are determined to build a strong nation with the full participation of all citizens and communities in it. We are the world. We who are gathered here represent the Governments and peoples of the world. We have it in our power to facilitate economic development and sustained economic growth that include the full and equal participation of the developing countries of the world. Let us make it an international imperative. Today I call on all of us to rededicate ourselves anew to our commitment to the United Nations. Upon the high principles of mutual love, justice and care on which

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister, Minister with Special Responsibility for the Constitution Review and Minister for Regional Development and Multi-Ethnic Affairs of the Republic of Fiji for the statement he has just made.

The next speaker inscribed on my list is His Excellency the Honourable Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania. He will also speak on behalf of the Group of 77.

Please permit me, Sir, at the outset, to offer my sincere congratulations to you on your election to the Presidency of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly. In the same vein, our congratulations are directed to the members of the Bureau on their election. I wish to assure you of the full cooperation of my delegation in the discharge of this heavy responsibility entrusted to you. I would also like to express my thanks to Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia for the able manner in which he discharged his responsibilities during his Presidency of the last session. At this juncture, I would like to pay a special tribute to Mr. Kofi Annan for his deserved election as Secretary-General of the United Nations and for the able manner in which he is carrying out his responsibilities. Looking at the agenda of this meeting, it is an historic meeting of the General Assembly and you, Sir, will be remembered for many years to come. Personally, I feel proud and privileged to be associated with this meeting. Last year, here in New York, members of the Group of 77 and China elected my country, Tanzania, to the chairmanship of the Group. The last nine months or so in that post have been a very exciting and challenging experience for me and my colleagues at our Mission to the United Nations and for the entire Government of the United Republic of Tanzania. We have been involved in several meetings, debates and negotiations on behalf of the Group. I am glad to say that, despite some setbacks, notable (Mr. Elaraby (Egypt), Vice-President, took the Chair.) Two years ago, world leaders met here to celebrate 50 years of the existence of the United Nations. Besides taking stock of the progress made and the lessons learned, the Heads of State or Government endeavoured to chart the institutional framework and operational parameters that could enhance the Organization’s relevance and effectiveness in a changed international environment. In this context, apart from the Organization’s traditional roles of maintaining international peace and security and providing humanitarian assistance, it was also found essential to place development cooperation issues at the centre of United Nations activities. The United Nations itself needed to undertake appropriate reform measures so that it would be better able to deal with the challenges of the new global economy. To facilitate the reform process in the socio- economic field, developing countries participated actively and effectively in work on the Agenda for Development to ensure the successful conclusion of the negotiations of this important process. These negotiations were completed in June 1997, and I should like to commend the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group of the General Assembly on this issue for its good work. Building on the outcome of recent United Nations conferences and other relevant agreements, the Agenda for Development underscores that sustained economic growth is essential to the economic and social development of all countries, in particular developing countries. While acknowledging the importance of national policies and measures in the development process, the Agenda for Development calls for action towards a dynamic and enabling international economic environment, including such aspects as an open, rule- based, equitable, secure, non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable multilateral trading system and the promotion of investment and the transfer of technology and knowledge. Additionally, the Agenda calls for enhanced international cooperation in the mobilization and provision of financial resources for development. It also underscores the need for an effective, equitable, development-oriented and durable solution to the external Many developing countries are not able to benefit from the twin processes of the liberalization and the globalization of the world economy. These processes benefit some countries while causing instability and marginalization in others, particularly in developing countries. The least-developed countries face the greatest risk of further marginalization. This is why they continue to demand that such uneven trends be addressed, and that the World Trade Organization and other related international organizations adopt specific and concrete measures to mitigate the adverse effects arising from the implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements. These measures must include long-term financial and technical support, the transfer of technology, and the improvement of the trade performance of the developing countries. It is also necessary to ensure full and effective participation of the developing countries in the international economic decision- making processes. Concerning financial flows, it is imperative to reverse the overall decline in official development assistance and to achieve the agreed target of 0.7 per cent by the turn of the century. We appeal to developed countries to reaffirm their commitments to meet this target. Other sources of concessional external financial assistance should also be strengthened to enable them without conditionalities to increase resources for disbursement in support of the developing countries. In addition to official development assistance and multilateral assistance, the growth in foreign direct investment in developing countries is of particular importance. However, foreign direct investment portfolio flows are going to very few developing countries, those which are already growing fast; very little, or none, is going to the least-developed countries. For example, Africa has received only a small proportion of the total net private flows, despite extensive reforms that continue to be undertaken. The challenge to the international community in this respect is to ensure that adequate capital and investment flows also reach the least-developed countries so as to accelerate their pace of development. This could be done through, inter alia, the improvement of economic and social infrastructure in the least-developed countries. External indebtedness is one of the major obstacles to the development efforts of many developing countries. It is acknowledged that even with sound economic policies and with full appreciation of the debt-rescheduling arrangements The debate on development is closely interlinked with that on the environment. In June this year, a special session of the Assembly was held to review and appraise the implementation of Agenda 21 five years on. It is regrettable that the special session came out with no concrete agreement or commitments on the cross-cutting issues of financial resources and technology transfer. For while it was possible to agree on follow-up action on some of the sectoral issues such as forests, energy, climate change, desertification, fresh water and others, lack of concrete agreement on issues related to financial resources and technology transfer militates against effective realization of the little that was agreed upon. In his statement at the special session on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, my President, His Excellency Mr. Benjamin William Mkapa, emphasized that all countries should rededicate themselves to the Rio Declaration in order to achieve the goals of sustained economic growth and sustainable development. He further stressed the need for creating a more conducive international economic environment, to enable developing countries to gain access to new and additional resources and technology on concessional and grant terms. I wish to reiterate that call today. Other major international conferences and world summits held since 1990 will also come up for review in the near future. It is our hope that a new spirit of international partnership in resolving the various socio- economic problems facing, particularly, developing countries will emerge and that international support for the implementation of the various programmes of these In recent years, South-South cooperation has evolved into an important modality for addressing the development needs of developing countries. We are convinced that South-South cooperation provides a sound basis for promoting economic growth and increasing technical capacities for acceleration of development in the developing countries. The Group of 77 and China pledge to intensify existing cooperation and solidarity among its members with a view to sharing development experiences and solving some of the development problems facing them. I agree with the Secretary-General that reform of the United Nations is not an event but a process. General Assembly resolution 50/227 and the Secretary-General’s proposals provide a basis for the discussion of United Nations reforms. However, we strongly feel that emphasis should be placed on the overall policy thrust and mission of the Organization geared towards the strengthening of its economic role. Furthermore, institutions that deal with economic issues, such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the relevant Economic and Social Council bodies and regional commissions, should remain. They should also be strengthened to ensure that the development concerns of developing countries are taken fully into account. As for the reform of the Security Council, my country stands for more democratization and equity in this crucial organ of the United Nations. We stand for the expansion of its membership in both the permanent and non-permanent categories, with the additional members in the permanent category getting veto power. The expansion in both categories should include not only Japan and Germany, but also equitable representation of the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. All reforms must be conducive to realizing the broad purposes and principles of the Charter and to improving the efficiency of the United Nations in all areas. They must also contribute to a more positive and effective United Nations role in promoting world peace and development, and meet the aspirations of developing countries. I am confident that we will be able to achieve a broad consensus as long as all of us engage in deliberations in good faith and with a readiness to consider all legitimate concerns. While nuclear weapons still pose a potentially grave threat to international peace and security, conventional ones have had a devastating effect, particularly in areas of conflict. Among these are anti-personnel landmines, which maim and kill the innocent, even long after war has ended. The effects of these weapons are evident all over the world, with their most violent manifestation in countries such as Angola, Cambodia, Mozambique and Bosnia. Tanzania has supported, and will continue to support, a worldwide ban of these weapons through the framework of the Ottawa process and looks forward to becoming an effective party to the instrument just concluded in Oslo, Norway. At the same time, we hope that the elimination of anti-personnel landmines will not be seen as an end in itself, but as part of the overall objective of eliminating other weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction. As the United Nations grapples with the challenges of peace and development, it is still faced with many political problems which need urgent resolution if humanity is to prosper. From Latin America and the Caribbean to Europe, from Asia to the Middle East and Africa, the United Nations is faced with the arduous task of promoting peace, democracy and good governance as the enduring pillars of development. We congratulate the people of Liberia for having conducted a successful democratic election, which, we hope, has ushered in a new era of peace in that country. Now, as they seek to regain their footing and begin the arduous task of national reconciliation, healing and economic reconstruction, they will need the support of the international community. At a time when Liberia is emerging from destruction and suffering, we are deeply concerned that Sierra Leone is sinking deeper into chaos at the expense of peace, development and democracy for that country. The Government of Tanzania has associated itself fully with the efforts made within the framework of the In Angola, we continue to be concerned by the manoeuvres of UNITA to stall the process of implementation of the Lusaka accords. Our concern is given added urgency by the steady degeneration of the situation in the country and the likelihood of a return to open hostilities and war, with all the destruction and suffering that portends for the people of that country. We urge UNITA to abandon its obstructionist policies and abide by the Lusaka peace accords. We hope the United Nations will remain engaged in Angola. The situation in the Great Lakes region remains precarious. The consequences of decades of misrule in some countries of the region have been horrendous in terms of suffering, war, death and lost opportunities to harness its great development potential. We regret that the situation in Burundi shows no sign of improvement. The military authorities have persisted in frustrating the efforts of the region within the framework of the Arusha initiative, under the chairmanship of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, to facilitate the process of political dialogue. Tanzania and the other countries of the region are persisting in their efforts because we believe there is no alternative to dialogue but war and more suffering for innocent civilians. The region has no other interest in Burundi but to help. At the regional level, meetings were held in Arusha on 4 September, and the leaders reiterated their commitment to the search for peace in Burundi and called upon the military authorities there to abandon the course of confrontation and seek dialogue and political accommodation with all elements in Burundi. The region has been categorical in restating that the Burundi authorities should be under no illusion that they can bury their heads in the sand or wish the problem away. They simply have to face reality and dutifully rise to the occasion. Certainly the region and the international community cannot leave them alone and allow them to lead the country into self-destruction and war, with all the attendant problems that creates for Burundi and its In Rwanda, fortunately, the situation is steadily stabilizing, particularly after the return of most of its citizens, who had been coerced into a drifting life in exile as refugees. Yet the difficulties which face that country are enormous. The process of recovery from the immense moral, physical and spiritual effects of the 1994 genocide will be painful and slow. As Rwanda struggles to come to terms with the genocide, reconcile with itself and continue on the path of national healing and renewal, it needs our solidarity and support. With President Laurent Kabila’s assumption of the leadership of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the process of returning to democratic rule has begun, albeit slowly. We realize that it will not be an easy or swift process, given the political rigidity and the policies of political exclusion to which that country was subjected for decades. We appreciate the enormity of the task of putting the country back on its feet, restoring Government institutions and setting out towards democratic recovery. Given this background, what the Government and people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo need most is solidarity, understanding and material support from the international community. The political problems of the Great Lakes have precipitated a grave humanitarian challenge as millions of people have been forced into a life of exile as refugees. This has placed an enormous burden on the countries of the region, including my own, which has had to shoulder it without commensurate resources. We appreciate the great work done by United Nations agencies and many humanitarian non-governmental organizations in terms of providing the much-needed assistance to the refugees. Indeed, without this support, the life of the refugees would have been most unbearable. Yet even with this much-appreciated assistance, the burden left to refugee- receiving States has been enormous. The economic, social, environmental and security consequences of hosting the refugees will have long-lasting effects from which these countries will continue to suffer even after the repatriation of the refugees has been completed. This raises the fundamental issue of assisting the asylum countries, not only to cope with the immediate task of meeting the needs of the refugees, but also with the long- term effects of hosting them. This aspect needs addressing. In Western Sahara, too, we are concerned by the apparent freeze in the implementation of the settlement plan. As we reiterate our solidarity with the Frente POLISARIO, we express the hope that the initiatives of the representative of the Secretary-General, in the person of the former United States Secretary of State James Baker, will bear fruit and remove the prevailing political difficulties in the implementation of the settlement plan. Tanzania continues to follow closely the developments in the Middle East which now threaten peace in the area. In this regard, Tanzania reiterates its solidarity with the Palestinian people and calls upon the Palestinian and the Israeli authorities to persist in their efforts to consolidate dialogue and move forward in elaborating permanent arrangements for peace. We still believe that, ultimately, enduring peace in the region lies in the return of all the occupied Arab land and in the full enjoyment by the Palestinian people of its inalienable right to self- determination and independence, including the establishment of a homeland for themselves within internationally recognized boundaries. In conclusion, as we move into the new millennium, the world is still a place largely besieged by poverty and underdevelopment, conflict and war. The giant leaps of science and technology which have enabled humankind to explore outer space and to shrink the world into a global village have so far not been adequately and evenly channelled into meeting the compelling needs of the greater part humanity. The world will transit into the next millennium divided between those who are prosperous and at peace and those living in abject poverty and at war. Therefore, it must be the overriding objective of the United Nations to ensure that this disparity is overcome. The challenge that we must all face is to strengthen this Organization by unconditionally supporting it fully, politically and financially to enable it to serve humanity better.

It is with particular pleasure that I extend to you, Mr. President, my sincerest congratulations, and those of my Government, on your election as President of the General Assembly. Your election will ensure that the business of the General Assembly will be conducted skilfully, impartially and very efficiently at this important moment for the General Assembly, when it will have to make decisions that may be vital to the future of our Organization. The General Assembly session that we are now beginning is a particularly important one in that its purpose is to ensure that in the future multilateral activity will be assured of validity, effectiveness and credibility. With the United Nations having completed more than 50 years of existence, we need new ways to view the world, without forgetting the many achievements made and the valuable experience gained both from successes and from failures. This is an appropriate time for us to renew our commitment to multilateralism as the guiding principle of international relations and the essential tool to resolve crises and problems that are beyond the ability of any State, however important or powerful it may be, to resolve on its own. This is particularly important in the face of a growing unilateralism that has recently emerged as a feature of the international scene. The new international reality makes it essential for States to act together so as to confront energetically and resolutely the problems of the environment, organized crime, arms control, human rights, democratization, poverty, unemployment, social fragmentation and many other issues. Chile has consistently contributed to the Organization and, to the limits of its ability to do so, will continue to lend its strong support to the great work of the United Nations in all its forums. I wish to speak first of the issue of the Security Council and its reform process. I stressed before the General Assembly last year the importance of greater involvement by Member States in the decisions of the Security Council in order to strengthen its legitimacy and We reiterate once again the desirability of revising the composition of the Security Council and its working methods. In this connection, we appreciate the arduous work conducted by the Working Group on this issue, which has served to clarify the various positions and to allow a proper appraisal of this enormously complex subject. I wish especially to pay tribute to the outgoing President of the General Assembly, Mr. Razali Ismail of Malaysia, for his keen sense of responsibility and his courage in taking the initiative to make specific proposals on these matters in order to ease the difficulties encountered within the Working Group and make it possible to analyse and discuss them in specific terms. My Government considers that any future composition of the Council must combine the requirements of its effectiveness with the need for an equitable representation of the developing countries that properly reflects the increase in the number of Members in the past 50 years. Where these fundamental issues are concerned, Chile supports and endorses the content of the Declaration on the strengthening of the United Nations and the reform of the Security Council issued by the Heads of State or Government at the eleventh summit of the Rio Group in Asunción, Paraguay, on 24 August of this year. In that Declaration we expressed the great importance we attach to the process of expanding and reforming the Security Council, which must result in a broad general agreement that will make it possible to correct the imbalances in its current composition, improve the decision- making mechanisms, make the conduct of its work more transparent and represent with greater legitimacy all States Members of the Organization. With regard to the total number of members of the Security Council, we believe that a membership of up to 25 would not impair its effectiveness, provided that the expansion met the requirements of responding properly to the increase in United Nations Member States since the last reform of the Charter and the undeniably growing importance of developing countries. Chile shares in the broad base of agreement on allowing the entry of Germany and Japan as permanent members of the Security Council. Nevertheless, there is also a conviction that this can take place only in the context We support a process of regional consultation and consensus to fill these seats. This, however, does not exclude a possible role for the General Assembly in case there is an absence of regional agreement. In this connection, the Assembly will have to analyse carefully the proposals that have been put forward regarding rotation. These are undoubtedly attractive since they include a larger number of countries, but they could impair the effectiveness of the Council and increase tensions between permanent and non-permanent members. As far as the Latin American and Caribbean region is concerned, its fundamental responsibility is to fill its seats through a process that gives its members legal validity and political legitimacy. In this process, consideration must be given to all the possibilities that will allow for appropriate regional representation. Chile is prepared to accept any formula that reflects this. Serious consideration must be given to the possibility that only one of its members will occupy the permanent seat allocated to the region. The question of the veto will also have to be discussed in greater depth, taking into account many factors, such as legal ones relating to Charter obligations and the evolution of modern international law, and political ones, such as the evolution of the international situation, which are today very different from those prevailing at the time the United Nations came into being. The outgoing President of the General Assembly has made some very interesting proposals in this regard, which need to be carefully considered by Member States. Chile is concluding this year, with a sense of satisfaction, its participation in the Security Council after an absence of more than 30 years. Our decision to participate was motivated by the need to assume our international responsibilities, and we did so in the conviction that we could make a contribution. As a preliminary conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the rich contribution of the non-permanent members of the Council provides genuine balance and enables the Council to renew itself over time. Our experience has been a rewarding one, and we have sought to focus our contribution, beyond our natural interest in issues relating to the Latin American region, on a number We welcome the important progress the Council has made regarding its responsibility in the humanitarian sphere, which has necessarily become a major aspect of the maintenance of international peace and security. This is the foundation of the presidential statement issued by the Council on the protection of humanitarian workers. The strengthening of this aspect of the Council’s work was one of the main issues in which Chile participated. Motivated by our concern about this matter, we proposed a mechanism that establishes the modalities by which the Council communicates with the humanitarian agencies working in the field. Similarly, Chile has been particularly concerned that countries that have experienced severe conflicts should not be abandoned by the system once conflict ends. We have therefore insisted on the need for a United Nations presence in the field when peace-building gives way to overall reconstruction and development activities. With respect to sanctions, it has been demonstrated that, where authoritarian Governments are concerned, broad sanction regimes merely penalize the population without bringing about political change. We have noted the progress made by the Council in devising sanctions, as in the case of resolution 1072 (1996) on the situation in Burundi and the one recently adopted on UNITA in Angola, which are indeed capable of yielding the desired results without harming innocent populations. Lastly, Chile has attached special importance to African affairs while a member of the Security Council. We believed it important to assist the Council in taking decisions on the problems that region is facing at this historic moment when African countries are assuming their own responsibilities for regional problems, as has been apparent in the Organization of African Unity initiative in the Arusha process and the activities of the Economic Community of West African States, among others. We are aware that the reform process is not confined to the Security Council. The Secretary-General has told us clearly and lucidly that we are facing the most extensive and farthest-reaching reforms in the 52 years of this Organization’s history. Accordingly, we welcome his comprehensive report of last July, entitled, “Renewing the United Nations: A programme for reform”. We agree with his proposals aimed at transforming the leadership and management structure of the United Nations so as to enable We wish to convey to the Secretary-General and his colleagues our gratitude for the report, which the General Assembly will have to analyse in depth, and Chile will contribute to the debate with interest and dedication and in an open spirit of consensus. In this connection, we agree with the Secretary- General’s statement that the major source of institutional weakness in the United Nations is the fact that over the course of the past half century certain of its organizational features have tended to become fragmented, duplicated and rigid, resulting in their ineffectiveness in some areas and superfluity in others. As Chile sees it, the main obstacle to the reform process has been the fear of change that exists in the Organization, which has paralysed the process since it began here in the General Assembly four years ago. The time has come for all of us, the Secretariat and Member States alike, to show proudly our collective creativity, courage and realistic inventiveness. The period of bureaucratization in the United Nations must give way to the era of creation. Only through flexible and efficient management will we be able to give new impetus to the Organization and provide it with the proper tools for the true modernization the international community demands. Reform is not intrinsically an exercise in cutting costs or reducing staff. Its aim is to ensure a real and growing increase in the political effectiveness of the United Nations, from the Security Council and the way it deals with and resolves present-day conflicts in today’s world to the Economic and Social Council and the development agencies. Many of the problems facing the Organization result from the fact that Member States have been remiss in responding to the need to adapt intergovernmental machinery to the new requirements of the international situation. This is perhaps one of the main aspects of the reform process we have embarked upon. Accordingly, it is essential to proceed further with the reorientation and restructuring of the Economic and Social Council in order to coordinate both the agencies and its subsidiary bodies so that it may engage in executive interaction with the functions of the General Assembly. In that way, it can regain its leadership position as a flexible and efficient organ and contribute effectively to answering the challenges on the economic and social agenda of the Organization. Furthermore, the reform process should leave room for the progressive regionalization that is taking place within the United Nations system. In the review of the regional commissions to be carried out by the Economic and Social Council, there is a need to find mechanisms which, without affecting the regional mandates of each commission, can contribute to the definition and regional implementation of the major agreements and consensuses reached by the major conferences sponsored by the United Nations system over the past decade. We are following with interest the proposal to give to the Resident Coordinator of the Secretary-General authority over all United Nations bodies in the field. This new integrated approach, in which the funds and programmes will retain their autonomy, will contribute to the necessary cohesion and reduce the natural tendency towards divergence between the multidisciplinary agencies represented, thereby strengthening their activities. It also seems to us essential to evaluate the subsidiary bodies in greater depth, using as the main criteria their relevance and effectiveness, and to take the appropriate decisions. Accordingly, we are concerned by the recommendation to merge the Commissions on Narcotic Drugs and on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, since that would run the risk of limiting treatment of the problem of narcotic drugs merely to its criminal dimension, losing sight, in the process, of elements that are an inherent part of the drug issue, such as education and prevention. At the same time, the reform process must assign special importance to measures and mechanisms designed to accelerate economic and social development, especially in Africa, by supporting domestic efforts at economic restructuring, diversification of raw materials and increased food security being carried out by the countries of the region. We welcome the proposals designed to strengthen the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, both institutionally and substantively, since they seem to us to be of great importance for the future development of the Organization. The protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, together with democracy and equitable growth, are the three pillars of present-day Similarly, we strongly support the initiatives by the Secretary-General with regard to the proposals for interaction between civil society and private enterprise, which have become major actors at both the national and international levels. The time has come for civil society, including the business community, to participate in the United Nations at a level that reflects the contribution that it has been making for some time. A series of measures have been recommended to us that are designed to make more flexible the procedures for deliberations in the General Assembly, to reduce the length of meetings, apply a thematic approach to topical issues, overcome delays and enable us to concentrate on the most essential matters. While technically these proposals appear to relate more to formal than to substantive aspects, we know that in fact they will not be simple or merely procedural decisions. In reality, their aim is to promote the capacity of this Organization to build consensus, so as to arrive at concise decisions in the shortest possible time. On financial matters, we endorse the proposal for results-based budgeting, with few institutional mechanisms having a major strategic impact. This seems to us an innovation will have far-reaching consequences for the Organization. We also support the idea of reallocating savings to economic and social activities through the establishment of a development account.