A/55/PV.29 General Assembly

Members will recall that the Secretary-General presented his report to the General Assembly at the 10th plenary meeting on 12 September 2000.

At the outset, I would like to commend the Secretary-General for his excellent report on the work of the Organization (A/55/1) to the General Assembly. Furthermore, in his opening statement to the General Assembly, the Secretary-General pointed out that the time has come to roll up our sleeves and start putting into action the bold pledges our “captains and kings” made during the Millennium Summit. I can assure you that my Government strongly shares this sentiment and that we will work with you and our fellow delegates to make this noble goal come true. Among its important messages, the report highlights — and thus concurs with the Millennium Declaration — the fact that the elimination of poverty must be our first priority among the many pledges to be fulfilled. The fight to eliminate poverty is an overriding challenge, and there has been considerable progress in addressing this issue. But half of the world’s population still must try to survive on less than two dollars a day. 00-66044 (E) ````````` We are pleased to note that the Secretary-General in his report focuses on girls’ education as a critical factor in the eradication of poverty. We hope the launch of the informal task force in April will increase the efforts undertaken within the United Nations system to promote girls’ education. The fight against poverty, underdevelopment and environmental degradation must be at the top of our agenda. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, as the Secretary- General points out, has become a serious development crisis. In many countries the epidemic has had dramatic consequences, and there is a need for additional financial resources and development assistance to combat the virus. My Government welcomes the fact that an inter-agency task force chaired by the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a strategy for improving the access of AIDS victims to anti-AIDS drugs. Norway has been a major contributor to health programmes related to HIV/AIDS, and we will continue to support these programmes. Recently the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation made approximately $5 million available to the WHO for health programmes in Africa. In his report, the Secretary-General also draws particular attention to the importance of conflict prevention. In particular, we welcome his emphasis on strengthening the United Nations early warning and conflict prevention capacities. But we must all make the efforts needed to provide sufficient regular budget funding for the conflict prevention efforts of the United Nations. The success of these efforts will, as the Secretary- General points out, hinge upon close collaboration with Member States, regional organizations and others. We have witnessed significant successes, but we have also during the last ten years uncovered disturbing and tragic weaknesses. We must learn from failures of the past, and improved coordination of our efforts can contribute to a better understanding of both the problems and the solutions. Norway therefore supports the recommendations in the report of the United Nations Panel on Peace Operations headed by Ambassador Brahimi. Norway stands ready to engage in a broad dialogue on how to ensure the speedy and efficient implementation of recommendations in the Brahimi Report (A/55/305). The conflicts in East Timor and Sierra Leone continue to cause immeasurable suffering for hundreds of thousands of people and place burdens upon the response system of the United Nations. I am happy to note that the United Nations still is intensely involved in the efforts to find solutions to these conflicts, in close cooperation with other organizations. In his report, the Secretary-General deals extensively with the situation in Africa. As outlined by the Secretary-General, the United Nations is involved in a large number of development programmes and other activities in Africa. Progress is, however, dependent on resources that in too many cases are scarce. Norway agrees with the Secretary-General that Africa’s problems must remain of the highest priority for the Organization. Important reforms of the Organization have been implemented, and we appreciate the fact that the Secretary-General is dedicated to pursuing the reform process further. In these efforts he can rely on the full support of Norway.

I welcome this comprehensive and stimulating report from the Secretary-General on the work of our Organization (A/55/1). In his introduction he notes that the turn of the millennium provides a unique vantage point from which to view humanity’s progress and challenges. In fact, the Secretary-General himself was the driving force behind ensuring that we made full use of this vantage point at the Millennium Summit. His challenging report to the Summit, the superb organization and the opportunity it gave to our leaders to interact with each other and to develop a common vision for the twenty-first century all provided the most effective possible starting point for a new era of cooperation in addressing our common problems and achieving our common goals. It is now up to us, the membership, to take up these challenges and do justice to this vision. The Millennium Summit is not, of course, covered in the report before us, but my delegation does not want the occasion to pass without offering our congratulations and appreciation to the Secretary-General and his team. In this millennium year, it is appropriate that we look back as well as forward. Nowhere is this more true than in the central task of conflict prevention and peacekeeping. The reports on the United Nations reaction to unfolding events in Srebrenica and in Rwanda revealed serious inadequacies and showed how these inadequacies contributed to the tragedies which took place. Experience in Sierra Leone has also been salutary. We must be clear on one thing. This is our Organization, and if it has been shown to have been wanting in meeting its challenges, we all share the responsibility. If the Department of Peacekeeping Operations must maintain nearly 40,000 troops on 15 different peacekeeping missions with a totally inadequate Headquarters staff, if United Nations troops are placed in the field without the necessary training or equipment, if United Nations troops are forced to stand by powerlessly while atrocities are committed and if communications are inadequate, we are all responsible to some degree, and it is incumbent on all of us to engage in the search for solutions. The United Nations cannot work miracles. We have seen over the past year that if protagonists are determined to resolve their differences through conflict then they will do so. But the reports on past tragedies show that the United Nations can do much more to prevent conflict and maintain peace if certain problems are addressed. The Secretary-General has not just given us a challenge; he has also given us a framework in which to address these problems. I am referring, of course, to the report (A/55/305) of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations chaired by Lakhdar Brahimi. My authorities are fully prepared to take up that challenge, and we intend to participate actively in the process of ensuring the successful implementation of the key recommendations of the Brahimi report. Last year, the strengthening of early warning mechanisms was a particular theme of the Secretary- General’s report. Since then, there have been some important developments. The Secretary-General, in his report, refers to the Prevention Team that has been established by the Department of Political Affairs, and to the strengthening of the capacity of other departments and agencies in this area, as well as to the new interdepartmental Framework for Coordination. The Security Council too has paid close attention to conflict prevention over the past 12 months, with two open debates and the adoption of comprehensive presidential statements. United Nations cooperation with regional organizations has been stepped up. Efforts have been made to tap the potential of non- governmental actors. However, as the Secretary- General points out, United Nations efforts in that direction require leadership and resources, and therefore political will on the part of the membership. The report makes clear how much of our efforts in that direction must still be directed at the continent of Africa. Conflict prevention, peacekeeping and post- conflict peace-building by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and subregional organizations, in cooperation with the United Nations, remain vital if current conflicts are to be brought to a close, further conflicts prevented and conditions created for peaceful development. I am convinced that the efforts of the United Nations, in cooperation with the OAU and subregional organizations and with individual mediators, will ultimately prove successful in Sierra Leone, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Angola, and that they will, over time, help Ethiopia and Eritrea to heal the wounds of war and to re-establish fraternal relations. Outside Africa, the United Nations contribution was essential in the resolution of situations which had got out of hand, in particular Kosovo and East Timor. Delegations will understand if I welcome in particular the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in compliance with Security Council resolution 425 (1978). My country has been intensively involved with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for 22 years, an involvement which brought much sacrifice in human lives, but also much satisfaction, never more so than during the past few months. I would like to echo the Secretary-General’s call for further efforts in the search for a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. The Secretary-General correctly observes that disarmament is a critical element of the United Nations strategy for peace and security, and also that, despite some progress, deep concern remains at the risk posed by nuclear weapons. One particularly positive event was the successful outcome of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, to which the New Agenda coalition, of which Ireland was a founding member, made a critical contribution. Looking to next year’s United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, the Secretary-General points out that these are the weapons that kill most people in most wars. All too often, these weapons are in the hands of children. It is time that the control of trade in these arms was made a matter of international treaty, and my authorities call on all concerned to cooperate with the Secretary-General in making a success of the Conference. The Secretary-General affirms his conviction that thriving markets and human security go hand in hand, but he cautions that globalization must be made more inclusive and that its benefits must be spread more equitably. If poverty is to be reduced and ultimately eliminated – and that must remain our common goal – then adequate development financing must be available. The Secretary-General is right when he says that the benefits of globalization will bypass those who are unable to attract private capital unless official development assistance is maintained and increased. That is why my Prime Minister made a very precise, transparent and quantifiable commitment at the Millennium Summit: Ireland will increase its level of official development assistance so as to reach the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product by the year 2007. That is why Ireland has consistently increased its contribution to United Nations funds and programmes, with emphasis on their core activities. That is why Ireland has consistently contributed to the relief of debt and why it will continue to do so, even though it does not itself hold any debt, all of its assistance being in grant form. But development must also be sustainable and, as the Secretary-General points out in the report before us, the challenges in achieving sustainability are complex and multifaceted. Development in our own generation must take place in a manner which ensures that future generations will inherit an environment that will allow them to meet their needs. My authorities believe firmly in the need for a tool with which to measure the risks faced by countries in the face of environmental pressures. A solid and practicable environmental vulnerability index would be of great value to many Member States, and especially to the small island developing States, whose very existence is threatened by climate change. For that reason, Ireland is funding a technical study for the development of such an index, in line with the Secretary-General’s call for innovative and practical solutions to the problems involved in the search for sustainable development. The work of the Commission on Sustainable Development is particularly crucial. It is essential that every effort be made over the next two years to ensure a successful outcome of the 10-year review of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development — the Rio Conference. Finally, I would like to draw one further point from the Secretary-General’s report. He says that Governments, international institutions, civil society and the private business sector all gain from cooperation, because each achieves through cooperation what none could achieve alone. During this past year, up to and including the Millennium Summit, we have seen very significant progress in defining the common goals that we want to achieve. I am confident that, working together in the United Nations, we will succeed in reconciling our individual interests in the pursuit of these common goals.

I would like at the outset to thank the Secretary-General for preparing and presenting his report on the work of the Organization, contained in document A/55/1. At the fifty-fourth session, my delegation expressed its positions and participated in the debate and consideration of many of the issues addressed in that report. We shall be taking the same approach during the fifty-fifth session, and will be stating our Government’s positions and concerns throughout the year. The Millennium Summit celebrations are behind us and we now need to begin, during our Millennium Assembly, to implement the Millennium Declaration proposals. We are certain that in our deliberations we will give them our full consideration, always avoiding giving priority to some over others of equal or more importance, particularly to developing countries. I wish to share some preliminary thoughts on document A/55/1. We are aware of the considerable challenges in the area of peace and security. In paragraph 64, in particular, the need to resolve the conflict prevailing in my country is recognized. The Government of Colombia continues to be committed to seeking a political solution to a conflict that has lasted for more than 40 years, and requests the solidarity and persistence of the international community to achieve it. We will continue to work very closely with the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on International Assistance to Colombia, being convinced that progress towards attaining peace will be reflected in substantial improvements in the human rights situation. With regard to the maintenance and consideration of peace, the basis of our discussions will be the Brahimi report (A/55/305) on peace operations. The report has been positively received by Member States, and there is general agreement on the need to make prompt decisions on its proposals, which will affect the future of the United Nations. However, we must bear in mind, first, that the General Assembly is the only organ that can give those decisions the international legitimacy needed to ensure their effectiveness; secondly, that it will be inconvenient to act on the basis of rigid timetables that subject these decisions to unnecessary time pressures; and, thirdly, that the Brahimi report is one of many documents containing recommendations, and therefore should be evaluated with the same consideration as other reports, such as that prepared by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (A/51/130) The fulfilment of humanitarian commitments mentioned in the Secretary-General’s report must be through a cautious balance that takes into account the limitations of the United Nations system, the need to respect the sovereignty of all States and the innumerable demands made by a humanitarian crisis. It is essential that we establish in all cases systems for cooperation and communication with national Governments willing to participate in preventing and overcoming humanitarian crises. Development issues are of particular concern to Colombia. There is a proliferation of diagnoses of the situation in the South, such as those presented in the Secretary-General’s report and in other reports submitted throughout the year. However, they lack recommendations on the collective and individual action necessary to ensure the fulfilment of the objectives in the Millennium Declaration. This matter merits more careful and balanced consideration adequately taking into account the responsibilities of the North and the South. I conclude with a reflection on the beneficiaries of the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century. Our consideration of the future of the United Nations must begin with an evaluation of the past within the international system. Which countries have been the great beneficiaries of the past? To what extent have the developing countries been the great losers of the past? Clearly, we developing countries have received important benefits from the existence of the United Nations. However, it is also clear that they have not been enough. We then ask ourselves: How can we ensure that the beneficiaries of the future include the peoples of the developing world? Many of the concerns and the challenges mentioned by the Secretary-General in his report directly involve the South — our countries. We are interested in the debate; we will participate in it; and we hope to keep alive the exchange begun in recent months so that the solutions also involve our countries.

At the outset, my delegation wishes to express its great appreciation for the excellent and dedicated efforts of the Secretary-General in managing and administering the work of our Organization, as it has gone through difficult circumstances at the end of the last century, a century that witnessed many international problems. We congratulate him on the success of the Millennium Summit and its results, hoping that all States will respect their commitments in order to ensure the success and efficiency of our Organization in the new century. Our delegation has studied the content of the Secretary-General’s report submitted to us today. The reader of the report comes away with two realities. One is that we as Governments and peoples find the role of the United Nations indispensable in maintaining international peace and security and in facing the challenges connected to those issues. Secondly, the tasks of the United Nations have become extremely complex and all-inclusive, to the extent that it has become very difficult to separate issues of security and development and issues of political stability and economic prosperity. Our delegation agrees with practically everything in the report, but we wish to make the following comments. First, the issues connected with the establishment of international peace and security are the most pivotal tasks of the United Nations. We fully agree that those issues should be given prominence in the annual reports submitted by the Secretary-General, because they are closely connected to the economic and social problems we face today. Secondly, the concept of collective security and the idea of conflict prevention should include all the international problems and issues we face, because, in the final analysis, they will affect the security of humanity as a whole, and that necessitates the consensus of all parties and respect for the sovereignty of all States. Thirdly, Kuwait welcomes the explanation given by the Secretary-General concerning progress in peacekeeping operations. We also welcome the report of Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi (A/55/305), concerning his assessment of peace operations and the need to promote them as a major tool for maintaining international peace and security. We call upon the General Assembly to deal with his Panel’s recommendations very seriously. Kuwait fully understands the importance of peacekeeping operations, since the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) plays an important role in maintaining peace and stability on our international border with Iraq, a fact that led us to voluntarily contribute two thirds of the budget of this force. Fourthly, Kuwait believes that the problems of poverty and disease, which are claiming so many victims, have been around for a long time and are not, as is being said today, the result of globalization. Successfully confronting the dangers of poverty and disease calls for efficient action, which should begin with initiatives at the State level, which could then be combined with those of other States to become a collective and organized action. Fifthly, Kuwait fully agrees with the Secretary- General’s position on sanctions, as expressed in his report on the work of the Organization and the report to the Millennium Summit. We, like others, express deep sympathy for the peoples who suffer as a result of sanctions. At the same time, however, our sympathy should not go out to regimes that control the destiny of people under sanctions or that profit from sanctions. Such regimes have been characterized as tyrannical and dictatorial in both reports of the Secretary-General. Sanctions should act precisely against those regimes to force them to reform their policies. The international community’s sympathy should go out to suffering people, not to their rulers. Sixthly, our delegation shares the concern expressed by the Secretary-General in his report on the work of the Organization over the continued non- compliance by the Iraqi Government with the relevant Security Council resolutions and specifically over its rejection of resolution 1284 (1999). In connection with paragraphs 54 and 55 of the Secretary-General’s report, we also share the concern over that Government’s refusal to cooperate with the high-level coordinator to solve the problem of Kuwaiti prisoners of war and Kuwaiti property. We endorse those two paragraphs as they reflect the neutrality and objectivity of Secretary- General Kofi Annan. Those qualities have always led us to trust him when dealing with international problems of common interest. It is also important to draw the attention of Member States to the fact that showing concern for people’s suffering by expressing sympathy requires credibility so that such concern covers the sufferings of other peoples who may simultaneously be the cause and victims of suffering. Showing concern for the suffering of one people but not for another exposes political aims that have nothing to do with internationally accepted humanitarian principles, which are intrinsic to every human being. It is for that reason that Kuwait continues to appeal to Member States to call directly on the Iraqi Government to solve the problem of Kuwaiti and third- party prisoners of war, and to end the suffering of their families who have been enduring it for over 10 years. We reaffirm the fact that solving these problems requires political determination on the part of Iraq to stop relying on political pretexts that only serve to perpetuate the suffering of innocent people. Every regional organization — namely, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the League of Arab States, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of the Islamic Conference — has called on Iraq to solve this humanitarian problem. We hope that the Iraqi Government will respond to those appeals. In conclusion, we in Kuwait would like to reaffirm our support for the efforts of the Secretary- General as the leader of the Organization. We firmly believe that without the support and cooperation of Member States, the United Nations will not succeed in meeting the challenges of the new century. We stress the need to concentrate on economic and social challenges. A careful reading of the Secretary- General’s report to the Millennium Summit and an examination of the statistics on the victims of poverty, AIDS and drug abuse indicate that these matters cry out for sincere policies and full cooperation, as well as a rejection of conflict and individual interests. Failing to do so will deprive our generation and future generations of any enjoyment of the life granted to us by God the Almighty. That would be sheer selfishness.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of the presidency of the Millennium Assembly. My delegation is prepared to cooperate with you in the course of this important session. The Millennium Summit was a great success. The Millennium Declaration, which was adopted by a consensus among all the leaders of the world participating at the Summit, has set forth clear guidelines for the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century. Of course, holding the Summit and adopting the Declaration are not ends in themselves but, rather, mark a new starting point. It is now the responsibility of all Member States to work for the realization of the goals set forth in that historic document. The report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization provides a useful guide for our efforts in that regard. I would like to express our deep appreciation to the Secretary-General for producing that valuable report. Today, I would like to touch upon three issues. First of all, I would like to stress anew the importance of strengthening the United Nations, and the Security Council in particular. As Japan’s Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori, and its Foreign Minister, Yohei Kono, made clear in their respective statements to the Summit and in the general debate, the Security Council must be reformed so that it reflects the realities of today’s international community. In this context, it is indeed encouraging to note that during the course of those meetings, more than 150 countries stressed the urgent need for Security Council reform. Moreover, it is our understanding that as many as 70 countries specifically underlined the need to expand both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership. The Secretary-General was right when he stressed in his concluding remarks to world leaders at the Summit that “Almost everyone one of you has called for a comprehensive reform of the Security Council. That surely must give new impetus to the search for consensus on this thorny but unavoidable issue.” (A/55/PV.8) We must now redouble our efforts in order to achieve Security Council reform, building upon the momentum generated by our leaders at that historic Summit. As we all know, financial reform is also a task which requires our special efforts at this session. In order to place this valuable Organization on a sound and firm financial basis, it is essential to make the scale of assessments for the regular budget more equitable. And, given that requirements for peacekeeping operations are expected to increase, it is also important to attain more balanced budget sharing in the financing of peacekeeping operations. It is, I believe, the responsibility of all Member States to address this issue with a sense of urgency. The Japanese Government welcomes the report (A/55/305) of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, and I applaud the efforts of Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi and the other members of the Panel who produced this important document, which contains many useful suggestions. We are in full agreement with the Secretary- General’s assertion on 12 September that we should consider expeditiously the recommendations of the Panel. Japan, for its part, places particular importance on strengthening the functions of the United Nations Secretariat with respect to making its operations more effective. In this connection, we look forward to the early presentation by the Secretary-General of an implementation plan. We will participate in the deliberations on implementation in a forward-looking manner. Finally, I would like to underscore anew the importance of human security, or a human-centred approach, in addressing the issues which the international community is now facing. As Prime Minister Mori stressed at the Summit, it is essential that we give priority to the protection of life and dignity of people when we tackle the problems before us, which include poverty, environmental degradation, conflicts, human rights violations, refugees and displaced persons, AIDS and other infectious diseases. In this context, I strongly endorse the report of the Secretary-General, which stressed the importance of human security in various contexts. Recognizing that the United Nations should play a more active role in promoting a human-centred approach to various problems, Japan has to date contributed more than $80 million to the Human Security Fund, whose creation was proposed by the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. I am pleased to remind the Assembly that Prime Minister Mori announced at the Millennium Summit that the Japanese Government would make a further contribution of approximately $100 million to this Fund. We sincerely hope that the Fund will add to the willingness and capacity of the international community to enhance human security as it addresses a broad range of issues in the coming years.

The Millennium Summit and the general debate which has just concluded gave pre-eminence as never before to man’s quest for a more equitable distribution of wealth. The halls of this Assembly are echoing the concern and anger of the least developed countries, the small island States and the developing States in general, about the widening gap between rich and poor, the negative impact of globalization, the unsustainable debt burden, the inexcusable and unacceptable loss of life from curable diseases, such as malaria, while HIV/AIDS, which plagues especially the African States, is spreading with frightening speed in other parts of the world. It was correctly stated that we live in a world of abundance but with extreme poverty right on our doorsteps. The urgent need for action has never been highlighted as it was during the Millennium Summit, and at the highest representative level. The Declaration of this historic Summit, setting specific goals for the eradication of curable diseases and for combating extreme poverty, are realistic. What is needed is determination for action to make the Summit’s promise a reality, as the Secretary-General stated. We agree with the assessment that, in the fight against poverty and the negative effects of globalization, favourable trade terms, foreign investment and increased official development assistance are of paramount importance. What is more, we believe that international institutions could assist by being more receptive to the special problems and special needs of a number of developing States. Extreme poverty and poverty in general, beyond the suffering they cause, are a source of the deterioration of the environment; they breed crime and are the root causes of conflicts. “Hungry people”, said one speaker, “wake up angry people”. We must try to implement the 1990s agenda commitment on development, especially now, after the reinforcement of those commitments by the Millennium Summit Declaration. The Secretary-General’s report concedes that many States have serious and legitimate concerns about intervention, and goes on to pose the question: “if humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to … gross and systematic violations of human rights … ?” (A/55/1, para. 37) We are among the many that share the concerns to which the Secretary-General referred. We hold that the Charter of the United Nations, signed by 189 sovereign Member States, bestowed on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and granted to it the authority to employ coercive measures, including the use of force, when threats or breaches of peace and security occur. Except in cases of self-defence, covered in Article 51 of the Charter, any use of armed force by any State for the solution of international problems is absolutely and unambiguously prohibited. The Security Council remains the sole source of the legitimate use of armed force when dealing with breaches of peace and, of course, when systematic and gross violations of human rights are involved. We cannot supersede or substitute these Charter provisions, for there is no alternative to the Security Council’s legality in the use of armed force. What is more, there is no other international instrument which enjoys, as the Charter does, the unanimous support of mankind. Despite its more than five decades of existence, the Charter is as relevant as ever and indispensable — even more so today. What is needed is strict adherence to its provisions by all. If we accept intervention outside the United Nations framework, it may also encourage militant separatists to create conditions of bloodshed that are conducive to intervention. Even where the Security Council fails to agree to the use of armed force, there are other remedies which the Council may agree to employ. The founding fathers, in Article 41 of the Charter, gave us a list of coercive measures not involving the use of armed force that the Council may adopt. The coming into full operation of the International Criminal Court is an added restraint to human rights violations. If the measures provided for in Article 41 prove inadequate, then the problem may be brought for deliberation before the General Assembly, which is the most representative main organ of the United Nations. We must not forget also that States have the primary responsibility for safeguarding the human rights of their people. Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States and non-interference in their internal affairs cannot be and must not be interpreted as an impediment to safeguarding human rights or justifying inaction when systematic and gross violations of human rights occur. To the contrary, when the action to be taken enjoys the legality of a United Nations mandate, the chances are that it will meet its goals in redressing grave violations of human rights. The use of armed force, motivated by good intentions but in violation of provisions of the Charter regarding respect for the sovereignty of States, is no solution. It is a cause of more problems to come. If we allow well-intentioned interventions outside the United Nations framework, we will be opening a Pandora’s box, for, as we said before, there will always be leaders who, under the pretext of the humanitarian protection of the rights of peoples, minorities or ethnic communities, will use aggression for expansionist reasons. Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the Charter prohibits such use of force. The subject of humanitarian intervention is both crucial and challenging and needs thorough discussion within and outside the United Nations. We therefore welcome the Canadian initiative on the subject. As to other issues raised in the report, cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations and civil society should be further strengthened, while the cooperation of the United Nations with the private sector, a potent partner, could reap many benefits for mankind, especially in the domain of the environment, when well monitored and Charter-oriented. As to reforms, we believe that an enlarged Security Council reflecting the realities of today’s world would also better serve the interests of peace and security. It is time to turn this widely shared position into practice. On the question of sanctions, we believe that there is room for improvement and share the Secretary- General’s view that the administration of sanctions must be geared to minimizing their negative effects on civilian populations and neighbouring States. In conclusion, we would like to express appreciation to the Secretary-General for his report in document A/55/1 and for the ideas, suggestions and recommendations he has provided us as food for thought. We fully support the advice of the Secretary- General on the need to implement the goals of the Declaration of the Millennium Summit. We especially value his solemn warning never to leave the United Nations without resources to protect those who have placed their trust in it.

My delegation would like to add its voice to those commending the Secretary-General on his report on the work of our Organization. With this document and his earlier report to the Millennium Summit, we have a comprehensive view of the ongoing activities of the United Nations and the possible actions that Members could initiate towards implementing the goals of the Charter. In the interest of brevity, my delegation would like to comment on only a few of the issues in the report. The Secretary-General has not only envisioned the United Nations as a forum in which national Governments may work together, but over the years has made impressive inroads in involving private corporations, civil society and labour organizations in playing a role in promoting the goals of the United Nations Charter. His Global Compact initiative has been an important step in this direction. My delegation commends the Secretary-General and we ask him to continue his laudable work. It is now quite clear that such important sections of international society, which have so much influence on the lives of people across the globe, can be of great help in supporting our work here in this universal body. Peacekeeping and peace-building are obviously vital and, as can be seen from the Secretary-General’s report, these activities are expanding in scope. My delegation appreciates the many achievements of our Organization. We are also aware that the tasks are sometimes difficult and that failures loom large. Though peacekeeping and peace-building are of great importance and necessary to the maintenance of international peace and security, there is a need to take an objective look into the necessary and not-so-necessary activities with a view to keeping operational costs minimal and affordable. In this context, the Brahimi report is welcome and needs to be looked into and given due consideration. My delegation was heartened to see the Secretary-General touching upon issues related to cooperation for development in his report. The great need of the hour, in order to fulfil the decisions taken by the international community, is to reverse the declining trend in disbursements of official development assistance. The least developed countries have been calling for the fulfilment of the target 0.15 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance from the target 0.7 gross national product agreed upon for all developing countries. We request the Secretary-General to continue to impress upon the developed countries the need to recommit themselves to this important goal and to fulfil the target in the interest of tackling poverty and to further international cooperation in development. As the Secretary-General has emphasized, social and economic development has to be accompanied by good governance and be people-centred. With the expanding world population, which is expected to rise to 10 billion by 2030, we are deeply concerned by the pressures of population movements. This phenomenon could undermine the very foundations of nations and disrupt the hard-earned successes of socio-economic development achieved over decades. National Governments must not only take active and effective steps to control population growth, but also provide good governance and create the social and economic conditions to look after the welfare of their peoples. Otherwise, the peace and security of regions can be seriously undermined. This is an aspect that needs to be given more emphasis by Members and by the international community. The Secretary-General has mentioned that he has received considerable support for the proposals made in his report to the Millennium Summit. My delegation sees this especially in the case of cooperation in economic development, and we are heartened to know of this widespread acceptance of the views put forward in his report. But verbal support is one thing and actual action another. The Secretary-General has rightly pointed this out and has called on Member States to go beyond verbal statements and, instead, begin to take concrete action. My delegation supports this call of the Secretary-General.

On behalf of my Government, I would like to express my appreciation and respect for the work the United Nations has done during the last 12 months — a year in which another 17 people have lost their lives in the line of United Nations duty in different international theatres, many of them in acts of violence with the culprits never having been brought to justice. This alone is a sombre reminder that the international community is still far from reaching its ambitious goals of peaceful and prosperous cooperation for the good of mankind. The Millennium Summit, its final Declaration and the ensuing general debate have again provided a sharp analysis of the world’s inequities and injustices, and many political declarations of intent on how to overcome them. True and immediate action to remedy these problems is still desperately needed. The Secretary-General’s comprehensive and valuable report shows the enormous efforts the United Nations has made to meet the manifold challenges. Let us join the Secretariat in highlighting concrete actions that we, the Member States, are undertaking to support and advance the same endeavour. I will thus focus on two points only. The first is our — that is, Germany’s — contribution to the expeditious implementation of the Brahimi report, or at least parts thereof. The second is the quest for a more inclusive United Nations, “towards global partnerships”. Ambassador Brahimi’s report reflects that there can be no sustainable development without lasting peace and security. The report highlighted two essential needs of today’s peacekeeping: the need for better training and the need for quicker response time. New, multifunctional peacekeeping operations require an increasing number of qualified police and civilian experts. These experts can range from civilian police officers and election monitors to legal and administrative experts or medical and demining teams. Preparation for these complex deployments must begin in good time, before the need for a United Nations peacekeeping operation emerges and the mandate is formulated. Quick response time is the key word. It is against this background that in July 1999 the German Foreign Office established a German international training centre for civil personnel to be deployed in international peacekeeping missions. One of its aims is to create a personnel reserve consisting of trained experts suited for the most diverse tasks and not limited to one single type of deployment. This is our immediate contribution towards the creation of a pool of qualified personnel who, as recommended by the Brahimi Panel, can be made available, upon request, to the United Nations — or to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe — anywhere in the world, quickly and in keeping with the specific needs of any given mission. A special civilian personnel database has already been established to create a quasi-standby facility, in order to support international missions in the crucial start-up phase, when qualified personnel are most urgently needed. The courses are now open to international participants and non-governmental organizations. We plan to offer training opportunities to those countries that do not have their own training facilities for civilian personnel. For nationals from countries that would find it difficult to bear the costs of participation, we intend to arrange for specific grants. Four hundred people will have been trained by the end of the year 2000. Cooperation with other international training centres to create uniform training standards will be a high priority on our agenda. Let me now turn to the second major point, our quest for a more inclusive United Nations, and let me quote part of paragraph 5 of the historic Millennium Declaration, contained in resolution 55/2: “We believe that the central challenge we face today is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people. For while globalization offers great opportunities, at present its benefits are very unevenly shared, while its costs are unevenly distributed. Thus, only through broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon our common humanity in all its diversity, can globalization be made fully inclusive and equitable.” Foreign Minister Fischer and many of his colleagues highlighted this point in the recent general debate. I would like to draw delegations’ attention to the new item, “Towards global partnerships”, which Germany has introduced into the agenda of this session of the General Assembly. It is well known that globalization and big global challenges in many areas have led to the emergence and increasing importance of new global players, especially from civil society and, in particular, from transnational business. The Secretary-General rightly attaches importance to an appropriate involvement of these new players in the United Nations work. Together with a number of other countries, Germany is of the opinion that it is up to the Member States to discuss these issues in a constructive spirit, with the aim of reaching a focused, coherent and integrated approach, including everyone and leaving no regional grouping aside. In this spirit, we are already conducting consultations with a number of interested States from all regions, in order to jointly introduce a draft resolution on this topic at this session of the General Assembly. We will be working to achieve the widest possible consensus on this issue, and we are very grateful that the reactions received so far have been quite encouraging. As the Secretary-General has asked us to roll up our sleeves and start putting into action the bold pledges that our heads of State and Government made during the Millennium Summit, we made an attempt to follow his advice. I would be grateful if Member States made use of the German training centre for international peacekeeping missions and helped us to find a fruitful consensus on our draft resolution, “Towards global partnerships”.

Since this is my first statement to the plenary of the General Assembly in my capacity as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus, allow me at the outset to congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of the fifty-fifth session of this important body of the United Nations and to wish you every success in discharging your mission. The discussions at the current session of the General Assembly on such an important matter as the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/55/1) are focused on issues of unique importance. The intensive and fundamental analyses of the major trends in the development of today’s world made by heads of State and Government during the Millennium Summit and further addressed during the general debate provide us with a particular responsibility in following today’s discussion. The Republic of Belarus commends the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan for the high professionalism in his leadership of the United Nations during the past year. All of us have been witnesses to truly outstanding work aimed at strengthening the United Nations and defining the principal priorities for its future development. The Secretary-General’s report is an important part of this work. In the past year, as the Secretary-General rightly observed in his report, the international community was still not close enough to meeting its major goals as defined by the preamble to the United Nations Charter. Over this past year the United Nations has not succeeded in saving humankind from the scourge of war and in establishing a harmony between human rights, social progress and better living standards with greater freedoms for all subjects of international law. We welcome the fact that the United Nations has not remained a passive bystander to such a state of affairs. The initiatives of the Secretary-General to launch an independent study on Srebrenica and Rwanda, as well as the idea of the creation of a high-level panel to make recommendations aimed at increasing the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations, chaired by Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, have served as vivid examples of this. The speediest possible analysis of the report of this group and a definition of the mechanisms for the implementation of its recommendations are vitally important to us from the point of view of enhancing the effectiveness of the process of the United Nations peacekeeping functions. The people of our countries need peace. In the last century Belarus made an important contribution to this process in demonstrating full compliance with the obligations of the United Nations by relinquishing the possession of nuclear arms. The President and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus recently reaffirmed the intention of Belarus to continue its contributions to the process of disarmament. During the course of the present session the Republic of Belarus has already deposited documents for the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and Protocol IV — on blinding laser weapons — to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects. Belarus will continue to defend the noble initiative of the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central and Eastern Europe. The Government of Belarus has carefully studied the section of the report dealing with sanctions. We support the conclusion made by the Secretary-General in his report that these coercive measures do not always yield identical results and that in recent years the effectiveness of these measures has been increasingly questionable. Moreover, in this context third countries often are the parties who suffer. Belarus is no exception in this regard. Therefore, we support the proposal made during the general debate by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Mr. Jan Kavan, concerning the creation within the framework of the United Nations of a special group similar to Mr. Brahimi’s panel to make a comprehensive and impartial analysis of the whole range of questions related to sanctions. Belarus is ready to actively participate in the work of this group at all its stages. In analysing the section of the report, “Meeting humanitarian commitments” (A/55/1, para. 109-153), the delegation of the Republic of Belarus would like to draw the Assembly’s attention to the issue of Chernobyl. Today, on the eve of the fifteenth anniversary of the disaster, we still believe that this problem is an anguish that not only Belarus continues to suffer from. Both the President and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of my country have praised the United Nations role in mitigating the consequences of this catastrophe. We sincerely hope that the United Nations will further assist in the development of new forms of cooperation with Belarus on this matter. The Millennium Summit and the Millennium Declaration adopted by the heads of State and Government put forward several important tasks before the United Nations. Part of the work on renewing the United Nations began last year. That is reaffirmed by the report of the Secretary-General that we are considering today. But the major part of the work still lies ahead of us. Belarus is ready to face new challenges and actively implement the objectives facing the United Nations.

I wish to begin by thanking the Secretary-General for his annual report on the work of the Organization (A/55/1), which offers quite a comprehensive overview of the activities that have been carried out, and of the obstacles and challenges that will be facing the United Nations in the years to come. Basically, the Organization has been and continues to be a propitious forum for the search for fair and lasting solutions in the areas of gravest concern to the international community: peace and security; meeting humanitarian commitments; development cooperation; the international legal order; and human rights. As the report observes, the main task of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security. I completely agree that the nature and scope of the causes of conflict have changed. During the cold war, ideological confrontation and violations of borders were the gravest factors destabilizing peace, but today, most conflicts are internal conflicts in which violations of the most fundamental human rights of entire populations constitute the principal threat to world security. My delegation would like to highlight and clearly define two considerations that will guide its conduct in this sphere. First, we consider that human rights issues do not fall exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of States: they are governed also by the Charter, which is an international treaty whose obligations are binding on the parties to it. Secondly, we believe that the political shortcomings and historical legacies that are reflected in the organs responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security can never legitimize international punitive action, however much it may be based on lofty humanitarian principles. Collective action requiring the use of force must conform to the provisions of Chapter VII of the San Francisco Charter; any action that ignores those provisions will damage both the credibility of the Organization and the institutional stability of these mechanisms. Here I would like to commend the praiseworthy efforts of the high-level Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, which are reflected in the so-called Brahimi report (A/55/305). Its content and, especially, its recommendations deserve level-headed, realistic analysis by the Organization, so that the United Nations can have access to a strengthened and renewed mechanism with which to carry out effectively the increasingly complex tasks facing it in this area. This, of course, must be without prejudice to the universally endorsed principles that govern its activities. Peace and security and their polar opposites, violence and instability, are concepts that cannot be addressed in isolation from the economic and social well-being of peoples. Development, indeed, is the key task facing nations as they strive for advancement. Its fundamental objective is to offer new options for individual well-being, and attaining it requires a firm foundation for human development and the consolidation of democracy. Those aspirations should be common to all our efforts, but they are reality only for the few: for the rest, they remain in the realm of theory, of what ought to be. In their national efforts to achieve higher levels of economic and social progress, developing countries face many constraints. These problems have persisted for decades, and are compounded by the effects of a globalization that is focused more on free markets, competition and new communications technologies than on ensuring that the opportunities are disseminated worldwide, among all countries and among all sectors of the population. In this context, the Secretary-General’s report contains ideas and initiatives that invite reflection and decisive action by the international community. I agree with the Secretary-General that the most important development goal of the United Nations must continue to be the elimination of poverty. To that end, it is necessary to adopt appropriate mechanisms so that globalization will generate benefits for all countries, regardless of their degree of development. It is time to propose principles and guidelines to direct the globalization process, which is still inchoate. The concept of shared responsibility in managing international relations is now a principle of international law, reflected in the Millennium Summit mandate, which clearly defines the central role of the United Nations in this regard. The new millennium must bear witness to the historic responsibility of all Member States to strengthen multilateral mechanisms in order to create a more equitable international scenario and thereby one that is more peaceful and secure. In this context, the Organization’s effort to create norms to regulate international relations in all areas of human activity is commendable. This contribution by the United Nations must strengthen the complex process of interdependency that is emerging from the new international order and that requires faithful respect and observance in order to convert theory into a practical attitude. The reflections in the Secretary-General’s report lead us to maintain that the United Nations, with new and greater tasks, requires today, more than ever, the financial support of Member States to achieve the aspirations of international peace and development. The political support that our heads of State offered our Organization at the recent Millennium Summit must be reflected in adequate financial support. It must be provided according to each State’s real capacity to pay, since development levels vary so much that poorer countries should not assume additional responsibilities that further encumber their economic and social development. Only through a system that recognizes these differences and provides predictability will we ensure vital financial resources and guarantee the principle of fairly sharing the burden.

My delegation wishes to express its gratitude for a comprehensive report covering the field of the broad activities of the Organization during the past year. The present agenda item allows us to reflect in a more specific way upon the work of the Organization and the every day challenges that have confronted it during this symbolic year. As stated in the report, no issue commands more of our attention and resources than the achievement of peace and security. Indeed, the demands placed on the United Nations in the fields of conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peace-building and the various follow- on operations will continue to constitute the core activities of the Organization. At the same time, it is the timeliness and the overall quality of the Organization’s responses to such demands that define its utility to its broad constituencies. Member States should heed the Secretary- General’s recognition that “collective security can no longer be narrowly defined as the absence of armed conflict, be it between or within States.” (A/55/1, para. 31) The report rightly calls for innovative approaches to managing complex peace operations, including those that will not shy away from crossing over institutional and administrative turf in the search for comprehensive solutions. In this connection, Croatia agrees with the view of the Secretary-General that the world has a responsibility to act when universally accepted basic human rights are being violated on a massive scale. The lessons of Srebrenica, Rwanda, and most recently Sierra Leone, among others, have once more demonstrated the importance of clear, well-managed and achievable Security Council mandates. But even the best mandate remains a dead letter unless it is supported by political will and the necessary means for its implementation. We believe that the Croatian experience of progress from a host country to a contributor of peacekeepers can be useful for the Organization. In this regard, we look forward to the conclusion during this session of the mandate of the small United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) in Croatia and Croatia’s increased participation in peacekeeping operations elsewhere. Clearly, peace operations are ripe for a comprehensive and substantial overhaul. In this regard, the Croatian Minister for Foreign Affairs, in his statement in the General Assembly on 13 September, welcomed the Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (A/55/305). Croatia supports the reform process in all its aspects, including the conceptualization and adoption of Security Council mandates, integrated mission planning and support, rapid deployment and mission duration timelines, as well as the restructuring of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The United Nations continues to operate in a dynamic international environment. Human security is challenged not only by conflict, but also by emergencies occasioned by nature. Irrespective of the cause, global interconnectedness dictates that the impact of such disruptions on people, on their economic well-being and the environment, have a broad effect. Over the past year the United Nations has been increasingly called upon to coordinate humanitarian action through an inter-agency approach. The achievements of the Organization in this field, from Kosovo and East Timor to Venezuela and Mozambique, have been admirable. Croatia is encouraged by the undertakings of the nuclear-weapon States made during the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Nevertheless, progress in overall disarmament remains sporadic. Additionally, the role of the United Nations in demining is important for many countries that continue to suffer from this blight well after many other aspects of a conflict have faded into history. The past year has been one of progress in the field of human rights, especially in strengthening the United Nations system to uphold and further develop the international code of human rights. In October 1999 the General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which has now been signed by 62 Member States, including Croatia. It will enter into force before the end of the year. Nevertheless, of the many remaining challenges, the trafficking of women needs to be dealt with. Additionally, the integration into economic and developmental policies of the world’s disabled population remains to be achieved. The legal protection of children at the international level has been one of the United Nations success stories, with the Convention on the Rights of the Child being the most universally ratified instrument. However, Croatia believes that the issue of the protection of children is yet to adequately filter through to the regional and local levels, particularly in regard to overcoming inequities in the promotion of education. The Organization has a role to play in this process. The final judgement on globalization cannot yet be made. Rather, we have numerous interim observations as to its characteristics, benefits and negative effects. In this regard, the adoption by the Economic and Social Council of the Ministerial Declaration on the potential of information and communication technologies to achieve development goals and the need to bridge the digital divide represents an important contribution by the United Nations. In the same vein, the preparations for the high- level event on financing for development to be held next year are proceeding well. The broad-ranging consultations presently being carried out involving the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization, among other key world economic actors, augur well for the necessary broad-based ownership of the outcome of that United Nations-driven event. Croatia remains fully committed to having the finances of the Organization placed on a sound, sustainable and equitable basis. In that regard, we look forward to the reform process relating to both the regular and the peacekeeping scales, ultimately resulting in the reaffirmation of the capacity-to-pay principle as the basis for the contributions of Member States. Similarly, Croatia supports the strengthening and revitalization of the Organization, including the reform of its principle organs. Croatia believes that due regard should be given to restoring the careful balance between the principal organs of the United Nations, particularly with regard to that between the General Assembly and the Security Council.

First of all, I would like to thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive and very informative annual report on the work of the Organization. The report covers in detail all aspects of the Organization’s work in the past year and deserves our careful study. At the just-concluded Millennium Summit of the United Nations, heads of State or Government of Member States reviewed and summarized the United Nations’ experiences in the past 55 years and adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, reiterating their commitment to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. Having drawn a blueprint for the work of the Organization in the new century and the new millennium, the Summit has offered important guidance for our work. I would like to focus my statement today on three questions. I will first address the matter of peacekeeping. As the Secretary-General indicated in his report, “Sustainable peace and security for all countries and peoples remains a central objective of the United Nations.” (A/55/1, para. 29) In the new situation, peacekeeping operations remain an important means for the United Nations to fulfil its obligations in safeguarding international peace and security. Experience in recent years has shown that the Security Council’s role in that field is irreplaceable and its authority unquestionable. The Security Council’s responsibility and political leadership in peacekeeping should therefore be preserved and strengthened further. At the same time, the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter — as well as other long-established peacekeeping principles such as neutrality, the consent of the parties to the conflict, and using force only in self-defence — should continue to be observed. Despite its contribution to international peace and security, peacekeeping is by no means a panacea. In order to enable United Nations peacekeeping operations to be more effective we must address both the symptoms and the root causes of problems. In other words, we must try to root out the real causes of conflict. In that connection, we hope that the United Nations will attach real importance to the situation in Africa and increase its involvement so as to resolve issues related to that continent. As for the dilemma of intervention, the Chinese delegation is of the view that, as the United Nations shoulders a primary responsibility for maintaining world peace, it should make more positive contributions to stopping massive humanitarian crises and preventing tragic massive killings of innocent civilians. At the same time, however, we are also fully aware of the complexity of international intervention and the risk of inappropriate intervention. Any intervention must be authorized by the Security Council and should be aimed at eliminating the root causes of a conflict rather than at delaying its settlement, and at facilitating reconciliation between parties to a conflict rather than at fuelling hatred and confrontation. Big powers and blocs of countries should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a country involved in a conflict rather than use humanitarian intervention to interfere in its internal affairs or to trigger new conflicts. In the past year, the United Nations witnessed a rapid increase both in the number and scale of new peacekeeping operations. But peacekeeping efforts in Sierra Leone and other places have not yielded the expected results, which has highlighted problems in current peacekeeping operations and the need for reform. In that connection, the report submitted by the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations designated by the Secretary-General is very timely. The Chinese delegation appreciates the efforts of Ambassador Brahimi and other members of the Panel. We believe that the report has put forward a series of thoughtful recommendations on how to improve United Nations peacekeeping operations, which we believe deserve in- depth study by relevant bodies of the United Nations. Recommendations that enjoy broad agreement and are easy to put in place should be implemented in a timely manner. We look forward to discussions on the report, and we are ready to make due contributions to the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations. Secondly, I would like to speak about development. Another important task for the United Nations is to respond actively to globalization and realize the common development of mankind. The surging tide of globalization has brought us immense challenges as well as opportunities. Developing countries have borne the brunt of the negative effects of that tide. The United Nations must therefore play its due role in narrowing the gap between the poor and the rich and in promoting common prosperity in the international community, so as to ensure that all countries benefit equally from globalization and to prevent the further widening of the gap between the North and the South and the polarization of the world. The United Nations should give top priority to the issue of development, greatly increase — rather than decrease — its allocation of resources in that field and really make the eradication of poverty its most important development objective today, as indicated in the Secretary-General’s report. We appreciate the great efforts and achievements already made by the United Nations in this regard. It is our hope that it will, as required by the new situation, make an in-depth study of the negative impacts of globalization on the endeavour to eradicate poverty. The United Nations Millennium Declaration has put forward many specific objectives for poverty eradication. We hope that the Secretariat will submit as soon as possible detailed implementation measures, so that those measures will not merely remain on paper for ever. Thirdly, global strategic stability is the foundation on which world security rests, and the 1972 Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (ABM) is an important cornerstone for global strategic stability. The adoption by the General Assembly of the resolution on Preservation of and Compliance with the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti- Ballistic Missile Systems at its fifty-fourth session (A/RES/54/54) by an overwhelming majority represents the call by the majority of countries in the world for certain countries to preserve and strictly observe the ABM Treaty. The United Nations should continue to pay serious attention to the efforts by a country to develop a national defence system to the detriment of global strategic stability and to take the necessary measures to forestall any further development of this dangerous move. The illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons has caused serious security, economic and social problems for developing countries in general and African countries in particular. The international community should take advantage of the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, to be held next year as well as its preparatory process, to work for an early solution to this issue. Mr. Dangue Rewaka (Gabon), Vice-President, took the Chair. We are confident that with the concerted efforts of all Member States, the United Nations, as the most representative and most important intergovernmental organization in today’s world, will display new vitality in the new century, guided by the purposes and principles set forth in the Charter.

Allow me first of all to congratulate the President on his election to this important and responsible post. We are sure that under his leadership this historic Millennium Assembly will achieve impressive results. I would also like to associate myself with all of those who have expressed gratitude to the President of the fifty-fourth session, His Excellency Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, for the effective organization of its work and also for the preparation of the Millennium Summit. Allow me also to thank the Secretary-General for his report on the work of the Organization, which contains many valuable ideas on virtually all aspects of the activity of our community. The proposals and concepts contained in the report deserve the most careful study. Given time constraints my statement will dwell in greater detail on those issues which, in the context of the problems of the epoch of globalization, require the most intensive attention from the international community and which are of particular concern to our Republic. The present session of the Assembly, which is most significant and symbolic in nature, is taking place with the enhanced and intensive attention by the international community — attention to pressing problems of the international agenda, which we will be discussing during the next few months. The fifty-fifth session began its work with the historic Millennium Summit, an international forum which had the participation of an unprecedented number of heads of State and Government. This demonstrates our shared desire to reach a level of understanding of the historic changes taking place, an awareness of the all-pervasive interdependence of today’s world and to demonstrate our dedication to the fundamental principles enshrined in the Charter. We fully share the provision in the report of the Secretary-General to the effect that one of the fundamental problems of today’s world, on the eve of the new century, remains the need to ensure international security and stability. We are firmly convinced that the leading role here must be played by the United Nations as the most authoritative and universal international organization. Today, it is quite obvious that, in the present conditions of globalization when the world is closely interlinked and united, there can be no comprehensive international security without the achievement of security of regions and the national security of individual States. We believe that the principle of globalism will continue to remain one of the fundamental and pivotal criteria for the processes of disarmament and non-proliferation. Here, Uzbekistan favours strict and unswerving compliance by all States with the international regime of nuclear non- proliferation and disarmament. Without that it is impossible to speak of strategic stability on either the global or the regional level. However, along with the principle of globalism, in the process of nuclear disarmament, the important significance of regional factors is becoming obvious, factors which can, to a significant extent, both promote and block a strengthening of the comprehensive nuclear non-proliferation regime and disarmament. Here there is a need to emphasize that the establishment, on the initiative of States of the region, of nuclear-weapon-free zones is a substantive contribution to strengthening the non-proliferation regime, disarmament, and above all to the process of the maintenance of international peace and security. What is of particular significance is the international legal legitimization of Uzbekistan’s initiative on the establishment in Central Asia of a nuclear-weapon-free zone. We highly value the efforts of the Secretary-General, the Department of Disarmament Affairs, headed by Under-Secretary- General, Mr. Dhanapala, and also the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific to support the present process for the establishment of this zone and, in particular, support for the activity of the regional expert group working on the conclusion of the draft treaty on a nuclear-weapon- free zone in Central Asia. As was noted by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr. Islam Karimov, during the Millennium Summit, today’s challenges and risks require a dynamic adaptation of all of the United Nations systems and mechanisms to the complex realities and prospects and to drawing up new approaches to ensure peace, security and stability. In our view, the need for the reform of the United Nations means the adoption of a range of measures to enhance its role and significance, above all in resolving regional and global problems. In that context, we believe that there is a need for reform of the Security Council through expansion of the number of its permanent members, including both developed and developing countries. Germany and Japan, which have reaffirmed their important role in global policy and, what is also important, who are major sponsors for financing the activity of the United Nations and many projects and programmes for humanitarian and peacekeeping, have a full right to be represented among the permanent members of the Council. Furthermore, we find it important to ensure effectiveness of the Secretary-General in reacting to global and regional challenges through the expansion of his competence. We agree that there is a need for further enhancement of the role and responsibility of the Security Council in issues of preventing armed conflicts, the effective use of instruments and mechanisms for a peaceful solution to disputes, including the use for conflict resolution — in particular for conflicts that continue a long time — of the so-called mechanism of peace enforcement. As was noted by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in his statement at the Millennium Summit, in today’s world we find that the remnants of the cold war are now being replaced by international terrorism and extremism and by aggressive nationalism and separatism as dangerous detonators undermining peace and stability. We must recognize that terrorism has been transformed into one of the major challenges and threats to international security and stability of our time. Here, we hope that this question will be given the highest priority in the activity of our Organization. As to the relevance and urgency of escalating the international community’s campaign against the rising threat of international terrorism, Uzbekistan welcomes the Secretary-General’s proposal of convening an international conference to combat terrorism under United Nations auspices. The time has come to make it very clear that terrorism and extremism can be counteracted only by the organization of a campaign against not only their manifestations, but above all against those international centres that, endowed with enormous financial and other resources, are training and exporting terrorists whom they provide with the most up-to-date technical means, weapons and financing. The anti-terrorism campaign requires coordinated international efforts and broad acknowledgement of the rights of States to protect their citizens from terrorist attacks. These provisions demonstrate the relevance of a consideration of Uzbekistan’s initiative for the establishment, under United Nations auspices, of an international centre to combat terrorism, as put forward by President Islam Karimov at the Istanbul Summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In this respect, Uzbekistan once again calls on the Members of the Organization to support that initiative and to begin its practical implementation as soon as possible. The Secretary-General’s report focuses significant attention on the issue of the drug threat. This problem is far-ranging and further exacerbated by the current upsurge of the two most dangerous phenomena of our times: international terrorism and the drug trade. Billions of dollars of income from the illicit trade in drugs serve to provide financial support to international terrorism. Here, of great significance is the implementation, not in words but in deeds, of the agreement of the States of the Group of 8 to root out the sources of funding for terrorist activity. The Millennium Declaration, which defines the major areas for joint efforts in the twenty-first century, is the expression of the determination of the Organization’s Members to take agreed measures to combat States’ international terrorism and to redouble their efforts to implement their commitments to check the universal drug problem. We are convinced that the international high-level conference, entitled “Enhancing Security and Stability in Central Asia: an Integrated Approach to Counter Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism” — which is being organized jointly by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, the OSCE and the Government of Uzbekistan and is to take place in Tashkent on 19 and 20 October — will make a positive contribution to the implementation of the commitments that have been undertaken. In conclusion, I wish once again to reaffirm the fundamental concept of the Secretary-General’s report that, on the threshold of the new millennium, we must yet again assume our responsibilities and exploit the historic momentum to overcome existing differences and obstacles, unite our efforts to achieve our noble goals and free our planet of devastating wars and conflict and ecological, social and economic crises and cataclysms.

Allow me at the outset to express our appreciation for the efforts of the Secretary-General in his management of the work of the United Nations. We also wish to offer our thanks for his report, contained in document A/55/1, and for the valuable information it contains, which clearly reflects this Organization’s role in facing the ever-increasing international challenges and problems. The Secretary-General’s comments in his report embody ideas and proposals that could contribute to the development of the activities of the United Nations within the framework of its mandate under the Charter. Prominent among these activities is the maintenance of international peace and security. The United Arab Emirates attaches great importance to the role of our international Organization in containing conflicts between or within States and agrees with the Secretary- General’s concept of collective security, as laid out in paragraph 31 of his report. This approach encompasses gross abuses of human rights, large-scale displacement of civilian populations, international terrorism, the AIDS pandemic, drug and arms trafficking and environmental disasters, in addition to the vast gap that exists between the developed and developing countries in economic, social and human development. By necessity, this issue calls for international unity in the search for objective solutions to these problems at the national, regional and international levels. The cooperation of States and their commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter and to the protocols of international law and other international instruments governing international relations are essential to conflict-prevention and peace-building. We therefore support the Secretary-General’s efforts to improve the capacities of the United Nations, in cooperation with regional and international organizations, to contain wars and disputes. We also support his view that “Peace-building in practice involves initiatives to help promote national reconciliation and justice, respect for human rights and the rule of law.” (A/55/1, para. 94) The Secretary-General’s report points out that, while the past year has seen an enormous increase in United Nations peacekeeping operations, some of these have failed because the parties to the conflicts have lacked the necessary political will, in addition to the administrative and financial problems inherent in any peacekeeping operation. We therefore support the positive and constructive proposals and recommendations of the Secretary-General that have been included in the report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, chaired by Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi. We call for a methodical allocation of human and financial resources to the promotion of the various civilian, humanitarian and judiciary efforts being made to contain the repercussions of these conflicts, such as the repatriation of displaced persons; the accelerated reintegration of ex-combatants into civil society; addressing violations of human rights — including of those suffering under occupation — and bringing their perpetrators to justice; the protection of international civil servants in the field; and the provision of international political and financial support to States in order to establish stability and sustainable economic and social development. The Secretary-General has pointed out in paragraphs 102, 103 and 104 of his report that disarmament — in particular the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons — is an important element of United Nations strategy to ensure the security and safety of countries and peoples. The United Arab Emirates believes in the right of States, particularly small countries, to enhance their defence capabilities so as to address their regional security concerns and preserve their sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence. At the same time, however, the United Arab Emirates does not support States whose policies aim at possessing prohibited weapons — leading to escalation of tension and instability at the international and regional levels. We therefore call upon those States to reconsider their positions and to follow more transparent and objective policies that will lead to finding just and lasting peaceful solutions to the conflicts between them and their neighbours, in accordance with the principles of international legitimacy. We also support the Secretary-General’s call to follow up on the promising results of the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In response to this call, nuclear-weapon States should gradually eliminate their nuclear arsenals. This will promote the stability and security of the international environment. Chapter II of the Secretary-General’s report on meeting humanitarian commitments reviews clearly the activities undertaken by the United Nations and its specialized agencies — namely, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization. These agencies play prominent roles in providing humanitarian relief and assistance, as well as developmental, educational, environmental and economic assistance, and in combating disease and dealing with natural disasters in many countries, particularly in the least developed countries. We appreciate all constructive and positive efforts made by those specialized agencies in these fields, including the efforts of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. To support these humanitarian and developmental efforts, the international community, particularly the developed countries, need to provide financial and technical assistance and to help these agencies meet their responsibilities. The international community also needs to provide assistance to affected countries, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. We agree fully with the Secretary-General’s assessment of the prevailing social and economic conditions, including the poverty and debt problems faced by many developing countries — particularly the poorest among them. The report captures precisely the kinds of challenges and problems that these countries face — challenges and problems that have sparked civil and regional wars. Given this reality, the international community should accord these problems and their consequences the important consideration they deserve. This could be done by establishing an equitable and just economic order — an order that the developing countries themselves would participate in formulating — so as to bring stability and growth to the international economic situation. The very important recommendations and proposals of the historic Millennium Summit, held at the beginning of this month, emphasized the significant role that the United Nations plays in the current international climate. This Organization is the natural and right forum to deal with international global issues and the need to promote its purposes and principles, particularly in the light of multifaceted globalization and the many other changes in current international relations. We should therefore restructure the United Nations and improve its financial and human resources and its various activities, so as to allow the Organization to carry out its important tasks, including dealing with current conflicts, peace-building and bringing about sustainable development for the good of humanity as a whole.

I wish to thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive report on the work of the Organization. It is an excellent guide for us, and it shows how the mandates created by the Member States are being translated into the day-to-day work of the United Nations machinery. The United Nations has sought to respond to the new challenges of the world. Peacekeeping operations have taken on more tasks and responsibilities to meet the increased complexity of the situations on the ground. New programmes have been set up under the aegis of the United Nations to cope with the problems that respect no national boundaries. The Organization has also taken measures to help in the eradication of poverty, illiteracy and contagious disease. The efforts to combat AIDS are an example in this regard. The Global Compact initiative has become an important innovation aimed at forging a broad-based coalition for change. We all know that Governments alone cannot do much. The involvement of civil society, non-governmental organizations and the private sector is key to advancing the objectives of the United Nations in many fields, including development and respect for fundamental human rights. These examples show that the United Nations is in fact moving in the right direction. The Millennium Summit was an opportunity to recommit ourselves to strengthening the mechanisms to deal with the new and sometimes contradictory forces that shape our times. The Millennium Summit offered an opportunity for world leaders to take stock of the achievements of multilateralism as well as of the challenges ahead. The holding of the Summit was in itself a success and reflected the prestige of the Organization and its Secretary-General. The statements made at the Summit, the discussions at the round tables and the Declaration adopted have once again set lofty goals for the Organization. Now it is time to address those goals in the daily business of the Organization. As the Secretary-General rightly put it, now is the moment to start converting into action the bold pledges that our heads of State and Government made. The problem is how to do this, how to overcome the shallow consensus on general principles and start taking concrete steps towards the implementation of the commitments. There are already concrete proposals on the table with regard to peacekeeping operations. The Brahimi report is the result of a comprehensive review of the work of the Organization in this field. The Deputy Secretary-General is now preparing a plan of implementation for the consideration of Member States. Brazil welcomes these initiatives. Our peace operations have grown in number and complexity, stretching the capacity of the Organization to respond efficiently to the new mandates. As stated in the Brahimi report, the mandates must be clear, credible and achievable. We need to be sure that the mandate of a peacekeeping operation fits the specific requirements of a given situation. It is clear that the final decision is always based on political evaluation. Nevertheless, we can improve the odds of success if the mandate is also based on reliable information and solid technical advice. To that end, the recommendation to reinforce the capacity of the Secretariat to gather and analyse information is welcome and should be given due consideration. We must increase the number of officers in the Secretariat that provide guidance for troops and police officers. In addition, much trouble and frustration could be avoided if we applied the very simple idea that it is better not to establish a mission than to establish one that is flawed from its inception. A meaningful implementation of even a few recommendations of the report will require substantial additional resources. We need to identify carefully the best way to get the resources that are required. The Millennium Summit has also set priorities in terms of eradication of poverty and development. Unfortunately, we do not have at our disposal a set of recommendations in the areas of poverty eradication and development that are comparable to those in the Brahimi report (A/55/305) in the area of peacekeeping. We have pledged to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less that one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. But how are we supposed to do that? Should we do that alone, at the national level? What kind of cooperation is required at the international level? If we want globalization to be a blessing, and not a curse on developing countries, we must tackle the flagrant imbalances in international flows of trade and investments. Efforts both at the international and national levels are necessary. Increased international cooperation for development must be coupled with sound political systems and respect for human rights at the national level. In order to eradicate poverty, a more favourable international environment must be combined with a renewed national commitment to place the individual at the centre of the development process. The Millennium Summit proved that the United Nations is the sole legitimate tool for international action. The Summit showed that the values and ideals embodied in the United Nations are by no means outmoded. The strengthening of the multilateral bodies is the only possible direction. Our task is therefore to meet the expectations raised by the Summit through the reinvigoration of multilateralism in all its aspects.

The delegation of Peru would like to thank the Secretary-General for his report on the work of the Organization (A/55/1). His report depicts the situation of the United Nations in its different domains, as well as the challenges that the international community must confront at the beginning of the new century. It reminds us of the complexity of the task, with its economic, social, humanitarian and ultimately political dimensions, that we must tackle in this millennium, as well as the importance that the Member States of the United Nations, collectively and individually, attach to stability, international peace and security. From the beginning Peru has predicated its participation in the Organization on a firm commitment to the principles and objectives contained in the Charter. But even beyond that, my country has consistently displayed the particular importance it attaches to multilateral action, whether regional or global, in resolving international problems. This essentially principled attitude is supported by our activities at the bilateral level, and it is displayed in the agreements on the demarcation of borders and other issues relating to good-neighbourliness that were pending with Ecuador and Chile. Along with our conviction about the importance of peace, our steps in negotiations with those countries were guided by a conviction concerning the impact of these agreements on the social and economic development of our countries and the region, as they would relax tension and reduce military spending. This is why I would like to emphasize the importance of the effort that the international community must carry out in a gradual and realistic process moving towards general disarmament, which is a moral and pragmatic imperative that we must always keep in our sights. However, my delegation would like to reaffirm that in the final analysis overall security can only be achieved through the equitable development of all nations. I would like to highlight the fact that there is no greater contribution to a lasting peace than the promotion of development. I would have liked to see in the report a closer relation between these two lofty values. The principles of the Charter conferred upon the United Nations a fundamental orientation, the scope and magnitude of which produce an ever-vital and forceful mandate for its organs. But, this mandate, with new circumstances, has been developing through the emergence of new concepts and even interpretations of the Charter, which can be seen through the practices of the Security Council, such as preventive deployment. In crafting the mandates for the establishment of some peacekeeping operations, faithfulness to the principles of the Charter has not been evident, nor has a respect for the specific tasks of each and every organ of the United Nations, particularly the General Assembly, which has the highest participation and therefore is the most democratic organ in the system. My delegation is also prepared to collaborate with the new proposals of the Secretary-General and will carefully study the proposals in the Brahimi report so as to render more effective the work of the United Nations in this vital area aimed at protecting the survival of States and the security and well-being of their populations, as well as respect for their fundamental human rights. We agree with the priority that the Secretary- General has attached to preventive action in international conflicts, as well as the importance of strengthening the Secretariat in peacekeeping operations. However, my delegation wishes to call attention to the increase of costs consonant with the increase of the number of operations and the excessive impact these have on countries such as mine, when costs, incurred without its participation, have to be faced with tremendous difficulties. My delegation would also like to express solidarity with the great sacrifices of the staff of the United Nations, who have been praised for their efforts to preserve peace and respect for collective human rights, threatened as they have been in East Timor, Sierra Leone, Congo, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Our country has a personal commitment to each one of these important activities of the Organization. We support the Secretary-General in seeking new consensus and new instruments and mechanisms to make the United Nations more effective in complying and carrying out its fundamental mandate. The great complexity of the international scene confronts the United Nations with other domains of action which involve problems that are more of a social and economic nature. We would like to have seen cases in which preventive diplomacy was used to resolve the problems. This intense activity of the United Nations in the preservation and building of peace shows that, unfortunately, the passing of the cold war has not brought the peace dividend that the international community had hoped for. On the contrary, local conflicts have increased, particularly in certain regions of the planet, like Africa, as the report has highlighted. We have also noted the negative impact of globalization in the economic field, for it has emphasized the gap between rich and poor. This implies the danger of greater marginalization for a broad swath of humanity, with respect to the positive economic momentum that others are enjoying as a result of the use of technology. In this context of seeking new instruments and parameters for action, we must remember that cooperation for development remains the condition of survival for our countries as a decisive instrument in bringing about the well-being of our peoples, as set forth in the Charter. Peru agrees with the need to consider the eradication of poverty as one of the most important objectives of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as the only international organization whose mandate includes peace, security, the well-being of populations, development and human rights. The United Nations has a unique opportunity to tackle comprehensively the eradication of poverty. All Member States have the responsibility to attain the objective set out in the Millennium Declaration: to reduce absolute poverty by 50 per cent by 2015. Peru’s national strategy has enabled us to halt, stabilize and reduce poverty levels. In Peru, the incidence of extreme poverty was reduced from 27 per cent to 14 per cent between 1990 and 1997. Poor countries such as mine, which have been making a determined effort to solve this grave problem, cannot fail to be pleased that the Organization is attaching growing importance to poverty reduction. Peru is gratified at the ever greater and more effective coordination among all United Nations bodies on poverty eradication, and at the suitable follow-up to the agreements reached at United Nations conferences on social development issues. But I must make it clear that this objective cannot in any way be de-linked from sustainable growth or from participatory social development focusing on the serious problem of unemployment, which is one of the major causes of poverty and of the deteriorating quality of life in our countries. Hence, proper and ongoing consideration of matters related to development financing, including trade, is of enormous importance, because without the necessary resources it will be impossible to attain our economic-growth objectives along with social development. Peru would have preferred the report of the Secretary-General to have devoted more attention to this important matter and to have laid greater stress on such substantive issues as protectionism in trade, the excessive external-debt burden and the conditions for repayment, and adequate levels of official development assistance that are commensurate with the commitments made to us. Moreover, we would have liked to see more analysis of factors for foreign investment and, especially, of the inequities faced by developing countries in the international financial, monetary and trading system. All these matters, which are closely linked to issues of development, deserve priority attention from the United Nations. We must also comment on the report’s material on sustainable development. We fully agree with the objectives set out in the report, and we agree that the problems are complex and multifaceted. We are pleased at the progress that has been made in a variety of very important areas, for example, with the negotiation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Still, we would have preferred a stronger approach to the commitments that have been made on climate change, including a recommendation on the rapid entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We also have difficulties with the report’s correlation of environment and trade. These matters deserve deeper study and careful treatment. Peru cannot accept it being so freely suggested that there is complementarity between the environment and trade policy without the existence of clear consensus within the World Trade Organization.

Let me begin by noting that today’s meeting on the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/55/1) is unique because it is taking place just following the historic Millennium Summit, which brought together in this very Hall an unprecedented 150 heads of State or Government, who came to discuss the central issue of the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century. In his millennium report (A/54/2000), the Secretary-General wrote with great insight and relevance of a vision of the Organization, with an overview of the many challenges and issues we absolutely must confront as a community of nations. The goal of the proposals and actions set out in that report is to bring about peace, security, stability and active solidarity among nations and among peoples. The specific ideas and proposals that appear in the Millennium Declaration will make possible an agreed vision for a United Nations that is better equipped and better able to confront the changing realities of today’s world. One of the great challenges facing this first session of the new millennium obviously relates to our ability to pool our efforts and our energies to ensure the progressive and realistic implementation of the decisions adopted by our heads of State or Government, in the context of a worldwide united front. We must remember that the citizens of the world were witness to the solemn commitments undertaken by our leaders, and that they all expect the resolutions and priorities adopted by those leaders to have an impact on their daily lives. We must therefore feed the flame of the Summit and, most important, maintain the “millennium spirit”. To that end, I wish to discuss a number of matters that seem to be critical parts of our response to these issues. First of all, as observed by many of our heads of State or Government both during the Millennium Summit and during their round table discussions, the first challenge is globalization. That phenomenon has created a new situation in international relations by eradicating national borders and forming a single space, a global village whose heartbeat has a fundamental effect on the way our peoples live. Globalization offers many opportunities but, for the present, only a handful of rich countries are benefiting from them, while the vast majority of countries run the risk of increasing marginalization. We should therefore try to make a united contribution to ensure that the process becomes a positive force for all the world’s peoples, and not a one-way phenomenon that exacerbates injustice and inequity between the wealthy, prosperous and dominant North and a South that grows ever poorer and that lacks any prospect of real development. Because the United Nations embodies the aspiration of the world’s peoples to live in peace and achieve economic and social progress, it must urgently set about rectifying the process of globalization by searching for appropriate solutions, perhaps through an international conference on globalization that would be intended first and foremost to encourage the globalization of prosperity rather than the globalization of poverty. It is also incumbent upon us to confront another challenge, no less important: the maintenance of international peace and security, which remains a distant goal if we think of the many harmful and varied conflicts that are endangering the very structure of States in many places, not to mention the suffering they impose on civilian populations. My delegation will return to the causes of these conflicts, particularly those that darken the skies of Africa, when the General Assembly examines the recommendations of the Working Group on conflicts in Africa. I would just like to say today that these crises are fostered, fed and above all maintained by the illicit proliferation and the circulation of small arms and light weapons, as well as by anti-personnel mines. Combating these terrible scourges requires general mobilization, concerted actions and energetic initiatives on our part to bring about their definitive elimination. In the same vein, we must attach particular importance to the Brahimi report (A/55/305) on United Nations peace operations, whose recommendations set out very appropriate conditions for a better peacekeeping doctrine that is more in keeping with the realities of today’s world. The reform of the Security Council is, in this context, another requirement, and it means transforming that central organ, entrusted with the preservation of international peace and security, into a more representative, democratic, transparent and credible organ. My delegation will return to these issues when we consider the report of the Working Group on Security Council reform and the Brahimi report. If we wish to shape the United Nations into a modern tool, capable of responding to the priorities of the twenty-first century, we must quite obviously strengthen the role of the General Assembly and rationalize the work of the other principal organs; but all Member States must also pay, without conditions and on time, their budgetary contributions. We encourage the United Nations to continue, more than it has in the past, to commit itself to coordinating its activities with those of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. Today we are living a grave paradox. It is commonly said that never before has the world accumulated so much prosperity and advanced through so many stages of scientific and technical progress. Nevertheless, more than 800 million people do not get enough to eat and 1.2 billion live in abject poverty, suffering from illiteracy, unemployment, diseases and pandemics such as AIDS and malaria. This situation stabs our conscience, for we know that the means to eradicate poverty and its related scourges exist and that all we need is a world coalition driven by a genuine will to do something about this by increasing official development assistance, cancelling debt and coordinating the struggle against all the major diseases. At the dawn of this new century and in the spirit of the Millennium Declaration, the Member States of our Organization must concretely forge an alliance or create a new partnership for development to make the twenty-first century the century of the world coalition for shared prosperity. This is a daring challenge that we must meet if we wish to build a fairer and more equitable new international human order. It is also a reasonable step to take if we truly wish to contribute to eliminating the causes of conflicts, and therefore instability in the world. In conclusion, as our heads of State and Government have done before me, gathered here in the solemn framework of the Millennium Summit, I wish to emphasize and reaffirm once again the irreplaceable role of the United Nations in the new ordering of the political, economic and cultural life of our global society. The United Nations and its system can help make this global society more humane by devising solutions that will guide the future of humanity. We have no choice today but to take this road of hope that necessarily passes through the consolidation of multilateralism and universalism.

My delegation is grateful to the Secretary-General for his comprehensive and thoughtful report on the work of the Organization (A/55/1). We commend him for raising important issues of concern to the international community, even when a number of them may be contentious. They must be seriously addressed by Member States, especially in the light of the expectations raised during the Millennium Summit. Clearly, in spite of ongoing efforts, challenges to the Organization remain, especially in situations of crisis in many parts of the world. In facing these crises, there should be more concerted efforts on the part of the international community to pool resources and to coordinate responses for maximum impact. Clearly, also building a culture of prevention, as has been espoused by the Secretary-General, is much more beneficial, long-lasting and less costly than reacting to disasters, whether natural or man-made. Increased and more effective cooperation and coordination among the various United Nations and other international agencies is especially important in responding to these many challenges. However, these responses must be made in a way that will not expose the United Nations to charges of selectivity or bias. This is important to ensure the credibility of and respect for the Organization. The Secretary-General has also touched on the “dilemma of intervention” and noted the strong reactions by Member States to the issue of humanitarian intervention, which he had first raised in his report to the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly. He was right in saying that in essence the problem is one of responsibility in the face of massive violation of human rights when human lives are at stake. This is a question that we must ponder together, and we must come to a general understanding on what ought to be our collective response to these situations. Clearly, the international community cannot sit idly by in the face of such massive humanitarian tragedies. Against this, however, is the imperative to adhere to the principles of the United Nations Charter, particularly relating to the principles of non- interference in the internal affairs of States and respect for their sovereignty. The challenge before us is to strike a proper balance so as to ensure that while human lives are saved, State sovereignty is not being trampled underfoot. We continue to believe that while the issue is a contentious one, there should be a frank and in- depth discussion of the concept. We believe in generating a healthy debate on the subject, not in stifling it. However, in doing so we must be guided by the principles enshrined in the Charter and must not put them aside, as they provide the very basis upon which the United Nations was founded. Support for human rights should not be at the expense of the sovereign rights of States. The Secretary-General is to be commended for establishing the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, chaired by Ambassador Brahimi, for the purpose of undertaking a major review of United Nations peace operations and recommending improvements to existing arrangements. We commend the Panel for its comprehensive report and bold recommendations, which deserve the serious and urgent consideration of Member States. We agree with the Secretary-General and the Panel that United Nations peacekeeping operations must be drastically revamped to ensure their effectiveness and viability in the context of the contemporary conflict situations in which they operate. Clearly, much needs to be done, not the least of which is the urgent need to strengthen the severely understaffed Department of Peacekeeping Operations with the requisite human resources. Equally important is the need to increase resources for effective peacekeeping on the ground, both in terms of its financing and in the availability of troops contributed by Member States. In the final analysis, the viability of peacekeeping operations rests on the twin issues of money and people. Current and future peacekeeping operations are a dynamic process. They have become increasingly multidisciplinary in character in response to the increasingly complex nature of contemporary conflicts. We believe that a multidisciplinary or holistic approach would address not only the symptoms of conflicts but, more importantly, their underlying causes, which are often socio-economic in nature. Sanctions remain a legitimate and legal instrument to coerce States to conform to internationally accepted behaviour and norms of inter- State conduct. Unfortunately, they often exert a heavy toll on the populace, as is graphically illustrated by the continuing grave humanitarian situation in Iraq today. The international community must come to grips with this issue, so as to ease the sufferings of the Iraqi people, even as it addresses the question of peace and security and the unresolved issues of Kuwaiti and third-country missing nationals and Kuwaiti property. All of those issues must be brought to closure if normalcy is to return to that region. My delegation is encouraged by the current efforts in the Security Council to move in the direction of more focused and targeted sanctions — the so-called smart sanctions — and to turn away from debilitating comprehensive sanctions, which clearly are a form of collective punishment. Sanctions in the future — if, and when, imposed as absolutely necessary — should have specific objectives, be clearly targeted and have specified timeframes. They should be lifted as soon as they have served their purpose and are no longer pertinent to the situation, as should have been done in respect of the sanctions imposed on Libya and the Sudan. Disarmament will remain a matter of paramount importance to the international community for as long as weapons — whether nuclear or conventional — remain the main threat to peace, security and the well being of humanity on the planet. My delegation is particularly concerned by the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons but also chemical and biological ones. We should be even more resolved during this century to work collectively for their complete elimination. In that regard, we strongly commend the Secretary-General for drawing attention to the dangers posed by the development and testing of long-range missiles, as well as to the danger posed by the possible deployment of national missile defences. We share the concern of many countries that the deployment of such a defence system could precipitate a new arms race and undermine nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts. My delegation continues to attach importance to the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of the threat and use of nuclear weapons. We regret that, to date, there has been very little serious effort to pursue in good faith and conclude negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament. Efforts in that direction at the Conference on Disarmament continue to be thwarted by the nuclear- weapon States. The prospects of a nuclear-free world have become even more dismal with the arrival on the scene of new nuclear Powers. While we welcome the outcome of the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in particular the unequivocal undertaking of the nuclear-weapon States towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, we remain highly sceptical about the political will to follow up on those commitments. The track record of the nuclear-weapon States does not inspire much confidence; it is long in promises but rather short in performance. It remains for the rest of us who do not have, and do not want to have, nuclear weapons to maintain and sustain the campaign for a nuclear- weapon-free world. In that regard, we should strongly support the Secretary-General’s call for the convening of an international conference to address the issue of nuclear weapons. In the realm of conventional weapons, we continue to be dismayed and alarmed by the proliferation and flow of conventional weapons, including small arms, to developing countries, thereby fuelling the wars of the third world, such as those in Africa, whose wars have been characterized by the use of not only small arms but also ever-more sophisticated hi-tech conventional weapons, thanks to the aggressive marketing by the arms merchants of the developed countries. We therefore look forward to the upcoming United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, which we hope will address this category of weapons that, incidentally, have killed the greatest number of people in the history of human conflict. Acts of violence against civilians, which are increasing in number, are clearly unacceptable to the international community and must be strongly condemned whenever and wherever they occur. Those responsible for those dastardly crimes must be brought to book, either through the national justice systems of the countries in which those crimes are committed or, whenever and wherever appropriate, through the relevant international criminal tribunals. Until a global enforcement mechanism is in place to address those crimes, ad hoc tribunals may be required, as and whenever necessary, as in the case of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Those international tribunals and the criminal tribunal to be established in respect of Sierra Leone should be strongly supported by the international community, thereby sending a clear and unambiguous message to potential perpetrators. Attacks on United Nations and international humanitarian personnel in the field have also been on the increase in recent times. Those acts must be condemned in the strongest terms. The Organization must ensure the safety of personnel as they carry out their noble and selfless tasks in the name of humanity. We have in the past called for appropriate acknowledgement of their contribution by the United Nations, in appreciation of their service. Given the sacrifices they have made, and will continue to make in the name of humanity, we think it fitting that they be honoured in the appropriate way by the United Nations. The Secretary-General has drawn attention to the costs and benefits of globalization, which continues to be the subject of much debate in this and other international forums. Clearly, globalization is not a panacea, but a challenge to many developing countries, as they begin to integrate their economies into the larger world economy. Indeed, the deepening divisions and development gaps of the contemporary world in the wake of globalization have become even more stark and critical and are a matter of serious concern. If not addressed appropriately, instead of closing the gap between the rich and poor nations, globalization will widen it even further, with dire consequences for developing countries and the health of the world economy. That would certainly be a severe setback to the progress made thus far. For globalization to be accepted by all we will have to ensure the effective participation of all countries in the global trading system and the integration of their social and development objectives within global economic and financial strategies. My delegation is gratified by the continuing preoccupation with, and the debate on, the globalization issue, as it reflects the deep concern about its effects and impact on the international community, particularly on developing countries. Those debates here at the United Nations, particularly at the Millennium Summit and in other international forums such as the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization, have sensitised developed countries to the vulnerabilities of the countries of the South. Hopefully, this will engender greater understanding of the problems faced by the countries of the developing world. In this regard, we would therefore encourage the United Nations to continue to engage these institutions in an ongoing dialogue on these and other important issues. We believe the United Nations can, and should, play a pivotal role in helping to develop an international consensus on many of these issues. We cannot deny the intrinsic linkage between globalization and development in all its aspects. It is clear that, while global market forces can generate wealth and prosperity, they can also lead to political tensions and instability when the impact on development is patchy or uneven. In this regard, my delegation looks forward to the upcoming international conference on financing for development, which should address the issue of the development needs of developing countries, particularly those in Africa and the least developed countries in other regions. This conference should, as a matter of top priority, consider ways and means of financing development in the context of the rapidly globalized economy. It should be animated by the philosophy of enlightened self-interest and the proposition that a more prosperous world would be to the benefit of all.

The fundamental provisions of the report of the Secretary-General attest to the fact that the United Nations — as the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin, stated at the Millennium Summit — has learned to resolve, and is resolving, the world’s most complex problems. The highest-level representatives of the international community confirmed, during that historic event, that the United Nations is continuing to play a central role in ensuring peace and stability on both the global and regional level. We have always believed, and we continue to believe, that a strong and capable United Nations is a key instrument in the search for collective responses to the challenges of our time. We consider the Organization as an irreplaceable forum for the resolution of global problems of security and cooperation, for the formation of a stable, multipolar and democratic world order. We share the Secretary-General’s view that the achievement of sustainable peace and security for all countries and peoples remains as important an objective of the United Nations on the threshold of the twenty-first century as it was at the time of the establishment of the Organization more than half a century ago. At the same time, we have no grounds to be complacent. This refers first and foremost to the multifaceted activity of the United Nations on peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace-building. Peacekeeping operations indisputably remain one of the high priority areas of activity of the Organization. However, today’s large-scale problems in the hotbeds ranging from Africa to the Balkans and to East Timor require a radical improvement of the peacekeeping potential of the United Nations. Russia, for its part, intends actively to promote this. The Millennium Summit and Assembly have indicated ways to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in preventing and settling conflicts in the world. This, inter alia, was the goal of the recommendations in the report by the Brahimi panel under the aegis of the Secretary-General. We share the basic approach, as stated in that document, which obviously will become the subject of comprehensive discussion at this session. In our view, it is extremely important to step-up and enhance United Nations possibilities for effective deployment of peacekeeping forces. It is obvious that in order to accomplish this it is necessary to achieve the speediest possible conclusion of the formation of the stand-by agreement system. We cannot fail to agree with the Secretary- General that the peacekeeping structures of the United Nations Secretariat, and, especially, the Department of Peace-keeping Operations, needs to be strengthened. We are in agreement with those who believe that the international community cannot stand by on the sidelines and look at the pain and suffering of thousands of people and the systematic and gross trampling underfoot of their humanitarian rights. Unquestionably there is a need to take into account the lessons of the tragedies in Srebrenica and Rwanda. At the same time, we are convinced that it is impossible to achieve a cessation of violations of international humanitarian law through actions which run counter to the Charter. It is appropriate to recall that in the final documents of the Millennium Summit and meetings of the Security Council at the highest level, there was a reaffirmation of the entire international community’s dedication to the strengthening of peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the Charter. It was also emphasized that interaction of the United Nations with the regional organizations must be carried out on the basis of Chapter VIII of the Charter. This means an unambiguous reaffirmation of the exclusive competence of the Council in sanctioning the use of force in international relations. Otherwise, the world will slip towards anarchy and lawlessness when attempts are made to impose order through the right of force under cover of the concept of humanitarian intervention and limited sovereignty. In case of threats or faits accomplis of mass violations of fundamental human rights, the international community must act jointly in accordance with the decision of the Security Council and in strict compliance with the Charter. That, in our view, is the essence of the answer to the dilemma of intervention formulated by the Secretary- General in his report to the Millennium Summit. We favour the development of norms of international law applicable to the search for effective responses to the humanitarian challenges of our time. Work on the adaptation of international legal norms to new realities must be conducted on a collective basis and on the solid basis of the Charter. Only in that way is it possible to draw up general, clear and universally acceptable criteria, and a legal framework for coercive actions on the part of the international community in the case of emergency humanitarian situations. We share the assessments of the Secretary- General regarding the growing significance of preventive diplomacy — a strengthening of the culture of conflict prevention which is now coming to replace the culture of response. The international community has acquired a unique arsenal of political and diplomatic means to resolve virtually any international problems. Effective use must be made of it. Work to prevent and to settle through political diplomatic means all kinds of crises must become a central element of international security in the twenty-first century — a central element of efforts to ensure strategic stability. We believe it is important to continue in-depth consideration of the concept of post-conflict peace- building. We fully agree with the conclusion of the Secretary-General’s report regarding the need to improve the procedure for the application of Security Council sanctions in order to enhance the effectiveness and flexibility of sanctions regimes. Sanctions are an extremely powerful means for deterring and preventing conflicts and demand a particularly cautious approach. I should like once again to emphasize that sanctions imposed by the Security Council should not become a means for punishing countries and peoples, as has unfortunately been the case all too often. In imposing them there needs to be complete clarity of objectives, timely agreement on clear conditions and mechanisms for lifting them, and the possibility for a gradual easing. Sanctions should not lead to destabilization of the economic situation, either within the country that is the objective of the sanctions, or in third countries. Also deserving of our attention is the strategic policy for the Organization in the area of development, which was emphasized in the report of the Secretary- General, aimed at the elimination of poverty and which provides for the conducting of effective national policy in the social sphere. Of particular importance is the activity of the United Nations to ensure a fairer distribution of benefits from globalization among all countries, inter alia, through ensuring the effective participation of each of them in the international trade system, the strengthening of international financial systems in order to counteract the emergence of crises and to improve access to financial resources for purposes of development. As noted in the report, the growth, number and the scale of natural disasters requires broader international cooperation in the areas of rendering assistance to populations who have suffered. The objective — as is quite rightly stated — should be to step up the use of scientific and technical achievements with a view to reducing the danger of such disasters. Once again, we would like to draw attention to the Russian proposals aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the international potential for responding to natural and man-made disasters. We believe that, at the outset, the United Nations ought to make an inventory of the existing potential in this field on a country, regional and international level and on this basis produce practical recommendations. The report rightly emphasizes the intensification of the interaction and complementarity of issues touching on the environment, trade and development. The task of developing the ecological components of the Global Compact is equally pressing. We consider it necessary to keep this issue at the centre of the United Nations attention. We endorse the thesis set forth in the Secretary- General’s report to the effect that the commonwealth of nations is obliged to act in the face of gross violations of human rights. We have clearly seen many instances of how inaction has led, inter alia, to the growing brutality of discrimination against our compatriots in some of the post-Soviet States and to the justification and glorification of fascism. The protection of human rights should be based on universally applicable norms, rather than on political expediency and geostrategic aspirations. Russia actively supports the enhanced attention of the United Nations to the problems of fighting international terrorism, crime and the illicit drug trade. Throughout this session, we will contribute in every possible way to broadening the legal basis of anti- terrorism cooperation and to the adoption of the convention on transnational organized crime. The Organization should be more active in its anti- corruption work and in creating a universal legal basis for inter-State cooperation in that field. In general, the report of the Secretary-General, while stimulating creative discussion on ways further to improve the United Nations, confirms yet again the thesis that the relevance and capacity of the Organization’s goals and principles to inspire have in no way diminished, but have, if anything, increased. The results of the Millennium Summit and Assembly require us all to coordinate practical measures to ensure more effective use of this unique forum and irreplaceable mechanism of inter-State intercommunication and conflict settlement in our common interests.