UN General Assembly
1999

in the field of ocean affairs. It is our view that the overall debate on the oceans can be improved. It is, however, our firm belief that efforts to improve the handling of ocean issues should draw upon existing institutional resources. 31 These efforts should also carefully take into account the principle that global bodies should not try to solve local or regional problems of fisheries management. The management of living marine resources is a very complex and sensitive task that has to be dealt with using the most advanced scientific knowledge available and in harmony with local socio-economic and environmental circumstances. Conflicts where the civilian population is expressly targeted are abhorrent and leave scars that take generations to heal. Once again, we have witnessed the emergence of the dark and evil side of human nature in the horrible ethnic cleansing that took place in the recent conflict in Kosovo. It would have been desirable if the United Nations could have played an all-encompassing role in the settlement of that conflict.