UN General Assembly
1994

Australia wants the United Nations, over the next 50 years, to be an active and effective agent for the peaceful settlement of disputes. We want it to be a catalyst for international peace-building, working to strengthen international law, control and reverse arms races, promote confidence and dialogue between States and address underlying causes of instability, including internal conflict. We want the United Nations to promote, in more effective coordination with the major international economic and financial institutions, equitable and sustainable development and to coordinate responses to humanitarian crises. We want it to emerge even more strongly as a promoter of universal standards of human rights and their respect by Governments. We want the United Nations to pursue its objectives of peace, development and human rights in an integrated, coordinated way, with these objectives complementing, rather than being in competition with, each other. And we want it to be an Organization assured of the wholehearted backing of its Member States and provided by them with all the financial resources it requires to meet its obligations.