I know that you, Sir, will convey to the President of the General Assembly at the forty-sixth session my congratulations as I join those who have already congratulated him on his assumption of the duties of his important office. I know that he, as well as you and others, will bring wisdom and experience to bear, enabling you to build on the proud accomplishments of many distinguished predecessors.
The ranks of this Assembly have increased since lost year's general debate. The United Nations family has now been enriched by the accession of seven new members: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Korea, South Korea, the Marshall Island?, and Micronesia. To the representatives of these seven States I extend both a warm welcome and a pledge of Canada's continuing cooperation.
We meet this year at a time of great opportunity. The pace and direction of events of the past few months have, in general terms, augured well for a more secure and more equitable world order, and for the ultimate triumph of a world dedicated to the rule of law. But progress has presented challenges. One revolution after another has unleashed long-simmering ethnic rivalries. The changes shaking the Soviet Union have exposed the fault-lines of persistent economic and social tensions. Civil strife in Yugoslavia threatens the new peace of Europe. And growing numbers of people flee their countries of origin in the wake of political disruption, natural disasters or relentless poverty.
The international community must adapt itself and progress from a world centred on the individual nation State to an interdependent world, from a world dominated by bilateral diplomacy to one in which multilateral institutions occupy a central place.
Our adaptation at this time of revolutionary change must be both national and international. Canada is now in the process of making this kind of essential adaptation, in the face of domestic challenges. This includes a fundamental questioning of our most basic internal political structures. The Government of Canada is unshakeable in its commitment to a prosperous and united Canada, and I am confident that Canadians will succeed in renewing our own Confederation through the spirit of flexibility, tolerance, compromise and optimism that have always been a feature of Canada's relationship with this Organisation and of our many other international activities.
We owe this commitment to our own people and also to a world searching for stability, security and leadership at a time of profound and sometimes wrenching change.
Adaptation must also come to the body of doctrine and law by which States have conducted their diplomacy for centuries. In Yugoslavia, where the forces of ethnic hatred have visited death and destruction upon hundreds of people, we must not allow the principle of non-intervention to impede an effective international response. The concept of sovereignty is fundamental to statehood, to international discourse and, of course, to the United Nations itself. The current conflict in Yugoslavia is, however, more than an internal affair. A collapse of effective governmental authority in Yugoslavia, if it continues, could escalate the degree of civil strife and endanger peace and security in neighbouring countries. Thus, the concept of sovereignty must respect higher principles, including the need to preserve human life from wanton destruction.
That is why Canada has asked the security Council to consider the situation in Yugoslavia. On matters of peace and security, the Council speaks for all of us. Its actions carry the weight and authority of the entire world community. We believe that it can and should add that weight and authority to the efforts of the European Community and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe to bring about a peaceful, negotiated settlement.
Should it be decided that a United Nations peace-keeping operation would contribute to such a solution, I want to assure you that Canada is ready and willing to do its part, as we have done numerous times in the past when duty and obligation to the promotion of peace, security and stability are clear.
Events within the Organisation over the past year have been ground-breaking. Ordinary Canadians have been active players in these events, and we have participated with commitment and energy as the United Nations has lived up to its Charter mandate. Canadians supported United Nations action in the Persian Gulf. They supported our country's participation in the efforts to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty because they recognised that fundamental international principles were at stake. But they would not have supported these actions without the clear authority of the United Nations Security Council.
Now, those same Canadians want us to build an even more effective United Nations, one that is able to work for comprehensive security everywhere, based on the international rule of law. The need to build such an overriding security framework is a central lesson of the events of the past year.
I believe that we must look beyond a system that only inhibits armed confrontations. I believe that we need a new definition of the concept of multilateral security, a definition that takes into account the new and varied threats to global peace and security. These include the depletion of the ozone layer, the degradation of our seas, the debilitating scourge of illicit drugs, world-wide epidemics such as AIDS, mass exoduses of people from one country to another and the desperate poverty that persists in many parts of the world. We also recognize that our collective security depends upon democracy and respect for human rights.
The Gulf Crisis showed that the United Nations has the will and the capacity to repel military aggression. But can we meet these many new challenges? Challenges to economic and social development, to human rights and freedoms and to the environment?
For Canada, the single most important priority is to make the United Nations stronger, more effective and more relevant to the challenges of this decade. He can begin by taking a fresh look at both the United Nations Charter and the Security Council.
Pew people, for example, realise that seven countries that have joined the United Nations and are serving it with distinction are still identified as "enemy states". He can and should find ways to remove this archaic stigma.
As for the Security Council itself, we, like others, are looking for effective leadership from the current five members, which today are working together in the kind of partnership envisaged in the Charter. Canada believes it is not too soon to start looking ahead to the day when key countries, representing all regions of the globe, are permanent members of the Security Council. In the meantime, our immediate priority is to ensure that the Security Council, in its present form, can function with vision, effectiveness and wisdom.
As a starting-point, we must strengthen the Council's capacity to take preventive or anticipatory actions. An ability to assess impending flash-points, engage the necessary political will at. the earliest possible stage and take effective, decisive and timely action will increase the lead-time in reacting to events and reduce security risks by minimising the element of surprise. Indeed, the very capacity of the United Nations system to provide early and effective warning may itself discourage recourse to conflict.
I believe we can accomplish this within the existing Charter as long as the Secretary-General can continue to play a strong leadership role. We can be proud - as can Javier Perez de Cuellar himself - that during his tenure there have been a number of remarkable accomplishments despite enormous constraints. In recognizing his achievements, we acknowledge that his office needs stronger support from us to ensure that his successor can continue to provide the same inspired leadership.
At another and very practical level, for the United Nations to be efficient, all Member States must respect their financial obligations. This means paying on time and in full. Given its enhanced role, it is unacceptable in the extreme that the United Nations should be paralysed by a lack of sufficient resources because assessments go unpaid.
Canada is committed to improving the United Nations ability to channel the military resources of Member States to peaceful purposes. This is essential both for humanitarian purposes and for promoting peace and security through peace-keeping, and through military enforcement when necessary. We look to increasing the capability of the Secretary-General to plan and conduct peace-keeping missions. We should also explore ways of turning these military resources to humanitarian relief purposes.
We also need to look more closely at regional security. We are very much aware, all of us, that the Security Council's ability to deter aggressive action cannot by itself provide global security. In addition, we need effective regional security arrangements on a cooperative basis, arrangements that can address some of the underlying causes of insecurity and instability.
The new global climate for cooperation has created opportunities for regions to address their own problems without being used as dominoes in some wider ideological game. It has also created obligations for regions to do so. This approach is crucial for long-lasting peace and security in regions such as Central and Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific. It has been essential for the progress towards peace in Cambodia and the solution of other regional conflicts. In the Middle East, problems remain, but we believe that solutions to these difficult problems are now a little closer. Canada will continue to support such constructive initiatives as the current efforts of the United States based on the principles enshrined in Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). We call for direct negotiation between the parties concerned as the only route to a just and lasting peace. We continue to hope that a peace conference can open the door to those negotiations.
In the meantime, all countries can make particular efforts in the coming session to demonstrate our sensitivity to the parties directly involved. Within our own purview, a decision by this session of the General Assembly to rescind the infamous "Zionism is racism" resolution would send a powerful and positive signal, and Canada would support a move to do so.
Renewed efforts to design a comprehensive and effective framework for dealing with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are also absolutely essential. The Gulf conflict showed that conventional arms, as well as weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, can destabilize entire regions. Since 1950, shortly after the Organization was founded, the world has suffered 125 wars. Those wars have killed 25 million people, almost all as a result of conventional, ordinary weapons. How many more conflicts, how many more deaths, how many more destitute refugees does the international community need before we apply the necessary political commitment we all must show to eliminate these threats?
Canada was among the first nations to call for definitive action. In February our Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, characterized as insane the build-up of weapons that had taken place in Iraq, and we are still seeing that insanity today. At that time, the Prime Minister launched an initiative that called for a number of concrete steps: first, universal adherence to the nuclear non-proliferation Treaty and its indefinite extension beyond 1995; secondly, immediate conclusion of a global, comprehensive and verifiable convention banning the acquisition, possession and use of chemical weapons; thirdly, strengthening of the biological and toxin weapons convention; and, fourthly, transparency of international arms sales, particularly by the establishment of a United Nations register.
He are, with others, moving ahead with proposals to address the areas of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. With respect to conventional weapons, transparency is vital, not only for knowing what is going on in the arms trade but also for building confidence and trust. A global arms-transfer register that is universal, non-discriminatory and effective is long overdue. That register should also include existing national inventories, and we must be prepared to act on the basis of that information.
We applaud the historic advances made over the past year in East-West arms control. We urge all parties to ratify and implement the Treaty on conventional forces in Europe and the START Treaty as soon as possible and then to begin anew to reduce unnecessarily large arsenals further.
Let me point out that in calling for this we are not naive. Every country has a legitimate right to assess its own defence needs and every country has the right to act accordingly. But no country, under guise of defence, has the right to accumulate arms that are intended to destroy its neighbours. Equally troubling are excessive expenditures on arms that sacrifice such other important priorities as health, education and agriculture. The choice is there for all of us to make. The old saying is "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares" - instruments of destruction or tools for peace.
I should also like to say a few words about the effectiveness of humanitarian relief. Assistance to victims of natural, economic and political disasters has always been a priority of the United Nations. Yet we are well aware that the United Nations response to these crises has lost Its edge, dulled by quarrels among agencies and jealous hoarding of admittedly scant resources. In the face of the human tragedy involved, these practices are inexcusable and intolerable. Hence, it is time for the appointment of a senior official for humanitarian relief and disaster assistance who can organise prompt international responses to disaster with dispatch and compassion.
Re-invigorating the effectiveness of the United Nations Disaster Relief Organisation and cheating stronger links between New York and Geneva can provide inter-agency responses that are needed, coherent and focused responses. We support the establishment of a new United Nations fund to provide flexibility for humanitarian relief at the onset of a disaster.
With respect to developing countries, despite the fiscal constraints that are affecting virtually all countries in the world, Canada believes that a strengthened and more effective United Nations must continue its focus on helping the poorest among us.
Developing countries are making major efforts to reform their political and economic systems. Unhappily, in many countries, especially those in Africa, as dramatically confirmed in the Secretary General's report on the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development, debt-service obligations continue to exceed by far the rapacity to pay. That challenge has been severely compounded by drought, desertification, environmental degradation and disease, and by the migration of desperate people fleeing these perils.
What are the answers? While they may be complex, they are not new. The common goal of sustainable development depends upon participatory democracy, upon open, market-based economic policies, upon sound economic management and upon an orderly international trading system, which we are trying to ensure in the Uruguay Round of the multilateral trade negotiations. With ideological blocs now dissolving, we must not invent new economic blocs to divide us once again.
Over the past year we have seen remarkable progress in the area of human rights - one of Canada's favourite topics. For example, South Africa has taken important steps towards dismantling apartheid and constructing a non-racial democracy. Much, however, as we all know, remains to be done. The 1993 World Conference should become a focal point for enhancing international efforts to promote a universal culture of human rights. As we approach that Conference, we must ask how the United Nations Centre for Human Rights in Geneva can become a more vigorous and more vocal watch-dog for human rights. Given the priority we attach to human rights as one of the three primary objectives of the Charter, we must build the institutional capabilities of the United Nations system so that it can perform its functions effectively. The discrepancy between our goals in the human rights field and the modest means at the disposal of the Secretary-General is becoming increasingly anomalous.
Events of recent months have also focused increased and deserved attention on democratic institutions. We all applaud those countries that have held free and fair elections in the past year - many for the first time. But democracy is more than an electoral process; it is a way of thinking, and it must become a part of our being. It requires institutional support, including a free press and the vigilant protection of an independent judiciary. At this session of the General Assembly, we intend to pursue a resolution on the independence of the judiciary.
The United Nations must also intensify its work to achieve equality for women. Although the United Nations has taken some important steps to promote gender equality since the proclamation of the International Women's Year and the United Nations Decade for Women, the majority of the world's women still lag far behind men in power, wealth and opportunity, and they still do much of the work.
By its own actions and in its own operations, the leadership of the Organization must provide leadership on all issues of women's equality. A long overdue step would be to ensure the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat by appointing more women to senior positions.
Greater energy and vigour must be brought to bear in the implementation of forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women, including programmes designed to advance literacy. Efforts to '5 that women participate fully and have a voice in the development, process must be pursued and pushed hard. Beyond considerations of social justice and equity, which is at the foundation of our belief in this issue, it is time that we realized that no nation can be fully developed until all of its citizens are given not only the opportunity but also the ability to contribute their talents, their intelligence and their energy to that goal.
A key human rights challenge as well is to improve the lives of the world's children. This includes not only full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child but also the ambitious goals of the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit for Children and submitted at last year's session of the General Assembly by Prime Minister Mulroney.
I want to express Canada's pleasure at the follow-up that is taking place under the aegis of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). As for our own follow-up, we have taken several initiatives in order to increase awareness about children's issues and to encourage cooperation across Canada.
Let me talk a little bit also about the environment. In just eight months world leaders will gather in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). What a great opportunity to launch a concerted shift to more sustainable forms of development, to integrate environmental concerns into economic development. It is an opportunity to infuse our efforts to protect the international environment with the political will required to do so. It is an opportunity to forge an international consensus that will prevent fracturing our efforts into an unbridgeable divide between developed and underdeveloped countries.
The Rio conference is not an optional occasion. It is approaching, and we should recognize now, well in advance of our deliberations, that the price of failure will be high indeed.
From our perspective, a good package at Rio would consist of four elements: the Earth Charter, dealing with principles; Agenda 21, setting out actions; Conventions on Climate Change and Biodiversity; and a Statement of Principles on Forests. For this package to succeed, we will have to ensure that political commitments are made for the necessary resources, the transfer of technology and the adaptation of institutions.
But we are worried. Now that three of the four preparatory meetings have been held, the results can be assessed. I fear that we have not overcome the two great risks that UNCED faces: disinterest on the part of the Governments of many developed countries and a slide towards two solitudes of rich and poor.
It is true that we in Canada are worried about climate change. He are worried about the loss of species, about pollutants in the Arctic food chain, ocean resources and forests. But we, as a developed country, recognise that for developing countries eliminating poverty, ensuring nutrition and eradicating disease are top priorities and are inextricably linked to the environment. So we recognise that we cannot find solutions to one set of problems without acting on the other.
Environment and development must become a joint preoccupation. He know that developing countries need assistance to implement sustainable development. UNCED, if it does nothing else, must address that issue head on. It must come to grips with the key cross-sectoral issues, namely, human settlements, poverty and sustainability, financial resources, technology transfer, and the international economic environment, including questions of terms of trade and debt.
An important distinction between UNCED and other major conferences - and it is a positive one - is the vital role played by the many sectors outside of government which will be participating. Youth, women, indigenous people, business, industry, labour, the world's cities, both environmental and developmental non-governmental organizations, universities, colleges, scientific associations with competence and relevance have been actively participating in the UNCED process. These sectors will be present at UNCED to undertake parallel activities focusing on their contributions to the implementation of sustainable development. They will be writing their own chapters on Agenda 21. And the Conference should be structured to facilitate their special and important contributions.
There are simply no viable alternatives to practical, future-oriented results at this Conference. As we begin the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly, we must constantly remind ourselves that we are not here to represent blocs, nor to promote ideologies. We are here to represent people. "He the peoples of the United Nations" are the words taken from the Charter. Never have these words meant more or held more promise than today. But words cannot turn famine into bounty, discrimination into equality, repression into freedom, or brutality into compassion. They will mean little if we fail to give ourselves the tools for effective action or if we succumb to the temptation of unilateralism.
Canada is determined not only to honour those words but also to ensure that the Organisation, which we have long supported in the ideals that it represents, has the means to put them into practice. Canadians want to live on a planet that is peaceful, prosperous and just. We have it here in the Assembly in our power to build such a world. We build it nation by nation, individual by individual, and collectively here together.
We are encouraged by recent events and the role that the United Nations has played in those events.
Let us, as the United Nations, move from strength to strength for all the peoples of the world.


Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to extend to you, on behalf of the delegation of the Kingdom of Morocco, my sincere congratulations on your election to the presidency of the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly.
We are confident that your political skills and deep knowledge of international affairs will enable you to guide successfully our deliberations and lead us to satisfactory results.
The trust placed in you by the General Assembly reflects, at the same time, its appreciation for the eminent role played in international relations by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a country with which Morocco maintains fraternal and exemplary relations.
The delegation of Morocco is happy to assure you and the members of the Bureau of its full support and cooperation in the discharge of your important task.
I cannot fail to pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Guido de Marco, for the exemplary manner in which he conducted the work of the forty-fifth session of the General Assembly.
I should also like at the outset to welcome in our midst the three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - as well as the two Koreas, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
At the same time, it is my great pleasure to express to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, my deepest appreciation and gratitude for the tireless efforts he is undertaking in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the United Nations and for his constant endeavours to consolidate the role of the United Nations in favour of international peace and security. I should also like to commend the numerous initiatives he has undertaken since he took office in order to find solutions to international crises and international conflicts.
During the past decade, the Kingdom of Morocco has maintained very close relations with the Secretary-General, exemplified, in particular, by the collaboration of my country with him in order to find a solution to a question of great importance to Morocco.
Our deliberations take place at a particular juncture, which is the result of an historic change in international relations as a result of the elimination of contradictions between East and West on military and ideological issues and the ushering in of an era of understanding and cooperation in their relations.
Those changes will undoubtedly leave their imprint on our world for many years to come. This situation stirs our minds in different directions: sometimes, it leads us to optimism while at others it fills us with concern and foreboding, in particular with regard to the role assigned to the developing world in these circumstances: what its future will be; whether it will have a say in the shaping of that future and whether it will have a rightful share of the resources of the world.
The liberation of the countries of Eastern Europe from the plight of the old system and their accession to the free world and market economy, the historic events that have radically altered the political life in the Soviet Union, as well as its rapprochement with the Western world - all those developments incline us to optimism and to believe that the peoples of the world are adopting, with regard to their priorities and relationships, new approaches that stem from the will to resolve their real problems instead of pursuing policies that lead only to the accumulation of arms of devastation and mass destruction.
As we express our profound satisfaction for the elimination of the underlying reasons of confrontation between East and West and our hope that these developments will reflect positively on the international community and encompass the whole world, we cannot but admit, with deep regret, that this development has not been accompanied, so far, by any improvement in the deplorable conditions of the overwhelming majority of the world's peoples.
Third world countries continue to flounder under the burden of the debt problems, In fact, the debt-servicing burden prevents them from meeting the basic needs of their peoples - mainly the elimination of poverty, ignorance and disease. It does not allow them either to provide employment, adequate housing or to confront natural disasters and social ills.
With regard to the prices of primary commodities, which are the essential, if not the only, source of income of developing countries, those prices are in the throes of a downward trend which aggravates the debt problem of these countries.
The continued existence of such a situation is bound to affect international relations as a whole, sooner or later. It is indeed inconceivable to leave more than half the population of the world paralysed and unable to fulfil their role in our civilization.
 It is, therefore, incumbent on the international community to find the appropriate means to take advantage of the current developments and to channel them into a new direction that would be beneficial to all the peoples of the world. This can be done only through a constructive dialogue in which all members of the international community should participate with a view to defining the role our Organization should play in shaping the new world order which, we hope, will be fair and conducive to coexistence and cooperation. In our view, the United Nations is the most appropriate framework for the attainment of such a goal.
Morocco attaches a special importance to the movement towards unity pursued by the five States of the Maghreb, because we are convinced that the setting up of a solid Maghreb structure - which is an ambition of all the peoples of the region who enjoy close bonds of religion, language and history, as well as a common destiny - has also become today an absolute imperative if we are to mobilize all energies for the development, prosperity and well-being of the Maghreb peoples. It is also an absolute necessity if we are to cope with the challenges of our time and coordinate cooperation with other economic groupings. Thanks to the strong will that inspires our peoples in the redoubling of their efforts to reach the goals enshrined in the Treaty of Marrakesh, which established the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), important results have been achieved by the Fourth Maghreb Summit Conference which was convened in Casablanca on the 15th and the 16th of September 1991. In the course of that summit conference, the Union completed the setting up of its structures. This will no doubt enable us to achieve the aim of complete coordination and fruitful cooperation at all cultural, social and economic levels, as well as in the daily lives of the peoples of the Maghreb. In reaffirmation of the Union's will to establish constructive cooperation with other regional groupings, the summit conference recommended the pursuit of contacts and consultations with the Economic Community of West Africa. Those contacts will allow for coordination between those two groupings which belong to Africa, both the African continent and the South, where there is most urgent need for dialogue between all its countries. It is a well-known fact that Morocco, which has active economic ties with many States of the North, was one of the first countries to call for the initiation of such dialogue. We are convinced that dialogue is the ideal means of unifying the positions of the countries of the South in a manner that would allow them to defend their interests within the framework of the North-South dialogue, which we hope will be constructive and fruitful.
As for the steady contact established between AMU, on the one hand, and the European Economic Community (EEC) and its Western Mediterranean members, on the other, we have noticed constant progress towards achieving the assigned goal, namely, the laying of sound foundations for development, security and stability in the interests of all countries in that region. It is an established fact that those two groupings are linked by solid ties of history and geography, which manifest themselves in political and economic, as well as in cultural and human fields. It is, however, regrettable that those relations witness some instability from time to time - a situation that requires the emergence of a common political will capable of transcending certain negative outlooks and of imbuing this relationship with a new dynamism that would enable it to live up to the expectations of our peoples and the common principles and ideals we share. This can only be achieved by avoiding futile attitudes and focusing on the practical means whereby we can achieve the level of cooperation that would ensure for both shores of the Western Mediterranean the stability and security we need so that we may engage in a fair and beneficial dialogue. If I have addressed this particular question at length, it is because my country has developed multi-faceted ties with the EEC. However, those close relations have not so far met the requirements of development and the free voluntary exchange of goods and ideas. However, Morocco, just like its other Maghreb partners, remains ready to initiate that dialogue. We are hopeful that the next meeting between the AMU and the EEC to be held in Brussels in November 1991, will lead to results that would give a new impetus to the process and create an appropriate framework for cooperation between the two groupings. We are all aware of the details of the Palestinian problem and of the suffering of the Palestinian people, which has occasionally led to violence and extreme positions. It goes without laying that Morocco supports the just struggle of the Palestinian people in their striving to exercise their inalienable and legitimate right to establish their independent State on their native soil under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, their sole and legitimate representative.
Though we are now entering upon a new era of international relations, we cannot but underline the tragedy of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories which arises from the persistent Israeli refusal to implement international resolutions and its persistence in its settlement policy with the aim of creating a new demographic situation in those territories, a situation which is in total contradiction with the present international effort aimed at reaching just and lasting peaceful solutions based on international legality.
Morocco lends its support to the current initiative of convening the Middle East peace conference. We consider this initiative to be the best means of achieving a just and lasting peace in the region and finding a final solution to the Palestinian question and the Arab-Israel conflict. We are all the more optimistic as the President of the United States of America and the President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - co-Chairman of the peace conference on the Middle East - have repeatedly stated that the conference will be based fundamentally on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).
Morocco would like to express its full readiness to work for convening the conference under the right conditions to ensure its success in the best interests of all concerned, put an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict and, thereby, achieve the happiness and satisfaction of the people of the whole region.
Finally, I cannot fail to mention the support of my country for the Declaration issued by the Palestine National Council at its most recent meeting last month in Algiers.
Morocco would like to express its profound satisfaction at the results of the Lebanon peace process which started with the setting up of the High Arab Tripartite Committee in 1989. Those results are: the signing of the Taif Accord, the election of the President of the Republic and the returning of a legitimate government in Lebanon that has gained the recognition of the international community.
On this occasion, I would appeal to all nations of the world to continue to provide their assistance to Lebanon, so as to enable that country to implement its programmes of reconstruction, and ask them to contribute to the international fund for the reconstruction of Lebanon.
Morocco, a member of the Tripartite Committee which has strong ties with the sisterly country of Lebanon, will not fail to exert every effort to enable that country to lead a decent life of freedom through reconciliation and national understanding among all its citizens.
Morocco has followed with great interest the developments on the African continent during this year. We consider the important steps taken in order to eradicate the system of apartheid in South Africa to be a resounding victory for the principles of justice and equality. This gives us hope that a democratic and multiracial society where all the citizens of that country could coexist without any discrimination can be established.
On this occasion, we should like to congratulate the people of South Africa on the political victories achieved recently, at the cost of heavy sacrifices, which enabled them to restore some of their civil rights. We welcome also the courageous measures undertaken by President de Klerk aiming at the eradication of the policies of apartheid from its roots. We encourage him to continue on this path, in collaboration with the African leaders of his country, so that constitutional reforms can be adopted in conformity with the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the South African people.
On the other hand, the positive development witnessed by the sisterly country of Angola constitute a source of satisfaction. The parties concerned have indeed shown wisdom by the ending of their fratricidal conflicts and the signing of an agreement this year in Portugal the repercussions of which are beneficial to the entire people of Angola.
I am happy to announce that Morocco is participating in the Second United Nations Angola Verification Mission, with elements of its Royal Armed Forces and Police, because of its great interest in African affairs and its solidarity with the sisterly country of Angola.
The agreement concluded by the four Cambodian parties and in particular the establishment of the Supreme National Council, the chairmanship of which was recently assigned to Prince Norodom Sihanouk, as well as the crucial steps undertaken to put an end to their conflict and allow their people to live in peace and security, are in fact very wise decisions. We should like to express our satisfaction and congratulations to all those who have participated in that process.
We should like also to express our hope that the Afghan parties will be able to reach a lasting settlement in order to allow the brotherly Afghan people to live a decent life of peace under a government of their choosing.
Morocco attaches extreme importance to the so-called question of Western Sahara, as it represents for the entire Moroccan people a highly important issue linked to the very destiny of our country and it also has considerable repercussions on the future of our subregion.
In this regard, I should like to recall the organic link which exists between that territory and the other parts of Morocco. The social, religious, human and historical ties which mark the relations between Sahara and the other provinces of Morocco, as well as the commitments of allegiance undertaken by the entire Moroccan people towards their Monarch, have blended the whole Moroccan territory in one melting pot. Succeeding centuries have only consolidated those ties. Likewise, the short period of time in which Morocco had to live divided under a very peculiar colonial rule witnessed heroic resistance carried out by the Moroccan people all over its territory in order to defend and preserve its unity by all means.
While colonialism had divided Morocco into different zones - the international zone of Tangier, the French protectorate in the middle part of the country and the Spanish zone in the northern and southern provinces - the liberation of those zones took place gradually, one part after the other, in a peaceful manner, circumstances permitting.
The southern zone was liberated starting with the province of Tarfaya in 1958, followed by Sidi Ifni in 1969, until Morocco recovered in 1975 what is called the "Western Sahara", the last part of the southern zone which was under the rule of the same Spanish authority. This recovery of Sahara took place on the basis of an international agreement signed in Madrid on 14 November 1975, of which the General Assembly has taken note and which was registered with the Secretariat of our Organization.
One would like to ask the reasons why the question of Western Sahara remained on the agenda after the recovery by Morocco of its Saharan provinces. At this juncture, we do not see any need to go back to the history of this problem now that we are looking at the future with hope. We should like to recall, nevertheless, that Morocco, as an African State, had tried to settle this question within the African framework. However, when we could not achieve that objective, we voluntarily requested the Secretary-General in 1984 to start officially a mission of good offices.
Mr. Peres de Cuellar has, in fact, exerted efforts for which we are thankful and initiated contacts with all parties. The good offices that he has undertaken since April 1966 have resulted in the elaboration of a framework plan approved by the Security Council in April of this year in its resolution 690 (1991). Morocco, which was behind the initiative of the Secretary-General, would like to state its total support for that framework plan.
The implementation of all the elements of that plan will undoubtedly require respect for all the time frames set in the successive stages provided for in the plan. Likewise, the translation of its provisions into practical measures will require negotiations that could ensure full implementation of both the letter and spirit of the plan.
We are confident that the cooperation and understanding that have always marked the relations between Morocco and the Secretary-General will contribute to the settlement of this question at the beginning of next year.
In this regard, we should like to extend to the Secretary-General our most sincere thanks and profound gratitude for the tireless efforts he has undertaken and continues to undertake to reach this goal.
The world scene has witnessed, this past year, decisive events that made people talk of a new world order. The present international situation indeed differs completely from the one that prevailed since the Second World War. This will require a new vision for the future of our world.
In order to do that, we, at this crucial juncture, should express our ideas frankly and responsibly, and refrain from imposing one-sided concepts. This can be done only in the context of a comprehensive dialogue that would embrace all peoples of the world and take into account their traditions, history and culture.
We have no doubt that this dialogue wi11 be fruitful only if it takes into consideration the economic situation of the majority of the countries of the world. It would be inconceivable for a new international order to set aside the problems of development. Security and development are two interrelated elements: the one cannot be achieved without the other.
We are optimistic about the possibility of building a world where freedom, security and peace will prevail, a world that tackles all problems in an atmosphere of solidarity and interdependence. We are convinced that this session of the General Assembly will provide a useful opportunity for exchanging views and identifying the ways and means that can lead us to the attainment of this noble objective.


Mr. President, I should like to tell you how very pleased I am to see the representative of a country linked to mine by traditional ties of friendship and cooperation responsible for directing the work of the General Assembly. Your personal qualities and acknowledged experience will contribute to ensuring that this session will conclude with successful results.
I also wish to underscore the skill and competence of your distinguished predecessor, Mr. Guido de Marco, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice of Malta, and, in all fairness, to express the respect inspired in me by the admirable work performed at the head of the Organisation by its very distinguished Secretary-General, Mr. Perez de Cuellar, who has made so many and such varied efforts on behalf of peace in complicated and difficult circumstances.
I should like also to extend my warmest welcome to the seven new Members which have just joined the United Nations: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - whose newly-recovered independence has given us cause for rejoicing - as well as the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Once again it has been the wish of the Spanish Government that the King, by virtue of the functions conferred upon him under the Constitution, should address this universal gathering. He does so on behalf of a country which was one of the first in history to decide to become a nation-State, and which as such has been contributing since the dawn of the modern age to the birth and normative development of international society. Thus, as a constitutional monarch, I represent an ancient nation and also a young people which, for this reason and also because it has recovered democracy and freedom, faces the future with hope and enthusiasm.
It was also with hope that the founders of the United Rations conceived of it as a centre for harmonizing the efforts of the world's people to attain international peace and security, as an institution designed to foster cooperation among nations for the solution of their economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and also as an Organization devoted to reaffirming faith in the rights of man and the dignity of the human being by eliminating discrimination based on race or sex, belief or ideas.
Since the San Francisco Conference, the world has undergone profound transformations and has been subject to considerable change. Nevertheless, our peoples aspire - today more than ever - to ordering their coexistence both within and outside their borders in accordance with the same ideals of peace, justice and liberty that constitute the fundamental triad upon which this Organization has been based ever since it was founded almost half a century ago. The best guarantee for a future of hope for all mankind lies in the realization of these ideals. It is necessary to emphasise the many achievements of the Organization on the long and difficult path leading to the universal realisation of this threefold ideal, which la enunciated in the Preamble to its founding Charter.
The United Nations has contributed, in an outstanding way, to avoiding confrontation among States, to preventing the outbreak of aimed conflicts, or to limiting their effects on civilian populations. It has also demonstrated recently that the international community is capable of reacting effectively and jointly for the purpose of racing up to aggression. And it continues to carry out a commendable effort of peacemaking in different regions of the world, whether by keeping the peace in situations of potential conflict or by promoting peace where it must be re-established.
The United Nations has been first of all the spur, and then the powerful driving force, in the process of decolonisation which, in the short span of a few decades, has radically transformed the structure and the very composition of international society. Society has been enriched by the accession to it of many peoples and countries which formerly were colonised and which today are represented here in their capacity of sovereign and independent States.
Nevertheless, colonialism has not yet disappeared from the world, and for this reason this General Assembly has proclaimed the 10 years from 1990 to the year 2000 as the International Decade for its elimination. I trust that this noble aspiration may soon be realized, thereby eliminating once and for all any vestiges of anachronistic situations incompatible with the current world order.
In this connection, I cannot refrain from mentioning a colonial problem which has not yet been resolved and which affects the territorial integrity of Spain. Moreover, as members are aware, it is an issue especially sensitive for all Spaniards. It is the issue of Gibraltar, and today I wish to reiterate my hope that the Hispano-British negotiating process now under way will be effective in achieving a solution compatible with the times in which we live.
The activity of the United Nations system has been enormous in the sphere of economic and social development, establishing guidelines and criteria, endowing funds and programmes and designing structures for cooperation which have benefited hundreds of millions of people on every continent.
The United Nations has also inaugurated a new era in the history of international relations by introducing a whole set of mechanisms and instruments aimed at promoting respect for human rights. In so doing, it has effectively delimited the scope of one of the principles on which international society is based. Now it is no longer possible in our day to maintain that action defending human rights and exercised within the framework of the Charter constitutes Interference in the Internal affair* of a State. This is certainly a decisive advance on the path to the protection of human dignity from the abuse and outrages that may be committed against it through the arbitrary exercise of public powers or of any other centre of power within a society.
It is precisely the success that Member Status have achieved In the implementation of such noble aspirations that moves me to express the deep respect that this Organisation inspires in me as well as my respect for the work and efforts which the representatives of the respective Governments devote dally to the cause of peace in the world, to human freedom, and to justice for all peoples.
The peaceful solution of disputes, respect for human rights and the fostering of the economic and social development of peoples constitute the basic pillars sustaining peace. If one of them were to be removed, the entire edifice would crumble. Hence, the international order which all of us together must build.
In this endeavour Spain is sparing no effort to collaborate with the United Nations. Thus, and in response to the Secretary General's appeals, Spain has taken part in the commendable activity of the peace-keeping forces, first, in Namibia and Angola, and then In Central America. We are very pleased that Spaniards - both civilians and military - are. with them, actively contributing with colleagues from many other countries to the promotion of peace and coexistence in different parts of the world.
In recent years, Spain has also considerably raised its contribution to the Organization's voluntary funds and programmes, ranging from those whose purpose is the promotion of development to those devoted to the social groups most in need of attention, such as children, refugees or populations affected by natural disasters. This commitment; is due to the higher level of development attained by Spain in recent times. We undertake it with total conviction and the Spanish Government intends to work resolutely towards this goal.
The end of the cold war has opened up very hopeful prospects for mankind though the world is not yet free of tensions and risks. We have recently witnessed spectacular changes, which, we hope, have irreversibly ushered in a new climate of detente and cooperation, where confrontation and mistrust, formerly reigned. The transformations now under way in the Soviet Union and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the vigorous revival of democratic ideals and practices in Latin America, and the progressive dismantling of the system of apartheid in South Africa, as well as democratic trends on the African continent, have led to the emergence on a universal scale of a rejuvenated flow of hopeful expectations. But these expectations, which at times are conflicting, are putting to the test, not only the structures and the chances for transformation of many countries, but also the capacity of the international community to respond to the yearnings for democracy and progress of largo groups of peoples who have recovered their faith in themselves. We cannot forget that, just as freedom is an essential condition for peaceful coexistence, the latter must also be based on justice and on the prosperity of peoples - of all peoples who rightfully demand adequate economic and social development.
For all these reasons, although the United Nations has played a major role in the changing world over the past few years, its role in the new world now being reshaped will be even greater. In this new world, the ending of the confrontation between East and West places more in evidence another division which is no less dramatic - the North-South division. It is a world in which the differences between developed and developing countries not only continue to exist, but are becoming even greater.
This imbalance has been particularly disquieting during the past decade in Latin America and in Africa, continents in which the rate of growth of resources has been lower than that of the population. The correcting of this trend constitutes a challenge which we must face not only because it is an imperative of justice, but also on behalf of peace and security for all. In our international community, which is closely interdependent, economic deterioration in any part of the world generates negative consequences for the other parts. A coordinated effort by the industrialized countries, in conjunction with the developing countries, is needed in order to stimulate harmonious growth that assures a decent standard of living for the vast sectors of mankind, who today live in poverty, or who are struggling to overcome stagnation or backwardness.
Now we are all much more aware that economic development is scarcely possible if the rules of a market economy that allow for private initiative are not respected. Despite its imperfections, the market constitutes an irreplaceable guide for economic activity and is indispensable for a rational allocation of resources. But, at the same time, it will always be necessary, in the general interest, to complement it with appropriate correctives in order to meet the needs of the least favoured sectors or groups.
Societies cannot advance if they do not pay proper attention to the development of their human resources. It is important to raise the hopes and living conditions of the population and their level of literacy, improve nutrition and reduce the rate of infant mortality. These are important social indices because it is the human being and not the State which is ultimately in possession of the right to development.
It will be difficult to achieve these objectives if national societies do not organize themselves on the basis of respect for certain principles, among which must be mentioned the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and the safeguarding of human rights. These goals cannot be attained if society does not endow itself with political systems that allow for the participation of the people and the free election of their leaders. One of the great achievements of civilisation has precisely been the designing of political structures capable of reconciling the essential equality of all people with the diversity of thought and interests that provide their driving force.
from this perspective it is encouraging to note the emergence of a consensus within the United Nations on these issues. At the same time we are convinced that the easing of international tension and the end of the cold war will provide many opportunities for slowing down the arms race and making further progress in disarmament agreements, as shown by the recent United States initiatives and proposals which have been welcomed so favourably. These are opportunities which must be seized so that we can devote a large part of the resources released to fostering economic growth and social progress the world over.
I shall add another consideration which is perhaps the most important. There can be no sustained economic development if we do not respect the environment, which provides us with natural resources and is the framework that sustains human life on the planet which we share as our common home.
We must combine our efforts today more than ever before, in order to eliminate the sources of pollution from the atmosphere and the air which we breathe; in order to confront the dangers which threaten our oceans, seas and rivers; and in order to ensure the survival of the woods and the biological diversity of plants and animal species. This is the greatest challenge now facing the international community. The settlement of these problems must be a priority goal for all Governments, which must set their sights on future generations. They have the right to inherit a living planet, and it is our obligation to bequeath it to them. The United Nations also took pioneering action in this area for the first time barely two decades ago, by including environmental issues on the list of matters of global interest.
The United Nations continues to keep aflame the torch that was lit in Stockholm. Once more the United Nations has taken the immensely important decision to convene a Conference on Environment and Development next year. The initiative is just as timely as is appropriate the decision to place environmental protection within a context of interdependence for the purpose of sustained growth and development for all countries. It requires nations with wealthy economies to devote supplementary financial resources to the developing countries and to be willing to transfer to them the technologies needed to protect the environment.
Action by Governments on a national and international scale is necessary but not sufficient. Concerted efforts on the part of companies, the media, the scientific community and non-governmental organizations are needed in order to meet this global challenge. Much has been done, but much more remains tot us to do. When preparing for the Conference, I am certain that members will be very conscious of the fact that conservation and the improvement of the environment are the means to the survival of mankind. And at this point allow me to indicate - as did the Secretary-General last year - that just as the Organisation's Charter is the basic instrument governing relations between States, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that which regulates relations between the State and the individual, the time has come to think about drawing up an instrument that regulates the relations between mankind and nature.
We are on the threshold of a year of special importance and relevance for my country, and also for Europe, for America and for the whole world. The full integration of Spain into the European Community will culminate in 1992, at the same time as the Community completes its single market and takes new and decisive steps towards political, economic and monetary union. It is our fervent desire and also a very firm commitment on our part that this process be directed to promoting stability and progress in continental Europe as a whole, and also that it will be accompanied by the continuous opening up of Europe to the rest of the world, as befits its historic essence and its most genuine interests.
In 1992 - five centuries after the initial meeting between the old and the new worlds - we Spaniards will take on the important responsibility of hosting events as important as the Seville World Fair, the Barcelona Olympic Games and the Second Ibero-American Conference, which will be the continuation of the one held this year in Mexico. With all this, we hope that Spain in 1992 will be a meeting-place for men and women from all over the world, a crossroads for scientific and cultural contributions and spoiling successes, and a setting for reflection and plans for our common future. Far from being a mere simplistic exercise in exaltation, we would like the universal spirit with, which the United Nations is infused to preside also over the activities that will take place in our country in 19S2 and to which all members and their respective countries are cordially invited.
I wanted to share some thoughts with you on the major issues now facing the international community as a whole. Mankind's very survival and the shape of its future depend on the way that they are approached and resolved. The international community is equipped with the most appropriate instrument for meeting this important challenge; the United Nations. For this reason I wished today to reaffirm my confidence in the Organization and in its ability to attain increasingly greater heights of peace, justice and freedom for all peoples. Lastly, I should like to reiterate the fervent wish of the Spanish Government and people, to participate in and contribute more actively to the endeavours of the United Nations on the basis of the experience of our past, our present energy and our hope for the future. Please rest assured that in this lofty undertaking the United Nations may count upon the solidarity and support of Spain and its King.


On behalf of the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, I should like to congratulate warmly Ambassador Shihabi on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly. His election did not occur by mere chance. It reflects recognition of his outstanding qualities and is a mark of the respect in which his sister country, Saudi Arabic, is held in the international arena. I am sure that with his experience and abilities, the work of the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly will be guided efficiently and ably. I should like to assure him of our full cooperation in his Important and difficult mission.
I should like to express once again the appreciation of our delegation to his predecessor, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta, His Excellency Mr. Guido de Marco, for the most able manner in which he presided over the work of the last session.
We should also like to draw attention to the continuing work for peace of the Secretary-General of our Organization, His Excellency Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar. We once again assure him of our full cooperation and commend him most warmly. We also welcome the delegation of Cambodia, led by His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Sihanouk. We trust that the process of reconciliation and dialogue which has been begun will soon, under his leadership, result in peace in that country which we hold so dear.
Admission to the United Nations of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is indeed an important event end we trust that this will encourage those two friendly States to pursue their dialogue with a view to achieving the unification of the country.
The presence here among us today of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania indeed demonstrates that they have regained their sovereignty and we extend to them a warm welcome. We also welcome the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. This will no doubt enhance the universality of our Organisation as almost all the inhabitants of the world now adhere to its principles and work in line with its objectives.
Many events have taken place in the world since our last session. Some of those events are cause for hope, while others are signs of danger. Peoples' aspiration after freedom and democracy became stronger while ideological antagonisms receded. However, the Gulf crisis and the persistence of many hotbeds of tension and events now under way in Eastern Europe show the limits of the changes and the problems that they can generate.
We do of course welcome greater cooperation between the major Powers, the progress of democracy and the disappearance of ideological barriers. But all these achievements, regardless of their importance, cannot bear fruit outside some framework of justice that disregards particularistic approaches and vested interests.
In the Middle East, the oppressed people of Palestine still suffer under the yoke of occupation. A solution must be found to the problem. But one cannot conceive of any solution without the participation of the Palestinian people whose representative is the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), or without full respect for their inalienable right to establish their own State in the land of Palestine.
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania supports the holding of an international peace conference on the Middle East and welcomes the initiatives that are being taken in this respect.
In the Gulf region, the crisis has caused enormous human and material destruction. The war has left the entire region devastated. While we share the joy of the people of Kuwait, who have regained sovereignty over their territory, we cannot ignore the tragedy of the people of Iraq who are deprived of food and medicine, regardless of the recommendations of missions sent by the United Nations.
In Western Sahara, current developments augur well for an imminent end to the fratricidal conflict there. The cease-fire agreement of 6 September 1991 and the setting up of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) side by side with the goodwill of the parties concerned, should lead to peace in the subregion - peace that will certainly make a significant contribution to the building of the greater Maghreb. We, for our part, will spare no effort in supporting the peace process that has been initiated by the United Nations. The United Nations may rest assured of our full support.
In South Africa, we follow with great interest the development of the situation and hope that this augurs well for the future of the region.
In Angola, we welcome the peace agreement which was signed on 31 May 199 3 between the Government of the People's Republic of Angola and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola. He welcome the spirit of constructive cooperation which led to the agreement and hope to see the sons of Angola tackling together the difficult task of reconstruction and development in their country.
In Liberia, as a result of African wisdom, a return to calm has begun. The efforts of the Community of West African States have encouraged the brothers who were divided to sit down together at the negotiating table. We hope that that spirit of fraternity and concord will soon be translated into a permanent peace and a return to normality in the country.
We, for our part, have begun discussions with our brothers in Senegal so as to move ahead from the serious events which disrupted the region in 1989 and which led to so much human suffering. We hope to open a new chapter in our relations where tension and suspicion will yield to a serene relationship based on history, geography and human ties.
In Asia and in Latin America, the will and the resolve of governments have made possible the resolution of numerous conflicts. Last July the first Ibero-American Summit held in Guadalajara, with the participation of Spain, Portugal and Latin American countries, provided a new framework for concerted action and cooperating, and we hope that this new forum will help to strengthen peace in the world.
In Afghanistan, we continue to follow the developments of the situation. We regret that, despite the agreement signed three years ago, and the withdrawal of foreign troops, peace has not yet returned to the people of Afghanistan.
In Cyprus, hopes raised through the mediation of the Secretary-General are slow to take the form of a final and lasting peace agreement. We invite the parties to the conflict to continue a constructive dialogue with a view to finding a solution to the problem that would bring security and social justice to all the component parts of the Cypriot people.
Today, while we have grounds for welcoming some positive tendencies towards the resolution of political problems, we still feel greatly concerned over the worsening economic and social situation of more than two thirds of the human race. That already difficult situation has been aggravated by the consequences of the Gulf war which consumed or diverted considerable resources which were intended for development aid.
The increasing number of international forums where development problems are discussed has not improved the situation. Rather, it has brought about more frustration and disappointment. Bilateral aid continues to fall and it is increasingly tied to the acceptance of concepts and models offered by the donors with the resulting danger of simply neglecting the cultural and socio-economic features and traits of the recipients. The international financing institutions are increasingly adding to the constraints that they impose and also the area in which they have to operate has become larger with the changes in Eastern Europe. Yet there has been no increase in the resources available to them. However, despite all this, we are optimistic and hope that the developing countries will see their demands acceded to in respect of debt relief, fair prices for commodities, free access to the markets of the industrialized countries and an increase in development aid.
Africa, more than any other continent, is in the grip of an unprecedented economic crisis, at a time when social and political changes are freeing the energies of its peoples and creating conditions that are more favourable for development. Unless our economies are revived, we may only expect serious human plights such as hunger, internal disruption and inter-State disputes. At the continental level, awareness of the situation was reflected at the summit meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Abuja, when it adopted the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, for the economic integration of the continent.
The economic situation of the developing countries, particularly of African countries, makes it essential to seek solutions that would enable our countries to provide internal resources and to have new means made available to them for the desired economic takeoff. If nothing is done in that direction, structural adjustment programmes and measures will simply worsen the situation of the poorest nations without giving them any assurance of a better future.
The industrialized countries have shown that they can mobilize their resources at will. They did that when they wanted to encourage change in Eastern Europe and when they wanted to deal with the Gulf crisis. Improvement in the international climate and arms limitation have made it possible to make more resources available for peaceful development. In this connection, we welcome President Bush's initiative to give a new impetus to general disarmament. We hope the rich countries will adopt an effective policy that aims at supporting development with a view to creating a better world and achieving fairer distribution of the world's wealth. It this is not done, the fears expressed in 1990 by the Secretary-General will indeed come true. We warned that progress at the political level may prove illusory if we cannot respond to the aspirations for prosperity for the overwhelming majority of the world's population.
The continuing degradation of the environment is a source of concern for the human race as a whole. It requires concerted action by all countries, based on their abilities and their respective responsibilities. Environmental protection must be seen as an integral part of development efforts. My country, which has been affected by desertification and the adverse consequences of that phenomenon, attaches the greatest importance to environmental issues. We welcome the convening next June of the conference in Rio de Janeiro, which will deal with this issue.
My country, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, suffers from the impact of the world crisis, which has been aggravated by such natural disasters as drought, desertification and locusts. Despite these difficulties, our people, under the leadership of our President. Mr. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, are standing firm, and we are constantly working towards achievements, which have been recognized by our development partners.
While we do indeed deplore the world economic situation, we also welcome the progress made in many countries in the areas of democracy and freedom. The Islamic Republic of Mauritania, true to the commitments of its Political Directorate, has furthered the democratic process launched in 1986 with the establishment of the municipalities. A new Constitution was adopted by referendum, and new laws are being promulgated on political associations freedom of the press. These developments lead to the creation of the best possible conditions for the full exercise of political rights by all citizens without distinction.
We have promulgated laws granting amnesty for all political Crimes and offences or offences relating to domestic or external State security issues, over the period from 1960 to the present. We have thus tried to encourage everyone to participate in national construction. The next stage will involve the organisation of free, multi-party presidential and legislative elections.
In addition to this progress achieved on the path to democracy, we are pursuing our struggle against illiteracy, which we hope to eradicate completely by the year 2000.
Emancipation of women and child care are other important aspects of our national policy. Many measures have been taken in this area, and they have been hailed by all the organisations involved in these issues.
I should like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to all those countries, institutions, government bodies and non-governmental organizations that have helped us and that continue to help us within the context of the efforts we are making to ensure the economic and social prosperity of our people.
Mankind is at a historic turning-point. A new world order is emerging. This new world must be freed from the current economic imbalances, ensure that there is justice for all peoples without distinction as to ethnic origin or religion, promote human rights, not selectively, but rather universally, and be based on a genuine consensus, which applies the same rules to everyone.
The United Nations, which embodies the unanimous will of all countries, has a paramount role to play in the current crucial phase. It must give direction to collective action and ensure that the will of the majority prevails over the will of a few States, no matter how powerful they may be.
Peace, democracy and development are the goals that the United Nations set for itself in 1945. However, movement towards these goals has been hampered by the conflicts of the most powerful and the egoism of the richest. Let us ensure that we achieve these goals. If we do so, we will then have established a fair and equitable world order that can elicit the enthusiastic support of everyone. For its part, Mauritania, guided by our unwavering faith in the ideals of the Organisation, will endeavour always to improve, strengthen and enhance the role of the United nations as it works towards the achievement of its purposes and objectives.