Mr. President, please allow me, first of all, to
warmly congratulate you on your election to the
presidency of the current session of the General
Assembly. I am convinced that with your remarkable
ability and rich experience, you will admirably fulfil this
mission. I would also like to express my appreciation and
thanks to Mr. Amara Essy for the important contribution
he has made during his presidency.
I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to extend
my welcome and congratulations to the Republic of Palau,
which was admitted into the United Nations after the last
session.
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the end of
the Second World War and the founding of the United
Nations. Over the past 50 years, the United Nations has
stood the test of the vicissitudes in the international
situation, grown steadily, scored remarkable achievements
and made major contributions to the peace and prosperity
of mankind. Its membership has increased from 51 at its
founding to today’s 185. The status and role of the United
Nations, the most universal and authoritative
intergovernmental organization of sovereign States today,
is irreplaceable by any other international organization.
The United Nations has traversed a tortuous and
uneven path over the past fifty years, just like the
development of anything else. On the occasion of the
fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations,
it is time to review the purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter, earnestly summarize the positive
and negative experience, and introduce appropriate and
necessary reforms so as to revitalize the United Nations
and usher it into the new century with a new look to meet
the challenge of the times. This is the call of all peoples
and a lofty mission of the times.
The United Nations, which was founded in the
triumph of the world war against fascism, reflects the
ardent desire and determination of the world’s people to
avert the scourge of war forever, safeguard world peace
and security, carry out friendly international cooperation
9

and achieve common development. History has repeatedly
proved that adherence to the purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter will enable the United Nations to
play a positive role in safeguarding peace and promoting
development, while violation of and departure from the
purposes and principles of the Charter will impair the
dignity and image of the United Nations and weaken its
role. Therefore, to continue to uphold and carry forward the
purposes and principles of the Charter is an unshirkable
responsibility of all United Nations Members and a basic
principle guiding the reform of the United Nations.
The core of the United Nations Charter is the principle
of equality between sovereign States and non-interference
in each other’s internal affairs. All sovereign States,
whether they are big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak,
are equal members of the international community. The
internal affairs of a country should be managed by its own
people. Major world affairs should be addressed by
countries through consultations on the basis of equality and
mutual respect. In international relations, to bully the small,
oppress the poor, override the weak, impose one’s own
social system, ideology and values on others or interfere in
other countries’ internal affairs all run counter to the spirit
of the United Nations Charter. Some people are publicly
clamouring for “containment” of other countries, which
shows that the cold war mentality still refuses to quit the
stage of history. But it will ultimately be discarded by
history. The post-war period of half a century proves that
in handling State-to-State relations, “hot war”, “cold war”
or “bloc politics” do not work. Strict observance of the
principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial
integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each
other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and
peaceful coexistence are the only way for States to live in
amity with each other and achieve common development.
Since the last session of the General Assembly, thanks
to the joint efforts of various quarters, the tendency towards
the peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations has
grown and international economic cooperation has gained
momentum. However, there still remain many destabilizing
and uncertain factors in the international situation.
Hegemonism and power politics continue to hold out. Peace
and development, the two major tasks of the world today,
still face grave challenges.
Armed conflicts and catastrophic wars in some parts
of the world remain unabated, which has not only inflicted
heavy losses of life and property on the countries and
peoples concerned, but also casts a shadow over regional
peace and stability and that of the whole world. All this
cannot but cause concern and distress among the world’s
people. As the background and causes behind these
conflicts are complicated, to seek a just, fair and
appropriate solution to them would call for tremendous
and concerted efforts by all the parties concerned, the
United Nations and the international community as a
whole. We maintain that the parties concerned should, in
the fundamental and long-term interests of the people,
seek just and fair solutions through negotiations, taking
into full account both history and reality as well as the
reasonable interests and positions of all sides. Where
consensus cannot be reached immediately, the parties
concerned should exercise restraint and patience so as to
prevent contradictions from intensifying and at the same
time try to create conditions and an atmosphere for an
eventual peaceful settlement.
United Nations peace-keeping operations in recent
years have played a useful role in settling international
disputes peacefully. They have both accumulated
successful experience and learned lessons from setbacks.
We believe that, to ensure a healthy development of
United Nations peace-keeping operations and activities in
other related fields such as preventive diplomacy, the
following guidelines should be established and followed:
Observation of the purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter, in particular the principle of
respect for State sovereignty and non-interference in the
internal affairs of other countries;
Settlement of disputes through peaceful means such
as good offices, mediation and negotiations instead of
resort to frequent mandatory actions. Even humanitarian
operations should not resort to military means;
Opposition to double standards and the imposition of
the policies and views of one or a few countries on the
Security Council. Some countries should not be allowed
to carry out military intervention in the name of the
United Nations;
For peace-keeping operations, adherence to the
principles that have proved effective, such as obtaining
prior consent from the parties concerned, observing strict
neutrality and the non-use of force except for self-
defence;
Adoption of a realistic approach and confining the
operation within one’s capability. Peace-keeping
operations should be launched only when conditions are
ripe and should refrain, in whatever circumstances, from
10

becoming a party to a conflict in deviation from the
fundamental orientation of such operations.
It has been demonstrated time and again that United
Nations peace-keeping operations, if divorced from these
guidelines, would, contrary to our wishes, fail to achieve
their desired objectives and might even go astray.
Last May, the Review and Extension Conference of
the States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT) adopted the decision to renew the
NPT indefinitely. This serves the interests of all signatories,
helps to strengthen the international non-proliferation
regime and is conducive to the maintenance of world peace
and security. China believes that nuclear non-proliferation
is only an interim step towards the ultimate goal of the
complete prohibition and total destruction of nuclear
weapons. The indefinite extension of the NPT must not be
construed as an indefinite license for the nuclear-weapon
States to perpetuate their prerogatives.
One year ago, also from this rostrum, on behalf of the
Chinese Government I called for the conclusion of a
convention on the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons
and put forward a series of complete and interrelated
proposals on nuclear disarmament. We are pleased to note
that the negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban treaty
have produced some gratifying progress. China supports the
conclusion of such a treaty no later than 1996 and will
continue to work with other countries to this end. Once the
treaty enters into force, China will stop its nuclear testing.
China’s possession of a limited nuclear capability is
entirely for self-defence and for deterring the nuclear threat
against it. The Chinese Government has from the very
beginning unilaterally undertaken not to be the first to use
nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances
and not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against
non-nuclear-weapon States. China’s nuclear weapons
therefore do not constitute a threat to any country. We
strongly urge other nuclear-weapon States to respond
positively to China’s initiative by immediately starting
negotiations aimed at concluding a treaty on mutual non-
first-use of nuclear weapons and an agreement on the non-
use or non-threat of use of nuclear weapons against non-
nuclear-weapon States and nuclear-free zones.
It has become a trend in today’s world that when
countries formulate their domestic and foreign policies they
accord top priority to the economy and pay close attention
to national economic development. The worldwide tendency
towards economic integration, regionalization and the
formation of economic groupings has accelerated, and
competition among States in the economic, trade,
scientific and technological fields has further intensified.
Under such circumstances, the developing countries are
faced with a formidable challenge as they strive for
economic growth and higher living standards for their
people.
Furthermore, over 1 billion people on this planet
remain in abject poverty; this constitutes one of the world
community’s most acute problems. Given much-needed
support to the developing countries as they reactivate their
economies and creating a favourable external environment
for them are not only important conditions for the shared
economic growth and common prosperity of all countries,
but also a crucial guarantee for lasting peace and stability
throughout the world. Given the present situation, the
United Nations should ask itself to pay at least as much
attention to development as to peace, effectively perform
its duties under the Charter and play a more dynamic role
in galvanizing economic growth and development in the
developing countries. The reform of the United Nations
must result in the strengthening, not the weakening, of its
role in the area of development.
True, fairly rapid economic growth in the developing
countries must depend primarily on their own efforts.
However, it is also important for the international
community, and the developed countries in particular, to
take practical and effective measures to open markets,
provide development funds, transfer technology, increase
development aid and reduce the debt burden in favour of
the developing countries. International economic
cooperation should be guided by the principle of mutual
opening-up, equality and mutual benefit. Such practices as
implementing protectionist policies of one form or another
and attaching political strings to economic assistance to
developing countries are obviously misguided.
Profound changes have taken place in China amid
the surging tide of change and development across the
world. The 17 years that have elapsed since the beginning
of reform and opening-up in China have been
unprecedented in terms of the economic growth rate and
the improvement of the people’s living standards. At
present, China enjoys political stability, economic
prosperity, ethnic harmony and vigorous advances in
democracy, legality and community undertakings. China’s
exchanges and cooperation with the rest of the world have
reached a level unprecedented in both scope and depth.
Although there may still be many difficulties and
challenges along the road ahead, we are confident that,
11

through several generations of hard work, our people will
lift China out of economic and cultural backwardness and
turn it into a highly prosperous and democratic modern
country.
The Chinese people are peace-loving people. China’s
history for over a century following the Opium War was
one of tears, blood and humiliation in which the Chinese
nation was subjected to repeated aggression, suppression
and plunder at the hands of the big Powers. Do unto others
as you would have others do unto you. The Chinese people
treasure their hard-won independence and freedom and will
never commit aggression or intervene against others. China
is opposed to hegemonism and power politics of any kind
and will never seek hegemony for itself. With a population
of 1.2 billion, China will remain a low-income developing
country for a very long time and the steady improvement of
our people’s living standards will remain our objective,
towards the attainment of which no effort will be spared.
Even when China grows stronger, it will continue firmly to
pursue its independent foreign policy of peace and will live
in amity with other nations. A stable and prosperous China
is a positive factor for peace and development in Asia and
the world at large. This is a conclusion that people of
vision around the world have come to share.
The Chinese people have waged heroic and unyielding
struggles to resist external aggression and oppression and to
defend the sovereignty, independence and unity of the
country. There is but one China in the world. The
Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole
legal Government of China. It is the sole representative of
China at the United Nations, and Taiwan is an inalienable
part of China. The peaceful reunification of the two sides
of the Taiwan Straits represents the unshakable will and
determination of the entire Chinese people, including our
compatriots in Taiwan. Proceeding from this reality, the
Chinese Government has put forward the correct proposal
on peaceful reunification within the framework of the
concept of “one country, two systems” and a series of
realistic and practicable policies and measures. The past
few years have seen a steady expansion and deepening of
exchanges and contacts between the two sides in various
fields. Any attempt to obstruct peaceful reunification and to
split Taiwan from China is doomed to failure. Should
anyone try to do so, he would be lifting a stone only to
drop it on his own toes.
History moves on. Mankind is progressing. In four
years we will usher in a new millennium. The future is full
of promise. Let us join hands and make concerted efforts to
bring about a better world in which there are peace and
cooperation, justice and equality, mutual respect and
common development, a world of universal prosperity and
continuous progress.


First of all I should like to extend my warmest
congratulations to you, Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, a
renowned and distinguished academician and
internationalist, on your well-deserved election as
President of this historic session of the General Assembly
marked by the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary
of the United Nations. I should also like to pay a tribute
to Mr. Amara Essy in recognition of the admirable work
he performed as President of the forty-ninth session of the
Assembly.
At the end of the twentieth century and the dawn of
a new millennium, in a world characterized by a
globalization of the economy and the dynamics of
international relations, our reality is conditioned by factors
such as the substantial progress of science, the
transcendence of the technological revolution, the decisive
influence of communications and information, the
expansion of trade and the consequences of cultural and
religious interaction. However, an acute imbalance of
social and economic aspects coexists with these factors,
mainly in the developing world, whose inhabitants
account for three quarters of mankind.
We are faced with problems that were not foreseen
at the beginning of this century, including the
internationalization of environmental problems,
fragmentation and the revival of violent nationalisms,
political and social instability, and the decrease in the
transfer of international resources for development.
In many third world countries social problems are
increasingly becoming more acute. Extreme poverty,
accompanied by hunger, malnutrition, abandonment,
unemployment, disease and ignorance, has been combined
in many regions with guerrilla movements and armed
insurrection. Several countries face the consequences of
the foreign debt crisis, associated with the lack of
international political solidarity to relieve it. In many
regions corruption has become an endemic disease. The
production, consumption of and trafficking in narcotic
drugs devastate our traditional social structures. Violence,
5

rural and urban, is on the increase, and the brutal means
frequently used to suppress it actually promote its growth.
Thus, in my capacity as Secretary pro tempore of the Rio
Group, and as Ecuador’s representative in the Group, I
should like, on its behalf, to call for the convening of a
second international conference on narcotic drugs to
examine appropriate mechanisms to foster the world fight
against drug trafficking and its dire consequences.
Keeping this perspective in mind, Ecuador will
continue to favour the adoption of urgent measures within
the international community to fight vigorously against all
these social problems, which affect so many countries. The
General Assembly proclaimed 1996 as the International
Year for the Eradication of Poverty. My country hopes that,
with this proclamation, international public opinion will
become more conscious of the complexity of this grave
problem and will try to find measures for its solution.
Since the end of the cold war, international tensions
have eased, and the intensification of trust between States
has fostered the adoption of measures concerning nuclear
disarmament. However, the danger implied by the
proliferation and use of nuclear weapons prevails. For this
reason, Ecuador strongly condemned the nuclear tests by
China and France. We hope that the general appeal to cease
all such tests will receive a positive response from these
two countries.
Ecuador favoured the consensus for an indefinite
extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons, and, at the same time, considered that this
historic decision formed part of an integral unity with the
principles and objectives adopted on that occasion for the
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and also with
disarmament. In this regard, Ecuador recalls that the
negotiations concerning a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban
treaty should conclude in 1996, at the latest, and that
negotiations to ban fissionable materials for nuclear
weapons should be scheduled shortly, with a view to
achieving general and complete disarmament, pursuant the
provisions of article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In this context, the full enforcement of the Treaty of
Tlatelolco has made Latin America a nuclear-weapon-free
zone. Our region offers this example as an incentive for the
establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, especially in
areas of greater tension.
My country applauds the agreements reached by Israel
and the national Palestinian Authority, which will
undoubtedly contribute to the consolidation of peace in one
of the regions most stricken by insecurity, violence and
armed confrontations — the Middle East. We consider
that these efforts and the measures to be taken in
accordance with agreements already concluded will
contribute to the total pacification of this region.
Consequently, Ecuador expresses to the two parties its
encouragement and its confidence that, with international
support, they will continue along the path of peace that
they have, happily, taken.
On the other hand, we must express our deep
concern about the ongoing armed actions in the former
Yugoslavia, in spite of the Security Council’s frequent
appeals and resolutions. We believe that the Powers with
higher international responsibilities should resolutely take
the necessary steps to end this regrettable situation. At the
same time, Ecuador wishes to join in appeals concerning
the dangerous situation in Burundi, which could result in
bloody events comparable to those in Rwanda.
The main purpose of the United Nations, its very
reason for being, is the maintenance of international peace
and security. It has been pointed out that since 1989 more
than a hundred armed conflicts have erupted around the
world — most of them due to domestic problems. Such
situations have endangered the maintenance of
international world peace and security — even world
peace in some cases — showing the increasingly clear
interrelationship between domestic and international
affairs. That is why Ecuador believes that peace does not
simply mean the absence of armed conflicts; it also
comprises the political, economic and social conditions in
which our peoples evolve. It should therefore be
recognized that the non-military issues of human security
and sustainable development have been added to the
traditional security concepts.
Ecuador believes, therefore, that the United Nations,
with its 50 years’ experience of successes and failures,
must be prepared to face the new challenges appearing
throughout the world. Furthermore, it should be pointed
out that the international community today has more trust
in the world Organization and is more often seeking more
direct, more effective, intervention to reduce or resolve
political, economic or social conflicts. This situation
demands that the United Nations should be strengthened
and restructured.
My country believes that the Security Council should
be restructured to reflect adequately not only the new
international world order but also the current membership
of the United Nations. It should also become more
6

capable — through the adoption of early-warning
measures — of taking prompt and effective action in the
fields of conflict-prevention and the continued deployment
of peace-keeping operations to re-establish and consolidate
peace. We do not believe that this urgent need to
restructure the Council will be met by the mere inclusion of
two major industrial Powers as new permanent members.
When the question of increased membership is being
discussed, we maintain that if the current imbalance is to be
prevented from continuing to deteriorate, all geographical
regions should be appropriately represented.
We disagree with the extension of the veto privilege
to additional members. Since this is a mechanism created
to respond to world political realities that no longer exist,
the Powers possessing this privilege should willingly agree
to restrict its practice exclusively to issues related to
Chapter VII of the Charter. The whole world would
welcome such a decision by the five permanent members
as an effective step towards a more democratic United
Nations.
The General Assembly, too, should be thoroughly
revitalized to enable it to carry out its duties under Article
11 of the Charter in an effective and responsible manner,
and so that its resolutions — in particular, those concerning
issues related to the maintenance of international peace and
security — may, duly observed and enforced, exercise the
influence we would hope to see of resolutions of the
highest political organ of the United Nations. The
Economic and Social Council should also respond more
adequately to the broad requirements set forth in the
Charter. The Trusteeship Council has lost its significance,
and should be entirely restructured. Similarly, the broad
functions assigned to the Secretary-General in Article 99 of
the Charter should be exercised to the fullest.
Ecuador believes it is necessary to review the structure
and functions of the Bretton Woods institutions and their
relations with the United Nations. In order to obtain optimal
results and fully utilize existing resources, it is essential to
coordinate international efforts with regard to the
international monetary system and economic and social
progress.
The severe financial crisis facing the United Nations
could be alleviated were the Member States that are most
in arrears, for various reasons, to make a sincere effort to
meet their obligations. It is unacceptable to transfer the
burden of resolving this crisis to the developing countries,
whose weak economies cannot satisfy such demands.
Having made respect for all human rights the motto
of its Government, Ecuador attaches particular importance
to United Nations actions in favour of the protection and
promotion of such rights. It views with great concern the
massive violations of human rights and the recrudescence
of what were thought to be extinct practices, such as
“ethnic cleansing”, which in some cases — as in the
former Yugoslavia — have reached genocidal proportions,
all of which constitute an unequivocal threat to
international peace. Ecuador expresses its revulsion at,
and condemns, attacks against civilians, especially the
elderly, women and children, which are creating a
growing number of refugees. Such violations are a
challenge not only to the United Nations and the many
valid international instruments, but to the moral
conscience of all mankind.
Ecuador promotes and supports all measures
designed to put a stop to this deplorable situation, to
punish the guilty and to re-establish a climate of trust,
harmony and peace. It believes that the international
community has a clear and unavoidable responsibility in
this regard. We hope that the General Assembly, and
particularly the Security Council, will take the necessary
steps to deal effectively with the dangerous breaches of
international peace and security such violations represent.
We express our confidence in and support for the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and hopes
that the Assembly will provide the administrative and
financial resources necessary for him to carry out his
important tasks to the full.
Ecuador believes that democratic systems are the
proper response to peoples’ yearning for freedom and
fraternal coexistence and for cultural expression.
To attain the objectives of the International Decade
of the World’s Indigenous People, Ecuador, a multi-ethnic
country, has submitted various concrete programmes and
initiatives, in consultation with national indigenous
organizations, designed to improve the economic, social
and cultural status of those groups while fully respecting
their distinctive characteristics. It hopes to be able to rely
on international cooperation in bringing these initiatives
and programmes to fruition.
In previous decades the United Nations led the
struggle for the self-determination of peoples, which
resulted in an end to the shameful colonial system. From
the earliest years of its existence the Organization
condemned the apartheid system, and it continued to do
so until apartheid was abolished. The time has now come
7

for the United Nations to fight for the realization of the
right to development, based on solid economic and social
foundations, implying a promise of better living conditions
for millions of human beings. Stable and lasting peace can
be achieved only through a sustainable and harmonious
development.
That development must go hand in hand with urgent
solutions to the problem of preserving the great heritage of
mankind — the environment. Agenda 21, resulting from the
“Earth Summit”, must be complied with. To play its part,
Ecuador will continue to seek international cooperation to
preserve its immense ecological wealth, not only of its
continental territory, but also — and particularly — in the
Amazonian region and the Galapagos Islands.
In keeping with its policy of opening its economy,
Ecuador has become the first new member of the World
Trade Organization (WTO), which enables it, inter alia, to
benefit from the guaranteed application of the principle of
non-discrimination in its trade relations with all other
members, to negotiate better terms for trade in Ecuadorian
goods and services, to obtain technical support and
assistance and to enjoy the favourable terms of trade
accorded developing countries.
My country considers that a stable relationship should
be established between the World Trade Organization and
the United Nations, and we therefore actively support the
drafting of an agreement between these two Organizations
in keeping with the Marrakech Accord and the San
Francisco Charter. That could be the basis for the
establishment of a new, more just and efficient international
order, in which respect for the human person is guaranteed,
people’s welfare is fostered, economic development is
shared and the balance and fairness of international trade
are guaranteed, so as to create a society based on
international cooperation, solidarity and interdependence.
The United Nations is called upon to perform an
important task in realizing this new order. To that end, not
only must the Organization as a whole be restructured, but
all Member States, great and small, must offer their total
political support to the United Nations.
Ecuador has always upheld its historical, Amazonian
and peaceful tradition and its respect for the rule of law. It
has adhered to the purposes and principles of the Charter,
including non-recourse to the threat or use of force against
the territorial integrity of any other State and the obligation
to resolve international disputes exclusively through
peaceful means.
Problems created by breaches of the peace occur in
every part of the globe. Thus, early this year Ecuador was
involuntarily involved in an unsought armed conflict of
unpredictable consequences with its southern neighbour,
Peru. The Secretary- General of the United Nations and
the Organization’s Member States were informed of this
unfortunate conflict, which arose out of the territorial
problem that has for decades soured relations between our
two countries. A peaceful, just and definitive solution of
this controversy is a necessity not only for our two
nations, but also for peaceful coexistence in Latin
America. My Government has always sought to avoid
such conflict through diplomatic channels. The actions
taken by the guarantor countries under the Rio Protocol
of 1942 were extremely important in arriving at a
cease-fire during the military confrontation and in leading
to the pacification process agreed to in the Itamaraty
Peace Declaration of 17 February 1995 and ratified in the
Montevideo Declaration of 28 February. This process has
gradually led to the restoration of peace. We trust that,
with the assistance of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the
United States, and their military observers still deployed
in the conflict area, the aspirations of the Ecuadorian and
Peruvian peoples will be fulfilled and that a definitive
solution to the problem on the terms that I have
mentioned will be achieved.
The action taken by the guarantor countries
regarding the conflict between Ecuador and Peru has
proved particularly effective, and we are certain it will
lead to a total normalization of relations between Ecuador
and Peru. At the recent meeting of the Heads of State and
Government of the countries of the Rio Group, held last
4 and 5 September, there were important signs of
relaxation of tension in the statements made by the Heads
of State of both countries as well as in the encouraging
positions of the other countries, which we believe,
provide not only a clear orientation towards peace but
also support for complete peaceful coexistence, while at
the same time creating a space for dialogue, constructive
negotiations and a resumption of the integrationist
processes that serve to consolidate peace. All this,
moreover, will clear a sure path towards cooperation, in
various spheres of our relations with our neighbours and
with other countries, with mutual respect and
understanding. I believe we have begun to move towards
a better understanding, and if we prepare a framework of
good will we will be able not only to bring our divergent
positions closer together but also to reach agreements for
lasting solutions.
8

The problems threatening international peace — which
arouse natural fears, create anxiety, work against the
people’s well-being, cause enormous losses of human life
and bring about an immense deterioration of social and
economic development — are no doubt the gravest
problems, and they call for action for peace by all means
possible. They are deep-rooted problems that require a
positive response from international organizations, both
global and regional, when their assistance is needed to
solve such problems.


It will doubtless
be understood if, before beginning my statement, I express,
as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, the particular
satisfaction which I feel in seeing an illustrious fellow
countryman, Professor Diogo Freitas do Amaral, an eminent
public figure and a professor at my alma mater, the
University of Lisbon, presiding over the work of the fiftieth
session of the General Assembly. Allow me to convey my
warmest and fondest congratulations to you, Mr. President,
and, at the same time, my gratitude to all Member States
for the vote of confidence in Portugal that this represents.
I would also like to pay tribute to my colleague from
Côte d’Ivoire, Mr. Amara Essy, for the dedicated and
competent manner in which he steered the work of the
forty-ninth session of the General Assembly.
To you, Mr. Secretary-General, I reaffirm my
admiration for the way in which you have carried out your
functions during a period in which the United Nations is
increasingly called upon to intervene ever more actively in
many fields of international life.
In his statement, my Spanish colleague has already set
out, in the name of the 15 States of the European Union,
certain positions which are also shared by Portugal.
Nevertheless, I would like to refer to some matters which
are of particular importance to my country.
Peace continues to be the primary objective of, and
the biggest challenge faced by, the United Nations.
The proliferation of peace-keeping operations
launched by the Security Council in recent years and the
high levels of human and financial resources committed
to them are indicative of the commitment and collective
efforts of the United Nations system and its Member
States.
The results achieved in some countries — and I am
pleased to refer here to the case of the United Nations
Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ) and the recent
developments in the peace process in Angola — are
reason enough to indicate that we should not reduce our
level of commitment nor the scope of our activities. We
should, however, also be flexible and creative, here as
elsewhere, in order to avoid the rigidity of models and
adapt peace-keeping operations to the specific conditions
of each case.
While it is true that the United Nations must not
abdicate its mission of helping to restore peace, we
believe that we should focus our efforts, above all, on the
prevention of conflicts.
The Agenda for Peace requires effective coordination
of the various Departments and agencies of the United
Nations system in order to provide an integrated view of
the many factors which contribute to the development of
crises. In the search for peace, the question of the
complementarity between the United Nations and
intergovernmental organizations of a regional nature is
also particularly relevant.
With this in mind, Portugal has actively supported,
since the beginning, the creation and implementation of
the mechanism for conflict prevention, management and
resolution established by the Organization of African
Unity (OAU) at the Cairo Summit in 1993. We have also
participated in the search for the means which will permit
the strengthening and efficacy of those instruments.
Along the same lines, while holding the presidency
of the Western European Union (WEU) during the first
half of this year, Portugal put the issue of conflict
prevention on the agenda of that organization and focused
the need for WEU to develop support mechanisms in this
regard.
23

Also, in the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE), where preventive diplomacy is the
foundation of its activities, Portugal has contributed so that
the Organization can continue to have a decisive role to
play in the maintenance of stability in a region which runs
from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Alongside the security
model for the twenty-first century, this will surely be one
of the subjects that will receive in-depth treatment at the
next OSCE Summit, which will take place in Lisbon at the
end of next year.
With regard to disarmament, as another of the
components of the efforts in favour of peace, Portugal
welcomes the historic decision taken by consensus on
11 May this year in this very Hall to indefinitely extend the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Also encouraging is the progress obtained at the
Disarmament Conference, especially with regard to the
increased expectations of rapidly completing a
comprehensive test ban Treaty.
The results of the high-level meeting, held last July,
that resulted in donations towards a voluntary United
Nations fund for de-mining should also be stressed here. In
that context, Portugal announced that it would be making a
bilateral contribution.
Equally, I welcome the negotiations currently under
way in Vienna for the revision of the United Nations
Convention on Conventional Weapons.
The enlargement of the Disarmament Conference is
urgently required, keeping in mind the need for a
strengthening of the negotiation of international legal
instruments, as well as their observance by an increasing
number of States.
There can be no peace in the world while large
sections of the world’s population continue to live beneath
levels considered fundamental for human dignity. Integrated
and sustainable development, focused on people, is
therefore the other great challenge which cannot be
separated from the search for peace. The Agenda for
Development and the Agenda for Peace constitute a single
unit — one makes no sense, nor can it be achieved, without
the other.
In this context, it is necessary to recognize the need to
revise the entire system of international development aid,
and to reflect on the role that, in this area, should fall to the
United Nations. Ours should be a global and coherent
vision.
The integrated and sustainable development which
we desire must be pursued on all fronts: at the economic
level, to be sure, but also in the consolidation and
deepening of democratic institutions; in the promotion of
human rights across the board; in the increasing
participation of women in the most diverse sectors of
social and political life; in the defence of the rights of
children, ethnic minorities and all underprivileged
members of society; in humanitarian assistance; and in the
protection of the environment.
To achieve all these goals, we must implement the
decisions taken at major United Nations conferences, for
it is at these conferences — those of Rio de Janeiro,
Vienna, Cairo, Copenhagen and Beijing, as well as the
forthcoming conference in Istanbul next year — that the
“Agenda for Development” gradually takes shape.
Non-governmental organizations, as well as other
groups through which the vitality of civil society is
demonstrated, are privileged agents in aid and
development, and are our partners in the “Agenda for
Development”. This is due to their particular capacity of
penetration in the field, of making contact with the people
and of understanding their real needs.
Of all areas of development, there are two in
particular to which I would like now to turn: the
protection and promotion of human rights, and the
importance of the environment.
The protection and promotion of human rights is a
constant priority of Portuguese foreign policy. We
continue to believe in the importance of critical dialogue
in order to reach the fundamental objective of respect for
those rights, and we are following the activities of the
High Commissioner and the Centre for Human Rights.
The fact that protection of the environment is
inextricably linked to the notion of balanced development
has led it to gain an increasing relevancy in our foreign
policy concerns. In this context, I wish to refer in
particular to the oceans, especially with regard to the
development of a balanced management of fish stocks and
marine resources.
As Portugal’s territory includes two archipelagos —
the Azores and Madeira — I would like to stress our
24

particular sensitivity to the problems faced by small island
States in development and environmental issues.
Furthermore, I express my hope that the International
Year of the Oceans, a Portuguese initiative adopted by the
General Assembly at its forty-ninth session, will provide an
urgently needed opportunity for a full debate on these
questions. We will strive in that direction and hope that the
holding in the same year in Lisbon of Expo 98 — an
exposition on that subject — will result in a fruitful
coordination of these efforts.
The legislative activity of the United Nations in
maintaining the ecological balance and the management of
international waterways is of special importance. Portugal
intends to follow with particular interest the work on this
issue that is being undertaken by the International Law
Commission. We hope that in the near future a convention
on this matter will be adopted which would include
international norms of responsibility — applicable under
domestic or international jurisdiction.
In the context of an “agenda for development”, I
would like once again, to underline my personal conviction
and the position of Portugal that Africa must quite
obviously be one of the priorities of the international
community. We were therefore pleased to welcome the
announcement made by the Secretary-General in Lisbon
concerning the launching of the “United Nations New
Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s”.
The forthcoming conference for the Great Lakes
region, convened under the sponsorship of the United
Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to
address the tragic situation of a number of countries of that
region, will certainly constitute a test of the true
commitment of the international community to the African
continent: a test of the capacity to identify the objectives of
peace and development; a test of the much-needed
complementarity between the United Nations and regional
organizations.
Despite the persistence of disturbing cases of political
and social instability in a number of countries of the
continent, as well as, of course, the open conflicts and
serious violations of human rights which still continue, it is
only fair to recognize that in many African States
significant steps have been taken towards the peaceful
settlement of conflicts and the consolidation of the
processes of political and social democratization.
I am pleased to be able to say that the majority of
these processes were carried out under the aegis of the
United Nations, and Portugal is proud to have actively
participated in a number of them: in the international
structures of support to the process of democratic
transition in South Africa; in the negotiations which led
to the Peace Accord in Mozambique, having been
represented in all the commissions created by that Accord
and in the United Nations Operation in Mozambique
(ONUMOZ); and as part of the troika of observers of the
peace process in Angola.
With this process in mind, I hope that, following the
meetings held at Lusaka, Franceville, and now Brussels,
between the President of the Republic of Angola and the
leader of UNITA, steps will continue to be taken towards
a definitive reconciliation of the Angolan family while
strictly complying with the Lusaka Protocol, which
restores the spirit of the Bicesse Agreement signed in
Portugal in 1991.
It is equally important, keeping in mind Security
Council resolution 1008 (1995), Lusaka Protocol be
adequately encouraged by the international community. I
cannot fail, therefore, to express my concern over the
delay in the deployment to Angola of all the forces and
contingents of the United Nations Angola Verification
Mission (UNAVEM III), where Portugal is already
present with a communications and logistics unit, as well
as a number of staff officers in the command structure
and civilian, military and police observers.
The tragic human suffering and the terrible material
destruction brought about by more than 20 years of
conflict also require that the international community —
following the round table on Angola being held in
Brussels under the auspices of the United Nations
Development Programme — continues to respond
generously to the humanitarian aid needs and the
challenge of reconstructing the country, particularly in the
areas of demining and the social reintegration of the
displaced and the demobilized.
The New Agenda for Africa is pressing. It should
lead to the promotion of vast integrated programmes of
development aid which would coordinate, in the most
efficient manner possible, the resources of the
international community. It should seek to support and
encourage African countries to choose the path of peace,
political democracy, stability and social justice, respect
for human rights and economic development.
25

The strengthening of the ties which link Portugal to
the five Portuguese speaking countries is and shall remain
a constant goal of my country’s foreign policy.
While talking of the ties that unite the countries that
speak Portuguese, I wish to underline the importance of the
meeting which, last July in Lisbon, brought together the
Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and Sao Tome and
Principe.
That meeting permitted the reaffirmation of purpose
which motivates those respective Governments with regard
to the institutionalization of the community of Portuguese
speaking countries. We hope that this next year will witness
the formalization of this community, which, to all intents
and purposes, already exists in the hearts and souls of its
peoples and has become more and more concrete in many
ways.
At a time such as this, when we are celebrating the
fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and assessing its
successes and its failures, we cannot but, unfortunately,
include the question of East Timor among the latter.
The 20 years which have passed since the illegal
occupation of East Timor and the denial of the exercise of
the right to self-determination of its people, far from
allowing the question to be forgotten and the status quo to
be consolidated have, on the contrary, worsened the
tensions and focused ever more strongly the attention of
world public opinion.
The lesson of these last 20 years has been that force
solves nothing in East Timor nor will it ever resolve
anything. Without a solution which, in conformity with the
Charter and international law, takes into account the
legitimate rights of its people, including that of freely
expressing themselves on their political future, there will be
no peace or respect for human rights in East Timor.
I wish to reiterate here the commitment of Portugal
towards finding, through peaceful and negotiated means,
such a solution. With that aim in mind, we continue to
cooperate with the Secretary-General in the process of
dialogue which, under his auspices, we have maintained
with Indonesia.
Despite the fundamental difference which continues to
separate us on the core of the problem, we believe that the
process of dialogue, with all its difficulties, registered very
significant progress: representative Timorese personalities
from various political sectors have now become
associated with this process.
We have always held that the rights and primary
interests at stake in this question are those of the
Timorese people, and that their voice and their wishes
will have to be heard in order for a solution to be found.
I sincerely hope that this first step marks the beginning of
a new, more positive and constructive phase of the
process of dialogue concerning East Timor, one which
will lead us more quickly to the end of this tragic
situation.
I turn now to Europe. The situation in the former
Yugoslavia continues to be a principal motive of concern.
We are naturally encouraged by the results obtained at the
Ministerial meeting held in Geneva on 8 September,
congratulate the members of the Contact Group for
obtaining those results and hope that the meeting being
held here today in New York will drive the process
forward. At any rate, the consolidation of the results still
depends on keeping the international community united,
on the cohesion of the Contact Group, and on close
coordination of the initiatives and actions taken by
international organizations. Portugal will continue to
participate actively in these efforts and we shall maintain
our presence on the ground while it remains useful and
necessary.
In its relationship with Latin America, Portugal has,
as is well known, very strong human, historical and
cultural ties: with Brazil, for reasons known to all, but
also with the other countries of Latin America, with
which we are seeking an ever-closer relationship. Ties
with Latin America will always occupy an important
place in Portuguese foreign policy. This is made clear by
our active participation in the Ibero-American Summits of
Heads of State and Government.
We welcome the fact that Latin America is today
clearly giving new value to its role in the international
system. Portugal resolutely supports the projects for
regional Latin American integration and, as a member of
the European Union, favours the establishment of wide
agreements with institutions of regional integration —
namely, the Southern Cone Common Market
(MERCOSUL) and other processes of integration under
way on the American continent. I am referring also to the
consolidation of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) and the future establishment of a
free-trade area in the Americas.
26

Portugal, both bilaterally and within the framework of
a number of organizations such as the European Union, the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the
Western European Union, has promoted the strengthening
and deepening of ties with the countries of the Maghreb, a
region of fundamental importance today for the security,
stability and development of the entire Mediterranean area.
Therefore, a number of European Councils, beginning
with that of Lisbon, have detailed new ideas and new
instruments of partnership that relate to a number of areas
and that will bring closer together the two shores of the
Mediterranean; they will be decided upon at the
forthcoming Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Barcelona
in November.
Portugal continues to follow closely the progress
reached in the Middle East peace process, especially as
regards the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
We must pay tribute here to the courage with which both
sides have pursued the path of peace; they have frequently
encountered obstacles — sometimes tragic ones — but they
have not remained hostage to them. Proof of this is the
important accord to be solemnly signed in Washington in
just a few days. I hope that this atmosphere of dialogue will
also be consolidated among the other parties.
Portugal, both within the European Union and
bilaterally, has contributed to the assistance for the
Palestinian people and for the support of its structures.
Turning to Asia, I must first mention with satisfaction
that, as a result of the close cooperation between Portugal
and China and in full respect for the joint declaration
between those two countries, the process of Macau’s
transition continues to be carried out in a harmonious
manner. The common objective of both countries in this
process remains constant: to guarantee the stability and
prosperity of that territory and the maintenance of its
special characteristics, in the framework of the transfer of
administration in December 1999.
Portugal recognizes the increasing importance that the
Asian continent is assuming on the international stage. My
country feels that it has profound historical and cultural ties
to that region. In this context, my Government hopes that
the meeting planned for next March in Bangkok will
constitute a significant step towards an ever-more-open and
wider dialogue on all questions of mutual interest to the
European Union and Asia.
To achieve the fundamental and primary goals of
peace and development, and to face the situations I have
referred to, the Organization must undertake a realistic
exercise of self- examination.
It is, above all, essential for the Organization to have
a sound financial foundation. I do not believe I am
exaggerating by stating that we are in the midst of a crisis
that is without precedent and that, if not promptly and
bravely addressed, will surely lead the Organization to
rupture. At this point, two stages appear available to us in
the search for a solution: strict payment in full and on
time of our obligations; the need for corrections which
will permit a reduction of expenses or their fairer
distribution amongst us.
With regard to the first point, I cannot avoid
criticizing the attempts to renege on commitments which
have already been made, by consensus. How can an
expense be adopted by consensus but its payment
refused? What kind of credibility can then be expected in
what concerns international commitments?
As to the second aspect, reforms are necessary that
will reflect each State’s capacity to pay and the alterations
to that capacity. In this spirit, my Government,
responding to an appeal made by the Secretary-General,
took the initiative earlier this year to increase voluntarily
its contributions to the peace-keeping budget. Thus we
have moved from group C to group B on the scale of
assessments. The decision will mean a five-fold increase
in our initial contributions. We took this decision because
we consider that it is a step in the right direction in what
concerns the financial reform of the Organization. We
took this decision to express our commitment to the
importance and success of the work of this Organization.
We took this decision because we knew this increase
might benefit other countries that are experiencing
temporary difficulties. We hope that our move will be
followed by other States whose economic situation has,
like Portugal’s, improved in recent years.
It is not merely in the financial area that the United
Nations must contemplate reform. Equally important is
the reform of the Security Council, which must in the
near future reflect the political, economic and
demographic realities of the contemporary world. In this
context, an adequate and balanced representation of all
regions of the world would confer on the Council greater
efficacy in the formulation and implementation of its
decisions and would make it the beneficiary of wide
support from all Member States, which would, in this
27

manner, feel duly represented on it. It is undoubtedly a
complex process, an evolutionary one, in which differences
remain profound and which will necessarily be based on a
compromise solution.
I cannot conclude without reaffirming here the
candidature of Portugal for one of the two non-permanent
seats on the Security Council attributed to the Western
European Group for the period 1996 through 1997. Our
candidature is based on a number of reasons.
First, because we believe, as a country with a
universalist nature accustomed to contact with all regions of
the globe for more than five centuries and to understanding
and accepting different cultures and civilizations, that we
will be able to contribute to the search for solutions in strict
compliance with the purposes and principles set out in the
Charter of the United Nations.
Secondly, having been only once before a member of
the Security Council, we understand that countries like
Portugal have not only the right, but also the duty, to
participate in that body more regularly.
In this context, I would like to underline here the
situation of countries like Portugal — in fact, the majority
of those represented here — that, based on democratic
principles such as that of rotation, can, wish to, and should
be able to, contribute to international peace and security.
And this they can do in a particularly constructive manner,
as, by not pursuing geo-strategic interests of hegemonic
regional promotion or of any other type, they can, on the
contrary, contribute by being accessible, available and
moderate in the search for compromise solutions.
On the other hand, through our participation in peace-
keeping operations, our voluntary increase of our financial
contributions to the Organization, our participation in
important United Nations organs, we consider that we are
ready to carry out the role which we may be called upon
to play.
We are ready to listen and not to impose. We place
our trust in negotiation and not on pressure; we support
what is fair and balanced, and do not consider any
formula which does not seek to build bridges for the
creation of consensus solutions.
In candidatures such as this, to achieve the goals set
out, some are tempted to adopt attitudes which are of
great visibility, but which are of a merely superficial
nature. Others are tempted also to promise that which is
quickly forgotten, or even to make commitments which in
the end are unfulfilled.
On our part, we prefer to rely on the inherent merits
of our candidature and, in this context, to actively pursue
in a committed manner, the defence of our positions,
ideas and proposals.
We believe, therefore, in the support and warm
welcome that the candidature of Portugal for the Security
Council will receive in the elections to take place during
the next session of the General Assembly.
Next month we will celebrate at the highest level, in
a solemn session, the fiftieth anniversary of the United
Nations, which will provide an opportunity for reflection
on the future of this Organization. Portugal hopes that a
strengthened determination of all Member States will
emerge to reaffirm the principles and values of the
Charter and result in the better adaption of the
Organization to the complex realities of international life
today.
This is certainly a great challenge. New generations
hope that we will be able to face these responsibilities.


On behalf of the Government and the people of
Burkina Faso, permit me to convey to you, Mr. President,
my sincere congratulations on your well-deserved election
to the presidency of this historic session of the General
Assembly.
Your country, Portugal, has ties of friendship and
cooperation with my own, based on the noble ideals of the
Charter, and it has always worked to promote friendship
and solidarity among peoples. Your election is therefore a
recognition of your personal skills and qualities and also a
well-deserved tribute to your country. I am certain that the
other members of the Bureau will place their recognized
skills at your disposal so that, together, you may guide the
work of this session successfully.
I wish also to convey our warmest congratulations and
gratitude to my brother and friend, Foreign Minister Amara
Essy, of Côte d’Ivoire, for the remarkable work he did as
President at the forty-ninth session. With his tact and
discretion he gave a tremendous impetus to the work of our
Organization throughout the year.
Lastly, let me once again pay a well-deserved tribute
to our Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who
has, ever since taking office as head of the Organization,
been working side by side with us to give real content to
the basic commitments embodied in the Charter. The
Agenda for Peace and the Agenda for Development he has
produced and the consideration they have been given since
their appearance have, we believe, been instrumental in
ensuring that mankind, now and in future years, will enjoy
an environment of peace, security and prosperity.
The creation of the United Nations 50 years ago
awakened tremendous hopes for mankind, which had, in
the space of a single generation, suffered from two
particularly savage wars with consequences that sorely
affected the entire world and for which all peoples paid
a heavy toll.
The ambitious programme of the Organization’s
founding fathers was to ensure for the future collective
security, peace among nations and the harmonious
development of peoples.
Fifty years after that profession of faith, the record
continues to reflect the contradictions and antagonisms
that undermine our own States. However, no Organization
has so successfully embodied mankind’s hopes for a
better world.
Admittedly, conflicts continue to exist and
development seems more than ever a fantasy. However,
thanks to the concerted action of States, the world has
experienced no widespread conflict. Indeed, whenever a
threat to world peace has arisen, the United Nations has
been able to bring machinery to bear to limit the
destructive effects.
Thus, we have faith in the United Nations even
though the half century through which mankind has lived
since its creation has been experienced many ups and
downs. But what would it have been like had the United
Nations not existed to channel activities for peace, to
oversee the post-war period and the cold war, to give its
moral sanction to the emancipation of peoples, to
coordinate assistance for economic and social
development and to set a moral standard and order
relations among nations and human beings?
Those are important achievements, but they ought
not make us forgetful of the fact that on the eve of the
Organization’s fiftieth anniversary there are still many
hotbeds of tension in many parts of the world.
In Europe, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
notwithstanding some glimmers of hope on the horizon,
continues to cause concern to all States. We hope that the
talks now under way among the parties concerned will
lead to a comprehensive settlement of the situation.
In the Middle East the prospects opened up by the
Declaration of Principles signed at Washington on 13
September 1993 between the Government of Israel and
the Palestine Liberation Organization continue to yield
5

promising results. Despite the extremists of every stamp
who are incapable of accepting alternatives to violence and
death, negotiations have not been broken off. The signing
at Washington on 28 September 1995 of the Agreement
negotiated at Taba on a timetable for the second phase of
the Israeli Army’s withdrawal from the West Bank and the
transfer of additional powers to the Palestinian Authority is
a further step in the right direction. Burkina Faso
encourages this pattern of negotiation, which led to the
Peace Treaty between Jordan and Israel of 26 October 1994
and to the opening of talks on the Golan Heights between
Israel and Syria. We also encourage talks on the Lebanese-
Israeli relationship.
In Asia, Burkina Faso welcomes the spirit of dialogue
and cooperation that prevails between the two Koreas and
between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and
the United States of America. We would note, however,
that a country like the Republic of China in Taiwan has not
been able to be among us again this year, at a time when
we are to celebrate a historic event.
With respect to the question of Jammu and Kashmir,
Burkina Faso urges India and Pakistan, two fraternal
neighbouring countries, to find a solution to that problem
through bilateral negotiations.
The African continent is facing many problems with
deep and complex roots. Many African countries continue
to be destabilized by savage conflicts that are causing
millions of refugees and displaced persons to take to the
roads and surge across international borders, where their
precarious living conditions demand our attention.
In Central Africa, the Great Lakes region remains a
powder-keg that can explode at any moment. The miasma
of the tragedy in Rwanda can infect other regions if the
problem of refugees and displaced persons is not very
rapidly and correctly settled. We urge the Government and
people of Rwanda to continue to mobilize against
extremism and to seek genuine national reconciliation based
on justice, equity and tolerance as well as on the country’s
economic and social reconstruction.
In Burundi, notwithstanding the efforts of the
international community, the situation continues to be
disturbing. It seems evident that that country will enjoy
peace and security only when there is a clear and manifest
resolve on the part of its political leaders to guide their
country to peace and concord without hegemonistic designs
or hidden ethnic agenda. In that respect the Government
Convention signed on 10 September 1994 is a starting-
point that should be respected.
The international community has a very great
responsibility in this region. Rwanda, Burundi and the
countries of asylum have an urgent and pressing need for
assistance. Thus, the United Nations Conference on peace,
security and stability in the Great Lakes region should be
convened as soon as possible so as to give the situation
all the attention it deserves.
For its part, Burkina Faso is contributing to the
process by participating, on the one hand, in the
Organization of African Unity Observation Mission in
Burundi while, on the other hand, under the auspices of
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, it is participating in the maintenance of security
in the Rwandan refugee camps in Zaire.
In Somalia, the warlords continue to wreak havoc in
the country, unmoved by the suffering of the Somali
people. We can only hope that as events unfold and
lessons are learned from experience they will come to
understand the vanity and incongruity of their behaviour
and that they will reexamine their course of action and
avert disaster for their country.
In Sudan, Burkina Faso supports the work being
done by the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and
Development to find a solution to the fratricidal conflict
that has divided that country for so many years. We
welcome the steps in that direction being taken by
President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya.
In West Africa the determination of the States of the
subregion and the efforts made to develop understanding
and some confidence between the factions in Liberia have
led to the signing at Abuja, in Nigeria, on 19 August
1995, of an agreement that offers prospects of peace for
Liberia. Burkina Faso, as a member of the Committee of
Nine on Liberia of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), was privileged to act as
witness to that Agreement between the Liberian factions.
Like the other members of ECOWAS, it will be vigilant
in ensuring that its terms are strictly complied with until
the general elections scheduled for 1996 are held.
Sierra Leone, a neighbour of Liberia, has for a
number of years endured a cycle of violence that has
inflicted unspeakable suffering on the civilian population.
At a time when Liberia is committing itself to the path of
6

peace, we urge those involved in the conflict in Sierra
Leone to do the same, by opting for negotiations.
Burkina Faso welcomes the positive developments in
the situation in Angola. We hope that the spirit of dialogue
that now prevails through the Lusaka Protocol of 20
September 1994 will enable that long-suffering country to
return to the path of peace, democracy and development.
I want to hail the work of the United Nations and the
Organization of African Unity (OAU), which are making
enormous efforts to settle conflicts. We are firmly
convinced that peace is indivisible and that the United
Nations remains its primary champion throughout the
world, and especially in Africa. More than ever before,
Africa is seeking its proper course. While there is universal
agreement on the need for democratic regimes, good
governance and respect for human rights, the paths we must
travel to achieve those things are tortuous and difficult. Yet,
in our view, crises stemming from the transition to
democracy will be quickly overcome. The real grounds for
concern lie rather in the dangerous implosion we see today
in African societies that are based on poorly managed
democratic processes and chaotic governance and, above
all, whose populations suffer grinding poverty.
Here Africa must face up to its own realities. Without
questioning the need for international solidarity or the
primacy of the United Nations in conflict settlement,
Burkina Faso, like other African countries, knows that
Africa must be the first to invest in the solution of its
problems. That is what it is doing, without waiting for
adequate means to be provided. It is in that spirit that
Burkina Faso and its leader, President Blaise Compaoré,
have been supporting the efforts of our brethren in
neighbouring countries of the subregion and elsewhere on
the continent.
It was also in that spirit that Burkina Faso joined the
other countries of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) in working towards the
agreement between the contending factions in Liberia. And
it is in that same spirit that Burkina Faso supports the
Mechanism of the Organization of African Unity for the
Prevention, Management and Resolution of Conflicts in
Africa, which is an African response to new crisis situations
on the continent.
In short, Africa has its problems. To be sure, it has
received bilateral support from members of the international
community. But on the multilateral level, unfortunately, all
the global programmes adopted to date have been
implemented only in a timid and inadequate manner. The
most recent of these, including the United Nations New
Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s and
the Programme of Action for the Least Developed
Countries for the 1990s, are suffering terribly from a lack
of financial resources and, to be frank, from a lack of
political will on the part of the majority of our partners
from the developed world. In this connection, our
apprehensions were confirmed by the results of the recent
high-level intergovernmental meeting to undertake a mid-
term review of the implementation of the Programme of
Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s.
Meanwhile, our debt burden has obstructed
productive new investment, and deteriorating terms of
trade have cancelled out earnings from commodities.
More and more, Africa is losing its share of the
international market, ultimately facing inescapable
marginalization at a time when the globalization of the
world economy is becoming apparent. But globalization
demands solidarity and interdependence. We must make
a choice: if wealth does not spill over borders, then
poverty and destitution will.
One of the problems calling for world solidarity is
that of the environment, and especially the fight against
drought and desertification. When, faced with the great
droughts of the 1970s in Western Africa, Burkina Faso
mounted a campaign to combat this scourge, the
international community did not seem to understand its
importance. Today, protecting the environment is one of
the priority tasks of States. The Rio Conference on
Environment and Development, the June 1994 adoption of
the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or
Desertification, Particularly in Africa, and the entry into
force of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the
Framework Convention on Climate Change have truly
given fresh impetus to greater awareness in this area. But
what good are all these instruments without the resources
needed to fight the evils they are meant to attack?
Burkina Faso made a substantial contribution to the
drafting of the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious
Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, and
hopes that it will quickly enter into force, to give even
greater momentum to the efforts of our countries within
the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control
in the Sahel, and, with respect to East Africa, within the
Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and
Development.
7

On the eve of its fiftieth anniversary the United
Nations stands at a crossroads. It must turn away from
cold-war reflexes and stride resolutely towards the horizon
of the twenty-first century. It must adapt quickly to the new
context of a more open, globalized world, and must from
now on accept the clear determination of all States to
participate in world affairs. In this context, the United
Nations needs to make the changes that will enable it to
better profit from the contributions that States and regions
are ready to make.
But the most biggest challenge facing the United
Nations is undoubtedly that of the poverty and destitution
that still afflict one fifth of mankind. The world of
solidarity and brotherhood that we want to build will be
possible only if all human beings can live in dignity. In that
connection, we have been working for five years on
principles and objectives for children, women, the
environment, human rights, population and social
development. Let us implement them.
It is with that hope that we approach the work of the
fiftieth session of the General Assembly. On behalf of
Burkina Faso, I reaffirm our complete devotion to the noble
ideals of the United Nations.


It is the honour of the delegation of Costa
Rica to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at this historic
session marking the fiftieth anniversary of the United
Nations. We are extremely pleased that a distinguished
son of Portugal, a country so closely linked to Latin
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America by history and culture, has been chosen for this
high position. We offer you our full cooperation in the
performance of your important duties.
We wish to express to Member States the gratitude of
the Government and the people of Costa Rica for having
elected our country to one of the vice-presidencies of the
Assembly. That election is a significant honour.
It also gives me pleasure to join previous speakers in
thanking the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire,
His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, for the splendid way in
which he performed his duties as President of the General
Assembly at its forty-ninth session.
Costa Rica wishes to convey its recognition of the
indefatigable work carried out by the Secretary-General and
by other Secretariat officials towards peace and security.
The devoted efforts of the Secretary-General to champion
a safer, fairer, more peaceful and more humane world for
future generations will be a great legacy for mankind, along
with his determination to transform and modernize the
Organization and carry it into the future.
Fifty years ago, Mr. Julio Acosta, former President of
the Republic and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Costa
Rica, who headed our country’s delegation to the United
Nations Conference on International Organization at San
Francisco, said that the future of the world lay with the
Charter of the United Nations, which was the most
important human document of the last 1,000 years. That,
indeed, is what it has been, at least over the last 50 years,
despite the many difficulties, the many frustrations, the
many conflicts. The Charter of the United Nations has set
a new course for mankind and has provided the
international community with an ethical code that grows
stronger every day.
Costa Rica, a founding Member of the Organization,
is firmly committed to the United Nations, in accordance
with its long-standing regime of democracy and respect for
human rights. The values and principles which give shape
to this Organization were an integral part of Costa Rican
life many years before the San Francisco Conference. With
the abolition of the armed forces in 1948, our country
renewed its faith in law and its hope that reason, not force,
would govern relations among human beings. With that
decision of President José Figueres, Costa Rica addressed
the world and declared peace. With the same thought in
mind, the Government of Costa Rica has promoted many
United Nations initiatives in support of peace and human
rights, including the establishment of the University for
Peace, the declaration of the International Year of Peace
and the creation of the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights. All these ideas are
aimed at realizing mankind’s dream of sustainable peace.
In the spirit of commemorating in deeds the fiftieth
anniversary of the Organization, Costa Rica proposed a
World Week of Peace, to begin on 24 October this year.
This initiative, sponsored by a large number of countries
and unanimously adopted by the General Assembly on
12 July 1995, would silence weapons everywhere in the
world for at least a week, so that in the future sustainable
peace might prevail over destructive war. Costa Rica
hopes that during the Week all Member States will carry
out pro-peace activities and reflect on how important it is
for mankind to learn to live under the sign of concord.
My delegation is aware of the practical constraints that
stand in the way of the World Week of Peace achieving
its goals on the desired scale. However, it is our belief
that any move that could be taken this week to promote
dialogue, coexistence and harmony between nations would
be a valuable contribution to the celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations and to the building of
the future. The effort will have been worthwhile if even
one human being — a child, a woman or a man — is
saved from death as a result of this initiative.
There are no conflicts without solutions. All ground
is fertile for reconciliation. How many tears were shed in
South Africa, how much blood was spilled in the Middle
East! However, animosity has gradually disappeared and
harmony is beginning to flourish. Multicultural democracy
is giving a new and peaceful direction to the history of
South Africa. With the recent agreement on the West
Bank, Israelis and Palestinians continue to show that
peace is always possible. If there is a will for peace,
peace can be achieved. In that context, the United Nations
must continue to be the forum where all the peoples of
the world have fair representation. No country should be
excluded from becoming a Member of this Organization.
For many years, the world prevented a general
conflagration by resorting to containment. Today,
although the East-West confrontation has dissipated, and
preventive diplomacy is making headway, there are still
latent seeds of world conflict, concentrated in the sub-
human conditions in which a large portion of the world’s
population live, and evident also in the massive decay of
the environment.
The urgent need to solve senseless conflicts such as
the one in the former Yugoslavia and to end the violence
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besetting so many places in the world should not make us
lose sight of the fact that true peace involves a series of
elements much more significant than the mere absence of
war. As has been recently stated by His Holiness Pope John
Paul II, who offered to the world such a beautiful message
of hope and goodwill today from this Hall,
“... peace is not limited to the silence of cannons. It is
nourished with justice and freedom. It needs the
atmosphere of a spirit rich in some fundamental
elements, such as the sense of God, the taste for
beauty, the love of truth, the choice of solidarity, and
the capacity for tenderness and the courage to
forgive.”
The fiftieth anniversary of the Organization is an
occasion for reflection, but we should also use it to
meditate on the challenge of our times: to achieve
sustainable development.
In Central America we have committed ourselves
firmly to a comprehensive peace process and
democratization, in a regional effort to build peace and
democracy where these are needed, and to strengthen them
where they already exist. This journey is culminating today
in the encouraging advances experienced in the dialogue in
Guatemala. Costa Rica is optimistic about the efforts to find
a lasting peaceful solution to the problem involving that
brotherly country. We give our full support to the
negotiation process being developed to that end under the
auspices of the United Nations.
Central Americans, who for many years have
successfully advocated this process of peace and
democratization, are today also committed to an alliance to
generate in our region a new model of development,
combining freedom and the well-being of the vast majority,
with respect for the natural environment. This Central
American commitment to the region itself and to the
international community is being implemented through
various actions and development projects. We hope that the
international community as a whole will understand and
appreciate Central America’s effort, and will lend it its
support, as several friendly nations have already done.
As an integral part of the process of the consolidation
of peace and the building of sustainable development,
respect for human rights is no longer just a legal and moral
obligation of Governments; it has become an essential
condition for harmonious life in every society. However,
we cannot disregard the fact that many situations in which
these rights are still ignored or violated persist, making the
task of the relevant international bodies doubly important.
It is not legal to violate human rights, but it is not right
to sit idly by, using the pretext of respect for sovereignty,
which is only hypothetical respect and borders on
complicity.
For Costa Rica, a party to the International
Covenants on this matter and the headquarters of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, it is essential that
the United Nations assume a more dynamic and energetic
role in the protection of fundamental human rights and
require from Member States strict compliance with their
responsibilities in this area. For this purpose, protective
entities, in particular the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), should be
provided with more resources. We must also strengthen
measures against States which ignore the
recommendations of those bodies, or prevent them from
performing their duties.
We are also concerned that overcoming the balance
of terror has not put an end to the arms race, and that is
a matter of concern to us. We cannot understand why at
this time in history there are still countries which, with
surprising levity, destroy the environment and endanger
their neighbours with nuclear tests. This is a flagrant
violation of the commitments that marked the conclusion
of the negotiations to extend the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and has a negative
effect on the tasks related to the drafting of the
comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty. Costa Rica has
never possessed, and does not want to possess, nuclear or
chemical weapons, and strongly urges participant States
to speedily conclude negotiations on this treaty and to
ensure that it takes effect as soon as possible.
However, the danger of a nuclear holocaust should
not make us unconcerned about the problems caused by
conventional weapons, the traffic in which has a tragic
impact on the third world and keeps a series of very
harmful conflicts alive. Many Governments of
underdeveloped countries continue to waste resources on
weapons, resources needed desperately by their own
people for basic necessities. The democracies of the
industrialized world continue providing those weapons in
a business which undoubtedly, on a short-term basis, is
financially more profitable than cooperation for
development.
In 1994, relying on an initiative of the Government
of Romania, a group of 25 countries proposed to the
General Assembly the adoption of a voluntary, global and
non-discriminatory code of conduct for the international
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transfer of weapons. My delegation believes that this
subject must be reactivated without delay and also that
concrete action must be taken to make the Register of
Conventional Weapons within the United Nations effective.
The reduction of military spending has an immediate
repercussion on budget allocations for the promotion of
development and well-being. In Costa Rica, we learned this
lesson almost half a century ago and we have had no
reason since then to regret our decision. However, we also
believe that providing special treatment, such as cooperation
for development and the transfer of technology for peaceful
purposes, to countries which reduce military spending
would be a great incentive, as has been suggested by Oscar
Arias, a former President of Costa Rica and a Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate in 1987.
In the spirit of building a new world, a world better
than the one that existed 50 years ago, the international
community has the duty to promote changes in the area of
international economic relations.
In recent years, there have been significant
reformulations in international trade plans. A World Trade
Organization has been created to replace the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and there has been a
proliferation of regional free-trade plans. However, this has
not dissipated the worrying trends towards protectionism
that are increasingly being developed by industrialized
nations. While the underdeveloped countries are applying
programmes with a view to the adjustment and the opening
up of trade, the richest countries are imposing burdensome
limitations on trade. My delegation considers that the ninth
session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD), to be held in South Africa in
1996, must become a fundamental forum for the discussion
of these problems.
Since the first meeting of UNCTAD, held in Geneva
in 1964, 77 countries of the Third World have joined in
demanding more equitable conditions in regard to world
trade. The fight for this new international economic order
has today become a priority because, even though the
military-political blocs which divided the world in the
recent past have now disappeared, the gap between North
and South is becoming ever greater. In the circumstances,
we consider that the presidency of the Group of 77 and
China, to which Costa Rica was appointed a few days ago,
is not only a great honour but also an important
responsibility. Costa Rica is deeply grateful for the support
it received in achieving this significant position and we
hope that in the performance of our duties we will make a
constructive contribution towards the launching of the
Group of 77 into the new international realities.
For some years now, it has been suggested that there
is a need to redesign the United Nations in order to give
the Organization a new look in keeping with a different
world situation. Costa Rica, on various occasions, has
expressed its support for initiatives in this area, including
the suggestion that Germany and Japan should become
permanent members of the Security Council, and that we
should guarantee permanent representation for all regions
in that body. Today, on the occasion of the celebration of
the fiftieth anniversary, we wish to reiterate Costa Rica’s
firm commitment to the renovation of the United Nations.
It is urgent to take steps along the lines pointed out by
the Secretary-General in his “An Agenda for Peace” and
“An Agenda for Development”, and it is important that
the international system should comply with the
resolutions of the General Assembly and the mandates of
the Security Council. It is also essential to provide a
follow-up to, and implement, the commitments made at
the Rio, Copenhagen and Beijing conferences.
In celebrating the fifty years of its existence, the
United Nations is still young. It remains young because
its spirit is still generously irrigated with idealism and
with faith in mankind. The Organization remains young
because it still believes that the human being has a greater
capacity to convince than to shoot, to love than to hate,
to build than to destroy, to procreate than to kill.
Let us preserve this essence of youth in our
Organization. In 1995, as in 1945, in spite of
disappointments, bitter days and years, the United Nations
represents the hope that there will be a future for our
children. The United Nations is the most important
demonstration that there will be a future because the
words uttered in this Hall many years ago by the then
Foreign Minister and later President of Costa Rica, Daniel
Oduber, are still valid. He said that the United Nations
had revealed itself to be the only entity capable of
minimizing the sufferings which, alternating with the
satisfaction of being alive and of performing our duties,
were the common lot of mankind.
I would conclude with the inspiring words uttered by
His Holiness Pope John Paul II in this Hall this morning,
“The answer to the fear which darkens human
existence at the end of the century is the common
effort to build a civilization of love, founded on the
universal values of peace, solidarity, justice and
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liberty.” (Official Records of the General Assembly,
Fiftieth Session, Plenary Meetings, 20th meeting, p. 6).


As
we will soon be commemorating half a century of United
Nations work, may I start by presenting warm fiftieth-
anniversary greetings from Brunei Darussalam to all our
fellow Members.
Also, before commenting on our present situation, I
would like to take this brief opportunity to thank two
groups of people who do not receive much publicity and
who I hope will not be overlooked in the general
celebration.
First, I think it would be most appropriate at this
time to mention those who have served this Organization
in the field as representatives of our various agencies or
as part of our peace-keeping operations and special
missions. Their work has always been at the heart of
United Nations efforts. It has given people throughout the
world a chance to look ahead with hope, and we wish all
who are engaged in this work much continued success.
At the same time, I would like to look outside our
Organization and thank our hosts. Here I am referring to
the people of New York and all the other cities around
20

the world who for 50 years have accepted the demanding
responsibility of being a United Nations venue. Their
support and good will have been crucial, and I would like
to say how much we appreciate this.
With that, may I now turn to current business and
offer the President my congratulations on his election. I am
sure he will guide us well during what we hope will be a
most successful year.
I would also like to thank the outgoing President, His
Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, for his contribution to our
work over the past year and to convey my best wishes to
the Secretary-General and his staff.
Given all the recent changes which have taken place
in world affairs, our fiftieth anniversary comes at a critical
period. I would therefore like to offer a few thoughts on the
approach we in Brunei Darussalam would like to see the
United Nations taking in the future.
Fifty years ago, at the first session of the General
Assembly, President Truman’s opening address described
the purpose of the United Nations as being
“to provide the means for maintaining international
peace in the future”. (Official Records of the General
Assembly, First Session, Plenary Meetings, 34th
meeting, p. 682)
The approach the United Nations took at that time was
successful. It certainly stopped great Powers from making
war on each other in Europe. However, it also led to the
cold war. This is now over, but it seems to have left behind
a situation in which there is great potential for instability in
the rest of the world.
Much of this, of course, is the result of the changes
which have taken place in 50 years. The centres of power
have moved, and the danger spots have shifted. We all
depend on each other a lot more for peace, security and
development. The changes are so profound that many of us
feel they may call for an equally profound reform of this
Organization.
Brunei Darussalam is a fairly new Member, but we
tend to think there is a strong case for this. We believe the
United Nations has to adapt to change. We also hope this
can be done soon. The future could hold some very serious
problems, and they will require a United Nations which is
well prepared to handle them.
The very worrying signs of what could lie ahead are
already quite clear. There are humanitarian problems on
a vast scale. We face social and environmental issues
which affect the whole world. There is instability in world
financial affairs. Trade disputes disrupt the peaceful
conduct of international commerce. There is also what we
believe is the most serious concern of all: the
development gap between the North and the South is
growing wider and wider.
This all means that the United Nations has an
extremely challenging agenda as it starts out on the next
50 years of its existence. An international situation now
exists in which it is essential that we recognize the stake
each of us has in the welfare of all the others. We all
have to reaffirm our commitment to working very closely
together as United Nations Members.
So perhaps the most encouraging feature of
international affairs today is that in every part of the
world countries are trying very hard indeed to respond to
this new challenge. I also think it is fair to say that
whatever can be done by individual countries or regional
association is being attempted.
Having said that, however, I must add that there is
one thing we cannot do: no country or regional group on
its own can make the whole world stable and peaceful.
For this, we rely on the United Nations. It is the only
mechanism which can deal with the basic causes of
instability. Therefore, I would like to suggest that this is
the most important responsibility of the United Nations
today. If it is to carry it out successfully, however, I also
suggest that there are a number of useful lessons to be
learned from recent experiences.
The first of these arises from the crisis faced by the
Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1991.
Certainly, we are pleased to see welcome signs of hope
in that country.
However, I think it will be very difficult for most of
us to forget how badly United Nations personnel have
been treated. Nor do we wish ever again to experience the
frustration we have felt over our representatives’ inability
to implement Security Council resolutions.
The Bosnian tragedy has obviously raised a great
number of questions. But, above all, I feel, we have been
taught one extremely important thing: if the United
Nations is to be involved in a future situation like this, its
21

representatives must be given all the resources they need,
so that they can carry out their tasks effectively.
A second lesson can be drawn, from the Middle East.
We are still hopeful that the peace process there will reach
a just and comprehensive conclusion. However, what has
been shown in Palestine is what was also evident in
Cambodia: peace negotiations and even peace treaties
require more than just formal recognition by the
international community; practical assistance from us all is
needed if the result is to be lasting peace.
The third recent lesson I see for us lies in recognizing
to the full that the end of the cold war has made us aware
of many other aspects of security which lie deeper than just
military defence.
Next year, we hope that a comprehensive test ban
treaty will be in effect. Among other things, it would be a
most appropriate way to acknowledge the reminders we
have had this year of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But it
should also mean that everyone accepts that it is
unthinkable for nuclear weapons ever to be used again. The
ultimate aim now is the abolition of all such weapons. If
this is indeed accepted, then the idea of nuclear weapons as
a deterrent cannot be logically sustained; nor can the need
to continue testing such weapons.
Instead, the logic of the post cold war period applies
and leads us to the more modern concept of security. In
other words, we should be doing everything we can to take
advantage of the peace dividend and work together to solve
the great environmental, social and economic challenges we
all face.
There is one more lesson I believe this early post cold
war period has taught us. It is perhaps the most urgent of
all. This is that the increasing gap between the North and
the South in terms of development and the possibility of
making progress must be closed.
The Secretary-General has suggested an important
shift in emphasis for the United Nations — from politics to
global economic development. I think the Secretary-General
is quite right. It is essential that the United Nations move
in this direction. Peace-keeping, though much valued, is a
costly, short-term response to global peace. The longer-term
solution is widespread economic development. What we do
ask, however, is that this be done urgently as time is not on
the side of developing nations.
We naturally cannot predict what form the United
Nations will take in the next half century of its existence.
One thing, however, is beyond question, I feel: the world
is even more than ever in need of the moral force of
United Nations principles to guide it.
May I assure you, Mr. President, that in its efforts to
remain strong and effective and credible, the United
Nations has the lasting support and commitment of the
Government and the people of Brunei Darussalam.