It is a pleasure for me to
congratulate you on your election to the presidency of the
fiftieth session of the General Assembly. Your unanimous
election to this lofty post is a tribute paid by the
international community to your country and to you
personally. It also bespeaks recognition of your abilities and
skills. To your predecessor, Mr. Amara Essy, the president
of the forty-ninth session, who demonstrated great
dedication and a high level of efficiency, we should like to
extend our deep appreciation for his efforts and skill.
On this occasion, I cannot fail to express my
delegation’s appreciation to the Secretary-General of our
Organization, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his tireless
efforts to enhance the United Nations and increase its
effectiveness. Through his “Supplement to An Agenda for
Peace'”, he has demonstrated once again high initiative in
seeking to enable the United Nations to rise to the
challenges of today’s highly complex world.
This session of the General Assembly convenes on an
important occasion. In a few days, celebrations will
commence to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of the United Nations with the aim of sparing
humanity the repetition of the suffering it had endured as a
result of two world wars. This historical occasion, which
marks the end of the post-war era with all its ramifications,
affords us an opportunity to take stock, while we celebrate,
of the Organization’s progress over the past five decades,
to evaluate its performance, and to seek the ways and
means whereby it could overcome the negatives that in
the past prevented it from achieving its goals. In so doing,
we should put forward plans and programmes of action
that would revitalize the United Nations and enable it to
face up to the challenges of the future and to establish a
better world that would be consonant with principles of
the Charter and the common values and aspirations of all
nations.
Last year, the world witnessed certain encouraging
developments. The efforts deployed to promote
international cooperation in the interests of economic and
social development, to reduce environmental degradation
and to combat the phenomena of poverty, terrorism and
drugs continued apace. The dispute in Mozambique was
settled by peaceful means and peace in Central America
has been consolidated. All these developments and
tendencies give cause for hope. However, we should not
allow ourselves to be overly elated. Civil wars and
regional conflicts continue to wreak havoc and to
undermine security and stability in many parts of the
world. In the post-cold-war world there are many other
challenges, which I shall address presently. Before I do
so, however, I seek your indulgence in allowing me to
turn to another question that is not far-removed from the
present international situation and the way small countries
have come to be treated especially when they adopt
independent policies and positions. I refer here to the
dispute between my country and France, the United
Kingdom, and the United States of America over the Pan
Am flight 103 incident, and the crash of the French UTA
aircraft. This dispute would not have continued for such
a long time had the right approach been adopted and had
there been any acceptance of the call for dialogue and
negotiation in seeking to settle the dispute.
As you know, over several years, and in complete
secrecy, certain bodies that are claimed to be independent
investigated the two incidents. Suddenly and without the
presentation of any evidence, Britain and the United
States of America surprised the world by declaring that
the Pan Am flight 103 incident was the work of two
Libyans nationals. At the same time, France declared that
circumstantial evidence pointed at the involvement of
several Libyans in the attack against UTA flight 772.
Although those who made the allegations did not
corroborate them by any document, testimony or fact, the
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, upon being notified of the
allegations, announced that it was ready to cooperate in
uncovering the facts surrounding the two incidents. I do
not see any need to repeat the measures we have taken in
12

this regard, since I have enumerated them at the past two
sessions of this Assembly. Moreover, we have informed all
Member States of our positions and initiatives, in this
respect, in official documents that have been circulated to
them. However, I should like to remind, briefly, that my
country has condemned terrorism in all its forms, and has
declared its commitment to the implementation of any
action decided upon by the international community to
combat terrorism. My country has also cooperated with the
Government of the United Kingdom. British officials have
themselves voiced satisfaction with Libya’s response.
Contacts have been initiated and are continuing with the
French authorities with a view to determining the
circumstances of the crash of the French aircraft. My
country has spared no effort in searching for a feasible
course of action with regard to the two individuals who
have been suspected of having something to do with the
incident of the American plane. Libyan judicial authorities
started to investigate this case but had to suspend the
investigation because of the refusal of both the United
States and British authorities to submit any documents or
papers in their possession. Despite the fact that the issue of
the trial of the two suspects is determined by the 1971
Montreal Convention, which gives Libya the right to try
them, the refusal by Britain and the United States to abide
by this Convention, to which they are both parties,
prompted Libya to seek other solutions to the issue of the
trial. In this respect, Libya has submitted several proposals,
including one that calls for resorting to the International
Court of Justice, or trying the two suspects before a court
whose venue should be agreed upon by the parties
concerned.
Although the United States and British Governments
have both announced that their allegations have been built
on specific facts and reliable information, the facts that
have come to light over the past three years refute such
assertions. In addition to the statement by the Palestinian
national, Yusuf Sha’aban, before a Lebanese court, there
are the statements of the manager of a Swiss electronics
company which undermine the most important basis for
accusing the two Libyan nationals. The information
published in Tracking the Octopus, a recent work of
investigative journalism, points an accusing finger at other
quarters. Despite all this, Libya continued to cooperate in
seeking to reveal all the facts surrounding the Pan Am
flight 103 incident. Proceeding from this, Libya accepted
the proposal of the League of Arab States, which calls for
trying the two suspected individuals by Scottish judges,
under Scottish law, at the seat of the International Court of
Justice at the Hague.
The many secrets and mysterious dimensions of the
Lockerbie incident which have been uncovered have now
been brought into sharp focus by, inter alia, the television
documentary “The Maltese Double-Cross”, William
Chasey’s book The Lockerbie Cover-Up and Geoff
Simmons’ book “Libya: The Struggle for Survival”. In
addition, several articles on this question have appeared
in various newspapers, including the article published by
The Guardian of London on 29 June 1995. All these
documentary revelations by the media refute the
accusations levelled at the two Libyans, and provide
evidence that the incident was planned by professional
agencies to cover up certain suspect activities. Despite all
this, Libya, which, from the very beginning, declared that
it is most interested in unearthing the truth regarding this
incident, has not retreated from its declared position,
namely that it has no objection whatsoever to the trial of
its two suspected nationals before a court of law.
Libya’s overriding concern in all this is to ensure
that its two nationals get a just, fair and neutral trial, that
would be free from any emotional or media influences
and which would be conducted in accordance with the
rules of international law which Libya has always upheld
and adhered to. The International Court of Justice can
testify to our adherence to and respect for international
law, as has been proven in three cases, the latest being
the judgment by the Court in relation to the territorial
dispute between the Jamahiriya and Chad. Although the
judgment was against our position, Libya, out of respect
for international law, accepted the ruling of the Court and
implemented it in a constructive manner. This confirms
Libya’s respect for international legality, to which one of
the big Powers pays lip service all the time, but does not
apply. It even refuses to resort to the International Court
of Justice because this big Power believes in the law of
force not the force of law.
It is evident that the Governments of the United
States and Britain are not keen on revealing the truth
about the perpetrators of the tragic Lockerbie incident. It
has become abundantly clear that involving Libya in this
incident was a premeditated act that aimed at achieving
certain objectives. Otherwise, why should the two
Governments object to the trial of the two suspected
individuals before the judiciary of a third country or
before the International Court of Justice when this has
been acceptable to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and has
been supported by most members of the international
community, as represented by their regional organizations:
the League of Arab States, the Organization of the
Islamic Conference, the Organization of African Unity,
13

and the Non-Aligned Movement? What prevents the two
Governments from accepting the path of dialogue and
negotiation as stipulated by the Charter of the United
Nations? Why is the Security Council being prevented from
responding to repeated calls and appeals by over two thirds
of the membership of the United Nations on whose behalf
the Security Council is supposed to act? And why the
double standards when it comes to dealing with issues of
international legality? Furthermore, how can a certain major
Power explain the fact that while it claims to be keen on
preserving this legality, its record shows that it has the least
regard for the will of the international community, a fact
that is attested to by that major Power’s continued support
of a certain State and protection of that State from
punishment for its refusal to implement international
resolutions which now total 143, including dozens that have
been adopted by the Security Council?
The rejection by the two Governments, of the United
States and Britain, of all Libyan proposals and of all
regional initiatives proves that they want this crisis to
continue for as long as possible. Evidence of this can be
found in the fact that the more Libya’s positions are
welcomed and the more widespread becomes the call for
lifting the sanctions imposed on the Libyan people, the
more the two Governments hasten to oppose such positions
under the false pretext of Libya’s non-response to the
resolutions of the Council, thus keeping the Libyan people
hostage to unjustified sanctions. As if these countries are
not content with the difficulties and pains suffered by the
Libyan people at the hands of colonialists and fascists —
people who fought on its territory, a war that killed and
displaced hundreds of thousands of its people, and planted
in their farms and under their homes millions of mines that
still explode and injure innocent Libyans. These mines also
hinder Libya’s efforts to combat desertification, protect the
environment, and expand economic and social development.
It even seems that these countries are not content with the
suffering of the Libyan people so far, including the acts of
terrorism to which the Libyan people have been subjected
such as the deliberate downing of a Libyan civilian plane
by Israeli military aircraft in 1973, which killed all its 108
passengers. Also, in 1986, hundreds of American fighters
bombed Libyan cities while their residents were asleep.
This aggression claimed the lives of many people and
resulted in heavy material damage. Later, it was proved that
the pretext used by the United States of America for this
act of aggression was false and baseless. The deep desire to
punish the Libyan people also became clear when these
countries insisted on depriving its civilian aircraft of
necessary spare parts. In 1992, this led to the crash of one
of those aircraft and the death of all its 157 passengers.
All this begs the question: is it a desire to discover
the truth, or is it a desire, a thirst to wreak revenge on
Libya because of the defeat of the United States fleet in
1805? So, where is the truth? Is it the thirst for revenge,
a vendetta waged by a major Power against a small
country, a vendetta that goes back 150 years?
The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has sought a speedy
and just solution to the dispute with France, Britain and
the United States of America. All Libya asked was that
the problem should be settled in accordance with the
principles of the United Nations and the rules of
international law. For this purpose, we have knocked on
many doors, but our efforts, and those of others, to solve
the dispute and to lift the sanctions have faced continued
rejection. Furthermore, there are hints that other measures
may be adopted to tighten the sanctions against us under
the pretext that Libya has not responded to the demands
of the Security Council. This is not true. It merely
represents manipulation and trickery with regard to the
interpretation of those resolutions.
Now that I have reviewed this crisis for the fourth
time before the General Assembly and in order to avoid
any further ramifications, we believe it is now incumbent
upon this august assembly to intervene and to act in
accordance with the powers entrusted to it by the Charter
in order to get the three countries to respond to the
repeated calls for an urgent and peaceful solution to this
problem, in accordance with Chapter VI of the Charter of
the United Nations. This assembly should also urge the
Security Council to reconsider its resolutions in order to
lift the sanctions. Resorting to sanctions is not the proper
way to solve differences between States, especially when
such sanctions are unjustifiably imposed, as is the case
with the sanctions imposed against the Libyan people.
These sanctions have led to the freezing of Libya’s assets,
and prevented it from getting spare parts, including the
parts needed for power plants and desalination machines.
This in turn has hampered the Libyan people’s efforts
with regard to development, and paralysed the activities
of most economic sectors. The more serious aspect of the
effects of these sanctions is the enormity of the material
and human losses which I need not review here in detail,
since we have detailed them in several official documents,
the latest of which is United Nations document
S/1995/474 dated 12 June 1995. Suffice it to mention here
that the number of people injured in road accidents has
reached 12,700 of whom 1,870 have died of their injuries
while others continue to suffer from permanent injuries.
Material damage has exceeded ten billion dollars.
Moreover, the adverse effects of the sanctions have not
14

been limited to the Libyan people. They have affected
neighbouring countries and all the peoples of the region.
Here, I must repeat that the longer these sanctions continue,
the more people will die and the greater the suffering and
the damage. There is no reason whatsoever for remaining
silent on the subject of injustice and the continuation of this
wrong. For the Assembly’s information a road accident
which took place two days ago on the road from Tripoli to
Tunis resulted in the death of three members of a Maltese
delegation.
As I have previously stated, the international political
situation has witnessed new positive developments which
my country welcomes. However, we must recognize that
numerous challenges still face peace in the world and that,
consequently, the international community is called upon to
mobilize all its capabilities in facing up to those challenges.
The continued deterioration of the situation in Somalia
and the intensification of tensions in that country require
more regional efforts to persuade Somali leaders to enter
into additional political commitments and to work for the
restoration of peace and permanent stability to their
country. Seeking to make the world more secure and more
stable requires supporting national reconciliation efforts in
Afghanistan, promoting a satisfactory solution to the
problem of Cyprus, solving the problems in Rwanda and
Burundi and settling the disputes in Angola and Liberia. It
also requires putting an end to the repeated setbacks to
peace efforts in the Balkans, as well as sparing the people
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other peoples of the former
Yugoslavia, more pain and suffering.
In order to establish permanent stability in the Gulf
region, the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq must be
respected, and all interference in its internal affairs must
cease. Furthermore, the sanctions from which the Iraqi
people have been suffering should be lifted.
In the context of any effort to consolidate world peace,
serious action must be taken to resolve the problems of the
Middle East. It is unacceptable that the Palestinian people
should continue to be displaced from their land, while those
who stay on that land are brutally treated. The
overwhelming majority of the international community,
which has continued to support the legitimate rights of the
Palestinian people over the past four decades, should take
firm action to put an end to the Israeli practices against the
Palestinians and the other inhabitants of the occupied Arab
territories in the Golan and southern Lebanon. The Israelis
must be deterred, in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations, from their continued defiance of the will of
the international community. The incontrovertible truth is
that occupation and expansion are the real aim of the
Israelis. Their former and present positions and practices
indicate that they do not want a just and comprehensive
peace. Their joining the so-called peace process is a mere
smoke-screen, a mask they hide behind in order to
perpetrate further occupation and enhance their
superiority.
A just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the
problems of the Middle East cannot be achieved by
ceding the administration of local affairs in Gaza and
Jericho, but rather by the liberation of all occupied Arab
territories and the full enforcement of all the rights of the
Palestinian people — first and foremost being their return
to their homeland, self-determination, and the
establishment of their own independent state in Palestine,
with Al-Quds as its capital, a state where Arabs and Jews
alike would live together. There is no alternative to this
solution. The solutions being put forward these days,
regardless of all the talk about how desirable their results
would be, will not lead to the results aspired to by the
Palestinians, simply because those solutions are unrealistic
and ignore the facts of history.
The continued existence of nuclear weapons and the
increased stockpiling of these and other weapons of mass
destruction are among the principal concerns of the
international community. When the first review
Conference of the States parties to the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) was held in the first half of this year, it was
hoped that that Conference would lead to satisfactory
results. However, what actually happened was that certain
nuclear Powers brought to bear unprecedented pressures
that made it possible for the NPT to be extended
indefinitely. My country declared its opposition to this
extension, and we remain convinced that extending the
Treaty in that manner would never serve the objective of
nuclear-weapon disarmament.
The NPT has not achieved universality, and its many
shortcomings have not been properly addressed. In our
view, ridding the world of nuclear terror will not be
achieved through gains obtained by manoeuvres and
unconventional measures, but rather through serious
measures, which must be taken by the nuclear States. In
this context, the procurement of nuclear materials must be
ended, and nuclear States must commit themselves to a
deadline for the complete elimination of all nuclear
weapons. These States should put an end to nuclear tests
and conclude, at the earliest possible time, a
comprehensive test-ban treaty. Furthermore, the nuclear
15

States should demonstrate the political will required to
conclude an effective treaty guaranteeing the security and
safety of non-nuclear States.
Another situation that requires speedy corrective action
involves the unjustified restriction on the transfer to
non-nuclear States of nuclear technology for peaceful
purposes. Above all, measures should be taken to guarantee
the universality of the NPT. My country attaches the
greatest importance to this issue, because the region to
which we belong suffers from a security imbalance, owing
to the Israelis’ tremendous nuclear capability — they have
more than 200 nuclear warheads and nuclear facilities that
are not subjected to international inspection. This represents
a threat to the security and safety of the peoples of the
region. No one should keep silent about a situation of this
kind or accept the extension of the NPT as long as such a
situation continues.
If the indefinite extension of the NPT is to be with the
complete support of all, international action must be taken
to meet all these widely expressed requirements and to
guarantee accession by all to the Treaty, including, in
particular, the Israelis, who must agree to subject their
nuclear facilities to the safeguards regime of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as fixing a
timetable for the dismantling and destruction of their
nuclear stockpiles.
In reviewing the international economic situation, it
becomes clear that the economic development of most
developing countries, especially in Africa, is still sluggish
and subject to fluctuations and imbalances. The present
indicators give the impression that this situation is likely to
deteriorate further unless effective measures are taken to
reverse it. The fact is that the economic difficulties of the
developing countries are not the result of a lack of
legislation or plans. For example, Africa has adopted plans
and strategies to promote development and has concluded
a treaty that aims at economic integration. However, the
problem lies in the unjust criteria still prevalent in
international economic relations. These require realistic and
responsible solutions without the imposition of politically
motivated conditions.
The conferences that have been held over the past few
years have created new opportunities to improve the
prevailing economic and social situation. We hope that the
consensus agreements emanating from those conferences
will generate the necessary political will for the
implementation of the resolutions taken by those and other
international forums, including the commitments announced
during the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development. What is more urgent is the need to
take immediate action to address the external causes of
economic deterioration in developing countries, namely
the increasing tendency towards protectionism, declining
terms of trade, shrinking official development assistance
and restrictions on the transfer of technology.
In addition, it is necessary to deal with unjust
practices in international economic relations such as
coercive economic measures, including boycotts, the
freezing of assets, the confiscation of property and the
prohibition of the export of spare parts, which has been
applied by certain developed countries against a number
of developing countries, including my own. Such
measures not only impede development and run counter
to the Charter of the United Nations, to the resolutions of
the General Assembly and to the orientation towards the
establishment of a system of international economic
relations based on justice and fairness, but also constitute
a violation of the norms of international law. The Western
countries that manufacture the needed spare parts, medical
supplies and water-desalination and power-generating
equipment, by taking such coercive measures, violate their
commitments under free-trade agreements. This should
serve as a warning to whoever deals with those countries,
because there is no guarantee that such measures will not
be applied to them as well.
Last year and the year before, wide-ranging
discussions were held on the restructuring of the United
Nations. These discussions have shown that there is a
need to review and change the procedures and methods of
work of the Security Council so that it may be able to
seriously and fairly address questions that touch on
international peace and security. During the meetings of
the Working Group established by the General Assembly
to look into the question of equitable representation in
and increase in the membership of the Security Council,
as well as into other related matters, my country declared
its support of the call for enhancing the powers of the
General Assembly, including giving it the right to deal
with questions of peace and security in the world, in
conformity with the provisions of the Charter. My country
reiterates its conviction that reforming the Security
Council and increasing its membership should be part and
parcel of an integrate process of reform that must be
guided by the principles of the sovereign equality of
States, equitable geographical distribution and the need to
democratize the procedures and methods applied in the
Security Council, including the process of
decision-making.
16

Libya has been among the first to call for the
elimination of all the obstacles that hamper the work of the
Security Council, particularly, the veto power. Today my
country takes satisfaction in the fact that this call, which
Libya made 20 years ago, now has the support of many
countries. This shows that those countries have now
become convinced that there is no longer any justification
for the power of the veto and that its continued existence
breaches one of the principles of the United Nations,
namely, the equality of States. It is that veto power which
impedes all efforts aimed at the democratization of the
membership and functions of United Nations bodies.
Since becoming a Member of the United Nations, my
country has played an active role in and contributed to
many achievements of which the Organization can be
proud. My country will also contribute to whatever the
Organization seeks to achieve in the future. Based on this,
we have actively participated in the international
Conferences recently organized by the United Nations on
population, social development, human rights, and women.
This we did in the same spirit that inspires our country’s
international activities at other levels. That is why Libya
has participated in all efforts aimed at strengthening the
Arab Maghreb Union. We are proud to see that this Union
has advanced steadily and has taken serious initiatives to
serve the peoples of the Union and to protect their gains.
Libya works with the same determination to adopt effective
measures to enhance cooperation and strengthen confidence
and security in the Mediterranean region in order to remove
the causes of tensions there. This includes our efforts to
close foreign military bases in the Mediterranean region and
to secure the withdrawal of military fleets from its waters.
Proceeding from its positions of principle, Libya has been
at the forefront of the defenders of the aspirations of
peoples, whether in the field of decolonization, the
protection and maintenance of human rights, or the
enhancement of the role principles of justice and fairness
should play in international relations.
Libya has also sought to solve a number of regional
disputes by peaceful means. In this spirit, it has undertaken
several mediation missions including, for example,
assistance in solving the problems in the southern
Philippines and helping to arrest the deterioration of the
dispute between Sudan and Uganda, as well as those
between Nigeria and Cameroon and Greece and Turkey.
Libya has also contributed to efforts aimed at halting the
escalation of the dispute between India and Pakistan, and
has helped in containing events in north Niger and Mali.
In this current session in particular, Libya takes
pride in the fact that these positions have had wide-
ranging effects that were reflected in the trust placed in
my country by Arab States and the group of African
States which unanimously nominated Libya to the
membership of the Security Council for the coming two
years. While expressing its high appreciation of this Arab
and African stand, Libya would like to thank, in advance,
all the countries that will support our candidature for that
seat. We should also like to confirm to everybody that
Libya will support all efforts aimed at the realization of
the purposes of the United Nations and, in cooperation
with members of the Security Council and other members
of the Organization, will work to enhance the role of the
United Nations in the maintenance of international peace
and security, and in closing ranks with other countries in
facing up to the dangers that threaten peace and security
in the world.
At the beginning of this statement, I said that this
session of the General Assembly had a special
significance. This is due to the fact that we believe that
the historical occasion under the aura of which this
session convenes, namely, the celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations, will afford us all an
opportunity that should be seized — an opportunity to
realize peace, security and prosperity for humanity.
In our view, the starting point in this direction lies
in hard work to establish the structure of a new
international order. Such an order, however, should not be
built according to the wishes of the few who seek to
impose their hegemony on others in deciding the fate of
the world, and to dictate their own methods of dealing
with international relations.
The new order that would satisfy us all should be
built on the common aspirations of all. It should be an
order that guarantees full equality to all countries; an
order that must respect the free political, economic and
social choices of all peoples. The new order should
protect and enhance human rights. It should create
conditions conducive to the settlement of disputes and
conflicts and to the resolution of differences among States
by peaceful means. It should be an order which provides
security and stability, and should make it possible for all
nations to aspire after development and to be optimistic
about the future. This new order should embody the noble
concepts and ideals enshrined in the Charter; namely, the
need to unite our strength to save humanity from the
scourge of war, to realize justice, to respect the
obligations arising from treaties and other sources of
17

international law, and to promote better standards of life in
greater freedom.


 May I first of all on behalf of the
Dominican Republic and on behalf of its Constitutional
President, Mr. Joaquín Balaguer, express our sincerest
congratulations to the President of the fiftieth session of
the General Assembly.
Secondly, I wish to express our profound gratitude
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Côte d’Ivoire, His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, who
presided over the forty-ninth session and, particularly, to
the Secretary-General, who, by his extraordinary efforts
and tireless dedication in a world marked by challenges
and breaches of the peace, wages a daily combat for the
full implementation of the purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter.
The Dominican Republic can affirm with pride on
this fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the United
Nations its role as a founding Member of the United
Nations, which signed the San Francisco Charter within
the international order that rose from the ashes of the
Second World War, whose fiftieth anniversary we also
commemorate, and as a country that defends the principle
of sovereignty as the inalienable right of the people.
Fifty years after the creation of the United Nations
in 1945, the world is in a state of transition toward what
has been termed a new world order, moving from
bipolarity to unipolarity in a multipolar world, following
upon the world built in Yalta and in the Bretton Woods
agreements.
The 1945 order was based on a balance of power
and on the United Nations as a reflection of the real
desire to seek security and universal peace — and the
Organization has managed, since its creation, to avert
another nuclear holocaust.
16
General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting
Fiftieth session 13 October 1995
Small countries such as the Dominican Republic,
staunch guardians of their national sovereignty, have
witnessed during the five decades since 1945 this order
created through the United Nations and its specialized
agencies, with Bretton Woods, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), the Council for Economic Aid
(COMECON), the Warsaw Pact, and the European
Economic Community — today the European Union; the
evolution of countries with market economies and those
with centrally planned economies, and the decolonization
processes which have resulted in the establishment of many
independent States. All this has left an indelible imprint on
the annals of contemporary history and has been rich in
lessons for all the nations of the world — lessons, in a
word, on relations between North and South.
The order which emerged from Bretton Woods was
reflected in the International Monetary Fund (IMF); the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD); and the aborted International Trade Organization
of 1947, which was replaced by the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), from which the agricultural
sector, services and intellectual property were excluded. All
this explains why 46 years later, with the Uruguay Round
of Multilateral Trade Negotiations and the birth, in 1993, of
the World Trade Organization (WTO), we are giving
multilateral shape to world trade in order to overcome
bilateral barriers and, above all, the protectionism that was
practised by the industrial countries.
In these five decades, the small countries had to
struggle mightily to uphold the principles of democracy,
including respect for human rights, and to defend their right
to access to the markets of the industrialized countries
against tariff and non-tariff barriers, quotas, and downward
spiralling in the prices of their raw materials. We can,
however, point with pride to the way we fought for our
demands for greater symmetry and fairness in commercial
and economic relations. This in the end led to the
establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD).
The San Francisco Charter illuminated like a
powerful beacon the road to the future of the countries that
had had to experience the difficult period of the bipolar
world. For its part, the Dominican Republic, committed as
always to the principles of the Charter, was able to attain
the functional democracy we enjoy today. This took place
within a world that has some 30 integration processes and
has seen the emergence of three strong economic-
integration blocs with their spheres of influence — such as
the European Union and the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) — in addition to the Free Trade
Zone of the Americas, which will probably be established
in the year 2005; and, for Eastern Asia, the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation Council (APEC). There are also
the political repercussions these processes have had on a
world where the dreams for centrally planned economies
have faded. Our country is now a member of the recently
established Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
This new world order that has now become the
global village foreseen by Marshall McLuhan, within a
globalized, international economy, will not be without
tensions, for we do not yet fully grasp the cultural
plurality of nations and the strong search for identity in
regions and within ethnic and religious groups. Contrary
to the popular phrase, history has not come to an end. A
new process is beginning with the expression by peoples
and regions of their national identity.
The globalization of trade would seem to transcend
the borders of the nation-State and create a concept of a
region-State, given the fragmentation of national
aggregate assets.
Within the family of nations we feel proud to have
been not only one of the 51 States that participated in the
San Francisco Conference, but also one of the first to
have ratified, in resolution 962 of our National Congress,
the Charter of the United Nations, which was promulgated
by our Executive Branch on 11 August 1945.
On the fiftieth anniversary of that memorable date
we wish to pay tribute to those members of the
Dominican delegation who signed that historic document:
Manuel Peña Batlle, Emilio García Godoy, Gilberto
Sánchez Lustrino, Tulio Franco y Franco and Minerva
Bernardino. We are a nation deeply committed to the
proper functioning of democratic institutions, having
attained a commendable political stability in our
continent’s community of nations.
In this context, the United Nations will be making a
praiseworthy contribution to the process of maintaining
stability in our country by responding to the request of
the Dominican Republic for reimbursement of the funds
spent in implementing the economic embargo imposed on
our neighbour, Haiti. The Dominican Republic has
submitted that request to the Secretariat and our
Government is now awaiting a response.
As a developing country the Dominican Republic
must face many challenges in the sensitive areas of drug
17
General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting
Fiftieth session 13 October 1995
trafficking and drug consumption. This is a problem our
country has met with a State policy that provides for severe
punishments for offences related to this crime against
humanity. At the present time legislation is pending in our
National Congress to punish money-laundering, which is an
activity related to the criminal drug traffic. We are also
coordinating our policies with the international community,
since in this field more than any other international
cooperation is required.
It is fitting here to congratulate the United Nations
Secretariat on the successful holding of the Fourth World
Conference on Women at Beijing. That Conference
represents a milestone in the Organization’s history because
of the recognition it has granted to that noble human being
who makes up half of all humanity and is the mother of the
other half.
In that connection we would reiterate at this fiftieth
session, just as we did at the last session, our concern at the
Secretary-General’s proposal to merge the International
Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of
Women (INSTRAW) with the United Nations Development
Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The General Assembly
should recall Economic and Social Council resolution
1979/4 of 9 May 1979, which established the permanent
headquarters of the Institute in the Dominican Republic.
We wish to reiterate — with the utmost courtesy, but
also with the utmost firmness — our request that
INSTRAW and UNIFEM not be merged, maintaining the
commitments contained in General Assembly resolution
34/157 of 17 December 1979 and the agreement that
established INSTRAW in Santo Domingo so that our first
city of America may remain the headquarters of that
important Institute. This would also be in keeping with the
extraordinary importance of the recently concluded
Conference on Women.
We are now only six years from the beginning of the
twenty-first century, in the year 2001, and our thoughts turn
to an assessment of the past 50 years since the founding of
the United Nations. We should also be visualizing the
foundations and the shape of the new world order for the
building of a future based on security and world peace.
This will require a qualitative change in the United Nations,
removing the sacrosanct aura surrounding the veto power of
the great Powers in the Security Council and promoting a
democratic system of coexistence among States and
peoples.
The United Nations and we, its Member States, will
have to meet the challenge of the demographic or so-
called population bomb with growth estimated at 84
million persons per year, and related problems, such as
the fact that in 1990 only 40 per cent of the world’s
population lived in rural sectors and over 50 per cent in
urban centres of over 100,000 inhabitants. The number of
persons suffering malnutrition is estimated to reach 512
million by the end of the century. Children without
schooling will number 315 million, and there will be 889
million illiterate persons. Those living without sanitation
systems will reach 1,750 million. Dealing with those
problems will be a real challenge.
The new context of the world order will require a
three-pronged approach involving an ecological response,
a political response and an economic response.
Although the United Nations Environment
Programme was an important step forward for the
protection of the biosphere, consideration should be given
the possibility of creating, after proper study, an
ecological response embodied in a United Nations
environmental security council composed of Member
States with a permanent 15-member executive committee
and a secretary-general with executive powers.
The political response would come from the reform
of the United Nations Charter. In this connection, we
should bear in mind that Article 109 of the Charter,
which was written in 1945, provides for the convening of
a General Conference within a 10-year period for the
purpose of reviewing the Charter. In addition, on 22 April
1991 a number of former Heads of State and political
leaders appealed for a renewal of the United Nations.
Today, it is appropriate to envisage the inclusion of
Germany, Japan and India as members of the Security
Council, as well as the inclusion of representatives of
third-world countries.
Charter reform would, of course, imply the exercise
of the powers of the Secretary-General supported by
under-secretaries for environmental, political and
economic affairs.
In addition, the economic response should come
from a clear and precise definition of the role of the
United Nations within the new order. Since, in the
economic sphere, the Group of 7 has already been
coordinating its policies through a kind of security
council, with the recent addition of Russia, we might
envisage its incorporation into the United Nations as a
18
General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting
Fiftieth session 13 October 1995
sort of Economic Council that might include, in addition,
the countries of southern Asia and the Pacific, as well as
Latin America and other regions. It could eventually
become a Group of 18, linked to the General Assembly, the
Economic and Social Council, the specialized agencies and
the regional commissions.
The Dominican Republic hopes that the ideas and
suggestions that have been put forward, many now under
study and being proposed in various forums, will be viewed
as a good-will contribution by a small nation — a nation
that is small but proud of its participation in the
international community.
For that reason, we cannot, as a small nation that
believes in unity within diversity, fail to mention our
support for the agenda item — proposed by Burkina Faso,
Costa Rica, Dominica, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea-
Bissau, the Solomon Islands, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama,
the Central American Republic, Saint Lucia, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland and our country,
the Dominican Republic — regarding the special situation
of the Republic of China in Taiwan in the international
context, based on the principle of universality and in
accordance with the established model of parallel
representation of divided countries in the United Nations.
The Republic of China on Taiwan, a Founding
Member of the United Nations, has a population of
21 million, a high level of economic development and full
political democracy. It has been a model to all developing
nations. Its aspiration to participate in the United Nations
once again is something positive for the international
community. The Organization must not ignore its
existence. The Dominican Republic supports the
establishment of an ad hoc committee to seek a
satisfactory resolution of this matter.
At this fiftieth session, the General Assembly should
take stock of the achievements of the United Nations in
its 50 years of existence as well as of the unfulfilled
objectives in the area of the maintenance of international
peace and security. But above all it should adopt a vision
of the future that will enable us to build a democratic
system of coexistence among States and peoples, inspired
by the profound human aspiration to lasting peace. May
merciful God help us attain these goals.


I am
honoured to address the fiftieth session of the General
Assembly. I wish at the outset to extend to His
Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral my
congratulations on his election to preside over the General
Assembly. We are pleased that the stewardship of this
anniversary session is entrusted to a distinguished and
seasoned diplomat. I wish to express my confidence in his
capable leadership and assure him of the cooperation of
my Government in the discharge of the mandate of his
office.
In this connection I wish to thank his distinguished
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy of
Côte d’Ivoire, for his dedication and excellent guidance
of the work of the Assembly during its forty-ninth
session.
I also wish to convey my Government’s gratitude to
the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his
tireless efforts in the search for peaceful solutions to the
many volatile situations and humanitarian and
development issues around the world that are challenging
the Organization’s attention.
My Government takes this opportunity to extend a
warm welcome to our neighbour, the Republic of Palau,
the newest Member of the United Nations.
A few weeks from today, Member States of the
United Nations will join together to celebrate the fiftieth
anniversary of the Organization, taking note of its
accomplishments and its share of failures with a view to
charting an effective role for its future.
The new global map before us today presents the
Organization with a unique opportunity as the primary
global institution. The challenge of leadership is before
us. However, this opportunity will be missed if financial
resources and the political will of its Member States are
lacking.
In this connection we wish to support the statement
made by the Chairman of the Group of 77 and by China
last week with respect to the progress report of the High-
24

level Open-ended Working Group on the Financial Situation
of the United Nations.
I also wish to express my Government’s strong
support for the ongoing programme of reforms within the
Organization. We support institutional reforms that will
eliminate duplication of work, waste and fraud and thereby
enhance the effectiveness of the Organization.
With reference to the scale of assessments, my
Government finds merit in the argument that the principle
of the capacity to pay seems to have fallen by the wayside
in the determination of assessments. Studies point out
disturbing disparities in the existing scale as compared with
individual Member countries’ share of the global economy.
Naturally, it is the smallest Member States that are being
penalized by such disparities. My Government associates
itself with the report issued by the Committee on
Contributions at its fifty-fifth session, held in June of this
year, which called for a lowering of the floor.
The issue of human rights, implicit in the United
Nations Charter, has been the topic of many debates and
international conferences in the context of the work of the
United Nations. We welcome the programmes of action
generated by these meetings and hope that the international
community will find the determination to allocate the
necessary resources for their implementation.
My Government joined in the consensus of the parties
for the unconditional extension of the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) five months ago.
With regard to the ongoing negotiations with respect to a
comprehensive test-ban treaty, my Government welcomes
the commitment by the United States to a zero- yield
threshold, and we urge similar assurances by the other
nuclear-weapon States.
On the other hand, during the past few months we
have been deeply troubled by the occurrence of nuclear-test
explosions in China and the South Pacific. These events can
be seen only as detrimental to the principles of the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and
endangering the prospects for success in negotiating a
comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty.
In the important area of development, my Government
fully supports the ongoing work on the Agenda for
Development and the call for new approaches that would
elevate development and economic policy to their deserved
place, on a par with world peace and security. In the
Secretary-General’s recommendations of 11 November
1994, he stated that the
“United Nations cannot be a strong force for peace
unless it is also a strong force for development.”
(A/49/665, para. 9)
My Government fully associates itself with the declaration
of the Foreign Ministers of the Group of 77 calling for
restoration of the issue of development to the heart of the
United Nations agenda, the centrality of the United
Nations in promoting international cooperation for
development and the creation of a balance between
United Nations activities for development and its other
activities.
My Government welcomes the entry into force of
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in
November of last year, as well as the establishment of the
International Seabed Authority. While there is much work
ahead in months to come with respect to the Seabed
Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of
the Sea, we are confident that the spirit of compromise
that brought us to where we are today will continue to
prevail and guide our efforts.
In this connection, my Government is also very
pleased with the successful outcome of the negotiations
on straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks
this past July. My Government looks forward to the
signing of the relevant agreement in December of this
year. At this juncture, allow me to express my
Government’s appreciation to Ambassador Satya Nandan
of the Republic of Fiji for his excellent leadership as
Chairman of the Conference on that subject. As Pacific
islanders, we take pride in the immense contributions of
one of our own sons.
The Government of the Federated States of
Micronesia is firmly committed to environmentally
sustainable development. We urge all members to follow
closely the crucial work of the Commission on
Sustainable Development this year and to support the
important work of Under-Secretary-General Nitin Desai
and the Secretariat in this difficult but essential
endeavour. In this connection, we continue to place great
importance on the implementation of the Programme of
Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States.
At its meeting last month the South Pacific Forum
adopted the Convention to Ban the Importation into
25

Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive
Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and
Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific
Region, also referred to as the Waigani Convention. It is an
important arrangement that strengthens and supplements the
effect of the Basel and London Conventions within our
region.
The subject of climate change and global warming,
phenomena that are influenced by mankind’s emissions of
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, remains of deep
concern to the people of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Unfortunately, though, it seems that much of the world
does not at present share our feeling of urgency regarding
the continuing debate over this problem.
The developments during the past year relating to the
Framework Convention on Climate Change have to some
extent been encouraging, but the process still suffers greatly
from the strong political and economic forces that obscure
the Convention’s clearly stated objective: the stabilization
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at safe levels.
Everyone agrees that this objective can be reached only
through difficult adjustments within the industrialized
countries and assistance to the developing world in
acquiring environmentally clean technologies. It is also
understood that this must be done in stages over a certain
period of time. But the first steps must be initiated at once.
The First Conference of the parties of the Convention,
held in Berlin earlier this year, made the very crucial
determination that the initial undertakings by industrialized
countries to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions were
inadequate. Regrettably, the Conference did not see fit to
adopt as a next step the protocol formally submitted by the
Alliance of Small Island States, which would have applied
a reduction formula endorsed by scientists back in 1988 as
reasonable and necessary. Instead, the best the Conference
could do was to mandate a working group to develop
during the next two years a protocol or other legal
instrument requiring specific future reductions. At the first
meeting of this working group, held recently in Geneva, it
was clear that powerful forces remain dedicated to
defeating this process by whatever means they can apply.
Opponents of the Framework Convention have been
very ingenious in casting doubts over scientific knowledge
relating to climate change, but we hope that the upcoming
second assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change will establish once and for all the clear
legitimacy of this concern and the need for action. The
Panel has found, among other things, a likelihood of
continuing sea-level rise of more than 18 inches, or half
a metre, by the year 2100 if nothing is done. Besides the
obvious disastrous effects upon islands and their
populations, many heavily populated river deltas and their
cities would be made uninhabitable.
The eminent Director of the University of
Maryland’s Laboratory for Coastal Research recently
described the measurement of sea-level rise as the
“dipstick of climate change”. I would respectfully suggest
that while sea-level rise is certainly the indicator, it is our
islands and low-lying coastal areas that are the dipstick,
but we are helplessly fixed and immovable.
I therefore call on this body at this session to take
due notice of the accumulating knowledge relating to
climate change and to reaffirm the urgent need for
meaningful greenhouse gases emissions-reduction
measures within the context of the Framework
Convention.
I am pleased to inform this Assembly that the
Government of the Federated States of Micronesia has
recently ratified the Convention on desertification, and my
Government will deposit its instrument of ratification in
due course.
The Federated States of Micronesia sees an
interrelationship between the three environmental
Conventions — on biological diversity, climate change
and desertification, respectively. And only through a
collective approach and support can we have a chance to
restore, protect and sustain our global environment. My
Government joins in solidarity with all Members to work
towards solutions through global cooperation.
The current series of underground test explosions
which France has carried out in the South Pacific, and
which it is continuing in the face of unprecedented
international outrage, is regrettable for many reasons, but
I focus here on the particular danger which these tests
pose to the environment of our Pacific region.
The history of nuclear testing in the Pacific region,
both north and south, is an ugly chronicle of willingness
to gamble with the lives and homes of millions of island
inhabitants. In the region of Micronesia, and in particular
the Marshall Islands, despite broad assurances that testing
was safe, we are learning only now, years later, that the
disastrous effects on the health of island peoples have
been far worse than science could have predicted at the
time.
26

An established principle of international law prescribes
that a State must ensure that its actions within its
jurisdiction or control do not cause damage within other
States or within areas beyond the limits of its national
jurisdiction. That principle is embodied in article 4 of the
Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and
Environment of the South Pacific Region, otherwise known
as the Noumea Convention. Together with nine Pacific
countries and the United States, France is a party to that
Convention. It is also an expressed principle in the
Convention on Biological Diversity, to which France is also
a State party.
The Noumea Convention and the Convention on
biological diversity also contain clear requirements
regarding advance, transparent environmental impact
assessments of projects which might have harmful effects
on the environment. No in-depth, comprehensive
environmental impact assessment of France’s underground
nuclear testing programme in the South Pacific has ever
been carried out.
France has sought to reassure the world by saying that
the test area will be open to any assessment desired, as
soon as its present tests are over. Without question, France
will bear a heavy responsibility to ensure against future
leakage, the probability of which is very high. Picture the
shattered substratum of a small atoll which has undergone
over 120 nuclear explosions, one of which caused a tidal
wave. Surely, each succeeding explosion increases the
likelihood of leakage from the accumulation of radioactive
materials concentrated below. In my Government’s view,
the proposition deserves assessment before further tests
proceed, especially since France’s obligation under both of
the treaties I have mentioned includes observance of the
“precautionary principle”.
We hope that the collective voice of this body at this
session will finally convince France that it must respect the
interests of the Pacific region and the world by ending the
nuclear degradation of Polynesian atolls and taking the
necessary actions to prevent future radioactive leakage from
them.
A common thread throughout these remarks has been
one of hope because, at its fiftieth anniversary, more than
ever, this Organization is the greatest hope for a future in
which nations, in cooperation with one another, can address
the bewildering array of problems whose implications,
while local in their effects, far transcend national
boundaries.
Our small, relatively young nation, remote and
underdeveloped, joins with many others in similar
circumstances in feeling blessed that, at this juncture in
history, there is a sense of universality within the
community of nations. At a time when the earlier
“doomsday mentality” no longer lies at the foundation of
international relations, it gives us hope that the passing of
that phase will now make room for more serious
contemplation of the future of the planet we all must
share.
It is good that we are celebrating this important
milestone in human history, this fiftieth anniversary of
our forum for the world’s nations, but if it is to be more
than just a forum, we must all keep a vision of our
purpose in coming here each year and in expending so
much effort throughout the year at conferences and at
home to exchange our respective views.
In the end, we must find ways to transcend the
national assumptions about each other and determine to
create a level of real cooperation which will consolidate
the effectiveness of our individual efforts. That is why
today the United Nations is more important than ever —
indeed, why it is crucial. It is through this Organization,
and through no other, that the breakthrough to which I
refer can be achieved.
And so I close, as I opened, with reference to the
opportunity that makes this Organization our strongest
basis for confidence and our hope for the future. We
know that we are not alone in these views, and we look
forward to working very hard during this, the fiftieth
session of the General Assembly, to do our part in
making it, not only a well-deserved celebration, but a
springboard to a bountiful future to which our
descendants will look back and say, “They did not let us
down.”


I should like, on behalf of the
Government of Japan, to begin my statement at the General
Assembly by extending my felicitations on the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations. I also wish to offer my
sincere congratulations to Your Excellency, Professor
Freitas do Amaral, on your assumption of the presidency of
this commemorative session of the General Assembly.
Half a century has passed since the United Nations
was founded. When we recall that its predecessor, the
League of Nations, endured for just a little over 20 years,
we should consider the very longevity of this Organization
a blessing. But that is not the end of the story. As we look
ahead to the future, the mission of the United Nations will
become increasingly important. I am thus particularly
moved to have been given the honour and privilege of
representing the Government of Japan at this historic and
significant session of the General Assembly.
Although during the past 50 years confrontation
between the super-Powers at times paralysed the peace-
keeping functions of the United Nations, the structure of
the international community has recently undergone
tremendous change. Within this span of time, the world
population has more than doubled, and this explosive
increase has resulted in serious problems on a global
scale. Moreover, with the rapid proliferation of regional
conflicts in the years since the end of the cold war, there
are an estimated 30 million refugees in the world today.
And, as Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali pointed
out in his recent statement in Geneva, as we approach the
end of the twentieth century, 1.3 billion people are living
in absolute poverty and more than 1.5 billion do not
receive even the most basic health care. Needless to say,
there remain the increasingly grave problems of
environmental degradation, including global warming,
deforestation and marine pollution.
The United Nations is the only universal
international organization that exists to cope with these
grave problems to ensure that the international community
enjoys peace and prosperity. Thus it is necessary at this
time for the United Nations genuinely to strengthen its
functions and to take concrete action for reforms in the
financial, economic and social, and political fields.
Cooperation with the United Nations has always been an
important pillar of Japan’s foreign policy. I should like at
the outset to state that Japan is resolved hereafter to
strengthen further such cooperation and to contribute
actively to the strengthening of the Organization’s
functions.

The first point I wish to make with regard to the
crucially important international challenges in this new
post-cold-war era is that the development of developing
countries should be pursued from a new perspective. The
achievement of greater economic self-reliance by
developing countries through development is conducive to
the growth of the global economy as a whole and will, in
turn, help stabilize the new international order.
Development issues have until now tended to become
politicized in the context of East-West confrontation and
have not been addressed from the essential perspective of
development. Today, however, an environment is emerging
in which the problems of the economic and social
development of developing countries can be squarely
addressed from a perspective of cooperation and
partnership. On this occasion, I should like to reaffirm the
need to formulate a more comprehensive development
strategy for achieving peace and prosperity throughout the
international community.
In addressing development issues, I believe that
official development assistance will continue to play an
important role. Japan, recalling the assistance it received
from other countries in the past, and now as the world’s
largest aid donor, will continue its efforts to expand its
official development assistance.
On the other hand, however, the development strategy
that we are to pursue hereafter cannot be concerned simply
with development assistance. For example, when one
considers the extraordinary economic performance of the
East Asia region, one cannot but clearly recognize the
importance of fostering the market mechanism and of
promoting the liberalization of trade and investment. I
should also like to emphasize once again the need to
maintain and strengthen the multilateral open-trading
system, at the centre of which is the World Trade
Organization, established earlier this year.
In this connection, I wish to refer to the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) as a good example of open
regional cooperation that rejects exclusive regionalism. As
the presiding nation at this year’s APEC conference, to be
held in Osaka in November, Japan intends to contribute
actively to the further promotion of such regional
cooperation under APEC.
The concept of social development is increasingly
important in ensuring that economic development and
growth will lead to the enhancement of individual welfare
and the security and prosperity of society as a whole
through the promotion of education and training, respect
for human rights and the advancement of the status of
women. Japan is working to enhance its international
cooperation in all of these areas. It attaches particular
importance to the role of women in development and
thus, at the recent Fourth World Conference on Women,
in Beijing, it announced a new policy to expand its
development assistance in the three priority areas of
raising the educational standards, improving the health
and promoting the economic and social participation of
women.
In the formulation of the new development strategy
which I proposed earlier, a comprehensive approach is
needed. Such an approach would include not only official
development assistance, but a variety of policy measures
in such areas as trade, investment, macroeconomic
policies, technology transfer and building social
infrastructure. In addition, it is also important to take a
differentiated approach which applies the best policy mix
according to the respective country’s stage of
development.
Based on this fundamental philosophy, I should like
to present the following three concrete guidelines.
First, realistic development targets which clearly
indicate the anticipated results of development should be
established, and developing countries and donor countries
should work together to achieve those targets. I should
like, for example, to propose that the United Nations, with
the cooperation of such bodies as the United Nations
University, undertake a study to establish development
targets. These targets would combine indices measuring
the economic growth of a developing country by, for
example, an increase of its gross national product to a
fixed level within a certain time-frame, with indices
showing the degree of social development according to,
among other things, literacy and infant mortality rates.
Secondly, it is important to promote participatory
development that involves, in addition to central
Governments, new development actors such as
non-governmental organizations and local governments.
Thirdly, South-South cooperation should be further
promoted. I would propose that necessary financial
measures be considered, including the establishment of an
effective mechanism for this purpose within the United
Nations Development Programme.
2

While there is a diminished likelihood of a large-scale
confrontation or conflict between nations today, as
compared with the cold-war era, regional conflicts which
stem from religious or ethnic rivalries are of increasingly
serious concern. Because poverty is in many cases a cause
of these conflicts, it is essential that development issues be
urgently addressed. At the same time, it is also the case that
a conflict itself poses a major obstacle to the achievement
of development, resulting in a vicious circle.
The efforts of the countries concerned, as well as
those of other countries in the region, are, of course, basic
to the settlement of regional conflicts. But, in addition, the
international community too must seriously address itself to
the resolution of conflicts, and for this purpose the
functions of the United Nations should be strengthened.
Peace-keeping operations, building upon the efforts of
the parties concerned, are an effective means of helping to
settle disputes. Their deployment can also play an important
role in preventing conflicts. It is thus essential that the
international community continue to support such operations
and work for their further reform. Japan actively cooperates
with United Nations peace-keeping operations and intends
to participate in the United Nations Disengagement
Observer Force in the Golan Heights. Moreover, responding
to the rapidly expanding refugee problems resulting from
these numerous conflicts, Japan continues to support the
activities of such organs as the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees.
It is also important that the United Nations, as well as
its Member States, place greater emphasis on conflict
prevention. Japan supports the strengthening of United
Nations efforts in the area of preventive diplomacy,
including the dispatch of fact-finding missions and the offer
of political support through its good offices or mediation
efforts.
It is for the purpose of promoting conflict prevention
and settlement that Japan, with the United Nations and the
United Nations University, is co-sponsoring the High-Level
Symposium on Peace and Development: Problems of
Conflict in Africa, which will be convened next month.
Of all the regional disputes being witnessed in the
world today, particular reference should be made to the
conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Peace will not be
achieved in that conflict through the use of force by the
parties concerned; it must be sought through negotiation.
And now there is a window of opportunity for the parties
to engage in peace talks. It is essential that that opportunity
not be lost but that all concerned spare no effort to
achieve peace. Japan continues to support the efforts
towards peace being made by the countries concerned as
well as the activities of the United Nations. It is also
extending appropriate cooperation, including humanitarian
assistance. Once the conflict is brought to an end and
peace is restored, Japan intends to cooperate in the
rehabilitation of the region in conjunction with other
concerned countries and relevant international
organizations.
I turn now to the situation in the Middle East. Japan
has been actively contributing to efforts towards a
peaceful settlement. Japan welcomes the agreement
reached on 24 September in the negotiations on the
expansion of Palestinian interim self-rule and believes it
will be a major step forward in the peace process.
Promoting disarmament and strengthening the regime
for the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
are essential to the maintenance of international peace and
stability. As countries curtail excessive military spending
through arms-reduction efforts, the resources thus saved
can be allocated to development objectives. Conversely,
progress in economic development must not lead to arms
build-ups, and for this reason too it is necessary to
redouble disarmament efforts.
In this year that marks the fiftieth anniversary of the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
welcomed the decision to extend indefinitely the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT),
which is an important contribution to strengthening the
basis of the non-proliferation regime and represents
significant progress towards the ultimate elimination of
nuclear weapons.
As an important step towards nuclear disarmament,
renewed efforts should be made to complete negotiations
on a comprehensive test-ban treaty by next spring and to
sign it by the autumn of 1996, at the latest. Japan, with
firm political will and together with other countries, will
do its utmost to attain this crucially important goal. As
for the scope of the treaty’s provisions against nuclear
testing, we deeply appreciate the announcements made by
France, the United States and the United Kingdom
indicating their support for a total ban on all nuclear
testing and we hope that the other nuclear-weapon States
will likewise adopt that position without delay. I should
like to reiterate here the proposal which I made in my
address to this body last year that, once the treaty is
concluded, the signing ceremony be held in Japan.
3

I cannot but deeply deplore the nuclear tests conducted
by certain countries immediately after the indefinite
extension of the NPT was approved unanimously by the
States Parties to the Treaty and just as the international
community has begun to make further progress towards a
nuclear-free world. I should like on this occasion to
reaffirm that the nuclear-weapon States, which are accorded
a special status under the NPT, have an obligation to
respond to the trust shown in them by non-nuclear-weapon
States by engaging in genuine nuclear-disarmament efforts.
Japan has consistently called for the cessation of nuclear
testing and at this session of the General Assembly intends
to sponsor a draft resolution calling for the cessation of
nuclear testing. I hope that it receives the support and
cooperation of all Member States.
In addition, I would appeal to all States to work
vigorously for the reduction and control of conventional
weapons. The United Nations Register of Conventional
Arms, the purpose of which is to enhance the transparency
of arms transfers, has proved a great success, recording
more than 90 per cent of the transfers of conventional
weapons that have taken place throughout the world. I
strongly encourage many more States to participate in the
Register. The prompt establishment of an international
mechanism for controlling the export of conventional
weapons is also an important issue.
The problem of uncleared land-mines is not only a
humanitarian issue but one that poses a serious obstacle to
economic rehabilitation. International cooperation and the
development of technology for clearing these mines are
urgently required. As we look to the future, it is equally
important to consider and strengthen the framework of
international regulations with respect to the use, production,
transfer and so on of anti-personnel land- mines.
Another serious problem facing the international
community is that of the proliferation of small arms. It is
Japan’s intention to submit to the General Assembly at this
session a draft resolution on the establishment, under the
Secretary-General, of a panel of experts to address this
issue.
As I stated at the beginning of my remarks, we should
seize the historic opportunity presented by the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations to realize concrete
reforms aimed at strengthening the functions of the
Organization, the importance of which continues to grow.
I should like on this occasion to present my views
concerning reforms to be undertaken in three areas, namely,
financial reform, reforms in the economic and social
fields and reform of the Security Council.
Unless the efficiency of its bodies is enhanced and
its financial base is made sound and strong, a genuine
strengthening of the functions of the United Nations will
not be achieved. At present the unpaid contributions of
Member States to the United Nations amount to well over
US$ 3 billion. It is imperative that we as Member States
recognize this situation as an impending crisis and face up
to it. I call upon all Member States to make every effort
to pay in full and as soon as possible their assessed
contributions that are in arrears. At the same time I
should like to stress the need for a comprehensive review
of the method by which the financial burden is shared
among Member States, in a manner that does not place
excessive burdens on any of them. As the second-largest
contributor to the United Nations, Japan, despite its severe
financial situation, has assumed considerable responsible
for United Nations financing. On this occasion I wish to
emphasize that serious discussion of the fundamental
reform of United Nations financing and the realization of
a fair and equitable system of burden-sharing are key to
the strengthening of the functions of the United Nations.
Now, with the situation more conducive to
addressing development issues from a new perspective, it
is imperative that we tackle global issues more
effectively, particularly those relating to the environment,
but also human rights, refugees, population, AIDS and
narcotics.
In so doing we must work with greater earnestness
to strengthen the United Nations system in economic and
social fields. Specifically, it is necessary to improve the
efficiency and review the mandates of the various
organizations and agencies active in these fields and to
promote more effective coordination between them,
including international financial institutions.
From this point of view, Japan attaches great
importance to the discussion on “An Agenda for
Development”, and by contributing actively to that
discussion it is endeavouring to promote reform in
economic and social fields. In particular, there is an
urgent need to revitalize the functions of the Economic
and Social Council, including the further utilization of its
various functional committees.
The reform of the Security Council is of the utmost
importance in strengthening the United Nations in the
political field. The primary objective of Security Council
4

reform is to strengthen its function by enhancing its
legitimacy and effectiveness. Towards this end, Japan
believes it is necessary to expand the Security Council by
adding to its permanent membership countries in a position
to assume global responsibilities, and also to increase by an
appropriate number the non-permanent membership.
As I stated here last year, Japan, with the endorsement
of many countries, is prepared to discharge its
responsibilities as a permanent member of the Security
Council, in accordance with its basic philosophy regarding
international contributions, including the non-resort to the
use of force prohibited by its Constitution. On this point, I
should like to take this opportunity once again to express
my appreciation to the many countries that have indicated
their support for Japan’s permanent membership on the
Security Council.
Building on the results of the discussions conducted in
the Working Group over the past two years, particularly on
the substantive progress made during the last session of the
General Assembly, and also taking advantage of the
momentum provided by the fiftieth anniversary of the
United Nations, I would urge all Member States to redouble
their efforts to reach an agreement on a broad framework
for reform by the end of the current session, in September
1996.
This year, which marks the fiftieth anniversary of the
end of the Second World War, Japan has looked squarely
at its past history and has renewed its commitment to
peace. Japan is among the countries that have benefited
most from the peace and stability of the international
community over the past 50 years. I earnestly hope that
other countries throughout the world will likewise enjoy the
blessings that have accrued to Japan as a result of
international peace and prosperity.
I should like to conclude my statement today by
reaffirming Japan’s determination to contribute to the best
of its ability to the building of a stronger United Nations
for the future, as well as to establishing a new international
order for peace and prosperity based upon the principles of
freedom and democracy.


In another two weeks we will
be commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of this
Organization. We shall do so with much ceremony. I
would hope, however, that we will go beyond the
ceremonial to take the opportunity which the occasion
provides us to reflect further on the role of the
Organization and on the ways and means by which its
performance can be enhanced to serve better the needs of
its Members in the coming twenty-first century.
We offer Mr. Freitas do Amaral our warmest
congratulations on his election. We are confident that,
with his demonstrated ability and skills, he will advance
us even further in our task of reforming and restructuring
4

the Organization so that it may successfully confront the
challenges which the post-cold-war era has brought. He
may be sure that we will fully cooperate with him to make
the deliberations of the fiftieth session of this Assembly as
constructive as possible.
My Government is grateful to the outgoing President
of the Assembly, Mr. Amara Essy of Côte d’Ivoire, for the
initiatives which he took during his term of office to
improve the functioning of the institution at this critical
time of its existence.
We would also wish to say a special word of
appreciation to the distinguished Secretary-General,
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and his staff for their
continuing devotion to the servicing of our many
requirements. Their support for our efforts will undoubtedly
guarantee our ultimate success.
It is vitally important that the dynamism and
effectiveness of the United Nations be increased if it is
adequately to discharge its many tasks. Since the
Organization was founded almost five decades ago, the
world has changed considerably and international problems
have become much more complex. The United Nations
today bears a heavier load of responsibility than ever
before. Ironically, at the same time, it is saddled with a
deepening financial crisis which makes its effectiveness and
its very future highly uncertain. This situation cannot
continue without adverse consequences for the world
community.
The expanding nature of many peace-keeping
operations not only places an added financial strain on the
finances of the United Nations, but is especially
burdensome for small developing countries, such as mine,
which are finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil our
financial obligations to the Organization. Support for these
operations represents a continuing drain on our limited
resources and hampers our own efforts at development. Yet
as conflicts multiply the United Nations will be called upon
to mount more operations to keep the peace.
Given the urgency of these demands, we have no
choice but to try and meet them. The time has therefore
come for us to put the financing of these undertakings on
a more reliable footing. We urge all States, especially the
major defaulting countries, to honour fully their obligations
to the Organization.
It must be a matter of growing concern to the
international community that the peace and prosperity
expected in the aftermath of the cold war have not
materialized. The world continues to face some of the
worst threats to international stability. Violent conflicts
arising from resurgent nationalisms and religious
intolerance between and within States have proliferated.
The unresolved situations in Afghanistan, Rwanda, parts
of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia
have caused severe loss of life and destruction to property
and have given rise to humanitarian crises of immense
proportions.
The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina remains
uncertain. The suffering of the Bosnian people, the total
disregard for the safe havens and the constant threat to
the international peace-keeping force demands that the
international community take effective measures to end
this senseless conflict. We welcome the prospects of a
peaceful settlement which have resulted from the latest
diplomatic initiative. With the international Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia now established, we hope that
those responsible for the atrocities committed against the
Bosnian people will be brought to trial.
We are equally concerned with the situation in
Cyprus which, despite the efforts of the Secretary-
General, appears to be worsening. There are reports of
escalating tensions. We urge both sides to the dispute to
respond urgently to his call for a negotiated solution
which would preserve the island’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity.
Although the Middle East continues to be volatile,
we have reason today to believe that a comprehensive
peace can be a reality in the not-too-distant future. The
accords already signed between Israel and the Palestinians
on the one hand and Israel and Jordan on the other show
a willingness to reach a just and lasting solution. These
achievements should serve as a catalyst for new
initiatives. Many issues such as the refugee problem,
security arrangements and borders, fundamental to the
Palestine question, remain to be settled. The recent high-
level negotiations between the Prime Minister of Israel
and the President of Palestine must be considered a
positive development. We hope that all remaining
difficulties can be resolved in good faith by both sides
with the help of this Organization and the international
community.
In our own region we are pleased to see that peace
and stability have been restored to a large degree in Haiti.
Much has been accomplished since the return of the
democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in
5

October 1994. We note in particular the practical steps
taken by the Government of Haiti to organize free and fair
legislative elections, as called for in Security Council
resolution 940 (1994). The first of these elections has
shown that more has to be done in terms of establishing an
effective electoral machinery. The role of the International
Civilian Mission and the United Nations Mission in Haiti
(UNMIH) in assisting the Haitian authorities to reinforce
democracy remains crucial. The sustained commitment of
the international community is indispensable to the
prospects for long-term progress in Haiti. My Government
is ready to provide whatever assistance it can to achieve
this goal.
Today more than ever, the people of the world are
making the United Nations the repository of their hopes.
The Organization must therefore do its utmost to satisfy
these expanded expectations. It must undertake whatever
institutional reforms are necessary for adapting itself to the
new international context. The urgency of our agenda
makes it imperative for us to conclude as early as possible
the work under way in the many Working Groups to secure
the rationalization of our agenda, as well as the reform of
the major organs of the United Nations. These reforms,
which we believe to be essential and urgent, must be
carried out with transparency and on a consensual basis.
They must be realistic and be aimed at increasing
efficiency. Above all, they must be in full accordance with
the democratic purposes and principles of the Charter.
In so far as the reform of the Security Council is
concerned, my Government supports an appropriate increase
in membership. Such an increase should take account of the
size of the current membership of the Organization and be
reflective of the principle of equitable geographical
representation. The discussions in the Working Group that
was set up in accordance with resolution 48/26 have
produced several interesting proposals for reform. These
should now be more closely examined and evaluated to
determine their feasibility. It is possible, we believe, to find
an arrangement that would respond satisfactorily to the need
for enhancing the Council’s capacity to preserve
international peace and security in the post-cold-war era.
A major responsibility of any reformed Council should
be to give further impetus to the disarmament process. The
decision taken by the 1995 Review and Extension
Conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to extend the agreement
indefinitely reflects the commitment of all parties involved
to work towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. The
extension of the Treaty, however, is not an end in itself. It
must be followed by further steps towards complete
nuclear disarmament, the dissemination of nuclear know-
how for peaceful purposes, adequate security assurances
to non-nuclear-weapon States and the establishment of
nuclear-weapon free zones. Especially important is the
need to conclude a comprehensive test-ban treaty in order
to preclude nuclear-weapon States from undertaking
further hazardous experiments. We urge the Conference
on Disarmament to proceed as expeditiously as possible
to the elaboration of a universal and effective treaty
within a fixed time frame.
The nuclear threat, as well as other hazards to which
we are exposed, must make us all actually aware of our
obligation to protect our fragile environment. Since the
United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, we have made some progress in a number
of areas with regard to the implementation of Agenda 21.
We have seen the coming into force of the Convention on
Biological Diversity, the Convention on Climate Change
and the Convention to Combat Desertification, as well as
the holding in Barbados of the Global Conference on the
Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States and the adoption of the Barbados Programme of
Action. Much more, however, remains to be done if we
are adequately to honour the commitments made in Rio.
The terrible destruction inflicted recently by
powerful hurricanes on several sister States in the
Caribbean Community shows how vulnerable small States
are to environmental disasters. Only two months ago my
own country suffered major ecological damage as a result
of severe leakages from the tailings pond dam at the
Omai Gold Mines in the Essequibo region, causing some
1.2 million cubic metres of cyanide slurry to be
discharged into the environment. Aquatic life in the river
was endangered, while the inhabitants of nearby villages
were exposed to serious health hazards. Fortunately, the
Government of Guyana was able, with the assistance of
friendly Governments and agencies of the United Nations
system, to contain the danger. These disasters, both
natural and man-made, point to the need for urgent
international action to protect small countries such as
ours.
Yet, three years after the Rio Conference, the
commitments to provide financial resources to implement
Agenda 21 remain largely on paper. The target of 0.7 per
cent of official development assistance is still to be
realized. New resources have simply not been available to
undertake some of the programmes specified in the
Agenda. Nor have we witnessed any significant transfer
6

of suitable technology to developing countries. While the
developing countries are ready to discharge their
obligations, developed countries balk at making their
contribution. The global partnership, which was so highly
advocated and praised at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, is yet to be formed.
We are nevertheless encouraged by the adoption last
August of the Draft Agreement for the Implementation of
the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the
Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks
and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. We hope that this
Agreement, which will be opened for signature on
4 December 1995, will ensure the long-term conservation
and sustainable use of the living resources of the high seas
identified in Agenda 21. This Agreement and the larger
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which
came into force in November 1994, are important to the
sustainable development of the fishing industry in small
States such as ours. We urge their full observance and
implementation.
Overall economic development remains the single
most important challenge facing Member States and,
consequently, the United Nations. At various conferences,
including the World Summit for Social Development, which
was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, last March, we have
repeatedly expressed our political will to address our
diverse economic and social problems. We came away from
Copenhagen ready to act, but we remain uncertain as to the
way forward. Now that the Beijing Conference on women
is behind us, the international community needs to summon
even greater determination if it is to translate into action the
bold decisions we have taken in this series of important
summit meetings. These decisions should now be
consolidated, and specific machinery set up for their
implementation. It would indeed be a great pity if the
painfully negotiated results of these high-level deliberations
were left to evaporate.
The great divide between rich and poor, both among
and within nations, must be considered a threat to world
peace. The plight of developing countries, particularly the
least-developed countries, compels urgent action. The
problems of development, or rather of underdevelopment,
can no longer be dealt with adequately on an ad hoc and
piecemeal basis or through questionable structural-
adjustment measures. What is required is fundamental
reform of the international economic system, which
continues to marginalize developing countries into a
position of perpetual dependence. It is necessary to define
new strategies and to agree on new modalities to reverse
the present inequities in international economic relations.
The developing countries are willing to do their part
in providing an environment favourable to growth.
However, they urgently need significant debt relief,
greater financial investment flows, the transfer of
appropriate technology, the elimination of tariff and
non-tariff barriers and just remuneration for commodities
and raw materials. These are not new prescriptions; they
are generally known to be essential for development.
Thus far, however, developed countries have evinced
notable reluctance to follow them, preferring instead to
dispense small amounts of bilateral aid. Most of them
have now further reduced this limited assistance. The root
problems therefore remain unresolved.
The signing, in Marrakesh in 1994, of the Uruguay
Round agreements has provided some hope that the
playing-field for international trade will be levelled to
induce the participation of developing countries. The
recently created World Trade Organization, if properly
oriented, may be able to provide a rule-based system that
could encourage such participation. There is much to be
said for the introduction of predictability into international
economic relations, and we should therefore work to
ensure that it is provided in whatever agreements we
reach. The “Agenda for Development”, which we are in
the process of elaborating, must embody the rights and
obligations accepted by the parties.
In this context, Guyana attaches great importance to
the conclusion of work on the Agenda. We view the
Agenda as an overarching framework for international
cooperation for development. We are therefore concerned
that, while we work to establish the framework, we
should also secure the necessary commitment of resources
for effective implementation. In this regard, we believe
that South-South cooperation should be considered as an
integral and important element of international
cooperation for development. International support for
greater South-South cooperation cannot but enhance the
prospects for world development, thereby increasing the
potentialities of interdependence and partnership.
Economic growth cannot be sustained for long
unless each individual citizen and each individual
community has a stake in that growth and is empowered
to take an active part in the development process.
Moreover, economic growth would be meaningless if it
were not equitably distributed. A society cannot find
fulfilment in growth. Indeed, the development process
7

itself is severely hampered if a society does not take
adequate care of its vulnerable groups: women, children,
ethnic minorities, the handicapped and the homeless.
Development must therefore have a social dimension.
Conscious of this need, the President of Guyana,
His Excellency Mr. Cheddi Jagan, has advanced the concept
of a new global human order. An essential feature of this
order would be the consensus that has now emerged in
respect of development and governance, the role of the
State and the market and sustainable environmentalism.
While this consensus is to be welcomed, it is attended by
new social, economic and political problems which will
effectively prevent it from taking us forward. The solution
of these problems calls for a new global commitment to
human ideals and universal human development. In his own
address to the Assembly, President Jagan will expand on
this proposal with a view to securing an appropriate
declaration on a new global order to which all States can
subscribe.
As I said at the outset of my statement, we must not
be content with merely celebrating the fiftieth anniversary
of the United Nations. The critical situation in which the
world now finds itself demands from us a supreme effort to
make full use of the opportunities which this historical
conjuncture offers. The possibilities of interdependence and
international cooperation have never been greater. We owe
it to ourselves and to future generations to grasp the chance
we now have for creating a truly just and humane society
of nations.