At the outset, allow me to
extend my heartfelt congratulations to the President on his
election to the high office from which he will guide the
work of the fifty-first session of the General Assembly. I
am confident that his diplomatic experience and
commitment to the noble principles of the Charter will
impress upon this session new commitment, determination
and vigour. I would also like to express our gratitude to
his predecessor, Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal,
for the skilful manner in which he presided over the work
of the fiftieth session.
After having been the focus of the international
community’s attention for a long time, due to its being
exposed to aggression and to its being part of the most
serious regional crisis since the Second World War,
Croatia has now entered a new era of its history as a free,
sovereign and fully independent State. Croatia is now in
a position to deal with and resolve almost all its external
and internal affairs with its own resources, and through
close cooperation with the international community as an
equal partner.
It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to be able to
lead the Croatian delegation at the fifty-first session of the
General Assembly with the strong conviction that the time
of war is finally behind us and that in the region of south-
east Europe, Croatia is no longer a part of a larger crisis,
but rather an active and decisive agent of introducing the
final solution to the crisis and the emerging international
order. In this connection, our external and internal
policies are becoming increasingly peace-oriented and
development-focused.
So far Croatia has been successful in dealing with
the question of its statehood and the right of small nations
to full self-determination, as well as in defending these
rights within the framework of and through the United
Nations. We are enormously grateful to this noble
institution and its associated agencies, and especially to
those Member States whose sons and daughters are
exposed to risk, in some cases giving their lives, in a
noble endeavour to assist us in ending the horrific war of
aggression against our country and in the wider region.
Croatia has played host to one of the largest, most
expensive and complex peacekeeping operations in the
history of the United Nations. Croatia’s Government and
people, the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons
and refugees in particular, have on many occasions been
critical of the ineffectiveness and ambiguity of
peacekeeping mandates. Today, however, the war has
ended, and we are finally coming to terms with all of the
political, economic and procedural constraints which the
international community had to overcome in order to
23

properly react to the aggression, the calamity of war and
the diplomatic uncertainty resulting from the breakup of the
communist federation of Yugoslavia and the security
vacuum resulting from the closure of the cold-war era.
Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina indeed paid a
high price for their struggle to ensure their survival,
alongside the progressive efforts of the international
community to develop a new concept of the United Nations
and other international mechanisms for the peaceful
resolution of conflicts. However, we believe that our
experience has given a very positive impetus to the intrinsic
need to reform the general concept of peacekeeping
operations, the work of the Security Council and the
changes in the regional, political and security systems in
Europe as well.
Even though the mandate of the joint peacekeeping
forces in Croatia has not yet ended — 5,000 peacekeepers
are still working in the Croatian Danubian area — I wish
to convey to the Assembly the optimism of my Government
for the successful completion of the mandate of the United
Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia,
Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) there. This
operation just may become the most successful
peacekeeping operation in recent history, and perhaps
rightfully so, given our own and international frustrations
with the unsuccessful attempt at peacekeeping and
peacemaking in the region so far.
The successful completion of the UNTAES operation
is becoming ever more likely given the recent signing of an
agreement on normalization of relations between the
Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
and the establishment of a new balance in the region, the
same balance that helped the international community forge
the Dayton Peace Agreement.
We are grateful to all Member States that supported
our appeals and calls in the General Assembly for universal
respect of international law — as reflected, for instance, in
General Assembly resolution 49/43, which created the
political conditions and legal framework for the peaceful
reintegration of Eastern Slavonia. We are also grateful to
Member States whose diplomats and soldiers are more
directly involved in the successful implementation of the
UNTAES mandate.
Thanks in part to General Assembly support for the
universal principles enshrined in the Charter and in part to
the intervention of United Nations peacekeeping forces, the
countries which emerged following the dissolution of the
former Yugoslavia are now increasingly heading towards
the objective of peacefully resolving mutual problems on
a bilateral basis and through regular multilateral contacts,
thereby lessening the need for international involvement
and mediation. Those problems include the succession to
the former State; regional security arrangements and arms
control; the search for missing persons; reciprocal
minority rights; and the reestablishment of bilateral
economic, cultural and other forms of cooperation. The
successful expansion of bilateral neighbourly relations
based on internationally accepted principles cannot be
replaced by the imposition of superfluous and ambitious
regional associations.
Taking account of this new reality, in which Croatia
and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are prepared to
resolve all their outstanding problems on a bilateral basis
as two equal and sovereign States, the need for the
continued presence of peacekeeping forces in Croatia has
come to an end.
Any further extension of the UNTAES mandate in
Croatia can only encourage delays in its implementation
and place at risk the most critical aspect of the mandate:
the return of 80,000 Croatian and non-Serb refugees and
displaced persons to the region. The continued lack of
tangible progress in this area could induce internal and
external instability; this is a matter which my Government
and the international community should seek to avoid at
all costs. For this reason, the clear stance of my
Government is that the peaceful integration of the region
under the present UNTAES mandate should be completed
on schedule.
With the signature of the normalization agreement
between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
the small United Nations Mission of Observers in
Prevlaka, Croatia, will also become obsolete in the
foreseeable future. Croatia and the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia have agreed that the issue of Prevlaka is to be
dealt with and fully resolved as a security matter, in
accordance with the United Nations Charter and the
policy of good-neighbourliness. Therefore, there shall be
no further raising of the question of territorial adjustments
between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
on the Prevlaka peninsula, the five-century-old boundary
line between Croatia and Montenegro. However, there is
a need to establish a security regime there through
peaceful negotiations with a view to the mutual benefit of
cross-border economic cooperation.
24

On the basis of the new reality, Croatia’s foreign and
internal policy priorities will now aim at compatibility with
and timely integration into European regional organizations.
At the same time, we remain cognizant of our
responsibilities in respect of the peaceful and successful
stabilization of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, in
which Croats are one of the three constituent peoples. The
process of the internal stabilization of Bosnia and
Herzegovina will take years and, in this regard, Croatia is
fully open to cooperation and collaboration with the
international community. The community’s presence and
assistance there has been significantly less costly to it
thanks to Croatia’s resources and contributions. Following
the initial reconstruction assistance for Bosnia and
Herzegovina, an economically viable Croatian State can
make the greatest contribution to the viability of the
Bosnian Federation and to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a
whole.
Croatia is prepared to recognize the results of every
democratic political process between the three constituent
nations and the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
will continue to give its full support to the successful
implementation of the Federation Agreements.
Croatia, fully supportive of a properly balanced
Federation as defined at Dayton — the 1—2—3 formula:
one State, two entities, three constituent peoples — seeks
not only to ensure the survival of the Bosnian Croats as a
constituent people in all respects, but also to avoid any
situation that could lead to a threatening instability in the
region as a whole. In that sense, any attempts to change the
constitutional definition of the Federation or to achieve the
same results through institutional or power-sharing
arrangements are unacceptable to the Republic of Croatia as
a party to the relevant Agreements. The same applies to any
attempts to change the present entities settlement through an
over-centralization of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Any
territorial adjustment at the expense of Bosnia and
Herzegovina or its two entities shall be viewed as highly
detrimental to the stability of the region in general and
considered a threat to Croatia’s security.
As Croatia continues to move to reestablish its
European way of life, while at the same time bringing its
young democracy and its governance into conformity with
the new European democratic reality, constructive criticism
of its actions and attitudes will continue to be taken in good
faith. By now, we have accepted the fact that, owing to the
needs of the multilateral crisis-management process in the
region, the standards set for Croatia in many areas of
democratic development are much higher than for other
countries in transition. Croatia’s extraordinary openness
to the innumerable institutions that monitor developments
on our soil, especially in the field of human rights, attests
to the transparency of our policy and to our deep
commitment to democratic values, tolerance and
individual rights.
In renewing our expressions of gratitude to the
United Nations for its contribution to the successful
resolution of an act of aggression against a Member State,
we should like to express the readiness of our country,
which now has a wealth of experience in peace-mediation
efforts behind it, to contribute actively to similar United
Nations efforts outside our region. We should now like to
become active in the other regular activities of the United
Nations and regional mechanisms, to which we offer our
experience and experts, to further the common interests
and ideals of the Charter of the United Nations.
Croatia is actively following the reform process of
the United Nations system, and actively participates in
some aspects of reform. We fully recognize the need to
reorganize the system and adapt it to the changing
international system. New objectives are already clearly
defined in the socio-economic sphere, and the area of
human rights in particular. The United Nations is faced
with new realities and problems centred around its goal of
promoting the rights of the individual while preserving
the identity of groups and nations and respecting the
sovereignty of Member States.
We are following with particular interest the process
of resolving the financial crisis of the United Nations. As
a small State that has experienced exceptional financial
needs and shortfalls over the past five years, Croatia
supports efforts to find a more equitable scale of
assessment for Member States that are experiencing
extraordinary situations and whose capacity to pay has,
accordingly, changed significantly.
Croatia has already spoken in favour of reforming
and strengthening the United Nations system, and
especially the Security Council. Our position takes into
account new realities in which economic powers such as
Germany and Japan, but also individual regions and
States — and their views — must be more justly
represented. Therefore, Croatia firmly supports the
expansion of the Council to 25 members in both
categories of membership. Greater transparency in the
work of the Council is also essential, and should be
achieved through the adoption of new rules of procedure.
The Organization will also be strengthened by the present
25

discussions on changes in general procedures, that will,
inter alia, reduce and rationalize the costs of overlapping
activities of various United Nations institutions. We
especially support efforts to rationalize and restructure the
socio-economic sector of the United Nations so that it can
continue to achieve its rightly ambitious goals around the
world.
In its post-war foreign policy and economic activities,
Croatia will firstly associate with countries on its continent,
but will also strive towards diversification of its relations.
Croatia wishes actively to contribute to the promotion of
the common interests of small and, especially, new States.
We are pleased to note that apart from the trend
towards institutionalizing regional development and
functional cooperation, we are entering an era in which
States are increasing their level of cooperation, through
multilateral diplomacy, on basic development questions,
such as: the environment; developing the laws of the sea;
enforcing international humanitarian law; protecting human
and minority rights; protecting the rights of women and
children; promoting disarmament and non-proliferation;
and sharing knowledge and resources to help the
development of the Third World. We are, therefore,
passing over old ideologies, religious or regional
affiliation and loyalties. One area in which Croatia will be
especially active is the establishment of the international
criminal court. We will be one of the sponsors of a draft
resolution calling for the timely establishment of this
institution.
The world we live in is entering a stage of national
individualization but also of ever-closer functional
cooperation between States in creating a stable and
interdependent new order. Croatia, as a young State that
still harbours painfully fresh memories of its struggle for
its identity, freedom and right to economic development,
sincerely wishes to contribute to the establishment of this
new order by actively helping to find solutions to other
crisis points, development problems, and disproportions in
contemporary societies around the world.


On behalf of the Government of Gabon, it is an honour and
a pleasure for me to address this eminent gathering.
Like previous speakers, I wish to recall that this
meeting is being held just one year after the
commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United
Nations. On that occasion, the balance sheet of our
activities was examined many times. Fortunately, we are all
agreed that we must seek together to find solutions to the
major problems of the world, thereby preventing the
outbreak of conflicts by establishing effective tools for
negotiation and cooperation.
For all of us who participate and who believe in it, the
United Nations is a valuable tool in the service of a
common ideal. This has been reflected in some positive
achievements achieved through pragmatism. The essential
lesson to draw from our assessments is that, while it has
not yet been able to meet all the challenges before it, the
United Nations has nonetheless remained worthy of our
hopes.
That is why delegations from nearly all nations
annually take the opportunity offered by the regular session
of the General Assembly to review the major concerns of
the moment and to devise new goals.
But before touching on that subject, I wish to convey
to Mr. Razali the sincere and warm congratulations of the
delegation of Gabon on his brilliant election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-first session.
It is a tribute to his country, Malaysia, and a recognition of
his great personal qualities. He has our best wishes for
success as he guides our proceedings.
I would also like to express our thanks and affection
to his predecessor, Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, for the manner in which he
carried out his term of office at the fiftieth session.
To Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, I
reaffirm here the support of the Government of Gabon for
all his work on the tasks of our Organization and for the
competence and authority he has demonstrated in carrying
out his mandate, which have coincided with the formulation
of United Nations reform measures. He is a worthy son of
Africa who has done honour to our Organization. As all
member States of the Organization of African Unity (OAU)
stated at the July 1996 Summit in Yaoundé, Gabon hopes
that he will continue his work.
Building lasting and orderly peace based on the
sincere and active cooperation of sovereign nations is one
of the major missions of the United Nations. In our
interdependent yet fragmented and multipolar world, the
United Nations must play a more assertive role,
particularly in the emergence of a new political and
economic international order. It must help us to redress
the general imbalance that has gripped the world since the
end of the 1980s.
The sovereign equality of all States is among the
main principles of our community of nations.
Accordingly, we must cultivate flexible and dynamic
thought that transcends relations of power and allows our
Organization to achieve its goal of universality. This is
the approach one must follow with regard to United
Nations reform. Many countries have made contributions
and many initiatives have been taken, as can be seen in
the reports of the working groups established for that
purpose. Gabon is gratified.
On the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations,
El Hadj Omar Bongo, President of the Gabonese
Republic, stated:
“The Security Council ... should be reformed in
order to embrace the present dimensions of our
Organization”. (Official Records of the General
Assembly, Fiftieth Session, Plenary Meetings, 36th
meeting, p. 15)
Restructuring the United Nations, we believe, should
also include sweeping reform of its various subsidiary
bodies, with a view to avoiding duplication in its
functioning and programmes.
To sum up Gabon’s position, we would like to say
three things. First, it seems desirable and possible that the
permanent membership of the Security Council could be
increased without that body’s becoming unwieldy.
Secondly, and on this assumption, Africa should at least
have one permanent seat. Thirdly, that permanent seat
should be rotated among all African countries according
to modalities to be defined later.
The complexity of this reform and its many political,
economic and financial implications should not prevent us
from laying out the configuration of international relations
in the twenty-first century. Since a considerable number
of Security Council decisions affect Africa, that region
must not remain unrepresented on the Council, a body of
paramount importance for the maintenance of
22

international peace and security. In the context of reform,
Gabon subscribes to the objectives of rationalization and the
clustering of activities whenever this enhances the
effectiveness of the work of the United Nations.
We must attach priority importance to the
establishment of a reformed international system that can
preserve the world from murderous conflicts that disrupt the
economies of the warring countries — a system that can
fight underdevelopment, preserve the environment and wage
a worldwide combat against pandemics such as AIDS and
malaria — in other words, an international system that can
break down the barriers to harmony and development in a
richly diverse world. It is certainly a daunting task, but only
through these efforts and under these conditions can our
Organization secure lasting peace in the world.
Also high on the agenda is the resolution of problems
relating to development and to social progress in a climate
of peace, with full respect for fundamental human rights.
Throughout the years differences of opinion have arisen
with respect to these issues — particularly on how to
resolve them. But given their decisive importance for our
future and that of the United Nations, the international
community must mobilize to act on them.
More generally speaking, the time has come for us to
work together to restore to the United Nations its political
dynamism and the means it still lacks. Clearly, then, we
have a great deal to think about.
I should like now to touch on some matters of
concern, such as peace and development — values and
hopes that are shared by all.
Dialogue is a prerequisite for — though not a
guarantee of — achieving peace, which is indispensable for
human society to develop and flourish. I refer not only to
the civilized dialogue of diplomatic relations — which, of
course, is essential, but rather to a dialogue that could give
rise to a culture — the culture of peace. Indeed, when
everything is based on violence, dialogue is impossible. As
Boris Pasternak wrote, “One cannot win others over by
violence”.
The Bantu people value dialogue. On the occasion of
the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, the President
of Gabon, from this very rostrum, stated:
“I wish to propose that a real dialogue, a
permanent dialogue, be established, under the auspices
of the United Nations, between Heads of State and
Government of the South and those of the North. In
that way, we may be able to find solutions to our
common problems.” (Official Records of the General
Assembly, Fiftieth Session, Plenary Meetings, 36th
meeting, p. 16)
If each State were to refrain from attempting to
impose its views on others, whatever the cost, and agreed
that meeting the needs of peoples in a diverse and
interdependent world requires dialogue and solidarity,
then lasting peace and development can be achieved. That
is why we must usher in a new era, the era of
dialogue — genuine, honest and constructive dialogue.
We must continue to work together on an equal
footing, with respect for humankind’s interests and values.
We must denounce and put an end to political violence,
economic marginalization and social injustice. Dialogue
must begin again: in Africa, in the Great Lakes region, in
Liberia and Somalia; but also in the Middle East, in the
former Yugoslavia, in Cyprus and in Chechnya —
wherever it may be necessary.
Gabon is contributing, and will always contribute, to
building the vast edifice of peace. Our duty, indeed our
interest — in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the
Charter of the United Nations — lies in undertaking this
task. History has taught us that no country can hope to
remain an island of peace in a sea of poverty, tension and
war.
I believe that it is imperative to enhance the
modalities of action available to the United Nations in the
field of preventive diplomacy. In this connection, we must
explore further proposals to equip the Secretariat with an
Early Warning System aimed at preventing conflicts from
erupting.
Our faith in dialogue and our relentless pursuit of
peace are the reasons why Gabon, whenever asked, has
always agreed to engage in mediation to resolve domestic
conflicts in neighbouring countries, with the particular
goal of paving the way for a lasting peace.
In January 1996 Gabon hosted a round table aimed
at inter-Chadian reconciliation. In March 1996 we also
enabled our Angolan brothers to strengthen the
foundations for their future understanding, in the presence
of several international observers. In both cases, the goal
was to settle differences and clear up misunderstandings.
What was important for Gabon and its President was to
break through the wall of mistrust that barred the way to
23

reaching sincere and lasting agreements on solutions to such
crises.
We cannot claim victory. The peace process in most
countries is lengthy, and reversals, which can delay or
jeopardize its conclusion, are frequent. For this reason, the
international community must encourage and support those
brothers at war who have opted for the path of dialogue to
build peace. It must also promote goodwill, which will
enable the warring parties to resolve their conflicts. Africa
provides numerous examples of this.
The peace we seek requires not only dialogue but also
other, sound initiatives such as disarmament and
denuclearization. In this connection, we welcome the
indefinite extension last year of the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Likewise, we are proud
of the fact that in March 1996, the African countries signed
in Cairo the Pelindaba Text of the African Nuclear-
Weapon-Free Zone Treaty on the denuclearization of our
continent. Finally, we warmly welcome the General
Assembly’s adoption, on 10 September 1996, of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. I signed it
yesterday on behalf of my country.
The Central African States have decided to harmonize
their policies on conventional disarmament, with a view to
establishing a register of conventional arms. The success of
this subregional undertaking will depend not only on the
will of the States of the subregion, but also on the political
support and assistance of all States Members of the United
Nations.
Peace is also the result of confidence-building
measures. The adoption of binding legal instruments and
the effective use of preventive diplomacy will allow Africa
to be exorcised of the spectre of death-dealing conflicts.
The United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on
Security Questions in Central Africa is working towards
that end. It just passed an important test with the solemn
signature, on 8 July 1996, of a non-aggression pact during
the thirty-second ordinary session of the Assembly of
Heads of State and Government of the Organization of
African Unity (OAU). This important preventive diplomacy
measure shows that the Governments of the Central African
countries intend to give pride of place to dialogue in the
peaceful settlement of disputes among them.
The signing of this pact by the Heads of State of the
subregion proves the importance and priority that the
countries of Central Africa accord to the Standing Advisory
Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa. The
Government of Gabon thanks the General Assembly for
supporting that machinery through a trust fund, which
generous donors, such as Japan, are beginning to pay into.
In 1974, during the special session of the United
Nations General Assembly, President Bongo, using an
example from nature, and according to a Gabonese
maxim, stated that:
“When all the animals have been fed, calm reigns
over the plains. (...) When the peoples of the earth
have the vital minimum and maximum of dignity to
which they are entitled, peace and harmony will
finally have some likelihood of reigning on earth.”
(Official Records of the General Assembly, sixth
special session of the General Assembly, 2210th
Plenary Meeting, para. 30)
Development is certainly essential to peace. I would
even go as far as to say that it is an intrinsic element of
peace.
Although Africa has been wrestling with serious
economic, social and political problems for over two
decades, it is safe to say that henceforth it will vigorously
and courageously undertake the reforms needed for its
recovery.
However, African countries can make progress in
this direction only if they are given adequate support by
the international community, and by the developed
countries in particular.
The goals of sustained economic growth, social
development, environmental protection and respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms set in the plans
of action of several international conferences have
sustainable development as their common denominator.
We are witnessing an era of radical change
comparable to the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth
century. The globalization of the economy and of
information and communications is changing relations
among nations and increasing interdependence.
While these trends inspire great hope, they also raise
numerous concerns because the impact of globalization
varies from country to country. Those in Africa, in
particular, where most come under the category of least
developed countries, are facing a worrisome economic
situation. Despite declarations and programmes of action,
resources are not forthcoming.
24

International economic and financial relations are
changing radically and quickly, as is clear from the events
of recent years. The establishment of the International
Seabed Authority which is well under way and which we
welcome; the creation of the World Trade Organization in
1995, which is accelerating the easing of restrictions on free
trade and its globalization; and the gradual establishment of
large regional blocs in various parts of the world are all
features of the new international order.
This situation, which is conducive to the emergence or
consolidation of poles of integration, is far, on every score,
from benefitting African States, whose income, which
derives essentially from basic commodities, remains
vulnerable to price fluctuations on the international market
that are out of their control.
In addition, our continent’s heavy debt burden means
that our region is responsible for the greatest volume of
reverse financial transfers due to debt repayment.
Structural adjustment programmes, although beneficial,
mean that populations have to make enormous sacrifices.
These programmes are now being followed in countries
undergoing political reorganization. Because of the way
democracy works, it is assumed that citizens support the
proposed programmes. Inevitably, this increases the
demands made by society. For Governments, it is truly
difficult to find a balance between these contradictory
requirements.
Of course, to remain credible partners we must abide
by the requirements that go along with structural adjustment
and the recovery of our economies. But we are duty-bound
to include social needs when formulating and implementing
reforms. The adoption of measures to promote sustained
economic growth should not distract us from financing
basic social and economic infrastructures such as roads,
schools, hospitals, vocational training centres and so on.
This financing is essential if we are to improve our
populations’ living conditions and quality of life. As
representatives know, the United Nations remains sensitive
to this approach. Encouragement is needed, however, to
ensure that this feeling is shared by its various agencies.
Governments have been called on to include poverty-
eradication strategies in general, people-oriented
development policies. How do we do this?
In establishing a favourable economic environment,
the international community must support the efforts of all
countries that are willing to take this course of action. As
1996 marks the beginning of the United Nations Decade
for the Eradication of Poverty, common objectives and
the commitments entered into in the framework of
overseas development assistance must now become
reality.
However, since 1991, this assistance has declined in
real terms. Private capital flows have been exclusively
focused in some 20 developing countries. So far, there
has been no upsurge in private investment in countries of
the African Financial Community (CFA), despite the
considerable devaluation of the CFA franc in January
1994.
We hope that the United Nations System-wide
Special Initiative on Africa recently launched by the
Secretary-General will ensure that the United Nations
system as a whole, including the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund, will help to mobilize the
international community. Likewise, the international
community must look into the crucial issue of debt,
because it is jeopardizing the development of our
countries.
My country believes that new solutions to deal with
debt, its conversion or refashioning in the interests of
economic and social development are essential to alleviate
its heavy burden and to make it compatible with
development, in the spirit of consensus prompted by the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
We reject and label as unjust any discrimination or
classification between developing countries, as this
usually makes Gabon ineligible for much of the assistance
it requires for its development.
African peoples and Governments are not sitting idly
by, waiting for assistance from the international
community. They are tirelessly making tremendous efforts
to overcome the crisis they face. I am pleased to mention
in this respect the positive role that the Organization of
African Unity is playing in backing our efforts.
OAU, in submitting the Treaty Establishing the
African Economic Community in June 1991 in Abuja to
our Heads of State and Government for signature,
understood that in the new international scenario,
multilateral relations supersede bilateral relations.
The Abuja Agreement entered into force in May
1994, and the first ministerial session of its Economic and
25

Social Commission will be held next November in Abidjan.
Subregional economic communities are becoming stronger
all the time. Outside institutional frameworks, these
economic blocs are implementing common programmes on
currency, payment methods, business law, the development
of scientific and technological capacity, energy resources,
the environment and so on.
In the Central Africa subregion, our countries are
involved also in subregional integration, which they see as
a major component of development policy.
It was in this spirit that the thirtieth summit of the
Central African Customs and Economic Union was
convened in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 20 to 22
December 1994. The entry into force of customs reform
on 1 July 1995 and the signing in July 1996 in Libreville
of a text that establishes the Central African Economic
and Monetary Community are designed to coordinate and
strengthen the various regional integration efforts.
These are the main ideas that Gabon wishes, through
me, to contribute to our consideration of the major
concerns facing the international community today.
Indeed, some of these questions are far from being
resolved. We hope that discussion of these issues will
continue, without getting bogged down and with the
participation of all, in order to find solutions that can
provide equitable and comprehensive guarantees for the
interests of all of our countries. These interests are,
basically, participation in forging a future for the United
Nations; the maintenance and consolidation of peace;
progress; and economic development.
Members may have noticed that I have dwelt on
economic development concerns. I have done so not
because I am biased, but because we in Gabon believe
that true peace cannot exist amid poverty and destruction.
As the Romans said, “Si vis pacem, para bellum” — “If
you desire peace, prepare for war”.
Today, on the threshold of the twenty-first century,
and in both domestic and international contexts, we
should say instead, “If you desire peace, prepare for
development”, because development and economic
progress has truly become the face of peace.


It is a
great pleasure for me, at this fifty-first session of the
General Assembly, to congratulate you on your election.
Your wealth of experience in international affairs, your
professional skills and your great diplomatic qualities are,
for me and my country, a guarantee that our work will be
successful. I would like to include in these very sincere
congratulations the other officers of the Assembly, whom
we have just elected. I wish them all every success in the
important and delicate tasks that lie ahead.
I should also like express our gratitude to and
admiration for the President of the fiftieth session of the
General Assembly, whose very successful term of office
has just come to an end. He did sterling work in ensuring
the prestige of the numerous and highly symbolic events
that marked the fiftieth anniversary of this Organization.
He gave great impetus to the extensive discussions within
the General Assembly on strengthening the United
Nations system and on the question of equitable
representation on the and increase in the membership of
the Security Council and other matters related to the
Council. Suggestions were made by the delegation of
Monaco with regard, notably, to the increase in the
number of permanent and non-permanent members of the
Council. They appear in annex 11 of the report of the
working group established to that end.
I should also like to take this opportunity to thank
the Secretary-General for his efforts to make our
Organization less costly and more effective. In a
particularly difficult political and economic situation, he
has never failed in the mission we entrusted to him five
years ago.
I referred just now to the difficulties of our times.
These are major difficulties and often seem
insurmountable, at least in the short term.
Many factors, sometimes very different but broadly
connected, exacerbate these difficulties. The major world
conferences on population and development, on social
development and on human settlements clearly brought
these factors to light.
If the sustainable and harmonious development we
aspire to is to apply to all human beings, we must also try
to preserve the resources of our planet so that future
generations do not find themselves totally destitute one
day. In a vital area for us, the Principality of Monaco has
been striving for nearly a century to promote the
preservation of oceans and seas and the priceless
resources they provide, through studies and research, but
also by taking specific national and international
initiatives. Accordingly, Monaco ratified the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and intends in
7

1998 to play an active role, commensurate with our size
and resources, during the International Year of the Ocean.
The General Assembly, five years after the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development,
wisely decided pursuant to resolution 50/113 to hold a
special session to consider and review the implementation
of Agenda 21. This will be an extremely important session.
We hope it will give us an opportunity to reinforce the
objectives spelt out at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992.
The Principality of Monaco is pleased to host next
year’s seventh session of the High-Level Advisory Board
on Sustainable Development and then the International
Whaling Commission.
My country is thus showing our interest in the
international cooperation which is essential if we are to
address the confrontation between legitimate economic
development and protection of the environment and the
non-renewal natural resources of our planet.
Other major concerns which seriously impede
development remain. No continent is spared the tensions
felt around the world, which pose a serious threat.
Our Organization does not always have the means
needed to face up to these challenges and to the most
alarming situations. Nevertheless, we welcomed the
adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty,
which is finally open for signature and which I will have
the honour to sign during this session on behalf of the
Principality of Monaco.

Might I refer here to the major role played by the
International Atomic Energy Agency which so ably and so
carefully monitors compliance with the safeguards
agreements concluded in the framework of the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which the
Principality of Monaco has ratified. Together with this, the
Agency very scrupulously seeks to apply, sometimes in
very delicate circumstances, the decisions of the Security
Council in this respect. Its responsibilities in the field of
disarmament are very substantial. Monaco is therefore
particularly proud to be the home of the Marine
Environment Laboratory, which functions with the
assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme
and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Furthermore, my delegation has been following very closely
the follow-up to resolution 50/75, of which our
Principality was one of the sponsors, and which the
General Assembly adopted on 12 December 1995.
The strengthening of security and cooperation in the
Mediterranean is of concern to us, as it is of concern to
neighbouring friendly countries on both sides of the Sea.
The Secretary-General has embarked on valuable
consultations in this respect, and for this we thank him
very sincerely.
When wars break out, once the weapons have fallen
silent, the painful aftermath remains, including millions of
landmines, which have a devastating, extremely deadly
effect, scattered in fields and under roads and have a
massive impact on civilian populations, primarily on
children. At the human level, the proliferation of these
devices causes serious, often incurable, mutilation and
major material damage. The Security Council’s 15 August
1996 discussions on demining in the context of peace-
keeping operations highlighted, if there were any need to
do so, the importance that the United Nations and the
major Powers attach to this question. His Serene
Highness, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, my father, is
no less mindful of this. He has requested his Government
to provide regular financial assistance to demining
operations by contributing to the fund set up by the
United Nations for that purpose. Without offering an
immediate, complete solution, a moratorium — or, even
better, cessation — on the production and export of these
anti-personnel landmines would give us some hope.
This year saw the holding of the twenty-sixth
Olympic Games. Men and women from 197 countries and
territories, from very different backgrounds, came together
and tested their strength. They fought peacefully and, with
mutual respect and esteem, created imperishable bonds. I
was there as Chairman of the Monaco Olympic
Committee and as a member of the International Olympic
Committee, and I can attest to the unique spirit which
every four years brings together the world’s best athletes.
I wish to pay tribute to them. They are an irreplaceable
example for the young people of our nations. I think it is
right, here, to echo the appeal made by many
organizations that there be more women representing their
countries at the Olympic Games, and that traditions,
however worthy of respect, do not become discrimination
against women in the area of sport.
The cooperation that has grown up between the
United Nations and the Olympic Movement, which share
lofty universal principles and values, gives me great hope.
8

Our General Assembly regularly bolsters this cooperation
in its resolutions, and I hope that the same will happen this
year.
These athletic, dynamic and devoted young people
often work as volunteers for the United Nations and non-
governmental humanitarian organizations, and they deserve
our heartfelt gratitude.
I wish too to recall the World Programme of Action
for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, adopted last year
by the General Assembly in resolution 50/81. We must take
account of its recommendations in every area, particularly
those of education, employment, health, the environment,
and ensuring full, effective participation of women in the
life of society and in the decision-making process.
The Principality of Monaco, which ratified the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination and is a party to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, is very concerned by
contemporary forms of racism and marginalization. We
encourage the efforts of the United Nations and the Special
Rapporteur on this subject.
We are also seriously alarmed by the development and
scale of child prostitution and the trade in young girls and
boys. An important initiative was taken last August by a
non-governmental organization, End Child Prostitution in
Asian Tourism, with the assistance of the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Government of Sweden.
We must all heed the work of the world Congress
against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. I am
sure that the conclusions and recommendations of this
Congress, in the form of an agenda for action, will raise
our consciousness about the seriousness of the situation by
encouraging States to adopt the necessary national and
international measures.
By participating in the Congress, Monaco showed its
commitment to a world policy to combat the commercial
sexual exploitation of children. On the national level, this
is taking the form of unreserved support for humanitarian
associations and non-governmental organizations that are
active in this area and, in particular for their efforts to
sensitize others to this scourge, to prevent it and to
rehabilitate its victims. We are also introducing a legislative
initiative which should lead to a change in Monaco’s penal
code before the end of the year, with the introduction a new
crime: the sexual exploitation of children for the satisfaction
of the vices of others, whether these events occur in the
Principality of Monaco or outside our national territory.
Once this law is in effect, any person apprehended in
Monaco who has committed, in any place whatsoever,
acts that can be qualified as crimes or attacks against
decency or morality according to the laws of Monaco as
regards minors, can be prosecuted and tried.
I would add that the international community must
also think about strengthening international legal
protections in this area, in so far as existing texts,
including the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child,
particularly its articles 19 and 21, often remain
inoperative because they are difficult to apply.
Similarly, the 1926 Slavery Convention, the 1956
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery,
and the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the
Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the
Prostitution of Others, which are very general in scope,
do not provide sufficiently effective, speedy recourse in
this particular area, where emergency action is necessary.
The strengthening of this protection in the form of
a multilateral instrument, for instance, could permit
judicial prosecution to go beyond national borders and for
the illicit commerce in children and their commercial
sexual exploitation to be categorized as crimes against
humanity, that is, that they be considered indefensible
under the Convention on the Non-applicability of
Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against
Humanity of 26 November 1968. Article 1 of that
Convention should thus be modified appropriately. Like
those stipulated in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, these acts
should not meet with a refusal to extradite. The law, and
international law, should be fully capable of protecting
these weak, destitute beings, while leaving no chance of
impunity for the perpetrators of these vile crimes.
In addition to strengthening legal protections, we
should also give some thought to the steps needed to
rehabilitate these young victims, as broadly emphasized
by the Stockholm Congress; without such rehabilitation,
that these children would fall back into prostitution circles
might prove inevitable.
Although some of the behaviours I have just
mentioned are intolerable and unacceptable, I wish now
to speak of the United Nations Year for Tolerance, which
ended in December 1995. Adopted in December 1993
thanks to a welcome initiative by the General Conference
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, and supported by a unanimous resolution of
9

the General Assembly, this manifestation of faith in
humankind, concluded with a Declaration and Plan of
Action that were designed to inspire not only high-level
politicians, but each of us in our daily lives.
In keeping with General Assembly resolution 49/213,
the Follow-Up Plan of Action for the United Nations Year
for Tolerance, accompanied by the Declaration of Principles
that preceded it and that inspires it (A/51/201), is before
this year’s session of the General Assembly. It invites us to
make a common effort to combat political and social
factors which often seem to be at the origin of intolerance
and hatred.
This invitation should receive the proper response, for
it could contribute to providing solutions to the tensions
that persist in the world, some of which, as we know, are
extremely disquieting.
Throughout history, the most important moments of
progress have certainly occurred during periods of real and
profound tolerance. Such tolerance favoured thought, the
arts, the sciences, the sharing of knowledge and values. It
built civilizations and enabled them to draw together and
mutually enrich one another in an exceptional way.
While many today are convinced that history probably
has no meaning, it remains none the less a fragile and
precious commodity, largely fashioned by the commitments
and the will of man.
On 8 January next year we shall commemorate the
seven-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of my
family’s dynasty in Monaco. In celebration of that event,
many cultural and artistic events, some on an international
scale, will take place throughout 1997. This will be our way
of paying a tribute to our past as well as of expressing our
confidence and faith in the future and destiny, not only of
our country, but of mankind.
On that note, I should like to conclude my statement
by thanking the President very much for having allowed me
to speak.


Allow me first of
all to express the honour I feel as an Andorran at the
distinction that has been conferred on our small country by
this Assembly through your election, Mr. Minoves-Triquell,
as a Vice-President for this year’s session of the General
Assembly. I thank you for calling on me to address this
Assembly and assure you of the support of the people of
Andorra and, I am sure, of all those who speak the Catalan
language.
I must also thank the outgoing President, Mr. Diogo
Freitas do Amaral, for his excellent tenure at the helm of
the General Assembly during the year of the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations. I do this with the
satisfaction of congratulating an illustrious Portuguese, a
brother from the Iberian peninsula who has been able to
give this Assembly the necessary impetus to start off on the
right foot and with hope for the new era of 50 years that
must take us to the one hundredth anniversary of the United
Nations. I wish also to convey to the new President, His
Excellency Mr. Razali Ismail, my warmest congratulations
and those of my country on his election, and I have the
great pleasure of assuring him of the close collaboration of
the Andorran Vice-President of the General Assembly, who
will always be at his service.
Andorra looks to the future of the world with
optimism, sure that on this Earth men and women of good
will will know how to overcome intolerance and injustice.
In order to advance towards these objectives of progress,
we will have to count on the United Nations. Its reform,
which the Secretary General, at the call of all the States,
has promoted during these last years, will give us a more
efficient Organization, with more coordination and less
costly duplication, responsible in the financial sphere and
concentrated on its mandate.
My fellow citizens often ask me, “What can a small
country like Andorra bring to the United Nations?” We are
a State with very little land and with a population that we
count in six tens of thousands, and we lack the political
weight the force of arms normally provides. However, our
small size has been our good fortune. We have opted to
lack armies and cannons since we destroyed all our
country’s fortifications in 1278. One day, we would hope,
that admirable action of the thirteenth-century Andorrans
will be imitated by our century’s over-armed Powers,
large, mid-sized and small. Our small population has been
a good school for human understanding and our
individual and collective aspirations, allowing for the
precision of small-scale observation. Because we are
small and peaceful, and because we have a lengthy
history, we bring to the United Nations a vision of the
world that is patient and optimistic, and it is our belief
that if we have lived in our territory without bellicose
conflict for more than 700 years, the same is also possible
beyond our borders, for, in the end, the men and women
who live in Andorra are different from the rest of
mankind only in their collective historical experience.
It is the young people growing up in this latter part
of the twentieth century who will pave the way to the
third millennium. I should thus like to make them the
main point of my statement this year in the Assembly’s
general debate. Later, I will mention my State’s hopes for
the young who are today being educated in an
understanding of the challenges of the United Nations and
of the need to promote democracy and human rights as
the pillars of the peace, prosperity and justice for peoples
that we are striving to attain, goals that, if we hurry in
our task, we may be able to glimpse ourselves.
Earlier, I indicated that Andorra trusts the future.
One of the principal reasons for that trust is probably the
fact that a great part of our population is young and that
our demographic pyramid is very different from those of
our Western European neighbours. When human beings
are young, everything seems possible. The energy we all
possess allows us to look forward with strength, with
courage and with hope. Raisons d’état, political evils,
economic imperatives, the belief that the end justifies the
means — all these have difficulty taking root in the
young, since youth cares more about fidelity in friendship,
more about making its imprint on society. Youth has
idealism — something we too often criticize but
something which feeds the genuine and vital fire that
compels human beings to strive for dialogue and genuine
coexistence — to aspire, for example, to the United
Nations.
It is that aspect of the young that we must nourish
if we desire a better world. Unfortunately, it is still very
difficult for many young people to seek the good of
mankind when in their own countries, cities or villages,
9

in their homes or in their families, they lack the most basic
physical or spiritual necessities, when the education they
are given is the official doctrine of a despotic regime and
when — as was the case with their parents and their
grandparents before them — what they eat today is the
meagre wage of much sweat. In the developed countries,
unemployment among the young crushes the hopes of a
large part of today’s well-prepared generation, which will
be forced to waste the education that decades of economic
progress have enabled it to obtain. In States still striving to
achieve development, in which 84 per cent of the world’s
population between 15 and 24 years of age lives, the
situation is very worrying: AIDS, the rural exodus, poverty,
hunger, medical shortcomings, sexual exploitation, juvenile
delinquency — problems that also affect the developed
countries — are particularly acute. Unemployment in
developing countries is also a tragic evil. We know that
more than 100 million new jobs will have to be created in
the next two decades to satisfy the growing young and
active population of the developing countries.
In confronting these problems we who govern must
assume our responsibilities and give priority to policies
affecting the young, especially those geared towards
fighting youth unemployment. One of the first areas we
must encourage is obviously that of training. Governments
must coordinate economic plans with training policies so
that students can learn professions that they will have some
chance of practicing, as well as to prevent, insofar as
possible, an excess of graduates in saturated sectors. We
must also give appropriate encouragement, through
programmes of coordination and technical assistance when
necessary, to the integration of young people into the
community. Small communities, when they work in
conjunction with non-governmental organizations, pay
special attention to the management of resources and are
well aware of the needs of their young people.
This joint effort is most appropriate when we recall
that we are living in an era in which society realizes that
big government and its programmes sometimes give rise to
more expenditure than advantages and that fiscal
responsibility is of more benefit to the economy than is the
multiplication of governmental departments, especially in
the developing countries, where the public sector is still
suffering the consequences of large-scale programmes that
have not produced the results expected. In those States,
Governments will find it to their advantage to acknowledge
the value of fostering microcredits for young people with
entrepreneurial projects. The example of Bangladesh, where
such credits have enabled many women to achieve financial
independence, is noteworthy in this respect. I would also
mention as an example of successful action the
educational measures for young entrepreneurs that some
Latin American States have taken with a view to the
creation of new, small companies.
At the United Nations, States must give direct
support to young people and to the programmes related to
them. More specifically, I am thinking of the World
Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and
Beyond. That Programme, which was adopted by the
General Assembly on 14 December 1995, defines some
of the problems that affect the world’s young people and
indicates medical, educational and job-oriented priorities
for the next few years. We must enlarge on that text.
States Members of the United Nations must collaborate
with the Secretariat in defining the Programme’s
possibilities and putting it into practice in a concrete way
so that its message reaches all nations. What we do with
today’s youth will define the twenty-first century.
For the past year Andorra has actively participated
at the United Nations in the debates involving the young.
On 26 October of last year, in commemorating the tenth
anniversary of the International Youth Year, our
Ambassador spoke in this Hall on the benefits of teaching
tolerance and human rights to young people in schools.
Andorra has also contributed to the United Nations Youth
Fund.
Earlier, at the March 1995 Copenhagen World
Summit for Social Development, Andorra proposed a full
and specific commitment asking the Governments of the
world to foster dialogue between generations and
achieved its incorporation into the Declaration by Heads
of State and Government. Given the lack of specific
references in many United Nations texts, this provides a
good basis for subsequent studies on youth-related
themes.
At this juncture, I should like to say that the fact that
we concentrate our attention on youth must never lead us
to forget members of older generations, particularly the
elderly. Dignity in ageing must be recognized and
promoted, particularly today, when the progress of
medicine is making possible the lengthening of human
life. Intergenerational solidarity accompanied by dialogue,
is an integral theme of any policy geared to the support
of the young. Indeed, when we talk of giving primary
attention to youth, that must not mean a glorification of
the first decades of human life to the detriment of old
age. On the contrary, it should mean a recognition of the
10

determining role that young people play in what will
happen later.
I should like for a moment to pay a tribute here to a
generation of young people which the media has of late
characterized as being “lost” — the young people of Bosnia
and other parts of the former Yugoslavia who, not so many
years ago, were confident children of Europe and who have
now spent their youth amidst fratricidal struggles and
“ethnic cleansing”, with all the revulsion inherent in that
expression, a youth spent between death and barbarism.
Andorra, which, during the Spanish Civil War and later
during the Second World War, was a land of welcome and
refuge for other lost generations of other wars — also
fratricidal, and, indeed, if all human beings are brothers,
what war is not fratricidal? — feels solidarity with these
young people of Bosnia, upon whom has fallen the
responsibility for building a new coexistence and for
erasing from the collective consciousness these past years
of propaganda and demagoguery and for breaking with the
history of confrontation that afflicts the Balkans.
Bosnia is not the only place where we have witnessed
difficult times. Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Liberia,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Burundi, Rwanda, Iraq and many other places have in
recent years been affected by conflicts of great complexity.
Some of these problems have already been solved or
attenuated, often thanks to United Nations action.
Developments in the situation in El Salvador are a good
example. Other conflicts continue, a cause of great
consternation to the international community.
My Minister of Foreign Affairs reminded us last year,
in this Assembly Hall, of the considerable increase in
military personnel deployed for the United Nations in recent
years. At the beginning of 1988, there were just over 9,000
Blue Helmets in the world engaged in peacekeeping
operations. Seven years later, there are over 70,000 — this
in spite of the fact that the military and logistical means of
immediate action are not in the hands of this international
Organization.
Ultimately, we — the States that decide how this
Organization shall act — are the ones responsible for
failing to end or prevent conflicts. Criticism must be
constructive. When we accuse the United Nations of a lack
of action in Bosnia, let us ask ourselves why the policies of
the members of the Security Council are so divergent and
difficult to coordinate. We must therefore make an effort to
provide information so that the public has an accurate idea
of what really happens behind the flags that adorn this
building. We must make the successes of the United
Nations known, not just its shortcomings. We must
highlight its efforts to promote international law, a body
of law that will guarantee negotiated solutions instead of
shows of strength, a principle that is essential for the
survival of small States. We must recognize the small,
quiet steps humanity takes day by day in United Nations
committees, steps geared towards the promotion and
application of human rights. If in a particular State some
people, be it only a few, no longer suffer torture or
repulsive abuse when they are arrested; if in some parts
of the world blood is not shed because international
shame projects itself on those countries; if in other places,
nuclear tests will not shatter the peace of the people
living there because we have signed a treaty prohibiting
such actions, then the United Nations deserves all our
support.
We must foster confidence in the future of men and
women, not cynicism towards international organizations.
If we do not, we run the risk of encouraging movements
that seek to express this cynicism through violence and
terrorist acts. We have no choice but to consider the
means democracy gives to its enemies that they can use
to destroy it, particularly through terrorism. When the
media tell us that the United Nations is a potential
terrorist target, we become even more conscious of our
commitment to strengthening efforts more effectively to
publicize the task of our Organization. The energies of
our youth must not be directed towards violent
expressions of social discomfort. We must therefore
channel them, as I have stated before, towards creativity
in one’s work and promoting confidence in humanity’s
potential. When, a few years ago, the political scientist
Francis Fukuyama, as witness to the end of the cold war,
wrote about the end of history, he forgot about the
immense creativity of human beings. When one period of
history ends, another one begins. Our responsibility is to
ensure that the period of history we have entered in the
nineties rejects the obscurantism produced by the fear
perpetuated by human beings, and reflects the qualities
humanity holds highest.
The framing of a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty (CTBT), which I will sign tomorrow on behalf of
the Andorran Government, along with many of the
representatives here, is an achievement of which the
United Nations Organization can feel proud and a clear
example of what we can do when the peoples of the
world unite with the strength of an ideal of peace.
Andorra, an initial co-sponsor of the resolution that
brought this Treaty to the General Assembly, adheres to
11

its principles in full, principles which provided the basis for
the founding of our country. In the same fashion, not very
long ago we gave top priority to acceding to the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons with the hope of
promoting that text of peace. Peace! The cry of alignment
for the traditionally neutral States, one of the most noble
cries, is — let us not fool ourselves — still far from being
answered. The CTBT is only the first step, and an essential
one, towards more efforts to ensure nuclear disarmament
and non-proliferation, and the reduction of other types of
arsenals — goals to which Andorra will devote much
attention.
To help achieve these objectives, the Government of
Andorra has a mandate of solidarity which is enshrined in
our Constitution. In its preamble, the Andorran people
declare themselves eager to make every effort to promote
values such as freedom, justice, democracy and social
progress, to maintain and strengthen Andorra’s harmonious
relations with the rest of the world on the basis of mutual
respect, coexistence and peace, and willing to bring their
collaboration and effort to all the common causes of
humankind.
At present, States, large or small, within the
framework of the United Nations, have a duty to provide a
source of inspiration for the ideals of youth, prevent
isolationism and look beyond their borders, share
experiences and show solidarity with States in distress. This
notwithstanding, Governments continue to have a
fundamental role in the internal activities of States, so that
few United Nations efforts and initiatives can really be
effective without their active cooperation.
For this reason, the leaders of States who, year after
year, gather in this Assembly Hall must leave here
convinced of our unavoidable responsibility to promote
human rights within our own borders and social and
economic development in our States.
In accordance with article 29 of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, which Andorra signed and ratified less
than a year ago, thus contributing to the universal process
of ratification so desired by the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), it is vital that Governments ensure that
tolerance and human rights are taught freely and
comprehensively at school in order to rear new generations
that are much more sensitive to the universality and
relevance of these rights. We must also encourage States
still using other forms of government to adopt democratic
processes, and make the rule of law a priority for leaders in
the coming years. There are no peoples unprepared for
democracy, only leaders with little aptitude for fostering
it.
I wanted to introduce a spirit of optimism in my
speech today. When optimism does not conceal reality,
but instead tries to transcend it, it is the best remedy
against the apathy that can affect the human heart in a
world full of conflict. I have spoken of youth and its
optimism, and of the need to focus our attention on the
problems affecting youth. I have lauded the successes of
the United Nations, but I have also noted the difficulties
we will have to overcome if the United Nations, is to
enjoy qualitative growth. I have advocated the teaching of
human rights, of democracy, of tolerance, and of social
and individual responsibility for the progress of human
communities. Four years before the new millennium, we
must give our youth optimism and confidence in the
future.
One year ago, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Andorra concluded his statement before this Assembly
with some words by Robert Kennedy. Previously, my
predecessor in the presidency of the Andorran
Government borrowed from John Fitzgerald Kennedy the
expression “Ich bin ein Berliner” to declare himself an
Andorran in a speech on the particularities of small
States. To make reference to the Kennedys is to make
reference to an optimistic decade imprinted with the
ideals and dreams that a young American President spread
around the world. It was also a decade of harsh realities
and contradictions, as in the world today. Ideals, however,
last because there is always a new generation to adopt
them. Today I reiterate the promise that President
Kennedy made to the United Nations:
“To that world assembly of sovereign states,
the United Nations, our last, best hope in an age
where the instruments of war have far outpaced the
instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of
support to prevent it from becoming merely a forum
for invective, to strengthen its shield of the new and
the weak, and to enlarge the area in which its writ
may run”.


At the outset, I have the pleasure of extending to
Mr. Razali Ismail and to his friendly country, Malaysia,
my sincere congratulations on his election as President of
the General Assembly at its fifty-first session. I wish him
success in conducting the proceedings of the session and
assure him of my delegation’s readiness to cooperate fully
with him in achieving our Organization’s objectives and
purposes.
I also take this opportunity to express my thanks and
appreciation to his predecessor, Mr. Diogo Freitas do
Amaral, for his sincere efforts in guiding the proceedings
of the previous session.
It is also my pleasure to express my country’s
gratitude and appreciation to the Secretary-General,
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his tireless and dedicated
efforts to enhance the Organization’s role and standing
17

and to further the Charter’s objectives, especially those
related to the maintenance of world peace and security. I
hope that he will continue to hold this important position
and to do this good work.
This session convenes a year after the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations, which was celebrated in
the middle of a decade that has, from the start, witnessed
rapid changes and diverse trends arising from the remnants
of the cooperation and cold-war conflict that have marked
half a century.
The international community has dealt with the
challenges this historic burden with a twofold response.
First, it has sought to reform and develop the United
Nations system so as to enable it to fulfil its role in the
light of these changes. Secondly, it has made concerted
efforts by convening world conferences to deal with critical
issues relating to the future of mankind, such as the
environment, development, population, trade, social
development, women and children. Despite these efforts,
which have continued for several years, this twofold
response has proved woefully inadequate to alleviate the ills
that have slowed the progress and political, economic and
social development of the human race.
Given the way the United Nations was established and
the manner in which the international system has evolved
since the 1940s, this phenomenon should not come as a
surprise. The international community has been unable to
absorb the intense impact of the major transformations of
the present decade, which have relied heavily on the
foundations and parameters of the current system of
international relations. This means that the international
community still needs some time — not necessarily a
little — in which to fathom the similarities and diversities
of national interests that influence the contemporary
international political system.
In order to be able to understand these political
ramifications in their historical context, we must consider
this phenomenon in the context of the flexibility and
inflexibility that characterize the structure of the
contemporary system of international relations. That is
because the crisis afflicting current international political
relations has been caused largely by the persistence of
complex political and historical dilemmas that have
continued to interact within a system of international
relations based on visions formulated by the allies before
the end of the Second World War.
The Powers that are influential in the international
arena presently appear to be reviewing the basis on which
the present international system was founded, with a view
to reconfiguring, rather than abolishing, current and future
global imperatives. The underlying purpose of the system
that emerged in the 1940s was fundamentally to address
regional and international security problems in all their
political and economic dimensions. It is a fact that the
Allied Powers formulated their vision in the 1940s on the
premise that security and stability in the regional context
were basically associated with the creation of a number of
international institutions, most notably the United Nations,
its specialized agencies and the financial institutions that
came into being as a result of agreements reached at a
number of historic conferences.
Despite this association and the new intellectual,
political and economic trends brought about by the
changes, the structural notions of the international system
have not developed in tandem with the requirements of
human development, as manifested by the
communications revolution, the exchange of ideas, the
flow of information and the technological applications
that have influenced international relations in various
ways.
The historical concept of the link between national
and regional security could serve as an appropriate
starting point for a comprehensive review and redefinition
of the question of security in all its aspects. In spite of
the importance of the administrative and financial reform
of the United Nations, its specialized agencies and other
organs, the influential Powers have not given the question
of collective security adequate attention with a view to
developing ways and means to preserve international
peace and security.
The international community truly must expand the
scope of the principle of collective security if States are
to be free from the fear of strategic threats to their
national and regional security. It is my conviction that the
Security Council, as the sensory nerve-centre of the
United Nations, in addressing the questions of world
security, should be guided by certain collective security
principles that could be activated in the current
circumstances. Furthermore, it is possible to increase the
use of practical preventive diplomacy to prevent the
eruption of conflicts by containment and by speedily
eliminating their causes.
In view of the importance now being attached to the
question of collective security, thought should be given to
18

the development of mechanisms for maintaining relations
between the Security Council and regional organizations, in
accordance with United Nations purposes and principles.
This is relevant to some particularly important regions of
the world, such as the Arabian Gulf region, which is
afflicted by tensions that threaten the established
fundamentals of the region’s security.
To insure the region’s security and stability, it is
imperative that relations among all States of the region be
based on the principles of good-neighbourliness, mutual
respect, non-interference in the internal affairs of others and
recognition of every State’s national sovereignty. The
territorial and border claims that are currently being made
in the Arabian Gulf region, and are aimed at changing
established and traditionally accepted boundaries, upset the
security and stability of the region. We believe that the
optimal and most judicious course for avoiding that
prospect is to respect the status quo, refrain from any
claims — total or partial — and to settle any consequential
differences by peaceful means acceptable to the parties to
the dispute.
With regard to the situation between Iraq and Kuwait,
the State of Bahrain, being keen to maintain security and
stability in the Gulf region, stresses the need for Iraq to
meet fully the requirements of international legality and
fulfil its obligations under the relevant Security Council
resolutions, including the release of Kuwaiti and other
prisoners of war.
While it asserts that care should be given to ensuring
the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq,
Bahrain welcomes the signing of the memorandum of
understanding between Iraq and the United Nations and
calls for the accelerated implementation of Security Council
resolution 986 (1995) on the issue of “oil for food”, an
essential step towards alleviating the suffering of the
brotherly Iraqi people.
On another matter, the continued occupation by the
Islamic Republic of Iran of the three islands of Greater
Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa — all of which belong
to the United Arab Emirates — is a cause of concern for
Bahrain and other member States of the Gulf Cooperation
Council, in view of the serious ramifications for the
security and stability of the region and good-neighbourly
relations among its States.
The State of Bahrain therefore calls upon the Islamic
Republic of Iran to respond urgently to the appeals of the
United Arab Emirates to solve the question of these islands
through serious bilateral talks and other means available
for the peaceful settlement of disputes through
reconciliation among States.
Economic security is also fundamental to a world of
security and peace. In recent years, significant
developments have taken place in the sphere of
international economic relations as a result of the
interdependence that has come to characterize the world
economy, especially since the establishment of the World
Trade Organization. Over the past four decades, the
United Nations has addressed development problems,
issued a number of declarations and formulated a number
of strategies in this respect, but the desired results have
been elusive.
We believe that development challenges to any
country can be met only by taking into account the global
economic system as a solution that involves the
development of a comprehensive framework combining
international and local efforts, with a view to improving
the performance of the economy in a favourable
environment wherein local and regional circumstances and
the priorities and special conditions of each individual
State are taken into consideration.
The topic of the ninth session of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development, held this year in
South Africa, was the promotion of sustainable growth
and development in the context of the globalization and
liberalization of the world economy. This reflects a global
interest in addressing the shortcomings of the world
economy. In this connection, we would like to emphasize
the importance of the role of the Organization in the
enhancement of solidarity and interdependence for the
sake of promoting development in all countries.
With regard to the Second United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements, held at Istanbul this
year, it is our hope that the principles, commitments and
plan of action of the Conference will be implemented. It
is also our hope that the World Food Summit, to be held
in November in Rome, will make recommendations to
ensure and enhance world food security.
Environmental problems continue to be a cause of
concern for the human race in view of their potential
threat to our planet. Agenda 21, adopted at the United
Nations Conference of Environment and Development, is
a framework for the protection of the environment.
Persuaded that collective action is important for the
protection of the environment, the State of Bahrain has
19

paid special attention to the issue of the environment.
Accordingly, an Emir’s decree approving Bahrain’s
accession to the Convention on Biological Diversity and
another on environmental law were issued. The latter
establishes an environmental body that can exercise all
authorities with respect to environmental planning and
policies and the supervision of their implementation.
The third element, in our view, is social security,
without which societies would be unable to sustain human
progress or protect national security. As far as the people
are concerned, it is an important precondition for the
achievement and preservation of peace and security within
and among States. This fact was stressed by the World
Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen last
year.
Responsibility for social development is based on two
pivotal factors: national responsibility and collective
commitment, as reflected in the combined efforts of the
international community. In this connection, it must be
mentioned that the ability of societies to effect social
development is fundamentally connected to the objectives
of economic progress and comprehensive development in
all their human dimensions. Any international commitment
to preserve the stability and security of societies within the
framework of economic and social development should take
into consideration the cultural content of social development
and the various national factors.
The State of Bahrain — in the light of its conviction
that peace in the region is a strategic alternative that must
inevitably be based on justice, the restoration of rights and
the prevalence of security — follows closely and with deep
concern the new developments in the Middle East peace
process. Peace is the only course that can lead to
reconstruction, prosperity and the well-being of the peoples
of the region. It can end the cycle of violence and war
which the region has suffered for so long.
The progress achieved in the context of the Madrid
Conference, whose underlying principles were the
achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in
accordance with international legality and the principle of
“land for peace”, should continue without regression. We
must build on it.
The State of Bahrain views with deep concern the
serious events that have taken place in the past few days as
a result of the policies of the present Israeli Government.
These are manifest in its perpetuation of the occupation and
its refusal to honour the agreements made and to withdraw
from occupied Arab territories in Palestine, the Syrian
Golan Heights and southern Lebanon, as provided for in
General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, in
particular resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425
(1978), as well as in the Madrid terms of reference,
whose underlying principle is “land for peace”.
We call upon the international community, in
particular the two sponsors of the peace process, and the
States of the European Community to persuade Israel to
end its repressive practices against the Palestinian people
and to resume negotiations on the final status of the
Palestinian territories in accordance with the agreements
concluded between the two parties. They should also
stress the necessity of resuming negotiations on the Syrian
and Lebanese tracks. These negotiations should aim at
achieving just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the
region and at insuring the attainment by the Palestinian
people of their legitimate rights. These include their right
to establish their own independent State, with Jerusalem
as its capital, and the complete withdrawal of Israel from
all Arab territories, including the occupied Syrian Golan
Heights up to the boundaries of 4 June 1967 and occupied
southern Lebanon.
Without doubt, in violating the principles upon
which the peace process is based, reneging on the
agreements and commitments reached within the
framework of this process and procrastinating in the
implementation thereof, Israel will drastically set back the
peace process and lead the region back into a new cycle
of tension and violence.
It is regrettable that Israel continues periodically to
act repressively against the Palestinian people and
repeatedly to violate the sanctity of Islamic holy places.
We denounce the Israeli authorities’ opening of a tunnel
beneath Islamic archaeological sites. This is calculated to
judaize and efface the Islamic features of the occupied
Palestinian territories. This act has caused indignation and
anger in the occupied Palestinian territories in particular
and in the Islamic world in general. It is a hostile act
directed against the holy Islamic sites and a provocation
against the sentiments of Arabs and Muslims.
In condemning Israeli practices and repressive
actions, which have resulted in scores of deaths and
hundreds of injuries, we demand that Israel end these
practices and forswear its plans to change the Arab and
Islamic character of the city of Jerusalem or to violate the
sanctity of the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque. We call upon the
international community to urge and pressure the Israeli
0

Government to renounce political policies of expansion and
settlement in Arab territories and to comply with the
requirements of peace and security in the region.
We consider the conclusion of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty to be one of the most important
issues in the field of disarmament. We look forward to the
day when we can feel secure because all nuclear tests have
been ended and all nuclear weapons eliminated. Bahrain
therefore signed the Treaty last week because it considers
it a step in the right direction of eliminating these weapons.
The elimination of all weapons of mass destruction is
bound to enhance confidence and security at both the
international and regional levels. We have supported the
initiatives seeking to make the Middle East, including the
Arabian Gulf region, a zone free of nuclear weapons and
weapons of mass destruction. Bahrain has done so in the
deep conviction that the security and stability of the region
should be maintained, that the region should be saved from
the calamity of these weapons of mass destruction and that
the States of the region should be able to implement
development projects and raise the standard of living of
their peoples. In this connection, I would like to applaud
the signing of the Pelindaba Treaty in Cairo on 11 April
1996, which established Africa as a Nuclear-Weapon-Free
Zone.
Terrorism in all forms is a global phenomenon whose
threat today is not confined to a particular people or region,
but endangers security and peace in numerous countries.
Bahrain has repeatedly denounced and deplored this
dangerous phenomenon in more than one international
forum. Its eradication requires cooperation and the
coordination of efforts. Bahrain now calls for concerted
efforts for the implementation of the Declaration on
Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism, adopted at
the forty-ninth session of the General Assembly. It also
calls for cooperation in the identification of terrorist
activities, their prosecution, the adoption of deterrent
measures and preventing terrorist organizations from using
the territories, information media and facilities available by
virtue of the respect given to civil liberties in certain
countries, in order to mount hostile activities against other
countries.
The State of Bahrain would like to express its
gratitude and appreciation to the sisterly and friendly States
that lent their support at a time when it was the target of
foreign-aided terrorist acts aimed at disturbing the security
and stability enjoyed by our State and other Arabian Gulf
States. The events witnessed in the State of Bahrain and
other States in the region and throughout the world
demonstrate the extent of the danger of terrorism and how
far the terrorist elements can go in manipulating laws and
international human-rights principles to serve their own
subversive and terrorist ends.
The fighting in Somalia and Afghanistan has brought
devastation and destruction to the peoples of the two
countries. With a view to sparing the lives of innocent
people, we appeal anew to all parties to the conflict in
each of the two Islamic countries to embark on a serious
dialogue to reach a political settlement of their
differences.
We welcome the outcome of the elections that took
place in Bosnia and Herzegovina within the framework of
the Peace Agreement signed in Paris as a result of
negotiations held in Dayton in 1995.
We support all efforts to restore peace and stability
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, urge respect for the
independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of that
country and emphasize the necessity of economic
reconstruction and rehabilitation as a means to buttress
the peace process.
With regard to the question of Cyprus, we call upon
the United Nations to continue its contacts with the
parties concerned so that direct talks can be resumed with
a view to reaching a final settlement.
The question of the development and reform of the
United Nations is in the forefront of issues that have
captured the attention of Member States. Extensive
discussions on this matter have taken place over the past
few years, especially in relation to the question of
equitable representation on the Security Council. It is our
view that the reform of the Security Council is not only
a matter of institutional dimensions and ramifications, but
that it also constitutes a challenge that the international
community should address thoughtfully.
The State of Bahrain has consistently supported the
Security Council and its role in and contribution to the
maintenance of international peace and security. It has
also joined the international community in the
implementation of resolutions relevant to international
legality and related commitments. Bahrain is the host
country for the Field Office of the Special Commission
established under Security Council resolution 687 (1991)
and has provided the Office with all the facilities needed
for the successful performance of its duties. In this
1

respect, the State of Bahrain wishes to recall with
appreciation the report of the Secretary-General on the
work of the Organization, submitted to the General
Assembly at its current session, in which he praises the
support given by the Government of Bahrain to the
activities and work of the Office.
Since it joined this Organization, the State of Bahrain
has always adhered to the principles and purposes of the
Charter of the United Nations and therefore looks forward
to playing a more active role in this regard. The nomination
of Bahrain to Security Council membership for the period
1998-1999 — which received the unanimous endorsement
of the Group of Asian States, the League of Arab States
and the Gulf Cooperation Council and the support of other
Member States — is a confirmation of its standing as a
peace-loving State and an indication that it wishes to play
a more active role in the maintenance of world peace and
security.
The characteristic distinction of the late twentieth
century is that relations among nations are based on
interrelated, mutual and diverse interests in various political,
economic and social fields. This interrelatedness of interests
has formed a sort of common culture among nations and
has created a favourable climate for the exchange of ideas
and the tools of knowledge, thus enabling cultural and
intellectual interaction among peoples of the world and
enhancing a deeper understanding of the bases of world
peace and security, an objective which the United Nations
has sought to achieve over the past five decades.
In view of this fact, it behooves us to lend the
Organization support and encouragement so that it may be
able to play its role in a civilized world and carry out its
noble tasks of ensuring the achievement of world security,
prosperity and peace.