Please allow me to extend my warm congratulations to
you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the
General Assembly at its current session. I am confident
that, with your wisdom and experience, and with the
support and coordinated efforts of the member States,
the Millennium Assembly will successfully complete
all its work. At the same time, I would like to express
my appreciation and thanks to Mr. Gurirab for the
contribution he made as President of the General
Assembly at its last session.
The Millennium Summit, which attracted
worldwide attention, has just concluded. The United
Nations Millennium Declaration is a consensus reached
by world leaders on how to meet the major challenges
facing mankind today. The Declaration reviews and
sums up the course that the United Nations has
travelled over the past 55 years. More importantly, it
offers a blueprint for the United Nations in the new
century and the new millennium and important
guidance to people around the world in their pursuit of
peace, development and common progress. I would like
to add my voice to the call to action made by
Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the closing ceremony
of the Summit. We should work together to turn the
consensus reached at the Summit into action and usher
in a new era of peace and development for people all
over the world.
It is the primary mission of the United Nations in
the new century to uphold the purposes and principles
of its Charter, promote democracy in international
relations, maintain world peace and stability and
facilitate the development and prosperity of all
countries. The United Nations Charter is a
manifestation of the peoples' aspiration to equality,
justice and freedom. Over the past 55 years, the United
Nations has adhered to the Charter aims of
safeguarding peace, developing friendship and
promoting cooperation, as well as the core principles
guiding international relations, such as sovereign
equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of
States. It is precisely for these reasons that the United
Nations has grown in strength and its membership
increased from 51 to 189. This Organization is still
playing an irreplaceable role in world affairs.
The history of the past 55 years has amply proved
the effectiveness of the purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter. Today, global issues have
made our interests intertwined and modern technology
has made our communication easier. In these
circumstances, we need more than ever to face our
common challenges together on the basis of equality,
mutual respect and democratic consultation. The
purposes and principles of the Charter are by no means
outdated, but are rather of greater relevance today.
Democracy in international relations requires
compliance with the principle of sovereign equality, as
5

provided for in the United Nations Charter. Countries
differ in size, strength and wealth, but they are all
equal members of the international community. None
should be discriminated against and their state
sovereignty brooks no encroachment. The internal
affairs of a country should be managed by the people of
that country and major world affairs should be decided
by all countries through consultation. The response to
global challenges calls for worldwide cooperation and
coordination. This is a necessity of our times and a
prerequisite for the establishment of a fair and just new
international political order. It is also the foundation
and source of vitality for the United Nations in the new
century.
The reform of the United Nations should give full
expression to democracy in international relations. The
reform is aimed at better safeguarding the fundamental
rights and interests of all Member States and,
especially, at truly reflecting the will of developing
countries, which make up the bulk of United Nations
membership. It should not merely satisfy the needs of a
few countries. The reform of the Security Council
should seek primarily to increase representation of
developing countries and should be based on extensive
deliberations among Member States. It is against the
will of the overwhelming majority of Member States to
set arbitrar deadlines or to force the passage of
immature plans.
There is general agreement among the United
Nations Member States on basing the scale
methodology of regular budget and peacekeeping
assessment on the principle of the capacity to pay. This
methodology is also one that has been confirmed time
and again by the General Assembly through its
resolutions and should therefore be abided by in
whatever circumstances. Any adjustment to this
methodology should take into full account the specific
economic conditions of developing countries. Such
adjustments should be made only when there is
consensus among all Member States through extensive
consultation, thus facilitating the normal and sound
operation of the United Nations.
Another important historical task facing the
United Nations is to respond to globalization and to
achieve the common development of mankind. The
twentieth century has seen both unprecedented
economic prosperity and the greatest polarization. In
the last decade of the century, economic globalization
has advanced at the fastest pace, while the gap between
the North and the South has continued to widen.
According to the World Bank, the revenue of the low-
income countries accounts for only 6 per cent of the
world's total, although they make up more than half of
the world's population, while that of the developed
countries is 80 per cent with only one sixth of the
world population.
It is especially worrisome that there is an even
wider gap between developing and developed countries
in the field of advanced technology. The new economy
is so far benefiting only the rich countries. Most
developing countries are still information have-nots.
Should this situation be allowed to continue, many
developing countries will long remain deprived of the
opportunity to participate in technological progress and
economic growth and the world will be further
polarized.
To prevent poverty from swallowing up
achievements of development and to prevent social
injustice from shaking the basis of global stability, the
United Nations must play its due role in narrowing the
gap between the rich and the poor and bringing about
common prosperity to the world. It is an unavoidable
major responsibility of the United Nations in the new
century to promote the establishment of a new
international economic order based on cooperation on
an equal footing and aimed at common development
and to ensure that economic globalization benefits
everybody in the world.
The United Nations should give top priority to the
issue of development, make efforts to change the
current situation in which global economic affairs are
dominated by only a few countries and ensure
developing countries their right to equal participation
in economic decision-making. In making or revising
global economic rules of the game, consideration
should first be given to the need of developing
countries in order to facilitate their development and
reduce the risks they may face when participating in
globalization. The United Nations should also mobilize
all the resources available and encourage the
international community to narrow the “digital divide”,
and it should help developing countries to seize, as far
as they can, the opportunities brought about by the
scientific and technological advancement driven by the
information revolution. The United Nations also has
the responsibility for introducing new rules to the
world to make science and technology truly serve all of
6

mankind and the lofty cause of peace and development
in the world.
As drastic and profound changes are taking place
in the international situation, what kind of security
concept should be embraced is a major subject before
the United Nations and all its Member States. Global
strategic stability is the foundation on which world
security rests. And the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile
(ABM) Treaty is an important cornerstone for global
strategic stability. Any move to undermine the totality
and effectiveness of the Treaty will have a profound
negative impact on world peace and security. The
proposal for a national missile defence system that is
prohibited by the ABM Treaty is essentially aimed at
seeking unilateral military and strategic supremacy, and
thus a typical example of the cold war mentality. Such
a plan, if implemented, will only bring serious negative
consequences to the security of the whole world. The
adoption by the General Assembly of the resolution on
preservation of and compliance with the ABM Treaty
(A/54/54 A) at its fifty-fourth session by an
overwhelming majority is an indicator of the firm will
of most countries in the world to maintain and strictly
observe the ABM Treaty. The United Nations should
continue to show serious concern over the attempt by a
certain country to develop a missile defence system to
the detriment of global strategic stability, and it should
take necessary measures to stop this dangerous
development.
Security is mutual and relative. No country
should enhance its security at the expense of that of the
others. To seek absolute unilateral security is not
feasible and will lead to greater insecurity. With
increased international contacts and exchanges,
countries of the world will find themselves sharing
more common interests and facing more common
challenges. Security can only be realized through
dialogue on an equal footing and in the spirit of mutual
understanding and mutual accommodation. It can only
be maintained on the basis of mutual respect and
peaceful coexistence, and it can only be consolidated
through mutually beneficial cooperation and common
development. The only way to protect the fundamental
interests of all countries and enhance universal security
is to replace the old security concept based on military
alliances and military build-up with a new one that is
characterized by equality, mutual trust, mutual benefit,
cooperation and settlement of disputes through
dialogue.
In recent years, China, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have reached, within the
framework of the Shanghai Five and through
consultation and cooperation based on equality, an
agreement among themselves on confidence-building
in the military field and reduction of military forces in
the border areas. This offers something useful for the
international community to draw upon in its
exploratory efforts for a new security concept.
We have noted with pleasure the positive changes
in the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the
positive outcome of the successful historic summit
between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
and the Republic of Korea. It has shown once again
that dialogue and consultation based on equality serve
to enhance mutual trust and improve relations between
States. We appreciate the efforts made by both the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the
Republic of Korea to promote peace, stability and
development on the peninsula and in the region.
We deeply regret that the tripartite summit at
Camp David failed to produce any agreement. We
believe that the Middle East peace process will move
forward as long as the parties concerned earnestly,
patiently and unswervingly engage themselves in
negotiating and seriously implement the agreements
that have already be reached among them on the basis
of the relevant United Nation resolutions, in
accordance with the principle of land for peace and in
the spirit of mutual trust and mutual accommodation.
In the twentieth century, mankind suffered a great
deal from the scourges of war. In the twenty-first
century, humanitarian crises of a massive scale must be
prevented, and the tragedy of innocent people being
slaughtered on a large scale must not be allowed to
repeat itself. The United Nations shoulders a primary
responsibility for the maintenance of world peace, and
therefore it should work harder to stop conflicts and
eliminate wars.
In the present-day world, hegemony and power
politics still exist. Territorial disputes, ethnic feuds and
religious rifts have all led to incessant regional
conflicts. Some countries and regions hope that the
United Nations will assist them in stopping conflicts,
which we fully understand. At the same time, we must
not fail to see the complexity of international
intervention and the danger of inappropriate
intervention. The United Nations intervention should
7

aim at eliminating the root causes of a given conflict
rather than delaying its settlement. It should aim at
facilitating reconciliation between the conflicting
parties rather than deepening their hatred and hostility.
We are of the view that major powers and groups of
countries should respect the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of the countries concerned rather than
meddling in their internal affairs or triggering new
conflicts.
In the new circumstances, peacekeeping
operations remain an important means for the United
Nations to fulfil its obligations in safeguarding world
peace and security. In this regard, it is essential to
ensure and enhance the Security Council's
responsibility and political leadership in peacekeeping
operations and to ensure the observance of the
purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
United Nations peacekeeping operations should be
launched with a sense of realism and within the
capacities of the United Nations. The limited resources
should be put to where they are most needed.
Human beings are the most precious among all
the creatures on earth. To promote human development
and protect all the rights and interests of mankind is the
primary responsibility of all countries. China is the
most populous country in the world. The Chinese
Government has taken upon itself to safeguard the
independence and dignity of the Chinese nation and to
ensure the almost 1.3 billion Chinese the right to a
decent life and all-round development. It has regarded
this as its sacred duty and will do all it can to achieve
this end.
Human rights improvement is an ongoing
process. The human rights conditions of a country are
up to the people of that country to assess and improve.
Since people live under different circumstances, the
form in which human rights are embodied changes with
these circumstances and with time. Therefore, how to
protect and promote human rights depends on the
actual conditions and specific needs of a country. To
arbitrarily impose a fixed set of human rights rules,
regardless of the differences in the specific
environment and reality, will not serve the interests of
the people of any country. To interfere in other
countries' internal affairs in the name of protecting
human rights in order to advance one's own political
agenda is simply to blaspheme and betray the human
rights cause.
The United Nations should vigorously encourage
dialogues and exchanges among different civilizations
and countries on human rights and discourage
confrontation and exclusion — which are the general
trend of the human rights movement. In providing
humanitarian assistance, the United Nations should
give equal priority to the prevention of conflicts and
the protection of human rights, on the one hand, and to
the reduction and elimination of poverty and the
promotion of human development, on the other hand.
In this context, the United Nations should work in
close coordination and cooperation with the countries
and Governments concerned, instead of bypassing
them, and ensure human rights for the majority of the
people. Otherwise, such operations will trigger a
humanitarian disaster of a greater scale. Only when the
above-mentioned principles are abided by can the
United Nations play a useful role in protecting human
rights.
A few days ago, from this solemn podium
Chinese President Jiang Zemin proclaimed to the
whole world the Chinese people's firm determination
to turn China into a strong, prosperous and united
country with a high degree of democracy, and to
promote world peace and development. In the past 20
years and more since the inception of reform and
opening-up, China completed the first and second
phases of its modernization strategy. With the advent of
the new century, China will begin the third phase of the
strategy and enter a new stage of accelerated
modernization. Once China becomes a member of the
World Trade Organization (WTO), there will be major
breakthroughs in its opening-up. China will honour its
commitments and seriously fulfil its obligations, while
enjoying its rights.
Although there will be difficulties, risks and
challenges on the road ahead, China is capable of
removing every obstacle and achieving its grand
objective of modernization. China will unswervingly
stick to its independent foreign policy of peace and
further develop its friendly relations with the rest of the
world on the basis of the five principles of peaceful
coexistence. A strong and developed China will not
only benefit more than a billion Chinese people but
also serve prosperity and progress worldwide.
To resolve the question of Taiwan once and for all
and complete the reunification of the motherland is a
shared aspiration of the entire Chinese people,
including our Taiwan compatriots. Adherence to the
8

principle of peaceful reunification and one country, two
systems in resolving the Taiwan question will serve the
development of the two sides on either side of the
straits, contribute to amity and unity among
compatriots on both sides, and facilitate peace and
stability in the Asia-Pacific region. The Chinese
Government and people have committed themselves
more strongly than anyone else to a peaceful
reunification. They have demonstrated the utmost
sincerity and made the greatest efforts to this end. We
are convinced that — with the concerted efforts of the
entire Chinese people, including those living in
Taiwan — China will be able to realize its complete
reunification at an earlier date.
We are entrusted with the important task of
charting a course for mankind for the coming century.
Let us join hands and work together to build a more
secure, prosperous and progressive world in the new
century.


I wish at the
outset to convey my warm congratulations to Mr. Harri
Holkeri of Finland on his election to the presidency of
the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session and to
reaffirm our confidence in his ability to guide our work
at this session. The delegation of Guinea-Bissau, which
it is my privilege to head, assures the President of its
full cooperation. Our congratulations go also to his
predecessor, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, who fulfilled his
mandate in a constructive manner, thus making an
important contribution to the work of the General
Assembly.
We wish also to express our trust and
appreciation to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,
and to thank him for the important steps that have been
taken on his initiative towards substantive reform of
the United Nations and towards bolstering the
Organization's international credibility.
The universality of the United Nations gains
whenever a new Member State is admitted. By joining
the United Nations, Tuvalu has affirmed to the
international community that it will shoulder
responsibility for the full exercise of its sovereignty. Its
accession to membership has reinforced the
representative nature of this world forum.
In the third millennium, with our eyes focused on
a new century, we are passing through a historic period
in which new and significant events give rise to new
hopes on the international scene.
This diagnosis, however, encompasses both hope
and scepticism, for it shows that the transitional period
we are living through involves factors of both
integration and disaggregation.
If, on the one hand, the end of bipolarism that
dominated international relations diminished
ideological antagonisms, this new and unprecedented
process, by undoing old political and strategic
balances, is promoting democratic impulses, freeing
the energy of States and creating space for a new
international order more in line with our times.
On the other hand, the rise of nationalist
aspirations, supported by the yearning for the right to
free evolution, has had the effect of triggering old
conflicts, some of them forgotten in time. This
phenomenon has led to an exponential growth of
conflicts that menaces the internal cohesion of States as
well as international peace and security.
It was predicted, and legitimately so, that the
international economy would be able to take advantage
of the peace dividend resulting from the end of the
arms race. It had been expected that those resources
would be invested in the poorest countries and, thus,
would have contributed to the acceleration of global
economic growth and development. Our perception,
however, is that, due to the present state of
international economic relations, those optimistic
expectations have not come to fruition.
As the international balance of power has
changed, the relative position that placed different
countries in the international, political and economic
pecking order has also changed. The very nature of
relations among States has also been transformed.
However, the rules and practices giving structure to a
new international order are yet to be defined. Our
perception is that this is the main unresolved issue.
This calls for the community of nations, through our
common institutions, to work determinedly together in
order to bring the present transition to a successful end.
To do so, it will be essential to empower the
system of collective security embodied in the United
Nations. In particular, we attach great importance to
the revitalization of the General Assembly and the
rationalization of its agenda. We also feel there is a
need to reform the Security Council so that that organ,
which has special responsibilities, will be able to fulfil
its original mission and be reborn as the main political
instrument for action in the United Nations.
Expectations without precedent devolve upon the
United Nations. We should all strive to find a solution
to the present structural and financial crises faced by
the Organization. It will be necessary to reactivate its

dynamism in order to implement the 'Agenda for
Peace' and to make the 'Agenda for Development' a
reality.
It is widely known that Guinea-Bissau has just
overcome the gravest crisis the country has
experienced in its recent history. We are still
convalescing from the terrible effects of an absurd and
disastrous war. In addition to irreparable loss of life,
Guinea-Bissau society was deeply traumatized by a
conflict that almost destroyed the entire existing
infrastructure. Guinea-Bissau was made more
impoverished and more vulnerable. Its reconstruction,
the foundations of which are fragile, will be very
difficult, because even simple tasks have assumed
urgent priority. The urgency and the sheer volume of
the effort needed to rebuild the country go far beyond
the limited possibilities of a Government that is near
exhaustion. In order to succeed, that effort will need to
be supplemented by the effective participation of every
partner of Guinea-Bissau.
In this new period of the restoration of
democratic legality, the people of Guinea-Bissau have
elected their new Government within the framework of
a pluralist democracy. The new National People's
Assembly has approved a general programme of action,
prepared by the Government, which defines a strategy
for sustainable development aimed at implementing the
priorities identified, in cooperation with Guinea-
Bissau's partners. This programme of action and the
project of building a new society, required by the
evolution of the situation in Guinea-Bissau, have been
set out by Guinea-Bissau's new President, who was
freely elected by the people. Aware of the sacred
responsibility incumbent upon him, President Kumba
Yal· has committed himself to upholding the
programme of action.
As on past occasions when we were beneficiaries
of timely and precious solidarity extended by the
international community, we are hopeful that the
political, economic and social progress of Guinea-
Bissau will be further supported and maintained.
Amilcar Cabral, the founder of our nation,
considered himself and the other Guinea-Bissau
freedom fighters to be combatants for the noble causes
upheld by the United Nations. Today, after the heroic
struggle that led to our independence, and thanks also
to the support received from the international
community and the United Nations, Guinea-Bissau is
participating in the highest world diplomatic forums
with serenity and determination, embarking on an
unrelenting search to improve on the heritage of our
forebears.
Therefore, acting with responsibility and
specificity, Guinea-Bissau has undertaken its own
initiatives, as well as presenting proposals aimed at the
defence of its interests and at contributing to the
advancement of the causes of peace and international
cooperation. We recognize that in today's international
situation, rife with conflicts and contradictions, the
United Nations remains, without a doubt, the necessary
forum for the development of the activities undertaken
by our Government to affirm the international presence
of Guinea-Bissau.
The five African Portuguese-speaking countries,
joined with Brazil, Portugal and Timor Lorosae  the
latter still being an observer  to form the Community
of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. This Lusophone
Community is characterized by solidarity and
tolerance, based upon shared sentiments and
perceptions rooted in a melding of cultures that
expresses the experience of our respective peoples.
We would like to salute the development in the
processes of democratization of Government structures
that is now occurring in Sao Tome and Principe,
Mozambique and Cape Verde, similar to what
happened in Guinea-Bissau. This will allow our
Governments to better respond to the legitimate
aspirations of our peoples.
We wish to express our solidarity with the
Angolan Government and people, which have
experienced the nightmare of almost 40 years of war.
We support the efforts in search of peace and national
reconciliation. We strongly favour the implementation
by the United Nations of the Lusaka Protocol and the
full implementation of the sanctions established by the
Security Council.
In our West African subregion, Guinea-Bissau has
tried, and to a certain extent has attained, in terms of its
will for integration, a political commitment aimed at
improving our relations with neighbouring countries so
as to promote the cause of peace. In this spirit, we
recognize that in its essence the conflict of Casamance
is an internal issue of Senegal. As such, we also
perceive its negative consequences on the neighbouring
States. Our country is ready to work in the search for a
just solution to and peaceful resolution of that conflict.
40

We feel, however, that we are neither a part of the
problem nor its source of origin. The constructive
actions undertaken by Presidents Kumba Yal· of
Guinea-Bissau and Wade of Senegal, with the support
of President Jammeh of the Gambia, allow us to look
with optimism to the future evolution of that issue.
We deeply deplore the tragedy that has befallen
Sierra Leone, a country of our subregion. The
increased violence in that country has resulted in a
humanitarian disaster. We urge the belligerent factions
and the Government of Sierra Leone to cooperate with
the international community in order to find a
definitive solution to that fratricidal conflict.
The situation in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo and in the Great Lakes region continues to be a
source of concern to Guinea-Bissau. It is necessary to
summon the political will of the countries of the region
to diminish the tension and to continue to search for a
just solution.
The Lusaka accords are the result of the
perseverance of the parties involved and should be
implemented rapidly and comprehensively. They are
the essential framework for the resolution of the
conflict. We are convinced that the implementation of
Security Council resolution 1291 (2000), which
established the United Nations Organization Mission in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, represents the
road to peace.
In the Horn of Africa, Guinea-Bissau welcomes
the acceptance by Ethiopia and Eritrea of the peace
plan put forward by the Organization of African Unity.
We encourage both parties to persist on the path of
dialog and negotiation and to continue to cooperate
with our continental organization.
In the immediate vicinity of our continent, the
Middle East peace process is entering a decisive
period. This process and the quest for equanimity
should be accelerated in order to ensure a lasting and
just peace that respects the inalienable right of the
Palestinian people to an independent State of its own,
as well as the right of all States of the region, including
Israel, to national independence.
Far from the African continent, Guinea-Bissau
continues to pay special attention to the issue of East
Timor. We are linked to that territory by special
historic and cultural bonds and we are therefore closely
following the work of the United Nations Transitional
Administration in East Timor and the recent
establishment of a transitional Government. We hope
that the process will culminate in the full independence
of Timor Lorosae and with its admission as a full
Member of the United Nations.
Finally, we believe that the situations created by
the imposition of embargoes against certain countries,
in which sanctions affect the poorer sectors of the
populations, particularly women and children, should
be addressed through dialogue and negotiation with a
view to finding a definitive solution.
In the age of globalization, we should not lose
sight of the human being and its vital needs. If it is
legitimate that all parties have the right to expect profit
from progress, it is also correct that we should seek
economic growth with social equity. Mankind faces
many challenges, among which achieving
comprehensive development is without doubt the most
important, because the lack of development is the main
source of the conflicts that lead to the crises afflicting
our planet. Therefore, if we wish globalization to live
up to its promise, we should learn better to work and to
act together in order to correct its negative effects.
It is urgently necessary to give momentum to the
North-South dialogue on the basis of equality and to
develop a wide network of South-South cooperation
with a view to minimizing the risks of globalization.
That effort must be fully supported by the international
community with a view to a true partnership for
development. Such partnership, in our view, should
enable us to find the modalities of a coherent
international action to ensure sustainable economic
growth in the context of true development.
The structural adjustment policies adopted by the
majority of African countries are, per se, clear proof of
their willingness to improve the management of their
national economies. Nevertheless, in most cases, the
response of our development partners has not been in
line with the sacrifices demanded and the urgency of
the problems identified. From our point of view, it is
necessary to identify the mechanisms needed to
promote a true social adjustment, keeping the human
individual as its central point of reference.
In this context, the collective challenge we face is
to stress a dynamic image of international solidarity,
which may be translated into effective action for social
and economic cooperation in favour of developing
countries.
41

Our gathering here at the General Assembly
represents the best opportunity to correct the
imbalances that destabilize the global process. We need
to muster the determination of all our countries in order
to raise relations among States to the high level of
dignity required by our shared future.


I am conscious that
the central problem for all of us when we rise to speak
to the General Assembly is that there are too many
issues of concern to hope to address them all in one
speech. There is no shortage of challenges to the
United Nations as we meet for the first time in a new
century to debate the issues of a modern world.
It is a world united by the new technologies of
communication. We have never had so much
opportunity to share the know-how for economic
growth. Yet our world has never before been so divided
between rich and poor. In the year ahead, we must
make sure that all the United Nations agencies and its
international financial institutions work together in a
coordinated way to promote development and to reduce
debt.
It is also a world bound together by growth in
trade between our countries. But we failed at Seattle to
make further progress on removing the obstacles to that
trade. In the year ahead, we must launch a world trade
development round which is fair to those countries
whose main exports are agricultural rather than
industrial.
It is a world which faces a common threat to its
global climate. We are each learning the alarming rate
at which that climate is changing as the result of our
own actions. Before the end of the year, we must try to
reach agreement at the sixth Conference of the Parties
to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change to bring into effect the Kyoto
measures to stabilize climate change.
Each of these is an important challenge. Each of
them is a strategic priority for our work programme for
the coming year. This morning, though, I wish to focus
my remarks on the central theme of the Millennium
Summit and of this fifty-fifth session of the General
Assembly.
How do we equip the United Nations with the
capacity in peacekeeping that matches the real
demands for it around our world?
In his opening address, the Secretary-General
invited us to give a swift response to the Brahimi
report on peacekeeping (A/55/305). The United
Kingdom is happy to respond to that invitation by
offering our support for the report's conclusions and
pledging our commitment to its implementation. The
report begins by reminding us that the United Nations
was founded, in the words of its Charter, to save
succeeding generations from the scourge of war'. Too
often, though, we have failed to save those who needed
our protection from the suffering, the pain and the
terror of brutal conflict. We must be frank in facing up
to those failures if we are to learn their lessons. And
we must be determined to improve the capacity of this
Organization to keep the peace if we are to succeed in
the future.
I want to set out six tasks which we must address
if we are not to repeat past failures. First, we must
equip the United Nations with a more effective and
more rapid capacity for peacekeeping. In the space of
about one year, the number of troops on United Nations
peacekeeping missions around the globe has trebled.
The United Kingdom has forces operating in eight
different theatres where peacekeeping has been
authorized by the United Nations.
8

But it is not the new size of our peacekeeping
effort that demands changes. It is the different
character of the peacekeeping challenge. It used to be
the case that United Nations forces were typically
deployed to observe a ceasefire between two States
both of which wanted to end the fighting. Today, our
peacekeepers are typically deployed within States, not
between them, and often where one or more parties to
the conflict is not seriously committed to peace. In
those circumstances, United Nations peacekeepers need
a robust mandate. As the Brahimi report puts it, where
one side is violating a peace agreement, treating both
sides equally can amount to complicity with evil.
United Nations peacekeepers who witness violence
against civilians should be presumed to be mandated to
halt it.
But if those peacekeepers are to act with
determination, then we must equip them with the
capacity to do so. The United Nations needs a
Headquarters unit capable of rapid deployment within a
few weeks, not a few months, of a Security Council
resolution. And each of us must develop the number of
troops who are trained in the principles and practice of
peacekeeping whom we can commit to the United
Nations. That is why the United Kingdom has proposed
a permanent staff college for United Nations
peacekeeping. The United Kingdom has offered to host
such a resource for United Nations peacekeeping, if
that is welcome to other members of the General
Assembly.
The second task is to be more rapid and more
imaginative in tackling tension before it results in
conflict. By definition, any mission to restore peace is
an admission of failure to prevent conflict. As well as
coping with the consequences of conflict, we need to
address the root causes of conflict: poverty, bad
governance and the denial of freedom or of minority
rights. I welcome the Secretary-General's intention to
submit a report on conflict prevention early next year.
It will be a natural companion to the Brahimi report. I
hope it can enable us to develop an early warning
system which will alert us to potential conflict and give
our agencies the chance to offer help before it becomes
a real conflict.
Too often, internal conflict is fuelled by the
external demand for the illicit trade in diamonds or the
evil trade in drugs. Measures to ban conflict diamonds
from international sale or to defeat the drugs barons
must be key elements of any comprehensive strategy of
conflict prevention.
The third task is to take tighter control of the
flows of arms which supply conflict. As an
international community, we have put much effort into
controlling weapons of mass destruction. The good
progress we all made at the Review Conference of the
States Parties to the Treaty on the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) underlines the
importance which each of us attaches to this strategic
issue. The United Kingdom has ratified the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, has reduced
by half its planned strategic nuclear warheads, and has
supplied greater transparency on our nuclear arsenal.
Yet, over the past decade, the true weapons of
mass destruction have been small arms, which have
killed 5 million people in conflicts around the globe.
Overwhelmingly, those killed were civilians rather than
soldiers. And, overwhelmingly, they were killed in
countries which do not manufacture firearms. We must
make a success next year of the United Nations
Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and
Light Weapons in all its Aspects. We need to reach
agreement to mark firearms at the point of production
so that they can be traced. The United Kingdom would
support at that conference the presumption that military
firearms should not be licensed for sale other than to
legitimate Government bodies. And we must seek the
help of the international economic agencies, including
the World Bank, to fund and to reward with
development aid the surrender of firearms.
The fourth task is to provide the United Nations
with the civilian resources to promote reconciliation
and reconstruction. In Kosovo, and again now in East
Timor, we have learned that the end of conflict is only
the starting point. When the troops have brought peace,
we need judges and administrators to bring justice and
development. The peacekeepers must be followed by
peace-builders. In particular, we need to muster the
civilian police who can establish law and order in place
of violence and conflict. I was astonished to read in the
Brahimi report that this mighty international
organization has only nine civilian police on its
Headquarters staff, administering 8,600 civilian police
in the field around the world. I am confident that every
one of them is the very best, in keeping with the
tradition of United Nations staff. But if we are serious
about succeeding on the ground, we need a more
serious back-up at the centre. Four times in the past
9

decade, the United Nations has been called upon to
undertake a transitional civilian administration. We
need a better, permanent, capacity here at the centre to
support our operations in the field.
The fifth task is to enforce the international law
on crimes against humanity. If we are to have
international justice, we must have an international
court. The United Kingdom has given strong support to
the International Criminal Court, and we have just
published our draft legislation to ratify the treaty
setting up such a Court. The International Criminal
Court will send a strong warning to any future tyrants
that they will be called to account for their crimes
before the bar of international justice. It will be one of
the most powerful advances for human rights since we
agreed 50 years ago to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
And finally, we must strengthen the authority of
the United Nations. In 50 years, there has been no new
permanent member of the Security Council. The
Security Council needs to represent the world as it is in
this century, not the world as it was in the middle of the
last century. It needs to be made representative of the
100 or more countries that have joined as Members
since the Security Council was set up. The United
Kingdom supports a doubling of the permanent
membership to include Germany, Japan and three
countries from each of the continents of Asia, Africa
and Latin America. We also want more members
among those who are elected, in order that the Security
Council can be more representative of the General
Assembly.
For seven years, we have been debating this
question. It is becoming an issue of credibility for the
United Nations. How can we pretend to end conflict if
we cannot end this disagreement among ourselves? A
more representative, modern Security Council would
speak with more authority when it challenges those
who breach the peace.
I have been frank about where we must improve
our capacity for peacekeeping and strengthen our will
to halt conflict. But we should not underrate the
immense achievement of the United Nations. Our
Charter begins by recalling the untold sorrow to
mankind inflicted by two world wars. It was a Charter
written by ministers and officials determined to end
war between States. And in this they were remarkably
successful. External aggression between States is now
unusual.
But the benefits have been unevenly shared. The
industrialized nations have enjoyed half a century of
peace. That has provided the security and good order in
which their prosperity has advanced at a rate without
precedent in history. Yet, in the same half century,
people elsewhere in the globe have lived through
violence and conflict which have broken their human
rights and impoverished their standards of living. It is
largely poor countries that now experience the scourge
of war which our Charter sought to banish.
The challenge for the United Nations is to ensure
that the peace and security which have been enjoyed by
many Member States are shared by all. None of us can
prevent humanitarian catastrophe by acting alone. But
this United Nations can, if we act together.
The Brahimi report tells us what we need to do.
As an organization, we publish many reports. Nobody
could fault the capacity of the United Nations to
produce reports. But we are not always as good at
implementing them. Let us make sure that the Brahimi
report does not gather dust on library shelves but is put
into practice before we meet again next year. Let us
show the determination and the conviction that the
right in our Charter to be preserved from war is an
equal right for the people of all our nations, large and
small, rich and poor.


On behalf of the
delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, I should like first of all to congratulate
Mr. Harri Holkeri on his election as President of the
General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session. I believe
that the present session will produce the desired results
under his leadership. I pay tribute to his predecessor
Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, who made a great contribution
to the successful conclusion of the fifty-fourth session.
I wish also to express our great appreciation for the
efforts made by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
strengthen the role of the United Nations.
The central role of the United Nations in the new
century should be to establish international relations
and order to make the new century independent,
peaceful and prosperous. No country can either defend
its national dignity or achieve social and economic
development when its national sovereignty is violated.
26

This is the lesson for mankind on the threshold of the
twenty-first century.
It is the common aspiration of the world's peoples
that the twenty-first century should be a century of
independence, peace and development. Genuine peace
and prosperity on our planet can be achieved only
when the sovereignty of all countries is respected.
We regard independence as our life and soul. The
idea of independence runs through all domestic and
foreign policies and lines of the Government of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea. This is the
brilliant embodiment of the independent policy of the
great leader General Kim Jong Il. The reality
prevailing on the Korean peninsula clearly testifies to
the justness of the independent policies consistently
carried out by the Government of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
Without independence, it is unthinkable that our
country could overcome the manifold difficulties and
advance the building of a powerful nation convincingly
along the road chosen by its people.
The independent foreign policy of the
Government of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea makes a tangible contribution to peace and
stability in North-East Asia. It can be said that it is
entirely because of our firm adherence to independence
that our country has been able to play a buffer-zone
role effectively in the intersection of the divergent
geopolitical interests of several countries. We take
pride in the independent foreign policy of our
Government, as it contributes to maintaining the
balance of power and preventing a war in North-East
Asia.
The independent policy of the Government of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea also gives full
play to its vitality in advancing the cause of peace and
reunification on the Korean peninsula. The General
Assembly at its twenty-eighth session in 1973
unanimously welcomed the three principles of
independence, peaceful reunification and great national
unity which had been agreed upon by the north and the
south of the Korean peninsula. These three principles
of national reunification are the grand programme of
reunification put forward by President Kim Il Sung, the
great leader of our people, and constitute the most
essential component of the three-point charter for
national reunification defined by the respected General
Kim Jong Il.
At the historic Pyongyang meeting in June this
year, the leaders of the North and the South reaffirmed
these three principles of national reunification, and on
this basis the North-South joint declaration on solving
the reunification question independently by the
concerted efforts of our nation was made public. The
summit meeting and the resulting joint declaration
represent a historic milestone, marking a turning-point
in achieving the cause of independent reunification of
our nation.
Amidst the increased spirit of national
independence and reunification, North-South
ministerial talks for reconciliation and collaboration
are being held and the reunions of separated families
realized. Mutual visits between the North and the South
through, inter alia, direct flights between Pyongyang
and Seoul are now commonplace, and a project is
underway to re-link the railways between the North and
the South of Korea.
This is the brilliant fruition of our independent
policy and the result of a warm love for the nation and
strong desire for reunification. It is none other than the
Korean nation that is responsible for Korea's
reunification question. Korea's reunification should be
achieved independently by the concerted efforts of the
Koreans in the North and the South, as stated in the
North-South joint declaration. Reunification will come
about if both sides take realistic and practical measures
for establishing a reunified State by making the most of
common elements of the federation and the
confederation proposed by the North and the South
respectively.
The independent reunification of our nation will
surely lead to a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula,
and we believe that this will in turn contribute to peace
and security in Asia and the rest of the world.
The turning point created on the Korean
peninsula is a positive development of global
significance. We consider that the present trend
towards the improvement of North-South relations and
reunification is a process that should be valued for the
sake of peace and security in North-East Asia as well.
If this process is to continue to gain momentum, the
countries concerned should work in support of the
process, rather than disturbing it.
The United States has created our non-existent
“missile threat” in order to justify the establishment of
its “theatre missile defense” and “national missile
27

defense” systems. Nevertheless, it gives rise to
worldwide concern about its danger.
Our missile programme is of a peaceful nature,
for all intents and purposes. All countries have an equal
sovereign right, recognized by the United Nations, to
conduct research on and make use of the outer space. It
is therefore totally unfair for the United States to take
issue only with our rockets while many other countries
are launching their own space rockets. If hostile
relations are removed and confidence is built between
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the
United States, there will be ways to address the
concerns on both sides.
The recent incident that prevented the President
of the Presidium of our Supreme People's Assembly
from attending the Millennium Summit is, after all, the
manifestation of the continued hostile policy pursued
by the United States against the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, in labelling our country a
“terrorism-sponsoring nation”. In this regard, we note
that the United States has recognized its responsibility
for the incident and given assurances that such
incidents would not occur again. We also note the
recently stated United States position that it has no
reason to perpetuate its hostile relations with our
country. If this position is put into practice, we will be
ready to respond in a positive way at any time.
Another factor that casts a shadow on positive
development on the Korean peninsula is the suspicious
future of Japan. Whether Japan revives its militarist
spectre or becomes a peace-loving country is a serious
question directly linked to peace and stability in Asia,
particularly in its neighbouring Korean peninsula.
Continued evasion by Japan on settling its past with
our country is the main factor that makes us suspicious
of its future orientation. Moreover, such suspicion is
increased as we witness Japanese moves to find
pretexts for justifying its rearmament by targeting our
country as its “enemy”.
Should Japan take the path of militarism, it will
obviously strain its relations with other Asian countries
and exert negative effects on the improvement of
North-South relations. We hope Japan will not go in
this direction. Japan should find its future in a sincere
and early settlement of its past. Now that the North-
South joint declaration is being smoothly implemented,
new, sound international relations will be established in
North-East Asia once the hostile relations between the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United
States, and between the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea and Japan, are resolved.
In conformity with this encouraging process, the
United Nations should also take practical measures to
dismantle the “United Nations Command”, a legacy of
the cold war, thus making a due contribution to this
process.
In order to establish fair international relations
and an international order that will properly represent
the new century, it is important to successfully
overcome the challenges to the United Nations Charter.
The most serious challenge posed in international
relations at present is the emergence of the concept of
“humanitarian intervention”.
The United Nations is based on the principle of
sovereign equality. The Charter enshrines the principles
of respect for sovereignty and non-interference in
internal affairs as a cornerstone of international
relations.
These are the major principles based on the
reality in which big and small countries exist in the
world. All countries aspire to independence and
struggle to defend their national sovereignty.
Encroachment upon the sovereignty of small countries
by big Powers in exercise of power politics is an act of
high-handedness, as already judged by the times.
“Humanitarian intervention” is a dangerous concept
that could beautify such acts of high-handedness and
eliminate the essential spirit of the Charter.
The international relations of the new century
should serve to terminate arbitrariness and high-
handedness, such as threatening sovereign States by
force and imposing sanctions on them, and to fully
implement the purposes and principles of the United
Nations Charter. International peace and security
should be achieved by strengthening the role of the
United Nations, not by arbitrariness, high-handedness
and intervention by any individual big Power.
The role of the United Nations in the field of
disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, should
be enhanced. Despite an ever-growing desire and
expectation by international society for disarmament
after the end of the cold war, the disarmament process
is at a standstill, faced with new challenges. Reality
requires that the nuclear disarmament process be turned
into a United Nations process, instead of being left to
28

the nuclear-weapon States alone. We are of the view
that the fourth special session of the United Nations
General Assembly devoted to disarmament should be
held as early as possible, taking into due consideration
the demand of a large number of countries.
Another challenge to be effectively countered by
the United Nations in international relations is an
attempt to politicize the human rights issue. Along with
the use of force, the human rights issue constitutes one
of the two factors straining international relations. This
is demonstrated in the reality in which United Nations
meetings that address human rights issues are often
converted into an arena of confrontation, not
cooperation. In fact, there is no more grave human
rights violation than abusing the human rights issue for
political purposes. The United Nations should enhance
its role decisively to ensure that fairness is fully
observed, and not acquiesce in the application of
double standards when dealing with human rights
issues.
The twenty-first century should be a century of
development. Durable international peace and security
are inconceivable without the eradication of poverty
and the solution of social and economic problems. A
fair international economic order which is conducive to
sustainable economic development for the developing
countries should be established as early as possible. In
particular, it is imperative that the United Nations
further the analysis and assessment of the nature and
danger of globalization, as well as its impact on the
developing countries, and take necessary measures. In
this regard, we believe that the Declaration and Action
Programme adopted at the South Summit held in Cuba
last April can serve as an excellent basis for that
purpose.
In order for the United Nations to play a role
commensurate with the requirements of the new
century, it should be democratized through reform of
its structure. The main purpose of United Nations
reform is to ensure democracy and strict observance of
the principles of justice and fairness in all its activities.
The General Assembly has now been relatively
democratized, but it does not have sufficient authority.
In contrast, the Security Council has authority and
action capability but falls short of the desired degree of
democracy. In particular, the present structure of the
Security Council leaves a vacuum which allows the
United Nations to be used as a tool of high-handedness,
for the Council monopolizes decision-making power on
such critical issues as enforcement action, including the
use of force. The twentieth century witnessed such
cases on several occasions.
We hold that the enhancement of the authority of
the General Assembly is a prerequisite for ensuring
democracy in United Nations activities. The Assembly
must be empowered at least to review the issues of
international peace and security and to approve major
decisions and resolutions of the Security Council on
these issues.
In reforming the Security Council, priority should
be given to increasing the number of non-permanent
seats, thus correcting the present imbalance in regional
representation. It is also imperative that effective ways
be sought to ensure strict observance of the principles
of justice and fairness in United Nations activities.
We consider that one means to this end will be to
restore the confidence of the international community
in the United Nations by redressing those issues
mishandled in the past by the United Nations, in
contradiction to the purposes and principles of its
Charter, by force of arbitrariness and high-handedness.
Independence, peace and friendship are the
fundamental ideas of the foreign policy of the
Government of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea. The Democratic People's Republic will remain
true to this idea and faithfully discharge its obligations
as a Member State of the United Nations, so that the
United Nations can become a truly effective
organization that creditably serves the aspirations and
requirements of the new century.


The twentieth century
was one of great trials and great achievements. The
new century will be what we make of it. Whatever has
been won in the name of peace, the hunting season in
history is not quite over. Tension between nations has
not disappeared. Ethnic strife, religious extremism,
economic inequity and social injustice continue to fuel
conflict. Agents of terror and transnational criminals
strike everywhere.
Despite the new wealth of nations, 1.2 billion
people live on less than $1 a day. The 32 poorest
African countries do not earn much more than the
richest man on earth. And, despite the grinding poverty
of billions, the world spends $145 per capita on
military forces. We must do better — much better —
than this.
Our Organization received the needed impetus at
last week's Millennium Summit. That should not be
squandered. The fifty-fifth session of the General
Assembly must reflect the new global covenant for
peace and progress. As always, the United Nations
must be at the forefront of this great enterprise. We are
here to lead.
The Philippine delegation sees this Millennium
Assembly as a bridge to link three divides: those of the
past and the future; of experience and vision; and of
promise and fulfilment.
Fifty-five years ago our Organization arose from
the ashes of war. Some founding Member States were
very young, just recently set free from centuries of
colonial rule. All were still preoccupied with tasks of
rebuilding lives and neighbourhoods shattered by the
Great War. The ideological divide was to become
deeper and wider. The foundations for the walls and
curtains that defined an era were just being laid. For
the average person then a truly global community was
no more than an ideal, remote and all but removed
from the day-to-day lives of mostly rural, agricultural
populations.
Now we are all part of the global village.
Interdependence is a recognized and accepted fact.
“Globalization” is on the lips of everyone, sometimes
with scorn, at other times with affection, but always
with the discernment that it is the wave of the future.
Above all else, that future belongs to all the world's
people, to both the affluent and the destitute, to both
the strong and the weak. With everyone's direct
involvement in charting and realizing our common
10

destiny, we open the door to the fullest flowering of
humanity's potential. We also affirm human dignity.
“Wiring” the world's cities into the information
grid of the twenty-first century is indeed one wise
investment we should be making today. But if anyone
were left out, if the “digital device” were but to echo
and perpetuate social injustice on a global scale, we
would not have moved far from where we started. The
past would simply repeat itself.
To empower people is to build our bridge to the
future. The world's leaders were therefore on the mark
when they enshrined freedom, equality, solidarity,
tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility
as the fundamental, people-empowering values of the
twenty-first century. Now, it is this Assembly's turn to
employ those values and take steps to achieve the
specific objectives set by the Summit for people
empowerment.
Let us buckle down to work and ensure that by
2015 all children will be able to complete primary
schooling and, beyond that date, that they have the
opportunities to pursue higher levels of education. For
let us face it, education is the best tool for protecting
human rights, promoting democracy and advancing
good governance.
But because a sound mind will work better in a
sound body, let us win the battle against disease,
including HIV/AIDS, which lays to waste millions in
the world's poorest regions. Let us take action to
drastically reduce maternal and under-five child
mortality from their horrendous current rates and to
achieve the lofty goals of the “Cities Without Slums”
initiative.
Let us invest in humanity. Let us launch in this
Assembly nothing short of a Marshall Plan for the
world's people. Let us build this human bridge to our
future, now.
The United Nations has both the experience and
the vision needed for success. Our Organization has
both the privilege and the duty to lead our world into
the future with confidence. We know how to do it.
To sustain the United Nations capacity to carry
out its tasks, deep institutional reforms must now take
place. A more energetic and financially stable world
Organization, led by a proactive General Assembly and
strengthened by a truly representative and transparent
Security Council, must now emerge.
For the new covenant on peace to prosper, the
United Nations must remain, without equivocation or
doubt, the first and last peacemaker and peacekeeper of
the world. It should also be the vanguard that
champions the rule of law in international as well as in
internal affairs.
Preventive diplomacy must be our principal tool
in warding off conflict. We must reduce the use of
force. But where we need to use it, as in self-defence or
under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, we
should be guided by international legal norms and
practice.
United Nations peacekeeping operations should
be prosecuted with clear and well-defined mandates,
adequate resources and strong international support
wherever they take place. The report of the Brahimi
Panel on United Nations Peace Operations deserves our
urgent and careful consideration.
More than ever, the United Nations must now
gather together the political will of all nations to bring
about the final stage of disarmament and the much-
awaited arrival of a nuclear-weapon-free world.
Towards this end, we must support the Secretary-
General's call to convene a conference on nuclear
dangers, actively participate in the 2001 small arms
conference, negotiate a comprehensive convention
against terrorism and progressively improve weapons
and arms budget transparency measures.
The central role of the United Nations does not
and should not stop at matters of international peace
and security. It should also be at the heart of our efforts
to promote prosperity for all. It should lead the charge
against poverty and the efforts to halve, by 2015, the
proportion of people whose income is less than one
dollar a day.
Along with the Bretton Woods institutions and
other multilateral organizations and fora, the United
Nations is well placed to make important contributions
to the reform of global economic and financial systems.
For our goal is not only to have a borderless world for
unfettered trade and investment. We should found a
global economic regime that builds productive
capacities, not income gaps; that promotes openness,
not corruption; that rewards enterprise, not greed.
In all these, partnerships with the private sector
and with civil society are indispensable. Every man,
women and child is our co-stakeholder and partner. For

what we are trying to build is a new global order where
human security goes beyond mere military security;
where law upholds human dignity and both people and
State uphold the law; and where political pluralism and
cultural diversity are requisite to the attainment of
common human objectives.
In other words, peace and prosperity must rest
more on human cooperation than on anything else. For
in this global village, cooperation is the only tenable
way to bridge experience and vision.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration
embodies our collective hope: the promise of a true
community of nations working together for a more
peaceful, prosperous and just world. We know that
between this promise and its fulfilment lies a tortuous
road, yet we must tread its length. In this journey, the
first and most important step we should take is to
remove the greatest source of danger and discord, that
is, underdevelopment. For if one is not free of want, he
cannot be free of fear.
In the developing world, the toll from decades of
turmoil and abject underdevelopment has been so
debilitating that only international relief can help some
of us back to our feet. Many of us may cry for safety
nets. But not even fish welcome life inside a net. What
we need is a new deal for the poor countries.
Development is particularly difficult for countries
saddled by mountains of crippling debt. Some 1.6
trillion dollars is now owed by developing countries,
several of which have to use up to 95 per cent of their
hard currency revenues to service debt. In the
meantime, development assistance is declining. This
year, grants to developing countries may total 40
billion US dollars — a mere half of what it was a
quarter century ago.
As earnest for our collective future, we should
have meaningful debt relief for the world's heavily
indebted poor countries immediately. Let us also see
the fulfilment of the promises of overseas development
assistance (ODA) made three decades ago. Further
steps must be taken at the third United Nations
Conference on the Least Developed Countries next
year. We must ensure its success to help our brothers
and sisters in Africa, in landlocked developing
countries, in nations particularly vulnerable to natural
disasters and in least developed countries in all regions
of the world. At this Assembly, we should do our
utmost to guarantee that all preparations necessary for
the success of this conference are made.
We must also redeem the pledge of our leaders to
make every effort to ensure the success of the high-
level international and intergovernmental event on
financing for development in 2001. By investing this
event with the active participation, goodwill and
expertise of all stakeholders, including the private
sector, from the preparatory stages to the plan's
implementation, we may yet achieve what several
United Nations Development Decades have not.
The world's people took heart from the boldness
of spirit and resolve our leaders expressed in the
United Nations Millennium Declaration. They were
reassured that we intend to take the world into the
future as partners and not as adversaries. They wished
for clear direction from our leaders, and they received
it. Now, they look to us in this Millennium Assembly
for concrete action. Let us rise to the challenge and
build the bridges to peace and prosperity for all the
united nations.


My
country is pleased at the election of Mr. Harri Holkeri
to preside over the work of the fifty-fifth session of the
General Assembly. We are certain that, with his talent,
ability and experience, the efforts of this extremely
important Assembly session will be highly productive.
My delegation would also like to extend its recognition
to Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab for his outstanding work as
President of the Assembly at the session that has just
concluded.
Last Friday, during the Millennium Summit, the
leader of the Mexican nation, Ernesto Zedillo, stated
his personal commitment and that of the Mexican
people to the values and principles that sustain the
activities of our Organization. Today, through me, the
Mexican Government renews its willingness to
continue working and participating constructively to
strengthen the United Nations, the reason for those
historic meetings. We will do this guided by our
traditional policy in the multilateral arena: by
encouraging dialogue, consensus, and unrestricted
respect for international law. We will do this
convinced, as well, that we must make good use of this
opportunity to give renewed impetus to the United
Nations, so that it can progress in solving the
challenges that we confront, and can fulfil the goal of
building, in this new century, a safer, more just and
equal world for all. As the President of Mexico stated,
we will do it confident that we Mexicans have the
necessary foundation to do our share in achieving the
targets contained in the report of the Secretary-General
and the Millennium Declaration.
My country is convinced that the practice of
democracy is indispensable for the development of
nations and to guarantee respect for individual
freedoms. But we are also sure that democracy is
sustained by the sovereign will of its citizens and is,
therefore, a domestic process that cannot be imposed
from the outside, although, without a doubt, it can and
must be nourished by international dialogue between
countries and by the cooperation that can be provided
by the United Nations.
Mexico is also convinced that, just as the
predominance of democracy within the membership of
our Organization is imperative, it is essential that
relations between nations follow democratic practices
as well, and that these, in turn, be reflected in
organizations such as the United Nations that we, the
peoples of the world, have created to organize our
coexistence.
Today we find ourselves with an extraordinary
opportunity to advance in that direction: to cover
further ground in the democratization of our
Organization; to achieve a level of democratization that
allows the United Nations to successfully fulfil the
mission with which we entrusted it in San Francisco,
the validity of which we seek to renew today, a level of
democratization that reinforces the legitimacy of our
Organization and invigorates its initiatives, a level of
democratization that supports the domestic processes
that many of our countries are undertaking and will
consequently be enriched by them.
Mexico has stated on various occasions that
strengthening the General Assembly, the international
community's most representative universal forum, is
indispensable to guarantee the full democratization of
the United Nations. We have also asserted that it is
necessary to modify the structure and operation of the
Security Council, so that it can fully shoulder its
responsibilities in the maintenance of peace and
international security.
It is for this reason that my country has
repeatedly proposed that we undertake a profound
reform of the Security Council; a reform that is not
limited to modifications of its composition; a reform
that also considers the Council's working methods and
decision-making process; a reform that allows that
important organ of the United Nations to reflect the
plurality and diversity of our Organization; a reform
that takes into account the transformations of the
political landscape in recent times; a reform that does
not lead to the creation of new centres of power and
privilege; a reform that regulates and limits the scope
of the veto, avoiding its abuse or selective application;
a reform that institutionalizes the relationship between
the Security Council and the General Assembly so that
their links, contacts and exchanges of information are
clearly regulated; in short, a reform that guarantees that
the Security Council's decisions have the legitimacy
that can come only from the universal assent of the
General Assembly.
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Based precisely on this unwavering faith in the
universality of international law, which Mexico fully
shares, my country has engaged in its most important
battles in this world Organization. Mexico has always
been ready to participate in codifying international law,
but we have continually insisted that progress along
this path should involve all of the countries that make
up the community of nations. This is the only
guarantee for preserving legality and for ensuring
cordial, constructive and mutually beneficial relations
between all of us.
The humanitarian crises in Kosovo, East Timor
and Sierra Leone, to refer to only a few recent cases,
have made us reflect on the scope of and limits to
current international law. These crises have made us
see that it is imperative to find a balance between the
urgent need to respond adequately to humanitarian
emergencies and the need to respect the sovereign
integrity of all States. These crises, in short, have
alerted us to the need to transform ourselves into a true
assembly that analyses and proposes new paths, and
they have alerted us to what holds us back from
becoming an authentic forum where different positions
are heard and where answers that realistically reflect
the possible consensuses are found.
We must therefore move forward and begin a
process of further codifying our international law; a
process based on the sovereign equality of States as a
living reality, not just a theoretical principle; a process
in which the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor,
and the small and the large can express themselves
openly. A process that clearly establishes the rules of
the game. A process that enshrines democracy as the
only way in which to reach truly legitimate agreements.
Because we believe in these democratic values,
Mexico has always opposed the legitimization, in
practice, of any type of interference, especially when it
is based on unilateral decisions or the decisions of a
small group of countries. To the contrary, we have
reiterated that the United Nations must be provided
with a modern political structure that permits it to
confront the new challenges to international peace and
security brought by the end of the cold war. For this
reason, we have insisted on the need to begin, as soon
as possible, a broad process of consultation; a process
that is absolutely democratic; a process that allows for
the discernment of the mood of our community of
nations in order to respond correctly and in timely
fashion to humanitarian crises without weakening the
Organization by doing so.
I call upon the President of the General Assembly
to formally begin, as soon as possible, this broad
process of consultation that will allow us to reflect
together on this issue of crucial importance for the
United Nations.
Mexico stands ready to continue contributing to
the ongoing process of codifying international law to
which I have referred. We will do so with the same
confidence with which, in recent years, we have
adhered to a significant number of international
instruments proposed by this, our most important world
Organization. We will do so with the same will with
which we Mexicans have committed ourselves to
modifying our national legislation in order to comply
with the obligations that derive from those instruments.
Such is our trust in international law and its
advancement.
With this trust, only a few days ago my country
signed the Statute of the International Criminal Court,
as well as the Protocols to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child. With this trust we ratified, this
year, the Convention on the Status of Refugees and its
Protocol, as well as the Convention relating to the
Status of Stateless Persons.
With this trust, last week Mexico deposited its
ratification instrument for the Kyoto Protocol. Some
months ago, we did the same with regard to the
International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families.
With that same trust, Mexico continues its fight to
achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons and
tests, and reiterates the call made last April, by the
group of countries, including Mexico, that are part of
the new agenda for disarmament initiative, for the
nuclear Powers to commit themselves to the total
elimination of their nuclear arsenals.
Future generations deserve a world free of
nuclear weapons. They deserve a world that is also free
from the uncontrolled manufacture and trafficking of
conventional arms. They deserve, without a doubt, a
world where anti-personnel landmines cease to claim
thousands of innocent lives.
Our commitment to the protection and
preservation of the human race extends also to
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combating the pandemics of our time. Today, a fatal
disease, AIDS, threatens to cut off the existence of
millions of beings on the planet. This is why only two
days ago, the women Secretaries and Ministers for
Foreign Affairs of 13 countries sent a letter to the
Secretary-General in support of his call to stop and
reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015 and to provide
special assistance to children orphaned by this scourge.
I want to renew the appeal of our 13 nations to all the
Members of the United Nations to support the Joint
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
and to resolutely launch the common efforts that are
necessary to fight this global scourge.
As is well said in the report of the Secretary-
General and in the Declaration of the Millennium
Summit, the protection of our common environment,
the fight against transnational organized crime, the
promotion of human rights, attention to vulnerable
individuals, including children, the fight for
disarmament, and international aid to respond to the
demands of the least developed countries  these are
the foundation for allowing the people of the world to
live not only free of fear and misery, but also with
hope. These are also the challenges that our
Organization and its Members must respond to, by
consolidating an international architecture that is
sustained by democracy and not by the concentration of
power; an international architecture based on respect
for international law, and not on unilateral decisions;
an international architecture that encourages the
universal character of our community and not selfish
individualism; in short, an international architecture
that emphasizes solidarity and cooperation as the
values that give sustenance and permanence to the
Organization.


May I
start by joining previous speakers in offering, on behalf
of the Congolese delegation, warm congratulations to
Mr. Harri Holkeri on his election to the presidency of
this Millennium General Assembly, as well as to the
members of his Bureau. He can be sure that the
Congolese delegation is ready and willing to help him
accomplish his important and delicate task.
I should also like to pay homage to his
predecessor, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Minister for
Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Namibia, for the
skill and wisdom with which he carried out his
mission.
Finally, I should also like to commend Secretary-
General Kofi Annan for his devotion and efficiency as
he leads our Organization.
The Millennium Summit, that great historic
gathering, provided the leaders of the planet with an
opportunity to debate at the highest level the burning
issues of the dawn of the twenty-first century. The
heads of State and Government examined the report of
the Secretary-General on the role of the United Nations
in the twenty-first century, and this led to wise and
relevant decisions, which we should welcome. It is now
up to us to do our utmost to ensure that the conclusions
of that report will be translated into action.
The reform of the United Nations, the
management of globalization, the preservation of the
environment, the promotion and protection of human
rights, peacekeeping and international security are
among the challenges facing humanity, today more
than ever before. The reform of the United Nations is
of course essential. After more than half a century of
existence, our Organization must take account of the
will of all Member States to participate in the
management of the world's affairs. The United Nations
must therefore undergo the transformations required in
order to adapt to the requirements of the modern world.
This reform is in our opinion both necessary and
urgent.
With regard to globalization, the question is no
longer whether one is in favour of or against this
phenomenon. Globalization is a concrete reality that is
having an impact on all areas of international relations.
Globalization is under way. However, if it is to produce
all of its intended benefits, it is necessary to take into
account the interests of the developing countries. In
this regard, the question of development assistance,
debt and access to developed country markets must be
envisaged as conditions that will allow more fruitful
and mutually beneficial cooperation between the North
and South.
We are also very much concerned about the
environment. Its preservation and protection have been
at the centre of the concerns of the United Nations
since the world conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It
is of the utmost importance for our shared environment
to be preserved and managed in conformity with the
principles of sustainable development. All of us —
developed countries and developing countries,
Governments and private sector — all of us must agree
to pay the price in a spirit of solidarity in order to
remove any pretext for those who sometimes say they
have no other choice but to degrade the environment.
What is at stake is the indispensable safeguarding of
fauna, flora and, above all, the forests of the
developing countries.
The Congo, an equatorial country, feels a special
responsibility in this area. Our Government has made a
solemn commitment to the sustainable management
and use of our forests. This subject will in fact be the
focal point of a ministerial meeting of the African
Timber Organization, which will take place in
Brazzaville from 9 to 13 October next.
With regard to peacekeeping and international
security, extensive efforts have been deployed by the
United Nations to free humanity of the scourge of war.
And although our successes may be remarkable, they
are far from meeting the expectations of millions of
men, women and children around the world, who await
with anguish. That is why we strongly support the
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proposals in the Brahimi Report and call for their rapid
implementation. In addition, we follow with interest
and hope the negotiations between the State of Israel
and the Palestinian Authority, and we greatly hope that
these efforts will be crowned with success.
We also welcome the most recent developments
in the Korean Peninsula, all the more so because these
express the will and deep aspiration of the Korean
people, separated by war, to live together in peace. We
also welcome the results achieved in Somalia, thanks to
the mediation of Mr. Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of
the Republic of Djibouti. We welcome this true
renaissance in Somalia and we express our best wishes
for the return of a lasting peace in that fraternal
country.
In Central Africa, determined to strengthen their
operational peacekeeping capacities in the face of
persistent crises and conflicts that are causing
deterioration in the region, the members of the
Economic Community of Central African States have
decided to establish a council for peace and security
(COPAX), whose operational organs will include the
rapid reaction mechanism and the multinational
peacekeeping force. Above and beyond its preventive
mission, COPAX is also a response to the Secretary-
General's call for reserve forces. It is important for the
international community to contribute to the proper
functioning of this sub-regional mechanism for
preventive purposes and for managing and settling
conflicts in this region of the world, which is the victim
of murderous, devastating wars. We would like to take
this solemn occasion to express our desire to be fully
associated in the search for solutions to the problems of
concern to us.
Our daily experience — one shared with
others — of the consequences of conflicts with
neighbours fully justifies this concern; we want to
eliminate the sources of conflicts with our neighbours.
That is why, whenever it is necessary, the Congo does
its utmost to dispel any misunderstandings and to
strengthen the links of brotherhood and cooperative
relationships with its neighbours.
Here, I must draw the attention of the
international community to the humanitarian drama
that is under way in the north-eastern part of our
country as the result of the massive influx of refugees
and displaced persons fleeing the renewed fighting in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country with
which we share approximately 2,000 kilometres of
border. Given the seriousness of this situation, the
Government of the Republic of Congo would like to
renew its call for robust assistance for the populations
in distress, who have virtually been forgotten by the
international community.
As the Assembly knows, my country, the
Republic of Congo, has also been shaken by internal
conflict. I should like to assure the Assembly that we
have re-established peace after the signature of the
ceasefire agreements and the agreements to cease
hostilities last year, thanks to the mediation of El Hadj
Omar Bongo, President of the Republic of Gabon.
Once again, we should like to express our sincere
gratitude to him.
Since then, the Congo has turned its face towards
the future. The future for us means the consolidation of
this peace, national reconciliation, the rebuilding of our
country and relaunching the process of
democratization. That is why, starting in September of
this year, as proscribed by the President of the
Republic, Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, the Government
of the Congo has undertaken a mission to carry out the
broadest possible consultations on a draft constitution
to be submitted to our transitional Parliament in March
2001. Its adoption will open the way to a constitutional
referendum and general elections.
Similarly, in the framework of the reconstruction
of our country, we have just adopted an interim post-
conflict programme for the period 2000-2002. Its
implementation requires the mobilization of significant
financial resources, and the support of the international
community is indispensable for this purpose.
We can never reiterate enough that our
Organization has demonstrated its utility. Its reform,
which is today unavoidable if we are to make it more
credible in a world which is undergoing constant
change and which will be changed profoundly by
globalization, is absolutely necessary. We must have
very strong political will to fight against poverty,
ignorance, illness, injustice and violence, as well as the
degradation and destruction of our planet. This is the
only way to guarantee the credibility of the United
Nations to the peoples of the United Nations.
May the commitments made at the Millennium
Summit guide our daily actions, so that the role of the
United Nations will indeed be strengthened over the
coming century for the well-being of all of humanity.
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