On behalf of the Belize
delegation, I extend my congratulations to you, Sir, on your
election to the presidency. Your vast experience in
international affairs will greatly aid in our deliberations
during this fifth-fifth session of the Assembly. We are
enriched by the presence of our newest Member, the
Republic of Tuvalu; we welcome Tuvalu to our United
Nations family with the assurance of Belize's cooperation
and support.
The recently concluded Summit, which produced a
progressive and far-reaching resolution, has set the pace for
our deliberations during this general debate. Although the
goals are ambitious, their achievement is crucial to the
future of the United Nations. In his brief address to the
Summit, my Prime Minister stated:
“we are called to a new appointment with history: to
bring democracy to global governance, to share a
better and more productive future where all can live
in dignity and peace.” (A/55/PV.3)
Together with the goals put forward in the Declaration, this
sets before us an agenda for our way forward.
In moving forward, we must begin by rededicating
ourselves to upholding the fundamental principles of our
Charter, principles which seek freedom from fear and want
in a world where discrimination and hate are eradicated and
the right of all people to live peaceful, quality lives is
realized.
These ideas are as relevant today as they were 55
years ago. Despite the many advances we have made, many
of us continue to allow our differences to lead to conflict,
which results in overwhelming suffering and hinders
human development. We must avoid these costly conflicts,
for without peace we cannot grow.
At its inception, this institution recognized that peace
and the elimination of war were essential to human
development. Although we seem to have reduced the
likelihood of another global conflagration, we continue, at
the regional and local levels, to allow our differences to
divide us, resulting in overwhelming suffering, which
further hinders progress and development.
As a global institution, we must actively work to end
all conflict. Our peacekeeping efforts must therefore be
proactive and efficient. Our forces must protect innocent
women and children; provide refuge to those who seek to
promote principles of democracy; and rise up against rogue
individuals and organizations that threaten to undermine
democratic Governments. To achieve this, let us first
commit ourselves to reinforcing the preventive capacity of
the United Nations peacekeeping forces.
2

Belize regards peacekeeping operations as an
important component of the United Nations. We agree that
for our forces to be effective, they must be well equipped
and capable of defending themselves. We continue to meet
the financial commitments assigned to Belize based on the
principle of capacity to pay. We welcome the recent
Brahimi report, which is progressive and takes a
comprehensive look at our peacekeeping efforts. My
delegation supports the recommendations it advances.
Belize adheres to the principle of the peaceful
resolution of conflicts, and in this spirit continues to work
with Guatemala to arrive at a negotiated and peaceful
resolution of our differences. Belize will comply with the
recently agreed framework established through the
Organization of American States.
For some time now, this institution has engaged in a
conversation on development for the future and, more
specifically, on globalization. For developing countries,
globalization, as it exists today, poses serious concerns that
seem to fall on the deaf ears of those who continue to push
us along what is obviously a destructive path. While we
welcome the promises of this new economic order, we
continue to fear globalization in its current form, for what
we have seen so far is neither responsible nor sustainable. It
is not sustainable because those who lead the way seek only
the advancement of their personal interests.
The proponents of globalization advised that market
liberalization would lead to prosperity. We were
encouraged to transform our economies and create more
effective and efficient government. We have tried, and
continue to try, to do so. However, our call for assistance
with this transformation has not always been heard.
However, much of what has been asked of most of us, we
have done. The fact that today in Central America and the
Caribbean every nation is legislated by a democratically
elected Government and that we have opened our borders,
markets and lifestyles to others, demonstrates our
commitment to transparency and effective governance.
In Belize, we have done our part to ensure equitable
development. We enjoy a vibrant and working democracy
where 85 per cent of our voting population exercise their
franchise to vote; we have an open economy where all are
encouraged to participate; and we have formed partnerships
with civil society to address social needs and protect our
precious environment. We have been responsible, yet all
we see of globalization is the threat of the elimination of
our current economic sustenance. If this is the legacy of
globalization, then those of us who have suffered at the
hands of this new order must ask if globalization today is
responsible, if it is good. We continue to believe that it can
be.
(spoke in Spanish)
In the current economic order, small economies such
as ours can aspire to a productive future only if the
architects of this new modality provide us with the
necessary assistance. Developed countries must commit
themselves to a process of globalization that is not only
free, but fair. Just as they request the opening up of our
markets, such institutions and the administrators of
globalization must be more open, democratic and
representative. Thus, just as we work with civil society to
help us to deal with our political and social needs, they
must work together with the international civil agencies so
that the needs of the poorest can be provided for. We will
never achieve the objective of just world if poverty
continues to affect our people. The eradication of poverty is
our moral duty.
(spoke in English)
We agree that true sustainable development cannot
occur without the protection and preservation of our
environment. This must be a path that combines the efforts
of all nations. We in Belize understand that we have a
global responsibility to protect our natural resources. That
is why we are signatories to the Framework Convention on
Climate Change and are in the process of signing the Kyoto
Protocol. However, our efforts can be effective only if
others are equally committed. We encourage our developed
partners to continue to honour the commitments they made
in Rio to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a
timely manner. Currently, over 40 per cent of Belizean land
is under protected status, our precious coral reefs are
closely monitored and our tropical rain forests carefully
managed. Together with local non-governmental
organizations, we are seeking an adequate balance between
the protection of our natural resources and the fulfilment of
the development needs of our people, while agreeing that
our environmental protectionism must work in harmony
with our developmental needs.
Much has been accomplished over the past year. On
social issues, we reaffirmed our commitment to the
development of women during the Beijing + 5 conference.
The Copenhagen + 5 conference addressed the need for
greater social development and, together with our partners
in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Belize actively
participated in the Review Conference of the Parties to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
3

(NPT). Belize continues to push for an end to the shipping
of nuclear waste through the Caribbean Sea.
These successes, however, should not distract us from
the suffering and injustices still being endured by millions
of people. In Africa the situation in Angola, Sierra Leone
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo concerns us.
The spread of the HIV/AIDS virus is alarming; we must do
what is necessary to assist those afflicted.
We are troubled by the situation in Timor. The
recent events, which resulted in the death of United
Nations peacekeeping personnel, were tragic. We also
learned of the death of another United Nations official
in Guinea. We condemn these acts, and join with the
Secretary-General in expressing our condolences to the
families of those who gave their lives for the cause of
peace.
Belize joins others in support of the Middle East
peace process. We continue to support the right of the
Palestinian people to self-determination. Likewise, we
call upon this Organization to recognize the desire of
the 23 million people of the Republic of China on
Taiwan for the opportunity to contribute and participate
in the work of this Organization and other international
bodies.
The Millennium Declaration, adopted by our
heads of State and Government, reminds us of our
responsibility to protect those fundamental values such
as freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for
nature and responsibility. It calls for collective action
to be undertaken by developed and developing nations
to advance the cause of peace, protect our children and
preserve the planet for future generations. These are
goals that can be achieved through greater inclusion
and genuine concern for each other. We must find new
ways of thinking to help us reform these institutions,
which create inequality and therefore divide us. Let us
commit ourselves to reducing redundancy, eliminating
waste and refining our responsiveness to Member
needs, but let us do it quickly.
The United Nations is our truest form of global
representation. It possesses the capacity to elicit the
best from all of us. Together, our ability to accomplish
these ideals set out in the Millennium Declaration is
possible. Let us rededicate ourselves to its fulfilment.


At the outset, I would like to join those who
preceded me in congratulating you on your
appointment as President of this last General Assembly
of the twentieth century. Peru is pleased that a
representative of Finland, a country everyone knows is
committed to the objectives of the Organization, is
steering the work of the fifty-fifth session of the
General Assembly.
I am convinced that, under your leadership we
will achieve the mandates that are necessary to begin to
pursue the vision developed by our Heads of State and
Government at the recent Millennium Summit.
I should also like to welcome and congratulate
Tuvalu for its incorporation into the United Nations.
This will undoubtedly represent an important
contribution to the different spheres of work of the
Organization.
The Millennium Summit has revealed the
enormous challenges that lie ahead and the
overwhelming need to forge a new form of
international order that will allow future generations to
enjoy a world free from the threats of war, poverty,
injustice and environmental deterioration and, at the
same time, one built on freedom with the participation
of each of the great cultures that are part of mankind,
without preference or prejudice.
It is extremely important that when we are about
to conclude not just a century but also a millennium on
31 December, we stop for a moment along the way to
reflect on the future of international relations. Peru is
certainly not a decisive country in the development of
global relations. Nevertheless it would seem that one of
the characteristics that appear at the end of the
twentieth century and that will certainly be emphasized
in the twenty-first century is the basic role that all
countries of the world, whether large or small, have to
play in shaping the international order. And, in this
sense, the perspective of a country, such as Peru that
fully shares Western civilization and yet at the same
has its own characteristics that are the legacy of ancient
times, may be of interest in carrying out the healthy
exercise of approaching the subject from a different
angles.
24

Peru emphatically reiterates that the global order
that must shape the conduct of the different
international actors within the century beginning on l
January, must be based on the essential principles of
the Charter which, contrary to certain beliefs that we
believe to be mistaken, have not only not lost
relevance, but are increasingly important for peaceful
coexistence, collective security and also for a real
possibility for the development of all the specific
groups that form part of the abstract element that we
call mankind.
May I emphasize, in particular, the rights that
refer to the sovereignty of States, to non-intervention in
their domestic affairs and to the legal equality between
States. These basic principles, which were incorporated
in the Charter in San Francisco, have allowed the
development of effective mechanisms of self-control
and the stabilization of the international system.
That is why we must renew our commitment to
these rules of international public law, restoring the
functionality that is theirs. Only thus can we ensure
that the democratic values that prevail in contemporary
society will apply and be enforced within an
international system whose emerging features appear to
seek new forms of exclusion.
The world today is not the same as the world of
50 years ago. Change and globalization are constantly
reshaping reality at a rapid rate and are attempting to
impose upon us a new sense of commonality, new
morals and a new political ethic that dogmatically and
in a partisan manner define what is proper and
improper.
Full respect for the international legal order
therefore acquires enormous significance since it is the
only element that can illuminate the common path,
reducing arbitrariness and subjectivity. This is also the
best way and the most effective mechanism for the full
protection of human rights and human freedom, which
are undoubtedly requirements that no member of the
international community may evade.
But this new reality also imposes on us a need for
commitment to the principle of shared responsibility.
The profound interdependence posed by globalization
also assumes a collective determination by all the
members of the United Nations community to combine
their efforts and resources for the resolution of
problems that have systemic effects or effects of an
international nature. I refer in particular to the
achievement of lasting economic growth within the
developing countries; poverty elimination; confronting
the real threats to peace of an international scope;
public health problems and endemic illnesses that are
mainly linked to poverty; finding sufficient financing
for development; the digital divide; migration and the
free movement of labour; environmental protection and
conservation; the world drug problem, beyond a purely
military perspective; the scourge of terrorism and the
various forms of international crime, including money
laundering, arms trafficking and international
trafficking in people.
It is highly important for Peru that each of these
common problems be tackled within the framework of
the United Nations and that common, coherent and
comprehensive answers be found. We must be capable
of finding effective solutions with sufficient political
and financial support. In this context, let me express
our particular satisfaction over the commitments made
by the heads of State and Government to focus the
international community's attention in the coming
years on poverty reduction, so that by the year 2015
nearly 600 million people will have overcome their
state of chronic poverty.
Similarly, I wish to emphasize the imaginative
and constructive proposal presented by the President of
Peru, Mr. Alberto Fujimori, at the Millennium Summit,
to use the money illegally earned by captured drug
traffickers to alleviate the foreign debt of the poorest
countries and, in general, to utilize those funds to
contribute to the fight against poverty in the world.
There are undoubtedly many and very difficult
challenges that we must face during the next century.
This is the time of wealth and technological
development, but also the time of struggle against
poverty. This is the time of globalization, but also the
time of the respectful recognition of cultural diversity,
which is an asset as important as, or more important
than, biological diversity. This is the time of the
greatest use of natural resources by man, but also the
time of environmental conservation. This is the time of
the universal spread of democracy, but also the time of
democratic respect for the different ways in which
democracy is lived.
Mankind has reached some basic consensuses at
this stage of its development. All the peoples of the
world share certain values and certain goals, such as
freedom, democracy, equality before the law, respect
25

for human rights, the need to eliminate poverty, the
development of creativity and the need for man to
always surpass itself. This has been the contribution of
modernity, the contribution of the latest centuries
consolidated in the twentieth century. But it is also true
that humanity is not made up, fortunately, of a single
culture. It is also true that these values should find
concrete forms of their realization through different
mentalities, in different latitudes, at different periods in
the history of each people. That is why post-modernity,
that world of the next century, must know how to
conserve and deepen the values that are the legacy of
modernity and carry forward its goals as much as
possible. But it must also acknowledge diversity; it
must know how to resolve dynamically the dilemma
between unity and multiplicity.
Perhaps the most complex of all these challenges,
the most difficult of all the coincidentiae oppositorum
that the twenty-first century will demand is to build an
international system based on a genuine democracy.
And by this I mean a democracy that does not consist
of imposing a political form in the image of and similar
to a specific system that is promoted as a model, a
democracy that is not built on the basis of a mere
check-list of institutions that have been taken from a
specific democratic experience and turned into
mandatory universal guidelines. Democracy is the
practice of diversity and tolerance. It is a recognition
that with regard to each subject, including the idea of
democracy itself, there can be different interpretations,
and none of them is entitled to ban the others. The task
that awaits us, then, during the next century is to
spread and promote democracy but, above all, to
further examine its own meaning to avoid
contradictions which would lead to its destruction.
How can we spread democracy without
endangering democracy itself? On the other hand, how
do we save diversity and particularity without ending
up with outdated nationalism? These are the major
problems of our time. They are the major dilemmas
that will have to be resolved in the twenty-first century.
Any idea of a crusade, even in the name of
democracy, is undemocratic, because it is intolerant.
And I would almost dare to say that any principle of
social organization that seeks to impose itself
universally has an undemocratic base. Thus,
paradoxically, the missionary enthusiasm for
democracy ends up affecting the nature of democracy
itself.
Democracy, in fact, implies a delicate and fragile
balance between the universal and the singular.
Singularity should not be sacrificed on the deified altar
of universality. Singularity should not be dissolved
within a claimed universality, and the singular should
even less be confused with the universal, assigning an
absolute value to what is no more than the historic
expression of a culture and of a time.
The attempts to apply on an international scale
domestic policies and local interpretations of values
have always failed. In the second half of the twentieth
century, we witnessed the spectacular collapse of
Soviet communism, which claimed to be the political
doctrine of the future, with which, following Hegel, we
would see the end of politics and therefore of history
and enter into a sort of rebuilt earthly paradise. The
claimed communist universality saw the birth within
itself of particularities and differences. Afterwards it
had to face other doctrines and world visions that were
alien to its principles and values; and contrary to what
communism expected, those different perspectives did
not vanish when faced with the presumed Marxist
truth. Rather, they won the ideological battle and made
communism and Soviet Russia disappear. I am
convinced that the same will happen with any doctrine,
whatever its perspective and the values that support it,
that claims to lead the world to the end of history.
This forces us to rethink certain ideas that are too
hastily — and, to my mind, inconsistently — becoming
commonplace. There is a certain scorn towards the idea
of sovereignty and towards the idea of the cultural
identity of peoples, under the pretext of building a
universal society. Nevertheless, I believe that, even
though they will need to be transformed and adapted to
a new globalizing outlook, those ideas will continue to
prevail in the world of the future if we favour a
genuinely democratic way of thinking, in which
freedom can also exist under cultural and ideological
differences.
There is no doubt that there is a crisis in the
nation-State, because the seemingly essential
identification between the State as the political and
juridical organization of society and the nation as a
cultural organization is false: multinational States do
exist. The solution in these cases of disparity between
the political and cultural organization is not to abandon
the concept of State and sovereignty, letting them be
absorbed within one of the supranational, globalizing
constructs; rather, it lies in achieving within the State
26

an acknowledgement and complex integration of
multiculturality. It is necessary to articulate diversity at
both the State and international levels instead of
imposing some sort of homogeneity that will always
feel like a strait-jacket.
The new international order cannot be built by a
single nation, culture or ideology, but by the interaction
of the different attitudes that make up humanity. From
a genuinely democratic and liberal point of view, we
must avoid the temptation of the new dogmatism,
perversely subtle and with a powerful imperialist
vocation: the myth of “political correctness”.
In this regard, building a new international order
for the twenty-first century does not mean solving a
mathematical equation or scientifically designing a
model to be applied generically to all the countries of
the world in a vain attempt to create a universal
international society. Reality sweeps away all
abstractions with the wealth of its multiple points of
view. Moreover, reality is always dynamic and
effervescent. It is always in a permanent state of
transformation, thanks to freedom, the defining
element of the human being.
Therefore, politics, whether domestic or
international, is an art, not a science. A domestic or
international order must be the result of a complex
interaction between different, and even opposing,
elements, just like a work of art. Creating the work of
art that will be the new international order implies not
destroying what is counter to it, but, rather, combining
it; combining unity with diversity and freedom with
order. To put it in Nietzschean terms, we have to unite
the Apollonian with the Dionysian. To build a purely
Apollonian society is to fall into a new form of
dogmatism and cultural dictatorship, even though,
paradoxically, the intention is to establish democracy.
Building a purely Dionysian society means slipping
into chaos and therefore destroying the social contract.
The society of the future must be capable of
living with diversity and expressing different points of
view, world visions and interpretations of democracy
itself in order to establish an organization of
humankind that creates not a single and homogenous
international society, but an embodiment of the wealth
of social and cultural diversity in search of peaceful
coexistence and reciprocal cooperation without burdens
or conditions.


I would like to say,
Mr. President, that I take special pleasure in seeing you
preside over this Millennium Assembly session. I wish
to assure you of my delegation's full support in all your
endeavours. As one of the Vice-Presidents of the past
session, I want to convey my special appreciation to
my colleague and your predecessor, the Foreign
Minister of Namibia, Theo-Ben Gurirab. I would also
like to extend my gratitude to the Secretary-General for
presenting his report “We the Peoples” to the world
community.
Allow me also to convey my delegation's warm
welcome to Tuvalu as a new member of the United
Nations.
It is both remarkable and profoundly logical that
in the beginning of the new millennium high
representatives of almost 200 nations have gathered for
one sole purpose — to comprehend challenges of the
contemporary world. The fact that we all have gathered
here, representing all regions of the world, cultures and
religions, means that we all share the belief in the
value, viability and potential of the United Nations.
Heads of State and Government, during the course of
the Millennium Summit, have guided us towards
strengthening the United Nations, including its central
role in peacekeeping and poverty eradication. Our task
now is to act upon their guidance.
Globalization, the digital revolution and the
triumph of free trade have transformed the world into a
vibrant world economy. Interdependence within the
world economy emphasizes collective problems and
solutions. Thus, the United Nations, the Bretton Woods
institutions, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
many other international organizations are
indispensable mechanisms in achieving stable peace, in
assisting in shaping the course of development, and in
ensuring that the world economy provides benefits for
all.
Never has the world been so well off. Yet, never
has it been confronted with so many problems on the
global scale. The nature of threats has entirely changed.
The phenomena are so complex that they defy easy
generalization. These phenomena comprise extreme
poverty and marginalization of entire communities;
gross violations of human rights; ethnic conflicts and
genocide; arms proliferation; terrorism; and
environmental degradation.
No effort should be spared to free people from
dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty. The goals
adopted at the Millennium Summit are challenging.
Assistance, new trade arrangements, and debt relief
9

will hardly constitute a panacea, unless necessary and
strong commitments to poverty reduction, economic
equality, combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic and
supporting education are reflected, first and foremost,
in national policies of individual States, and
concurrently on the agendas of international
organizations. Good health, literacy, and education are
critical assets for economic development. Human
capital, combined with a high level of economic
equality, good governance, and abiding by the rule of
law can really make a difference. This is the course we
strongly uphold if we aim at reducing by half the level
of extreme poverty by 2015 and achieving sustainable
development.
The realities are that most of the economic
thinking and ruling is being done within the Bretton
Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization or
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OSCE), and a fully coordinated
approach to the problems of peace and development
should be sought between these organizations and
institutions and the United Nations.
We have yet to learn how to manage the spin-offs
of globalization and how best to make use of
international mechanisms to address new forms of
threats. Better yet, prevention is preferable to cure. For
really effective prevention, a broader definition of
security is vital and must encompass pressing
economic and social problems. The root causes of
conflicts should be addressed as a fundamental part of
efforts to establish secure peace and stability.
Should preventative strategies yield no results,
the United Nations must have a truly effective
peacekeeping capacity at its disposal. Lithuania will
support every effort to fix structural deficiencies within
the United Nations and adequately to staff and finance
relevant departments. Provided the determination,
resources, capacity and willingness are available, I
believe, humanitarian catastrophes and crises can be
averted. Proposals to improve the United Nations
peacekeeping capacity and performance, especially
those contained in the Brahimi report, have been
widely endorsed by our leaders. Now we have to work
on it with a view to shifting the historically prevailing
conception of peacekeeping as an ad hoc job to one of
the core functions of the United Nations.
Great challenges to the new international way of
containing and resolving ethnic conflicts await in
Africa. A prospective strategy could be to encourage
and assist regional organizations, especially the
Organization of African Unity and the Economic
Community of West African States; involve civil
society and the business community; and, most notably,
enhance the United Nations, especially the Security
Council's capacity to act well in advance, before a
crisis gets out of hand. Pledges to contribute to a safer
world add up to nothing if mounting demands for
adequately trained and equipped peacekeepers and
civilian policemen, judges and administrators fall on
deaf ears. East Timorese, Kosovars and Sierra
Leoneans are pinning their hopes on us. Failure to
respond to them would mean in the end that we do no
more than celebrate our own individual security.
Lithuania has always been and remains
committed to building collective security. On the
international level, Lithuania emphasizes active
participation in international organizations and its
substantial contribution to peacekeeping efforts, such
as its participation in the United Nations standby
arrangements system or, from the very beginning of the
international engagement in the Balkans, making our
civilian policemen and military available to the
missions in Bosnia and Kosovo. Moreover, additional
commitments will promptly follow as more highly
trained policemen and troops become available. In this
regard, I wish to voice our strong desire to place a
Lithuanian part of the joint Lithuanian-Polish
peacekeeping battalion under the United Nations
standby arrangements with a view to joining the Stand-
by Forces High-Readiness Brigade.
On the regional level, we have made membership
in alliances of democratic nations — the European
Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization —
our top priority. We regard the OSCE principles,
including a country's right to choose its own security
arrangements, to be of fundamental value to ensuring
peace and security. We believe that, by taking this way,
we will meet our economic, cultural, social and other
concerns and enhance European security as a whole.
On the subregional level, we stress practical
cooperative efforts to uphold democratic and economic
transformation throughout the region. Over the past
decade, our engagement with Poland has turned into a
close partnership that has already produced remarkable
results. Good bilateral relations with the neighbouring
states of Latvia and Estonia have grown into a dynamic
trilateral Baltic cooperation, which has expanded into a
10

broader Baltic-Nordic cooperation. We also seek to
further develop mutually beneficial good-neighbourly
relations with Russia. Joint Lithuanian-Russian
projects on cooperation with the Kaliningrad region are
a good example of our pursuit of a foreign policy of
friendly relations, which also fully coincides with the
European Union's Northern Dimension policies
endorsed at the Feira European Union summit this
June.

Cooperation requires wisdom and patience. Yet,
all too often, guns have been a choice of cure for ethnic
strife and social or economic collapse. Vigorous and
urgent efforts are needed to curtail the proliferation of
small arms. We deem it vital for the 2001 United
Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms
and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects to address critical
issues in the field of transparency, legitimate transfers,
accountability, enforcement of sanctions and
observance of moratoriums. A commitment to the
elimination of landmines should now be coupled with
an effort towards putting small arms off limits to
belligerent causes.
Against the background of gains in disarmament,
a number of setbacks have made the picture less
encouraging. We share the profound concerns aroused
by the abundance of weapons of mass destruction and
the proliferation of missiles. I fail to see any way to
create a safer world other than reducing, eliminating
and outlawing weapons of mass destruction. In the
wake of the successful outcome of the 2000 Review
Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT),
Lithuania will work with other committed nations to
achieve unequivocal commitment to nuclear
disarmament.
Certain fundamental values are essential to
international relations. Such are human responsibility
and human rights. At the Millennium Summit,
President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus spoke about
his belief that
“in the face of a globalized tomorrow, the United
Nations will increase the scope of its human-
dimension activities. Human rights should
become a cornerstone of the emerging world
structure”. (A/55/PV.5)
The concept of the human dimension must be at the
centre of all United Nations activities.
If we are to address the root causes of conflict,
we have to admit that respect for human rights, the
protection of minority rights and the institution of
political arrangements in which all groups are
represented are vital. For my region, of particular
interest is determining how the international
community can promote the rights of people coping
with the post-communist transition.
The limits of human rights applicability are being
constantly questioned. The United Nations should
move ahead in the search for new and more effective
instruments to fend off the challengers of human rights.
Persons responsible for genocide, crimes against
humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression should
be brought to justice. If that is the goal which the
international community is after, an effective
International Criminal Court should start working as
soon as possible. For its part, Lithuania will make good
on its commitment to ratify the Rome Statute by the
end of this year.
Based on the experience of my own country, I
wish to stress that increasing the equality of social,
economic, educational and political benefits across
gender has a positive impact on economic
development. These issues have been at the forefront of
the agendas of all Lithuanian Governments since
regaining independence, which have worked actively to
help solve the question of equal rights and other
problems which women face. One of our achievements
is the adoption of the Law on Equal Opportunities,
which is the first law of this kind in Central and
Eastern Europe. Being a signatory State to the Second
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, I call
for its early entry into force.
The attainment of freedom, security and welfare
for people is feasible only by embracing the effects of
globalization and not defying them. We have a global
instrument readily available for that purpose, yet we
keep arriving at the same conclusion: we need a United
Nations with greater capacity and better performance.
A number of measures have been carried out. The
outstanding efforts of the Secretary-General cannot be
overestimated. Lithuania supports the Secretary-
General's greater emphasis on the United Nations as a
results-based Organization. We also endorse the stress

on better management, mobilization of new resources
and new forms of partnership. The Security Council
should play its part in this regard. The lessons drawn
from the Secretary-General's reports on Srebrenica and
Rwanda have to be paid more than lip service.
Within the complex of measured designs for
revitalizing the United Nations, our efforts to reform
the Security Council occupy a prominent place. The
Security Council would only win if it acquired a new
power and authority base. I would like to reiterate
Lithuania's position that the Security Council should
be increased, both in permanent and non-permanent
membership categories, and that the Eastern European
Group should be given one additional non-permanent
membership seat. In turn, even with a revitalized
Council, cooperation with regional organizations
should be strengthened.
The reforms, no matter how far-flung, may only
remain a partial success as long as the United Nations
is not given necessary resources. The Organization
needs a sound and predictable financial footing.
Therefore, Lithuania strongly supports a
comprehensive review of both the regular-budget scale
and the scale of assessment for peacekeeping
operations. In the latter case, an ad hoc arrangement of
1973 has lost its touch with present day economic
realities. We need to adjust the United Nations
peacekeeping scale of assessment methodology to
better reflect the current economic conditions of all
Member States. I hope that the revision will enjoy
support by all countries of the United Nations and will
be carried out in an expeditious manner.
The United Nations symbolizes and guards the
humankind hope for a better future. Let's make it
happen!


Let me take this
opportunity to congratulate you, Sir, and your country,
Finland, on your election as President of the General
Assembly at its fifty-fifth session. I would also like to
thank His Excellency Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab of
Namibia for his work as President of the General
16

Assembly at its fifty-fourth session, and to commend
him for the guidance he provided throughout the year.
I would also like to commend the Secretary-
General, Kofi Annan, for his inspiring contribution to
the noble goals of peace, justice, development and the
strengthening of our Organization.
Last week, world leaders gathered here to direct
the Organization for the next century. The golden
thread of the Millennium Summit was concern for the
well-being of all human beings and the common
determination to free each and every nation and each
and every human being from want and fear, to sustain
the future of humanity and to renew the United Nations
accordingly. The common goal of all the discussions
was to provide for human security in all its complexity
and to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality,
equity, solidarity and tolerance at a global level.
The United Nations has the obligation to protect
the civilian population, particularly the most
vulnerable  children, women, the elderly and the
disabled  against gross and systematic violations of
human rights and humanitarian law, whether in inter-
State or intra-State conflicts. The strengthening of
international law is an important element in achieving
this goal. Special attention should be given to
exploring new methods of conflict prevention, as well
as to making better use of those that have proved to
have had good results. We should all be engaged more
decisively in building a culture of prevention and
modernizing and equipping the United Nations for the
task.
It is also imperative for the United Nations to
elaborate a doctrine for humanitarian intervention
based on a modern interpretation of the Charter and in
line with new international relations and norms. We
listened with interest to the statements made by the
Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Canada in this Hall on the establishment of an
independent international commission on intervention
and State sovereignty.
There is nothing in the Charter that could
possibly justify crimes against the civilian population.
Neither is there anything in the Charter that could
possibly justify the fact that large parts of the world are
still living in poverty or that some States are stagnating
due to the debt burden, while the rest of the world is
enjoying a state of well-being. Technological and
economic development does bring the world together,
but globalization also brings problems closer and
increases the mutual responsibility for finding
solutions to them.
At the Millennium Summit, we adopted a
comprehensive and far-reaching Declaration. Leaders
put before us difficult but achievable goals. Member
States should now look carefully into how they can
contribute nationally to the implementation of the goals
at the global level. As a responsible Member of the
Organization, Slovenia intends to prepare its plan of
action for the implementation of the goals set out in the
Millennium Declaration. I want to take this opportunity
today to mention some of the efforts that we intend to
make.
As a country that has just joined the donor
community, Slovenia will look closely at how it can
organize better in order to extend more assistance to
the developing countries and the countries in the
region, thus contributing to the goals regarding
development and poverty eradication.
We have just signed the Optional Protocols to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, while the
National Assembly is supposed to ratify the Statute of
the International Criminal Court by the end of the year.
Both documents are among the most important building
blocks for ensuring greater protection for civilians in
conflict situations. We are looking forward to the early
functioning of the International Criminal Court in order
to ensure the more effective, equitable and efficient
delivery of international justice.
Slovenia is determined to help in the process of
strengthening the Organization as an indispensable
foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and just world.
Once again, we want to stress the need for the
enlargement of the Security Council in its permanent
and elected membership, as well as with regard to the
reform of its working methods. The credibility of the
United Nations depends on its ability to carry out its
responsibilities in full, especially with regard to
maintaining peace and security. We therefore welcome
and commend the report of the Panel on United
Nations Peace Operations and we are looking forward
to the early implementation of its recommendations.
In this context, we believe that the reform of the
financing of United Nations peacekeeping operations is
a necessary condition for a renewed role for the United
Nations in this field. A new scale of assessments that
more accurately reflects the capacity to pay should be
17

adopted during this session. I have the honour to
announce that the Government of Slovenia has decided
to voluntarily relinquish the discount it is no longer
entitled to with regard to its financial contribution, and
that, starting from next year, it is ready to pay its share
for peacekeeping operations in full.
Slovenia is also gradually increasing its
participation in peacekeeping operations  those of
the United Nations, as well as regional ones. We are
committed to further increasing our support to these
operations, not only with military personnel, but also
with civilian police and humanitarian personnel.
The basic aim of United Nations actions should
be to ensure human security, with security being
physical, economic and social, rather than legal. We
note with satisfaction that the interests of individuals
are, indeed, rightly at the very centre of the Millennium
Declaration. Slovenia will continue to participate in the
group of like-minded countries, which is determined to
give full meaning and specific, practical expression to
the concept of human security.
The problem of the illicit arms flow of small arms
and light weapons is such that it requires additional
efforts. We hope that the forthcoming international
conference on small arms and light weapons will pave
the way for regulating and controlling the proliferation
of unimpeded access to small arms and light
weapons  the weapons most used in today's armed
conflicts.
Member States should also continue to improve
the efficiency and effectiveness of mine action
programmes, as well as to strengthen all steps and
activities in mine action and mine victim assistance.
For its part, Slovenia will continue to support the
efforts of its International Trust Fund for Demining and
Mine Victim Assistance to extend its activities to the
whole region of South-East Europe. The results
achieved in recent years are promising for the activities
of the Trust Fund in the future.
I would also like to briefly address the situation
in the region of South-East Europe. We are all aware
that there will be no self-sustaining peace and stability
in the region without the full cooperation and
integration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For
obvious reasons, this cannot be expected of the current
regime in Belgrade. The international community must
cooperate with, support and encourage the forces
within the country that are striving for democracy,
peace, reconciliation, economic recovery and a return
to simple normalcy. We share the hopes of seeing the
new democratic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia soon
as a part of a stable and prosperous South-East Europe.
We also share the hopes that this country will soon join
us in the United Nations, as well as in the other
international and regional organizations, in accordance
with the usual procedures and practices for admission
of new members to these organizations.


First
of all, Mr. President, permit me to congratulate you on
your election to preside over the Assembly's fifty-fifth
session, the first of the new millennium. I wish you
every success in your presidency, and promise you
Chile's full cooperation as you carry out your
important duties. I would like to express our
admiration and affection for the country you represent,
Finland. My appreciation also goes to the praiseworthy
efforts of Foreign Minister Gurirab of Namibia during
the work of the session that has just come to an end.
Likewise, we congratulate the Secretary-General on the
leadership he has demonstrated since taking office. We
recognize and value his commitment to the vision of a
new United Nations for the twenty-first century. We
encourage him to continue his efforts to reform the
Organization.
Globalization is without a doubt the name of our
era. Today it is pointless to ask ourselves whether we
want to participate in globalization. Isolation is not a
realistic option. Chile views globalization as an
unquestionable reality and as a font of opportunity that
has brought us very valuable benefits. The opening of
our economy has enabled us to double the size of our
gross domestic product within 10 years, compared with
the almost 50 years it took to accomplish the previous
doubling. Technological advances have helped to bring
us closer to major world centres.
Globalization gives rise to opportunities, but it
can also deepen the inequities which have always
characterized the international system. The United
Nations can help to ensure that globalization does not
result in exclusion, with the benefits of modernization
limited to a lucky few. We must make a firm
commitment to developing a new form of international
cooperation, focused in particular on broadening access
to the knowledge-based economy.
The flows of goods, services, capital, information
and technology characteristic of globalization tend to
bypass domestic regulations and escape the control of
Governments. This lack of regulation is generally not
counterbalanced by other standards or authorities. It is
up to us to fill this vacuum by using all available
multilateral forums.
As never before in the history of humanity,
resolving the daily problems faced by people
worldwide depends on collective international
decision-making. The challenge confronting the United
Nations today is to lend a certain degree of order to
globalization; to establish effective institutions and
rules, so that globalization will serve to advance the
development of our peoples; and to ensure that the
fruits of scientific and technological advances benefit
all peoples.
At the Rio Group's most recent Summit of Heads
of State or Government, held in Cartagena, Colombia,
the countries that make up this regional political
coordination body prepared a joint contribution to the
Millennium Summit, reaffirming the central role of the
United Nations in this new era on which we are
embarking.
The past year has given rise to a mixture of hope
and concern with regard to peace and security. Chile
followed with particular interest the historic talks held
between the leaders of North and South Korea, from 13
15

to 15 June of this year. We congratulate the leaders and
the peoples of both countries on the progress made at
this groundbreaking summit.
The conflict in the Middle East has entered what
seems to be a decisive stage. We are heartened by the
advances made this year and encourage the parties to
continue their negotiations in accordance with the
established timetables and relevant Security Council
resolutions. We are confident that Israel and the
Palestinian National Authority will find satisfactory
solutions to the remaining issues, particularly those
related to Jerusalem. We are also encouraged by
Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
We support the Security Council's decisions
establishing a massive humanitarian programme for
Iraq  under the 'oil-for-food' formula, and we favour
an ongoing evaluation of that programme. We urge the
Iraqi Government to cooperate effectively with the new
inspection agency  the United Nations Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission  whose
work we deem particularly important.
We have followed closely developments in the
Balkans. The seeds of intolerance and 'ethnic
cleansing' are still present in the region. Chile views
with fear the possibility of a new Balkan conflict. Only
full respect for democracy and human rights can bring
about peace in the region.
We are concerned by the conflicts in Africa. We
are hopeful as to the significant mediating role played
by regional entities such as the Organization for
African Unity, especially in the Ethiopia-Eritrea
dispute, and the Southern African Development
Community. We hope that these efforts, along with
those of the United Nations, can bring about peace,
allowing the continent to fully develop its enormous
potential.
We are pleased to note that the Security Council
has directly addressed the scourge of HIV/AIDS in
Africa, designating it as an international security issue
requiring urgent action. We hope that initiatives will be
adopted to effectively combat this problem, which casts
an even greater shadow over the future of the continent
than the current armed conflicts.
We view with concern the difficulties surrounding
the upcoming referendum in the Western Sahara. Chile
would like to see the elections take place as soon as
possible, on the basis of a free and secret ballot and
adequate voter information. We are concerned about
the obstacles that are hindering this undertaking.
Although post-cold-war hopes for a world free of
nuclear weapons in the near future have been tempered,
that goal remains fully valid. I have the honour to
report than on 12 July, Chile deposited its instrument of
ratification for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty  the sixteenth country to do so. We call upon
all nations to ratify this Treaty as soon as possible in
order to reach the quorum of 44 countries necessary for
its entry into force.
In our information-based society, the problems
experienced by any one country affect the world
community as a whole. No state can shirk its the
responsibility to promote peaceful coexistence within
and among nations. From the ethical standpoint of our
common humanity, we have viewed with interest the
development of the concept of humanitarian
intervention. Chile continues to abide by the principles
of non-intervention and the self-determination of
peoples. But these principles must be linked to other
principles of equal or higher priority, which have
emerged prominently since the end of the cold war. We
cannot remain impassive in the face of the
humanitarian catastrophes caused by great conflicts.
Thus, we propose that in specific cases, and in
accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,
concerted multilateral action be taken to provide rapid
assistance to those who are suffering. Chile is also an
enthusiastic participant in the Human Security
Network, in response to an initiative put forward by
Canada and Norway.
Chile considers it an ethical and political
imperative of the greatest urgency to expand its
participation in the United Nations peacekeeping
forces. Since 1999, we have developed an internal legal
framework that is in closer harmony with international
requirements for participation in these operations.
Those legal modifications have enabled us to
participate in the United Nations Transitional
Administration in East Timor, beginning in February of
this year.
My country is also willing to discuss a new
payment scale for the financing of United Nations
peacekeeping operations. We believe that this scale
must be adjusted to reflect the current financial
situation of Member States.
16

We cannot fail to mention the process of Security
Council reform. While some progress has been noted in
discussions of the Council's methods of work and of
the degree of transparency required by this body, we
note that there have been few, if any, advances toward
the expansion of its membership.
Chile feels a certain dismay and fatigue at the
lack of progress, which is the result of positions that
appear irreconcilable. The issue of the veto further
complicates this sensitive subject. Until we seriously
address the question of limiting the veto with a view to
its ultimate abolishment, we doubt that the discussions
undertaken by the Assembly's Open-ended Working
Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on
and Increase in the Membership of the Security
Council and Other Matters related to the Security
Council will bear fruit.
Globalization is not limited to the economic
sphere. It also involves the universalization of values
and principles of our common humanity, and the
strengthening of the rights of the individual, which
have increasingly become subjects addressed by
international law. The absence of democracy and good
governance, and the people's lack of a voice and
participation in public affairs in States Members of the
Organization are of concern to us all. The United
Nations exists for individuals, not for those who
govern. Under the imperative of putting people at the
centre of all our efforts, we must support and promote
human rights and democratic processes.
Chile was among the countries that worked to
convene the Towards a Community of Democracies
conference held at Warsaw, Poland, last June. More
than 100 United Nations Member nations participated
in that gathering and endorsed its final declaration. We
are convinced that, as time passes, the community of
democracies will be an increasingly potent moral force
within the United Nations, provided that it maintains
its high standards and requirements.
Democracy is based on justice, both national and
universal. Chile enthusiastically supports the
establishment of an International Criminal Court, and
hopes that all countries will ratify its statute.
Establishing a permanent body to exercise criminal
jurisdiction over those accused of crimes that fall
within its purview will discourage the irregular
domestic proceedings which have allowed such
individuals to enjoy impunity, as well as limiting
jurisdictional disputes among countries.
At the World Summit for Social Development,
held at Copenhagen in 1995, heads of State or
Government met for the first time in the history of the
United Nations to declare with force and clarity that
the chief responsibility of our societies is to improve
the quality of life of our populations, particularly for
their most marginalized and dispossessed members.
This year, in a special session, the Assembly reviewed
the progress made towards fulfilling the Summit's
commitments and launched new initiatives on their
genuine implementation. That was an important step in
the quest to better humanize the process of
globalization. We must continue to incorporate the
objectives of the social Summit into our national and
multilateral policies.
In the social sphere, the United Nations has
recognized the vital need to promote gender equality.
Chile has worked together with our regional
neighbours in Latin America and the Caribbean to
reaffirm the principles and proposals of the Fourth
World Conference on Women. We have renewed our
commitment to the advancement of women, and have
developed a new plan to equalize opportunities for men
and for women. A concrete demonstration of that
commitment is the fact that about one third of
President Lagos Escobar's cabinet members are
women.
We reiterate Chile's strong support for
preparations for the General Assembly's 2001 special
session to follow up the World Summit for Children.
We also attribute special significance to the concern of
the United Nations for the rights and welfare of
indigenous populations and of the elderly.
Chile has volunteered to host the regional
preparatory meeting for the World Conference against
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance. We aim to contribute to the
regional consensus in that area, confirming our very
firm commitment to tolerance and respect for diversity.
Environmental protection is an issue that crosses
national borders and has become a global concern,
driven in part by an emerging international civil
society. Here, international cooperation, under the
auspices of the United Nations, continues to be an
urgent necessity. The United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro,
17

laid the foundations for agreements on climate change,
forest conservation and biodiversity. It is very
important that we fulfil and gradually expand those
commitments with new agreements and protocols
ensuring the management, protection and conservation
of our planet's resources. This session, as well as the
Rio + 10 event which will take place in 2002, must
continue to spur commitment to a new ethic of
environmental conservation.
We are witnessing the globalization of financial
markets, which significantly affect capital, currency
and credit flows, as well as the economies of all of
nations. As recent experience demonstrates, a financial
crisis in one corner of the world can rapidly trigger a
domino effect, spreading the crisis even to faraway
nations with no responsibility for or control over the
causes of the original disturbance. It is a great injustice
that countries that have been prudent and responsible in
the management of their domestic economies can be
affected by problems with which they had nothing to
do. It is urgent for us to find ways to impose order and
standards of good management on the international
world. This does not mean obstructing international
capital flows, but rather establishing an appropriate
international framework to address the problems they
may cause.
Chile has enthusiastically supported the
international community's progress towards free trade
through deregulation and the elimination of
protectionist measures and barriers. The failure of the
1999 Seattle World Trade Organization (WTO)
conference was unfortunate. But let us be frank: that
failure was not brought about by civil-society
demonstrations, but by the lack of agreement among
the world's leading commercial Powers. Chile
continues to believe in the urgent necessity of initiating
a new round of multilateral trade negotiations.
The United Nations must play a key role in
bringing about substantive improvements in the
management of commercial, monetary and financial
systems, so that their operations will take into account
the needs of all countries. The Economic and Social
Council has done commendable work to coordinate
United Nations activities with those of the Bretton
Woods institutions. But the General Assembly too has
a critical role to play in this area.
The decision to hold a High-level International
and Intergovernmental Event on Financing for
Development in 2001 was of groundbreaking
significance, and we must resolve to carry forward the
commitments expressed at the Millennium Summit to
ensure the success of that event. That would lead to a
new phase in North-South relations, since the political
legitimacy arising from a broad multilateral consensus
will allow us to design a new financial architecture and
a system of international trade and exchange that
reflect the legitimate interests of all the world's
peoples.
My country believes that official development
assistance is still necessary to promote the
development of many countries and regions. A
globalized world cannot neglect the principle of
solidarity, which is an idea so central to the United
Nations tradition. In the same spirit, international
assistance must be provided to relieve the distressing
conditions of many countries burdened with
unsustainable debt, so that they can meet the
challenges of development.
This year Chile began a new six-year political
term, under fully democratic conditions. Our country is
in complete harmony with the international community.
We possess a vibrant civil society, which made its own
contributions to our preparation for the Millennium
Summit. Human rights and the rule of law are
respected in Chile. Our courts impart justice with
rigour and a sense of responsibility. We enjoy a
vigorous and open economy, and we have resolved to
continue reducing inequalities in our country. We reach
out to the world from a firm foundation in our own
region, Latin America. We are strengthening our
multilateral policies, based on open regionalism and on
cooperation with countries with similar criteria
throughout the world.
We are confident that this General Assembly
session, dedicated to the millennium, will be recorded
as the one in which we began to address the great
challenge of our time: to give order to the forces of
globalization and promote the extension of its benefits
to an ever-increasing number of the inhabitants of our
planet. You can rest assured, Mr. President, that Chile's
delegation will lend its full support to meeting this
challenge.


First of all I
would like to warmly congratulate you, Sir, on your
election as President of the fifty-fifth session of the
General Assembly, and wish you every success with
your work. I would like to thank Foreign Minister
Gurirab for his dedication in chairing the fifty-fourth
session of the General Assembly. I welcome Tuvalu as
the one hundred and eighty-ninth member of the United
Nations and congratulate it on its accession. I endorse
the statement of my French colleague, Hubert VÈdrine,
on behalf of the European Union.
At this session of the General Assembly, the first
in the new millennium, we are asked to determine the
future tasks of the United Nations and which reforms
are necessary in order to master them. The Millennium
Declaration, which we all adopted on 8 September,
shows us the way forward. The implementation of this
Declaration should be a main focus of the consultations
of this and future sessions of the General Assembly. I
propose that the Secretary-General make use of the
opportunity to draw up review reports at the beginning
of the next session of the General Assembly.
There was one issue in particular which
dominated this debate, namely globalization. It will
radically change the economy and finances, politics
and culture everywhere. The question is, will a new
order which guarantees peace, justice and an equal
share in our common progress be established or will a
new divide evolve in the world? Will the future of the
globalized world manifest its pluralist character in a
multilateral order? Only the future can provide the
answers to these questions.
Particularly for developing countries,
globalization offers great opportunities. If it
nevertheless provokes strong opposition, this lies in the
imbalances of this historical process. Indeed, just under
a decade after the end of the cold war, our world is
today at risk from a new divide, one between the
winners and losers of the economic globalization
process. In his impressive Millennium Report, the
Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, rightly highlights
the growing inequalities in the distribution of income,
resources, investments and access to new technologies.
In view of this situation, the international
community must make every effort in the coming
decade to ensure that globalization benefits all peoples.
If market forces are not balanced by a political
corrective mechanism, it is to be expected that injustice
in the world will increase further. Those who have been
hitherto excluded from the advantages of globalization
must be included to a greater extent. They must be
given more say in the political decisions made about
steering global processes and they must be given an
opportunity to gain a fairer share in the development of
the world economy.
In the twenty-first century, we will, more than
ever before, need a form of global governance if we are
to solve global challenges. The United Nations will
play a key role here. It is the only organization within
which the injustice between rich and poor can be
overcome and where a reconciliation between peoples
and regions, global peace and sustainable development
can be achieved.
Greatly strengthening the United Nations capacity
to act is, therefore, a crucial question for the whole of
15

humanity in the twenty-first century. In addition to the
crucial reform of the Security Council, this will entail
the United Nations entering into creative partnerships
with industry and civil society.
Germany strongly supports the Secretary-
General's idea for a global compact with major
companies. The German initiative for a resolution in
the General Assembly on global partnerships will take
up this and other issues relating to the globalization
process.
Global poverty is the key problem in North-South
relations. It lies at the root of many global risks and
threats to peace. The Secretary-General provided
precise and stimulating analyses of this in his report.
The industrialized nations have a special
obligation to support the poorest of the poor. With the
Cologne debt initiative launched by Germany, we are
combining debt relief with a strategy to combat
poverty. The 20 poorest developing countries should be
debt-free by the end of the year.
The least developed countries should be granted
access to world markets with the greatest possible
exemption from duties and quotas. We must, also by
way of liberalization steps in the World Trade
Organization, prevent these countries from being
socially excluded even further.
This applies in particular to the new economy.
The United Nations and its Member States must
intensify their efforts to make it easier for these
countries to use the information and communication
technologies. This is contingent upon initiatives in the
field of education, as well as the availability of the
necessary resources.
However, how can poor countries ever catch up
economically if they are, at the same time, afflicted to a
much greater degree than the North by terrible
diseases? The fight against the disastrous spread of the
AIDS virus, particularly in Africa, must be priority for
us all. The focus must be on prevention. At the same
time, access to medicines must be improved and
vaccine research must be intensified. The World Bank's
promising idea of establishing a future fund for the
purchase of vaccines deserves every support.
Particularly in the fight against AIDS, new partnerships
between Governments and companies are crucial.
The second major issue of this General Assembly
is peacekeeping. The Secretary-General showed the
way ahead with the Brahimi report. The
recommendations it contains should be examined and
implemented as quickly as possible. Germany will play
its part. Peace missions need a more robust mandate, as
well as more personnel and equipment. Member States
must do considerably more to ensure the rapid
secondment of well-trained troops, police officers and
civilian experts. The further development of the police
concept is one of the most important tasks in this
connection  as the last few months and years have, in
fact been teaching us.
The German Government will offer German
training for civilian peace-mission personnel and offer
civilian capacities to the United Nations stand-by
system. In addition, we are drafting a plan for training
civilian experts for peace missions, thus creating a pool
of qualified personnel who can be deployed at short
notice.
The prevailing form of conflict today is conflict
within States. Therefore the main task of peacekeeping
must be to address the internal roots of conflicts. In
addition to focusing on an improvement in socio-
economic conditions, our efforts must focus on
promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of
law. Mary Robinson, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, aptly said that the
human rights violations of today are the wars of
tomorrow.
Numerous concrete tasks are on the agenda. The
protocols relating to the involvement of children in
armed conflict and to the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography must enter into
force as early as possible. The equality of women must
be advanced in all spheres. I call upon all states to
ratify quickly the new Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and to abolish all laws
that discriminate against women by 2005. The World
Conference against racism, to be held in 2001, must
tackle all aspects of this issue. Out of a sense of
responsibility for our history, our State and our society
will stand up firmly against all forms of right-wing
radicalism, racism and anti-Semitism, both in our own
country and in the world.
I call upon all States to respect the integrity of the
Statute of the International Criminal Court, to sign and
to ratify it, so that the Court can commence work soon.
There can be no exceptions to the Rome Statute.
16

One of the greatest dangers facing humanity
remains the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. The risk of regional arms races,
particularly in South Asia, has increased. Further
developing the international arms-control regime
therefore continues to be one of the United Nations key
tasks. This will require resolute implementation of the
results of the sixth Review Conference of the Parties to
the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons. Against this background, President Clinton's
decision not to commit now to the development of a
national missile defence system is very welcome. The
Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty must remain as a
cornerstone of strategic stability and the basis for
further nuclear-disarmament measures.
In poor countries the excessive stockpiling of
small arms must be stopped. We must therefore do
everything we can to achieve tangible progress at the
United Nations small arms conference to be held in
2001. This presupposes the inclusion of all aspects,
including the legal transfer of production and
stockpiles.
Regional cooperation has proved to be an
extremely effective means of preventing conflicts. The
United Nations can do much to help here. Allow me to
mention two regions where progress is particularly
urgent. The triangle between Central Asia, the
Caucasus and the Middle East is full of destabilizing
factors  oil, religious fundamentalism, terrorism,
drugs and the nuclear arms race  and this area is
threatening to become the crisis region of the century
ahead. A new comprehensive regional process, along
the lines of the Helsinki model, which fosters
cooperation instead of confrontation, could play an
important stabilizing role. Germany is prepared to take
part in such a process.
In Africa, regional approaches have gained in
significance. In the main, however, it is, unfortunately,
too early to talk of effective peacekeeping structures.
Unfortunately, the efforts on the part of the United
Nations and of the Organization of African Unity to
resolve the conflicts in the Congo and Sierra Leone
have not achieved a breakthrough so far. In the conflict
between Ethiopia and Eritrea it is to be hoped that the
ceasefire that has finally been concluded will be
consolidated and that the United Nations peace mission
will be lent the full support of the parties to the
conflict.
The third issue, protection of our natural
environment, will probably become the crucial issue
affecting our planet. In the course of the twentieth
century the world's population quadrupled, while
consumption of energy and raw materials increased
tenfold. We must end the squandering of natural
resources and switch to renewable energy sources as
quickly as possible. This cannot only be a matter for
industrialized nations. We are witnessing at this very
moment what a burden high oil prices places on poor
countries in particular. It must be in the interest of all
States to bring about the transition from the oil to the
hydrogen age as quickly as possible. The most
important thing now is to finally overcome the
deadlock in the climate-protection negotiations and to
ensure that the Kyoto Protocol can be implemented by
2002, 10 years after the Rio Summit.
Another key issue for humanity, the future of
genetic engineering, can only be mastered within the
framework of a global consensus. Genetic engineering
has the potential to revolutionalize medicine and
agriculture. At the same time, it raises more ethical and
human rights questions than any other technology. Do
we not need clear, binding rules for dealing with such a
powerful new technology? Why do we not seriously
consider within the United Nations creating under
international law a convention that meaningfully
promotes genetic engineering and safeguards the
freedom to research and the findings of this research,
while, at the same time, defining an ethical basis and
guaranteeing protection against abuse?
The Millennium Declaration points the way
ahead. But what help will that be if an increasing
number of Members allow the world's real problems to
be dealt with and decided somewhere else? If we do
not succeed in adapting the United Nations to deal with
the challenges of the twenty-first century and in
modernizing it fully, it will be sidelined, with fatal
consequences for peace and development, human
rights, the environment and social progress.
We will all, rich and poor, lose out.
We must therefore muster the strength to
resolutely implement the Millennium Declaration. We
need a world Organization that is strong and we must
use its scarce resources more effectively. An important
prerequisite for this is that the United Nations be
placed finally on a solid financial footing. Together
with its European Union partners, Germany has put
17

forward proposals for a fairer, more balanced scale of
assessments, which must continue to be based on
Member States' ability to pay..
The Security Council no longer reflects the
political reality of our world at the dawn of the new
millennium. We share the Secretary-General's view
that this central steering organ of the international
community must become more representative,
legitimate and effective, also involving the developing
countries. Last week Chancellor Schroeder reaffirmed
Germany's willingness to take on more responsibility
in this connection. I would like to take this opportunity
to thank my friend and colleague Robin Cook for the
clear language that he used before the General
Assembly just a few minutes ago.
The General Assembly must structure its work,
debate global problems in a more focused fashion than
hitherto and identify courses of action. The synergetic
potential between United Nations organizations, for
example in the environmental field, must be better used
and resources pooled to a greater extent by merging
organizations.
Reform of the United Nations will play a decisive
role in ensuring that the twenty-first century is safer
and more just than the twentieth century. Allow me to
conclude with a quote from the Secretary-General's
Millennium Report:
No shift in the way we think or act can be
more critical than this: we must put people at the
centre of everything we do ... Only when that
begins to happen will we know that globalization
is indeed becoming inclusive, allowing everyone
to share its opportunities.'


Allow me to congratulate you, Sir, on your
election as President of the General Assembly at the
current session. I am confident that under your able
guidance our deliberations will yield success. I also
wish to thank your predecessor for his leadership and
for the his exemplary work as President of the
Assembly during the fifty-fourth session. I also have
the honour to extend convey my greetings to the
Secretary-General and to acknowledge his firm
leadership and his continuing interest in the search for
practical and innovative solutions.
For Colombia, this session represents a historic
challenge: the challenge to forge new relationships
aimed at carrying out the mission agreed upon by heads
of State or Government at the Millennium Summit.
They have defined the parameters of the world in
which we wish to live and the conditions for creating a
new international political and economic order. My
country had the honour to submit the Cartagena de
Indias Declaration (A/54/929), a commitment adopted
by heads of State of the Rio Group, which enunciates
the aspirations of our region and is an exceptional
contribution to the future of the United Nations. We
will now undertake a careful follow-up of these
initiatives so as to translate them into realities for the
benefit of humankind.
Perhaps the dawn of the new millennium will
enable us to face this challenge with optimism, to
signal a break with the legacy of half a century and
with the many proposals that have so often met with
indifference. It represents an opportunity to translate
our collective aspirations into tangible reality.
In large part, our expectations relate to the
meaning and scope of globalization. Sweeping
revolutions are taking place in the fields of
transportation, communication and the electronic
media. Every day we are astonished by advances in
technology and by the discoveries of applied science.
The main purpose of the United Nations and of its
various forums and agencies is to channel this
enormous store of technological and scientific
knowledge towards the poorest and most vulnerable
sectors of the population.
Information technology is bringing structural
change to the international economy and unprecedented
opportunities to promote creative cultural interaction
among peoples. But the information revolution can also
become a source of exclusion. We face the risk of
creating a new form of illiteracy: cyber-illiteracy. We
must bridge the digital divide and convert information
technology into a positive factor for education and
poverty-reduction so that the information revolution
may become truly global. Failure to do so will increase
the gap between rich and poor.
One of our principal challenges is therefore to
globalize globalization and to make it an imperative for
the twenty-first century. It is, in other words, to bring
the benefits of this process to more regions, nations
and individuals by democratizing access to new
technologies, eliminating barriers to trade and
investment and recognizing that the resources with
which nature provides us are the common heritage of
future generations.
Here, preservation of the environment is a key
element. We have an obligation to respect nature and to
build a sustainable future. We must put an end to the
destruction being caused by the irrational use of natural
resources and by unsound patterns of consumption and
production. This requires greater political commitment
to control climate change, eliminate sources of water
pollution and put an end to the loss of our forests. The
provision of financial resources and transfer of
environmentally safe technologies are issues still to be
resolved. The international community must honour the
commitments it has assumed in this field before it is
too late.
For their part, the United Nations and the
multilateral financial institutions must develop a new
framework to prevent and respond to risks and
economic crises. We need a stable, ordered, transparent
and predictable financial system, one in which we can
strengthen our early warning capacity, effectively
control the volatility of capital flows and ensure
sufficient liquidity to provide timely support to
countries affected by crisis. Another urgent priority is
to create social protection networks that can be used in
times of financial crisis.
The beginning of the millennium is marked also
by new concerns and threats to peace and security. The
proliferation and illicit trade in small arms is one of
these. The illegal traffic in such arms has reached
31

unacceptable proportions; its impact has been even
more devastating than that of weapons of mass
destruction. Despite this, the international community
is not giving it the importance and priority which this
grave problem demands. Urgent and effective measures
are needed to halt and completely eliminate this illegal
trade.
Countries affected by this phenomenon must not
remain exposed to the criminal activities of the
networks of arms traffickers who, taking advantage of
the absence of monitoring and oversight mechanisms,
are causing irreparable damage to our societies.
Governments have the political and moral
responsibility to act decisively against illicit arms
exports and to bring all the force of the law to bear
against the merchants of death and violence who profit
from this nefarious trade. My country, Colombia, has
paid a very high price in human lives as a consequence
of this criminal activity.
Countries that are exporters of small arms must
establish controls on intermediaries and refrain from
authorizing sales if there is a risk of improper use.
There is a need for greater transparency and for the
exchange of information on the modalities and routes
of this trade. We must urgently create mechanisms to
provide financial and technical assistance so that
affected countries will be better able to implement
effective controls. We have a responsibility to ensure
that the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade
in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, to
be held in 2001, results in concrete commitments and
effective action.
The global problem of illicit drugs, for its part,
continues to be one of the most serious threats of our
time. It is a factor for violence and corruption,
economic disruption and impoverishment, erosion of
the social fabric and instability in democracies. It is
also a cause of alarming environmental disasters.
No nation has suffered as tragically as Colombia
from the consequences of this global problem. Every
day, lives are lost in Colombia through the action of
outlaw groups whose activities are financed from
resources obtained from the traffic in drugs. Now,
when all our efforts are focused on the difficult battle
against this problem, we need increased support and
the effective solidarity of the international community.
Only by accepting and fully implementing the
principle of shared responsibility will humankind be
able to free itself from the scourge of illicit drugs. We
ask for no more. Let us all assume the cost that is our
share to bear in order to wipe this illegal activity from
the face of the earth.
Colombia is making extraordinary efforts to
advance towards a solution to its internal conflict. It is
a fundamental objective that we will never renounce.
We are aware that the building of peace takes time, but
we are making steady progress. In the midst of the
complexities of our situation in Colombia, and despite
the cruelty of the present conflict, we have made
progress in confidence-building, in the dialogue, in the
discussion of the thematic agendas and in the
participation of civil society. We know full well that
the achievement of peace requires in-depth action in
the economic and social fields that could give real and
lasting content to these efforts.
A number of countries have joined in this
process, at the request of the Government. Today,
peace in Colombia is important for the world. I appeal
to the international community to reaffirm its solidarity
and offer its material support to our peace process.
One of the most important developments of the
last two decades has been the increasing commitment
to respect for human rights. We have made some
progress in defining economic and social rights as an
indivisible component of so-called traditional rights or
individual freedoms. The old objections that prevented
us from proclaiming the universal validity and
application of human rights are gradually losing way
and States have accepted their responsibility for
ensuring compliance.
In recent years, civil conflicts have become a
major expression of violence. International
humanitarian law is essential to deal with the
consequences of these confrontations. Its enforcement,
however, requires agreement on the minimum rules of
respect for the civil population and the interests of
States. The key to that enforcement is that
humanitarian law  its postulates, norms and
mechanisms  should be equally applied by all parties
in conflict.
The movements of people, including refugees or
migrants, must also be recognized as a priority issue.
They are protected by a concrete framework of human
rights. In a world that promotes the free movement of
capital and free trade, it is unacceptable that unjustified
32

restrictions continue to be applied to the movement of
people.
The solution to concrete problems on the
international agenda necessarily requires concerted
action and multilateralism; Colombia has always been
and will continue to be firmly committed to it. We
believe that this multilateralism can be supplemented
by convergent regional initiatives and bilateralism as
part of an approach to reduce distances and
imbalances  in other words, a multilateralism that
serves as a bridge for rapprochement, solidarity and
shared responsibility, concepts upon which the entire
building of the contemporary international order must
be constructed.
Our peoples, in whose name the Charter of the
United Nations was conceived, yearn to see how the
fulfilment of the purposes and functions of the United
Nations can be reflected in the satisfaction of their
hopes and aspirations. Even though in many respects
we are still far from this objective, we must preserve
the gains achieved. An attitude of passivity is not
convenient for the Organization. This Assembly must
adopt decisions to reactivate the process of United
Nations reform, on realistic grounds, but without
further delaying the measures that require urgent
implementation. There are many initiatives that can be
realized without the need for reform of the Charter. The
only thing required is the will to show solidarity and to
make timely political decisions.
The United Nations acts as the world's
conscience, requiring greater priority in order to meet
the needs of the poor countries. Strategies must be
urgently developed to mobilize funds to remove the
causes of underdevelopment. The growing gap between
the wealth of the prosperous and the poverty of those
who are marginalized from progress is in itself an
appeal for attention which should be listened to and
should lead to the translation of words into deeds.
In this connection, we welcome the growing role
being played by non-governmental organizations,
whose activities should be accompanied by a proper
definition of their responsibilities. For their part, the
transnational corporations, which play such an
important function in the global economy, should give
serious consideration to the United Nations through
financial support to the Organization, which is in
urgent need of additional resources. This support could
well be channelled towards United Nations poverty-
reduction programmes.
The reform of the Security Council continues to
be one of the principal reforms anticipated from the
expected adjustment of multilateral political
institutions. But in this area we need a gradual, less
maximalist approach. Formulas must be explored to
ensure greater participation of developing countries.
We must take effective steps to promote greater
representativity in the Council, on the understanding
that this does not constitute a privilege, but rather a
responsibility. Broader regional representation,
restrictions on the use of the veto and greater
transparency in the decision-making process could
bring the Security Council closer to a reality that is not
the same now in the twenty-first century as it was in
1945.
The election of new members to the Council will
take place in a few weeks. Colombia has the support of
Latin America and the Caribbean to be elected as a
non-Permanent Member of this important organ. Once
our entry is approved by the General Assembly, we will
assume this responsibility as of 1 January. It will be an
opportunity to reaffirm Colombia's commitment to, and
confidence in, multilateralism and its resolute and
unconditional commitment to the norms and principles
of international law. We will also reaffirm our
conviction that peaceful and negotiated solutions to
disputes and respect for international humanitarian law
by all parties to a conflict are essential in order to build
firm and lasting foundations for peace and security. We
will promote better functioning of the Council,
especially in terms of information and consultation
with States that are not part of that organ, and we will
foster a more permanent and closer relationship with
the General Assembly as the supreme organ of the
United Nations.
Never before has humankind had the prospect
like the one now afforded at the beginning of the new
millennium to make steady progress towards peace,
progress and international stability. It is an opportunity
for the leaders of the world to make a decisive political
step in that direction. Let us give our peoples new hope
that the change in the millennium will signify not
merely a chronological change but also the beginning
of a true political and social transformation. Only thus
will future generations recognize that we had the
courage to assume our obligations with responsibility.