Mr. President, allow me at the
outset to express great pleasure at seeing you preside over
the work of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly.
We are confident that under your able leadership the work
of this session will be an unmitigated success. I can assure
you of the cooperation and support of my country’s
delegation throughout your stewardship of this session.
Allow me also to pay a well-deserved tribute to our
indefatigable Secretary-General and his staff for the efforts
they are making, often under very trying conditions, to give
meaning and concrete expression to the lofty ideals
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. They
deserve the full support and cooperation of all Member
States and their peoples.
As we approach the next millennium, we are fully
conscious of the omnipresence of war and of the havoc it
continues to wreak upon peoples in literally every
continent of the world. It is true that local wars have so
far not posed a serious threat to international peace and
security, but by some accounts they have already killed
and maimed more people than both world wars combined.
And judging by the number of those who are killed in
them and other attendant consequences, these wars,
whatever their cause, are a living reality for those who
fight in them and for the innocent people who are caught
in the cross-fire. The conclusion we can draw is that not
all succeeding generations of humankind have been
spared the scourge of war in accordance with the promise
made over 50 years ago by the founding fathers of this
Organization. In terms of human history, 50 years is a
relatively short time. It is, however, long enough to make
the judgement that present-day human beings, like their
predecessors in history, have failed to unlearn the ways of
war — or rather to acquire the skills to live with one
another like good neighbours.
The presence of war and conflict among and within
nations has often drawn a great deal of criticism to the
United Nations, as if it had a magic wand to resolve
every problem brought to its doorstep. True, there is room
for improvement in the performance and efficacy of the
United Nations. Certainly, the genocide in Rwanda in
1994 could have been avoided with more determination
and foresight.

Unfortunately, in awarding themselves certain
extraordinary powers, the framers of the Charter built
certain imperfections into the Organization which have
proven to be serious encumbrances to its efficiency and
effectiveness on conflict resolution. So long as this
Organization remains the creation of the nation-State
system with its in-built self-interest, it cannot be expected
to perform differently. But we can certainly improve its
delivery system to acceptable levels. Notwithstanding the
imperfections of the United Nations, its continued existence
is in the national interest of all Member States, whatever
their claims to the contrary. Otherwise, Member States
which felt they benefitted the least would long since have
withdrawn their membership. Member States should
therefore commit themselves to the payment of their
contributions to the budget of the United Nations when they
fall due, without any conditions.
Ideally, the United Nations should have developed
machinery to address and avert conflict situations before
they actually occur. However, in the world in which we
live, the ideal and the real do not often dovetail. Preventive
diplomacy should quickly be succeeded by robust
peacekeeping as soon as it is determined that a conflict
situation is not amenable to resolution through dialogue.
Preventive deployment has been put to use successfully in
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the
separation of belligerent forces has also been put to
successful use to contain the otherwise explosive situations
in Cyprus and Lebanon.
The African experience in peacekeeping has been
slightly different. In most cases, conflicts have smouldered
and festered to calamitous proportions on our continent as
a result of international inertia — or should we call it
“Africa fatigue”? Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Great Lakes
region and other cases are illustrative in this regard. African
States are ready and willing to bear their fair share of
peacekeeping operations on the continent, but they are
certainly lacking in logistic and financial wherewithal.
While there is ample scope for improvement in African
peacekeeping capacity, Africa has over the years acquired
practical experience both in the field and through
cooperation with other countries. Thus, Africa has a
relatively sophisticated capacity to carry out peacekeeping
responsibilities.
I must admit that it hurts my pride as an African to
hear that African conflict situations dominate the agenda of
the Security Council. This is a dubious honour, if indeed it
is an honour at all. It must, however, be acknowledged that
African problems are problems of the international
community. They are problems of the United Nations,
whose Charter is categorical in allocating primary
responsibility for the maintenance of international peace
and security. That responsibility was bestowed in trust. It
cannot be shirked for political expediency in any part of
the world. African conflicts deserve equal attention by
this Organization, to which all African States belong and
pay their dues, however modest. They cannot be left to
the Africans alone to resolve.
If I have devoted a great part of my address to the
role of the United Nations in crisis management and in
the defusing of tensions, it is not because I am oblivious
to other equally pressing issues of our times. Crises and
tensions, by their very nature, presuppose a lack of
security, movement of people and, very often, deep-rooted
intolerance. Evidently, when people raise swords against
their neighbours, the humanness that is innate in all
people is replaced by the bestiality that lies latent in every
person. It is incomprehensible how the perpetrators of
acts of genocide and other serious crimes against
humanity manage to live with their consciences or to lead
normal lives after such heinous criminal activities.
The establishment last summer of the International
Criminal Court will, we hope, help to ensure that
perpetrators of acts of genocide, crimes against humanity
and other inhuman acts will not go unpunished. The
International Criminal Court will also, we hope, act as a
deterrent for those intending to commit such serious
crimes. The conviction by the Rwanda Tribunal of two
leading personalities involved in acts of genocide in
Rwanda in 1994 has also served notice to would-be
perpetrators of similar acts that the international
community can no longer tolerate their diabolical acts.
Human rights abuse is equally intolerable and
immoral. Institutions dealing with human rights should be
empowered to deal with the perpetrators of human rights
abuses with the full force of the law. Human rights abuse
has been responsible for the bulk of the horrendous
conflicts that have ravaged societies in all continents
throughout this violent century. We therefore could not
agree more with the Secretary-General when he says in
his annual report on the work of the Organization,
“If individual rights are not protected, the whole of
society suffers. Personal freedoms are however
rendered largely meaningless by civil wars, or by
economic, social or cultural deprivation — often,
indeed, by a combination of all these”. (A/53/1,
para. 171)
2

Therefore, in this, the year of the fiftieth anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
community of civilized nations to which we all belong must
reaffirm its commitment to the human rights ideals
enshrined in the Declaration and to their determination to
live up to those ideals.
Globalization and economic liberalization have brought
about unprecedented expansion in world trade and
commerce, but they have also accentuated the imbalances
in international economic relations. The vast majority of
countries, particularly in Africa, continue to face
marginalization in the world economy. The problem is
further compounded by the fact that official development
assistance has fallen to unprecedentedly low levels.
In Africa, armed conflicts have impacted negatively on
development prospects. Corruption has also been one of the
biggest obstacles to development. There is, however, reason
for optimism. The majority of African countries have
instituted reforms to achieve economic growth and
development, including the application of sound
macroeconomic policies, good governance, the rule of law
and respect for human rights. They have taken serious
measures to introduce budgetary reforms, remove
restrictions on current payments and restrain credit and
monetary expansion. Over the past few years Africa’s
economic performance has been on an upward trend. In
1997 close to 60 per cent of the African countries
registered growth rates in excess of their population growth
rates, and about half of this number posted annual
economic growth rates of more than 5 per cent.
Africa, however, still needs active support and
assistance from the international community. We clearly
recognize that it is the primary responsibility of the
Africans themselves to reduce the marginalization of their
continent from the world economy. But for Africa to
achieve any tangible success and emerge from the
conditions of poverty and underdevelopment a new type of
partnership with the developed world is required to increase
trade and the continent’s share of global prosperity. African
countries need improved access to world markets, greater
flow of foreign direct investment, technology transfer and
an increase in official development assistance.
The decline in official development assistance needs
to be reversed. Similarly, external debt is a problem
requiring urgent attention. In fact, the debt burden continues
to be one of the main obstacles to economic growth and
development. The new initiative adopted by the Bretton
Woods institutions to reduce the multilateral debt of the
heavily indebted poor countries is a welcome
development, though its implementation has been very
disappointing and painfully slow. Botswana believes that
the only viable solution to the debt problem faced by the
poorest countries is outright cancellation of the debt.
The main objectives of Botswana’s development
strategy are employment creation and poverty alleviation.
Lack of income is the most immediate cause of poverty
among our people. Employment opportunities have
increased significantly in the last few years, but the rate
of unemployment is still unacceptably high. To improve
the situation, Botswana has over the past few years
undertaken measures to create a favourable environment
for investment, including the encouragement of small and
medium-scale enterprises. I am confident that with the
support of our development partners our efforts will bear
fruit.
Before I conclude my statement, let me say a few
words about recent events in southern Africa. On 16
September 1998 there was an attempt to put an end to the
constitutional order in the Kingdom of Lesotho by
overthrowing a democratically elected Government. Junior
officers in the Lesotho Defence Force mutinied and
arrested their senior officers, including the army
commander. Government employees, including Cabinet
Ministers, were stopped from going to work, which
resulted in a complete collapse of the administrative order
in the country. Criminal activity and lawlessness became
the order of the day. There was no doubt that Lesotho
was on the brink of widespread violence and total chaos.
The crisis was most alarming because of its wider
implications for peace and stability in the whole
subregion of southern Africa. No effort was made by
those involved to heed the calls for peaceful dialogue.
Under the circumstances, the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) could not remain
indifferent. Therefore, on 21 September 1998 members of
the Botswana Defence Force and the South African
Defence Forces entered the Kingdom of Lesotho in
response to an appeal for such intervention by the
democratically elected Government of Lesotho. The
intervention is aimed at assisting the people of Lesotho to
create conditions conducive for them to address their
differences in a peaceful manner. Our action conforms
strictly to the purposes and principles of the Charter of
the United Nations, as well as the resolution of the 1997
Harare summit of the Organization of African Unity
which condemns the overthrow of legitimate Governments
by the military.
3

I wish to assure the Assembly that the military
intervention by Botswana and South Africa in Lesotho is
motivated solely by a sincere will to establish conditions of
peace and security in our sister country. We are dealing
with a difficult, complex and rapidly changing situation. As
such, our forces shall remain in Lesotho for as long as
necessary to restore public order and the rule of law.
With regard to Angola, it has become increasingly
clear that the leader of UNITA has no intention that it shall
meet its obligations under the Lusaka Protocol. Given the
renewed upsurge in violence caused by UNITA, SADC has
come to the conclusion, regretfully, that Mr. Savimbi must
be held personally responsible for war crimes that his
movement has committed, and continues to commit even
after it has signed a peace agreement. The people of Angola
have suffered for far too long and it is time that this
fratricidal war, which has devastated the country, was
brought to an end.
Across the border from war-weary Angola, another
SADC country is going through a painful process of
national rebirth, rudely interrupted two months ago by a
rebellion which, even as we meet here, is ineluctably
sapping the residual energy of a devastated country. The
people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo deserve a
break. Through the timely assistance rendered by three
SADC countries at a time of great peril, it is our fervent
hope that the Democratic Republic of the Congo will soon
resume its process of rebirth and do so in peace and
tranquillity.
Let me conclude by assuring you, Mr. President, and
the nations gathered here that Botswana’s faith in the
United Nations as the universal repository of the hopes and
aspirations of all mankind remains as strong as ever. We
will continue to work assiduously for the enhancement of
the efficacy of the Organization, to help equip it for the
arduous tasks that lie ahead.


It gives me
great pleasure to extend to Mr. Didier Opertti warmest
congratulations on behalf of the Government of the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on his election as
President of the fifty-third session of the General
Assembly. Trinidad and Tobago is indeed heartened to
see one of its regional neighbours in this post, more so
given the close ties of friendship which exist between
Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay. I am convinced that
under his astute guidance the deliberations of the
Assembly will be managed with the same skill and
diplomacy with which he is known to discharge his duties
of office.
I also take this opportunity to express deep
appreciation for the manner in which his predecessor, Mr.
Udovenko, undertook the tasks of office during his tenure
as President of the fifty-second session of the General
Assembly. The impact of his leadership and the
achievements of the Assembly during the last session of
the General Assembly can only redound to the benefit of
this body.
The United Nations has grappled, over the past 53
years of its existence, with myriad issues confronting the
international community — old issues and new issues,
especially those which have taken on a new dynamic in
the international relations of our Member States. Having
successfully manoeuvred through the high seas of the cold
war, the United Nations continues to confront issues of
direct concern to all its Member States. In striving to
attain its goals of international peace and security and
justice for all, which are the raison d’être of the United
Nations, this most valuable Organization to all of the
world’s peoples is now drawn to focus on development as
a necessary precondition to the achievement of
international peace and security.
We are now called upon to focus attention on the
deep-seated problems of the global community. These
include the alleviation of poverty; drug abuse and illicit
9

drug-trafficking; environmental degradation; economic
growth and social development of developing countries;
and; more recently, the effects of the international financial
crisis. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is of the
view that these challenges can be successfully addressed
only through international cooperation. No individual state
or region can in isolation rid itself of these problems.
One of the principal tenets of international peace and
security is the rule of international law. For too long,
blatant disregard for international law has led to heinous
crimes which have shocked the conscience of mankind,
many of which have remained unpunished. Perpetrators of
genocide, of crimes against humanity and of war crimes
have acted with impunity, causing untold human suffering
and loss of life on a massive scale.
Each life lost, each soul affected, each family, society
or country touched by tragedy is one too many. The
international community has not, until now, established a
permanent mechanism to punish the perpetrators of these
unspeakable crimes.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is proud of
the role played by Mr. Arthur Robinson, President of the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, in refocusing the
attention of the international community in 1989 on the
need for the establishment of a permanent International
Criminal Court.
We congratulate the ever increasing number of States
which have worked assiduously since then to ensure the
establishment of a permanent, independent and effective
International Criminal Court. At the same time, we urge all
States to continue, in the spirit of cooperation and
compromise which ensured the success of the Rome
Conference in July 1998, to complete the work that still
remains to be done. In this quest, we all must be ever
mindful of the continued threats to international peace and
security as well as breaches of international justice, which
are occurring even as we meet today.
When the President of the Republic of Trinidad and
Tobago urged the international community to create a
permanent International Criminal Court, it was in part a
recognition of the gravity of the scourge of drug trafficking
and its attendant ills, and of the pressing need for the Court
to address the question of the punishment of individuals
responsible for these crimes at an international level. At the
Diplomatic Conference held in Rome, Trinidad and Tobago,
with the support of Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
member States and some other States, was successful in
ensuring that the international community did not lose
sight of the importance of the inclusion of the crimes of
the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs within the jurisdiction
of the Court. As a result, the Diplomatic Conference
recommended that an acceptable definition and the
inclusion of drug crimes be considered by a review
conference to be convened after the entry into force of the
Statute.
Drug trafficking and the associated crimes of money-
laundering and trafficking in arms continue to pose
serious threats to the social, economic and political
foundations of countries of the Caribbean, and to erode
the moral fabric of our societies. We welcome the
conclusions and recommendations of the twentieth special
session of the General Assembly on the world drug
problem, held in June 1998, and we pledge our
commitment to cooperate at the international, regional and
national levels in the achievement of the goals and ideals
which we adopted at that session.
Trinidad and Tobago will persist in its efforts on a
regional basis to foster the type of cooperation that would
combat the scourge of drug trafficking. Such action
includes the implementation of the 1994 Barbados
Programme of Action, which facilitates effective drug
control cooperation in the region. Also, CARICOM
countries, with the assistance of the Governments of
Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, have
created a witness protection programme. In addition, Port
of Spain is the headquarters of the secretariat of the
Caribbean Financial Action Task Force on money-
laundering.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is
cooperating at the bilateral level with the three countries
just mentioned in areas such as extradition and maritime
counter-drug operations. We are also the beneficiary of
technical assistance in the strengthening of our Counter
Drug Crime Task Force to facilitate our efforts in
addressing this menace to society.
Action at the national level includes the
establishment of an agency to coordinate the overall
efforts against drug-trafficking and the preparation of a
master plan to deal with the problem. A strong legal
framework has been put in place to enable prosecutions
and investigations. Appropriate legislation to facilitate
judicial cooperation with other countries and participation
in regional and multilateral institutions has also been
enacted. Legislation currently before Parliament will
10

significantly improve the provisions against money-
laundering.
The eradication of drug-trafficking, money-laundering,
and the traffic in arms and their associated evils must be a
task for all Member States. The deleterious effects on our
small societies threaten future generations of our peoples
and have significant negative repercussions on our
vulnerable economies. The eradication of this affliction of
our societies is a sine qua non for development and for the
achievement of international peace, security and justice.
Trinidad and Tobago shares the sadness, shock and
outrage of the international community at the recent
terrorist attacks on United States embassies in Tanzania and
Kenya, as well as at the bombings in South Africa and in
Ireland. This spectre of terrorism continues to rear its ugly
head in our world, in spite of the numerous efforts that
have been undertaken on a multilateral level to eradicate
this evil.
At the second informal consultations of the Council
for Foreign and Community Relations, held in New York
on 24 September 1998, Caribbean Community Foreign
Ministers condemned the recent terrorist attacks in several
parts of the world and reiterated their strongest commitment
to the fight against international terrorism in all its forms
and manifestations. They also pledged that their respective
Governments would consider acceding to relevant
international conventions and protocols on international
terrorism. The Ministers reaffirmed that the most effective
way to confront international terrorism is through an
enhanced multilateral approach and multilateral actions, and
with appropriate oversight and accountability measures.
International conferences have also attempted to draw
up a blueprint for addressing the environmental problems
that plague the nations of the world. In 1992, at the Earth
Summit in Rio, the international community for the first
time linked environmental and economic issues. The
Barbados Programme of Action adopted two years later,
which addressed the specific problems of small island
developing States, complements Agenda 21, the blueprint
for sustainable development adopted at Rio. The small
island developing States (SIDS) Programme of Action,
which is to be reviewed at a special session of the General
Assembly next year, is therefore of critical importance to
small island States. We anticipate that the results of the
review will be more promising than those of Agenda 21.
The pace of globalization and economic liberalization
has heightened the economic problems that developing
countries face. This is evidenced in, among other things,
the collapse of the financial markets, the unfair terms of
trade and the developing countries’ increasing difficulty
in accessing the markets of the developed countries. The
crisis presently facing many States and the gathering
gloom over the world economy pose very real dangers for
developing countries and therefore call for properly
devised strategies and the establishment of new
mechanisms to ensure our survival.
Recent developments within the international
economic and financial arena are clear indications that the
world economic system is crying out for urgent change.
The imperfections, which are becoming increasingly
glaring, can no longer be ignored. We cannot simply bear
witness to the events. We must act now or lose a golden
opportunity to influence the changes which are in the best
interest of all humanity. We must have healthy,
constructive dialogue at all levels and develop the
political will and direction to find relevant solutions.
To this end, I wish to reiterate the call made by the
honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and
Tobago, Mr. Ralph Maraj, at the Twelfth Conference of
Heads of State or Government of the Movement of Non-
Aligned Countries, held last month in Durban, South
Africa, for the convening of a United Nations conference
on the world economy. It is evident from the views
expressed from this podium during the last two weeks
that Member States recognize the need for urgent action
at the international level to address this issue.
In this volatile economic environment, small island
developing States are rendered even more vulnerable by
their inherent features of size, remoteness, insularity and
susceptibility to natural disasters. Indeed, in one fell
swoop any small advances in economic development can
be brought to nought by natural disasters. The devastation
wreaked by the recent Hurricane Georges on small States
of the Caribbean bears sad testimony to this reality.
Trinidad and Tobago shares the grief of its Caribbean
neighbours at the loss of life and the damage to property
suffered in this hurricane. As is the case with other
developing countries, the needs of small island developing
States cannot be addressed without the full support and
cooperation of the international community. Trinidad and
Tobago continues to make every effort to provide
assistance to the islands affected by this disaster, in
cooperation with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency
Response Agency, a regional agency established to deal
with all types of disasters.
11

Trinidad and Tobago has succeeded to some extent in
achieving integration into the world economy as it
undertakes the transition from an oil-dependent, public-
sector dominated economy to a more diversified market-
oriented private-sector led one. There is still a pressing
need, however, for employment-generating growth from
non-traditional labour-intensive sectors which will have
more pointed impact on the reduction in poverty and
unemployment levels in our country.
Our people are hurting. It is imperative therefore that
the United Nations programmes for development be
directed more specifically towards employment creation
opportunities for our peoples.
Trade policy is an important area of concentration of
the World Trade Organization (WTO). Developing
countries, including small island States, are being asked to
compete with developed countries while unequal levels of
economic development persist — and to do so in a very
difficult economic environment and within unrealistic time-
frames. Small States must adopt a series of policy changes
to reorient their economies and diversify their production
bases. While implementing these measures, they must also
develop their internal capacities to deal simultaneously with
such policy changes. This cannot be achieved in the short
term without a high degree of support from the regional
and international organizations and the international
community as a whole.
It is imperative that we find innovative ways to bridge
the gap between the United Nations and private citizens. It
is in this context that we welcome the establishment of the
United Nations Fund for International Partnerships, which
will strengthen partnerships to support the United Nations
and its projects and deliver resources to programmes and
peoples served by United Nations agencies. The approval
of grants for projects in the broad categories of children’s
health, environment and climate change, women and
population, food security, drug control, poverty alleviation
and landmines will contribute significantly to the pursuit of
the goals of the United Nations. The establishment of this
Fund is testimony to what can be achieved by a shared
vision and commitment to the principles and ideals of the
Organization. We urge optimum use of the benefits to be
derived from the Fund.
As we observe the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights this year, Trinidad and
Tobago would like to restate its commitment to the
protection and promotion of human rights and the
fundamental freedoms of its citizens. The Constitution of
the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago guarantees human
rights and freedom to all its citizens, without
discrimination based on race, origin, colour, religion or
sex. The right to life, liberty, security of the person and
the right not to be deprived thereof, except by due
process of law, are guaranteed by the Constitution. Also
guaranteed are the right not to be subjected to cruel and
unusual treatment or punishment, the right to a fair trial,
freedom of expression and freedom of the press. An
independent judiciary is ever vigilant to ensure that these
rights are not abrogated or infringed.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is fully
cognizant of its duty to protect the security and well-
being of its citizens, including the innocent, the victims of
violence and the vulnerable. Their rights have also been
guaranteed by the Constitution. We do not subscribe to
the current trend that subordinates the rights of these
citizens to those of the perpetrators of violent crimes
against them. We are of the view that our innocent
citizens also deserve the Government’s protection of their
basic rights to life and security of the person.
We cannot speak of development without focusing
specific attention on the problems of social development,
poverty eradication and sustainable economic
development. The international community must, now
more than ever, jointly seek to ensure both the economic
well-being and the social development of all its peoples.
In this regard, the United Nations has made tremendous
strides in its efforts to confront the problems of
development and to improve the quality of life of
humankind. We are aware that, to this end, a number of
tools have been devised to enable the international
community to build a consensus in the social and
economic fields.
It is of special significance to Trinidad and Tobago
that, in accordance with General Assembly resolution
50/161 of 22 December 1995, a special session of the
General Assembly will be convened in the year 2000 for
an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of
the outcome of the 1995 World Summit for Social
Development and to consider further actions and
initiatives.
The 10 commitments undertaken at the World
Summit in Copenhagen constitute strong imperatives by
Member States and the international community to
achieve social development with the well-being of
individuals in the society at the core. One of the
commitments given priority attention at the Copenhagen
12

Summit was the eradication of poverty. However, poverty
levels remain alarmingly high, and more practical initiatives
towards eradicating poverty are essential. We are pleased
that the General Assembly has identified this as a priority
issue and has dedicated the period 1997-2006 as the first
United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty in
order to achieve the goal of eradicating absolute poverty
and reducing overall poverty substantially in the world.
The effect of globalization and its impact on social
development must be carefully studied. The United Nations
and its relevant bodies will be a useful forum for this
discourse.
Trinidad and Tobago sees these as some of the issues
which the Preparatory Committee for the special session
should consider when it convenes its substantive sessions in
May 1999 and April 2000 to ensure that the special session
will be meaningful.
In September 1995, at the Fourth World Conference
on Women, firm commitments were undertaken to improve
the status of women by adopting the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action. Follow-up activities are under way
and should continue apace vigorously to ensure that the
mandates of the Beijing Conference are fully implemented.
An area which requires special focus is the enhancement of
women’s involvement in the development process. We
welcome the decision taken by the General Assembly in
December 1997 to convene in the year 2000 a high-level
plenary review to appraise and assess the progress achieved
in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
and to consider further action and initiatives.
Trinidad and Tobago attaches great significance to the
rights of children. We are committed to ensuring that they
are neither disadvantaged nor deprived in any fashion of the
means necessary for their wholesome development and their
full integration into society. Since the entry into force of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Trinidad and
Tobago has taken a number of measures to promote and
pursue the mandates of the Convention. Steps have also
been taken to achieve national awareness in this area,
including the elaboration of a national Plan of Action for
the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, the
promotion of the rights of children through school and
community outreach programmes and the establishment of
a Child Registry for monitoring children in need of special
protection. Measures are also being undertaken with respect
to the harmonization and codification of all laws relating to
children, as well as the establishment of a Family Court.
We are on a swift march towards the new
millennium. Let us, as a community of nations, renew our
resolve to work towards the achievement of the goals we
have set for ourselves: goals of peace, security, justice
and development for all. Political will and commitment
are necessary for this process, as is a genuine appreciation
of the realities faced by each individual member of the
international community in the pursuit of these goals.
We, the Member States of the United Nations, must
not lose sight of the interdependence of development and
the attainment of these ideals. As we formulate new
policies in our strategy for the improvement of all aspects
of the lives of humankind, and as we invent new
modalities for their implementation, we are encouraged by
the many successes we have had, especially in recent
years.
Trinidad and Tobago pledges to continue to work
assiduously in its efforts to establish the foundations for
a peaceful, secure and just world. This is the only legacy
we must leave to future generations.


Mr. President, may I take this
opportunity, as President of the Republic of South Africa
and as Chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement, to
extend to you our sincere congratulations on your election
to the high post of President of the General Assembly.
You will be presiding over this august Assembly of
the nations of the world at a time when its deliberations and
decisions will be of the greatest consequence to the
continuous striving of humanity at last to achieve global
peace and prosperity.
The Non-Aligned Movement, as well as my own
country, which is a proud member of that Movement,
invests great trust in this Organization to discharge its
responsibilities to all nations, especially at this critical
period of its existence.
Quite appropriately, this fifty-third session of the
General Assembly will be remembered through the ages as
the moment at which we marked and celebrated the fiftieth
anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. Born in the aftermath of the defeat of the
Nazi and fascist crime against humanity, this Declaration
held high the hope that all our societies would, in future, be
built on the foundations of the glorious vision spelt out in
each of its clauses.
For those who had to fight for their emancipation,
those such as ourselves, who, with United Nations help, had
to free ourselves from the criminal apartheid system, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights served as the
vindication of the justice of our cause.
At the same time, it constituted a challenge to us
that our freedom, once achieved, should be dedicated to
the implementation of the perspectives contained in the
Declaration.
Today we celebrate the fact that this historic
document has survived a turbulent five decades, which
have seen some of the most extraordinary developments
in the evolution of human society.
These include the collapse of the colonial system,
the passing of a bipolar world, breathtaking advances in
science and technology and the achievement of the
complex process of globalization.
And yet, at the end of it all, the human beings who
are the subject of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights continue to be afflicted by wars and violent
conflicts.
They have, as yet, not attained their freedom from
fear of death that would be brought about by the use of
weapons of mass destruction as well as conventional
arms.
Many are still unable to exercise the fundamental
and inalienable democratic rights that would enable them
to participate in the determination of the destiny of their
countries, nations, families and children and to protect
themselves from tyranny and dictatorship.
The very right to be human is denied every day to
hundreds of millions of people as a result of poverty and
the unavailability of basic necessities, such as food, jobs,
water and shelter, education, health care and a healthy
environment.
The failure to achieve the vision contained in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights finds dramatic
expression in the contrast between wealth and poverty
which characterizes the divide between the countries of
the North and the countries of the South and within
individual countries in all hemispheres.
It is made especially poignant and challenging by the
fact that this coexistence of wealth and poverty, the
perpetuation of the practice of the resolution of inter-State
and intra-State conflicts by war and the denial of the
democratic right of many across the world, all result from
acts of commission and omission, particularly by those
who occupy positions of leadership in politics, in the
economy, and in other spheres of human activity.
13

What I am trying to say is that all these social ills,
which constitute an offence against the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, are not a preordained result
of the forces of nature or the product of a curse of the
deities.
They are the consequence of decisions which men and
women take or refuse to take, men and women all of whom
will not hesitate to pledge their devoted support for the
vision conveyed in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
This Declaration was proclaimed as universal precisely
because the founders of this Organization and the nations
of the world that joined hands to fight the scourge of
fascism, including many that still had to achieve their own
emancipation, understood clearly that our human world was
an interdependent whole. Necessarily, the values of
happiness, justice, human dignity, peace and prosperity
have a universal application, because each people and every
individual is entitled to them. Similarly, no people can truly
say it is blessed with happiness, peace and prosperity where
others, as human as themselves, continue to be afflicted
with misery, conflict, terrorism and deprivation.
Thus can we say that the challenge posed by the next
50 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
by the next century whose character it must help to fashion,
consists in whether humanity, and especially those who will
occupy positions of leadership, will have the courage to
ensure that at last we build a human world consistent with
the provisions of that historic Declaration and other human
rights instruments that have been adopted since 1948.
Immediately, a whole range of areas of conflict
confronts us, in Africa, Europe and Asia. All of us are
familiar with these, which range from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Angola and Sudan on my own
continent, to the Balkans in Europe and Afghanistan,
Tajikistan and Sri Lanka in Asia.
Clearly, this Organization, and especially the Security
Council, acting together with people of goodwill in the
countries and areas concerned, has a responsibility to act
decisively to contribute to the termination of these
destructive conflicts. Continuously, we have to fight to
defeat the primitive tendency towards the glorification of
arms, the adulation of force, born of the illusion that justice
can be guaranteed by the capacity to kill, or that disputes
are necessarily best resolved by resort to violent means.
As Africans, we are grateful to the Secretary-General
for the contribution he has made to help us find the way
towards ending violent strife on our continent. We have
taken heed of his report, which will reinforce our efforts
to banish war from our shores. I have not yet read the
report from page to page, but I will try to do so.
The very first resolution of the General Assembly,
adopted in January 1946, sought to address the challenge
of
“the elimination from national armaments of atomic
weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable
to mass destruction”. (resolution 1 (I), para. 5 (c))
We must face the fact that after countless initiatives
and resolutions, we still do not have concrete and
generally accepted proposals supported by a clear
commitment by the nuclear-weapon States to the speedy,
final and total elimination of nuclear weapons and
nuclear-weapon capabilities.
We take this opportunity to salute our sister
Republic of Brazil for its decision to accede to the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to urge
all others that have not yet done so to follow this
excellent example.
In an honest attempt to contribute to the definition
of the systematic and progressive steps required to
eliminate these weapons and the threat of annihilation
which they pose, South Africa, together with Brazil,
Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia and
Sweden, will be submitting a draft resolution to the First
Committee for consideration by the Assembly. It is
appropriately titled “Towards a nuclear-weapon-free
world: the need for a new agenda”.
I call with all humility on all Members of the United
Nations seriously to consider this important draft
resolution and to give it their support. We must ask the
question, which might sound naive to those who have
elaborated sophisticated arguments to justify their refusal
to eliminate these terrible and terrifying weapons of mass
destruction — why do they need them, anyway?
In reality, no rational answer can be advanced to
explain in a satisfactory manner what, in the end, is the
consequence of cold-war inertia and an attachment to the
use of the threat of brute force to assert the primacy of
some States over others.
14

Urgent steps are also required to arrive at a just and
permanent peace in the Middle East on the basis of the
realization of the legitimate aspirations of the people of
Palestine and respect for the independence and security of
all the States of this important region. We also look
forward to the resolution of the outstanding issues of
Western Sahara and East Timor, convinced that it is
possible to take these matters off the world agenda on the
basis of settlements that meet the interests of all the peoples
concerned.
Similarly, we would like to salute the bold steps taken
by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, this
supremely important country of Africa, to enable it to
return to democratic rule and a system of governance
directed at serving the interests of all its people.
Together we are also faced with the scourges of drug
abuse and the illicit traffic in narcotics, organized
transnational crime and international terrorism. We strongly
support the measures adopted or being discussed by the
United Nations to deal with these challenges and commit
our country and Government to cooperate fully in all
regional and international initiatives to ensure that the
peoples of the world, including our own, are spared the
destructive impact of these crimes.
The world is gripped by an economic crisis, which, as
President Clinton said in this city only a week ago, has
plunged millions into sudden poverty and disrupted and
disoriented the lives of ordinary people, and brought deep
personal disappointment to tens of millions of people
around the world.
President Clinton also said:
“Recent press reports have described an entire
generation working its way into the middle class for
over 25 years, then being plummeted into poverty
within a matter of months. The stories are
heartbreaking — doctors and nurses forced to live in
the lobby of a closed hospital; middle-class families
who owned their own homes, sent their children to
college, travelled abroad, now living by selling their
possessions.”
President Clinton said that “fast-moving currents” in
the world economy
“have brought or aggravated problems in Russia and
Asia. They threaten emerging economies from Latin
America to South Africa”,
and he spoke of sacrificing lives in the name of economic
theory.
He further recognized that with a quarter of the
world’s population in declining growth, the United States,
in Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan’s
words,
“ cannot forever be an oasis of prosperity.' Growth
at home depends upon growth abroad”.
I have quoted the President of the United States at
such length both because he is correct and because he is
the leader of the most powerful country in the world.
Accordingly, we would like to believe that with the
problem facing all humanity, and especially the poor,
having thus been recognized, courage will not desert the
powerful when it comes to determining the correct course
to be taken, and following this course, addressing the
challenge that has been identified.
The tragedy President Clinton describes goes far
beyond the sudden impoverishment of the middle class to
which he correctly refers. Poverty has been and is the
condition of the daily existence of even larger numbers of
ordinary working people. Paradoxically, the challenge of
poverty around the globe has been brought into sharp
focus by the destructive fast movements of currents of
wealth from one part of the world to another.
Put starkly, we have a situation in which the further
accumulation of wealth, rather than contributing to the
improvement of the quality of life of all humanity, is
generating poverty at a frighteningly accelerated pace.
The imperative to act on this urgent, life-and-death
matter can no longer be ignored. The central challenge to
ensure that the countries of the South gain access to the
productive resources that have accumulated within the
world economy should not be avoided by seeking to
apportion as much blame as possible to the poor.
Clearly, all relevant matters will have to be
addressed, including such issues as greater inflows of
long-term capital; terms of trade; debt cancellation;
technology transfers; human resource development; the
emancipation of women and the development of the
young; the elimination of poverty; the HIV/AIDS
epidemic; environmental protection; and the strengthening
of financial and other institutions relevant to sustained
economic growth and development.
15

Fortunately, it is no longer in dispute that serious work
will also have to be done to restructure the multilateral
financial and economic institutions so that they address the
problems of the modern world economy and become
responsive to the urgent needs of the poor of the world.
Similarly, this very Organization, including its
important Security Council, must itself go through its own
process of reformation so that it serves the interests of the
peoples of the world, in keeping with the purposes for
which it was established.
The issues we have mentioned were discussed in a
comprehensive manner at the Twelfth Summit Conference
of the Non-Aligned Movement held in the city of Durban,
South Africa, earlier this month.
I am privileged to commend the decisions of that
important meeting to the General Assembly and the United
Nations as a whole, including the Durban Declaration,
which the Summit adopted unanimously. I am certain that
the decisions adopted by the Non-Aligned Movement will
greatly assist this Organization in its work and further
enhance the contribution of the countries of the South to the
solution of the problems that face the nations of the world,
both rich and poor.
This is probably the last time I will have the honour
to stand at this rostrum to address the General Assembly.
Born as the First World War came to a close, and departing
from public life as the world marks half a century of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I have reached that
part of the long walk when the opportunity is granted, as it
should be to all men and women, to retire to some rest and
tranquillity in the village of my birth.
As I sit in Qunu, my village, and grow as ancient as
its hills, I will continue to entertain the hope that there has
emerged a cadre of leaders in my own country and region,
on my continent and in the world, which will not allow that
any should be denied their freedom, as we were; that any
should be turned into refugees, as we were; that any should
be condemned to go hungry, as we were; that any should
be stripped of their human dignity, as we were.
I will continue to hope that Africa’s renaissance will
strike deep roots and blossom forever, without regard to the
changing seasons. Were all these hopes to translate into a
realizable dream and not a nightmare to torment the soul of
the aged, then will I, indeed, have peace and tranquillity.
Then would history and the billions throughout the world
proclaim that it was right that we dreamt and that we
toiled to give life to a workable dream.


Let me begin by thanking the
Assembly for its very kind and generous welcome and by
noting that, at the opening of this fifty-third session of the
General Assembly, the world has much to celebrate.
Peace has come to Northern Ireland after 29 long years.
Bosnia has just held its freest elections ever. The United
Nations is actively mediating crises before they explode
into war, all around the world. And today more people
determine their own destiny than at any previous moment
in history.
We celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights with those rights more
widely embraced than ever before. On every continent
people are leading lives of integrity and self-respect, and
a great deal of the credit for that belongs to the United
Nations.
Still, as every person in this Hall knows, the promise
of our time is attended by perils. Global economic turmoil
today threatens to undermine confidence in free markets
and democracy. Those of us who benefit particularly from
this economy have a special responsibility to do more to
minimize the turmoil and extend the benefits of global
markets to all citizens. And the United States is
determined to do that.
We still are bedevilled by ethnic, racial, religious
and tribal hatreds, by the spread of weapons of mass
destruction, by the almost frantic efforts of too many
States to acquire such weapons.
And, despite all efforts to contain it, terrorism is not
fading away with the end of the twentieth century. It is a
continuing defiance of article 3 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which says
9

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.”
Here at the United Nations, at international summits
around the world and on many occasions in the United
States, I have had the opportunity to address this subject in
detail, to describe what we have done, what we are doing
and what we must yet do to combat terror.
Today I would like to talk to the Assembly about why
all nations must put the fight against terrorism at the top of
our agenda. Obviously this is a matter of profound concern
to us. In the last 15 years our citizens have been targeted
over and over again: in Beirut; over Lockerbie; in Saudi
Arabia; at home in Oklahoma City by one of our own
citizens; even here in New York, in one of our most public
buildings; and most recently, on 7 August, in Nairobi and
Dar-es-Salaam, where Americans who devoted their lives
to building bridges between nations — people very much
like all of those present — died in a campaign of hatred
against the United States.
Because we are blessed to be a wealthy nation, with
a powerful military and a worldwide presence active in
promoting peace and security, we are often a target. We
love our country for its dedication to political and religious
freedom, to economic opportunity, to respect for the rights
of the individual. But we know that many people see us as
a symbol of a system and values they reject. And often they
find it expedient to blame us for problems with deep roots
elsewhere.
But we are no threat to any peaceful nation, and we
believe the best way to disprove these claims is to continue
our work for peace and prosperity around the world. For us
to pull back from the world’s trouble spots, to turn our
backs on those taking risks for peace, to weaken our own
opposition to terrorism, would hand the enemies of peace
a victory they must never have.
Still, it is a grave misconception to see terrorism as
only, or even mostly, an American problem. Indeed, it is a
clear and present danger to tolerant and open societies and
innocent people everywhere. No one in this room, nor the
people represented here, is immune. Certainly not the
people of Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. For every American
killed there, roughly 20 Africans were murdered and 500
more injured — innocent people going about their business
on a busy morning.
Not the people of Omagh, in Northern Ireland, where
the wounded and killed were Catholics and Protestants
alike — mostly children and women, two of them
pregnant — people out shopping together when their
future was snuffed out by a fringe group clinging to the
past.
Not the people of Japan, who were poisoned by sarin
gas in the Tokyo subway.
Not the people of Argentina, who died when a car
bomb destroyed a Jewish community centre in Buenos
Aires.
Not the people of Kashmir and Sri Lanka, killed by
ancient animosities that cry out for resolution.
Not the Palestinians and Israelis, who still die year
after year, for all their progress towards peace.
Not the people of Algeria, enduring a nightmare of
unfathomable terror with still no end in sight.
Not the people of Egypt, who nearly lost a second
President to assassination.
Not the people of Turkey, Colombia, Albania,
Russia, Iran, Indonesia and countless other nations where
innocent people have been victimized by terror.
None of those victims were American. But every
one was a son or daughter, a husband or wife, a father or
mother — a human life extinguished by someone else’s
hatred, leaving a circle of people whose lives will never
be the same.
Terror has become the world’s problem. Some argue,
of course, that the problem is overblown, saying that the
number of deaths from terrorism is comparatively small,
sometimes less than the number of people killed by
lightning in a single year. I believe that misses the point
in several ways. First, terrorism has a new face in the
1990s. Today, terrorists take advantage of greater
openness and the explosion of information and weapons
technology. The new technologies of terror and their
increasing availability, along with the increasing mobility
of terrorists, raise chilling prospects of vulnerability to
chemical, biological and other kinds of attacks, bringing
each of us into the category of possible victim. This is a
threat to all humankind.
Beyond the physical damage of each attack, there is
an even greater residue of psychological damage, hard to
measure but slow to heal. Every bomb, every bomb
10

threat, has an insidious effect on free and open institutions;
the kinds of institutions everyone in this body is working so
hard to build. Each time an innocent man or woman or
child is killed, it makes the future more hazardous for the
rest of us, for each violent act saps the confidence that is so
crucial to peace and prosperity.
In every corner of the world, with the active support
of United Nations agencies, people are struggling to build
better futures based on bonds of trust connecting them with
their fellow citizens and with partners and investors from
around the world. The glimpse of growing prosperity in
Northern Ireland was a crucial factor in the Good Friday
Agreement. But that took confidence, confidence that
cannot be bought in times of violence. We can measure
each attack in the grisly statistics of dead and wounded. But
what are the wounds we cannot measure? In the Middle
East, in Asia, in South America — how many agreements
have been thwarted after bombs blew up? How many
businesses will never be created in places crying out for
investments of time and money? How many talented young
people in countries represented here have turned their backs
on public service? The question is not only how many lives
have been lost in each attack, but how many futures were
lost in their aftermath.
There is no justification for killing innocents.
Ideology, religion and politics, even deprivation and
righteous grievance, do not justify it. We must seek to
understand the roiled waters in which terror occurs. Of
course we must. Often in my own experience I have seen
that where peace is making progress, terror is a desperate
act to turn back the tide of history. The Omagh bombing
came as peace was succeeding in Northern Ireland. In the
Middle East, whenever we get close to another step towards
peace, its enemies respond with terror. We must not let this
stall our momentum. The bridging of ancient hatreds is,
after all, a leap of faith — a break with the past — and
thus a frightening threat to those who cannot let go of their
own hatred. Because they fear the future, in these cases
terrorists seek to blow the peacemakers back into the past.
We must also acknowledge that there are economic
sources of this rage as well. Poverty, inequality and masses
of disenfranchised young people are fertile fields for the
siren call of the terrorists and their claims of advancing
social justice. But deprivation cannot justify destruction; nor
can inequity ever atone for murder. The killing of innocents
is not a social programme.
Nevertheless, our resolute opposition to terrorism does
not mean we can ever be indifferent to the conditions that
foster it. The most recent United Nations Human
Development Report suggests the gulf is widening
between the world’s haves and have-nots. We must work
harder to treat the sources of despair before they turn into
the poison of hatred.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once wrote that the only
revolutionary is a man who has nothing to lose. We must
show people they have everything to gain by embracing
cooperation and renouncing violence. This is not simply
an American or a Western responsibility; it is the world’s
responsibility. Developing nations have an obligation to
spread new wealth fairly, to create new opportunities, to
build new, open economies. Developed nations have an
obligation to help developing nations stay on the path of
prosperity and to spur global economic growth. A week
ago I outlined ways we can build a stronger international
economy to benefit not only all nations, but all citizens
within them.
Some believe that terrorism’s principal fault line
centres on what they see as an inevitable clash of
civilizations. This is an issue that deserves a lot of debate
in this great Hall. Specifically, many believe there is an
inevitable clash between Western civilization and values
and Islamic civilization and values. I believe this view is
terribly wrong. False prophets may use and abuse any
religion to justify whatever political objectives they
have — even cold-blooded murder. Some may have the
world believe that Almighty God Himself, the merciful,
grants a licence to kill; but that is not our understanding
of Islam.
A quarter of the world’s population is Muslim, from
Africa to the Middle East to Asia and to the United
States, where Islam is one of our fastest growing faiths.
There are over 1,200 mosques and Islamic centres in the
United States, and that number is rapidly increasing. The
6 million Americans who worship there will tell you there
is no inherent clash between Islam and America.
Americans respect and honour Islam.
As I talk to Muslim leaders in my country and
around the world, I see again that we share the same
hopes and aspirations: to live in peace and security, to
provide for our children, to follow the faith of our
choosing, to build a better life than our parents knew and
to pass on brighter possibilities to our children.
Of course, we are not identical. There are important
differences that cross race and culture and religion which
demand understanding and deserve respect. But every
11

river has a crossing place. Even as we struggle here in
America, like the United Nations, to reconcile all
Americans to each other and to find greater unity in our
increasing diversity, we will remain on a course of
friendship with and respect for the Muslim world. We will
continue to look for common values, common interests and
common endeavours. I agree very much with the spirit
expressed by these words of Mohammed: “Rewards for
prayers by people assembled together are twice those for
prayers said at home.”
When it comes to terrorism, there should be no
dividing line between Muslims and Jews, Protestants and
Catholics, Serbs and Albanians, developed societies and
emerging countries. The only dividing line is between those
who practise, support or tolerate terror and those who
understand that it is murder, plain and simple.
If terrorism is at the top of the American agenda and
should be at the top of the world’s agenda, what, then, are
the concrete steps we can take together to protect our
common destiny? What are our common obligations? At
least, I believe, they are these: to give terrorists no support,
no sanctuary, no financial assistance; to bring pressure on
States that do; to act together to step up extradition and
prosecution; to sign the global anti-terror conventions; to
strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention and enforce
the Chemical Weapons Convention; to promote stronger
domestic laws and control the manufacture and export of
explosives; to raise international standards for airport
security; to combat the conditions that spread violence and
despair.
We are working to do our part. Our intelligence and
law enforcement communities are tracking terrorist
networks in cooperation with other Governments. Some of
those we believe responsible for the recent bombing of our
embassies have been brought to justice. Early this week I
will ask our Congress to provide emergency funding to
repair our embassies, to improve security, to expand the
worldwide fight against terrorism and to help our friends in
Kenya and Tanzania with the wounds they have suffered.
But no matter how much each of us does alone, our
progress will be limited without our common efforts.
We will also do our part to address the sources of
despair and alienation through the Agency for International
Development in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in
Eastern Europe, in Haiti and elsewhere. We will continue
our strong support for the United Nations Development
Programme, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United
Nations Children’s Fund, the World Bank and the World
Food Programme. We also recognize the critical role
these agencies play and the importance of all countries,
including the United States, in paying their fair share.
In closing, let me urge all of us to think in new
terms on terrorism, to see it not as a clash of cultures, or
political action by other means, or a divine calling, but as
a clash between the forces of the past and the forces of
the future, between those who tear down and those who
build up, between hope and fear, between chaos and
community.
The fight will not be easy. But every nation will be
strengthened in joining it, in working to give real meaning
to the words of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights we signed 50 years ago. It is very, very important
that we do this together.
Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the authors of the
Universal Declaration. She said, in one of her many
speeches in support of the United Nations when it was
just beginning,
“All agreements and all peace are built on
confidence. You cannot have peace and you cannot
get on with other people in the world unless you
have confidence in them.”
It is not necessary that we solve all the world’s
problems to have confidence in one another. It is not
necessary that we agree on all the world’s issues to have
confidence in one another. It is not even necessary that
we understand every single difference among us to have
confidence in one another. But it is necessary that we
affirm our belief in the primacy of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and therefore that together
we say that terror is not a way to tomorrow. It is only a
throwback to yesterday, and together, together we can
meet it and overcome its threats, its injuries and its fears
with confidence.


I would like at the
outset to extend sincere congratulations to Mr. Opertti on
his election as President of this new session, the fifty-third
session of the General Assembly. I wish him every success
in presiding over its meetings and conducting its work.
Also, I cannot but extend heartfelt thanks to
Mr. Opertti's predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy Y. Udovenko, the
Minister for Foreign Affairs of friendly Ukraine, for the
efforts he expended during his presidency at the fifty-
second session. I wish him success in his future
endeavours.
Here we come again to this universal forum, to meet,
discuss and debate questions that concern our nations and
peoples. This has become more necessary and pressing than
ever before. The world in which we live today, and in
which, God willing, future generations will live, has grown
smaller in terms of geography and time, but to our great
regret its problems and crises are still as great and as
complicated as ever. They have even become greater and
more complicated as a result of their interconnectedness
and interrelated nature and the interactions among their
ramifications and effects.
We cannot but wonder, while sitting here within the
framework of this universal, international organization,
about the events and developments that occurred in our
world during the past year and about those emerging
questions and crises that call for our utmost attention. Have
we managed to take steps towards the better world we seek
for our countries and peoples? Have we succeeded in
settling any of the bloody conflicts or in pacifying any
region fraught with tension and any of the chronic hotbeds
of tension in the network of regional and international
relations? Has democracy flourished and have human rights
been consolidated? Have we dealt with the problem of
terrorism and succeeded in eliminating its causes and
manifestations? How far have we gone in our efforts to
combat the devastating scourge of drugs? And to what
extent have we achieved the aspirations to put an end to
poverty, misery and unemployment; to find humanitarian
solutions to the phenomenon of migration and the mass
flow of refugees; to eliminate international organized
crime syndicates; to prevent the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction in general, and nuclear weapons in
particular; to halt the arms race; and to devote more
resources and energy to programmes of development,
education and welfare? These are major questions
concerning urgent issues and problems that call for our
utmost attention and efforts in order to attain these long-
awaited solutions and remedies.
During the past months, we have all followed the
developments of the economic and monetary crises that
have engulfed the States of South-East Asia and the Far
East. We have seen how these developments have led
these States to stagnation, inflation and social suffering
after they had been models of prosperity and rapid growth
for the world.
Also, we are still following with grave concern the
economic and financial upheaval experienced by the
Russian Federation, to whose new Government I would
like on this occasion to wish success in its efforts to cope
with this turmoil and to extricate the country from the
difficulties it is facing.
Naturally, we are concerned at the prospect of the
extension of the adverse consequences of these turbulent
economic conditions to other States and regions of the
world that have been relatively free from them so far.
This brings us to the repercussions of all of this on the
economies of our States in the Gulf region and the
Middle East, especially in the light of the drop in the
world oil prices and the decline of the revenue earned
from this vital commodity on which the producing and
exporting States are primarily dependent to implement
their programmes and attain their development
aspirations.
If these developments prove one thing, it is the
extent to which organic interdependence and interrelation
have come to characterize the economies of the world,
control its markets and define the constantly fluid relation
between its producers and its consumers. This, in turn,
prompts us to deal with these monetary and economic
conditions from a global, open perspective free from
isolationism and narrow-mindedness. It is also incumbent
upon us to make the necessary efforts to cope with the
present crisis on the basis of international partnership,
social justice and developmental and monetary balance,
and to prevent it from worsening and becoming, God
forbid, a worldwide economic recession. If this were to
happen, it would have extremely adverse political, social
28

and economic effects with unpredictable consequences for
us all.
We speak about global concerns and questions, but
regional crises and conditions have not been any better
during recent months. The peace to which we have aspired
in our region is still, to our great regret, an elusive mirage.
It is indeed very distressing, even enraging, for one to see
that several years of negotiations, endeavours and mediation
have failed, so far, to bring the peace process in the Middle
East to its desired objective: the achievement of a
comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the
principles of international legitimacy, on the resolutions of
this world Organization which is hosting our current debate,
and on the basis of security, stability and mutual
recognition among all nations and peoples of the region.
It is also regrettable that the peace process has not
experienced any positive development since the coming into
office of the present Government in Israel; rather, it has
suffered a serious setback. At a certain time there were
hopes and expectations that the Middle East was on the
verge of a genuine peace allowing everyone to live in
safety and tranquillity, and to enjoy equal rights. The hope
was that the wars that had set the region ablaze and had
bled it for so long would come to an end, to be superseded
by a process of development, cooperation and prosperity.
In the light of those hopes, a series of economic
conferences related to the peace process was launched, the
last of which was the Al-Doha Conference, after which
these conferences came to a halt. This is indeed a reflection
of the situation which the peace efforts reached and the
difficulties that have faced and are still facing these efforts.
The essential problem facing the peace process, in our
view, is the fact that Israel, under its current Prime Minister
and its hard-line Government, has reneged, and is still
reneging, on the principles which originally formed the
basis for the peace process, and on the accords concluded
in the framework of that process between the former Israeli
Government and its Arab neighbours.
Here, I would like to remind the Israeli Government
that the peace process was based on the implementation of
Security Council resolutions, especially resolutions 242
(1967) and 338 (1973), regarding the need for withdrawal
from the Arab territories occupied in 1967, and resolution
425 (1978) regarding southern Lebanon and the Lebanese
Bekaa. This process was also based on the principle of land
for peace and the attainment by the Palestinian people of
their legitimate rights. We view all of these principles as
international obligations, which Israel, as a State Member
of the United Nations, must honour and abide by.
In this regard, allow me to depart from the text of
my statement to say how fervently I wish that Prime
Minister Netanyahu had been sincere in his statement
yesterday, when he claimed he was as interested in
providing security and peace for Palestinian children as he
was for his own children. However, the bitter reality with
which we are all familiar says otherwise. Since
Mr. Netanyahu took office, his Government has been
pursuing a policy contrary to the objectives and the spirit
of the peace process in the region. His failure to
implement the accords signed with the Palestinian side
has worsened the suffering of all segments of the
Palestinian people, including the Palestinian children who
suffer harsh living conditions where they lack the
minimum basic requirements of life in education, health
and nutrition. I wish Mr. Netanyahu had informed us of
the future awaiting these children, who are chafing under
the effect of the economic embargo imposed on them by
his own Government.
In this context, I have to underline the tragic
conditions of the Palestinian people under occupation and
the daily arbitrary practices they suffer at the hands of the
Israeli forces, as if they had not suffered enough from
1948 until the present day. Here, I would like to single
out in particular settlement activity, the confiscation of
land, the demolition of houses and the driving of whole
families out of their homes. All of this should strengthen
our resolve to intensify efforts towards achieving a just
solution that would restore to the Palestinian people their
legitimate rights, including their right to establish their
independent State, with holy Al-Quds as its capital, and
secure the withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied
Arab territories in the Syrian Golan, south Lebanon and
the Lebanese Bekaa in conformity with United Nations
resolutions and the principles of international legitimacy.
This would make it possible to speak of genuine peace in
the region on a just, comprehensive basis and on the basis
of mutual respect and security for all.
I would also like to indicate that the decision by the
Israeli Government on 21 June 1998 to expand the
municipal limits of the city of Jerusalem, which would
alter the legal status of the Holy City, is a direct
contravention of the relevant resolutions of the Security
Council and the General Assembly. Moreover, such a step
contradicts the accords concluded between the Israelis and
the Palestinians and violates the basis of the peace
process which provides for deferring the question of
29

Al-Quds so that it would be agreed upon in the permanent
status negotiations. Therefore, we express our support for
the presidential statement issued by the Security Council on
13 July 1998 in response to the Israeli action. The Council
called upon Israel to refrain from executing its plans and
from taking any action that would prejudice the outcome of
such negotiations or pre-empt the accords that they may
result in. The statement also calls upon Israel to comply
scrupulously with its legal obligations and responsibilities
under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949.
I would also like to place on record our satisfaction
with the result of the voting at the 89th meeting of the
General Assembly?s fifty-second session, on 7 July 1998,
which resulted in granting Palestine, in its capacity as
observer in this international body, additional rights and
privileges of participation in the sessions and work of the
Assembly. We view this step as a simple rehabilitation and
a modest step towards endorsing the membership of
Palestine and its legitimate position in the framework of the
United Nations and its institutions, in the hope that the day
will come when, God willing, we will see the Palestine
delegation representing a State admitted as a full-fledged,
active member in this universal, international organization
in the near future.
The consolidation of peace and security, the
enhancement of the principles of mutual confidence and
good neighbourliness, the peaceful settlement of all
conflicts and disputes through dialogue and peaceful means,
and commitment to the principles of international law are
the foundations of the policy of my country, Qatar, vis-à-
vis our neighbours. That is why we consider the question
of security and peace in the Gulf region and the Middle
East a vital question of the highest priority for us and for
our brothers in the Gulf Cooperation Council. From this
perspective, we call for the settlement of the dispute
between our sister State, the United Arab Emirates, and the
friendly Islamic Republic of Iran over the islands of Abu
Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb through bilateral
diplomatic efforts or, if need be, by resorting to
international arbitration. This would contribute to the
evolution of Gulf-Iranian relations.
On another level, the Iraqi crisis, in its turn, has been
unresolved for years and there are no signs on the horizon
of an impending, appropriate solution to it. With the
persistence of this situation in Baghdad, which could erupt
at any moment, and with all its potential for destabilizing
the entire region, the condition of the Iraqi people has
reached tragic proportions under the effect of the
international sanctions that have been imposed upon the
country for years. Whether or not we are convinced of the
usefulness of these sanctions in achieving their envisaged
objectives, and while we fully assert the need to
implement all relevant Security Council resolutions, we
would also express the hope that the embargo imposed on
the Iraqi people will be lifted in order to mitigate the
harsh suffering it has caused and the adverse effects it has
had on these people.
We view with concern the tense situation in the
neighbouring region of the Horn of Africa, where States
and people have suffered numerous tragedies and
hardships as a result of border and civil conflicts and
wars. These have resulted in the squandering of resources
and potentials and aggravated the phenomena of poverty,
starvation and migration.
I would like to single out the Republic of the Sudan,
the suffering of whose people, we hope, will end in a
manner that preserves its territorial integrity and the unity
of its people. We also hope that all differences among the
States of the region will be settled by peaceful means and
on the basis of international legitimacy, so as to ensure
cooperation and good-neighbourliness among all States
and peoples.
Furthermore, we in the State of Qatar feel that the
lifting of the embargo and sanctions imposed on the sister
Libyan Jamahiriya is a basic and popular demand,
especially in the wake of recent positive developments in
this matter. In this regard, we would express our hope and
confidence that the efforts currently under way will result
in a judicial and diplomatic formula satisfactory to all
parties to this question and put a definitive end to its
repercussions. This would ensure the lifting of the
embargo and the sanctions imposed on Libya and close
the file on the Lockerbie question, while doing justice to
all parties concerned.
In the same vein, and proceeding from the strong
attachment of the State of Qatar to the principle of the
peaceful settlement of disputes and from its profound
belief in the necessity of consolidating security and
stability and avoiding the dangers of war, hostilities and
clashes of any kind, I wish to express our great concern
over the regrettable events unfolding in Afghanistan and
the escalation of tension along its borders with Iran.
While stressing our conviction that the best means to
solve the Afghan crisis in its various aspects lie in the
diplomatic good offices which are proceeding under the
supervision and auspices of the United Nations, we appeal
30

to the parties concerned to desist from any action to further
escalate the conflict or widen its scope.
Moreover, I cannot but touch upon the tragedy of the
people of the Kosovo region, which is now suffering the
same civil conflicts, “ethnic cleansing” and mass migration
that have plagued other peoples of the former Yugoslavia.
While thanking the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his tireless efforts and
initiatives to defuse tensions and settle conflicts throughout
the world, we call upon him once again to continue and
redouble his efforts to end these conflicts and prevent their
expansion and escalation, especially in Kosovo,
Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa.
The crises and conflicts I have cited are but examples
of the magnitude of the challenges and tasks which we
must face. There are many thorny questions and
complicated problems to which all of us, the inhabitants of
this planet, regardless of our different races and beliefs,
must work together to seek solutions, for the sake of our
future and that of our children and grandchildren.
Foremost and most serious among these is the
question of the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, including chemical, biological and, especially,
nuclear weapons. A few months ago, we, like the entire
world, were shocked by the disturbing developments arising
from the exchange of nuclear-weapons tests by India and
Pakistan and by their inherent threat of unleashing a
conventional and nuclear arms race between those two large
neighbours. Here, I would like to recall the position of my
country on such tests: We call for the exercise of wisdom
and the prompt signing by all States, without exception, of
the treaties banning nuclear tests and limiting the
proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction, while
earnestly seeking to reduce the number of such weapons in
the world in preparation for their complete elimination. This
is specifically what we would like to see in our region,
which, I emphasize, we would wish entirely free of
weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons.
In this regard, I would point out that Israel is the only
nuclear-weapon State in the region and the only State that
has so far refused to sign the treaties relevant to the
prohibition of such weapons and the prevention of their
proliferation. If it persists, this situation will lead to tension
and the repercussions arising from the imbalance of power
it causes. Therefore, in our view, it is necessary and
imperative to take concrete steps to eliminate these weapons
from the region, so as to avoid the risks of launching an
arms race that would further destabilize the region.
The State of Qatar also signed the Convention on the
Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and
Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their
Destruction, which was concluded in Oslo. We signed it
officially in Ottawa last December, prompted by our
belief in the correctness of banning these mines and our
awareness of the many humanitarian tragedies resulting
from their use, especially among innocent civilians in the
wake of the wars during which they had originally been
laid.
Other worldwide scourges, which we have long seen
proliferate and expand, are no less serious than weapons
of mass destruction in terms of their devastating and
comprehensive effects on the peoples and States of the
world. Drugs, organized crime, famine and the disruption
of environmental and climatic conditions have all become
global threats. We sincerely believe that it is impossible
to tackle these threats except through comprehensive
international endeavours and programmes.
In this regard, I would like, on behalf of my
Government, to thank and congratulate the friendly
Government of Italy and the delegations of the world that
participated in the United Nations Diplomatic Conference
of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an
International Criminal Court, which was held in Rome
last June and July. It culminated in a declaration on the
establishment of this Court, the jurisdiction of which will
include trying those responsible for acts of genocide and
war criminals.
I would also like to refer to the twentieth special
session of the General Assembly devoted to countering
the world drug problem, held in this Hall early last June.
It showed us the magnitude of this intractable problem
and its serious effects on all people of the world without
exception. My Government would like to thank the
friendly Government of Mexico for taking the initiative of
proposing to the General Assembly the convening of the
special session in order to draw up a comprehensive
international strategy, under the auspices of the United
Nations, to cope with this problem, which threatens
everybody.
The need to protect and conserve the environment
has become a pressing question that requires all of us, as
peoples inhabiting this planet, to devote greater efforts
and resources to addressing it in a framework of
coordination and cooperation on a comprehensive
international level and in the context of the assumption by
each of us of his own responsibilities and duties. There is
31

no doubt that the environment today has been severely
damaged by the faulty policies and practices still pursued
by some industrial States and institutions. This damage is
also a result of mankind?s age-old neglect of and
indifference to its surroundings. However, the time has now
come to undertake a coordinated and serious universal
effort to put an end to these abuses and practices, which
clearly threaten the future of the globe and all its peoples
and regions with a potential calamity.
The right of man to live in dignity and freedom
remains. For the Government and the people of Qatar it is
a sacred divine right, which we must all respect and
protect. Unfortunately, we cannot confirm that human rights
and man?s freedom to live in dignity and security are
protected and available everywhere in today?s world. There
are still numerous disturbing exceptions and violations in
many regions and States of the world. Fortunately,
however, we are witnessing significant progress towards
substantial recognition of these legitimate human rights, of
greater political, social and cultural democracy and of
humanitarian and civilizational openness.
It is our sincere hope and desire that that progress will
be consolidated and strengthened throughout the world. In
Qatar, we are especially proud that, under the auspices of
His Highness the Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa
Al-Thani and under his instructions, vital pioneering steps
are being taken to achieve more democracy and to
consolidate participation by all segments of the population
through the exercise of responsibility and freedom of
choice, the guarantee of social and civil rights and civic
duty, and respect for freedom of opinion, of speech and of
the press within the framework of the laws and the ideals
and values in which we believe and which we cherish.
As we stand today at the threshold of a new century
with its attendant rapid and continuous changes,
transformations and surprises and face the growing number
of tasks and the greater challenges they impose, we are
firmly convinced of the need for readiness and preparedness
to meet these challenges, undertake the tasks assigned to us
and shoulder our responsibilities in a spirit of cooperation,
coordination, friendship, mutual respect and commonality
of interest for the benefit of our countries and peoples.
Proceeding from our deep faith in God Almighty, this
is the least we can do for ourselves, our countries and our
peoples and for our one world. Our responsibility to the
future generations dictates that we must provide for them a
better world, a better life and a better future. May God
guide us.