Allow me, on
my own behalf and on behalf of my country, to express our
congratulations to you, Sir, on your election as President of
the General Assembly for the current session. I am certain
that, with a person of your qualities and experience at the
helm, the Assembly will achieve the desired results.
I wish to express my congratulations and gratitude
to your predecessor, my friend Chancellor Didier Opertti
of Uruguay, for his efficient work.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan,
for his dedication and his contribution to the renewal of
the Organization, and to reiterate to him our confidence
in his work and his leadership.
This session of the General Assembly is the last one
of the twentieth century. In the last hundred years, despite
two disastrous global conflagrations, the nations of the
world have come to the collective realization that all wars
are civil wars, all killing is fratricidal, and that any minor
conflict could, by escalating to the nuclear level, spark
humankind’s final war. It has thus become clear that in
order to survive and prosper, nations must be united in a
basic agreement on the prevention of war and the
protection of human rights, with the preservation of the
human race as a first priority.
Today, on the eve of the new millennium, after half
a century marked by setbacks as well as by major
successes, the United Nations must renew its mandate as
a source of social and economic development and as a
force for peace.
Here I would prefer to avoid pro forma statements
and present instead some concrete and explicit
considerations, as we believe that this Organization must
be the catalyst of a fair and realistic response to the
challenges of our common destiny.
No one could argue with the lofty principles
underlying the Charter of the United Nations. Its
unquestioned universality is one of the characteristics of
the second half of the twentieth century. We agree that
respecting the Charter must mean, above all else, applying
those principles effectively, without interpreting them in
ways that distort the purposes of the Charter.
Our collective experience of over half a century has
shown that the proper application of the Charter of the
United Nations is indeed the best and safest way of
achieving and consolidating the benefits of world peace.
One of the Charter’s cherished principles is the obligation
of States not to interfere, directly or indirectly, in the
affairs of other States, as sovereign equality excludes
8

interference in the internal jurisdiction of other countries. It
also implies complying, in good faith, with agreed
commitments; observing the principles underlying them;
and simultaneously respecting freedoms and human rights.
This is a fundamental aspect of international affairs.
The founders of the United Nations — and my
grandfather was among them — were not mistaken in their
belief that international peace is based on the sovereignty
of Member States. Nor were they wrong when, ruling out
the unilateral use of threats and force against the integrity
and independence of States, they envisaged the use of
effective collective means.
Over the past year, we have worked with
determination to put an end to the 40-year-old conflict in
Colombia. We have reached agreement on an agenda for
negotiations between our Government and the Colombia
Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), the oldest and largest
of the guerrilla groups. But as the world knows, we are
negotiating in the midst of conflict, without benefit of a
ceasefire, so the killings, kidnappings and attacks by the
guerrillas and the “self-defence” groups are still taking a
high human, social and economic toll. Achieving peace will
require time, patience and optimism in order to successfully
overcome the obstacles and doubts inherent in this process.
When I last stood upon this rostrum, one year ago, I
outlined a new direction for my country: to work to put an
end to the corruption and violence in Colombia. I must
admit that the past year has been difficult; the challenges
we face are complex. The most important lesson we have
learned is that peace is a primary goal for Colombia. Not
peace at any price, but a genuine peace that strengthens our
democracy, preserves territorial unity and gives every
Colombian his or her rightful place in our common destiny.
The quest for peace is not limited to dialogue and
negotiation or to putting an end to armed conflict.
Achieving peace requires much more than convincing the
parties to sit at the negotiating table and reach
compromises. It requires rebuilding a society and State in
which the causes of conflict have been eradicated, which
strengthens the State and helps to create the foundations of
a stable and lasting peace.
We Colombians have taken seriously the responsibility
of achieving peace. As our recent history makes clear,
international support is also necessary for us to face our
challenges. Colombia needs financial support from
multilateral organizations, from friendly countries and from
non-governmental organizations to complement my
Administration’s efforts. Such support is key for
Colombia.
To this end, we have formulated a strategic package
for peace, economic prosperity and the strengthening of
the State; it is called Plan Colombia. It synthesizes our
economic, political and social views and aims to defend
Colombia from the threat of drug trafficking, to
strengthen our democratic institutions throughout the
national territory, and to guarantee the security of our
citizens and the full enjoyment of their rights and
freedoms. For that reason, we are counting on the
solidarity and contributions of the international
community.
Given the complexity of the process, it is clear that
cooperation for peace must be carried out with the utmost
caution. Careless actions can thwart these efforts. That is
why we are increasingly concerned by the groundless
rumours of alleged military interventions in Colombia,
whose supposed purpose is to help my country in the
struggle in which it is engaged.
I would like from this rostrum solemnly to state that
Colombia, true to the principles that govern our Republic,
rejects any foreign interference or intervention in its
internal affairs. We Colombians will work to overcome
our own challenges. These are times of cooperation, not
intervention.
My Government also believes that the peace process
is key in winning the fight against the worldwide problem
of drugs. That immoral trade, which ruins lives, fuels
violence, promotes corruption and destroys our ecosystem,
must be opposed by all nations, by all available means.
To that end, we must coordinate our efforts regarding
production and consumption as well as the numerous
links between these two evils.
Over the past two decades, Colombia has been on
the front lines of this battle, facing down the drug cartels
and their campaigns of intimidation and terror. In the
process we have lost many of our finest citizens, to whom
we owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude.
But as the major Colombian cartels are wiped out,
the illegal drug trade has become a kind of hydra — more
spread out, more international and less public, and
therefore more difficult to defeat. To vanquish it requires
a genuine partnership among the countries that consume
and produce illegal drugs, underpinned by the principles
of joint responsibility, reciprocity and fairness.
9

Increased efforts must also be made to confiscate from
drug traffickers the money and property they have obtained
from that illegal trade. In particular, we must fight the
smuggling of industrial products to Colombia, which serves
to launder drug money and ends up suffocating Colombia’s
industries. We must also halt the flow of precursor
chemicals needed for the production of narcotics. And
multinational corporations that benefit in one way or
another should be held accountable for not taking the
necessary precautions to prevent their helping and
participating in drug trafficking through negligence.
There will be no peace in Colombia as long as the
greedy businesses of drug trafficking and the black market
in weapons continue supplying irregular groups. We are
very concerned about the significant amounts of various
types of weapons illegally entering Colombian territory.
There is an urgent, inescapable need for all Governments to
cooperate to control and halt this unacceptable traffic in
death and destruction.
For the last two years, since the first shock wave of
the so-called Asian crisis, the economy has been suffering
the difficulties of instability and slow-down. This crisis has
shown that no State, however powerful, is immune, and that
the poor countries have suffered the most from its
consequences.
The hypothesis that capital flows would promote
accelerated and sustained economic growth has faded in the
light of the facts. We have seen the growth of enormous
sums of virtual money, whose uncontrolled movements
have brought economic turbulence, unemployment, more
poverty and even, in some cases, political instability. Latin
America has become the most recent victim of the crisis.
We must, therefore, give the most serious consideration and
priority to the design of a new financial structure. This will
be viable and efficient only if it involves increased
resources from multilateral financial institutions. It must
also involve support mechanisms to lessen the social impact
of structural adjustment programmes, especially those
affecting the most vulnerable. The Secretary-General, Mr.
Kofi Annan, said so when he spoke about the need to
respect essential values to give a human face to the global
market.
At the end of the twentieth century, we are moving
into an era of powerful changes, accompanied by
worrisome tensions. Globalization is deepening, but it
coexists with forces that encourage fragmentation. As the
peace processes move forward in many regions, new
violence explodes in others. Wealth is expanding to
unprecedented levels, but alienation and poverty persist.
The technological means that promote interdependence
and development also support networks of organized
crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and
arms trafficking. New struggles and conflicts have
appeared, some using means for which the international
community does not seem to be prepared.
Global confrontation is a thing of the past, as are the
old plots resulting from strife and spheres of influence.
These are times to think in terms of a real community of
nations, as competing partners, but mainly as partners that
share a common destiny.
There is, nevertheless, a perception that not
everything is going well. The world is still not satisfied
with itself. There are forces of destabilization and
imbalance which put at risk the achievements made to
date. Many millions still suffer from malnutrition,
illiteracy, disease and exclusion.
We must, therefore, revitalize international
cooperation to make the best of globalization, to distribute
its benefits more fairly so that development and peace can
complement each other efficiently and productively.
Revitalizing cooperation is not an option; it is a duty.
After over five decades of existence, the United
Nations has partially fulfilled its promise. It has been able
to avoid the horrors of a new world holocaust. But the
anticipated order, wherein the United Nations would
guarantee peace, security and development for all peoples,
remains to be built.
After the progress achieved with the Secretary-
General’s reform proposals, we see with great concern
that the pace of change has slowed. Reform must be a
continuing process. The United Nations must continue
adapting ever more effectively to new conditions and
realities. But this cannot simply take a form that is a
product of the post-cold-war era. We need a concerted
will. From various directions there are calls for the
Security Council to become more effective, to consult the
spirit of the Charter and to balance the realities of world
power with the just aspirations of those peoples which are
least strong.
The system of collective security is one of the
cornerstones of multilateralism. It is the rational response
to interventionist or isolationist tendencies, the maximum
guarantee of the principles to which we all adhere.
Colombia reiterates its confidence in these principles of
10

collective security and its commitment to work, decisively,
with the different sectors of the international community in
order to invigorate the capacity of the Security Council to
respond to problems and crises in all regions. That is why
my country has submitted its candidature for a seat on the
Council for the period 2001-2002.
The time for simple reform intentions is past. With the
arrival of the new millennium, the historic moment has
come to begin anew real negotiations in the different
institutions. We need to find genuinely universal paradigms
to ensure that multilateralism leads to the globalization of
solidarity. It is necessary to leave behind generalities or
fragmented criteria in order to find a comprehensive vision
of the United Nations system. A great effort of coordination
is required between these institutions and the new
international actors, including non-governmental
organizations, and the promotion of a real association
within a globalized but fairer system. The twentieth century
has demonstrated that, alongside the horror and cruelty,
there has prevailed what was once considered utopian: the
United Nations.
Our paramount commitment must be to the human
condition, the ethics and culture of peoples, solidarity and
respect for others, regardless of ethnic, ideological, religious
or any other considerations. We cannot give in until the day
when the freedom and democracy proclaimed in our
documents have become a universal reality. When we have
liberated the human spirit so that it may fully develop its
enormous potential, we will have laid the foundations of a
world truly at peace.
Colombia, amidst its difficulties and problems, does
not want to be, nor will it be, simply a witness to the
changes of these times. Colombia is not a military or
economic power. Nonetheless, it is respected by the
community of nations for its unlimited and unconditional
support for the norms and principles of international law.
We offer our contribution — modest, but part of the
common effort — to a better future for all mankind.


First of all, I would like
to warmly congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the
presidency of the fifty-fourth session of the General
Assembly and to wish you every success in this difficult
office.
I should also like to thank Foreign Minister Opertti for
his tireless dedication in successfully presiding over the
fifty-third session of the General Assembly.
I welcome Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga, with which
Germany has long enjoyed friendly ties, as new Members
of the world Organization.
I endorse the statement of my Finnish colleague, Tarja
Halonen, on behalf of the European Union.
This session of the General Assembly is the last in
this “century of extremes”, as the British historian Eric
Hobsbawm called the century now drawing to a close. That
is reason enough to take stock. Since its foundation, the
United Nations has greatly enhanced relations between
peoples. The development of international law, protection
of human rights, decolonization, worldwide humanitarian
and disaster aid, arousing awareness of the great problems
facing mankind, such as population growth, poverty and the
global environmental crisis — all of this would be
inconceivable without the United Nations.
There is no alternative to the United Nations
objectives and values — peace, human rights, freedom,
justice and development — and they have gained
worldwide recognition, even if, unfortunately, they are not
always respected everywhere. Nevertheless, even after more
than 50 years, there is still a long way to go before they are
universally respected and implemented. Despite all its
efforts, the international community has not yet succeeded
in ridding our planet of war, oppression, tyranny, expulsion
and grave human rights violations, including genocide. At
the close of this century, the United Nations and its
Member States are unable to fully master their core task,
namely, safeguarding peace and security. The great hope
that following the end of the East-West conflict the era of
multilateral cooperation and worldwide rule of law would
dawn has not yet come to fruition.
Today the question of peacekeeping must be
considered under conditions very different to those during
the United Nations early years. First, most conflicts today
are internal rather than international, as in earlier times.
Secondly, the role of the nation State has been
considerably relativized by the increased importance of
human rights and the globalization of the economy and
society. Against this background, the question of
peacekeeping arises more and more in an area of tension
between traditional State sovereignty and protection of
human rights.
What is to be done when entire States collapse and
the civilian population is massacred in never-ending civil
wars from all sides? What if ethnic tensions in a State are
partly provoked by criminal Governments, which then
respond with pogroms, mass expulsions and mass
murders, even genocide? Should the United Nations then
regard State sovereignty as more important than
protection of individuals and their rights? Rwanda,
Kosovo and East Timor are dramatic examples of this.
In many ways, therefore, the Kosovo conflict
represents a turning point. The international community
could no longer tolerate a State waging war against its
own people and using terror and expulsion as a political
instrument. As Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his
brilliant and trail-blazing speech to the fifty-fifth session
of the Commission on Human Rights, no Government has
the right to use the cover of the principle of State
sovereignty to violate human rights. Non-interference in
internal affairs must no longer be misused as a shield for
dictators and murderers. The World Conference on
Human Rights in Vienna reaffirmed this in 1993, with the
approval of all United Nations Members States, with the
words:
“the promotion and protection of all human rights is
a legitimate concern of the international
community”. (Vienna Declaration and Programme
of Action, I, para. 4)
However, the Kosovo conflict also marks a change
of direction in the development of international relations.
How will the international community decide in the
future — this question has just been raised once more in
East Timor — when it comes to preventing massive
human rights violations against an entire people? Two
developments are conceivable.

A practice of humanitarian interventions could evolve
outside the United Nations system. This would be a very
problematic development. The intervention in Kosovo,
which took place in a situation where the Security Council
had tied its own hands after all efforts to find a peaceful
solution had failed, was intended to provide emergency
assistance and, ultimately, to protect the displaced Kosovo
Albanians. The unity of the European States and the
Western Alliance, as well as various Security Council
resolutions, were of crucial significance here. However, this
step, which is only justified in this special situation, must
not set a precedent for weakening the United Nations
Security Council's monopoly on authorizing the use of legal
international force. Nor must it become a licence to use
external force under the pretext of humanitarian assistance.
This would open the door to the arbitrary use of power and
anarchy and throw the world back to the nineteenth century.
The only solution to this dilemma, therefore, is to
further develop the existing United Nations system in such
a way that in the future it is able to intervene in good time
in cases of very grave human rights violations, but not until
all means of settling conflicts peacefully have been
exhausted and — this is a crucial point — within a strictly
limited legal and controlled framework.
In the twenty-first century the individual and his rights
must take a more prominent place alongside the rights of
States in the concept of security as defined by the
international community. The reform of the Security
Council, the central body for safeguarding world peace,
must be oriented towards this principle. The Security
Council is, in fact, authorized to act, and able to do so,
where peace or security are at risk due to internal
developments. This has been demonstrated by a long chain
of decisions, from the apartheid resolution to the
interventions in Iraq, Bosnia and Haiti. However, in
Rwanda, Kosovo and the Congo, decision making in the
Security Council was blocked, thus rendering it unable to
live up to its responsibilities enshrined in the United
Nations Charter, with disastrous results for the peoples in
question.
These conflicts are a pressing reason, particularly in
view of the important Millennium General Assembly, to
finally carry out the long-overdue substantial reform of the
Security Council. The Security Council must be adapted to
the new realities of the global political situation. It must
have a more representative composition and, above all, it
must be equipped to react to the crises and conflicts of
today. Reform must involve enlargement to include both
more permanent and non-permanent members, as well as a
strengthening of its decision-making powers. As the
Assembly knows, Germany has for some time now
expressed its willingness to assume more and lasting
responsibility in this connection. We stand by this
unreservedly.
In the debate on reform we must not avoid the issue
of the permanent members' right of veto, a question of
key importance for the Security Council's capability to
act. The right of veto is regarded by many as outdated in
its current form. However, it is a situation with which we
have to reckon internationally for a long time to come.
How then can decision-making in the Security Council be
made more efficient?
According to the Charter, the Security Council acts
with the mandate, and on behalf, of all United Nations
Member States. But hitherto they have not been entitled
to learn why a State has exercised its right of veto. This
is not only neither democratic nor transparent, but also
makes it easier for States to veto a draft resolution
unilaterally for national rather than international interests.
The introduction of an obligation for a State to explain to
the General Assembly why it is vetoing a draft resolution
would make it more difficult to do so and thus bring
about substantial progress towards using the right of veto
more responsibly. Why should not the General Assembly
assume more responsibility in the future, too?
A second approach to making the international
peacekeeping system more efficient would be via Chapter
VIII of the United Nations Charter, namely by
strengthening the regional security systems and
redistributing tasks and areas of responsibility among
them and the United Nations. It is becoming clear that the
regional organizations could be allocated an even greater
implementation role. This would also foster the
capabilities of regional organizations to engage in security
cooperation, as well as their collaboration with the United
Nations. However, the primacy of the Security Council
remains absolutely essential.
Without reforms in the area of peacekeeping, the
Security Council will be circumvented more and more
frequently, resulting in the erosion of the Security Council
and, ultimately, of the entire United Nations system. The
United Nations, one of civilization's greatest achievements
this century, as well as the values and principles it
represents, would thus be at risk of subsiding into
insignificance. We must prevent that.
12

The disaster in East Timor is currently demonstrating
how necessary close cooperation is between a Security
Council capable of taking action and the countries in the
region. The Security Council's mandate to send a
multilateral peacekeeping force must be fully implemented.
Indonesia must now cooperate closely with the United
Nations Mission and do everything in its power to
guarantee its success. The bloodshed must end. The victims
must be helped. Those displaced must be able to return
home safely. Germany has already provided humanitarian
and food aid. We will send a medical corps to assist the
peacekeeping troops and make further contributions towards
rebuilding the destroyed country. I am confident that our
Parliament will lend this plan its full backing.
In Africa, the Great Lakes region, the Congo and
Sierra Leone have for many years been the scene of terrible
wars, mass murders, destruction and much suffering on the
part of refugees. The Organization of African Unity (OAU)
and the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) and its Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) have
done much to contain and resolve these conflicts. However,
these organizations also need the support of the United
Nations, in Sierra Leone, in the Congo and, in particular, in
the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Both parties to
the conflict must observe the agreements concluded and
work closely together with the United Nations and the OAU
so that the peace process now begun can be brought to a
successful conclusion.
The international community must focus on the causes
rather than merely the symptoms of wars and conflicts in
the context of multilateral peacekeeping. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan rightly called for a “culture of prevention” to
be developed in order to prevent the outbreak of wars and
avert natural disasters more effectively in future.
Everyone knows how difficult the transition from the
“culture of reaction” to the “culture of prevention” will be.
It takes a lot of persuading to summon up the political and
economic will for measures intended to prevent something
which we hope will never happen. However, on financial
grounds and, above all, on humanitarian grounds, it is our
duty and responsibility to revise our thinking here. Progress
is urgently required in four areas.
First, we must move on from early warning to early
response. The United Nations has considerable resources at
its disposal for preventive diplomacy, which must be used
even more. There is also a great potential for synergy in
cooperation with non-governmental organizations.
Secondly, peacekeeping operations must be carried
out before conflicts erupt. The United Nations mission in
Macedonia has set a standard in this respect.
Thirdly, disarmament and the non-proliferation of
means of mass destruction are in need of fresh political
impetus. It is essential that the Geneva negotiations gain
momentum, particularly in the fields of global nuclear
disarmament and the verification of biological weapons,
and in the implementation of the Chemical Weapons
Convention. Furthermore, Germany advocates the
adoption of a convention on preventing the illegal transfer
of small arms worldwide.
Fourthly, peace-building is a prevention task of
growing importance. With the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the United
Nations is facing one of the most comprehensive tests in
its history. Building public order by creating an efficient
judicial system and quickly sending the pledged
international police units is now crucial. Since the United
Nations began incorporating national police units in the
international standby system, they have been able to act
more swiftly. We must continue along this path.
Protection of human rights and the growing
democratization of States form the basis for a preventive
peace policy and civil conflict management. It is a
historical fact that democracies with a well-developed
civil society hardly ever wage war against each other.
Lasting economic success cannot be achieved in the
globalized information society of tomorrow without good
governance founded on human rights, the separation of
powers and a functioning legal and constitutional
framework.
In the field of human rights, welcome progress has
been made towards broadening the legal basis for
international relations, particularly during the last year.
The detention of Pinochet and the indictment of Milosevic
by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia are milestones along the path towards creating
a world in which the rule of law prevails. In future,
dictators and perpetrators of human rights violations will
no longer be able to rely on not being called to account
for their actions. This must also apply to the murderers of
Dili and those who issued the orders. Just like everywhere
else in the world, internal peace is contingent upon
justice.
The adoption of the Statute of the International
Criminal Court represented a quantum leap in the
13

development of international law. I call upon all States to
respect the integrity of the Rome Statute, to sign it and to
swiftly ratify it, so that the Court can commence work next
year.
Germany is doing all it can to bring about progress in
the following fields of human rights. The heinous crimes of
child trafficking and child prostitution must be banned
throughout the world, as must the use of child soldiers. In
the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts,
the age limit must be raised to 18.
In many countries women are still largely without
rights and protection and subjected to discrimination and
violence. This is an unacceptable injustice. Unfortunately,
our world is still a long way from genuine equality, even
with regard to fundamental rights. We must therefore aim
to adopt the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.
In our view, the death penalty cannot be justified
either ethically or legally. Together with its European
partners, Germany will therefore continue to vigorously
work towards ensuring the implementation of the joint
resolution on abolishing the death penalty.
Protection of press freedom must be improved. The
freedom to inform is a reliable gauge of respect for human
rights. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights guarantees the right to freedom of opinion.
However, censorship, intimidation and reprisals are the
order of the day in many countries. It is particularly
shocking that year after year dozens of journalists are killed
while on assignment. The United Nations should take a
closer look at this issue and consider practical solutions as
well as enhance legal protection for journalists. To this end
we will shortly be extending invitations to a conference to
be held in Germany.
The United Nations third major task alongside
peacekeeping and promoting human rights in the coming
century will be to bring about a reconciliation between rich
and poor countries.
The tenth Human Development Report of the United
Nations Development Programme came to the sad
conclusion that globalization has further widened the gap
between rich and poor countries. The international
community must endeavour to counter this trend. The
development of the poorer and the poorest countries must
not be left to the invisible hand of the global market. The
individual, not the market, must be the focus of the
globalization debate. This will also require greater
steering at the political level.
The rich countries have a responsibility to help poor
countries take advantage of globalization and enable them
to have a fairer share of the world economy by assisting
them with internal reforms and by opening up markets.
Within the framework of its European Union and Group
of 8 presidencies, Germany launched substantial
initiatives, which must be further developed in the form
of the 1999 Köln Debt Initiative and the commencement
of negotiations on a follow-up arrangement for the Lomé
Convention.
Development cooperation in the broadest sense must
become one of the United Nations core tasks to a greater
degree than hitherto. Science and technology are geared
far too much to the problems of rich countries. Why do
we not make greater use of the United Nations framework
to build bridges here? The economist Jeffrey Sachs made
the interesting suggestion, for example, that a millennium
vaccine fund could be established, with guaranteed
markets in the future for vaccines against tropical viruses
such as tuberculosis, malaria and, above all, AIDS.
Furthermore, in the context of the emergence of a global
knowledge society, the international regime for the
protection of intellectual property must be revised in order
to ensure that the world’s poor do not lose a large part of
their rights and freedoms in the near future. Rich and
poor countries should get together with one another more
frequently to discuss such proposals. During its
presidency of the Group of Eight, Germany made a start
by meeting the non-aligned countries and the Group of
77.
The destruction of the environment has long since
ceased to be a soft issue, but, rather, has become a very
hard question which will have an increasingly strong
impact on international security. According to the new
study by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), global warming and water shortages will be the
biggest problems facing humanity in the coming century.
UNEP also rightly draws attention to the close connection
between environmental destruction, poverty and excessive
consumption. The deadlock in the climate protection
negotiations must finally be overcome and the Kyoto
Protocol implemented. The destruction of the rain forest
must be stopped and further desertification prevented, and
we must halt the squandering of our planet’s natural
resources and switch to renewable energy as quickly as
possible. The world does not have much time left to
14

remap a course towards sustainability. This will also require
a much more active population policy, including a
long-term strategy to deal with the ageing of our world’s
population. The International Plan of Action on Ageing,
adopted in 1982, is in need of urgent revision. We intend
to hold a ministerial conference in Germany on this issue
under the auspices of the Economic Commission for
Europe.
With the leap into the next millennium, the nation
State principle will continue to diminish in importance. It
will no longer be possible to find answers to major global
problems within the framework of the traditional nation
state. Rather, this will take place in a strengthened
international structure and with a transfer of power to
international organizations, with the United Nations at their
head. This will entail a transformation of traditional power
into justice, the reconciliation of interests and a greater role
for civil society in the international political system, with
the ever-greater involvement of representatives of civil
society and industry. Reaching agreement on minimum
standards with regard to social issues — on the issue of
child labour, for example — will be possible in many cases
only in a global context. I support the proposal put forward
by Secretary-General Kofi Annan that a global pact on
common values and principles be concluded within the
framework of a public/private partnership, between the
United Nations and major companies, in order to lend the
law of the market a human face.
The United Nations must become the core of effective
global governance. Strengthening the United Nations, which
must begin by guaranteeing its financial basis, is therefore
one of Germany’s most important foreign policy objectives.
During the past 50 years, and for the first time in its
history, Germany has been opting wholeheartedly for
integration into multilateral structures, thereby achieving
democracy, freedom and reunification. Today, out of a
sense of deep conviction and historical responsibility, our
country is committed to peaceful reconciliation of interests
and to multilateralism. We are taking this conviction with
us to our old and new capital, Berlin. In the international
State system of tomorrow the answer to the challenges of
globalization will come from multilateralism alone. Our
world will always be plural, and no form of unilateralism
can therefore work in the long run. For that reason, the
twenty-first century, with its more than 6 billion people and
their States, will need a United Nations that is capable of
taking action. The United Nations and its Members can
therefore be certain that we Germans will be their
staunchest allies in the efforts to strengthen the United
Nations.


The
delegation of Peru is greatly pleased, Sir, at your election
to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth
session, especially since Peru was an active participant in
Namibia’s independence process, which was advanced by
the United Nations. As the first speaker at this morning’s
meeting I am particularly pleased to congratulate you and
the other officers of the General Assembly.
The arrival of the new millennium is a great historic
opportunity to initiate an era of peace, progress and well-
being, from which no people on Earth should be excluded.
That requires a greater commitment on the part of the
international community to create conditions that will
enable developing nations properly to channel their own
energy and potential with a view to achieving
comprehensive national development.
At the height of the twentieth century, the majority
of the world’s peoples remain mired in the social, cultural
and technological conditions of the nineteenth century —
or even of earlier centuries. We shall be able truly to
speak of a new era only if our aspirations for the twenty-
first century and the third millennium become tangible
reality for those peoples and if those peoples succeed in
fulfilling their own legitimate aspirations: in other words,
if a globalized world can globalize well-being and dignity.
The conversion of our economies to adapt them to
globalization has social costs which we can bear provided
that this process assures us a future of development and
well-being, not one of additional frustrations. Such
frustrations could arise if our national economies, rather
than growing stronger, are weakened by economic
opening based on unequal or unjust terms of trade. The
reaction, which no one wishes to see, could be a return to
defeated economic ideas.
In speaking of my own country, Peru, I can say that,
like other peoples, it inherited a heavy burden of injustice
and backwardness, but it also has an extraordinary future-
looking calling that has made it possible over the past 10
years for our country to become an emerging economy.
That future-looking calling has enabled us to defeat
the totalitarian, terrorist designs of the Shining Path and
of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. It was the

latter group that seized the residence of the Japanese
Ambassador in 1996.
The destructive capacity of such criminal activity is on
the increase thanks to access to new technology, and today
it threatens every region and every continent. If it is not
duly stopped, it will undoubtedly become the nightmare of
the twenty-first century. Both internal and external peace
are essential for the coming of the new era that we are
championing.
In 1998, Peru and Ecuador were at a crossroads: either
to pursue the path of armed conflict, the situation typical of
the entire century, which has led to the destruction of
peoples; or to follow the path of peace, the only possibility
for development. Peru and Ecuador chose peace. The 1998
peace agreement between Peru and Ecuador was the
product of two equally important factors: the political will
of two Governments taken to its ultimate conclusion; and
the capacities, energy and awareness of two peoples
determined to overcome old prejudices and work towards
a future of development. Ecuador and Peru intend to reach
the twenty-first century without the baggage of the
nineteenth. Peace has opened up possibilities for the
development of Peru and of Ecuador thanks to savings in
resources once earmarked for defence, and it has shown
again that Latin America is a mature region that rejects
warlike tension.
But tranquility in our region has been disturbed by the
alliance of drug trafficking and terrorism. In some cases,
these criminal activities have created power sufficient to
challenge States as well as to upset the world economy:
illicit drug money may have infiltrated productive,
commercial and even political activities. Terrorism and drug
trafficking therefore represent a threat to modern society
and to good governance.
In general terms, poverty, terrorism, drug trafficking
and racial discrimination are the main barriers to our
glimpsing the new era that as civilized peoples we propose
to reach. Our task and our commitment is to overcome
these obstacles with firm political will if we want this
transitional period in which we live to mark the threshold
of a new era for mankind.
The concepts of democracy and fairness must prevail.
It is important to promote democracy within countries, but
also to promote it between countries and between peoples.
Democracy applies not only to the internal structure of
States, but also to the international relations that will
determine the fate of the world.
Human rights raised to their maximal power and
highest expression are the rights of peoples, and all
peoples have a right to the future.


Mr.
President, it gives me great pleasure to see you presiding
over this new session of the General Assembly after your
long struggle to gain freedom, along with Sam Nujoma,
Nelson Mandela and others who fought to bring an end to
the era of colonialism, apartheid and foreign occupation.
Your presence here today leading this session of the
General Assembly attests to the victory achieved by the
people of Namibia in the battle for freedom and
independence. It strengthens the hope of the Palestinian
people that the dawn of their freedom and the independence
of their homeland, Palestine, is near. Furthermore, the
victory of your friendly country, Namibia, affirms the
constructive role played by the United Nations in the
eradication of the colonialism that has burdened oppressed
peoples and in enabling them to gain their national
independence. I call upon the United Nations to continue to
undertake this historic role to eliminate all forms of
occupation and colonialism and to strengthen the
foundations of peace throughout the world.
As I congratulate and welcome you, Sir, I would be
remiss if I did not extend our gratitude to your predecessor,
Mr. Didier Opertti. It also gives me great pleasure to
express our deep appreciation to Mr. Kofi Annan, the
Secretary-General, for his distinguished role in leading this
international Organization and promoting for world peace.
I also want to congratulate the three new members of
the United Nations: the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic
of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. Their membership is
an important step towards the realization of the universality
of the Organization.
I address the Assembly today — the representatives of
the international community — for the second consecutive
year, seeking the continuation of support for the realization
of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,
particularly at this crucial and sensitive stage that lies
between us and the declaration of our independent
Palestinian State and sovereignty over our liberated land.
This requires the strengthening of international efforts in
order to really achieve a just solution to the question of
Palestine, the crux of the Middle East conflict. The
coming millennium summit, with all the renewed hope
and promising beginning it represents for all people, must
be a decisive deadline for the achievement of peace in the
Middle East. We should work collectively and vigorously
to achieve this. I look forward to the participation of
Palestine, as a Member State of the United Nations, in the
deliberations of the coming millennium summit, and I
hope for and trust in the Assembly's support for this
Palestinian determination to achieve independence so that
Palestine can assume the position it deserves within the
family of nations.
As the Assembly is aware, we concluded the Sharm
el-Sheikh Memorandum with Mr. Barak, the new Prime
Minister of Israel, on 4 September, under the auspices of
President Hosni Mubarak, and in the presence of King
Abdullah II, Secretary of State Albright, Mr. Moratinos,
representing the European Union, and Mr. Larsen,
representing Mr. Kofi Annan.
The Memorandum is aimed at the implementation of
all the obligations of the interim period under the Oslo
agreement, the Wye River Memorandum and the Hebron
Protocol, and at the resumption of the final status
negotiations. This was done with the hope of bringing to
an end the policy of protraction and freezing that was
pursued by the former Israeli Government, which
completely paralysed the peace process and almost dashed
the ambitious hopes created by this process for all the
countries and peoples of the Middle East.
The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum serves as a
source of new hope for putting the peace process back on
the right track, as it reaffirms the implementation of
existing agreements and of all the obligations within a
specific time-frame. In this connection, I extend my
gratitude and thanks to all those who contributed to the
conclusion of the Memorandum, particularly our host in
Sharm el-Sheikh, President Hosni Mubarak, as well as
King Abdullah II and Secretary of State Albright, who
undertook tangible and concrete efforts as a representative
of President Clinton, and the European leaders, their
representatives and their envoys to the peace process. The
continuous involvement of these friends in this process
was essential and necessary for pushing the process
forward. International sponsorship of the Middle East
peace process is the guarantee for its definitive and final
success.
24

The absence of such an international role would send
the fragile situation in the region back to square one. I
therefore call upon the international community to
accelerate and strengthen its efforts and participation to
push the peace process forward and revitalize it on all
tracks. A just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East
can last only if it is protected by international legitimacy
and if efforts are undertaken to implement all of the
resolutions pertaining to the Middle East conflict on the
Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese tracks.
We should work hard so that the signing of this
Memorandum will succeed in ending the stagnation of the
peace process and in opening the door that the former
Israeli Government closed in the face of all serious efforts
aimed at achieving real peace.
As we reaffirm once more our commitment to the
peace process and the implementation of the signed
agreements, we hope that this time the Israeli side will
implement these agreements scrupulously and honestly,
including the phases of redeployment agreed upon in the
Wye River and Oslo agreements, the release of prisoners
and the other obligations of the transitional period, such as
safe passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
and the construction of the Gaza seaport.
The Israeli Government is called upon to immediately
and decisively cease all measures that violate international
resolutions, laws and covenants and thus destroy the
chances of peace. At the forefront of these are the
settlement activities and the confiscation of land, especially
in AI-Quds Al-Sharif, and its vicinity, and the siege of the
city of Bethlehem and the rest of the Palestinian territories.
The continuation of these settlement policies and practices
will quash the hopes and expectations generated by the
signing of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum and destroy
prospects for the final settlement negotiations, which began
on 13 September. The cessation of all such measures is
needed in order that we can, together with my new partner,
Mr. Barak, continue the march of the peace of the brave
that we began with two other partners — the late Yitzhak
Rabin, who gave his life for this peace, and Shimon
Peres — for a new Middle East.
Hence, we look forward to seeing new, real and
tangible changes in the positions and actions of the Israeli
side that will open the door, in word and in deed, for the
achievement of a just and comprehensive peace — a peace
of the brave that will lead to the realization of the right of
the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the
establishment of their independent State, with Al-Quds Al-
Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital, and the realization of the
right of the Palestine refugees to return to their homeland
in accordance with resolution 194 (III) which affirms the
right of the refugees to return to their homes and the right
to compensation for those who do not wish to return.
The realization of the right of the Palestinian people
to establish their independent State with Al-Quds Al-
Sharif as its capital will provide the definitive guarantee
for the establishment of a permanent peace in the Middle
East. It will also be a validation of the Charter of the
United Nations and its numerous resolutions over 50
years, beginning with resolution 181 (II) which called for
the establishment of two States in Palestine, one Jewish,
which is Israel, and one Arab, which is Palestine. The
rights of peoples do not diminish because of a statute of
limitations or under oppression, and our people have
proved through the years that they deserve life, freedom
and their own independent State. The time has come for
the international community, represented by the General
Assembly, to reaffirm this right and to work for its
realization.
The goal of the current peace process is the
implementation of Security Council resolutions 242
(1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and the application of
the principle of land for peace. The latter means total
Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian and other Arab
territories occupied since 1967, including Al-Quds Al-
Sharif — the Holy City of Jerusalem, which is the first of
the two Qiblahs and the third Holy Sanctuary of Islam,
the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended
to heaven, and the cradle of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The catastrophe that befell our people 51 years ago,
uprooting them from their homeland and dispersing them
into exile — thereby stripping them of their dreams and
rights as human beings in an attempt to negate their
existence — is one of the greatest human tragedies
witnessed by the twentieth century. The question of the
refugees of Palestine is the oldest and greatest refugee
question in our contemporary world. We must recognize
the legitimate right of those refugees to return to their
homeland, in accordance with United Nations resolutions.
Four million Palestinians live in exile and in refugee
camps awaiting the time of their return to their homeland,
from which they were forcibly expelled. There is no way
to achieve peace, stability and security in the Middle East
without a solution to the question of the refugees of
Palestine and the implementation of resolution 194 (III),
which declares their right to return to their homeland.
25

Two essential things must occur for peace to be
complete. First, it is necessary to reach a final settlement on
all tracks — the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese — on the
basis of the complete and precise implementation of
international legitimacy, especially Security Council
resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and 425 (1978). The
second is the provision of economic support and assistance
by the international community sufficient for the
achievement of a better economic situation and for
achieving prosperity in the region. What is required
foremost in this regard is raising the Palestinian economy
up from the miserable situation in which it finds itself as a
result of the long years of occupation, so that building
cooperative economic relations in the region will become
possible.
Here I wish to thank the donor countries that have
provided and continue to provide important assistance to the
Palestinian people and to the Palestinian Authority. This
assistance is necessary to enable us to overcome the
immense difficulties that we have been confronting since
the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, as a result of
the closures and sieges imposed by the previous Israeli
Government on the Palestinian territory for long periods,
which worsened further the total destruction of the
Palestinian economy. The shadows of poverty and
unemployment still threaten our economic abilities and
plans to reconstruct, build and develop.
The achievement of all of this necessitates the
continuation of the constructive efforts of the United
Nations, which has permanent responsibility towards the
question of Palestine until that issue is resolved in all its
aspects. We will also remain in need of our Arab brothers,
the Islamic countries and our friends in the Non-Aligned
Movement. We will remain in need of the two co-sponsors
of the peace process, the United States and the Russian
Federation, and also of the European Union, China, Japan,
Norway and our other friends around the world.
We must heighten all our efforts until the arrival of
the new millennium in many areas and spheres, and not
only in the Middle East. In this respect, we have observed
some positive developments which are quite reassuring.
There is tangible improvement in the area of conflict
resolution on the African continent and on the path towards
achieving better economic and social development in that
great continent. There is the international attention given to
Kosovo, as well as other measures carried out in the
Balkans. There is also the adoption of the Statute of the
International Criminal Court, as well as the additional
consideration being given to the four Geneva Conventions
on the occasion of their fiftieth anniversary. We refer
here, with appreciation, to the convening of the
Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth
Geneva Convention last July regarding the Israeli
occupation of our land. There are also the follow-ups and
reviews of a series of international conferences five years
after their convening, in addition to the preparations being
made with regard to such important issues as the culture
of peace and the dialogue among civilizations.
All of these things are important developments, but
perhaps not enough for us to be able to begin the new
millennium under new circumstances. This is particularly
so if we look at some of the events and worrisome
developments in different areas. There is the continuation
of the state of siege in Iraq and the profound suffering of
its brotherly people. There is also the continuation of
internal conflicts in many countries, such as Afghanistan
and others. Recently there have also been worrisome
developments in East Timor. But I would like, in
particular, to refer to the rise of extreme poverty and to
the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots on
the individual, national and regional levels.
Perhaps it is we, the poor people of the South, who
are most concerned about how to bridge the gap between
us and the North, particularly in this era of globalization
of the world economy, whose challenges and
consequences we must all face. Here we must exert
serious efforts and seek creative means beyond hasty and
temporary measures. While it is time for the South to be
more prepared to realize such an achievement, the North
should also be more prepared for partnership and more
realistic, effective and just sharing.
In addition to economic matters, we must also strive
to achieve some needed improvements at the political
level, particularly with regard to international political
relations. It is imperative in this connection that we all
give greater significance to the United Nations. This must
be done in order for this body to truly and urgently
become the effective centre of international and political
relations and the source of international legitimacy. It is
also necessary to be wholly committed to upholding the
principles and provisions of the Charter of the United
Nations and of international and humanitarian laws, as
well as ensuring that they apply to all. We should apply
to others the same moral values as we accept for
ourselves. There should be one set of criteria and one
standard for all cases and in all places. All of this will
lead to a more credible system of international relations,
in which the incentive to commit wrongs will be lessened
26

and the collective capability to confront and prevent those
wrongs will, in turn, be enhanced.
It is with great pride that I would now like to speak of
the Bethlehem 2000 celebrations. The Palestinian city of
Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is the place
where we are making preparations to celebrate the end of
the second millennium and the beginning of the third. It is
also there, in Palestine, that the past, the present and the
future will meet in a global vision of hope for all peoples.
It is a religious and spiritual occasion of high importance,
not only for our people and the other peoples of the region,
but also for all the faithful around the world and for the
entire international community. I appreciate the unanimous
adoption last year of the resolution concerning this great
and important matter, and invite the Assembly to continue
to grant it its attention and consideration this year.
Here, I wish to extend once again the Palestinian
people’s invitation to the Assembly and to all the leaders
of the world to visit us during this important spiritual and
religious occasion in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the other
religious and spiritual places, so that we can proudly live
together in peace at this special, historic time.
I should like to extend my gratitude to the
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of
the Palestinian People, to the Committee’s Chairman,
Ambassador Ibra Ka of Senegal, to the Special
Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the
Human Rights of the Palestinian People and other Arabs
of the Occupied Terrotiries and to all the staff members
of this international Organization working in programmes
relating to the question of Palestine. They have all
provided immeasurable support to the just cause of the
Palestinian people and have most certainly contributed to
advancing the peace process towards the achievement of
a just, permanent and comprehensive peace — a peace of
the brave that will secure justice and freedom for the
Palestinian people and their sovereignty over their land,
along with security, stability and peace for all countries
and peoples of this region.
Once again I express my congratulations to you, Mr.
President, and my gratitude to all the members of the
international community, reiterating to you the appeal of
Palestine — an appeal of right, justice and peace.


It is a special pleasure
for me to see Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab guiding the General
Assembly this session over the junction of two centuries
and millenniums. We will lend all possible support to his
endeavours, including through the Permanent
Representative of Lithuania, who is also one of his Vice-
Chairmen.
Another landmark of this session is the fact that we
have grown. We welcome the Republic of Kiribati, the
Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga to this
house of nations where all, large or small, are equal. We
are glad to see nations from the Pacific enrich the
organization. On behalf of the Lithuanian Government I
31

pay our deep respects to the Secretary-General, who has
always been a brilliant servant of peace around the globe.
Speakers before me have referred to the symbolic
meaning of this session of the General Assembly. It may be
just a simple turn of our calendar pages or we can make it
a stepping-stone to a better world with less violence, more
food for the hungry, less deliberately caused suffering and
death, more care for the helpless and more shelter for the
homeless.
This century has taught us many lessons. Yet, even if
we have avoided another world war, we have witnessed too
many wars. The nature of crises has changed. Member
States should be able to find common ground in upholding
the principles of the Charter and acting in defence of
humanity. We should devise ways and means to prevent
humanitarian catastrophes and alleviate profound human
suffering. Just this last year, Angola and Kosovo, Sierra
Leone and East Timor have posed new challenges to the
United Nations and made us re-evaluate our actions in
conflict prevention; the role of the United Nations Security
Council and its interactions with regional organizations; the
Council's credibility with regard to speed of deployment;
the role of civilian police and civilian administration; and
the problem of impunity. When evidence of the murder of
helpless people percolates through international borders, the
dilemma emerging before the international community
becomes a moral one of the sanctity of human life and
strict international standards.
It is precisely towards this end that the United Nations
system is undergoing changes. A number of administrative
measures have been taken, especially those within the
power of the Secretary-General. One of the most urgent
measures which must be taken is reform of the Security
Council. The Council has too often been accused of failures
in the maintenance of international peace and security in the
specific cases I mentioned.
The efficiency of the Security Council's actions can be
enhanced by improving its representativeness, legitimacy
and credibility, thus generating wider acceptance of its
decisions. This would be possible primarily through an
enlargement of the Council's membership. The two most
qualified industrialized countries could become permanent
members of the Security Council: their membership would
strengthen the Council and ensure democratic decisions. A
broader representation of developing nations on the Council
would also reinforce its legitimacy and enhance respect for
it: they deserve additional seats, both permanent and non-
permanent.
In recent years we have seen the development of the
United Nations response away from peacekeeping to more
active conflict prevention and crises management of
civilian. Internal crises often lead to the complete
destruction of societies and their structures: repair and
rehabilitation of collapsed countries by the international
community are needed.
The United Nations needs both the means and
cooperation from all if it is to fulfil its mandate in terms
of its primary responsibility for maintaining international
peace and security. In this connection, Lithuania signed a
standby agreement as early as the beginning of 1998 and
provided a detailed description of its contribution. A
substantial part of our contribution is comprised of well-
trained civilian policemen who are now doing their duty
by serving in Kosovo.
A comprehensive set of political measures will have
to be elaborated before and adopted at the millennium
summit, which should be a breath of fresh air for the
Organization. We take this seriously and are ready to
assist in designing a meaningful future for the United
Nations.
Situations that deteriorate into conflicts are ignited
by a variety of causes, usually a combination of them.
The wave of economic crashes that swept through Asia,
Latin America and some European countries has had a
global impact. The quick recovery of many economies
shows that democracies with free market economies have
the strongest immunity against macroeconomic illnesses.
Markets and democracy allow for the fairest distribution
of resources within societies which would otherwise be
feeling the pain of economic injustice.
Similarly, concerns about the potential and actual
violence which more often occurs within than between
States are almost always well-founded in places with poor
human rights records. No one today is surprised by news
of violence sparked by various rebel groups that feel
marginalized in the States where they live.
Many instruments must still be designed to uphold
the principle that those responsible for gross violations of
human rights and crimes against humanity — who still
expect impunity — must be held accountable. The
establishment of the International Criminal Court is one
of the fruits of the new developments in international
relations. We are committed to the early entry into force
of the Rome Statute and to an effective International
Criminal Court.
32

Weaponry and armaments can be reduced through
common actions, regardless of borders. There is literally a
consensus among nations that weapons of mass destruction
must be eliminated, but in reality the process of nuclear
disarmament is unacceptably precarious. We see reductions
in numbers of warheads in some places and the
development of nuclear weapons in others. Also, the
biological and chemical weapons which States have reduced
have become available to non-State terrorist entities that
feel almost no qualms about using them. I see no other way
to build a safer world than by reducing, eliminating and
very strictly prohibiting weapons of mass destruction and
the means for delivering them.
Conventional arms and weapons are also weapons of
mass destruction of life: half a million lives in Rwanda
were wiped out with clubs and machetes that can only be
considered weapons. Lives are lost to firearms and
landmines all over the world, even in places that can hardly
qualify as battlegrounds. The elimination of landmines is
under way. Nowhere else but in this Hall can we begin
effective conventional disarmament to be carried out under
the responsibility of all States.
Europe happens to be blessed with good regional
security instruments, the best of which was nevertheless
inspired by the deaths of millions in senseless wars. The
European security charter, the concepts for which are now
being discussed in the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), will further build on the
ideals of democracy, peace and unity set out in the Charter
of Paris for a New Europe on the basis of the Helsinki
Final Act. The implementation of OSCE principles,
including a country's right to choose its own security
arrangements, is fundamental to ensuring peace and
security. Finally, regional, subregional and bilateral
practical cooperative efforts do enhance broader European
endeavours and processes, including complementing — not
undercutting — the work of other Euro-Atlantic institutions.
We believe in collective security and have made
membership in effective alliances of democratic and peace-
loving nations — the European Union and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization — our priority. The collective
security that we have chosen is the most efficient means of
meeting our legitimate needs.
Lithuania works actively in the Baltic region to create
security and stability based on cooperation and good-
neighbourly relations. The Baltic Sea region is becoming
one of the most stable and dynamic, developing and
promising regions in this part of the world.
Nine days ago, Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke
from this very podium about a progressing supremacy of
collective needs over individual needs. In fact, his speech
was a testimony of brave and modern thought. It deserves
a place in textbooks for politicians and diplomats.
Conflicts are but one challenge for us. There are so
many inhabitants on Earth who need our help yet
sometimes cannot even ask for it. Children deserve our
strongest love, and yet they are helplessly suffering in
many parts of the world. They do not realize that the
adult world will soon celebrate the tenth anniversary of
the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, which has been ratified or acceded to by 191
countries — more than the number of United Nations
Member States. It is the most universal human rights
treaty, the violation of which must be inconceivable and
punishable. The newly adopted Convention on the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour should
also become universal and support compliance.
This year will also be the twentieth year since the
adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It is
symbolic and crucial that this Convention has been
strengthened by the optional protocol. Lithuania supports
the proposal by Austria, after its adoption by the United
Nations General Assembly, to have this new human rights
instrument opened for signature on 10 December, which
marks Human Rights Day 1999. States have to give
women the chance to address their grievances to the
CEDAW Committee as soon as possible, perhaps even at
the special session of the General Assembly on “Women
2000: gender, equality, development and peace for the
twenty-first century” to be held in June in the year 2000.
Ideals advocated by Woodrow Wilson at the
beginning of this century are celebrating their second
birth at the very end of the century. I am convinced that
after many ups and downs, the evolution of humankind is
finally taking the straight and right course.


May I, on behalf of my
delegation congratulate you, Sir, on your election as
President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth
session. Kenya's pride in seeing you preside over the affairs
of the Assembly, which you have been associated with for
so long, derives from our close and long bilateral ties with
your great country.
I take this opportunity to register my delegation's
appreciation to your predecessor, His Excellency Didier
Opertti of Uruguay, for the able manner in which he
presided over the work of the fifty-third session.
We commend the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, for the effective and tireless manner in which he
continues to manage the affairs of this Organization and
encourage him to continue serving the international
community with his characteristic selfless dedication to
duty. Kenya will continue to support his efforts to further
strengthen the Organization.
Kenya warmly welcomes the Republics of Kiribati
and Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga into this family of
nations.
As we approach the new millennium, there is need
for us to reflect on the past, the present and the future of
our world. The cumulative history of mankind during the
current millennium has been characterized by the struggle
of the human race to overcome the various problems of
hunger, war and disease. Throughout time man has
invested constantly to provide shelter, increase literacy
and tackle the various problems of underdevelopment.
The latter part of this millennium has witnessed enormous
political, economic and social changes. Where once
slavery was acceptable, today freedom is the norm. Where
once crude methods of economic production dominated,
today sophisticated production techniques govern. Where
ignorance was widespread, today science and technology
determine man's progress. Where before the human rights
of peoples were unknown, today they are an integral part
of the international agenda.
But even as we note the progress that has been
made, the scourge of poverty and underdevelopment
remains a painful reality for most of us. We believe that
poverty is the root cause of the conflicts that pervade
various regions of our globe, unleashing immense
suffering on humankind — particularly on women and
children.
Our continent, Africa, continues to suffer from the
ravages of intra-State and inter-State conflicts. The issue
of the complementarity of the roles of the United Nations
and that of regional organizations needs to be addressed.
African countries have taken their own initiatives to
resolve the various conflicts raging in the continent.
Although progress has been made in some cases, many of
the conflicts remain intractable, making it difficult for
affected countries to redirect their efforts and resources
towards economic development.
20

In our own region, together with other members of the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD),
Kenya is seized with the conflicts in Sudan and Somalia.
The subcommittee on the Sudan peace process, for
example, is actively engaged in the search for a peaceful
settlement to the conflict in the southern Sudan. At the
most recent meeting, held in Nairobi from 19 to 23 July
1999, members of the IGAD ministerial subcommittee
agreed to establish a secretariat to facilitate intensive and
continuous negotiations to resolve this conflict. As
chairman of this subcommittee, Kenya is optimistic that this
new arrangement will contribute positively towards reaching
a negotiated settlement. We hope we can count on the
support of all the members of the international community
to find a solution to this long-standing conflict.
Kenya continues to be seized with the situation in
Somalia. As a neighbour that shares a border of 1,200
kilometres with Somalia, we are concerned at the loss of
international interest and support for this sad country. The
international community should resume its active interest
and support for Somalia in order to instill in the innocent
people of that country some measure of hope for the future.
We are grateful for the roles that the Organization of
African Unity and the United Nations have played and
continue to play. However, Kenya calls for greater
involvement by the United Nations in support of ongoing
regional efforts. The new initiative unveiled by the
Chairman of IGAD, President Guelleh of Djibouti, at this
podium on 22 September 1999, deserves serious
consideration.
In efforts to support and assist the people of Somalia,
the territorial integrity of that country must be respected.
Regional entities that may have come into existence during
this period in Somalia's history should be seen as building
blocks intended to eventually lead to a Government of
national unity. We the neighbouring countries, as well as
the international community, have an important role in
facilitating the process leading to a peaceful and
comprehensive settlement of the conflict. Our common
commitment to a united Somalia should not waver.
In the tradition of African hospitality, Kenya has
always provided a home to displaced people from
neighbouring countries. As a result of the collapse of the
central authority in Somalia, a large number of refugees
found their way into our country. We are proud to have
been able to assist and even settle some of them. In this
regard, we are grateful for the role being played by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the
United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health
Organization and many others who have provided
invaluable assistance, without which it would have been
impossible for the Government of Kenya alone to cope
with the humanitarian crisis.
Recently, Kenya decided to tighten its border
controls with Somalia. However, we remain committed to
facilitating ongoing humanitarian operations, which
continue with numerous daily flights into Somalia from
our territory — and, in some cases, by land as well. We
have been able to do this by coordinating our actions with
the relevant humanitarian agencies and organizations.
The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
remains of utmost concern to us because it poses a
serious threat not only to the Great Lakes region but also
to the rest of our continent. It is for this reason that
Kenya has been involved in the attempts to resolve the
conflict, particularly in its early, initial stages. Kenya's
offer to host in Nairobi the proposed Congolese national
debate on the political future of their country still stands.
We commend the recent personal efforts that President
Chiluba of Zambia has made in negotiating a settlement
plan which seeks to find a comprehensive solution to that
crisis. We will do everything possible to complement
these efforts and hope that the international community
will be prepared to fulfil its own supporting role.
As the international community continues to play its
part, the responsibility for a final, comprehensive and
lasting settlement to the crisis in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo falls largely to the people and their leaders.
In that regard, Kenya urges all parties to the Lusaka
Agreement to demonstrate their commitment by
implementing it, both in letter and in spirit, in a timely
and appropriate manner.
We firmly believe that it is time for the Security
Council to actively step in and provide tangible support
for the peace process. Africa expects that the support
given to peacekeeping operations in other parts of the
world will be replicated, both in scope and in content, in
the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We
know that most members of the Security Council have
embraced this challenge and are willing to do their part.
The situation in Angola continues to be a source of
great frustration. Indeed, the resumption of hostilities at
a level not seen since the signing of the Lusaka Protocol
does not augur well. Kenya is deeply disappointed that
the leader of UNITA, Mr. Savimbi, continues to
flagrantly defy the collective will of the international
21

community. We call on him to immediately cease all acts
of hostility against the people of Angola.
With regard to the border conflict between Ethiopia
and Eritrea, we note with satisfaction that the combined
initiatives of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the
United Nations and the United States to secure definitive
agreement on the modalities for the implementation of the
OAU Framework Agreement are still on course. We appeal
to both parties to exercise utmost restraint and not to
resume fighting.
In accordance with the United Nations Charter, the
Security Council has the primary responsibility to determine
the existence of any threat to international peace and
security and to recommend appropriate intervention
measures. There can be no derogation from this primary
responsibility. In the fulfilment of this responsibility, it
must be borne in mind that the principle of non-interference
in the internal affairs of Member States remains a cardinal
element in the conduct of international relations, as spelt
out in the Charter.
We have serious reservations on the evolving view
that even the United Nations Charter provides leeway for
non-United Nations intervention. We would like to caution
that this approach needs to be carefully balanced with
legitimate concerns of sovereignty. Whatever we may say
on intervention, the sovereignty of States remains at the
core of diplomatic discourse. Derogation from this principle
in the case of serious humanitarian emergencies must be
made on the basis of general consensus in the United
Nations.
It is in this spirit that Kenya has always supported and
participated in many United Nations peacekeeping missions
throughout the world. We will continue to contribute
personnel and remain actively involved in United Nations
peacekeeping activities. All peacekeeping missions must be
established in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
This is why we welcome the assumption of responsibility
in Kosovo by the United Nations in the form of the United
Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK). We should do everything possible to support
efforts towards the restoration of normalcy in Kosovo. We
also hope that the spirit that prevailed in the establishment
and financing of UNMIK will be applied to peacekeeping
operations in Africa.
With regard to the situation in East Timor, Kenya
commends Indonesia for allowing the international
community to send a United Nations — mandated
multinational force to restore order. We welcome the
unequivocal statement by the Foreign Minister of
Indonesia, Mr. Ali Alatas, reiterating his Government's
responsibility to ensure the fulfilment of the newly
expressed will of the majority of East Timorese to seek
a new destiny outside the Indonesian Republic. We hope,
as he expressed the hope, that the parting of ways will, in
his own words, proceed honourably, peacefully and
amicably.
As Sierra Leone continues along the path of national
reconciliation and true peace, we encourage the United
Nations to remain committed to and engaged in that
country. We again place on record our appreciation to the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) for its immense sacrifice
in assisting the people of Sierra Leone in their search for
peace and democracy. On our part, we will continue to
support our brothers and sisters in that country. Towards
that end, we have already contributed personnel to the
United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNOMSIL).
Kenya is encouraged by the recent positive
developments in the Middle East peace process. The
resumption of direct dialogue between the State of Israel
and the Palestinian National Authority, which resulted in
agreement on the implementation of aspects of the Wye
accords, demonstrates the vast opportunities that political
goodwill can unleash. We encourage those involved to
stay on course and we welcome indications that the other
tracks in the Middle East peace process are receiving
careful attention.
On the economic front, my delegation is of the view
that the slow progress in Africa's efforts to attain
sustainable economic growth and development is directly
related to the failure by the international community to
mobilize adequate resources for development. This has
been aggravated by situations of internal conflict and the
prevalence of such diseases as malaria and AIDS, among
others, which are compounded in turn by the shackles of
poverty and deprivation and an unfavourable external
economic environment.
My delegation welcomes the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries Debt (HIPC) Initiative made at the G-8 meeting
in Cologne, Germany. The crushing burden of external
debt on the developing countries, especially those in sub-
22

Saharan Africa, remains a major obstacle to our
development efforts. While we welcome this Initiative, we
are of the view that much still needs to be done. We would
like to see HIPC coverage broadened to include more of the
indebted countries, with relief being offered in a graduated
manner. This would envisage providing the greatest relief
to the most indebted countries. In addition, consideration
could be given to modifying the existing terms and
conditions of HIPC to enable countries like Kenya, not
covered by HIPC as currently proposed, to participate
without the possibility of losing access to credit that would
otherwise be available to them. The terms and conditions of
the HIPC Initiative are based on a piecemeal approach
which will not contribute to the overall goal of debt
cancellation. Debt-relief measures should be structured in
a holistic and comprehensive manner without eroding
Africa's future capacity to attract investments and should be
linked to the long-term social and economic development
of the continent.
Another issue that requires the concerted efforts of the
international community is that of poverty eradication.
Kenya has already launched a Poverty Eradication Plan,
which has received some support and which we hope will
attract wider support to allow us to achieve our goal of
becoming a newly industrialized country by the year 2020.
Bold actions are required to ensure that the developed
countries fulfil the commitments agreed upon to maintain
official development assistance flows to developing
countries at 0.7 per cent of their gross national product. In
this regard, Kenya supports the proposal to hold an
international conference on financing for development next
year.
The United Nations remains our only hope to
spearhead the process of development. Accordingly, all
Member States have an obligation to support the
Organization in order for it to fulfil its development
mandate. The United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and other specialized bodies — such as the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the United Nations Centre for Human
Settlements (Habitat) — must be strengthened in order to
enable them to succeed in their respective roles.
Kenya looks forward to the convening of the first
South-South summit in Havana, Cuba, in April next year.
The conference will be a historic milestone in the
strengthening of South-South cooperation. The South-South
summit provides a golden opportunity at the highest
political level for the members of the Group of 77 and
China to share their experiences and to consolidate
political goodwill, which is so vital for economic
cooperation and development.
Kenya attaches great importance to economic
cooperation among developing countries. It is for this
reason that Kenya has actively pursued the path of
economic integration at the regional and subregional
levels. In addition to the Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA), comprising 21 countries
with a population approaching 400 million, we are
determined, at the subregional level, to upgrade the East
African cooperation arrangements — comprising Kenya,
Uganda and Tanzania — into a full-fledged East African
community by the end of the year. Our vision is to
establish an East African community with a population of
nearly 90 million people with natural, historic, social and
cultural ties into one investment destination, one tourist
destination, one single market and one common external
tariff, with a free flow of goods, services and people.
Kenya is greatly concerned by the rise in
transnational crime, narcotics, money-laundering and
terrorism networks. The tragic bombing of the embassies
of the United States of America in Nairobi and Dar-es-
Salaam in August 1998 is still fresh in our memories.
This incident, not to mention the recent terrorist attacks
in Moscow, has heightened our resolve to work closely
with the international community to fight and eradicate
terrorism. We call for concerted efforts to adopt effective
international measures to eradicate the growing and
dangerous links between terrorist groups, drug traffickers
and armed criminal elements. Towards this end, Kenya
participated actively in the Algiers summit of OAU in
July 1999, at which African States adopted a convention
on preventing and combating terrorism. Clearly, more
needs to be done. We support the proposal to hold an
international conference next year on combating terrorism.
Kenya is situated in the heart of a turbulent region.
The proliferation of illegal small arms and their increased
criminal use on Kenyan territory, often by groups from
across our borders, is motivating us to push for practical
and sustained international cooperation to stop illegal
trafficking in small arms. In this connection, we express
our support for the convening of an international
conference on the illicit arms trade in all its aspects to be
held by the year 2001.
In our own region, Kenya will host a meeting before
the end of this year to address the complex problems of
23

small arms and their ramifications for security and conflicts
in our region. We look forward to the support and
cooperation of our development partners to ensure that this
conference is a success.
On this issue, Kenya would like to draw a clear
distinction between the legitimate rights of sovereign States
to self-defence and therefore to the procurement of
armaments for that purpose, and the illicit traffic in small
arms involving non-State actors.
Kenya welcomes the urgency and importance with
which the international community has recently addressed
the problem of antipersonnel landmines. We participated
actively in the negotiations leading to the Ottawa
Convention on anti-personnel landmines and in the recent
Maputo Conference of States Parties to the Ottawa
Convention. We have signed the Ottawa Convention, which
is now going through the ratification process. The
prevailing international consensus on outlawing landmines
must be maintained in order to achieve the target of a total
ban on the production, use and eventual elimination of anti-
personnel landmines. International cooperation is essential
in the areas of landmine clearance and the physical
rehabilitation of victims, as well as their social and
economic rehabilitation and reintegration.
As we celebrate the United Nations Decade of
International Law, Kenya regards the adoption of the
Statute of the International Criminal Court as a historic
milestone in the progressive development of international
law. We participated actively in the negotiations leading to
the adoption of the Rome Statute, became the eighty-fourth
State to append our signature to it and have embarked on
the ratification process for it.
We look to the Preparatory Commission for the
International Criminal Court to elaborate on the outstanding
issues, including the elements of crime and the rules of
procedure, in order to reach an early consensus and ensure
universal acceptance of the Statute. We hope that the
Preparatory Commission will complete its work before the
June 2000 deadline.
As eloquently stated by the Secretary-General, reform
of the United Nations is a process and not an event. In
order to attain a more transparent, accountable and
democratic United Nations, the collective resolve of its
Member States is imperative. We must resist any attempts
to approach the reform process in terms of downsizing:
reform must entail restructuring to cope better with the
immense economic development challenges facing our
world, and the success of the reform effort must be
measured in terms of the Organization's capacity to
deliver programmes, strengthen the Secretariat, enhance
its strategic orientation and use the development dividend
to enhance socio-economic development in all our
countries. In this context, Kenya welcomes the
appointment of Dr. Klaus Töpfer as Director-General of
the United Nations Office at Nairobi. As host to the only
United Nations headquarters in the developing world, we
continue to be greatly concerned by the underutilization
of the excellent conference facilities at the United Nations
Office at Nairobi. Practical plans are urgently required to
place the Nairobi Office on the same level as the United
Nations Offices at Geneva and Vienna by providing it
with adequate resources and personnel to enable it to
carry out its functions effectively.
The changes that have taken place in international
relations need to be reflected in the composition and
structure of the Security Council. The Security Council is
a body that is empowered to make important executive
decisions on matters of peace and security on behalf of
the entire membership of the United Nations. It is
imperative that the reform of the Security Council should
ensure greater accountability and democracy together with
equitable representation. The universal and democratic
nature of the United Nations should be preserved and
reforms introduced to ensure fair representation of all the
major geographic regions of the world.
A strong and persuasive case has been made by
African countries for at least two seats in the permanent
membership of the Security Council. Our recent
experience as a nonpermanent member of the Council has
convinced us of the urgency of restructuring this
important organ so that developing countries can play
their rightful part in the maintenance of international
peace and security.
Kenya is of the view that sanctions should be
imposed only in accordance with the Charter and only
after all means for the pacific settlement of disputes under
Chapter VI have been exhausted. A thorough study of the
short- and long-term effects of sanctions, especially on
innocent victims, should be undertaken. The objectives of
sanctions should be clearly defined and the sanctions
should be lifted as soon as those objectives have been
achieved. Sanctions should be imposed for a specified
time, and the conditions to be met by the country or party
on which sanctions are imposed must be clearly defined
and subjected to periodic review. We reject any attempts
24

to impose or prolong the application of sanctions for
reasons other than the specified objectives.
The application of sanctions usually has profound
effects not only on the target countries but also on their
neighbouring countries and other trading partners. Efforts
should therefore be made to put Article 50 of the Charter,
which refers to third States, into operation by establishing
mechanisms or Funds to provide them with relief. In this
regard, Kenya urges that the sanctions on Iraq should be
urgently reviewed with a view to their suspension and
eventual lifting. We also hope that the sanctions on Libya,
recently suspended, will soon be lifted.
As we enter the twenty-first century, it is hard to
imagine what this world would be without the United
Nations. Consider for a moment the number of lives that
have been saved by the Organization; the personal freedoms
that many countries and individuals now enjoy; and the
diseases that have been controlled or eliminated: the list of
successes is endless. But much still needs to be done: the
Secretary-General's proposal for a Millennium Assembly,
with a millennium summit as an integral part, would
provide an important forum for us to reexamine the role of
the Organization and chart our path for the next
millennium. Kenya will play its part.