On behalf of the
Government and the people of the Commonwealth of the
Bahamas, I convey warm congratulations to Mr. Diogo
Freitas do Amaral on his election as President of this
historic fiftieth session of the General Assembly. I am
confident that, with his experience and diplomatic skills, he
will guide the work of this session to a successful
conclusion. I wish to assure him of my delegation’s full
support and cooperation.
I wish also to express my delegation’s sincere
appreciation to His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire, who presided over the
work of the forty-ninth session with great distinction.
The Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, has continued in the discharge of his duties
to provide outstanding leadership to this Organization. The
Bahamas is particularly grateful to the Secretary-General
for his untiring and visionary efforts in pursuit of world
peace and security, development and international
cooperation.
Global changes in recent times have created
unprecedented possibilities for both progress and disaster on
our planet. Yet we fail to assume the responsibilities that
both possibilities demand. We have the machinery for this
purpose; we must take it out, overhaul it and make it
functional. This requires the review and updating of the
institutions and processes of international cooperation.
Within the context of the global consensus around the need
for such an overhaul, including the adoption of new
approaches, our tasks are greatly eased. If we accept the
adage that form follows function, we must now determine
what it is we are hoping to achieve, and what function we
are seeking to serve. The form of the structure for ensuring
the effective execution of that function will then naturally
emerge.
The framers of the Charter were determined to save
succeeding generations from the scourge of war. We have
managed to do this as far as global war is concerned, but
what have we saved these generations for? What is their
heritage? What is their future? Is it good enough to save
them for the seemingly inevitable lot of chronic poverty,
ignorance and disease, for the threat of nuclear
annihilation or the consequences of global warming? Is it
good enough to save these generations for a life where
the security and very existence of the planet on which
they live is in jeopardy?
Clearly, those responsible for establishing the
parameters of action in the past have not produced the
result that is not only desirable but necessary to ensure a
stable, secure and viable future. The question now is who
determines the assignment of responsibility. Is it possible
that those countries most directly concerned have
abdicated their responsibility, with the result that their fate
now resides in the hands of those whose interests are, at
best, competing?
It is only logical that those who stand to lose and
benefit most must assume the lead in establishing the
contours of the agenda for the process which will usher
in the kind of order that gives coherence to their ideas
and vision, and that provides for the attainment of their
objectives. This places before developing countries like
the Bahamas untold opportunities and challenges. One of
the major challenges will be to ensure that our
relationship with our global partners is truly one of
interdependence, and not masked dependence where the
majority of humanity are only subordinate players,
citizens of countries marginalized and on the periphery of
global change.
Genuine interdependence coupled with a true sense
of interconnectedness would eliminate the desire for
unilateral action. In this context, we are disturbed and
disappointed over the decision by two nuclear States to
proceed with nuclear tests after the solemn commitments
of the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the
Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons. The hope of the international community had
been for complete moratoriums on testing until the entry
into force of a comprehensive test-ban treaty, envisaged
for the end of next year.
The Bahamas is especially pleased that United States
President Bill Clinton, on 6 August last, unequivocally
committed his Government to ending all testing of nuclear
weapons, and further committed his Administration to the
completion of negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban
treaty.
Despite the easing of global tensions since the end
of the cold war, the maintenance of international peace
20

and security remains a major preoccupation for the United
Nations. Religious and territorial disputes have presented
the international community with new challenges and with
the need to provide appropriate solutions.
Of all the regional conflicts in the world today,
particular mention should be made of the situation in the
former Yugoslavia. In this regard I must express my
delegation’s dissatisfaction with the continuation of
hostilities in that region. It is the hope of my delegation
that the efforts now being undertaken by the parties
concerned towards achieving a negotiated solution to end
that conflict will meet with success.
We also welcome the recent agreement on expansion
of Palestinian interim self-rule. This constitutes a major step
forward in the Middle East peace process.
It is the hope of the Bahamas delegation that during
this fiftieth session of the General Assembly every effort
will be made to take decisions that will sustain efforts
towards the maintenance of global peace and security.
It is with a sense of responsibility that the Bahamas
assumes a strong stance on the rehabilitation and
reconstruction of Haiti. We participated in United Nations
efforts to return President Aristide to Haiti. This is a second
chance for Haiti. We note that since the return of President
Aristide the gross human rights violations have subsided
and that the democratic process has now begun with the
first and second rounds of elections.
Elections, however, are only the beginning. Massive
assistance, financial and technical, is what is needed to
create the proper institutional and infrastructural framework
to facilitate rapid development in Haiti.
The Prime Minister of the Bahamas has stated on
several occasions,
“We in the international community have sold the
Haitian people a bill of goods. We have told them that
democracy will bring peace, stability, and economic
and social development. We must now ensure after-
sales services.”
Time is of the essence. The people of Haiti must not be
allowed to lose hope for the betterment of their condition.
We must ensure that we receive the necessary returns on
our investment to date. To do so requires a strategy for
ensuring that the situation that has given rise to the initial
crisis is not allowed to re-emerge.
There are now indications that some of the people of
Haiti have already begun to lose hope. I was informed
only a few hours ago that 216 new refugees were found
in the waters of the Bahamas. This brings the number of
new refugees who have risked their lives on the sea in the
last month to over 1,000. This cannot be allowed to
continue. The Government of the Bahamas, together with
the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) partners,
reiterates its commitment to playing its part in the
rehabilitation of Haiti.
The changes in the international system have also
made States acutely aware that attention must now be
paid equally to environmental security. Illustrative of this
are the issues of nuclear testing, the transboundary
movement of hazardous and radioactive wastes, and
natural-disaster preparedness, which are of considerable
concern to us in the Caribbean region.
Natural disasters have wreaked havoc upon countries
and people. The Bahamas extends its sympathy and
support to our sister Caribbean States and the United
States of America, which have just recently been victims
of this phenomenon. The Bahamas is encouraged by the
support given by the United Nations system, CARICOM,
and other countries, including Japan, Canada, the United
States and the United Kingdom, for the rehabilitation of
the affected countries.
A new approach requires a new attitude and a new
commitment to enforcing those aspects of the present
order which, though potentially effective, have been
employed selectively at best. Respect for the rule of law,
basic human rights and the dignity of the individual must
be rediscovered. There is need for a strong ethical base to
ensure integrity and honesty in honouring agreements.
This becomes increasingly important in the context of the
globalizing effect of trade and communications
technology. As commercial barriers are removed, we must
ensure that ethnic and cultural barriers are not erected in
their place, as these produce intolerance and the
concomitant intra-State ethnic, religious and territorial
disputes.
Equally important to this new approach is a
recognition of the revised roles for former leaders and
actors in our affairs; traditionally, matters of national and
international concern were dealt with at the
intergovernmental level. It is now necessary to recognize
that individuals and institutions, both public and private,
must have an input. Effective management or governance
must be inclusive.
21

This realization does not, however, remove the
responsibility of Governments to conduct their affairs in a
manner that is both democratic and transparent, thereby
facilitating accountability. Democratization must mean a
guarantee of free participation, where the expressed will of
the people is fully reflected in the actions of Governments.
Such democratization must not be limited to States, but
must spread throughout the international system and its
several components. The United Nations, as one of the
principal elements of this system, must reflect this
democracy in its decision-making bodies, such as the
Security Council. The Bahamas has followed the
deliberations of the Working Group on the reform of the
Security Council with great interest and hopes that the
momentum of those deliberations will be maintained, with
a view to reaching consensus on the issues at an early date.
Once again, the Bahamas wishes to record its support
for the entreaties made by the Republic of China on Taiwan
to this Organization to examine the merits of establishing
an ad hoc committee to analyse comprehensively the
current implications and future ramifications of the
preclusion of the 21 million people in the Republic of
China from contributing to, and availing themselves of, all
the benefits derived from membership in the United Nations
and its affiliated agencies. The Bahamas also lends its voice
to those who encourage dialogue and meaningful
confidence-building steps between the People’s Republic of
China and the Republic of China on Taiwan.
The Government of the Bahamas is committed to good
governance and democratic principles, where human rights
and dignity are respected, and where strong democratic
structures exist, involving every stratum of society. Such a
context facilitates the decentralization of decision-making
to the communities which will ultimately be affected by
them.
My Government’s philosophy is based on the
following seven tenets: the exercise of honesty and
accountability in all public matters; the development and
strengthening of the world’s economy, so that all people
may aspire to suitable and acceptable living standards, and
to meaningful improvement of the quality of their lives; the
commitment to providing the private sector with incentives,
encouragement and scope for revitalizing and expanding the
world’s economy, so as to generate sustainable employment
opportunities for all people; the enhancement of educational
and training opportunities and the development of suitable
recreational facilities, so that young people will be equipped
for challenging careers and can lead purposeful lives; the
establishment of compassionate social programmes to assist
those in society who are in the greatest need; the creation
of a physical and social environment as beautiful and as
secure as possible, so that all people can enjoy the full
beauty and wonder of the world without fear, hindrance
or intimidation; and, finally, the development of mutual
trust and harmony among the peoples of the world,
irrespective of religious, racial, economic or social
differences.
My Government recognizes the vital role of women
in all aspects of this process. It seeks to ensure that they
are involved in shaping and moulding their destinies by
removing all barriers to their access to policy-making
levels of society and to their full involvement in the
decision-making process.
It is gratifying to note that most of the critical areas
of concern identified in the Platform for Action of the
recent Fourth World Conference on Women are being
adequately addressed in the Bahamas.
In fulfilling its responsibilities for shaping this new
order outside the Bahamas, my Government will seek to
ensure that its national priorities find room on the
international agenda and in the organizations assigned to
address these matters. We cannot decry the international
community for lack of action if we fail to provide the
necessary leadership.
We extend such an attitude to our commitment to
ensuring that the United Nations, which constitutes the
best mechanism for addressing such an agenda, operates
on a sound financial basis by seeing to it that our
contributions are paid in full and on time. We encourage
other nations to do likewise. It is a travesty that at a time
when this Organization has been assigned such a vital
role in the management of international affairs it is on the
verge of bankruptcy, with only some 60 countries out of
185 having fully met their financial obligations to date.
Responsibility for our future is in our hands. The
founding fathers of this Organization provided a solid
foundation. Regrettably, the structure erected thereon has
proved inadequate for the needs of the “family”. Let us
now ensure that in our renovations all concerns are taken
into account so that we provide not only shelter but also
warmth and security.


It is a great pleasure and, indeed, an honour for
me, to convey to the General Assembly the fond greetings
of the people of Guinea, its Government and its President,
General Lansana Conté, at the opening of this session,
which so fortuitously coincides with the celebration of the
fiftieth anniversary of our Organization.
The President returned to the Chair.
I am very pleased to extend to you, Mr. President,
my warm congratulations on your brilliant election to the
presidency of the fiftieth session of the General
Assembly. Your election and the outstanding efforts by
your country, Portugal, within this great family of nations,
are a cause of satisfaction to my delegation. I believe that
with your experience and your abilities as a great
diplomat, you will guide our deliberations with great
success.
I would join other delegations in paying a well-
deserved tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Amara Essy of
the sister Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, whose dynamism and
great qualities as a sophisticated diplomat helped us move
forward as our Organization sought answers to the
challenges facing our world today.
Also, I would here extend my Government’s
appreciation to the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, for the enormous amount of work he has
done and for the resolve and wisdom that he demonstrates
in seeking solutions to all the fundamental issues,
16

particularly those relating to peace, security, development
and democracy throughout the world.
I should like to congratulate the people of Palau on
their admission to membership in the United Nations as the
185th Member State. The presence of their delegation here
with us confirms once more the universality of our
Organization.
It is clear that the last few years of this century are
being played out against a background of crisis and
conflict, creating an impression of uncertainty as to the
future of the human race. But we must recognize that the
international community has made considerable efforts in
preparing global strategies for peace and security
throughout the world, taking into account the environment,
sustainable development, the emancipation of women and
the protection of children.
Despite these efforts, many parts of the world, sorely
tried by poverty and backwardness, do not yet have
sufficient food or enough drinking water, education or
medical care. Civil war and natural disaster continue to
endanger the economies of those same areas, which are
already afflicted by a widespread world crisis.
Entire nations, such as my own, the Republic of
Guinea, pay a heavy price because of their geographical
location. More than 600,000 refugees and displaced persons
from Liberia and Sierra Leone are now living in our
country. The Republic of Guinea will never abandon its
humanitarian duty to its Liberian and Sierra Leonean
brothers, and continues to suffer the consequences of a
fratricidal war which has lasted for six years in one of
those neighbours and three years in the other.
It is true that relative calm, showing a clearer desire
for peace in Liberia, has been noted since the agreements
between the factions were signed on 19 August 1995 at
Abuja.
In the view of my delegation, this new choice of peace
in Liberia also requires a clear-cut effort on the part of the
international community. In this connection, one has to
ensure better control of weapons flows in the region. The
Government of the Republic of Guinea is resolved to take
action to that end.
Clearly, peace in Liberia will help to unblock the
crisis in Sierra Leone and to establish in our subregion of
West Africa an atmosphere of peace, security and lasting
stability, which are all essential to our programme for
economic integration.
My Government also welcomes the Lusaka
Agreements and we support all the efforts being made to
implement those Agreements with a view to ending the
crisis in Angola. It is our belief that if the political will
shown on both sides is sustained, then the people of
Angola will come to know the peace and stability they
have yearned for so long and will be able to work for
national reconstruction and economic and social
development.
Here we would pay tribute to the joint efforts made
by the United Nations and the Organization of African
Unity (OAU) and by the international community for
peace and reconciliation in that brother country.
On the question of Somalia, my delegation deplores
the current blockage in the peace process. We would urge
all parties to the conflict to demonstrate wisdom and
mutual understanding with a view to finding a peaceful
settlement to the crisis.
Turning to Rwanda and Burundi, my delegation
believes that to encourage major efforts by the
international community, those involved in those societies
must triumph over hatred, cultivate a spirit of forgiveness
and promote love and dialogue.
Today, the conflict in the Middle East is on a
positive footing. In this regard, the advent of Palestinian
autonomy in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, continuing
negotiations for extending that autonomy to territories still
under occupation, the Jordanian-Israeli agreement on
borders and the Israeli-Syrian talks on the Golan are all
significant advances that augur well for a comprehensive,
just and lasting settlement of the question.
United Nations resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,
on recognition of the border between Iraq and Kuwait and
on the situation in Afghanistan should, we believe, benefit
from mutual understanding between those involved. The
same holds true for the question of Western Sahara.
In the Korean peninsula, we are pleased to see an
easing of tension. My delegation would encourage the
North and the South to pursue their efforts towards the
independent and peaceful reunification of their country
into a confederated republic in keeping with the principle
of one State, one nation, two regimes and two
Governments. Moreover, my Government is pleased that
17

the talks between the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea and the United States of America have led to a
negotiated solution of the nuclear issue on the peninsula
and to an improvement in the relations between those two
countries.
In the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina,
the multicultural and ancient civilization, born of the
contributions of diverse peoples throughout the Balkans, is
being jeopardized by human fury. My delegation believes
that what is happening there, and indeed everywhere,
should remind the international community of its
responsibilities for peace and reconciliation among the
peoples and their component groups.
All the wars that are ravaging entire regions of the
world today share, along with their countless dead, the
phenomenon of an endless flow of displaced persons
seeking, over mountains and through valleys, a place of
refuge. Despite the international community’s spirit of
solidarity, refugees and displaced persons experience the
very worst deprivations. These days, their problem has
grown to unprecedented proportions of gravity and
complexity. Their numbers have increased from year to
year, making it ever more difficult to manage the problem
appropriately. In my delegation’s view, the crises that
spawn refugees constitute genuine threats to regional
stability and world peace.
Guinea, which is participating in the United Nations
security mission in the Rwandese refugee camps in Zaire,
in keeping with a framework agreement signed with the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, and taking account of its own experience with
Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, believes that no
effort should be spared to calm extremism everywhere. That
is why my Government supports all initiatives to strengthen
the intervention capacities of the High Commissioner for
Refugees. Guinea also supports the drafting of an agenda
for humanitarian action along the lines of “An Agenda for
Peace” and “An Agenda for Development”.
Despite the end of the East-West conflict, nuclear
weapons remain the greatest threat to international peace
and security, in spite of the remarkable progress made in
bilateral and multilateral disarmament negotiations. Many
dangers still threaten our efforts to achieve a collective
security that would include the related issues of
development, environment and human rights.
In certain key areas, there is an evident and growing
trend in the trafficking and use of chemical and fissionable
materials in conflicts, as well as the hidden or overt
desire of some countries to possess nuclear weapons.
These facts represent dangers that increase the
responsibilities of the United Nations, which is called
upon to take rigorous verification measures.
That is why the Republic of Guinea welcomes the
positive outcome of the New York Conference which led
to the indefinite and unconditional extension of the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. This was
undeniably an important step towards nuclear
disarmament and confirmed the special responsibility of
the nuclear Powers. However, if it is to be effective, this
achievement must be complemented by the immediate
conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty. All
nuclear tests must be prohibited.
It is obvious that this quick overview of the major
concerns of our age — those relating to international
security — amply demonstrate the importance today of
United Nations peace-keeping operations. My Government
therefore welcomes the special attention given by the
United Nations to the settlement of conflicts in the world.
We support the relevant views expressed by the
Secretary-General in his Agenda for Peace.
None the less, while welcoming United Nations
involvement in various theatres of operation throughout
the world, we must also recognize that over the past few
years the peace-keeping operations have, for the most
part, yielded somewhat meagre results. This requires
today, in the light of our experience, a reformulation of
the entire issue of such operations.
If they are to be effective, peacemaking and peace-
keeping operations must be the subject of broader
agreement and dialogue among all the States Members of
the United Nations, without discrimination. It is in that
context that Guinea welcomes the establishment and work
of the mechanism of the Organization of African Unity
for the prevention, management and settlement of
conflicts in Africa. We urge the United Nations and the
international community to give it all the necessary
assistance.
Economic and social development is a prerequisite
of lasting peace and security. In developing countries,
particularly in Africa, a sense of insecurity arises out of
uncertainty in the future. It can thus be easily understood
why we often see a collapse of political and social
balances, leading to civil disorder and ethnic and religious
conflicts.
18

Despite United Nations efforts in the economic and
social field, the results remain meagre in some regions of
the world, particularly Africa, which is still deeply affected
by inequality, poverty and other serious problems that often
weaken the social fabric and undermine the foundations of
our States.
Recent trends in the world economy have helped to
worsen this already precarious situation. Thus, the debt
burden remains the main obstacle to development in poor
countries, forcing them to devote a major share of their
scarce resources to it. The collapse of the prices of
commodities, which are their main contribution to the world
market, has added to their poverty.
On top of these harsh conditions come the effects of
the implementation, by some of our States, of structural
adjustment programmes that are sometimes poorly prepared
and often poorly implemented. If all of these various
reforms undertaken by our countries are to bear fruit, all of
the partners, national and foreign alike, will have to support
Africa’s development efforts in an effective way. If they
are to be mutually beneficial, the proceeds of all public and
private assistance will simply have to take account of
everyone’s respective requirements for well-being.
Within the framework of the Uruguay Round of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Guinea welcomes
the Marrakesh Agreements that gave rise to the World
Trade Organization. Those Agreements will be viable,
however, only if they take genuine account of the need to
promote the integration of the African economy into the
world economy by developing its capacities and making it
more dynamic. In this connection we strongly support the
idea of setting up a commodities diversification fund.
My delegation greatly appreciates the special attention
given to Africa at the summer session of the Economic and
Social Council in Geneva, which considered the conditions
for implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for
the Development of Africa in the 1990s.
Bilateral initiatives must be supported in order to
strengthen South-South cooperation on the one hand and to
continue the North-South dialogue on the other hand.
Moreover the Agenda for Development must focus
primarily on Africa, where much of the population lives in
poverty. Implementation of that Agenda, complementing the
Agenda for Peace, will make it possible once again to
measure the new political will that has emerged at recent
international conferences on social development,
population and development, and women.
The Secretary-General’s Agenda for Development
offers an appropriate framework for North-South dialogue
and it must also enable the United Nations to provide
better coordination for, and to make more operational, the
policies and programmes implemented by its specialized
agencies and institutions, which have had a very limited
positive impact on the economies of developing countries
so far.
In this connection my Government notes with real
interest and much hope that the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations will be organizing a
world summit on food security in November 1996. That
world-wide meeting will make it possible we believe to
formulate specific and appropriate solutions to the serious
economic problems facing developing countries.
Of course, all these hopes will be in vain if the
States of the world are unable to crush drug-trafficking
and abuse.
While reconfirming our support for Agenda 21 and
all the agreements on sustainable development, we believe
that it is only greater political will that will make it
possible to translate into action the decisions that emerge
from these various meetings.
At the Halifax Summit, held from 15 to 17 June last,
the Group of Seven quite rightly recognized that
sustainable development was one of the major challenges
of the twenty-first century. At that meeting it was also
said that better quality of life for all was the objective of
sustainable development, the foundations of which are
democracy, human rights, transparent and responsible
management of public affairs, investment in the human
individual and protection of the environment. Guinea
welcomes the commitments entered into by the Group of
Seven to support national efforts in this area.
Protecting fundamental human rights, meeting human
needs, achieving social justice and human development
are still the focus of concern of the Government of
Guinea in its ambitious economic and social reform
programme, which has been under way since 1984.
Guinea is party to several international conventions
relating to human rights because it is firmly committed to
promoting and protecting these fundamental rights and
freedoms.
19

Today I am happy to be able to tell the international
community that my country completed instituting its
democratic republican institutions in June this year when
we organized our multiparty legislative and municipal
elections.
The successful completion of this process of
democratization, the establishment of a State of law, and
the liberalization of the economy in the Republic of Guinea
all benefited from the support and understanding of the
international community as a whole and I should like to
thank you all for this.
The United Nations and its specialized agencies, as the
paramount instrument for cooperation and multilateral
agreement, see their responsibilities increased today more
than ever before. Today this universal Organization has
certainly acquired a certain prestige. Its help is requested in
every area.
To strengthen its effectiveness on this fiftieth
anniversary of its founding, the United Nations must
restructure and revitalize its principal organs in the light of
the changes that have taken place in the international arena
and taking account of the challenges facing mankind in the
forthcoming millennium.
The reforms must be based on the principle of equality
among Member States at the level of decision-making
bodies and also within the various organs.
It is only in this way that our common heritage, this
irreplaceable tool, this United Nations, will be able
successfully to discharge its mission of preserving
international peace and security and promoting a fairer
world, more equitable and more prosperous world.
The success of this institution does depend of course
on an improvement in its financial situation at a time when
its responsibilities are constantly increasing in this ever-
changing international situation.
The United Nations has existed for half a century now.
The solemn celebration of its first 50 years coincides with
the twilight of the twentieth century and it offers its 185
Members an opportunity to try to revitalize its activities and
to agree on equitable representation within its principal
organs. In Guinea commemoration of this historic event is
taking place with the full support of our Government.
May the decades to come bring greater
understanding among people and among nations so as to
ensure the greater happiness of mankind.


Our presence here at the fiftieth session of the
General Assembly holds a very special meaning. On this
occasion, we are not gathered here simply to reenact the
annual ritual of exchanging views and official national
positions on the principal problems that encumber the
international agenda. These first 50 years during which
the Organization has carried out its noble task have been
marked by successes and disappointments.
23

As President Menem said in this very forum a year
ago, the real situation in the world today offers a balance
of light and shadow in which encouraging signs of
convergence exist alongside other signs that seem to point
to the persistence of injustice and disagreement. The search
for a delicate balance of peace and security with
development and social justice is the goal which we must
constantly pursue. This search must be translated into
concrete facts which demonstrate on this anniversary,
through the actions of each and every Member State, the
extent to which we have faithfully respected the spirit and
the letter of the Charter.
At this historic moment, my country has chosen
actively to involve itself in the resolution of serious
international crises through the concerted action of the
United Nations.
The tragic situation in the Balkans has found
Argentina present in solidarity, through its troops, in search
of a space for dialogue and understanding after five years
of blood and fire. Today we are witnessing the rebirth of
hope, starting with the recent Geneva agreements and those
that were signed yesterday. We hope that the peoples of the
new republics of the Balkans can, once and for all, begin
life again in peace after such enormous suffering, so much
violence and so many unnecessary deaths.
The Middle East has suffered the attacks of
extremism; yet the peace process initiated in 1993 forges
ahead. On behalf of the people and the Government of
Argentina, I pay a tribute to the leaders of Israel and the
Palestinian people, who, despite provocations and the
legitimate grievances of those who suffer, have managed to
fix their eyes on the future and continue the task of
concluding agreements on each of the points that comprise
the complex agenda for peace in the Middle East.
We cannot forget our African brothers and sisters, who
have been affected by situations in which political struggles
and the survival of the least fortunate are combined in a
most dramatic fashion. It is precisely in those situations that
we must reaffirm our contribution and our solidarity,
because we cannot remain indifferent to the suffering and
deprivation of so many human beings without neglecting
the commitments dictated to us by the Charter and imposed
upon us by human solidarity. To the extent of our ability,
we maintain our participation in the solution of such
problems as those of Western Sahara, Mozambique and
Angola, a neighbour country of ours in the South Atlantic
with which we will cooperate actively in the United Nations
Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III).
The case of Haiti warrants my particular
consideration, since it deals with an issue that directly
affects our region of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Today, I would like to express the Argentine
Government’s great pleasure at the successful process that
culminated in the adoption of Security Council resolution
940 (1994). Only through that resolution could the
Government legitimately elected by the Haitian people be
reestablished — a Government which, with moving
endurance and commitment, is restoring institutional
normalcy and again moving ahead on the road to
economic development.
Argentina is proud of its character as a Latin
American nation. In just a few days, we will have the
high honour of hosting the Fifth Ibero-American Summit,
at which all the nations of our region, together with their
respective mother countries, all linked by a common
history and culture, will set an inspiring example of
dialogue and cooperation in the search for solutions
adapted to our present reality. It is precisely this reality
and the prospects we envisage for it that make us look
with optimism to a Latin American future based on
democracy, peace and integration.
The Argentine commitment to peace was recently
demonstrated once again through the active exercise of
the role mandated to us, together with Brazil, Chile and
the United States of America, as guarantors of the 1942
Rio Protocol, in an effort to bring the peoples of Ecuador
and Peru together once and for all.
Building upon political and economic stability,
ambitious mechanisms for integration have been designed
that contribute to consolidating the opening of our
economies, the transparency of our markets, and the
growth of commercial exchange with other regions — in
short, the creation of the conditions necessary to secure a
better future for our peoples.
In our case, we have made the Southern Cone
Common Market (Mercosur) a priority in our foreign
policy, with the understanding not only that its
strengthening will boost our economy and those of its
member countries, but also, and most especially, that it is
thanks to this open approach that the men and women of
our country and our region can come together today in an
atmosphere of economic growth after so many years of
disillusionment and frustration.
24

In Argentina, we place special emphasis on the
following principles: good governance; the struggle against
corruption; discipline in fiscal matters; accountability in the
management of public finances; respect for human rights;
legal equality for foreign investments; and full authority for
institutions within the rule of law. These are the principles
that form the framework designed to give a greater boost to
economic activity as a necessary motor for the well-being
of the Argentina people.
This framework of recovery and harmony within Latin
America, however, raises important issues which remain
unresolved.
In the South Atlantic, the dispute concerning
sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South
Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime spaces has
not yet been resolved. We will not cite yet again the
numerous resolutions in which the General Assembly and
the decolonization Committee have categorically and
repeatedly stated their position on this matter. Let me
simply recall that all of these include a clear and direct
appeal to the two countries involved — Argentina and the
United Kingdom — to reach a negotiated settlement of this
dispute. This appeal from the Assembly remains unheeded,
despite the willingness we have constantly shown and the
excellent relations that bind our two countries. This makes
the issue even more baffling.
In spite of this, we maintain a cooperative effort with
regard to the exploitation of fishing resources in the area in
an attempt to protect the biomass and at the same time
ensure that significant economic activity continues.
With regard to oil, given the non-renewable character
of the resources and the existence of a consolidated
international doctrine which proscribes the unilateral
exploitation of disputed resources, we are reaching a
temporary understanding that allows us to engage in further
exploration and exploitation while avoiding the creation of
new sources of tension which might discourage initiatives
from the private sector.
This very morning we and the United Kingdom
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,
Malcolm Rifkind, signed a joint declaration which will
allow us to move forward together in this spirit.
With respect to the inhabitants of the islands, I repeat
our determination to guarantee total respect for their way of
life, their culture, habits and institutions.
The dispute over the Malvinas Islands will not
disappear as if by magic. The peaceful recovery of the
exercise of full sovereignty over all the territories in
dispute and the surrounding waters, and respect for the
way of life of the islands’ inhabitants, are today part of
Argentina’s Constitution, on which there was consensus
across the entire political spectrum of my country. Only
rational dialogue, without any a priori conditions from
either party, will permit us to make progress towards the
final implementation of the resolutions of the Assembly
and of the Decolonization Committee.
At the end of this year Argentina will conclude its
term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
In our two years as a member we have witnessed
numerous situations that have required an immediate
response on the part of the Council. Responding to these
situations has not been an easy task, and at times the
serious problems that have given rise to them have failed
to receive full attention. Nevertheless, the Council’s
response has confirmed on each occasion its character as
the central and indispensable instrument for the
maintenance of international peace and security.
Our commitment to the work of the Council has not
been limited to its discussions; it has extended to
Argentina’s contribution to peace-keeping operations, the
largest in our region. Our presence in the former
Yugoslavia, in Cyprus, Mozambique, Haiti and Kuwait —
to name but a few operations — is tangible proof of our
concrete, and not just rhetorical, contribution to
international peace and cooperation.
In recent days much has been said about the process
of reform of the Security Council. If anything has been
proved by the extended deliberations of the ad hoc Open-
ended Working Group established for this purpose, it is
the extreme difficulty of finding a formula, acceptable to
everyone, that does not introduce imbalances into the
region.
In our delegation’s view, the fundamental task in this
respect is to protect and improve the efficiency and
expeditiousness of the Council. In order to achieve this,
a careful, limited increase in the membership would be in
order, should there be the necessary consensus. This
increase could be supplemented with a new procedure
aimed at achieving a greater representativeness, which, by
means of rotation mechanisms, would enable several of
the most interested countries of different regions, as well
as those which stand to wait many years before joining
25

the Council, to take part more regularly in its deliberations.
We believe that those countries which are legitimately
interested in taking part in the daily construction of a stable
and peaceful world order could fulfil their aspirations in
this way.
Moreover, further changes in the procedure of the
Council should be introduced in order to increase its
transparency and strengthen the process of dialogue and
exchange of information. Over the past two years we have
actively promoted such progress, being convinced that the
contribution of the international community to the solution
of its crises would be facilitated if all its members had
more criteria and information on which to base their
decisions.
This matter is of undeniable importance, since the
Security Council is the body ultimately entrusted with the
maintenance of international peace and security. This
requires that we proceed with the utmost care, searching
relentlessly for consensus.
This year has been marked by the positive contribution
to international peace made here in New York, when the
179 States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT), decided to extend it
unconditionally and indefinitely. We are concerned about
the ongoing nuclear-test programmes. Therefore, we look
forward to the prompt conclusion of the comprehensive
nuclear-test-ban treaty, without exceptions or permissible
thresholds. Likewise, we hope that the Conference on
Disarmament will address without delay the negotiation of
a convention banning the production of fissionable material.
It is encouraging to note the increased awareness of
what the Secretary-General has rightly called the
“international humanitarian crisis” of anti-personnel mines.
We trust that the 1981 Convention on inhumane weapons
will be strengthened as a result of the meeting to be held in
Vienna in the next few days.For our part, in addition to
supporting the Assembly resolutions on the subject, we
have declared a unilateral moratorium on mine production,
and with regard to a case which affects us directly — the
mines planted by our armed forces on the Malvinas Islands
in 1982 — we have offered our cooperation and financial
help to the United Kingdom for their removal, which is
proceeding with the greatly appreciated cooperation of the
United States.
Apart from the struggle for the non-proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, new challenges to peace and
stability, including international terrorism, have emerged.
Today no one can feel safe from the action of groups
which are international in structure and very often rely on
the active or passive support of certain States. Almost
every day gruesome attacks reflect the reality of this new
threat, which calls for a determined and unequivocal
response by the international community.
We have drawn this issue to the attention of the
Security Council, and we are confident that as a result
urgent action at the national, regional and international
levels will be taken to promote legislative harmonization
and cooperation in the judicial, police and even
intelligence spheres, in order to halt this insidious
manifestation of terror.
However, the pressing challenges requiring
international action are not restricted to the domain of
security. Emergency assistance activities and the
subsequent stage of rehabilitation for development
constitute a priority task for the United Nations. For this
reason, in 1994 we proposed the “White Helmets”
initiative, which aims to deliver assistance in cases of
extreme urgency and to mobilize resources for specific
instances of extreme poverty. We are pleased to note that
the initiative was adopted by consensus in resolution
49/139 B, with the formidable support of 67 co-sponsors.
In the future we will further define details of the
initiative, which has already been implemented in very
successful pilot projects in our region. We hope to extend
this initiative to other parts of the world where even
greater need is experienced.
From a historical perspective, 50 years may not be
many, but they are not insignificant in the life of an
international organization that every day has to address
numerous and complex issues. Today we find the United
Nations committed to the solution of international crises
which affect international peace and security, a far cry
from the marginalization of the Organization during the
cold war. The United Nations is actively involved in
advances on great social issues by means of international
conferences such as those of Vienna, on human rights;
Cairo, on population; Copenhagen, on social matters; and
Beijing, on women.
These meetings reflect the new and vigorous stage
reached by multilateralism, which elicits universally
accepted responses to the great currents of sustainable
human development, and acts in strict conformity with the
provisions of the Charter, under which the promotion of
human welfare, development and dignity are harmonious
26

and mutually complementary priorities. We remain actively
committed to work to achieve these priorities in the
framework of the United Nations, thus renewing the
commitment of 1945, towards which the current reform
process will make a substantive contribution, with the same
faith we had then, nourished by decades of cooperation.
The year 1995 is not only the year that marks the half
century of the United Nations. Two years ago the General
Assembly, in its resolution 48/126, declared 1995 the
United Nations Year for Tolerance. It occurs to me that the
forefathers of the United Nations must have had the idea of
tolerance deeply etched in their minds when they set the
foundations of this unique endeavour.
International reality reminds us how often we forget
tolerance, how often we reject, proscribe or ignore others
for what they are, think, say or do, or simply for existing.
May this anniversary be a timely occasion to remember the
need to reaffirm in our minds, in the education of our
children and in our acts, tolerance, and, with it, the culture
of peace.


It gives me great pleasure to
congratulate Mr. Freitas do Amaral on his election as
President of the General Assembly at its fiftieth session,
during which he will guide our discussions on what the
future of the United Nations should be. May I also convey
my thanks to the President of the General Assembly at its
forty-ninth session, Mr. Amara Essy, who, as it were, tilled
the ground which the new President will sow.
A fiftieth anniversary is a climacteric, usually joyous
but not necessarily so. In ancient India, this was around the
time in a man’s life that he would be expected to withdraw
into a forest, to spend the rest of his days in contemplation
of past and future, it being the assessment of our ancestors
that anything a man could usefully do he would have done
by then. No such drastic measures are needed for the
United Nations, not least because it has spent much of its
first 50 years meditating in a concrete jungle. And the
shadow of the woods of Bretton always loom over it. I do
think, however, that as we celebrate, which we should, the
survival of the United Nations, we should judge what it has
done and what it now needs to do. The United Nations
system has had remarkable success in helping to defeat
colonialism and apartheid, on social issues like universal
health care and women’s rights, and in banning, through
global, non-discriminatory treaties, two of the three
weapons of mass destruction. These are considerable
achievements. But a clear pattern emerges from them.
Whenever the United Nations has acted on principle,
responding to the felt needs and priorities of the majority of
its membership, it has done well. When it has pursued
narrow agendas or succumbed to special pleading, it has
not.
If we were setting out tasks for the United Nations
today, what would be the major trends and challenges we
would expect it to address? The first is the international
economy, transformed by global movements of trade,
capital and labour; driven by forces which can break
developing economies; regulated — if they can be at all —
in forums outside the United Nations, which is therefore
marginalized in this most momentous of contemporary
developments. The second is an opening up of political
systems, with democracy the norm of national
governance. The United Nations welcomes this and urges
the recalcitrant to change, but is itself sapped by
undemocratic systems and institutions. The third is the
scourge of war increasingly replaced by the scourge of
terrorism, which, for the countries that sponsor it, is war
by other means. The United Nations, set up to save
succeeding generations from the scourge of war, ignores
it, as the League of Nations, to its fatal peril, ignored the
threat of xenophobia.
These are complex and titanic forces. We, therefore,
cannot accept, either as a statement of fact or as a basis
of policy, the view that all this meant was that the days
of absolute sovereignty were over. Sovereignty has never
been absolute. Most Members of the United Nations
joined immediately after emerging from colonial rule,
with their economies destroyed, and dependent on foreign
languages for communication, on imperial capitals for
support and on donors for subsistence. This is hardly the
stuff on which absolute sovereignty is built. It was, in
fact, one of the great virtues of the United Nations that it
gave fledgling nations space to exercise the sovereignty
so cruelly circumscribed elsewhere. Therefore, the United
Nations should not claim a unilateral right to intervene in
the affairs of its Members. Sovereignty can be diluted
only with the voluntary consent of nation States accepting
obligations that are non-discriminatory or, in exceptional
circumstances, where State authority has collapsed. Far
from enfeebling sovereignty, it is the task of the United
Nations to nurture it in a world that has made the
powerful more dominant and the weak increasingly
powerless. We must never forget that this Assembly is an
assembly of our nations united. The United Nations rests
on the commitment to it of sovereign nations.
There is clearly an enormous need for global action
to deal with complex issues which have no territorial
limits or borders. This is the task of the United Nations.
Developing countries which represent the majority of the
United Nations, obviously want it to focus on the issues
of most pressing concern to them. That is not only fair:
that would be the democratic thing to do. For us, the
single most important task is development, and we expect
this to be the highest priority on the international agenda,
as it is on our domestic agendas. Sadly, it is not. The
Agenda for Development looks lamentably like an
appendix. Can we, at this session, pledge ourselves to
honour the commitments, freely negotiated but never
implemented, which will make development possible in
13

the South and make the world, for all of us, a better and
more peaceful place?
It is just as important for the United Nations to have
a say in the decisions that guide the international economy.
Chapter IX of the Charter gave it the task to promote
higher standards of living, solutions of international
economic, social, health and related problems, and universal
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Like
the United Nations, the World Trade Organization gives
equal weight to the votes of all its members, but it would
be a pity if the World Trade Organization cut even the
tenuous links between the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT) and the United Nations and, decided
instead that global economic policies would in the future be
coordinated between it, the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund, where the system of weighted
voting makes the voice of the developing countries
irrelevant. At the same time, several studies commissioned
to coincide with this anniversary claim that the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
no longer has a useful purpose. This can either mean that
the problems UNCTAD addresses — development
strategies, poverty alleviation, resource transfers and debt,
and the transfer of technology — have been settled, or are
now irrelevant. Neither is true. These continue to be
burning issues for developing countries, and if the United
Nations chooses to ignore them it will not serve the needs
of its Member States.
The United Nations must assume its Charter
responsibility to supervise and coordinate global economic
policies. In the World Trade Organization efforts have been
made to link trade to environment and labour standards.
The World Bank, in its World Development Report 1995,
warns about
“the proliferation of protectionist demands, many of
them under the guise of demands for fair trade and a
level playing field”.
If, indeed, there is a genuine interest in protecting the
environment and the interests of labour in developing
countries, why are the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the International Labour
Organization (ILO) being sidelined in this exercise? The
answer must be that there is no provision in these bodies
for the coercive, retaliatory action which would be available
under the sanctions regime of the World Trade
Organization.
However, the industrialized countries say that
environmental and labour standards must be harmonized
upwards, because otherwise transnational corporations
would go where these standards were the lowest. This of
course implies that transnational corporations have an
appalling and exploitative standard of behaviour, but
when, in the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations tried to
develop a code of conduct for transnational corporations,
we were told that transnational corporations were models
of virtue. How do these two views cohere?
The problem posed by these global economic forces
is enormous. Trade is the oxygen of our economies, but
cross-border trade between transnational corporations
constitutes one third of world trade and almost 15 per
cent of gross global product. No developing country, or
group of developing countries, can match this commercial
strength, augmented, of course, by the enormous weight
of financial flows, which can make or break a country’s
financial structure.
The third element in the trinity of mobility in the
international economy is migration. At present 125
million people live outside their countries, but more than
half of them move between developing countries; this is
not, therefore, as it has so often been misrepresented, only
a problem for the developed world. It is disturbing,
however, that those who insist on unfettered and truly
global flows of capital and trade also insist on restrictions
being placed on the movement of labour. Economic
arguments are given to justify this, but there are also
claims that large migrations disturb the way a society
thinks of itself as a unified cultural or ethnic entity.
The President returned to the Chair.
It would be honest to recognize these fears as racist.
India is a model of how these fears can be overcome. On
the one hand, over the past decade several million illegal
immigrants have come into India. We know to our cost
the political, economic and social strain this causes.
However, we do not accept a racial basis for
discriminating against legal migrants. We do not accept
that nationhood is based on race, any more than it is
based on religion or any other exclusive attribute. The
waves of migration that have washed over India have
made us a multi-ethnic society; we have been culturally
enriched, not impoverished. We urge the international
community not to let the forces of xenophobia rise again.
Sovereignty has never been threatened by fresh blood
freely welcomed; it has been threatened by the forces of
racist intolerance.
14

This brings me naturally to the other force that now
threatens the sovereignty of so many nations. Terrorism is
the black plague of our times and it has been made more
dangerous by the mystique with which the media has
endowed it. It is argued sometimes that one man’s freedom
fighter is another man’s terrorist. This is specious logic. In
1922 Mahatma Gandhi suspended for several years the
freedom struggle in India because, in an incident in the
small village of Chauri Chaura, a mob burnt some
policemen to death. In Gandhi’s view, the view of the
ultimate freedom-fighter, the means must sanctify the ends.
What ends could possibly justify the barbarism of
taking an innocent foreigner in India hostage and beheading
him in cold blood? Foreign mercenaries did this to the
Norwegian Hans Christian Ostro last month. An empire of
terror is being built up with arms and money sent across
borders; its foot soldiers are drawn from the bigoted, its
leadership from ruthless, unprincipled men and, regrettably,
some women.
At every summit in recent years, whether of the non-
aligned, the Group of Seven, the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), or the Commonwealth,
Heads of State and Government have reaffirmed their
resolve to defeat all forms of terrorism. However, in the
United Nations, where we are all represented, we have been
unable to speak in such forthright terms. We must do so at
this fiftieth anniversary. To appease terrorism now will be
as dangerous as appeasing xenophobia was in the 1930s and
ultimately as destructive of both peace and democracy,
because terrorism, as I said earlier, is war by other means.
Whether it tries to violate the territorial integrity of a
country, as in India, in our State of Jammu and Kashmir, or
to unseat duly constituted Governments, as in Afghanistan,
the acts of States sponsoring terrorism are, in fact, acts of
war.
Democracies, as open societies, are particularly
vulnerable to terrorism. The United Nations welcomes the
global trend that has made democracy the norm of
governance, but has done nothing to defend democracies
from extremist and other threats. Instead, it comforts itself
with the mantras that democracy is development, and
democracies do not wage war. These neatly package all the
world’s problems and absolve the United Nations of any
further responsibility: establish democracy everywhere and,
automatically, development and peace will follow.
Both propositions are historically untrue. Democracies
that developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
either suppressed democratic rights until they became rich,
or grew rich on the ruthless exploitation of colonies.
When they shed their empires after the Second World
War democracy became development in Europe only in
the uniquely generous embrace of the Marshall Plan. The
myth that democracies do not wage war is destroyed by
the history of colonial rule and its wars, leading to the
conflagration of the First World War. The United Nations
should, therefore, take these propositions as objectives,
not as givens. Democracy should lead to development;
democracies should be peaceful.
I want to touch briefly upon two other global issues
which affect our lives — disarmament and human rights.
After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mahatma Gandhi said that
the use of the atom bomb for the wholesale destruction of
men, women and children was the most diabolical use of
science. We were therefore appalled that, instead of
stepping back from the road to nuclear ruin, the nuclear-
weapon States sped faster and faster down it. As they
accelerated, India tried unsuccessfully to put on the
brakes. In 1954 we called for an end to nuclear testing. In
1965 we proposed principles for a non-proliferation
treaty. In 1982 we called for a convention to ban the use
of nuclear weapons and for an end to the production of
fissile material for nuclear weapons. In 1988 we proposed
to the United Nations a comprehensive action plan for a
world free of nuclear weapons.
Our goal — shared, I believe by most of us here —
is a world from which nuclear weapons have been
eliminated. The nuclear-weapon States claim to share this
goal, but their present objective is to retain nuclear
weapons while making sure others do not get them.
The logic of this is hard to understand. It cannot be
argued that the security of a few countries depends on
their having nuclear weapons and that that of the rest
depends on their not having them. What makes the NPT
such a pernicious document is that it legitimizes this
illogicality, and now that it has been made permanent it
has made the possession of nuclear weapons by the
nuclear-weapon States immutable and has made the goal
of global nuclear disarmament that much more difficult.
It is useful to recall that when India and other
developing countries proposed the NPT, a global balance
of responsibilities was envisaged. Those who did not have
nuclear weapons would not seek to acquire them; those
who had them would not try either to refine or develop
them or to increase their arsenals. This balance was never
honoured, with the result that 25 years after the signing
of the NPT the world is a much more dangerous place,
15

made so by the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the
arsenals of the nuclear-weapon States.
I recall this background because two years ago the
international community at last agreed to negotiate a
comprehensive test-ban treaty. We are glad that negotiations
are in progress, but we also note that nuclear-weapon States
agreed to a comprehensive test-ban treaty only after
acquiring the know-how to develop and refine their arsenals
without the need for tests. In our view, the comprehensive
test-ban treaty must be an integral step in the process of
nuclear disarmament. Developing new warheads or refining
existing ones after a comprehensive test-ban treaty is in
place, using innovative technologies, would be as contrary
to the spirit of the comprehensive test-ban treaty as the
NPT is to the spirit of non-proliferation. The comprehensive
test-ban treaty must contain a commitment binding on the
international community, especially the nuclear-weapon
States, to take further measures within an agreed
time-frame towards the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free
world.
The existence of nuclear weapons poses a threat to
peace and security. Only global nuclear disarmament can
guarantee that there will never be a nuclear war. Therefore,
despite the unfortunate legitimization of nuclear weapons
through the indefinite extension of the NPT, India will
continue to work with like-minded countries for the early
elimination of all nuclear weapons. We hope that at this
session the Assembly will finalize dates for the fourth
United Nations special session on disarmament, in 1997.
Human rights have always been a preoccupation of the
United Nations, but their protection and promotion of such
rights in each country is the primary responsibility of the
government. The universality and interdependence of all
human rights are also beyond question. That is precisely
why the United Nations system cannot promote and protect
human rights by a unilateral prioritization of individual
freedoms or a proliferation of intrusive mechanisms, or by
diverting funds from development activities to human rights
activities. The priorities of nations will differ. The United
Nations must balance the promotion of all human rights —
civil, cultural, economic, political and social — preserve
and propagate the values of every society and promote
tolerance for diversity and cross-cultural interaction.
Politicizing the human-rights agenda and using it to target
countries is undesirable.
The United Nations will become responsive to these
global issues and effective and efficient only if it also
becomes more democratic in its functioning. Developing
countries find it hard to identify with the agendas and
priorities of the United Nations; they feel that it now
represents the privilege of a few rather than the interests
of the many. If the majority of its Members become
disenchanted with it, what role can the United Nations
effectively play? For the United Nations to be more
effective, the General Assembly must be given new life
and breathe that life into the other bodies of the system.
The legitimacy and effectiveness of the Security Council
must be enhanced. An expansion of both permanent and
non-permanent members is a must if the Council is to
become a truly representative body acting on behalf of the
Members of the United Nations for the maintenance of
peace and security.
The members of the Movement of Non-Aligned
Countries have put forward a comprehensive proposal for
the reform and restructuring of the Security Council. India
believes that, to truly reflect the expanded membership of
the United Nations, developing countries must be included
as permanent members. New permanent members should
be chosen not arbitrarily, but on objective criteria. In the
League of Nations it was argued that one country had a
special right of entry into the Supreme Council. When
that was forced through, one or two of the other aspirants
left the League, starting its decline. We should not repeat
that tragedy. On objective criteria, some countries will
clearly qualify for permanent membership. We believe
India will be among them.
The United Nations has in recent years devoted itself
almost exclusively to peace-keeping, which is important,
but not the central issue of our times. It is judged,
naturally, by its record in these operations. There have
been successes and failures, and both provide the reason
and the need for introspection. India believes that United
Nations peace-keeping operations must be based on the
principles evolved over the last 50 years. Operations
guided by these principles have usually done well. Where
these have been abandoned, failure has been common.
Over the past year this truth has gained broad acceptance,
and the Special Committee on Peace-Keeping Operations
is now trying to collate these principles. It would be
desirable for the General Assembly at this fiftieth session
to agree on them. India will contribute to this work.
India has consistently supported the peace-keeping
activities of the United Nations. Indian troops have
participated in all major peace-keeping operations, ranging
from the Congo to Cambodia, Somalia and Mozambique.
We are currently participating in United Nations
peace-keeping operations in Rwanda, Angola, Haiti,
16

Liberia and Kuwait. We have also offered a brigade of
troops to the United Nations stand-by arrangement. India
will continue to contribute to United Nations efforts to
maintain international peace and security.
If the United Nations is to become a leading player on
the world scene, it must be given the means needed to do
the job we entrust to it. Clearly, setting out on a second 50
years with a crippling financial crisis is not the best way to
do so. In India we make considerable efforts to pay our
contributions promptly and in full. We believe that all
Members must pay their assessed contributions in full and
on time. Further, those in arrears must announce a schedule
for settlement. There can be no progress in the on-going
efforts for financial reform unless this is done.
The fiftieth session of the General Assembly is a
historic one. It is our responsibility to rejuvenate the United
Nations, give it the tasks we want it to do, and the means
with which to do them. We set up the United Nations
because we felt that all of us stood to gain from it. In the
dark days of the cold war and in the friction between North
and South, we seem to have lost this vision.
Since the inception of the United Nations, India has
been committed to the principles and objectives of the
Charter. In the last five decades we have played an
important role in shaping the United Nations agenda, taking
the lead on the crucial issues of decolonization,
disarmament, human rights and environment, among others.
On this historic occasion we pledge our continuing
commitment to the United Nations efforts to chart a new
course for the collective benefit of all humanity. As we
attempt to do so, I am reminded of Jawaharlal Nehru’s
speech to the General Assembly in November 1948, in
Paris. He said:
“The objectives are clear; your aim is clear; and yet,
in looking at that aim, we lose ourselves often, if I
may venture to say so, in smaller matters and forget
the main objective that we were looking at. Sometimes
it seems that the objective itself gets a little clouded”.
(Plenary Verbatim Records, Third Session, General
Assembly, 154th meeting, p. 16)
We must ensure that we set aside smaller matters, that
we do not allow the objective to get clouded and that we
move forward together in harmony and for the benefit of all
the people of the world.


First of all I should
like to welcome the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement
being signed today in Washington by Yasser Arafat and
Yitzhak Rabin. This show of reconciliation should be an
example to parties in various conflicts the world over.
As the United Nations celebrates its fiftieth
anniversary, it is time to look to the future. The world is
different. The end of the cold war, the spread of
democracy, economic globalization, and the explosive
growth of communications have led to far-reaching
changes. Distances between people are shorter, national
boundaries are more open and global interdependence is
increasingly apparent.
Security is no longer primarily a military matter.
Security also implies building confidence, justice and
equal opportunities to achieve lasting and sustainable
peace, both within countries and through closer
cooperation between countries and peoples.
Such cooperation is needed at the regional and
global levels. Further enlargement of the European Union
would be a step towards a pan-European community for
peace and security. We have a historic opportunity to
create a united Europe, ultimately developing integration
and cooperation to a point where war becomes
inconceivable anywhere on our continent. In my vision,
the European Union must be a genuine peace project,
opening itself towards the rest of Europe and the rest of
the world.
At the same time, major threats to human security
are global. They must be met by global action. Thus, we
must revitalize the United Nations system, and adapt the
Organization to the new reality. We need an effective
instrument for global cooperation — for peace and
security, for sustainable development, for justice and for
a life in dignity for all.
We are more convinced than ever that, with 50 years
of experience, the United Nations is an indispensable tool
8

for achieving these goals. Fifty years of experience have
strengthened our support for the purposes and principles of
the United Nations Charter.
In pursuit of these goals, United Nations personnel all
over the world are making major contributions. They merit
our deep gratitude. We pay special tribute to those who
have lost their lives in the service of the world community
and we extend our sympathy to their families.
Appalling pictures of human suffering in Somalia,
Rwanda and former Yugoslavia force their way into our
homes. We see the United Nations humiliated. The apparent
shortcomings of the world Organization have sown doubts
about the feasibility of multilateral global cooperation. But
the problems of the United Nations are in fact those of its
Member States. They result from a combination of growing
needs and expectations, on the one hand, and insufficient
resources and a lack of political will, on the other.
Sweden’s former Prime Minister, Olof Palme,
developed this theme in a speech he gave from this rostrum
10 years ago at the special commemorative session to mark
the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations. He said:
“Let us not make the United Nations the
scapegoat for problems that reflect our own
shortcomings. It is not the United Nations that has not
lived up to us; it is we who have not lived up to the
ideals of the United Nations. It is by improving
ourselves and our policies that we can improve the
United Nations.” (Official Records of the General
Assembly, Fortieth Session, Plenary Meetings, 43rd
meeting, p. 64)
Let us not curse the dark but instead shed light. Let us
draw lessons both from the more difficult United Nations
operations of recent years, and the more successful ones —
El Salvador, Namibia, Mozambique and Cambodia.
We have learned that we must take action at an early
stage, before the catastrophe is a fact, before the genie of
violence has escaped from the bottle. The United Nations
Charter offers plenty of scope for preventive efforts. Action
must be undertaken with the consent of the States
concerned and their sovereignty must be respected. We
appeal to Governments: in an internal conflict accept the
assistance offered by the United Nations or by a regional
organization.
Prevention is seldom glamorous. It does not make
headlines. Long-term, often tedious, work, with the focus
on the fundamental causes of conflicts, must be backed
up by deliberate political support.
More resources must be earmarked for preventive
measures. This is an investment that is needed if we are
to avoid new tragedies. The Swedish Government is
currently studying how to improve the United Nations
capacity for early-warning and preventive action.
We have learned to focus on the security and needs
of human beings. Our goal must always be human
coexistence, irrespective of cultural, religious or ethnic
differences. We must never confine ourselves to drawing
up maps that reflect the realities of power politics. We
must never accept the evil of “ethnic cleansing”. If we do,
we will ultimately threaten ourselves and our future.
We have also learned the importance of the
principles of international law and respect for human
rights. Humanitarian law must be defended and reinforced
and war crimes investigated. For example, we must find
out what happened to those who disappeared in
Srebrenica and Zepa. By bringing war criminals to trial
we will enhance respect for humanitarian law.
Perpetrators of cruelty, rape and torture must be made to
understand that they cannot act out their perversions with
impunity. We support the international criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia, and the Rwanda tribunal.
We have learned that a democratic culture provides
greater potential for prevention and conflict resolution.
Continued democratization within individual countries
must be encouraged, underpinning a democratic
international community. Sweden is honoured to be the
host country of the International Institute for Democracy
and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), which supports
democratization processes throughout the world. The work
of IDEA will be a valuable complement to the efforts of
the United Nations and non-governmental organizations
in this area.
We have learned that troops must be made available
for rapid-reaction operations when non-military measures
have failed. As a conflict begins to escalate, every hour
is precious. The lack of well-trained and well-equipped
peace-keeping forces, ready to be deployed at short
notice, may preclude successful action. Failure to achieve
the proper execution of Security Council decisions due to
lack of troops undermines respect for the United Nations.
We welcome the efforts made — by Canada and
Denmark for example — to improve the United Nations
9

stand-by capacity. Sweden will contribute an international
force to achieve this objective.
We have also learned that the Security Council
mandates for United Nations peace operations must be
more precisely formulated. Clear messages to the parties
concerned are necessary. Unclear mandates may lead to
ambiguous perceptions of the United Nations role in a
conflict.
We have learned the need to strengthen the United
Nations ability to command and control peace operations.
We welcome the reinforcements of the Secretariat that have
taken place. Confusion occurs when troop-contributing
countries intervene in the field through direct contacts with
their own contingents. An effective forum for consultations
with troop contributors could add to more effective
management of peace operations. Such a forum should be
established under the Security Council, preferably in
accordance with Article 29 of the United Nations Charter.
We have also learned that coordination of diplomatic,
humanitarian and military efforts must be improved. Those
who are to do the work in the field — humanitarian
organizations and potential troop-contributing countries —
should participate at an early stage in discussions on the
implementation of mandates for complex United Nations
peace operations. In this context, I would like to underline
the importance of the United Nations Department of
Humanitarian Affairs.
Further, we have learned the need to involve
non-governmental organizations in such humanitarian
operations. We have learned the value of comprehensive
United Nations efforts in which humanitarian assistance,
peacemaking, peace-keeping and long-term peace-building
are carried out simultaneously, thus mutually reinforcing
each other.
We have learned that monitoring respect for human
rights can build confidence, thus allaying fears and
preventing the use of force.
We have learned the vital importance of regional
organizations for peace and security, as foreseen in Chapter
VIII of the United Nations Charter. The Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is already
playing a prominent role in conflict management in Europe.
In other parts of the world — in Africa, Asia and the
Americas — regional and subregional organizations are in
a position to fulfil similar tasks, if necessary with the
support of the United Nations.
Military operations should be based on decisions
taken by the United Nations, the OSCE or corresponding
organizations in other regions. Other regional
arrangements may have a role in organizing and executing
such operations, but the bodies I have just mentioned
should assume overall political and strategic
responsibility.
As we approach the twenty-first century, the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations offers an opportunity to
establish a solid basis for improved global cooperation.
Sweden welcomes the reform process now under way in
the United Nations. To embrace multilateralism we must
all rise above short-sighted interests and focus on what is
best for global cooperation. We need political leadership
from Governments if we are to make progress.
Adapting the United Nations to the demands of the
new era will involve hard work and difficult negotiations.
We must not miss the opportunity provided by this
anniversary. We need speedy progress. A clear timetable
and a comprehensive framework are required for
necessary change.
The Commission on Global Governance, under the
chairmanship of Sir Shridath Ramphal and the Prime
Minister of Sweden, Ingvar Carlsson, offers several
proposals for a stronger, more efficient and more
democratic United Nations. The Commission’s report is
a valuable contribution and a source of inspiration for
United Nations reform.
In order to be effective and more representative, the
Security Council requires enlargement. We would
welcome Germany and Japan as permanent members. At
the same time, the need for geographical balance must be
met. We want a more transparent Security Council. We
want a composition and a decision-making process which
prevent the division of the world into spheres of interest.
The reform of the Security Council should be reviewed
after 15 to 20 years with a view to maintaining its
legitimacy and to achieving optimum flexibility.
We meet at a time when the financial situation of
the United Nations is critical. Last Monday the Nordic
Foreign Ministers, in a joint statement, highlighted the
threat to multilateralism caused by the present financial
crisis. Nowhere is the crisis in multilateralism seen more
clearly than in the unwillingness of some Member States
to pay their assessed contributions to the United Nations
in full, without conditions and on time. It is unacceptable
that so far only one third of the Member States have paid
10

their regular-budget contributions for this year. Countries
constantly demand more from the Organization, yet some
of them are not willing to pay their membership fees. They
apparently want others to foot the bill.
Unilateral withholding of payment cannot be justified.
Unilateral measures undermine multilateralism, particularly
when taken by the single most important contributor. It is
humiliating to see the Secretary-General spend time and
energy begging for funds when the world community is
demanding that the United Nations concentrate fully on the
tasks which it was designed for.
The United Nations needs revised scales of assessment
to better reflect Member States’ ability to pay. Together
with the United Kingdom, my Government has presented
concrete proposals to address this problem.
In the longer term, the resource base of the United
Nations must be strengthened. The possibility of additional
sources of funding needs also to be considered.
Poverty and social misery are the greatest long-term
threats to international peace and security. Some of the
poorest countries have been caught in vicious circles of
debt management. The United Nations must be given a
stronger and better-defined role in the economic and social
fields.
A clearer division of work is called for in development
assistance. Better coordination, more distinct priorities and
more effective management by the United Nations
development agencies are required. The governing boards
of these agencies must be in a better position to play their
leading role in the implementation of development
assistance. Furthermore, we need improved forms of
financing, with a higher proportion of assistance levied and
negotiated in advance. More long-term planning of
assistance is required, and the flow of funds must become
more predictable.
Sweden continues to be one of the largest voluntary
contributors to United Nations economic and social
activities. We expect other donor countries to assume their
responsibilities to the same degree. As regards total
development assistance, it must be possible for most donor
countries to reach the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent
of gross national product.
The United Nations is contemporary with the atomic
bomb. Today we no longer accept living under a nuclear
threat. The indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was an important
step in the right direction. We urge those few States
which have not yet acceded to the NPT to do so without
further delay, thus making it clear to the world
community that they renounce the nuclear-weapon option.
In May of this year the 180 States which have
acceded to the NPT confirmed that the ultimate goal is to
abolish nuclear weapons. International bans on chemical
and biological weapons are already in place. It should be
possible, if there is political will, to achieve within 10 to
15 years an agreement prohibiting nuclear weapons, thus
making this threat to human existence a brief interlude in
our history.
A comprehensive test-ban treaty must be achieved in
1996, banning all nuclear tests for all time. In the
meantime, we urge the nuclear-weapon States to refrain
from all nuclear testing in order to ensure that faith in a
future free from fear of a nuclear holocaust can be
sustained.
Every day, every hour, around the world,
anti-personnel mines indiscriminately maim innocent
civilians, many of them children. The ongoing Conference
in Vienna to review the 1980 weapons Convention should
result in a strongly and concretely reinforced regime
against anti-personnel mines. This is a fundamental, moral
and humanitarian imperative, and it is one step on the
road to a total international ban on the use of
anti-personnel mines. Moreover, substantial resources
need to be invested in efficient mine clearance. Sweden
is ready to contribute expertise and assist in the
development of more advanced technology in this field.
Furthermore, at the Vienna Conference, Sweden has
proposed an additional protocol on blinding weapons. For
more than a decade we have worked for explicit
prohibition of blinding as a method of warfare. We now
hope that it will be universally accepted.
Security is a broad concept in today’s world. We
know that poverty, social injustice, environmental
degradation, rapid population growth and massive refugee
flows create fear, disruption and conflicts.
The major United Nations conferences on
environment and development, human rights, population,
social issues, women and human settlement all involved
crucial questions of survival. We welcome the outcome of
these conferences, the most recent of which was the
Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing. We
11

need to address both the root causes and the consequences
of social injustice. Sustainable social and economic
development can be achieved only with the full
participation of women.
To Sweden, multilateral cooperation is the most
important instrument for mastering the crucial issues of
survival. For this reason, we will continue to be an active
Member of the United Nations. For this reason, we believe
wholeheartedly that multilateralism is not only a matter of
solidarity, but, indeed, a question of enlightened self-
interest.
As an expression of our strong commitment to the
United Nations and to international peace and security,
Sweden is a candidate for a seat on the Security Council in
1997-98. Our candidacy is a matter of highest priority for
the Swedish Government and the Swedish people. It has
been launched with the full support of the other four Nordic
countries. As a member of the Council, we will make a
constructive contribution to its work. Our dedication will be
consistent with our record as a United Nations Member.
Our support for United Nations ideals and activities is
concrete, substantial and unwavering.