I should like to congratulate
you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the United
Nations General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. May
I also express our appreciation to Ambassador Samuel
Insanally of Guyana for having successfully guided the
work of the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session
and further enhanced its centrality.
The cold war has ended, and totalitarianism has met
its nemesis. At this very critical stage in history, we must
seize the opportunity to redesign the international order so
as to realize the aspirations of the global community. We
must meet this challenge and collectively reconstruct a truly
just order for our time and for the generations to come.
Indeed, the global community has reached many
significant milestones. More nations have agreed to resolve
their disputes by peaceful means. South Africa has
emerged from its political catharsis as a nation free of
apartheid and with majority rule; Cambodia experienced
free and democratic elections; and lasting peace in West
Asia came closer to realization with the Israeli-Palestinian
accords.
However, the initial euphoria will be somewhat
short-lived. The path ahead is strewn with uncertainties
and pitfalls. The end of the cold war has yet to reward
us fully with its promise of global peace and security. It
has instead unleashed the demons of parochial
nationalism, tribalism, religious fanaticism — as
witnessed in the “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia — tribal
warfare in Rwanda and religious dissension in some
countries. The North-South divide in wealth, power and
control over resources is still too pronounced to be
ignored, and the redistribution of global prosperity is far
from being realized.
The paramount challenge facing the global
community today is to fulfil the promises made in recent
years of systemic change in the global environment. This
is to be achieved through sustained efforts in regard to
economic development and through the strengthening of
civil society and multilateral institutions.
Development is the only secure foundation for global
peace and security, for the origins of conflicts are often
very deeply rooted in socio-economic deprivation and
disparities. As for civil society, its growth into maturity
requires the establishment of institutions for a stable and
responsive social order, a democratic participatory
arrangement as a means to channel political energy, and
an environment in which culture can flourish.
In all these areas, it is the people that matter — their
freedom, security and development. All great traditions
of mankind, East and West, concur in the sanctity of the
human person, the family as a fundamental unit of
society, and the primacy of moral and ethical values as a
foundation of civilizations. The sanctity of the human
person warrants the State’s protection of the inalienable
rights of all to freedom, to participate in social, political
and cultural processes and to optimize the potential of the
human person through development. The rights of the
individual must be safeguarded inasmuch as the stability
of society cannot be compromised. It is within this
framework that we conceive the restoration of human
rights in any society, industrial or developing, as a
continuing endeavour which we must never abandon.
The promise made at the 1992 Rio Summit remains
unfulfilled. If no increased official development
assistance is forthcoming and the international target of
12

0.7 per cent is not met, this will represent a serious
reneging on the Rio commitments, notwithstanding the
Global Environment Facility.
This will raise questions as to the commitment of the
North to pledges made at major conferences. The World
Summit for Social Development will take place next year,
and what will be the value of assiduously negotiated
documents when, as with the Rio Agenda 21, no real means
are provided for their implementation? The recent
International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting at
Madrid highlighted the preoccupation of the major
developed countries, often at a tangent from the needs and
requirements of developing countries.
At the Rio Summit, the developed countries declared
that the tropical forests belonged to the whole world. It
was maintained that these forests must always remain in
order to maintain biological diversity and sustain ecological
balance. Today, South-East Asia is covered in thick haze,
adversely affecting the health of the people. Hundreds of
thousands of hectares of virgin forest are burning, and
valuable species are being lost.
If indeed the tropical forest is the heritage of mankind,
the responsibility for its protection must necessarily be
collective. While the South-East Asian countries will take
the necessary measures, we appeal to the global
community, especially the richer members, to help us put
out this fire on an urgent and priority basis.
We regard the issue of global population as
inseparable from the overall concern of development.
Reductions in fertility mainly come about from investment
in education and health care for women. While we share
the fundamental objectives of the Conference on Population
and Development in Cairo, we deplore the attempt to
impose views without regard for the values of others.
The peace dividend that we aspire to reap will not be
realized without sustained growth in the global economy.
However, growth prospects are often hampered by short-
sighted policies and structural crises within the industrial
economies. Viewed in this light, the popular call for
macroeconomic stabilization should not be confined to the
developing countries alone but instead should encompass
both the developing and the industrial economies.
The United Nations will soon commemorate its fiftieth
year of existence. It would be uncharitable to ignore
altogether the outstanding contributions made to humanity
by this world body and its agencies. It has provided a
platform for international cooperation in the fields of
education, law, health, culture, economics, refugee relief
and so on. But more significantly, it has, by its very
existence, prepared the groundwork for a global order that
would be truly democratic and multicultural.
However, as we draw up the balance sheet of that
era and contemplate the challenges of the twenty-first
century, we must take into serious account our many
limitations. Clearly, the United Nations as it exists today
is unable effectively to deal with critical global issues. In
the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina the Security Council
remains paralysed in the implementation of its own
resolutions. Should we also ask then: if the Council was
ready to plunge into the Gulf crisis a few years ago, how
can that be reconciled with the political timidity and clear
absence of resolve to take effective action in the case of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, even after the rejection of the
so-called peace plan by the Serbs?
Within the United Nations itself, the peace-keeping
operations decided on by the Security Council provide no
clear institutional structure for consultation, especially
between non-Security-Council member troop-contributing
countries and Security Council members. Yet the major
Powers are resisting the urgent need for regular
consultations between the Security Council and troop-
contributing countries.
While the situation in Somalia clearly reflected the
need for some form of United Nations involvement, if not
intervention, there have been other operations where even
countries in the region have been totally opposed to
United Nations involvement. My delegation, which has
been deeply involved in United Nations peace-keeping
operations, is concerned about operations which serve
questionable interest groups.
In the Security Council, while agreement between
the Permanent Five has removed obstacles and facilitated
settlements of disputes, the momentum behind the push to
solve issues, if not properly checked and balanced by a
process of accountability and non-selectivity of issues,
may prove to be the undoing of the Council itself and of
its moral authority. The role of major Powers, at least
those that still deserve that status, is explicitly recognized
in the Charter of the United Nations. However, many of
us will not be willing to agree that these Powers should
continue to be Charter-privileged to intervene wherever
they wish and only when their own interpretations of
peace and security warrant intervention.
13

Reform of the Security Council is necessary to reflect
a more equitable geographical representation and towards
making the Council more accountable to the general
membership. Resistance from a few, whose own claims to
being major Powers are becoming increasingly
unpersuasive, should not be allowed to stand in the way of
change. The issue is not one merely of enlarging the
permanent membership but is one of enhanced participation.
As the Council is unrepresentative, the first step towards
reform must be to increase the numbers of non-permanent
members. The veto, a creation of the power politics of the
past, must be part of the total reform of the Council.
The United Nations still represents the best recourse
for developing countries to advance their interests in global
affairs. Hence, we cannot allow the present uncertainties
about the structure and role of the United Nations to remain
unresolved. The United Nations, despite financial
problems, cannot be allowed to become a mendicant of the
power brokers at the expense of the principles of the
Charter.
The United Nations is the only institution capable of
providing the vehicle for a comprehensive and integrated
approach to peace and development. A revitalized
Economic and Social Council has the potential to
coordinate and, it is hoped, harmonize policies emanating
from separate bodies such as the G-7 and the Bretton
Woods institutions. In this regard priority must be
accorded to an Agenda for Development which would
provide the new framework for international development
cooperation, the basis for a truly global partnership.
The United Nations must also spearhead the struggle
towards total and complete nuclear disarmament. The
major Powers must not slacken the momentum towards
effective non-proliferation and comprehensive test-ban
treaties, critical to our collective resolve to halt the arms
race and eliminate the utilization of weapons of mass
destruction.
Malaysia is prepared to make an early commitment to
the goals of true globalism and, with a genuine mechanism
reposing in the United Nations, to a new world system for
international peace, security and development. We will
continue to participate actively in the work of the
multilateral system.
International society has grown fourfold since 1945.
The world is heterogeneous and multicultural. Meaningful
discourse cannot be limited by the narrowness of
parameters or an overbearing sense of cultural supremacy.
We must strive to overcome and transcend
unproductive polarizations. We all need to purge
ourselves of the arrogance and myopia embedded in the
old mind-set. We must learn to honour diversity of
opinion and the multiplicity of world views and
perspectives on life and society. None the less, they must
not impede efforts to seek and implement genuine
solutions for our common good and shared problems.
We must accept the new realities, particularly the
far-reaching systemic transformations in the global
economy. The growing economic strength of East Asia
and the newly industrializing countries will invariably
bring about a new equation of power and responsibility in
global affairs.
We are fully aware of the many shortcomings
inherent within East Asia; its remarkable economic
performance is far from miraculous. Nevertheless, its
experience portrays the path of change towards the
qualitative search for excellence. Political stability was
appropriated to garner efforts for economic growth which
ultimately became the means to empower the people. Its
strength, as in the case of Malaysia and other South-East
Asian countries, is to accept and to experience the
proposition that development and democracy are not
mutually exclusive; and the exercise in responsible liberty
by the ordinary people and their participation in public
life does not necessarily result in social indiscipline and
political instability. Development is enriched by
multiculturalism where the practice of tolerance and
moderation has turned religious and ethnic diversity from
being a source of conflict into an ingredient for success.
In a world torn by ethnic and religious passions and
cultural prejudices, the experience of South-East Asia in
multiculturalism may provide some clues for devising the
means for peaceful coexistence and productive partnership
among citizens of the global village.
Dag Hammarskjöld, when reflecting on the state of
the world almost 40 years ago, was perhaps less
exuberant than we are at the prospects of globalism.
With the memory of war still fresh, he said:
“We must serve our apprenticeship and at every
stage try to develop forms of international
coexistence as far as is possible at the moment.”
That apprenticeship has now been served. The
United Nations must innovate and renew itself to address
the challenges of the twenty-first century. It must
progress and transform itself from being a theatre for the
14

concert of a few powerful nations into an effective and
representative vehicle for global governance. And, beyond
that, it must be animated by the spirit of justice and a bias
towards compassion. In short, the very legitimacy of this
international body hinges upon its realizing the ideal of
becoming the conscience of the global community.


My congratulations, Mr.
President, on your election to this high office. You are
well known in United Nations circles and your election is
a tribute to your country, Côte d’Ivoire, and to you.
May I also congratulate Ambassador Insanally and
thank him for his great contribution. We are proud that a
fellow member of the Commonwealth has served the
United Nations with such skill and distinction.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome South Africa
back to the General Assembly. We have long admired
the courageous leadership of President Mandela in his
country’s struggle for freedom. He now faces equally
great challenges in rebuilding South Africa. We wish
him success.
I must also congratulate the people of Palestine on
their courage and vision in signing the historic Peace
Agreements. The people of Palestine also face the
challenge of putting their painful past behind them and of
building a peaceful and prosperous future. To succeed
they will need the support of the international community
and the United Nations.
In our region the people of Cambodia are also
struggling to build a new future. The United Nations
played a crucial role in Cambodia, but some obstacles
remain. My country supports the efforts of King
Norodom Sihanouk and his Government to rebuild and
reunite Cambodia. We wish them success.
The end of the cold war has placed economics at the
top of the international agenda. The challenge is how to
increase economic cooperation through more trade and
investment. The world now needs a stable international
environment to allow this to happen. We must resist the
trend towards protectionism. Instead, we must encourage
and reward those who liberalize and open up their
economies.

The United Nations and its specialized agencies can
help in this. But the end of the cold war has stretched the
resources of the United Nations. Bosnia, Rwanda, Somalia,
Haiti and other trouble areas are consuming much of the
limited financial and manpower resources of the United
Nations, and this has reduced its role in promoting
development. It is tragic that problems of development are
on the back-burner. This is not the fault of the United
Nations. The United Nations can do no more than its
Members are willing to do.
One way to reduce the drain on United Nations
resources is for regional organizations to work with the
United Nations in accordance with Chapter VIII of its
Charter. We may not have fully used the potential of
Chapter VIII. As the Secretary-General has pointed out,
regional arrangements can help to reduce the burden on the
United Nations. The United Nations takes the primary
responsibility for international peace and security, but
regional organizations such as the Association of South-East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) can reduce its load through
preventive diplomacy and regional economic cooperation.
They can complement the United Nations.
Of course, there are many regional organizations;
every region has its own. But not all of them work. If we
are to realize the potential of Chapter VIII, we need fresh
approaches to regional arrangements. Regional
organizations must be realistic in their goals. They have to
build a framework for cooperation which suits their
conditions.
ASEAN, of which Brunei is a member, has achieved
some success. ASEAN offers one possible vision of
regional cooperation and development. We do not have set
institutions and legal undertakings, as does the European
Union. Our aim is more modest. We seek to foster a
culture of cooperation. Through consultation, consensus
and cooperation, we have been able to contain, resolve or
reduce our differences. We have concentrated on working
together for our common interests. This is a process of
enlarging a set of shared values. Since ASEAN was
formed in 1967, its members have evolved an informal
style of sorting out their differences. Cooperation is not the
result of formal agreements but comes from a strong sense
of common purpose.
We are not without our problems. Most ASEAN
countries have unresolved territorial questions with one
another. Sensitive questions of ethnicity, culture and
religion are often involved in our relations with each other.
We do not deny the existence of these issues, but we
continue to work together wherever we can. Differences
among us do not stop cooperation for mutual benefit.
It is wiser for regional organizations to start with
less ambitious goals. It took ASEAN a quarter of a
century, from 1967 to 1992, to establish habits of close
cooperation and consultation. Only after this was
achieved did ASEAN feel confident enough to take the
significant, though modest, decision to set up an ASEAN
Free Trade Area (AFTA) within 15 years from 1992. We
are now discussing how we can speed up AFTA and
complete it within 10 years.
We have also formed a number of growth triangles
straddling the adjacent territories of three or more
member countries. We are all members of the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (APEC), an
organization for economic cooperation and trade
liberalization, which will give greater opportunities to all.
Because of such cooperation and the general stability of
the region, trade and investments have greatly increased.
All ASEAN countries are industrializing rapidly, with
high growth rates.
I offer these comments on ASEAN in the hope that
they can contribute to discussions that will strengthen the
United Nations system. ASEAN is well aware of its own
limits and limitations. ASEAN does not exist in a
vacuum. We could not have succeeded without a
favourable international environment.
ASEAN is not an alternative to the United Nations.
Where ASEAN succeeded, as in Cambodia, it was
because we worked with the major Powers within a
framework defined by the United Nations. Otherwise, we
would have failed. We will and must continue to work
closely with the United Nations. All regional institutions
need the over-arching framework of the United Nations.
The United Nations, and particularly the permanent
members of the Security Council, must retain primary
responsibility for international peace and security.
No regional organization can succeed if it shuts itself
off from the world. Our goal is an ASEAN of all South-
East Asian countries. We are gradually creating what can
be loosely described as a culture of peace and security in
South-East Asia. We hope to extend it by linking up with
other regional organizations in the Asia-Pacific region.
ASEAN wants to engage all the major Powers in a
pattern of constructive relations throughout the Asia-
Pacific region. The ASEAN Regional Forum, inaugurated
in Bangkok in July, brings together all major and middle-
2

sized Powers - the United States, Japan, the European
Union, China, Russia, Canada, Australia, South Korea and
New Zealand - in a common framework. We want the
United Nations and all major Powers to associate
themselves with ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and
Cooperation.
The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations is
approaching. It is an appropriate occasion for us to rethink
how we can strengthen the United Nations system to enable
it to face successfully the challenges of the twenty-first
century. I offer my comments in the spirit of contributing
to our common goal of strengthening an open world that
will benefit all countries.


I warmly congratulate
you, Sir, on your unanimous election as President of the
General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. Your
election is a tribute not only to you personally but also to
your great country, Côte d’Ivoire. I am confident you
will carry forward the high tradition set by your
predecessor, Ambassador Samuel Insanally of Guyana, to
whom we owe our deep appreciation.
The untiring efforts of the Secretary-General,
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to renew, reform and
revitalize our Organization deserve our special tribute.
As we stand at the threshold of the United Nations
fiftieth anniversary, one goal remains paramount, namely,
the need to promote human development and human
security in all its manifold aspects. The role and
relevance of the people are enshrined in the very first
words of the Charter. People form the key link that bind
our global society, the source of democracy, the object of
humanitarian concern, the spirit of justice in ensuring
human and minority rights. They are the cause and
object of all our endeavour.
8

Too often, people have been ignored, to our peril. As
we see the stricken faces of men, women and children
around our world, the dead, the brutalized, the frightened
and dispossessed, the hungry, diseased and despairing, this
lesson is dramatically brought home by the media. And yet
our sense of purpose and achievement is ennobled as we
witness the new light of hope dawning in South Africa, the
Middle East, Cambodia and in many other States and
societies where the painstaking process of peace, democracy
and development take root and where solutions are
characterized with a human face.
Individuals find identity in nations and nations derive
cognition in universalism. The success or failure of the
United Nations stems from the contribution each Member
makes to promote its goals. The Organization’s principal
motivation arises out of the responsibility borne by each
nation for the stability and welfare of its own people. It is
the sum total of these individual efforts that marks the
United Nations measured progress towards maintaining
peace, securing justice and realizing the Charter prerogative
of “social progress and better standards of living in larger
freedom”.
The limitations of Governments are also painfully
evident. International cooperation has become an
imperative, not only because it is possible or necessary, but
because it is indispensable in a world that has moved from
interaction to interrelationship to interdependence.
As we seek to seize opportunities and confront
challenges at every level — individual, national or
global — we are deeply aware of the contradictory forces
at work, forces that emanate from both within and without
our nations. The way we channel these forces into
productive activities will determine the success of our
common endeavour to forge a just and stable world order.
On the positive side, ideological walls have tumbled,
democracy has spread worldwide, more caring and
responsible Governments have come to power and
economic empowerment and social imperatives have
lessened reliance on military culture. Pragmatic cutbacks
in strategic weapons and a heightened focus on the
destabilizing capabilities of conventional weapons have
opened doors for more productive use of human, financial
and material resources. Historic political changes in the
Middle East and South Africa and political settlements in
Asia and Central America can have a far-reaching positive
impact on those regions.
After a long period of stagnation the global economy
is poised for its first significant expansion. The
successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the
creation of the World Trade Organization as a universal
forum for trade negotiations and the settlement of disputes
have brightened prospects for increased trade and long-
term growth. More importantly, the desire and ability of
developing countries to contribute to the growth of the
world economy and help to mitigate common global
concerns as participants and not as bystanders has
significantly increased.
Yet, negative impulses everywhere challenge peace
and security, democracy and human rights, economic
progress and social cohesion. Together, they call for a
concerted response, nationally and internationally, that is
new and imaginative. Today, issues of territorial security
are being overshadowed by concerns over human security.
There is increasing recognition of non-military threats to
security. Nation States are under siege from multiple
forces from within and without that are retarding their
capacity to act effectively and independently.
Within States resurgent micronationalism and
factionalism based on narrow self-interest, ethnic and
cultural rivalries, bigotry and extremism have contributed
to unprecedented human misery. Political instability has
fuelled economic breakdown, and economic backwardness
has fired political upheaval in a never-ending vicious
circle. Poverty, unemployment and social exclusion
pushed by the population explosion, rapid urbanization,
environmental degradation and a crisis in values, together
with rising expectations, have led to social dislocation,
alienation and sometimes violent confrontation.
Demagogues, political separatists and fringe elements are
being encouraged and supported by powerful external
groups to challenge the capability and legitimacy of
Governments to sustain socio-economic reform, peaceful
progress and political stability.
New global forces have emerged that no State acting
alone can control but which threaten the legitimacy of all
States. Pollution, ecological damage, the spread of
communicable diseases and the massive speculative
transfers of monies by electronic means have been the
cause and manifestation of a host of cumulative ills.
These have been exacerbated by corrosive new threats —
organized crime, drug lords, traffickers in women and
children, arms smugglers, money launderers and
terrorists — that eat into all societies, vitiating values and
crippling development. Furthermore, rapid technological
progress and transnational processes are reducing the
9

scope of nation States to act on their own, to regulate
domestic policies and the international movements of
goods, services, labour and capital.
On another plane, fears are surfacing that the bipolar
world of the past 50 years could now assume a new
configuration, a North-South polarity, not between opposing
political and social systems but between rich and poor
nations. Anxiety is increasing in the South that its interests
are being marginalized; that there is a diversion of
resources away from the South; that its potential to act as
a partner in revitalizing the world economy is being ignored
and new constraints, aid conditionalities, rigid adjustment
measures, standards of human rights and good governance,
environmental criteria and military scrutiny are being
selectively imposed. There are signs that, while social and
environmental issues are being highlighted, vital economic
and development imperatives are being sidelined, although
both are integrally related and mutually reinforcing.
Indeed, there is a crisis in development policy, which
manifests itself in stagnation, absence of dialogue,
selectivity and insufficient interest, participation and
commitment.
It is against the backdrop of those prospects and
problems that I now turn to the position and priorities of
our Government. There is strong recognition in Bangladesh
today that to promote representative and constitutional
government, strengthen human rights and ensure socio-
economic emancipation a country must increasingly depend
on itself. Individual self-reliance must be bolstered by
collective self-reliance through South-South cooperation in
concrete and practical areas of cooperation such as food
production, manpower planning, trade, investment and joint
ventures. The critical catalyst, however, remains a
reactivation of a constructive North-South dialogue leading
to a more conducive external environment that can
supplement individual efforts.
Reaching out to the attainment of these goals,
Bangladesh has a development policy that embraces a
fourfold perspective: addressing structural and
macroeconomic reform; stimulating the market economy;
increasing the quality and amount of productive
investments; and concentrating on human-resources
development, particularly the empowerment of women.
These perspectives are all linked together by the unifying
theme of the alleviation of poverty. The cardinal emphasis
is on the connection between structural adjustment and
alleviation of poverty — that is, the quantity and quality of
programmes favouring the needs of the poor and most
vulnerable.
Our efforts at reform and consolidation have led to
some positive results. Bangladesh is enjoying today
perhaps the longest period of macroeconomic stability in
its history. The budget deficit has been reduced. Imports
and exports have increased. Foreign-exchange reserves
are comfortable, inflation is at an all-time low, and there
is increased self-reliance in financing our annual
development plans. Today we are financing 38 per cent
of our development projects from our own resources. We
have achieved near self-sufficiency in food production,
and the overall gross-domestic-product growth rate has
reached 5 per cent. The incidence of absolute poverty
has decreased and some headway has been made in
advancing our human-development policy.
We can reasonably be proud of our efforts to
stabilize population growth and contain and mitigate the
impact of natural disasters. A concerted and determined
family-planning programme has yielded positive results.
Population growth has fallen from 3 per cent to
2.03 per cent, accompanied by progress in reducing
family size; declining infant, child and maternal mortality
rates; and expansion of the immunization programme to
cover 74 per cent of all children.
We believe that the recent successfully concluded
Cairo International Conference on Population and
Development has strengthened our efforts in dealing with
three critical, interlinked issues — namely, a holistic
approach to development, of which population policies are
but one essential element; informed choice in accordance
with the laws and culture of each society; and the vital
issue of garnering and allocating additional resources.
Preparedness and planning for disasters helped us
contain the consequences of the devastating cyclone of
1994 without recourse to outside help. Bangladesh was
able to save countless lives by timely evacuation of
hundreds of thousands of people and to get on with
rehabilitation and reconstruction measures on its own.
Democracy has taken firm root in Bangladesh. Like
all democracies we have our share of domestic
differences, but we remain fully committed to working
out our differences through democratic dialogue and the
rule of law. Fragile democratic institutions and traditions
in new democracies need strong and sustained
international support. Our experience has demonstrated
vividly that without improved standards of living and a
vision of the future that can sustain hope, democracy will
wither. Equally, without people’s participation the
potential for socio-economic progress cannot be achieved.
10

It is also clear that, to survive within States, democracy
needs to be sustained through democratization among States
so that it can expand universally as an essential foundation
for cooperation. We firmly believe that the restoration and
consolidation of democracy worldwide within States and
among States is a vital bed-rock for peace.
We are indeed happy that the 1993 World Conference
on Human Rights, in Vienna, upheld the right to
development as a basic human right and as a vital catalyst
in mutually reinforcing the interrelationship of democracy,
development and human rights. Widespread poverty and
economic deprivation seriously vitiate the protection and
promotion of human rights in many societies, despite the
best of intentions. These realities need to be recognized for
a realistic evaluation of human rights in developing
countries.
For national efforts to succeed, it is essential to create
an atmosphere of peace within our own region. Bangladesh
continues to sustain the momentum and viability of the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC), not only to promote its fundamental socio-
economic mandate but also to create a more receptive
climate for broad-based confidence building, to reduce
tension in the region and to contribute to the resolution of
outstanding differences through dialogue and negotiation.
A major endeavour of Bangladesh, as the current
Chairperson of SAARC, has been to consolidate
cooperation between members so that they may, in the
words of our Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, turn into
partners of development to combat poverty in the region
and meet the most important challenge to security from
hunger, disease, ignorance and prejudice. The Prime
Minister stated that the options of unilateralism and
bilateralism might seem tempting in the short run but in the
long-term interests of the SAARC spirit we need to display
more commitment for multilateralism and for building a
better regional consensus.
Bilaterally, we have taken important steps to strengthen
constructive relations with all our immediate neighbours in
pursuit of our policy of friendship, cooperation and peaceful
coexistence with all countries of the world. The exodus of
250,000 Myanmar refugees to Bangladesh since 1991 has
imposed an enormous socio-economic and environmental
burden on our country. The rate of repatriation is still
slow, and we hope that with the policy of mass registration
carried out by the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the pace of
repatriation will pick up and all the refugees will return to
their country.
There has been some improvement in our relations
with our largest neighbour, India, on the issue of the
return of Chakma refugees and on that of economic
interactions. However, the critical issue of sharing
Ganges waters remains unresolved. Meanwhile, one dry
season has followed after another without any water
flowing to the Ganges and this is having a cumulatively
disastrous effect on the economy and environment of one
third of our country and on the socio-economic survival
of 40 million people. We earnestly hope that India, our
partner in the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation and our neighbour, would agree to a fair
sharing of common rivers, including the Ganges. We
hope our common friends would recognize the
implications of the situation and encourage the support of
an early and equitable solution.
National efforts in the absence of global cooperation
have only limited prospects of improving the human
condition and ensuring peace, justice and development.
Recognizing this fact, we are engaged in perhaps the most
comprehensive exercise ever undertaken to streamline our
Organization, to reform and restructure its main organs
and, together, to forge a more meaningful agenda, one
that is action-oriented, cost-efficient and adequately
funded. The Secretary-General has set the stage with his
proposals put forward in An Agenda for Peace and in An
Agenda for Development. The structure and shape of this
world agenda that is leading us into a new century has
been given more refined substance by a variety of
concentrated suggestions: the outcome of world
conferences and the follow-up to them, making possible
legislation and new and innovative proposals. They form
a continuum that is closely integrated and interrelated.
Bangladesh has been an active participant in this
concerted build-up. Certain key imperatives strike us as
particularly important. The end of the cold war should
not mark the end of competition to support development
around the world. The global society is only as strong as
its weakest link. The world cannot prosper if the poorest
continue to decline. Peace and development are
intrinsically interlinked, and peacemaking and peace-
keeping must go hand in hand with peace-building.
Resolving social issues must be based on the
recognition of the centrality of the individual, the
acceptance of human equality, and the worth and dignity
of the human person. Yet social development is
predicated on progress in economic development.
Together with environment and population, it forms the
logic of comprehensive sustainable development. These
11

are not separate concerns, but integrated within a composite
whole. The core of development and its main impetus will
remain accelerated economic growth fuelled by the input of
additional resources and by resource generation.

The growing divide between rich and poor among and
within nations is of central concern. The plight of the least
developed countries assumes special poignancy at a time
when the world economy has yet to show convincing signs
of recovery, macroeconomic coordination is weak and
poverty is inexorably deepening. The unabated
development crisis calls for urgent remedial action,
especially to implement quickly the 1990s Programme of
Action for the Least Developed Countries. A proper
response to these problems requires accelerating growth,
writing off debts, wider and preferential access of exports
to markets of developing countries markets, enhanced flow
of foreign direct investment and supportive action in the
area of services and labour.
The phenomenon of widespread and increasing
unemployment and underemployment in both developing
and developed countries needs to be addressed as a matter
of urgency. Today, even food availability is determined by
access to employment and financial resources. Rectifying
the situation of jobless women and combating poverty
among women are major priorities.
Reducing damage to the ecosystem and mitigating the
consequences of natural disasters continue to be a great
burden for all concerned. Unchecked consumption of
resources, production patterns triggered by developed
countries and the real plight of the poor need to be dealt
with through remedial action rather than analysis.
There has been an increase in the movements of
people across borders as migrants, persons seeking asylum,
refugees or displaced persons. Much closer introspection
is required to analyse and solve this crisis. A key factor
would be the promotion of socio-economic development
and the protection of migrants.
Strengthening the rule of international law is
imperative, inasmuch as it offers certainty, predictability
and the assurance of the legitimate interests of all States.
This continues to be the only real protection for smaller and
weaker States, especially in areas where the absence of law
can mean a serious potential for conflicts such as the
scarcity and sharing of water, maritime jurisdiction,
transboundary pollution and environmental damage, and
so on. In this context, we welcome the entry into force,
on 16 November 1994, of the International Convention on
the Law of the Sea.
A critical yardstick for all these concerns is the issue
of limited resources and the need for new and additional
resources. At the heart of the matter is the need for a
commitment to enhance the entire development cause
rather than particular interests. It calls for balancing
long-term interests that will not only address continuing
emergencies and immediate conflicts but will face up to
the underlying silent crisis of development.
The absence of peace in our world is a continuing
reality. It is manifest in an immense array of conflicts,
no two of which are alike. They call for solutions that
must be adapted to widely differing circumstances in new
and creative ways. Past, present and potential conflicts
haunt us. Many nations bear the burden of recent
devastation and ethnic strife. No one is safe from the
threat of nuclear overkill and nascent nuclear
proliferation. The ongoing arms race, the potential of a
return to antagonistic spheres of influence, and the threat
of regional hegemony all carry within them the dangers
of conflict and destabilization. Yet today, the real heart
of our concern is the recognition that any viable solution
must be directed towards promoting development as a
fundamental impetus for, and long-term measure of,
peace.
Among Bangladesh’s major priorities are the
following.
First, of key importance is the preservation of the
security of smaller and weaker States and the
strengthening of the rule of law. The enhanced role and
contribution of the International Court of Justice now
assumes much greater relevance.
Secondly, the reduction of military expenditures is
essential for development and peace. Escalating arms
expenditures continue to consume too large a share of
productive resources and capacities. From 1987 to 1992,
the cumulative peace dividend resulting from reduced
military expenses and cut-backs in arms amounted to
some $500 billion in both developed and developing
countries. Little of this dividend was channelled into
development. Reduced reliance on military security must
also be buttressed through monitoring, regulating and
limiting the growing traffic in arms, especially the
clandestine arms trade.
12

Thirdly, regional efforts and regional disarmament are
vital imperatives to stabilize peace. Regional groups can
and must harness durable structures of stability at the base,
through confidence-building measures and broad-based
socio-economic cooperation. For the first time, in the wake
of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
(CSCE) process, Asia has begun to look hard at steps
towards Asian security. The United Nations Centre for
Disarmament Affairs has initiated over the past five years
a vital process of dialogue and interaction that has opened
up useful prospects and potential. These provide an
analytical base that strongly supports the goal of promoting
regional security arrangements under Chapter VIII of the
Charter.
Disarmament and arms control are the major vehicle
to reduce the threat of destabilization, economic decline and
tensions leading to war. A new momentum has been
generated that needs to be pushed and sustained. Progress
towards negotiating a comprehensive nuclear test ban, the
signing of the chemical weapons Convention, the
establishment of a Register on conventional arms — these
are important milestones on this road. A strengthened
nuclear non-proliferation regime has gained in significance
with important advances in nuclear disarmament. A critical
concern is the objective of extending the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) either indefinitely or for limited periods,
contingent on progress on the other objectives of the
Treaty, nuclear disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear
technology. Bangladesh is committed to support the
continuation and strengthening of the NPT, and we look
forward to actively participating in the 1995 review and
extension Conference.
Bangladesh has purposefully contributed to United
Nations peace-keeping efforts, and stands proud of its
record as the fourth largest contributor of troops, dispersed
over 10 conflict areas. We strongly add our voice in
concert with those who seek to make peace operations a
more effective instrument of collective security and to
enhance the structural framework for performing and
managing peace-keeping, including strengthened staff,
stronger logistic capability and greater coordination,
standardization and support for training.
In the formulation of critical follow-up guidelines to
strengthen peace-keeping we would like to pinpoint the
following matters.
First, there is a need to define clear-cut mandates with
definite time frames, objectives and rules of engagement
and with secured financing. This must keep in view the real
constraint identified by the Secretary-General, that
traditional assumptions relating to the consent and
cooperation of parties, upholding of agreements and
minimum use of force have all been under challenge in
recent peace-keeping developments.
Secondly, there is a need for impartiality, full
transparency and continuous consultations with troop-
contributing countries so that mandates can be constantly
reviewed, updated and amended. The role of the General
Assembly must be enhanced in this regard.
Thirdly, there should be clear-cut political directions
and a clearly defined command and control structure for
each operation.
Fourthly, contributions to peace-keeping operations
are mandatory and arrears must be paid in full.
Resources for peace-keeping should not be at the expense
of resources for development activities of the United
Nations.
Fifthly, decisions on peace-keeping operations should
include provisions for the safety of personnel, appropriate
standardized compensation of all personnel and timely
payments.
Intimately connected to the process of peace-building
in both its political and economic dimension are efforts to
reform and revitalize the main organs of the United
Nations — the General Assembly and the Security
Council. Bangladesh has been an active participant in
this exercise and will continue to play a constructive,
moderating and flexible role to promote the realization of
these efforts for greater democratization, efficiency,
effectiveness and legitimacy.
I turn now to some of the critical political issues on
our agenda.
Bangladesh’s consistent and categorical position on
the Middle East question and the issue of Palestine needs
no reiteration. We believe the Palestinian cause to be
founded on justice. We have always stood for a
comprehensive solution, which must be based on serious
a commitment by Israel to abide by Security Council
resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978); the
principle of returning land for peace; restoration of Arab
sovereignty over occupied lands; and recognition of the
inalienable national rights of the Palestinians, including a
State of their own. We believe that a historic momentum
has been initiated since the Madrid Peace Conference in
13

October 1991, the signing of the Declaration of Principles
between Israel and Palestine in September 1993, the Cairo
agreement on Gaza and Jericho and the common agenda
agreed between Jordan and Israel this year. We welcome
these vital steps in the peace process, and hope they will
lead to a viable and durable settlement.
We hail the establishment of a united, democratic and
non-racial Republic of South Africa, a long-cherished goal,
and applaud all parties for their relentless and courageous
endeavour to this end. Our special tribute goes to President
Nelson Mandela and Mr. de Klerk. Bangladesh looks
forward to consolidating our relations with South Africa in
more concrete ways, bilaterally and in all multilateral
forums.
We are deeply concerned over the vicious cycle of
starvation, factional fighting, breakdown of central
authority, economic stagnation and exodus of refugees in
various parts of Africa, exemplified by the situation in
Rwanda. We are committed to supporting the Security
Council’s effort, especially through peace-keeping
operations, to break this cycle through a comprehensive
programme of action that could provide vital relief
assistance, consolidate cease-fires, curtail violence and
bring about national reconciliation. We welcome the efforts
of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the
Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab
League to promote and supplement these efforts.
In our own region we are anguished by the continuing
strife in Afghanistan, and urge all Afghan leaders to resolve
differences through peaceful dialogue based on accords
signed in Istanbul, Mecca and Tehran. We fervently hope
that they can reach a broad-based consensus leading to the
formulation of a durable government through free and fair
elections. We welcome efforts, including those of the
Secretary-General of the OIC, the United Nations and
special representatives aimed at bringing about a
comprehensive and peaceful settlement in Afghanistan.
The tragedy of Bosnia and Herzegovina continues.
Plans, deadlines, hopes for settlement have proved
infructuous. The latest plan drawn up by the Contact
Group of representatives from the United States, Russia, the
United Nations and the European Union has been rejected
by the Bosnian Serbs. At the heart of the issue is the
dismemberment of a sovereign Member of the United
Nations, justified on the basis of pragmatic reality. The
arms embargo imposed on the Bosnians crippled them from
the outset, making any agreement artificial. Serbian
aggression and genocide appalled the world, yet too little
was done to stop it. Bangladesh believes that much more
needs to be done to ensure justice, including strengthening
the mandate and numbers of the United Nations
Protection Force (UNPROFOR), lifting the arms embargo,
extending exclusion zones and ultimately making the
whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina a safe haven.
The international community has repeatedly affirmed
the inviolability, territorial integrity and political
independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We feel that
continuing pressure must be maintained on the former
Yugoslavia to recognize Bosnia and Herzegovina and
effectively realize a just and negotiated settlement. If
present efforts of the Contact Group fail to result in a
political settlement we fully support the convening, under
United Nations auspices, of an appropriately structured
international conference on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We are glad that there have been exhaustive attempts
at a peaceful resolution of the problem of Haiti.
Bangladesh has pledged its fullest support to this end,
guided by two key principles: commitment to the
preservation and restoration of democracy wherever it is
threatened in the world, and willingness to serve in peace-
keeping operations under United Nations command
mandated by the Security Council. We hope that will
remain a cardinal point for the future as well.
I may say in conclusion that Bangladesh remains
fully committed to the United Nations as the only forum
that can deal with the cooperative management of the
world’s problems and where we can successfully meet the
challenge of the future by drawing upon our combined
solidarity to confront it together.


The delegation of the new Central African Republic,
which is attending a session of the General Assembly for
the first time, is pleased to be here and expresses to you,
Mr. President, and all other representatives, its warmest
greetings and the best wishes of the Government and
people of the Central African Republic.
It is with pride that my delegation sees you,
Mr. President, guiding the General Assembly’s
proceedings at its forty-ninth session. Your well-deserved
election, which honours all of Africa, is a tribute to your
country, Côte d’Ivoire, with which the Central African
Republic enjoys excellent relations of friendship,
fraternity and cooperation.
Since 1994 has been called the year of Africa, my
delegation and I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the
memory of the late President Houphouët-Boigny.
We welcome the presence in this Hall of the sister
Republic of South Africa, and we congratulate it on the
arrival of democracy there.
It is with genuine pleasure that my Government
congratulates the President of the General Assembly at its
forty-eighth session, Mr. Samuel Rudolph Insanally, and
commends him for the competent and intelligent way in
which he discharged his mandate.

We also congratulate the Secretary-General, a worthy
son of Africa, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who, as head of
the Organization, made the preparations for the year of
Africa. His admirable dynamism, realism, patience and
wisdom have effectively helped to contain many
international problems, despite meagre resources. We wish
to reiterate our firm support for him and our best wishes for
every success in his multifaceted initiatives for peace,
security and development.
In the wake of the Second World War the United
Nations was created as a successor to the League of
Nations. It set itself the objective of, inter alia, settling of
disputes in order to promote the economic, social and
cultural development of nations.
What has happened since that time? The world was
divided into two camps — one capitalist, the other
communist — while in between the two the third-world
countries described as non-aligned gradually achieved
international sovereignty. This situation led to the advent
of regimes born of military coups d’état in almost all the
countries of the third world, especially in Africa. Those
military regimes, which were anti-democratic because they
were not elected, seized power and held freedom hostage,
thereby curtailing the economic, social and cultural
development of our nations. They plunged their
populations into unprecedented impoverishment.
While the international community and the wealthy
countries indulged and fostered this policy of domination,
waste, corruption and mismanagement, the colonized and
dominated populations fought unceasingly for access to
democracy, the basis of all development. At last, near the
end of 1990, the populations’ cries of alarm were heard by
the international community, which then quickly facilitated
the third world’s access to democracy.
A new era dawned, starting in the East, where
communism crumbled. The wind from the East blew
through the African continent, where exhausted and
traumatized populations accepted unprecedented sacrifices
and waged a ruthless battle against the military regimes in
power.
Certain African countries opted for the formula of
sovereign national conferences, while others chose free,
democratic and transparent elections. The Central African
people resolutely chose the latter path, at all cost.
In this context, the Central African Republic, which I
represent today at the forty-ninth session of the General
Assembly, elected me President, Head of State of the
Republic, in a setting of serenity and transparency, and
over eight other candidates who enjoyed broad support
from abroad. This was a victory not only for me and my
Party but also for the entire Central African people. It
was a victory won through change in favour of a new and
truly democratic Republic.
I take this opportunity to thank earnestly, once again,
the friendly countries and international institutions that
participated unfailingly in the process of democratizing
the Central African Republic. I would like to mention in
particular France, the United States of America, Germany,
Japan, the Republic of China in Taiwan, the European
Union, the World Bank and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP).
The Central African Republic would like to base its
hopes on the concrete decisions that the General
Assembly will be taking to eradicate the last remaining
hotbeds of tension in the world at large and in Africa in
particular.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola,
Liberia and other countries must find peace again, as did
South Africa — and we welcome the presence here of
South Africa’s hero: the illustrious, democratically
elected President, His Excellency Mr. Nelson Mandela,
beacon of the struggle against apartheid and for a new,
multi-racial and fraternal South Africa.
In this context, firmly convinced of the importance
of humanitarian action in Rwanda, we supported
unhesitatingly the helpful intervention of France, whose
courage and determination we extol. That intervention
curbed human suffering and restored peace to Rwanda.
I also take this opportunity to extend, on behalf of
my country, congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Bill
Clinton, President of the United States of America, and to
the American people for their intervention in Haiti aimed
at restoring democracy and returning the democratically
elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to office.
At its forty-ninth session the General Assembly must
take concrete and urgent measures to prevent and contain
conflicts by establishing and strengthening legal
instruments. For weapons have never provided any
lasting solutions. It is only if these legal instruments are
established that the so-called poor countries will be able
to begin to lay the foundations of their economic, social
and cultural development in peace and tranquillity and
2

that the intervention of the international community and the
wealthy countries will be only complementary.
As to the Central African Republic, since my election
on 27 September 1993, we have endeavoured to lay the
groundwork for real democracy by giving priority to
dialogue and concord between all the sectors of the Central
African nation.
A truly democratic constitution, which reflects the
profound aspirations of my people, is being drafted and will
soon be submitted to a referendum, in December 1994.
This constitution, which is the result of a broad consensus,
places great emphasis on justice, on fundamental freedoms,
and on social and family well-being achieved through work.
It applies the mechanism of decentralization, along
with its corollary, regionalization in order, on the one hand,
to bring the people closer while, on the other, to mobilize
all available local resources for the agro-industrial
processing of raw materials and mineral resources, for our
subsoil is very rich, so as to improve the standard of living
in the countryside and the provinces.
How will the Central African Republic, a land-locked
country, accomplish such a programme if its neighbours,
the countries of its subregion, are not at peace? A good
portion of our exported and imported goods pass through
neighbouring countries such as Cameroon and Congo.
Furthermore, at the domestic level, the work of our
peaceful peasants is systematically undermined by a
phenomenon known as “zaraguinas”, or those who block
the road. These “zaraguinas” are simply a reflection of the
political and military situation of our neighbours.
The General Assembly will understand why the
Central African Republic agreed to act as mediator between
the Government of Chad and a politico-military group with
a view to restoring peace to that fraternal country in its
northern sector. This is because peace in Chad, in
Cameroon, in Congo, in Sudan and in Zaire will allow the
Central African Republic to develop harmoniously,
promoting a dynamic and fruitful policy of good-
neighbourliness and of the complementarity we require.
My country has embarked on the path of mediation
between the parties in Chad because it believes in the
virtues of dialogue and harmony in a spirit of tolerance and
unity within a diversity of political opinions.
Today, the agreement reached between the
Government of Chad and the National Salvation Council for
Peace and Democracy in Chad (CSNPDT) of Moise Kette
Nodji is entering the stage of implementation in the field,
thanks to the follow-up committee of Bangui II, since this
Kette movement, which in the past was a politico-military
movement, has now basically become a political party of
a conventional type, which is officially recognized.
The Government of Chad, on the initiative of the
mediator, has just announced an amnesty for the
combatants of the CSNPDT in order to rebuild confidence
among all Chadians and to create conditions conducive to
genuine reconciliation within Chad before the forthcoming
elections in the country.
We are also prepared to make our contribution to the
settlement of internal conflicts in those neighbouring
countries that have appealed to us for assistance.
I have elaborated on the major problems of concern
to my country, the Central African Republic, and also
those of neighbouring countries as concerns lasting peace
in Central Africa and in the world at large, and the
Assembly will understand that I am deeply committed to
respect for human rights and for the rule of law. I am a
free man, and I say what I believe. I tell the truth,
because the truth makes one free. I am a biologist, and
I know that a good metabolism requires both
macro-elements and oligo-elements.
Therefore, it is impossible to claim respect for
human rights and for the rights of nations if, in one way
or another, we promote discrimination for whatever
reason.
In the past, it was discrimination between the East
and West blocs, whose consequences, in the form of the
cold war, plunged a large part of mankind into a
catastrophic situation. In the past, it was discrimination
between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation
Organization. In the past, it was racial discrimination in
South Africa. Today, we still see discrimination:
between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic
of China in Taiwan.
And yet, the Berlin Wall has fallen, as did the walls
of Jericho in days gone by, marking the end of the East-
West bloc system. The conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians has yielded to coexistence between the State
of Israel and the State of Palestine. The criminal
foundations of apartheid have crumbled and given way to
a new, democratic South Africa with a human face.
3

Why not today help the two Chinas to overcome their
temporary divergences, which arise out of past history, in
order that China might be reconciled with itself in the
higher interests of the Chinese people and of the peoples
that are friends of the two Chinas? Why exclude the
Republic of China in Taiwan from the great family of the
international community? Why reject a State that has
21 million inhabitants? Where is our respect for them?
Why encourage the conflict between the Chinas, when we
know that the two exchange technologies and complement
each other?
For my part, and on behalf of the Central African
Republic, I reaffirm that we intend to maintain diplomatic,
economic, cultural and social relations with the two Chinese
States without restriction. The choice resides solely with
the People’s Republic of China or the Republic of China in
Taiwan.
The same applies to the two Koreas, because we want
to benefit from the technology of all these friendly
countries for our development. Towards this end, we base
ourselves on the fundamental principle of the United
Nations Charter: there are no large nations; there are no
small nations.
That is why my country, a co-sponsor of the draft
resolution on the “Consideration of the exceptional situation
of the Republic of China in Taiwan in the international
context, based on the principle of universality and in
accordance with the established model of parallel
representation of divided countries at the United Nations”,
deeply regrets that this item was not placed on the agenda
of the forty-ninth session of the General Assembly. The
race towards the great market of the People’s Republic of
China should not obscure the problems of discrimination
that exist between the Chinese peoples. I am still
convinced that patience and wisdom will prevail one day,
as they have recently in many of the countries we
mentioned earlier.
Our Organization will soon celebrate its fiftieth
anniversary. It is appropriate at this time to draw up the
balance-sheet for this half-century and conduct a real
assessment in order to set general policy guidelines for the
years to come. Loyal to our policy of decentralization in
Central Africa, we would also propose that the Assembly
be decentralized at the level of each continent, and that it
hold its sessions in New York only every two or three
years, in accordance with a mechanism to be established
after a study by experts. In this way, the other bodies of
the United Nations system would also be brought closer
to the peoples of the different continents.
As regards the Security Council, Africa has achieved
maturity, and, with one third of the world’s population, is
entitled to a permanent seat and also to the right of veto.
This is the proposal for adaptation to present circumstance
that we draw to the Assembly’s attention.
Before concluding my statement, I should like to
remind to General Assembly that the late Barthélemy
Boganda, founding President of the Central African
Republic, had a prophetic vision of the development of
the African continent. He proposed regrouping States into
political and economic entities, with a view to launching
the economy of the African countries at the subregional
and regional levels. The guiding idea was to establish the
United States of Africa. Unfortunately, those ideas,
which were put forward at such an early date by the late
Barthélemy Boganda, were not well understood by his
peers and therefore were systematically fought and
discarded. The individual countries, out of national
chauvinism and egoism, chose to make their own way.
Today, Africa has regressed. It is absent at the
international level as regards trade and industrial and
agro-industrial development. And yet Africa has a wealth
of all kinds of raw materials. Why have our economies
become so fragile? Why have our education and training
systems not attained their objectives — true technical,
scientific and socio-professional instruction, the essential
basis for a real policy of reconstruction in our countries,
which are in an unprecedented state of dilapidation? Why
do our health-care systems no longer meet the aspirations
of our populations? Why are our roads in such a state of
disrepair that it is virtually impossible to travel freely
from one country to another? In a word, why must we
start all over?
All this has happened because of different
ideologies, based on the selfish interests of individual
nations. It is also due to a lack of active solidarity
among African nations.
Contrary to other regions of the world, where there
are clear signs of the resumption of economic growth, the
persistence of poor economic results in Africa remains a
source of concern and of constant disquiet. In fact, at the
present time, Africa accounts for under 2 per cent of
international trade transactions. It is being crushed under
the weight of debt, and various programmes for structural
adjustment have done nothing to change the worsening
4

standard of living of the entire continent, which does,
however, have an enormous potential in its peoples and its
nature.
The trend towards a decline in the prices of raw
materials and commodities is continuing inexorably, and the
transfer of technology is proceeding in an unsatisfactory
manner, placing Africa on the sidelines. What we need to
save the continent is a real Marshall Plan, because at the
present time multilateral and bilateral assistance remain
insufficient to promote sustained and lasting growth.
Without this growth, which is necessary to raise the
African people’s standard of living, lasting peace can be
only an illusion. In a word, the Central African Republic
appeals for international solidarity in favour of the poorest
countries, with a view to the relaunching of their
development.
In this context, my country expresses the hope that
this session will mark a new stage in effective cooperation
for progress and peace in the entire international
community.
The Central African Republic believes that tolerance
and peace for development must henceforward be the motto
of the United Nations.
Long live the General Assembly!


At the outset, let me
congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of
the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. I wish you
every success and pledge you the full support of my
delegation. I also wish to commend your predecessor, His
Excellency Ambassador Samuel Insanally of Guyana, for
the excellent and able manner in which he conducted the
work of the forty-eighth session.
Under his wise guidance, the Member States of the
United Nations, during the forty-eighth session of the
General Assembly, engaged in a creative and constructive
dialogue on a question likely to have a great impact on the
future work and credibility of the United Nations, that of
equitable representation on and increase in the membership
of the Security Council. The report of the Working Group,
which was adopted on 14 September by the General
Assembly, makes it clear that these discussions have had a
positive beginning and that much more work in a
constructive and open-minded spirit remains to be done in
order to find a solution acceptable to all Member States.
Even though detailed discussion of this sensitive issue must
be continued by the Working Group, I should like to
reiterate at this juncture that the Government of
Liechtenstein attaches the utmost importance to maintaining
the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of the Security
Council, and that at the same time it holds the view that the
discussions of the Working Group should cover not only
the enlargement of the Council, but also, and to no less an
extent, its working methods.
The second session of the Preparatory Committee for
the World Summit for Social Development, which will take
place in Copenhagen in March 1995, concluded its work
just three weeks ago. The Liechtenstein Government is
encouraged by the results of this session, which prove that
the preparatory process is on the right track, and we are
confident that the consultations to be held by Ambassador
Somavía during the last week of October will lay a solid
basis for the work of the third session and bring Member
States closer to achieving the important goal of a final
document which can be adopted by consensus. The
World Summit for Social Development can be a crucial
event for the future of mankind, and we must not miss
this opportunity to promote social progress and better
standards of living in greater freedom, which is one of the
most noble goals of this Organization. This gathering, as
the draft final document acknowledges, is closely
interlinked with other important conferences, notably the
International Conference on Population and Development,
which was successfully concluded on 13 September in
Cairo, and the Fourth World Conference on Women, to
be held in Beijing in September 1995.
Among other subjects under consideration by the
General Assembly, the draft final document also mentions
the International Year of the Family, which we are still
celebrating. I wish to underline that, in the view of the
Liechtenstein Government, a concise summary and
analysis of the activities undertaken within the framework
of the International Year of the Family, at both the
national and the regional levels, can make a substantive
contribution to the successful outcome of the two United
Nations world conferences in 1995, and at the same time
can help achieve the goal of making the International
Year of the Family not an isolated event, but, rather, one
which will have a continuing and long-term impact on
national policies as well as on regional and international
cooperation. Liechtenstein has undertaken manifold
activities in order to celebrate the International Year;
amongst other things, it dedicated the commemorative
activities for its National Day on 15 August to the
objectives of the International Year. The Government of
Liechtenstein therefore wholeheartedly welcomes the
decision of the General Assembly, taken in its resolution
47/237 of September 1993, to hold an international
conference on the family, which will take place here in
New York on 18 October, and hopes to be in a position
to contribute to giving the International Year a lasting
impact.

In our view, preventive diplomacy, as outlined in
"An Agenda for Peace", could and should be used more
often and more efficiently. We commend the activities of
the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
(CSCE). Especially since the 1990 Summit meeting in
Paris, when the leaders of 36 States signed and committed
themselves to the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, the
CSCE has shown that it can play a most useful role in
8

monitoring specific situations and in initiating negotiation
processes. We are of the opinion that improved
coordination of the activities of the Conference and those
of the United Nations can achieve very fruitful results.
The international political environment has changed.
Having been accorded its rightful place in the promotion
and maintenance of international peace and security, the
United Nations now has as one of its central tasks that of
playing a more active role than ever before in conflict
resolution. Unfortunately it must be stated again this year
that the sheer number and magnitude of the conflicts
surpass the abilities of this Organization. There is no
region in the world without a conflict of some sort; regional
conflicts have become a major threat to international peace
and security. We are aware that peace-keeping must be and
will remain one of the Organization’s most important
instruments for maintaining peace and security in the world,
but peace-keeping operations have to be provided with clear
mandates and be set within a reasonable and realistic time-
frame. Since Liechtenstein became a member of the United
Nations in 1990 the expenses for peace-keeping operations
have increased dramatically. We are aware that the
changing global situation has made an increase of
peace-keeping activities unavoidable, but it should also be
noted that these costs increasingly constitute a heavy burden
for national budgets.
In this connection, we should note that we welcome
the creation of the post of an Under-Secretary-General for
Internal Oversight Services and the appointment of Mr.
Karl Theodor Paschke to this post. We hope that this
important step will lead to improved financial management
of the United Nations and at the same time to timely and
full payment of assessed contributions by all Member
States, both into the regular budget and for peace-keeping
actions.
The Liechtenstein Government attaches the utmost
importance to the promotion and protection of human rights
and I wish to emphasize that the Declaration and
Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on
Human Rights in Vienna in June 1993 can, if it is followed
by full implementation of its provisions, constitute a
milestone in the history of the United Nations. The
General Assembly at its forty-eighth session took a first and
very important step by adopting the mandate for the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, a post which had been
under discussion for a very long time. I wish to thank
Ambassador Ayala Lasso for all the efforts he has
undertaken so far in fulfilling his very difficult task and to
assure him of our full support. However, more and
determined action by the General Assembly is needed,
including the allocation of an increased percentage of the
overall budget of the United Nations to the Centre for
Human Rights in order to enable it to carry out its tasks
even more efficiently.
The United Nations is approaching its fiftieth
anniversary and preparing to commemorate that event in
a dignified manner. I should like to thank
Under-Secretary-General Gillian Sorensen for her untiring
efforts with regard to the commemorative activities of the
Organization. The jubilee is also a good opportunity to
bring the purposes and the work of the United Nations
closer to the individuals, the people, who are the central
subject of the Organization’s endeavours. Liechtenstein
wishes to contribute to achieving this goal and has
therefore scheduled several activities, information on
which will be provided in due course. I should like,
however, to avail myself of this opportunity to refer
briefly to a project which is of particular importance to us
and, we believe, of direct relevance for the United
Nations.
In one of Liechtenstein’s first contributions to these
general debates after becoming a Member of the United
Nations, His Serene Highness Prince Hans Adam II,
Ruling Prince and Head of State of Liechtenstein,
introduced at the forty-sixth session of the Assembly an
initiative on certain aspects of self-determination, and he
elaborated on it at later sessions, including the
forty-eighth. Self-determination has been of very great
importance in the history of the United Nations and is, of
course, enshrined as a principle in its Charter. As
representatives of Liechtenstein have outlined on several
occasions, our initiative seeks to open up for discussion
by the international community certain aspects of the right
of self-determination and to encourage a more flexible
and practical implementation of that right.
Last year, at the request of the delegation of
Liechtenstein, a new sub-item was included in the agenda
of the General Assembly, entitled "Effective realization of
the right to self-determination through autonomy" . We
had a very interesting debate in the Third Committee, at
the close of which Member States, while agreeing to
consider the matter further at a later stage, preferred not
to do so during this present, forty-ninth, session of the
General Assembly. Reactions and comments made during
and surrounding the debate by a large number of
countries, as well as developments on the international
scene, have confirmed our view that this initiative is
timely and potentially valuable for the international
9

community. We will therefore be pursuing it as
constructively as possible.
It seems to us that at this stage it would be most
appropriate, and most likely to lead to fruitful results, for
this subject to be developed further within an academic,
rather than a political, framework. His Serene Highness
Prince Hans Adam II has therefore, as one element of
Liechtenstein’s contribution to the commemoration of the
fiftieth anniversary, given a grant to Princeton University’s
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
to establish a research programme on self-determination to
be conducted under the auspices of the Woodrow Wilson
School’s Center of International Studies. Two conferences
are to be organized in March and June 1995 within the
framework of this research programme. They will be open
for participation to all Member States of the United
Nations, and I wish to extend an invitation to all States to
continue working together with us to make further progress
on this crucially important question.
International law is the best guarantee of respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as of
international peace and security. In the case of
Liechtenstein, it is also the only guarantee. I therefore wish
to reaffirm our commitment to cooperate with all States in
further strengthening international law in order to achieve
a secure, a peaceful and a prosperous future for the
generations to come.


On behalf of the Government and people of Venezuela,
I wish to congratulate you, Sir, Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire, on your election as President of
the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. I am
confident that under your guidance the Assembly will at
this important session contribute to progress in the
carrying out of the important task with which the
Organization is charged - the constant quest for peace.
I also take pleasure in paying tribute to Mr. Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary-General, whose intelligent
and expert leadership have given the world fresh hope, as
we are about to enter a new millennium, so that we may
be optimistic about the future, even though there are still
grounds for concern.
The twentieth century, which is drawing to a close,
has witnessed momentous events for mankind. Two
world wars, which cost an enormous number of human
lives and immense physical, economic and cultural losses,
demonstrated the extent to which man is capable of
destruction - above all, self-destruction. The world’s
political map has been changed many times, with
predictable consequences.
Science and technology have made remarkable
progress. The discovery of antibiotics has provided
undreamt-of opportunities for surgery. Surgeons have
6

converted the human body into a fruitful field for
operations capable of correcting natural defects and injuries
arising from circumstances prevailing in an increasingly
complex society. Life expectancy has risen steadily, and
terrible endemic diseases that used to claim countless
victims have vanished almost completely.
Communications have been the greatest marvel of this
century. The twentieth century has been the era of radio
broadcasting and television. Important events occurring in
any part of the world are immediately known in the most
distant regions. The fax has supplanted the mails and
improved on the telegram and the telex. Communications
are the principal reason why the inhabitants of this planet
are gradually recognizing their role as members of a single,
vast community of nations.
Of necessity, institutions have endeavoured to keep in
step with the rapid and unremitting march of events. Both
internal and international juridical norms are subject to
constant change. Fundamental concepts of nationality and
sovereignty are being reconsidered, and formulas are being
sought so that inalienable and traditional rights may exist in
harmony with the requirements of the supranational
community. Amongst these values are the self-
determination of nations and non-intervention, as laid down
in the Preamble to our Constitution. Accordingly,
Venezuela has been and remains permanently disposed to
promoting the peaceful spread of democracy to every nation
on Earth, and especially to those of our continent. We
have consequently supported efforts aimed at reintroducing
a fully democratic system in those Latin American
countries where it is not at present established. Their
situation is inevitably of deep concern to us by reason of
history and natural affinities. For the same reason, though,
Venezuela did not support military intervention in Haiti,
despite the fact that the United Nations has lent it
multilateral and institutional support.
At the same time, regional integration is expanding,
with profound effect on the exercise of rights within every
country. This process is rapidly leading to hemispheric and
universal integration. For Latin Americans, the bicentennial
of the birth of Antonio José de Sucre, the young man who
consolidated our independence at the battle of Ayacucho,
will provide an opportunity to reassert the unbreakable links
of our solidarity. As we see it, the objective of the
forthcoming meeting of Heads of State or Government,
convened by the President of the United States, will be the
encouragement of a genuinely democratic system in the
American continent and throughout the world. It is our
hope in this regard that there will be a commitment to fight
without quarter against poverty and an effective
agreement to stamp out corruption.
The United Nations has managed to avoid most of
the obstacles that caused the failure of its immediate
predecessor, the League of Nations. Next year it will
celebrate its first 50 years of existence: a time in which,
amidst contradictions and disappointments, it has provided
a unique forum for constant dialogue, in every language
and in the most contrasting tones. It has made
uninterrupted progress and shown a willingness to accept
the structural changes that changing times have imposed.
For this reason we are awaiting further changes, such as
the expansion of permanent representation on the Security
Council to Latin America by granting Brazil permanent
membership. Latin America has every right to this by
virtue of its spiritual strength and its constant espousal of
liberty and international friendship.
However, despite all the progress achieved, it is
undeniable that we are still a very long way from having
established a stable, universal peace or a harmonious
coexistence amongst nations. Nor have we developed
standards of living that permit all social strata in the
various continents to enjoy a fitting human existence, with
a satisfactory world-wide level of equity in social
relations.
The struggle for human rights has spread
significantly, and international treaties have been signed
to ensure that protection of such rights transcends all
borders. But the basic human right to life itself, the right
to work and the right to have enough to eat for healthy
living are far from having been secured for a considerable
part of mankind.
The momentous International Conference on
Population and Development, recently held in Cairo,
seemed to be based on the assumption that it is
impossible to guarantee development interpreted as
participation by the whole human being and by all human
beings in economic and social processes - if the
population continues to increase. This is because many
countries have not ensured, as is essential, that everyone
who is born will have the means to enjoy a decent
existence. In my country, at the beginning of the century,
a time of manifest poverty and backwardness, there was
a saying that every child was born with an arepa under
the arm. "Arepa" is a bread made of maize and is a
popular staple of the daily diet. This saying has now
dropped out of popular usage.
7

In spite of the dramatic repercussions of the events
following the destruction of the Berlin Wall, peace has not
yet been achieved. Just as we were ready to thrill with
emotion at the arrival of universal peace, the Gulf War
awakened us from that dream. Recent conflicts in the
former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, two countries so
fundamentally different one from the other, have stirred up
vestiges of barbarism that had supposedly disappeared for
ever. Religious conflicts and ethnic antagonisms, thought
to have been overcome once and for all, have re-emerged
with unbelievable bitterness. Events recall the Biblical
commentary of the Peruvian Victor Andrés Belaunde, an
illustrious Latin American, greatly appreciated in the United
Nations, who said that human beings bear the weight of a
curse implicitly imposed by God when He cast them out of
the Garden of Eden: Since they refused to be governed by
God, they would have to govern themselves.
The United Nations faces a constant challenge: the
quest for peace. It is clear that peace will not be achieved
simply through political discussion or diplomatic
negotiation, still less through the mere use of force. It has
often been said by knowledgeable speakers that peace is the
fruit of justice: that is, without some degree of justice,
peace is unattainable.
That was understood by the negotiators at Versailles
at the end of the First World War when they included in
their Peace Treaty a lengthy clause devoted to the
International Labour Organization and inspired by the
notion of social justice. Undoubtedly, however, the need
for justice goes far beyond international conventions and
recommendations with regard to labour, and meeting that
need is becoming a matter of increasing urgency.
The rapid process of globalization we are witnessing
is unstoppable and unavoidable. The steps being taken in
this direction are dictated by the state of today’s world and
the demands of the immediate and mid-term future. The
conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the
World Trade Organization represent undeniable progress for
mankind. The bilateral and multilateral agreements reached
on all continents are signs of progress and stimulate the
creation and exchange of wealth. It is nevertheless
essential to introduce into relations between States
instruments that will prevent commercial interchange from
becoming an economic war to the death. It is inappropriate
to transfer to social relations the concept of the struggle for
existence in the sense that nature itself, through this
struggle, will automatically ensure the survival of the fittest -
in other words, the absolute predominance of the strongest
and the disappearance of the weakest. The acceptance of
such an idea would be a crime against humanity.
It must be recognized that the United Nations and its
important subsidiary bodies have made great efforts to
alleviate the sufferings and shortages of those sectors of
humanity where the standard of living is below what is
deemed humanely indispensable. It is encouraging to
note that institutions directly related to the United Nations
such as the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund recognize that the fight against poverty must be a
top priority. It is not, however, enough to give
humanitarian assistance to the neediest. It is essential to
afford nations the conditions they require to enable all
their inhabitants to compete efficiently, to ensure their
healthy survival and to encourage their progress.
It is true that economic-liberalization measures in
less-developed countries have produced positive
macroeconomic results, but in some countries that point
with satisfaction to the tremendous economic progress
they have achieved one can note, at the same time, a
growing concern about that portion of the population that
is living in poverty and, even more distressing, in critical
and even extreme poverty.
I share the aspiration voiced by the President of
Colombia to a new model of development for our
countries, for an "alternative model," as he put it when
addressing the Assembly. He proposed the establishment
of
"a new and more productive citizen in the economy,
a citizen who participates to a greater degree in
politics and who is more supportive in the social
sphere." (Official Records of the General Assembly,
Forty-ninth Session, Plenary Meetings, 5th meeting,
[p. 27])
In recent years my country, Venezuela, has faced a
difficult economic situation and disquieting social
circumstances. Undeniably, the blame lies largely with us.
Grievous mistakes in running the country and the
poisonous plague of corruption are the principal causes of
the acute crisis we are experiencing, but external factors
have also played a part. I am not here to pronounce
judgement on the past. As I have pledged to my
compatriots, I must find ways of restoring the confidence
that is indispensable if coming generations are to be able,
with training and hard work, to avail themselves of the
opportunities the country has to offer. Serious
institutional problems - such as the legal proceedings
8

against two former Presidents of the Republic, one of
whom was suspended from office while still President -
have been handled within the legal system with strict
adherence to the Constitution. The people’s conduct has
been truly exemplary. The natural resources with which
providence has endowed us and the favourable prospects
guaranteed by our human resource, our people, who have
always demonstrated intelligence, creative audacity and
courage in times of danger, inspire us with optimism. We
realize that we must seek within ourselves the essential
elements that will enable us to win the struggle for
development to which we are so seriously committed. We
have put forward an economic stabilization and recovery
programme that has been in large part accepted. It lays out
a feasible and clearly defined course that will ultimately
lead to a solution of the crisis. However, we feel that we
are in duty bound to explain to international forums, and
most particularly to this world forum, the need for
favourable prospects to open up that can help us to avoid
exerting our efforts in vain and ensure instead that they will
be successful and will contribute to a better future for
mankind.
For example, when considering the need to strengthen
trade relations throughout the world we must call for
guaranteed access to the markets of the developed
countries, where mechanisms are sometimes in place that
are skillfully used to exclude our competition. We agree
with the need for environmental protection for the benefit
of the world’s inhabitants, and we are certainly ready to
contribute to that goal. However, we must make the point
that on more than one occasion the ecological struggle for
a healthy environment has been hypocritically used as a
way to prevent developing countries from gaining access to
the markets of wealthy nations. We further believe that
transfer of technology must be wide ranging and genuine,
for if it is not the gap between us and the developed
countries, which increases every year, will ultimately
become impossible to bridge and will lead to a sharp and
bitter rift between two sectors of mankind, with
unforeseeable but undoubtedly disastrous consequences.
Access to capital is a requirement that is becoming
ever more acute as technological advances make productive
processes more capital- and less labour-intensive. At the
same time, there must be fair payment for the raw materials
that represent the principal contribution of the
underdeveloped countries to international trade but that are
constantly losing their relevance in end products.
Consequently, access to capital must be arranged on
equitable terms to protect the interests of producers, who
are often obliged to accept conditions that are little more
than adhesion contracts. This struggle to obtain better
prices for raw materials, which are almost invariably
subject to conditions imposed by consumer countries
without any real participation by the producers, and the
establishment of reasonable terms for international loans
are part of the struggle for justice and an integral part of
the struggle for peace.
The external-debt problem of the developing
countries is still far from being solved. It is true that
there have been negotiations on restructuring and that
they have temporarily alleviated the dreadful burden that
problem represents for the debtor countries, but as the
repayment deadlines fall due the burden for those in debt
becomes harder to bear with the passing of every year.
To cite a concrete example: in my country next year’s
debt servicing payments will amount to 35 per cent of the
national budget, and in coming years the situation will
become even more acute. The drop in the price of our
main export has made it very difficult to meet the basic
needs of our population. We have never given any
thought to disavowing our obligations. We are resolved
to meet them, but we consider that this subject must be
placed on international agendas and that a search must
begin for a broad solution that will open up new horizons
of justice and peace.
I believe that as we approach the beginning of the
second half of the United Nations first century the
fundamental aim of the United Nations must be the search
for justice in relations among peoples.
Social justice has been one of the most important
achievements of this twentieth century that is now
drawing to a close. This demands of every individual and
every group whatever is required for the common good.
Above and beyond the numerical equality of commutative
justice, it also requires of all of us that we make a
contribution to the community of nations in proportion to
our individual possibilities. This concept has still not
gained acceptance in the international field. It is true that
there have been some minor concessions to the most
needy countries but there is a lack of any clear course
towards the achievement of universal well-being. It is not
only States that should be the agents. Once the door was
opened by the International Labour Organization (ILO),
international organizations also provided access for
unofficial bodies. The large transnational corporations
which have and exercise real power must become
involved in the management of programmes that will seek
peace through justice; economic justice in so far as it
9

concerns them; and respect for the sovereignty of both
large and small States.
Those of us who love freedom; those of us who have
struggled to achieve it, regardless of cost and sacrifice;
those of us who consider democracy and respect for human
rights as priority objectives; those of us who sincerely
yearn for friendship and fruitful understanding among all
nations; those of us who believe in dialogue and resolutely
support the endeavours of the United Nations to encourage
it - all of us desire to see the United Nations displaying
unflinching determination that the search for justice - and
I shall never tire of repeating this - must play a key role in
the building of peace.
If peace is our goal let us strive to make justice its
foundation. In this way we shall realize the ideal which
our Liberator, Simon Bolivar, visualized as the most
important goal of the best system of government: "the
greatest possible degree of happiness", in other words,
happiness for all.