Within the framework of the peace plan for a comprehensive political settlement of the Cambodian conflict - a plan adopted on 28 August 1990 by the five permanent members of the Security Council and unanimously approved by the Security Council in its resolution 668 (1990) and by acclamation by our General Assembly in its resolution 45/3 of 15 October 1990 - the Supreme National Council of Cambodia was created. The Council is the sole legitimate organ embodying the sovereignty and unity of Cambodia, and the sole source of authority during the transitional period until free and fair elections can be held, organised and supervised under United Nations control.
It is in my capacity as President, of this Supreme National Council and on behalf of the new united, independent and sovereign Cambodia and its people what I have today the honour and the privilege of addressing this Assembly.
My delegation welcomes with deep satisfaction. Sir, your election to the presidency of the forty-sixth session of our General Assembly. It is a special tribute to your people and your country, Saudi Arabia. I am delighted to convey to you my warmest congratulations. We believe that your experience and well-known competence will ensure the success of our proceedings.
I also pay a sincere tribute to His Excellency Guido De Marco, eminent son of Malta, who by his remarkable personal diplomatic qualities and wisdom so successfully led the proceedings of the forty-fifth session of our General Assembly.
This year we welcome to our Organisation seven new Member States: the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Supreme National Council of Cambodia welcomes them to our Organization, conveys its warmest greetings to their respective Governments and peoples, and assures them of its desire to establish with them friendly and fruitful relations. Their presence within our Organization is a testimony to the great vitality and growing prestige of the United Nations.
I take this auspicious opportunity to pay the warmest possible tribute to His Excellency the Secretary-General for his noble and tireless activities in the service of many countries and peoples that have faced great difficulties. Under his leadership the United Nations has been reborn and its prestige increased through the active and fruitful cooperation between the Member
earnings are diverted into debt-servicing, the prospect of many of our economies regressing into a state of subsistence is not idle speculation.
The concern that the International community, through the General Assembly, has shown over the accelerating degradation of the global environment and the drug menace should encourage us to appreciate the unsustainability of the world's development models and life-styles. While in the industrialised countries it is prosperity that is at the root of environmental degradation, in the developing countries it is poverty that accounts for that state of affairs.
The depletion of the ozone layer that leads to global warming is the direct consequence of industrialization in the developed world. In the developing world, the necessity to eke out existence from the land and water has shown up as desertification and pollution. The Beijing Declaration of June this year aptly recognized that the inequities in current international economic relations not only have constrained the economic development of the developing countries, but have also undermined their capability to participate effectively in global environmental efforts. Resolution 44/226, which the General Assembly adopted last year, provided relevant guidelines for global discussions on the transfer of technology and financial resources, and should safely guide our discussions preparatory to and during the international Conference on Environment and Development.
It is again poverty in the developing countries that largely explains the resort to drug trafficking. Ghana has, without hesitation, joined in the international effort against the drug menace. We have passed laws that prescribe severe penalties, including confiscation of property, huge monetary fines and long prison terms. We have also adopted policy measures aimed at it.
He are aware that, having worked so hard and made so many sacrifices in the service of the United Nations and the peoples of the world, he has decided not to request a new mandate but to take a well-deserved retirement. Nevertheless, our Cambodia has the conviction that the United Nations and the peoples of this Earth still have a very great need of his services and of his invaluable assistance in overcoming the difficulties that exist in certain parts of the world. Thus we take the liberty of expressing the warm wish that he will agree to continue at the helm of the United Nations for some years to come. He are persuaded that a great many countries would renew their trust in him in defending the great ideals of peace and development to which all peoples are profoundly attached. It is understood, of course, that Cambodia fully respects his own free choice.
After 12 years of war, destruction and suffering, my country, Cambodia, and its people are once again united. This monumental achievement has been made possible thanks to the help and continuous support for a period of several years of all justice-loving and freedom-loving countries, true friends of Cambodia and its people, and also thanks to the will of all Cambodian patriots who have united to put an end to the bloody and destructive Cambodian tragedy that lasted from 1970 to 1990. A new era of peace is opening up before us, and, while it is true that the road leading us to a future of national reconciliation, national unity and general development in peace is still a long and painful one strewn with obstacles, it is also full of hope and the desire to see our homeland resume the place it deserves in the family of nations and achieve progress and development.
The progress achieved in Jakarta and Pattaya in June 1991, in Beijing in July 1991, in Pattaya again in August 1991 and, most recently, in New York - where the major issues relating to a cease-fire, the cessation of external military aid, the demobilisation of armed forces, political and electoral systems for Cambodia and the declaration of fundamental human rights were settled - augurs well for the future. The Paris International Conference on Cambodia, which will resume its work on about 21 October 1991, will permit us to finalise and sign the long-awaited agreement on the comprehensive settlement of the Cambodia conflict.
The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) will soon be in a position to help the Supreme National Council to make Cambodia an independent State with full territorial integrity and a liberal democracy, neutral, non-aligned and friendly to all those countries that respect our independence, our territorial integrity and our neutrality. The Supreme National Council and UNTAC constitute the two key inseparable elements of the United Nations Peace Plan for Cambodia.
During the past three months the Supreme National Council of Cambodia has adopted by consensus a number of very important decisions on the military and civil arrangements contained in the draft agreements for a comprehensive political settlement. This has been achieved thanks to the spirit of compromise and of national reconciliation that has been nurtured by all the members of the Supreme National Council. I pay a tribute to the patriotism and commitment to the ideals of peace and national unity shown by the 11 other members of the Supreme National Council and their trust in their elected President. This has allowed us to overcome great difficulties and resolve major problems at the meetings held in Pattaya, Beijing, Pattaya again and New York.
On behalf of Cambodia and its Supreme National Council and its people, I wish to express our deep and sincere gratitude to all the countries, peoples and personalities concerned, particularly those of the Association of South-East Asian Nations. Australia and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the two co-Chairmen of the Paris International Conference on Cambodia, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and his distinguished colleagues. Without their combined, tireless and noble efforts, we should not have been able to reach the present stage of the peace process.
I wish to pay a particular and respectful tribute to Their Majesties the King and Queen of Thailand, to the Royal Thai Government and to the Thai people. I wish to express once again to them our everlasting and profound gratitude for their constant compassion and generous hospitality, protection and varied assistance to more than 350,000 Khmer refugees on Thai soil.
I should like also to express my gratitude to all those countries which have been kind enough to grant asylum to thousands of Cambodian refugees, as well as to all the relief and humanitarian assistance bodies of the United Nations and the governmental and non-governmental agencies of many countries which have for approximately 13 years now been giving help and assistance to our unfortunate compatriots living in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border.

As the people of Cambodia prepare for a more stable and harmonious
future, they are having to cope with severe floods caused by storms and torrential rains. The immense damage caused by the floods will involve us in an extra effort to rebuild our country. In response to the appeal that I made on 23 August for emergency-relief assistance for our unfortunate compatriots who were the victims of this disaster, a number of countries took immediate steps to come to our help. I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to the United Nations and our Secretary-General and to Australia, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Hew Zealand and Viet Nam, as well as in the international organizations that replied so promptly to my appeal. With their generous help, we have been able, to a certain extent, to restore normality in the regions affected. To those countries that are able to provide further assistance to our people I appeal that they do so as soon as possible.
I wish to take this opportunity to draw attention to a matter that concerns me deeply. For many years I have been deeply disturbed by the almost total saturation of Cambodian soil with land mines. These mines have already crippled a great number of our people - men and women - and they pose a constant danger to life. Today I appeal for a world-wide ban on the use of mines - beginning in Cambodia.
Over the past year we have seen major changes in our world - changes that augur well for the future of international relations. Detente between East and West continues to develop. Several nations have achieved independence and freedom without bloodshed. For its part, Cambodia will adopt a policy of neutrality and non-alignment and of solidarity with all the peoples struggling against injustice and discrimination and for freedom, and with all those countries that are fighting to obtain respect for human rights.
seIf-determination and everything else included in the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the five principles of peaceful co-existence and those of non-alignment.
My delegation warmly supports the wise and highly patriotic proposals for the reunification of Korea put forward by Marshal Kim II Sung, President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Me are happy to note that contacts between the two parts of Korea have increased with a view to achieving national reconciliation, which will lead, at a later stage, to reunification. We encourage their efforts and hope that, now that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea have become full Members of this Organisation, the process of reunification will be accelerated. Korea is one country, not two.
My delegation supports the efforts of the Palestinian people to recover their fundamental national rights. We hope that the international peace conference will take place soon and that, on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), it will succeed in securing the right of all the countries and peoples in the Middle East, including Palestine and Israel, to live in peace and stability within borders recognised by the international community.
My delegation is encouraged by the progress that has been made in settling the conflicts affecting Afghanistan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Western Sahara. We also welcome the progress that has been achieved in South Africa towards the dismantling of apartheid and the negotiations that are taking place for the purpose of establishing there a democratic and non-racial regime.
While working to establish peace and national reconciliation and to achieve a comprehensive political settlement of its problem in accordance with
the United Rations peace plan, Cambodia will contribute actively to the building of a better world where peace and prosperity, with justice and democratic freedoms, will prevail.


This session of the General Assembly is taking place in a world that has undergone fundamental change. The United Nations is the focal point of mankind's new hopes and expectations. This makes your office, Mr. President, one of special responsibility. I wish you luck and success and greet you as the representative of a country with which we, Germany, have long-standing close relations.
I welcome most heartily the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as new Members of the United Nations. They had lost their freedom and independence in 1940 as a result of that criminal document, the Hitler-Stalin pact. All the greater, therefore, is the pleasure felt by us Germans at the fact that history has at long last justly rewarded these courageous peoples with the freedom they longed for.
I welcome the two Korean States. We hop« that the wish of the Korean people will be fulfilled, that they will be able, like the German people, to live in freedom and democracy in one sovereign and independent State. I also welcome the Marshall Islands and Micronesia to the family of nations.
Every year since 1974 I have addressed this Assembly on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany. On each occasion I have expressed our intention to work for a state of peace in Europe in which the German people could recover their unity in free self-determination. On 3 October 1990 that wish came true.
At this moment I commemorate all those who had to sacrifice their lives and their freedom in prisons and camps because they wanted to live in a European Germany of freedom, democracy and human rights. We pay a tribute to all those who, is what was then the German Democratic Republic, as everywhere in Central and Eastern Europe, took to the streets to gain freedom, democracy and unity by peaceful means.
Today I address the Assembly for the first time as the Foreign Minister of united Germany. Germany takes its place in the family of United Nations on the basis of the United Nations Charter.
As a European country, we are committed to the Charter of Paris. We Germans regard the greater weight of our people united in one State as a mandate to assume greater responsibility for freedom, democracy and human rights in a European Germany which has put behind it the nation-State thinking of the past. While the division of Germany made manifest the division of Europe, German unity today contributes to the unification of the whole European continent.
Europe stands at a crossroads in its history. We Germans want this Europe to develop in close transatlantic solidarity. The North Atlantic alliance and the involvement of the United States and Canada in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) process are a reflection of that solidarity. The European Community's transatlantic declaration underscores the will for ever closer European-North American cooperation.
The aims of the policy of united Germany are as follows:
First, we want the European Community, of which we are a founding member, to develop into a European Union and ultimately into the United States of Europe. We want this year to bring a final decision in favour of political union and economic and monetary union.
Second, we want all democratic States in Europe to be able to accede to this Community. For the new democracies in Eastern Europe which are introducing market economies the way must be opened, through association, to full membership.
Third, we want to bring the whole of Europe ever closer together on the basis of the Charter of Paris. We also want the peoples of the Soviet Union, who are adopting a new form of coexistence as sovereign republics, to take their place in this Europe.

Europe will find its new order in confederal structures; these will manifest themselves in different forms. They will take account of existing structures and will afford the regions new opportunities. With greater unity, Europe will at the same time acquire greater diversity.
It is the responsibility of the Western democracies also to establish the material conditions for European unity so that new boundaries do not divide Europe into haves and have-nots. Mew priorities will have to be fixed for material assistance as well. Germany is facing up to this task: as Europeans, we aim, together with other Europeans, to create one Europe by providing assistance for our Eastern neighbours. No one in the West will be permanently well off if those in the East are permanently badly off.
Fourth, as a country in the heart of Europe, we want to devote all our energy to achieving the unity of our continent. This is underscored by the unique link between Germany and France. Also important in this process is the close cooperation with our Eastern neighbours. I emphasised this in the Declaration of Weimar, signed on 29 August 1991 with my French colleague, Roland Dumas, and my Polish colleague. Professor Krzysztof Skubiszewski.
As the door to unity began to open for the German people in the autumn of 1989, I stated here before the United Nations on 27 September that year that we wanted Poland to know that the Polish people's

"... right to live within secure borders will not be called into question, not now or in the future, through territorial claims by us Germans". (A/44/PV.8. p. 18) That was a signal, not only to the Polish people but to all our neighbours.
That statement was incorporated into the two-plus-four Treaty and the German-Polish Treaty, which is at present being debated by the parliaments of both countries. The German-Czechoslovak Treaty on good-neighbourly Relations and Friendly Cooperation is likewise about to be signed. These treaties, like the major treaty with the Soviet Union and the treaties with the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe still to come, manifest our intention to work towards one Europe. Our relationship with the Soviet Union has meanwhile assumed central importance for the whole of Europe.
The German people are emphasising their determination to draw the conclusions from the ill-fated chapters of our history in this century and to help build a Europe based on responsibility and not on the power politics of the past.
Fifth, we want the Western alliance to continue its efforts to ensure stability throughout Europe in a changing political environment. The contacts already established with the former members of the Warsaw Pact, including the Soviet Union, must be developed into a comprehensive partnership for security. Cooperative security structures must emerge. Our alliance, as Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel confirmed in his address to the NATO Council on 21 March, 1991, was never a threat to others.
The ending of the East-West confrontation has opened the way for the radical reduction of excessively large military arsenals. We want conventional disarmament to be pursued consistently, in accordance with the first Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. We want a global prohibition on chemical weapons. We want the removal of short-range nuclear missiles and of nuclear artillery ammunition - this is urgent: such weapons are increasingly destabilizing; the danger of their proliferation is growing they must disappear at long last. We expect the nuclear Powers to continue the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons.
Sixth, we want to make the CSCE capable of action. After the establishment of the Council of CSCE Foreign Ministers and of the CSCE emergency mechanism, I submitted specific proposals at the CSCE Conference on the Human Dimension, held in Moscow on 10 September this year, aimed at more effective protection for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. It must also be possible to afford such protection without the consent of the country concerned.
The right to self-determination and, directly linked with it, the rights of minorities, must be respected everywhere. Europe is heading towards more identity and more plurality. From this must not emerge neo-nationalism. European structures must absorb these developments. For all questions we must have a European response. That is a task for the European Community, and it is a task for the CSCE.
The crisis-management capability of the CSCE must be enhanced. The less necessary it becomes to protect oneself from threats from outside, the more we need a system in which all cooperate in guaranteeing common security. If we together learn to guarantee our security from one another, we in Europe will be on the way to a collective system of security.
Seventh, we Germans want the new Europe to exercise its global responsibility. It should not and will not be introspective. The trend towards a Euro-Atlantic area of cooperation stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok opens up a historic opportunity for development for the countries of the South as well.
The world economic summit of the seven industrial nations - including Japan - faces its greatest test where global responsibilities are concerned. The triad of Worth America, Europe and Japan must prove its worth. The third world will not remain in the shadow of this development. It will benefit vitally from this new era.
The ending of the East-West conflict in Europe is at last releasing those energies tied up by the cold war which mankind now needs in order to solve the global challenges of the twenty-first century. The first fruits of this new development are already appearing. The East-West confrontation is no longer being staged in the third world. Freedom is emerging in Angola and in Cambodia, and in Afghanistan too there are signs of hope.
In the Middle East as well a historic opportunity for peace is opening up. We all hope that at the forthcoming peace conference all participants will at long last realize that there is no justifiable alternative to a genuine balance of interests that gives Israel security and peace and the Palestinians self-determination. With great commitment and unending patience. Secretary of State Baker has paved the way for such a balance. In this he has Germany's full support. The General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism must be repealed. We support the American initiative in that regard.
In South Africa, President De Klerk and Nelson Mandela have taken decisive steps toward creating a South Africa free from oppression and racial hatred. All citizens of that country must participate with equal rights in its political, economic and social life. This must be guaranteed by a new constitution. A democratic South Africa can and must become a locomotive of development and stability in a region still afflicted by poverty and conflicts.
The economic fruits of the new development in Europe are likewise discernible. As the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has calculated, the single European market will mean a 7 per cent increase in the exports of developing countries to the European Community. That will boost their earnings by $10 billion. And if in a few years' time Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union become regions of dynamic growth, they will also develop into important new markets for exports from the South. Above all, however, the end of the arms race between East and Heat will release tremendous energies which will benefit the third world above all.
Eighth, we Germans want the United Nations to become the main forum for action in the new world order. To that end, it is absolutely essential that Security Council resolutions be implemented, completely and unconditionally. Aggressors like Saddam Hussein must no longer be permitted to keep people in constant fear with aggression and means of mass destruction. We support President Bush in his resolve to counteract fresh provocations. Our world Organization must be able to meet the challenges of the new era. Conflict prevention, demographic policy and environmental protection must be improved.
The ending of the East-West conflict has freed the world Organization from its paralysis. This new freedom to act must now be used. Germany is prepared to play its part. The united Germany will assume all rights and meet a11 obligations of the United Nations Charter, including measures of collective security, also with our armed forces. For this purpose we intend to amend our constitution.
Ninth, in order to improve coordination of United Nations disaster relief measures, we advocate the appointment of a high-ranking representative exclusively responsible to the Secretary-General. This person would have to coordinate all international relief measures and have immediately available an emergency fund and national rescue and relief services.
We want to enhance the status of the Secretary-General himself. He has frequently spoken of this necessity, and rightly so. Now his tenure is coming to an end. The world has come to respect him as a guardian of peace, a champion of human rights, and an advocate of the poor. In an era of epochal change, he has, with clear vision and a firm hand, enhanced the reputation of the United Nations. For this the family of nations owes him a debt of gratitude and appreciation.
Tenth, we want to strengthen the instruments asserting the rule of law in the world. The experience of our history has committed us in a special way to freedom, the rule of law and human rights. We pursue these goals in Europe, and we intend to pursue them in the United Nations as well. He intend to pursue a policy which focuses on the individual, makes human rights and human dignity the measures of all human action and does not paralyze people's energy and enterprise.
The world today realizes that this is a precondition for prosperity, social progress and peace. It also realizes that despotism negates development and freedom. The alarming figure of 15 million refugees worldwide shows that the world is still far from ensuring adequate protection for human rights and the rights of minorities.
The violation of human rights must no longer be a domestic concern of individual States but a domestic concern of the community of nations as a whole. Today sovereignty must meet its limits in the responsibility of States for mankind as a whole and for the survival of Creation. When human rights are trampled under foot, the family of nations is not confined to the role of spectator. It can - it must - intervene.
We are witness to the persecution of the Kurdish people. Anyone who threatens peoples with genocide, anyone who deliberately destroys nature's already fragile equilibrium in an entire region, must be brought to account before an international tribunal. We call for an international court of justice of the United Nations where crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, genocide, war crimes and environmental criminality can be prosecuted and punished. We call for a court of justice to which anyone who feels that his human rights have been violated may appeal. We call for the proscription of torture and capital punishment.
We need an effective international environmental law regime with appropriate international controls. It must be possible to impose sanctions on countries that deliberately destroy the environment. We also have to effectively prevent environmental warfare. I ask the General Assembly to support the draft resolution on this important matter which Germany proposes to introduce.
We call upon all States to accede to the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages, and we call for sanctions against countries which tolerate hostage-taking. The World Conference on Human Rights, scheduled to take place in 1993, must deal with those questions that are of such vital importance for a new culture of international coexistence. We are looking forward to hosting the Conference in Berlin, that symbol of a new era of humanity and solidarity in Europe.
Eleventh, as in the case of civil human rights, we seek protection for economic and social human rights. The united Germany will continue to render a significant contribution to the development of the third world. In spite of the challenges presented by economic and ecological reconstruction in central and eastern Europe, the diversion of capital from South to East that had been feared has not taken place. This reflects the determination of the Western industrial nations to live up to their responsibility for development on a global scale.
Germany, in spite of the enormous domestic strain on its resources and the disproportionately high level of support for its eastern neighbours, has increased its official development assistance even more. Furthermore, the German people last year donated more than 1 billion Deutschmarks for humanitarian purposes in third-world countries. This is proof that their own country's problems and those of central and eastern Europe have not caused them to forget the plight of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
There is a growing appreciation in third-world countries that it is not enough simply to expect the donor countries to do their duty, but that they themselves are primarily responsible for putting their houses in order. In future the German Government will, more than previously, make its assistance
Conditional upon the extent to which recipients are prepared to create the right pluralistic, rule-of-law and free-market framework. Countries which are more concerned with strengthening their armies than seeing to the needs of their people can no longer count on our support. Considering the degree of hunger and poverty, annual military spending of close to $200 billion by the third world is irresponsible. The responsibility lies with the buyers and sellers of weapons alike. The mere freezing of this military expenditure would save about $15 billion a year - about one quarter of annual development assistance.
The restriction of arms exports requires, as a first step, greater transparency. Since 1980 I have been urging the world Organisation to establish a register in which transfers of weapons would be recorded. This proposal, which is now being advocated by the European Community as a whole, should, during this session of the General Assembly, at long last meet with broad support. We Germans will place even greater restrictions on the export of arms.
Heavy indebtedness remains for many countries one of the greatest obstacles to development. The debate on Africa has shown that we need a new arrangement particularly for the poorest countries. The amount of debt remission should correspond to the plight of the country concerned. The markets of the North must not remain closed. This situation is depriving the South of proceeds from foreign exchange amounting to an estimated $100 billion a year. That is about twice the total sum of development aid. This is why the outcome of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations is not a matter for the industrial countries among themselves. It affects above all the future of the developing countries.
Twelfth, we want the third-world countries to participate on an equal footing in the dialogue on mankind's future, in all respects - political, economic, ecological and cultural. As before, we regard the Non-Aligned Movement as an indispensable source of global stability. Mankind's new challenges, the greater interdependence and responsibility of the community of nations make new forms of dialogue based on partnership between East and Nest and between North and South imperative. The global trend towards a free society, pluralistic democracy and market economy has created new, favourable conditions for such a "dialogue of the one world". He must now use this opportunity.
While we are here debating the common future tasks of the world community, war is being waged in Europe. People are being killed, are bleeding to death. Fighting is going on in Croatia - but not only there. The President and the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia say that the army has placed itself beyond political control. They have appealed to the United Nations. The peoples of Yugoslavia have a right to peace. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the European Community and the Western European Union (WEU) are striving to bring about a cease-fire and a peace agreement. For this they require the support of the community of nations and the Security Council. He expect a binding weapons embargo. He expect the Security Council to adopt a clear, unequivocal position so that the fighting can be stopped. The use of force to achieve political ends must remain unlawful. We shall never recognize the acquisition of territory by force. Anyone aiming to alter Yugoslavia's internal and external borders by force is challenging the very foundations of human coexistence. Germany has in recent decades developed friendly relations with all peoples of Yugoslavia. We do not take sides against one people or another; we take the side of the women and mothers who do not want their husbands and sons to die in a senseless war. We take the aide of peace against war, of human rights, of the rights of minorities and the right to self-determination. We wish success to the peace conference that we together with France proposed to the arbitration commission and to the mediator. Lord Carrington. Within the framework of the European Community and the CSCE arbitration mechanism we shall make every effort to achieve a peace settlement in which the peoples of Yugoslavia alone will determine their future, as the CSCE Foreign Ministers decided under my chairmanship in Berlin on 19 June 1991.
On the threshold of the new millennium mankind faces a global challenge that overshadows all else: that of fighting poverty, reducing population growth and protecting the natural sources of life. What the twenty-first century will look like depends on the decisions we take in the next 10 years.
The concern with freedom in the past two years has changed the countenance of Europe, indeed of the world, at breathtaking speed. What could not be changed in that short period were the economic and social conditions of the people. If a billion people have to manage on less than one dollar a day, if 23 per cent of the world's population commands over 85 per cent of the world's income, then everybody's security is threatened. Mau is still waging war against creation.
We need a comprehensive peace pact between peoples, between nations, and between man and nature. These are the tasks for a new world domestic policy.
We need to realise that the social issue on a global scale is the great challenge of the new era. Only decent human conditions for all create freedom. It is only to this kind of freedom that the future will belong. In the last three and a half decades the population of the third world has almost doubled. In the next generation the developing countries will account for over 80 per cent of the world's population. Today already, more than one third of the world's population is undernourished. What will the situation be like a generation hence? This question in itself indicates the whole dimension of our responsibility. Our task is to meet the needs of the present and at the same time protect the Interests of future generations - and also to attempt to reconcile economy and ecology.
The accumulation of arms during the cold war has consumed astronomical sums. How it is a question of directing our combined efforts to the central task of the twenty-first century: solving the world's social, demographic and ecological problems and pursuing disarmament.
This is the spiritual and moral challenge confronting the nations of the world. New thinking is required from each one of us. The signs are there. When did the voice of freedom and democracy speak with such force as today? It is true: the world ha3 changed fundamentally. It has changed through the spirit of freedom. Everywhere human rights and human dignity are gaining ground. Hardly ever have we been more aware of this than on 21 August this year, when the Moscow coup against freedom failed. On exactly that day 23 years previously the Soviet army had brutally crushed the Prague Spring. This time the soldiers of the same army refused to shoot at the people who had gathered in Moscow's "Square of Free Russia" to defend freedom and democracy with their lives. There it became clear to the whole world:
Mikhail Gorbachev's courageous reformist policy has become irreversible. Today already he has taken his place in the annals of history.
The events of that day gave the lie to all those in the West who did not believe that the peoples of the Soviet Union had the will for freedom and democracy. Boris Yeltsin, Eduard Shevardnadze, Anatoly Sobchak, Gavril Popov and Alexander Yakovlev stood unshakably with many, many of their fellow-citizens for freedom and peace.
What Europe and the world was twice denied in this century our generation has the chance to fulfil: President Bush's vision of a new world order. It is the vision of a world community sharing responsibility on the basis of law, the self-determination of nations, international solidarity and respect for man and nature.
If this historic opportunity for new and lasting international solidarity is not to evaporate through economic want, then the West just not forsake the people who risked their lives for freedom. I said it in Davos in 1987 and I say it again today: this concerns Europe's, America's and Japan's joint responsibility for global peace. The chance to create a lastingly free and democratic new Soviet Union is a chance for the whole world.
The German American philosopher Hans Jonas said: "Hope derives from responsibility for the universe". Europe has reflected on its fundamental values and is building its common home. In spite of all the difficulties, this peaceful undertaking is a message of hope to the world.
The united Germany places itself for all time on the side of freedom and democracy, on the side of human rights and human dignity, on the side of the right of self-determination and of protection for minorities. The German people side once and for all with the inalienable values which alone permit a humane society to develop. That is the message of the united Germany to the community of nations to which I have the honour to speak here today for the first time as the representative of one Germany. As a European Germany we intend to face the global challenges. In this we regard every person on earth as our neighbour.


In the name of the people and Government of Colombia, allow me to congratulate Ambassador Shihabi of Saudi Arabia on his election to the presidency of this session of the General Assembly. We place great hopes in the results of the work of the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly under his illustrious leadership. It will be the task of the Assembly to point the United Nations in the right direction in order for it to carry out the purposes and principles of its Charter at this crucial phase of our history.
I should also like to express the appreciation of the Government of Colombia for the work of the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Peres de Cuellar. Ten years of intelligent and unstinting effort in the service of international peace and justice give the measure of this man. We acknowledge the scope of his contribution and salute him as a Latin American who has brought honour to our region. He is aware of our admiration and appreciation and is familiar with the wishes that were expressed collectively by the Heads of State of Latin America at the summit meeting at Guadalajara.
I welcome the admission of the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands to membership of the Organization and I welcome their participation in the General Assembly's debates.
We are living in a time of profound change, which will have a formidable impact on the future of each of our countries. However, the ambitious mandate of the United Nations remains in force. That speaks well for the vision of those who were its founders. It would be very hard for us to cast this mandate in different terms today. The maintenance of peace, the defence of citizens' rights and the attainment of the collective well-being through growth and development continue to be the guiding principles in relations between States.
Yet a significant change can be seen in the very rapidity of the adjustments and transformations we are witnessing. Hence, we call upon members urgently to pursue the objectives referred to and to take advantage of this session of the General Assembly to reflect on the challenges of our times.
Colombia has always been an enthusiastic supporter of multilateralism and cooperation as the irreplaceable cornerstones of an international system that is committed to meeting the needs of the developing world. Without peace there can be no growth or development, and it is only by establishing social justice and eradicating poverty that lasting peace can be achieved. A stable peace requires that nations establish the social and economic conditions necessary to deal properly with their principal needs.
In the light of the relaxation of East-West tensions, and since there must be a constructive dialogue between North and South, it will be up to the United Nations system to ensure and protect the right of States which, unlike the great Powers, do not have effective defence mechanisms. For such countries, the United Nations has to be the guarantor of rights, most especially those of sovereignty and self-determination. While it is clear that there have been major advances in the international political arena, as demonstrated by the end of the cold war, the growing respect for human rights and the progress of democracy, this is not the case in the economic arena, where considerable uncertainty still prevails. Despite the sacrifices and adjustments made by many developing countries and the opening up of their economies to trade a d investment flows, access of their goods and services to the principal markets is constantly being hindered by various new obstacles and barriers. The most vehement defenders of liberalised trade are engaged today in a major confrontation that is threatening the very stability of multilateralism and, in particular, the fate of the developing countries, whose interests are subordinated to the competition between the major economic blocs.
The Ministerial Declaration signed in Caracas by the Latin American Foreign Ministers at the Preparatory Meeting for the Eighth Conference on Trade and Development, refers with concern to the fact that those countries that are pressing most urgently for an open international system are precisely the ones that stray the farthest from the rules of the game by increasingly applying practices that distort international trade.
For example, the coffee industry is facing a drastic situation, owing to the lack of economic clauses in the International Coffee Agreement. Current price levels, in real terms, are the lowest they have been in the last 50 years; this has serious consequences for the economies of the coffee-producing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. In order to correct this difficult situation, this week the producer nations in London presented an emergency plan designed to put some order in the market; in this regard, Colombia has asked for the support and cooperation of the industrialised nations.
Colombia comes before the Assembly and into the international arena with new credentials. It is a country with a promising future, which has succeeded in facing the challenges of the present with honesty, transparency and boldness, making changes of major importance in its 100-year old National Constitution. The new Colombian Constitution, a reflection of the political will of the various sectors of public opinion, opens the institutional doors of the Republic in a democratic, civilised way so that new ideas regarding, political participation and citizens' rights can be introduced.
The new Colombia is encouraging young people to become involved in running the State. It has mechanisms to make the application of justice more flexible and expeditious. It generously extends to groups that have taken up arms the possibility of being honourably reintegrated into civilian life. The new Colombia seeks, both nationally and internationally, the redistribution of opportunity to individuals and nations so that we can all enjoy the fruits of growth and development and so that the gap between the haves and the have-nots will not continue to grow wider.
In the Bill of Rights that we have adopted, power rests with the individual. The State exists to serve the citizen, to protect him and to promote conditions that will enable all Colombians to develop freely. The Constitution enshrines a broad range of civil and political rights, safeguards social and economic rights, recognises group rights and establishes mechanisms to provide for their effective protection.
We see in this new Colombia arising from the efforts of President Cesar Gaviria - a young and bold leader who dared extend an early welcome to the future barely 13 months ago - an example of what can be achieved when there is a desire for consensus, the political will to attain it and generosity in handling complex situations.
He present these changes with pride and dignity and with the conviction that we have found the peaceful path on which new generations of Colombians shall travel, sowing along the way the seeds of a just, prosperous and equitable future. That is the new Colombia, which is now attending this General Assembly.
In addition, waves of change and renewal can be seen in Latin America and the Caribbean region. As regards peace, democratic participation, human rights and integration, our continent is moving forward at a rapid pace. Multilateralism has become a dominant force, as demonstrated by the various processes of association that are being carried out jointly and in parallel. It would be difficult to find a time of greater harmony and integration among the member countries of our region. The Rio Group, the Group of 3, the Cartagena Pact, the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and the strengthened efforts towards integration in Central America and the Caribbean region are a reflection of the processes of cooperation now under way. These are political, economic and cultural dialogues that are increasingly strengthening our roots, our experiences and our future, resulting in a firmer commitment among our nations to pool efforts in the joint action required to overcome obstacles that are common to us all and that we could not overcome individually. The negotiated solution reached by Argentina and Chile in their border dispute and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Guatemala and Belize are a reflection of the climate of political harmony and resolve in our region.
As regards the initiative for the Americas, Colombia welcomed it from the very moment of its promulgation as an ambitious plan for cooperation, and appreciated the multilateral character of some of its components. Consequently, Colombia hopes that Europe and Japan will Join with the United States so that the multilateral investment fund can become a reality in the immediate future.
A united, future-oriented continent, which is capable of solving the basic needs of its people in peace, will be a source of support for United Rations efforts to achieve an open and integrated economic order.
This reference to our continent would be Incomplete if we did not mention the sense of obligation in our region to promote a rapprochement between the United States and Cuba. The same suspicions and mistrust that for so many years polarised relations among so many countries, and that led to the cold war that we all went through, now undermine the trust between these two Member States of the United Nations.
We are aware of the profound differences that separate them, but we believe that the new climate of peace and cooperation that has so swiftly suffused international relations could well serve as a basis for the frank and open discussion of unresolved matters. We hope that the winds of renewal and democratisation that are blowing throughout the world can be incorporated autonomously by Cuba into its political order. On the other hand, no one should underestimate the deep historical, geographic and cultural roots that unite Cuba with our region.
The changes that have occurred on the international scene since the creation of the United Nations, along with the appearance of new and complex problems, have emphasized, among the Member States of this Organization, the need to reflect on the most appropriate way to respond to the reality of today's world and on its future prospects. The new world scene demands a renewed United Nations. For this reason, the Rio Group has submitted for the consideration of all States certain guidelines as to our concept of the modernization of this Organization.
We believe that the process of revitalizing the United Nations ought not to be limited to simplifying and correcting its procedures or its operating patterns. The substantial increase in the Organization's membership, the new political realities and the new power structure in the world all call for a review of the existing criteria regarding the representation of the Member States at all levels of the system and their effective participation in the decision-making process. Achievement of these objectives would help to guarantee that the mandates issued are a clear and balanced reflection of the aspirations of the international community, and in particular those of the developing nations.
It is necessary to strengthen the General Assembly so that it can be a faithful interpreter of the will of the States. This must be the forum in which matters of global interest are debated and where efforts are made to promote an understanding of the importance of multisectoral action that will lead to successful international cooperation directed towards the social and economic growth and development of all peoples.
Just as important as strengthening the General Assembly is the need to strengthen the office of the Secretary-General. This office must be provided with the instruments that will permit the independent exercise of its functions and the faithful attainment of the principles and objectives of the Organization.
Improved coordination among United Nations agencies requires re-evaluation of the Security Council. It is necessary to give it a form in keeping with new realities and to study mechanisms to prevent excessive influence on the part of a few countries. Since 1945, Colombia has been opposed to the power of veto and believes that this is a good time to re-examine its advantageousness.
My country has urged that international relations be governed by International Law and by the principles of the United Nations Charter. We consider the work done by the International Court of Justice to be of vital importance. Today, more than aver, international cooperation is required to combat organised crime. President Cesar Gaviria has reiterated that the links in the chains of crime are reaching farther into all countries and that criminal groups are becoming true multinational organisations. Today's criminals pay no heed to nationalities or borders. The internationalization of crime must be opposed by the universalization of justice.
Closer cooperation must be sought between judicial power and the authorities of the various States. Colombia is developing a strategy aimed at expediting the procedures for furnishing evidence and probative material requested by foreign authorities. Me believe it is the moral and legal obligation of all States to make available any evidence they have against criminals, particularly if these criminals are involved in crimes of multinational scope such as drug trafficking and terrorism. These actions must be reinforced by promoting legal mechanisms and programmes within the framework of the United Nations. One problem that is of great concern to my Government is that of arms dealing. Clearly, in order to reduce or limit arms dealing, as in any business, it will be necessary to reduce the demand as well as the supply. We believe that this is a most propitious moment to move ahead it this area.
The end of the cold war offers us a great opportunity to invest in development, using resources devoted to military expenditures. The "peace dividend" should be backed up by plans to switch over to civil production. In addition, efforts for disarmament should be complemented by measures to reduce the pressures that lead to arms production and exportation. The authorities of all our countries should commit themselves to giving priority to the establishment of effective control over the licit and illicit transfer of arms, especially when they are being sent to areas of conflict or to regions affected by the violence generated by criminal activity.
The international community must  recognise the consequences of poverty for world stability. For a number of years now, Colombia has pressed initiatives in various forums in the search for a solution that should be approached with the same sense of urgency that other crisis situations have aroused.
Priority must be given on the international agenda to reactivating the economies of developing countries by opening up the markets of industrialized countries to their exports. This is the type of solidarity that we seek from the developed world.
The relaxing of tensions between the super-Powers has not put bread on the table of the poor. Neither poverty nor social injustice has been eliminated. On the contrary, for most countries, the conditions for development continue to be adverse: technology is beyond their grasp, the major markets for their products continue to be highly protected, and their status as debtors keeps them in the position of being net exporters of capital.
Colombia has offered to be the host country for the eighth United Rations Conference on Trade and Development (UHCTAD) in 1992. In order to ensure the success of the eighth UHCTAD, we must reformulate the criteria and mechanisms related to the economic and social development of our countries. It will be an opportunity to create new channels of communication between the North and the South around themes that have traditionally created controversy, but that we must now examine from the perspectives that currently characterize international dialogue. The backdrop for the meeting is the future functioning of the Organisation and the evolving negotiations of the Uruguay Round.
The eighth UNCTAD has to be the start of a new phase, of an era in which to take advantage of the opportunities that have opened up for International cooperation following the end of the East-West conflict successful restructuring of UNCTAD, based on cooperation between the various groups of countries that comprise it, would be a good precedent for the reforms that need to be made in the United Nations system.
Colombia looks forward with optimism to the forthcoming Conference on the Environment and Development which is to take place In June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. This "Earth Summit" will have to strengthen the mechanisms of international cooperation around this global theme. Neither the application of a model of rapacious development in the South nor the abandonment of economic growth is an option for solving the environmental crisis. Based on the joint responsibility of the nations of the North and of the South, it is necessary to open up possibilities for a model of sustainable development. The industrialized countries have to pay the ecological debt they have incurred with mankind.
In the field of human rights, the Organisation can justly claim that it has performed a successful task of universal scope. It is high time for the culture of human rights to become part of our civilisation.
Advances in democracy and progress in solving conflicts require conditions of development and social justice that allow the full play of economic, social and cultural rights. The World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 will therefore be one of the most important events of this decade.
Despite the various national perspectives, we believe that a consensus is gradually building as to the kind of international environment that we must all promote and the contribution that all of us from the various regions and groups of countries can make to that new global context for peace and development. The developed countries must act with imagination and generosity to ensure that the developing countries have ample and sufficient resources to enable them to undertake the productive investments that they could not manage to make alone.
There is no better place than this to call for peace. The success the Salvadorian people and Government have achieved, with the support of the United Nations, is the best tribute to, and example of, Latin America's contribution to world peace.
Today we have an unprecedented opportunity to face up with optimism to a new era for our Organization. We must jointly and severally accept this historic opportunity as authors of the promising future of mankind.


There are times in the life of nations when circumstances arise that offer exceptional opportunities for strengthening peace and cooperation between peoples, opportunities for correcting past mistakes, for making up for the time wasted in conflicts, for realizing long-cherished desires.
I believe, without exaggerated optimism, that we have begun passing through one of these stages. There are indeed many signs that this is the case. But of all of them, the most fundamental is the restoration of the dignity and freedom of the human being. That development has made it possible for history to change its course, with the result that we have today the extraordinary opportunity - and also the vast responsibility - of attempting to build a better world than the one we have known up until now.
It is from this that this newly opened forty-sixth session of the General Assembly derives its special importance. Accordingly, Mr. President, we welcome your election, which enables an experienced diplomat to steer our debates to a successful conclusion. The General Assembly has voted to admit seven new Members, thus raising the number of Members of the United Nations to 166 and simultaneously confirming the Organization's validity and universality. We greet the Democratic Republic of Korea, Estonia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Korea, and extend a most cordial welcome to them.
The formidable progress made by the cause of freedom in a few short but intense years has created conditions that will enable the United Nations, without sterile dissent, to comply fully with the stipulations of its basic Charter.
Chile and Latin America at large have also been a part of this process. The map of Latin American democracies, yesterday mutilated and obscured in various places by various forms of authoritarianism, now begins to conform to the outlines of a world seeking to establish a dialogue based on the common ideals of democracy and respect for human rights.
At this very moment the renewed democratic reality of our continent is feeing a crucial test in the form of the coup d'etat in Haiti. This constitutes an affront to the international community - which just a few days ago welcomed the President of Haiti on this very podium - and the most reprehensible type of attack on peace and security in our region. Yesterday the Organisation of American States set in motion the mechanisms agreed upon at its last general assembly to ensure the effectiveness of the Santiago Commitment to Democracy. The meeting of foreign ministers of States members of the OAS adopted measures to ensure the re-establishment of the legitimate Government in Haiti and sent a mission to that country. It expressed its willingness to take further steps, if necessary, to obtain this objective. We agreed without hesitation to the approval of these agreements.
Chile - which has known the suffering incurred by the breakdown of liberty - expresses its solidarity with the Haitian people and demands the respect for their free exercise of sovereignty as expressed in December of 1990 at the polls. Democracy must be re-established in Haiti.
We have seen that it is the values of democracy that have transformed an environment of confrontation into one of collaboration. These values have made it possible to put an end to conflicts that had dragged on for a long time and to make progress towards the solution of other as yet unresolved problems. They have achieved a start to the dismantling of the reprehensible apartheid regime, which we hope will soon disappear. Likewise, they have made possible the unequivocal and unanimous condemnation and halting of aggression perpetrated against a Member of the United Nations, thus discouraging the repetition of such acts in the future.
We agree with the statement in this year's report of the Secretary-General to the effect that: "the end of the long season of stagnation for the United Nations" (A/46/1, p. 2) has arrived. It is a reality recognised by all world leaders that the Organisation has gained in authority and prestige.
In large measure, this has been due to the effort, tenacity and creative imagination of its current Secretary-General. As the end of his term of office approaches, we should place it on record that Javier Peres de Cuellar has been an exemplary model for the standard of conduct recommended by the first President of the General Assembly to the Organisation's first Secretary-General: he has been firm without being intransigent, conciliatory without being weak, and impartial without exception. Almost half a century after its birth, the United Nations will have to be adapted to the challenges of the coming millennium. The present session will have to concentrate its efforts on such tasks. The far-reaching changes that have taken place on the world scene have, apart from moving beyond the former balance of power, changed the former concepts of security on which it was based. These changes now need to be reflected in the structures and procedures of the world Organization. They constitute capital which must be invested in bringing about significant progress in improving the mechanisms for peace, in negotiations for reaching substantive and balanced agreements on arms regulation, including the full and definitive prohibition of all weapons of mass destruction.
It is essential that the peace-keeping function entrusted to the United Nation by the San Francisco Charter should be fully discharged, in all forums, through multilateral action, and this should be a shared responsibility of all Member States. The experience of the Persian Gulf should lead to improvements in the means available to the Security Council for taking action with regard to the subjects within its competence and with regard to compliance with its resolutions.
We must recognise that peace is a commodity that is under constant threat on many fronts. This makes it advisable to welcome and support the timely and expeditious contributions that emerge in various ways and in various regions and subregions for preserving peace in those very places. In turn, the role of the Secretary-General during crises and in preventing conflicts needs to be strengthened. Chile is proud to add to its previous peace-keeping missions its current participation in the dedicated work of the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) in the Persian Gulf and that of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
Above all, peace means that the disturbing tensions which still confront mankind have to be faced. The temptation to resort to force, terrorism, drug trafficking, the arms trade, the oppression of tyrannies, violation of human rights and the poverty that prevails today in extensive regions of the world cannot but be constant sources of conflict and insecurity.
In the immediate future, we are confident that, through understanding and collaboration, the dramatic situation now prevailing in Yugoslavia will be resolved; and we also hope for a fruitful outcome to the negotiations to ensure that the International Peace Conference on the Middle East will lead to a just solution to unresolved issues in that area.
The same spirit of understanding and cooperation inspires President Aylwin's government and all the Latin American nations in their efforts to make our region one where peace and democracy prevail- The promising and unprecedented steps recently taken in this direction are the outcome of the profound adherence of Latin America's democracies to dialogue and the full validation of International law.
In this way, Chile and Argentina have offered the community of nations eloquent testimony to their peaceful and law-abiding will to resolve by mutual agreement the remaining border disputes between them - on one of the longest and most difficult frontiers in the world - by resorting, on the only point that could not be resolved directly, to the arbitration mechanism provided for in the 1984 Treaty of Peace and Friendship.
The conviction that all disputes can be resolved peacefully has made possible a strengthening of the climate of trust in the region. In the recent Mendoza Accord, which we signed jointly with Brazil and Argentina, later joined by Uruguay, we proclaimed our determination to eliminate from Latin America any possibility that chemical and biological weapons would be introduced. Such initiatives will have to be supplemented by the establishment of a broad nuclear-free zone when we succeed in ensuring that the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America enters fully into force.
In the context of the positive steps aimed at neutralizing the risks of conflict in the continent, we received with profound joy and satisfaction the news of the agreements on El Salvador signed just a few days ago in this Organization, which us> r in the culminating phase of the pacification of Central America.
In Latin America today, active and concerted political efforts are under way to meet the challenges of a changing world. Despite the difficulties and limitations - and precisely with a view to overcoming them - cooperative agreements and mechanisms are multiplying in number. There is a growing awareness that peace and security can be consolidated only if we are capable of overcoming the diverse problems that conspire against the well-being and stability of our peoples.
Chile has committed itself to the task of making the promise of freedom and justice, which is inherent in democracy, a reality. This means bringing about growing levels of equity for our society, as well as effectively and coherently ensuring sustained and sustainable economic development.
Our country has recently demonstrated its effective export potential and its firm resolve to pursue the practices of an open and dynamic economy in conformity with the currently prevailing trends.
We consider that, in the present circumstances, an economy which aspires to be up to date must be able both to compete in all spheres of trade and to meet the demands of complementarity within its own region.
On the basis of this premise, Chile has joined resolutely in the process of Latin American integration within the framework of the Latin American Integration Association, employing a flexible approach which ties in with other encouraging formulas now current in the region.
We have concluded important agreements on economic issues with Argentina. We have just signed a highly important agreement with Mexico - the first of its kind in Latin America - which, after a brief period of progressive reduction of duties, will bring about freedom of trade between the two nations. We are developing similar arrangements with other countries of the region, namely, Venezuela, Colombia and Bolivia, with which we have already made significant progress.
In a world in which the trend towards globalisation is daily becoming more marked, we believe that regional integration and openness to the world, far from being in conflict, are converging approaches which cannot fail to optimize and strengthen the potential of our economy. In this sense, we have positively appraised President Bush's Americas Initiative and are fully ready to continue making progress towards the implementation of its provisions. Similarly, we are seeking to strengthen our links with Europe and with the Pacific nations, which are already important.
Interaction between different regions, rather than confinement within them, must be viewed as vital to the economic progress of mankind. Therefore, for the present, the expansion of world trade, the growing flow of investment and the transfer of technologies cannot be exclusive privileges of the industrialised countries. Rather, their salutary and beneficial effects should be extended to all regions and countries. It would be particularly discouraging if the collapse of ideological walls were to be succeeded by the erection of economic walls blocking the developing world's aspiration to become integrated into the international economy.
We are concerned, therefore, that in contrast to the signs of opening up and liberalisation, and in violation of basic norms of equity and reciprocity, protectionist positions continue to be reiterated, such as those which to date have made the Uruguay Bound of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) unproductive and that-, drastically affect the ability of the nations that have fallen farthest behind to offer better living standards for their peoples. The time has come for the new focus on the human being that has become evident in the political sphere to be reflected likewise in the humanization of the economy.
In this connection, Chile is following with interest the proposals for reform that have been made with respect to the Economic and Social Council in an effort to systematize and coordinate its functions, rationalize its resources and strengthen the topics of development and technical cooperation. This process should help link the Council more effectively with other international economic and financial organisations.
The political progress made by the international community in recent years has not been accompanied by a similar process in the field of social development. The "social cost" of political change and economic adjustment has led to an alarming deterioration in the standards and quality of life in many parts of the world, particularly in the developing countries.
It is in these countries that the crisis in social conditions is having its most acute and devastating effects, exacerbated by the harmful impact of environmental degradation, which is today attaining truly intolerable proportions. All this has led not only to their continued stagnation but even to an open deterioration of their development prospects, while at the same time constantly counteracting the efforts at modernisation that are gaining some ground in these nations. This affects in particular the countries of Africa, which need special attention from the international community.
But this situation is not restricted to the developing world. Its effects and consequences extend, infiltrate, and bring pressure to bear on the industrialized societies as well, introducing increasingly disruptive elements.
Therefore, it is imperative that international development cooperation be recognized as vital to world security, and that all nations must be a part of it. Just. as the international community has begun to be aware of environmental problems - and the forthcoming International Conference on Environment and Development is an encouraging sign of this - it must tackle social problems with equal resolve. For these purposes, there is no multilateral forum other than the United Nations system. That is why the Government of Chile strongly supports the holding of a world summit meeting for social development, the careful preparation of which should take place at the highest possible level, in a world-wide consensus to step up multisectoral development cooperation and strengthen security in its twin aspects of the individual and society.
The dignity of the human being and the application and improvement of democracy must be the ultimate objective and central concern of all nations. It is democratic systems, despite their imperfections, which afford the best guarantees of respect for the human being and which most effectively promote healthy international coexistence.
A major contribution would be made to this objective if democratic governments themselves were to invite observers from the United Nations or regional organisations to be present during their electoral processes. In this way, this practice would become universal in other regions, rendering obsolete the argument that it constitutes a threat to sovereignty.
The Secretary-General reflects our view fully when he states in his report on the work of the Organisation:
"... the principle of non-interference with the essential domestic jurisdiction of States cannot be regarded as a protective barrier behind which human rights could be ... violated with impunity." To accept this false argument would run counter to the basic rule of all coexistence and betray the hopes of those who are victims of totalitarian systems and powerless to defend themselves. It is to them, and not to their persecutors, that we owe our loyalty. Solidarity is on the side of democracy and condemns those who violate it.
Accordingly, President Aylwin's Government - which has assumed an irrevocable moral commitment to the defence of these rights - will work untiringly, transcending frontiers and ideologies, to strengthen the mechanisms that protect democracies and, ultimately, the fundamental values of the human being. Accordingly, we attach special importance to the World Conference on Human Rights scheduled for 1993.
The last decade of this surprising century has opened up unsuspected possibilities for the international community - and also great uncertainties. It is for the nations assembled here, and for the Organisation that brings them together, to know how to take advantage of the former and dispel the latter.
But as important as the security of States, or more important, are the security and integrity of individuals. It is in relation to these, in the final analysis, that the tasks that are set and the actions taken must find their meaning.
Large numbers of human beings continue to live an existence clouded by all kinds of deprivations and threats. We cannot put off meeting their demands and their hopes, or disappoint them. They express fundamental and constant values of mankind which we all see as our own.
We have an opportunity such as we have perhaps never had before of ensuring that those values begin to prevail once and for all. Achieving this will mean giving back to large numbers of persons their dignity and freedom so that they can shape for themselves the course of the history they wish to live.


On behalf of the free people and the Government of Lithuania, I extend to Mr. Samii Shihabi sincere congratulations on his election to the office of President of the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session and I hope that his work will be crowned with success. I also take this opportunity to congratulate the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Peres de Cuellar, on his efforts at enhancing the role and prestige of the United Nations and his contribution in promoting world peace and understanding among nations.
Lithuania also wishes to express its gratitude to the many Governments that have helped us to make our way back to independence an easier one. In our country's time of greatest need, there were Governments that stood with our people as they sought to regain their rightful place in the international community. In particular, I would like to recognize the friendly hand extended to us by the peoples of Iceland and our other Nordic neighbours. In my country they shall for ever be remembered for their courage and perseverance on our behalf.
The people of Lithuania join with the peoples of Estonia and Latvia in rejoicing on their admission to this world body. Two years ago, we linked hands with our Baltic brothers and sisters in a human chain stretching 600 kilometres from Vilnius to Riga to Tallinn. On that day the people of our three countries knew in their hearts that the trust forged In hardship among us would lead us out of bondage together. While we are admitted to the United Nations as three, we celebrate as one.
I have been assigned by my Government to speak for a country that has just emerged from the dark night of oppression, blinded at first by the sudden light of freedom. Our people are elated and happy to join the family of sovereign nations. We are well aware that the first steps will be difficult, but we are happy to have this opportunity to show that a free people can achieve moral and material well-being even under the most adverse conditions.
Lithuania is a centuries-old nation that has always endeavoured to live at peace in a region of the world often fought over by our larger neighbours. Situated at a European crossroads, the Lithuanian people established their own State in the thirteenth century. King Gediminas, who in the fourteenth century reigned over a land that was home to Lithuanians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Jews and other nationalities, promoted the principles of tolerance and mutual respect among citizens. For the next five centuries, the descendants of Gediminas would foster and build upon these proud traditions, making them the cornerstone of the Lithuanian State.
While Lithuania eventually fell victim to the expansionist policies of its larger neighbours and in the late eighteenth century was partitioned between them, its people continued to strive for independence, never submitting to ruthless attempts to destroy their treasured traditions. With national awakening sweeping the captive nations of Eastern Europe, Lithuania was reborn on 16 February 1918, after 123 years of foreign rule. The Republic of Lithuania was proclaimed a democratic and independent State, and the enlightened founding fathers drew strength from the traditions of the previous Lithuanian State in fostering tolerance between religions and respect for the cultural identity of national minorities.
Lithuania was a full-fledged and active member of the League of Nations. The Republic of Lithuania provided shelter and security for its people and established cultural, economic, and political ties with nations around the world. Peoples of all nationalities, offered the chance to live in peace and prosperity in the Republic of Lithuania, nurtured their cultures and traditions.
Yet, in 1940, all of this was swept away with the stroke of a pen. One year earlier the fate of the peoples of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia was decided in secret by two brutal dictators who represented two ruthless totalitarian systems. One year later, with Europe in the chaos of war, these three countries were quickly and silently erased from the world map. Hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings were lost to Nazi and Stalinist terror, and the hands of the clock of progress stopped.
In the years that followed, our people vigorously resisted foreign rule. For nine years after the Second World War a guerrilla war raged in Lithuania's forests while Lithuanian freedom fighters were sacrificing their lives to resist foreign occupation of our country. After the guerrilla war the Lithuanian people engaged in a protracted non-violent struggle to preserve their national identity. While they were forced to bury history hooks and hide any remembrance of our independent past, parents never stopped quietly telling their children of more joyous days, and these children would tell their children.
And around the world Lithuanians, forced to leave their homeland for fear of deportation and imprisonment, ceaselessly laboured to prevent the complete disappearance of our nation's name from modern memory. Western democracies refused to recognize the illegal incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union and kept alive our hope that the day would soon come when Lithuania would return to the world.
In 1988 Lithuania was again reborn. In one fateful summer, in the shadow of thousands of Lithuanian flags, we found our voice, and sang, arm in arm, as tanks rolled by us. We raised no hand, and fired no bullets, for all of us knew to be true the words expressed in a poem by the Lithuanian poet Maironis written decades earlier during the first Lithuanian rebirth:
"You cannot stop the flow of the river,
"You cannot halt the new rebirth".
On 11 March 1990 the freely elected Supreme Council proclaimed the restoration of Lithuania's independence, and during the plebiscite on 9 February this year the people overwhelmingly confirmed that Lithuania is, and shall remain, an independent, democratic Republic. We wish to express our sincere appreciation to observers from many countries who came to Lithuania and were able to report on the validity of the elections to the Supreme Council and on the plebiscite on independence.
Less than 10 months ago, on 13 January, peaceful and unarmed Lithuanian civilians defended their liberty and their legitimate Government by gathering in their thousands outside the Parliament building and pledging never to retreat. That night, as the words of Lithuanian folk songs sung around bonfires drowned out the thunder of Soviet tank fire, peaceful resistance triumphed, but not without tragic loss. Before the smoke cleared the next morning and the Soviet attempt to overthrow our democratically elected Government had failed, 13 of Lithuania's bravest men and women had died and hundreds more had been injured in the name of our independence.
Our people's devotion to liberty and their peaceful efforts to defend their freedom have already proved a model to other nations. The disintegration of Soviet Communist power started in the occupied Baltic nations, since they were the first nations ruled by the Soviet Union to dare to protest openly and then to rebel against an oppressive, ruthless and arrogant totalitarian regime. Two months ago the spirit of peaceful but resolute resistance to dictatorship manifested itself in Moscow, as Russians defended their Parliament and the future of democracy. The message was the same: the thirst for freedom will conquer all obstacles.
But freedom is never easy, and it will not be so for us. We are all well aware of the difficulties confronting us. Our national economy is entering an intense period of reconstruction and reorganization after years of central planning and neglect. My Government is committed to providing its people with the security and prosperity only a free market can provide. Yet privatization, price reform, introduction of our own convertible currency, reorientation of industry and the establishment of a sound environment for the conduct of free trade require great patience. As the experience of other Eastern European countries has shown, the transition from a command to a market economy is impossible without the support and active assistance of developed nations. Therefore, Lithuania looks forward to the advice and assistance of the United Nations family of agencies.
As our world grows smaller and our awareness of our collective responsibility for its future increases, our efforts to protect what is truly one country, our planet, must be intensified. Lithuania now endures the terrible consequences of careless development and disregard for the environment. Pollution levels and waste residue are reaching alarming levels in my country. In recent years various pollutants have tainted our dairy and farm products. And not a hundred miles from Lithuania's capital there stands a monument to the utter disregard of previous Governments for human safety - the Ignalina nuclear power station. While the plant supplements energy supplies for a large portion of the Baltic region, safety considerations and waste disposal have not been given the attention they demand. It is my hope that the lessons we are now learning as a result of the tragic consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe, which also greatly affected my country, will underscore the frailty of our common home and encourage us to seek universal guidelines for environmental protection.
Our country has over the past year been actively engaged in regional discussions on the clean-up of the Baltic Sea. Like many similar efforts taking place in other areas of the world, these multilateral consultations now lay the groundwork for an increase in coordinated efforts by the international community as a whole.
We are hopeful that the world economy and environment issues will improve through constructive dialogue within the framework of the United Nations system. He look forward to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, scheduled to be held in Brazil in June next year, aimed at laying the groundwork for international accord and cooperation on these pivotal issues.
Many who have addressed the Assembly before me have pointed to the new and truly wonderful opportunity offered the world community to bring a swift and lasting end to global tensions. In recent years the long-awaited chance for peace has come to regions previously suffering from constant conflict. We hope that from the Middle East to Asia, Central America and, yes, the Baltic States, nations will soon be free from the threat of violence and will be able, many for the first time in their modern history, to address pressing economic, environmental and social concerns. We are for the peaceful, non-violent realization of the self-determination of nations, and in this regard Lithuania, which won its independence through peaceful means, subscribes fully to the provisions of the United Nations Charter calling for the settlement of disputes through dialogue and mutual understanding. Lithuania has no quarrels with any of its neighbours, wanting only to live in peace with all of them.
It is with this end in mind that my Government has called for the removal of all Soviet troops from our soil. Their presence in Lithuania is utterly illegal; it is not based on any treaty or agreement and Lithuania's Government refuses to agree to their continued presence in our country. With the withdrawal of these armed forces not only will Lithuania be free to strengthen the institutions of its new democracy, but the soldiers, so long the instruments of faceless generals miles away, may return to their homes and participate in the historic opportunity to rebuild their nations devastated by 70 years of neglect.
Lithuania is very much concerned about the danger of proliferation of nuclear armaments in the world. We welcome the proposals for a large scale reduction of nuclear arms put forward by the President of the United States and the President of the Soviet Union. However, we are worried about the spread of such armaments to many other countries. The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania has already voted to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Lithuania does not have any such armaments and refuses to acquire them in the future. Lithuania's Government hopes that the Soviet forces in Lithuania have no nuclear weapons in their possession. Should that not be the case, Lithuania demands their immediate removal from its territory. Furthermore, Lithuania actively supports the establishment of a nuclear-arms-free zone extending from the Nordic countries in the north to the Black Sea in the south.
I should now like to turn to a subject held most dear by the people of Lithuania: human rights. Lithuania has welcomed and will continue to welcome the internationalization of human-rights monitoring. The rights of men, women and children transcend all boundaries. Lithuania is building a multiparty, democratic State which will protect the rights and freedoms of all its citizens. Lithuania's laws protect the cultural rights of all national minorities with the aim of enriching our country's cultural heritage. Lithuania adds its voice the many voices calling for greater international coordination in responding to crises around the globe. As a nation which has sought the understanding, and through this the support, of the international community for its goals, we fully appreciate the need for swift response to prevent the aggravation of conflicts that threaten international peace.
The idea of a new world order, of which so many have spoken, is an idea that gives real hope to nations and peoples tired of old tyrannies and distrustful of old rhetoric. It is the hope of my Government that this order will be based, not as past orders have been, on power politics, but on respect for human rights, dignity and self-determination.
As President Landsbergis told this Assembly only last month, Lithuania wishes to see the old cynicism connected with politics rejected and hopes to see substituted for it a faith in progress based on higher values and on respect for individual human dignity. As Mr. Landsbergis stated:
"if one person can lead a moral life, why cannot moral politics govern the world? If one can speak the truth, why cannot open truth govern politics?" (A/46/py.l, pp. 82-83)
In closing, I should like to express once again our country's joy at the warm welcome we have received from this world body and people everywhere. He eagerly await the opportunity to join in the establishment of a secure future for all our children and look forward to many years of constructive cooperation in the United Nations, on which the hopes of humanity for a peaceful and just world order are based.