Let me begin by
congratulating the President, on his election to his high
office. I wish him every success and pledge to him the full
support of my delegation.
It gives me pleasure to welcome the new Member
States which have joined the Organization since the
beginning of the forty-seventh session of the General
Assembly - the new Member States of Andorra, Eritrea, the
Czech Republic, Monaco, the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, and Slovakia. With 184 Member States - and
even more prospective Members - our Organization is able
to claim for itself a higher degree of universality than ever.
In extending the reach of the United Nations, we serve
the basic goals for which our Organization was brought into
being; for the rule of law, freedom and the dignity and worth
of the human person are ideals common to all men,
irrespective of their cultural or geographical surroundings.
But the simple reach of the United Nations must not be
confused with its comprehensiveness as an institution.
Therefore, as we recommit ourselves to the basic objectives
inscribed in the United Nations Charter almost 50 years ago,
we must also maintain the flexibility necessary to readjust
our structures and working habits accordingly.
The question how to maintain the cohesiveness of the
United Nations amidst the myriad - and at times conflicting -
demands being made of it presents itself nowadays with
particular force. Changes on the world stage have taken
place with almost dizzying speed in the last four years. The
most important of those changes, the passing of the cold
war, has created new opportunities for the United Nations
and has raised expectations among the peoples of the world
at large. At the same time, the world itself has in many
ways become more unpredictable, placing serious obstacles
on the path of long-term planning.
To escape this quandary, there is a need to take a
balanced view of what the United Nations can and cannot be
expected to do. We must moderate ambition with reality.
We must not divorce the words we use from the actions we
are willing to take. If we do, we may indeed succeed in
building a Platonic city in speech, a United Nations which
would stand only a limited chance of ever being actualized,
but the down side would be to risk undermining the trust
invested by the public in our Organization.
On the bright side, a number of recent developments
have helped the United Nations in translating its basic vision
into reality. Breakthroughs have taken place in regional
conflicts which have been a thorn in the side of the
international community for several decades. Governments
have increasingly come to recognize the growing threat to
the ecosystem of our planet. The protection of human rights
is no longer seen as the exclusive domain of the nation
State. Last but not least, mankind has moved further away
from the brink of nuclear Armageddon.
Those are considerable accomplishments. But this is
none the less hardly the time for members of the community
of nations to congratulate each other. There are regions of
the world where terrifying carnage is still taking place before
our very eyes. Deterioration of the environment, while
highly uneven in gravity and scope, is a long way from
being reversed. Human-rights abuses continue in many
places on an appalling scale. And while the threat of a
worldwide nuclear catastrophe may have passed, there is a
dangerous proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
bringing uncertainty and new instabilities in its wake. Now
is clearly the time to rise above these issues that divide our
Assembly and to concentrate our efforts on dealing with
such challenges effectively.
The landmark peace agreement recently signed between
former adversaries in the Middle East should be a source of
encouragement to all nations. We are being reminded of the
ancient truth that where there is sufficient devotion and will
among the parties concerned, there is also a way to solve
even the most intractable issues. My Government welcomes
the historic accord between the State of Israel and the
Palestine Liberation Organization. We hope that the mutual
recognition of the two parties will yield further agreements
in the region, paving the way for a comprehensive peace
settlement.
While paying tribute to the vision and bravery of Israeli
and Palestinian leaders, I take this opportunity to
congratulate the Government of Norway on its initiative in
bringing the ancient adversaries together at the same table,
and I also commend the Governments of the United States
and Russia for their valuable mediation. It is now up to the
world community to provide the political support and the
economic aid for reconstruction so vitally needed to keep the
process alive. The Nordic Governments, for their part, have
34 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session
already decided to participate fully in that endeavour. This
is a process which cannot be permitted to fail.
The world community has recently witnessed another
bold step forward, which, hopefully, also marks an important
contribution to international peace and stability. I am
referring to the courageous statesmanship of the President of
the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, in moving decisively
towards democratic elections to Parliament. As the only
democratically elected representative of the Russian people,
President Yeltsin deserves the vigorous support of the
outside world in carrying out his far-reaching programme of
reform.
A different area offering a glimmer of hope is South
Africa. My Government welcomes recent progress towards
genuine democracy in South Africa, including the decision
to hold free and fair elections next year. The international
community should now speedily heed the call of Mr. Nelson
Mandela, made from this podium last week, for the removal
of all economic sanctions, an action Iceland hopes will serve
fully to normalize the status of South Africa in the
community of nations. Iceland, for its part, has already
abolished the embargo on trade with South Africa.
Sadly, we face continuation of the conflicts in the
former Yugoslavia, not least the tragic situation prevailing in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. It serves to remind us that ethnic
conflicts can no longer be regarded as the sole responsibility
of individual States. The inhumanity perpetrated on innocent
civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other former
Yugoslav Republics has reached a point where the
international community must act, and decisively, with all
the resources provided for in the Charter of the United
Nations. My Government fully supports the negotiations
sponsored by the United Nations and the European
Community, and looks forward to an early agreement and
implementation of the Geneva peace plan. The parties to the
conflict must be brought to realize that a solution can be
found only through peaceful means. Iceland also attaches
importance to the effective functioning of the war crimes
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Those responsible for
atrocities must be brought to justice.
As the conflict in the former Yugoslavia has exposed
the present limitations of regional structures, the United
Nations has assumed responsibility for reintroducing peace
and stability in the area. Meanwhile, there are outstanding
examples of cooperation and coordination between the
United Nations and other organizations, including the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Western European
Union (WEU) and the Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in the implementation of
Security Council resolutions with regard to the former
Yugoslavia.
In Iceland’s view there is a need to develop these
relationships further. Suffice it to say that NATO’s
readiness to employ military force for the relief of Sarajevo
and for the long-term implementation of the Geneva peace
plan would serve the interests of the international community
and should therefore be welcomed and encouraged.
Two years ago we welcomed the three Baltic States,
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as sovereign Members of the
United Nations. Since then the world community, and their
European neighbours in particular, have reached out and
offered cooperation and help in the ongoing reconstruction
of those Republics. The Baltic States have, for their part,
demonstrated their willingness to live up to the highest
standards of democratic societies. They adhere to
international instruments and are members of organizations
that are fully capable of monitoring their respect for
international obligations in the field of human rights and
fundamental freedoms. I should like to express my
Government’s hope that negotiations on the departure of all
foreign military forces from Estonia and Latvia will soon be
successfully concluded and a clear timetable established.
The recent departure of foreign forces from Lithuania should
set an example.
Restoring the environment and attaining sustainable
global development are among the most challenging tasks
facing the world community today. The outcome of the
United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, held in Rio de Janeiro last year, has brought
those tasks into sharper focus. The subsequent establishment
of the Commission on Sustainable Development was an
important step in facilitating international cooperation for the
effective follow-up and implementation of the outcome of
the Conference. However, declarations, strategies and action
plans are only as good as their implementation. If the
credibility of the United Nations in this area is to be
maintained in the wake of the Rio Conference, we must
make sure to obtain real action and results.
The action programme contained in Agenda 21 of the
Rio Conference provides a sound basis for our individual or
joint activities aimed at sustainable development. It does
not, however, cover all activities harmful to the environment,
including pollution of the marine environment from
land-based activities and the depletion of marine living
resources in many parts of the world. While the programme
contains important recommendations pertinent to these
Forty-eighth session - 27 September l993 35
issues, the main responsibility for developing global action
to protect the marine environment and to conserve its living
resources has been delegated to other forums, including the
United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and
Highly Migratory Fish Stocks.
Iceland has participated actively in that Conference.
Together with Argentina, Canada, Chile and New Zealand,
Iceland has submitted a draft convention that seeks to deal
on a global level with the conservation and rational
management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory
fish stocks. Consistent with the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea, the draft convention calls for
increased regional cooperation in the establishment of
conservation and management measures and elaborates
mechanisms for the enforcement of agreed measures. My
Government will continue to work with all other interested
Governments to achieve results at the next session of the
Conference, results acceptable to all fishing nations, both
distant-water States and coastal States.
As a nation overwhelmingly dependent on marine living
resources, Iceland has supported efforts to establish an
international regime to govern all aspects of the uses of the
oceans. Iceland participated actively in the Third United
Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and ratified the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1985.
Iceland believes that the Convention provides for a widely
acceptable regime for the rational exploitation of the world’s
marine resources and establishes rules for a wide range of
uses for the seas, thereby reducing the potential for conflict
among States in this field.
The Government of Iceland is greatly encouraged by
the results of the most recent round of consultations, under
the auspices of the Secretary-General, directed at addressing
problems which have prevented certain industrialized
countries from becoming parties to the Convention. We are
hopeful that at the next round agreement will be reached on
the framework of negotiations which will enable the early
entry into force of the Convention with universal
participation.
As early as 1989 Iceland emphasized in this forum the
need for a new international instrument, an "Earth Charter",
which would define the responsibilities and rights of nations
with respect to the environment. My Government regrets
that an agreement on such a charter was not reached before
the Rio Conference. We would therefore strongly support
transforming the Rio Declaration into an "Earth Charter"
before the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations two
years hence.
All nations have an obligation not only to protect and
preserve the environment, but also to promote human rights
and foster social and economic progress. The United
Nations Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna last
June was a world event of major significance. The results
of the Conference, especially when seen in the context of
improvements in the international political climate in the
recent past, give us reason to hope for a more effective
implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms
everywhere.
For the first time ever it appears that the majority of
countries in the world now pledge allegiance to the
principles of democratic rule of law. Still, we are
confronted with breaches of human rights all around the
world. In the follow-up to the Conference on Human
Rights, we must address such breaches squarely and focus
attention on ensuring greater respect and accountability by
Governments for the protection of human rights. This
means, among other things, devoting more resources to this
field as a reflection of the political commitment of Member
States. Increased resources are required if the Centre for
Human Rights is to be able to provide effective advisory
services and human-rights monitoring. At the same time,
Iceland would like to support the establishment of the post
of high commissioner for human rights.
The determination of our countries to promote social
progress and better standards of life is an important
commitment embedded in the United Nations Charter.
Iceland hopes that the world summit in 1995 will serve to
bring issues of social development into sharper focus and
highlight, in particular, the plight of the more than one
billion people living below the absolute poverty line.
In this connection, I would like to draw special
attention to the growing problem of world population
control, which could have serious social, economic and
environmental repercussions if not properly managed in the
decades ahead. Around 90 per cent of the predicted world
population growth between now and the end of the first
quarter of the twenty-first century is expected to occur in the
developing countries, placing enormous new strains on their
resources. Against this background, the decision to convene
an international conference on population and development
in Cairo next year is to be welcomed.
To stimulate social development, we need, among other
things, economic growth. The liberalization of world trade
is the single most important vehicle for world economic
growth. The growing importance of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is clearly manifested in the
36 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session
flood of new accessions and the overriding importance
attached to the Uruguay Round by the Governments of the
world. Since the end of the cold war, GATT has achieved
an even greater role in international relations; countries in
transition see it as a vital venue for their relations with each
other and for their integration into the world economy. In
the last few years political walls between cultures and
nations have been demolished. Trade barriers must not,
however, be allowed to replace iron curtains.
Economic reform, the environment, job-creation and
investment, to name but a few, are issues that affect and are
affected by international trade. A successful conclusion of
the Uruguay Round, which now seems to be within reach,
would dramatically improve our ability to deal with those
problems through international cooperation and trade. A
failure, on the other hand, would be a fatal blow to the
multinational trading system and to GATT. Protectionism
would again raise its ugly head and conflicts would erupt,
with disastrous consequences for the world economy.
GATT’s business is therefore the world’s business.
The Uruguay Round represents a tremendous opportunity to
revitalize world trade. All countries stand to gain from this.
The biggest gain will accrue to the developing countries and
to economies in transition. We who are gathered here at the
General Assembly representing the citizens, our countries’
consumers, cannot and must not allow special-interest groups
to block the negotiations in the few strenuous final steps
needed to reach the goal before the end of this year.
Issues of social and economic development, of human
rights and of environmental protection are part and parcel of
the notion of extended security, which we are all getting
accustomed to in the aftermath of the cold war. Arms
control remains, however, a very important element of
post-cold-war security. The success achieved in nuclear- and
conventional-arms control in recent years represents a
historical turning-point which must be exploited for the
long-term advancement of global peace and stability. Here,
the United Nations is singularly well placed to assume a
more active role. This applies to both global perspectives
and support for regional initiatives.
The systematic acquisition of nuclear warheads, ballistic
missiles, and chemical and biological weapons by a number
of States is a matter of serious concern to the international
community. Non-proliferation should be given priority and
efforts made to ensure that the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is both universally
adhered to and indefinitely extended. It is also to be hoped
that the present moratorium on nuclear testing will
eventually be succeeded by a comprehensive and verifiable
test ban.
Peace-keeping operations are among the areas where
the Organization has enjoyed considerable success. The
result is that Member States have placed increasing demands
on the Organization. However, the time has now come to
review the activities of the United Nations in this field. The
goal must be to ensure that peace-keeping operations serve
the purpose for which they were intended and that their
mandates are specific and more limited in time. In this
connection, the idea of a United Nations stand-by force that
would enable the United Nations to act swiftly when crises
arise should be carefully considered. The existence of such
a force would enhance the credibility of and respect for the
Organization. Meanwhile, Member States must live up to
their current obligations and pay their assessed contributions
to peace-keeping operations in full and on time.
At the outset of my speech I referred to the need for
the United Nations to be responsive to change. Since the
last review of the membership of the Security Council took
place, there has been a substantial increase in the number of
States Members of the United Nations. At the same time the
Council has, especially in recent years, increasingly assumed
the role envisaged for it in the relevant provisions of the
Charter. The time is therefore ripe to review the Council’s
membership. The goal of such a review must be to make
the Council more representative and thus, indeed, more
effective.
I would like to welcome initiatives taken recently to
streamline the structure of the United Nations and to make
its daily operations and management more effective. This is
necessary in particular in order for the Organization to
regain the trust of its Member States. In this connection,
Iceland favours the establishment of a permanent office of
inspections and investigations and hopes that such an office
will help to ensure that allegations of fraud, waste and
corruption are investigated expeditiously.
Now, more than ever, there is an opportunity for the
United Nations to adapt to the positive political
developments of the recent past and to revamp its structures
from within. Let us join forces in building a stronger United
Nations, a United Nations which embodies the ideals of its
founders and remains at the same time responsive to the
basic needs of people everywhere.


Allow me to express
my warmest congratulations to Ambassador Insanally, on his
election as President of the General Assembly at its forty-
eighth session. I should also like to welcome into our midst
Andorra, the Czech Republic, Eritrea, the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Monaco and Slovakia, whose recent
admissions have brought the United Nations even closer to
becoming truly universal.
During the last year, the international community
continued to face extremely grave challenges. This period
has seen, along with certain positive achievements, more
alarming failures and disappointments. The questions to
which we have to respond take us back once again to the
basic problem of multilateralism, that is to say, to defining
in our complex world the values that can ensure a cohesion
which is necessary for our common will to be translated into
joint action.
The fall of communist dictatorships in Central and
Eastern Europe and the end of super-Power confrontation
have brought about an international political climate in
which new approaches can be found in the maintenance of
international peace and security and the resolution of global
problems. They are based on greater opportunities for closer
interaction and the participation of each and every United
Nations Member State in managing and influencing the
course of events. These opportunities and the ability of the
international community to turn them into tangible results are
manifest in the conflict-resolution processes in Central
America and South-East Asia, in the resolute reversal of
brutal aggression in the Gulf, in the fundamental
transformation we are witnessing in South Africa and in the
historic agreement in the Middle East. These evolutions
clearly demonstrate that with political courage,
far-sightedness and readiness for compromise, even the most
intractable problems can be untangled and resolved. They
show us an example that ought to be emulated in all regions
of the world.
The convulsions of the new era of world history are
strongly felt in a country like Hungary which, as it has so
often in its history, finds itself again close to conflict-ridden
areas. Despite the difficulties that inevitably accompany the
historic transition processes of the region, the Hungarian
Government, ever since it took office in 1990, has been
striving consistently and successfully to maintain the
country’s internal stability and to ensure that it remains a
mainstay of stability in our troubled region. Stability should
be omnipresent and universal, and we have to find the
appropriate ways and means to achieve it.
As regards the old continent, Hungary wants to see
democracy, prosperity, security and the institutions, such as
the Council of Europe, the European Community and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that lie at its
foundation, gradually expand eastward.
For some time now the world has been living in the
shadow of events that ominously remind us of the darkest
periods in the history of mankind. The conflict in the
former Yugoslavia has been raging for more than two years.
But most regrettably, not even the worst cases of disregard
for the norms of international law and the principles
enshrined in the Charter, not even the gravest crimes against
humanity and the most brutal mass violations of fundamental
human and minority rights, have proven to be sufficient to
persuade the world, when there was still time, to counter
aggression promptly and effectively, to prevent the
acquisition of territory by use of force and to take a firm
stand against the abhorrent policy of "ethnic cleansing".
The end result of such policies of passivity,
appeasement and complacency, of the striking lack of an
ability to learn from past experiences and of the absence of
the necessary political will to act, is well documented right
here, in this building, in a shocking and soul-stirring photo
exhibition about the horrors of war in the former Yugoslavia.
It brings home a painful awareness of the practical
consequences of unbridled extreme nationalism and the
compelling message not to relax and relent in our national,
regional and international efforts to uphold in an
uncompromising manner the purposes and principles of the
Charter.
Forty-eighth session - 30 September l993 19
The renewal of Central and Eastern Europe and the
economic and social processes there have thrown to the
surface tendencies of political and ethnic fundamentalism
which, having been elevated to the level of official State
policy, have unleashed or could lead to conflicts threatening
the security of the whole of Europe. In our interdependent
world, every nation on Earth, irrespective of where it is
situated, should realize the danger of this venomous
contagion if it were allowed to spread across our planet.
The people and the Government of Hungary continue
to follow the developments of the crisis in the former
Yugoslavia with utmost concern. As a country immediately
adjacent to the crisis area, Hungary has sought to avoid
being dragged into this conflict, while continuing at the same
time to voice its principled position on the crisis and abiding
by the relevant decisions of the international community.
One has to reckon with the fact that this crisis is not
limited to the war-torn areas of Bosnia and Croatia. It
festers in Serbia proper, where there is growing pressure on
the different ethnic communities inhabiting the country,
including the Hungarian community in Vojvodina. In this
formerly autonomous province, the successive waves of
intimidation and discrimination have already significantly
reduced both the size and the proportion of the Hungarian
minority. There continues to be a constant threat of a
further massive influx of refugees into Hungary, I am afraid.
In the conditions prevailing in Serbia and Montenegro, just
as in other parts of the former Yugoslavia, it is of utmost
importance to seek adequate international protection for these
ethnic communities and national minorities. Indeed, one of
the key issues in settling the crisis is to ensure their rights
without any discrimination, whether they have majority or
minority status, with the same norms and standards applying
to each and every one of them.
Because of its geographical situation, Hungary finds
itself confronted with special economic problems arising
from the implementation of sanctions imposed by the
Security Council against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia and Montenegro). Our economic and financial losses
directly attributable to the effects of implementing the
sanctions are constantly growing, and have now reached $1
billion. We highly appreciate the steps taken so far by the
Security Council vis-à-vis those countries that have suffered
economic losses and have made use of their right to consult
the Security Council under Article 50 of the Charter. We
trust that the international organizations and institutions
concerned will find early solutions to help alleviate those
pressing problems. It is clear from the experience gained in
connection with the various sanctions regimes in place that
attention from the international community commensurate
with the scale of the problems caused to third countries is
required in order to examine how best we can establish an
effective mechanism for the implementation of Article 50.
Without such a mechanism, the burden placed on an
ever-growing number of countries fulfilling their
international obligations will remain disproportionately and
unjustly heavy.
In this connection, it is totally unacceptable to take
retaliatory measures in response to actions by any State in
fulfilment of its obligations under the Charter. Therefore,
illegal measures such as attempts to block free and safe
navigation on the Danube river, which is an international
waterway vital for many countries of Europe, warrant
international action, and the States concerned rightly expect
the international organizations to provide effective assistance
in this matter.
In the light of recent bitter experiences, we have
become more acutely aware that the world cannot be made
a safer place unless there are international organizations able
and willing to take resolute and timely action. Multilateral
diplomacy must be at its best if it is to offer remedies where
other possibilities for preventing or settling conflicts have
been exhausted. We consider it especially important that the
various tools of preventive diplomacy and crisis management
should be constantly at the disposal of the international
community.
Hungary is highly interested in the ongoing work aimed
at a comprehensive review and enhancement of the United
Nations peace-keeping, peacemaking and peace- building
activities. Many substantive proposals have been made and
useful observations put forward in this regard. We hope that
they will assist in our endeavours to carry out genuine and
purpose-oriented reform measures in the world Organization.
We expect that the present session of the General Assembly
will move us ahead in the debate on how to bring certain
provisions of the Charter into line with the changing realities
of our world. Conditions seem ripe today for giving most
serious consideration to questions relating to the review of
the Charter. The fundamental aim of such a review is to
make the United Nations function better. At the same time,
it should in no way undermine the effectiveness of the
decision-making processes at the United Nations. In this
context, Hungary fully understands the pressing financial
situation of the world Organization and, as its contribution
to redressing this state of affairs, has, as of this year,
eliminated all its arrears to the regular budget.
20 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session
In our view, there are, inter alia, two particular areas
where a review of the provisions of the Charter is needed.
First, there is a long-overdue need for a review of those
Charter provisions that imply a distinction between United
Nations Member States on the basis of their status of
signatory or enemy State. On the eve of the fiftieth
anniversary of the birth of the United Nations, the
elimination of this obsolete distinction would be more than
a gesture towards a number of countries that have, over the
years, fully proved their commitment to the purposes and
principles enshrined in the Charter. Secondly, the role
played in today’s world politics by some States and their
contribution to the realization of the purposes and principles
of the Charter justify their more intimate involvement in the
maintenance of international peace and security. We are
aware that the issue of the enlargement of the permanent
membership of the Security Council will be the subject of
further discussions. However, we believe that two countries
- Germany and Japan - already qualify to play the enhanced
role that would stem from permanent membership in the
Security Council.
My Government continues to believe that the United
Nations provides a most fitting framework for translating
into reality our global responsibility for the international
protection of human rights. It is our deep conviction that the
Security Council should pay appropriate attention, and act
resolutely and promptly, as part of its preventive actions, to
mass infringements of human and minority rights, since they
constitute threats to regional and international peace and
security.
We should pursue an effective integration of human
rights elements into the workings of the whole United
Nations system. Hungary supports the early establishment
of a post of high commissioner for human rights. An
appropriate mandate from this session of the General
Assembly could ensure, through this new institution, an
adequate presence for human rights elements, particularly in
the various fields of early warning, conflict management,
peace-keeping and peace-making, electoral assistance and
post-conflict peace-building. The high commissioner could
make the human rights activities of the United Nations more
transparent to world public opinion. We intend to lend our
full support to a mandate for the high commissioner that
would also cover the protection and promotion of minority
rights. In our view, the high commissioner could also play
a major role in raising public awareness of the positive
models of multinational coexistence and minority protection
systems that are functioning well in various democratic
countries of the world. Here I can refer to the previous
speaker, whose country, I believe, is a good example of this.
We believe that this task is of major importance and has
never been higher on the agenda than it is today. The
application or adaptation of these successful solutions to the
specific circumstances prevailing in other parts of the world
could greatly contribute to a more satisfactory human rights
situation in our world at the end of this turbulent century.
I have obviously not exhausted all the problems
besetting the world. Our Governments today have an
enormous responsibility to find answers to the new
challenges. If we fail to act now, we risk losing all the
achievements won with the ending of the cold war.


May I express my gratitude for the honour of representing
for the first time, as Head of State, the independent country
of Uzbekistan at the United Nations General Assembly.
We see the United Nations as a unique institution for
the discussion and solution of the most urgent issues facing
all States and regions and the world community at large.
The United Nations is a great symbol of the good will of
nations to live in peace and accord has become a clear sign
of mankind’s spiritual progress. At a time of radical historic
transformation and growing interdependency in the modern
world, the global role and significance of the United Nations
is growing correspondingly as a political instrument for the
world in the consideration and solution of common human
problems.
Independent Uzbekistan, recognized by all States, has
now become a full-fledged member of the United Nations.
Embassies of many countries and offices of various
international agencies have been opened in the Republic. I
am pleased to acknowledge the fruitful activities of the
United Nations Office in Uzbekistan, the opening of which
was undertaken on the personal initiative of the Secretary-
General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
I should like to take this opportunity, on behalf of my
people and the Government of Uzbekistan, to express sincere
gratitude to the United Nations and all its Member States for
their recognition and support of my country’s independence.
Uzbekistan, with its population of 22 million,
constitutes both the geographical and political basis of
Central Asia. One of the most ancient world civilizations
emerged in the region, and this land was crossed by the
Great Silk Road. The history of my people goes back deep
into the past, being more than 3,000 years old. Once-
prosperous empires and kingdoms in the territory of ancient
Turan, Transoxania and Turkistan had a marked impact on
the development of world culture.
The cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva
have been known far and wide since time immemorial and
have had trade links stretching from China to Spain and
from Europe to the Indian Ocean. These cities were noted
for magnificent architectural structures and attracted
outstanding thinkers, scholars and artists from all parts of the
world. The great Tamerlane turned Samarkand into a capital
city of his empire and was famous as a patron of scholars,
philosophers, architects, poets and musicians. Spiritual,
intellectual and aesthetic values have had a profound effect
in shaping the way of life and traditional culture of our
people. We are proud of our history and revere the memory
of our great ancestors, the thinkers of the East: Al-Bukhari,
Al-Termezi, Ahmad Yassavi, Bahaudin Naqshbandi,
Al-Kworazmi, Beruni, Avicenna, Nawai, Ulugh Beg and
many others who made an invaluable contribution to world
civilization.
Having declared its independence, Uzbekistan has now
entered an era of spiritual and intellectual renaissance and
radical transformation in the economic, political and social
spheres. We have embarked on the building of a
democratic, lawful and secular society with an open-market
economy and a strong system of social welfare. There is
consent among the people of Uzbekistan on the need,
directions and forms of developing political institutions, and
there is now perceptible progress towards democratic
transformation. The new Fundamental Law of the Republic
of Uzbekistan, adopted last December, has been highly
received by independent international experts and meets the
essential criteria of a democratic constitution while ensuring
all human rights and basic freedoms of citizens. Free and
contested general elections have been held for Head of State
and the Parliament. There is a clear separation of powers in
the country, and the multi-party system is gaining strength.
Our people have regained their freedom following more
than 100 years of oppression and now have an opportunity
to decide their own destiny, develop their culture and bring
about their spiritual renaissance. The Republic, inhabited by
people of more than 100 nations and nationalities, provides
all ethnic groups with broad and equal opportunities for the
development of their national cultures, traditions and
languages. We are proud that, despite the difficulties of
transition, Uzbekistan has been able to preserve political
stability, peace and ethnic accord.
The Republic of Uzbekistan is a country of great
potential, unique natural resources and a promising future.
About half of its population is below the age of 18. It is
third in the world in cotton production, eighth in gold
extraction, tenth in the production of copper and is among
the leading nations in deposits of rare metals and strategic
raw materials. Uzbekistan possesses huge energy resources
and has much more to offer the world market. It has long
traditions of craftsmanship, trade, commerce and farming
and is a great country for tourism. The Republic has a
powerful scientific, intellectual and spiritual potential.
Research carried out by our scientists in the fields of
mathematics, physics and biology has won renown far
beyond the region. But our principal wealth is an open,
hard-working, hospitable and proud people noted for its
sense of honour and dignity.
Free Uzbekistan has chosen its own path to reforming
society and has elaborated its own model for transition to a
democratic society and a free market economy. At the same
time, we are quite aware that the Republic - which earlier
served as a raw-materials appendage of the former Soviet
Union, exporting cheap raw materials and importing
low-quality finished products - with a hypertrophied
economy and devastated environment, can hardly be
expected to overcome in a short span of time the situation it
has inherited. Given the high birth rate, acute problems of
employment and considerable material difficulties, economic
and spiritual development can be expected to outstrip
political transformation. We must work out a solid legal
foundation, educate people in living in a law-abiding society,
encourage tolerance of diverse views and opinions and,
above all, change the mentality of the people, whose outlook
was shaped by the command-administrative and
totalitarian-distributive system we lived under for the last
74 years.
Any other approach, or a thoughtless acceleration of
events, may lead to conflicts and civil confrontation in many
countries of the former socialist camp. As we have seen,
such approaches have led to civil confrontation, inter-ethnic
clashes and the further proliferation of problems, rather than
to their solution, and may discredit the very idea of a free -
market economy and democratic reform. This can be seen
quite clearly from the examples of those countries that are
now going through a very difficult time in their history. It
has become evident today that there are no universal models
of social and economic development that are equally
acceptable to all countries. There seems to remain no
marked difference between the orthodox concepts of
capitalism and socialism. The need has emerged to shape
new and free thinking without ideological indoctrination,
which would reveal the entire diversity of the forms and
ways for each country’s transition to an entirely new
condition.
Taking into consideration the concrete situation,
mentality and traditions of the Uzbek people, we have
proclaimed five basic principles of our reform. First, we
have proclaimed the priority of the economy over politics
and the de-ideologization of both domestic and external
Forty-eighth session - 28 September l993 3
economic relations. Secondly, we consider that the State
needs to play the role of main reformer and initiator of
democratic transformation in our Republic during the
transition period. Thirdly, we proclaim the preservation of
law and order and the supremacy of law. Fourthly, we
believe it is of exceptional importance to have a strong
social policy protecting the interests of all citizens, especially
the neediest and those requiring Government support.
Finally, we believe the transition to free-market relations will
have to be carried out gradually, on an evolutionary basis.
A popular saying in our country goes, "Never destroy the old
house before you have built a new one."
Social stability and State security are vital factors in
democratic reform. Hardly any other problem can be solved
without them. Uzbekistan has steadfastly and consistently
supported security and stability in all regions, especially in
our own, Central Asia. The specific characteristics of our
region and its geopolitical situation are such that negative
developments may trigger world-wide instability. Suffice it
to say that about 60 million people associated with various -
and I stress, various - ethnic and religious groups live in
Central Asia. Both nuclear and conventional arms of
tremendous destructive force have been accumulated in this
region, and any violence may result in disasters of
unforeseeable magnitude.
In this connection, one cannot avoid discussing the
situation in Tajikistan and on the Tajik-Afghan border. One
could argue about the political interests of the parties
involved; however, there is no doubt that the bloody conflict
in Tajikistan has arisen as a result of the unlawful efforts of
one of the sides to seize power through the force of arms
and intimidation and maintain it on the basis of continued
material and ideological interference from the outside. Thus,
numerous political forces and different parts of the
population have become involved in this armed conflict. It
has been internationalized also because financial and
logistical support of anti-government fighting units with
military equipment, as well as training centres, were located
beyond the borders of Tajikistan.
The Government of Uzbekistan is concerned at the
continued conflict in Tajikistan and on the Tajik-Afghan
border, primarily because for centuries the peoples of Central
Asia have been linked by close economic, spiritual and
cultural relations. At the present time, there are in essence
no real borders in the classical sense among the countries of
the region. That is why any outbreak of conflict for purely
geographical reasons may affect the whole region.
We are also concerned at the uncontrolled accumulation
of modern arms in huge quantities. Where do they come
from, and who is arming the extremists and terrorists? What
is the world community doing, and what should it do to
prevent the flow of arms into zones of fratricidal conflict?
These burning issues, which affect millions of people and
entire nations, are awaiting a solution.
The problem of Tajik refugees has become extremely
serious as their conflict escalates. Tens of thousands of
peaceful people have been compelled to leave their homes.
Uzbekistan is sending food products, medicine and other
vital necessities to Tajikistan and is encouraging the return
of the refugees, and through the United Nations office
supports the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees for the rendering of humanitarian assistance.
Uzbekistan resolutely condemns extremism, terrorism,
religious fanaticism and fundamentalism in any form. It is
in favour of the peaceful resolution of conflicts by political
means, of holding negotiations between opposing parties, and
of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign States,
and it is prepared to render further humanitarian assistance
to the Tajik people, primarily to refugees returning from
Afghanistan. In the early stages of the conflict in Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan twice drew the attention of the Secretary-General
of the United Nations, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to the
urgent need for thorough consideration of the situation and
its settlement within the framework of the United Nations.
We are grateful to the United Nations and to the
Secretary-General for their prompt response to the concern
we expressed and for their efforts to settle the conflict. We
believe that the international community will properly
appreciate this contribution to peace. A United Nations
mission headed by Mr. Kittani, the Secretary-General’s
Special Envoy, has been working fruitfully in the region.
Data collected by the mission have, in our view, provided
an opportunity to draw objective conclusions as to the nature
and the driving forces of the conflict at a meeting of the
United Nations Security Council.
Nevertheless, there is hardly any basis today on which
to talk about sufficient attention being paid to the situation
on the Tajik-Afghan border in the light of the current
situation in Tajikistan as well as in Afghanistan. We have
not understood the scale and potential of this conflict and its
globally devastating consequences. I should like to take this
opportunity to appeal to participants in this session of the
General Assembly to express their constructive views on
ways of solving this problem.
4 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session
Uzbekistan would welcome the convening of a standing
United Nations seminar on security, stability and cooperation
in Central Asia. Tashkent, a city with peacemaking
traditions, steeped in the spirit of international cooperation
and ethnic accord, is prepared to be the venue for this
seminar. In accordance with Article 52 of the United
Nations Charter, the parties involved could discuss, within
the framework of the United Nations seminar, the
possibilities of setting up an effective system of regional
security in Central Asia.
Such a system could contemplate measures for the
preservation and restoration of peace in case of conflicts and
wars, including collective sanctions of a diplomatic,
financial, economic and other nature against those who
today would venture to violate peace and existing borders,
and produce recommendations for the United Nations on the
establishment of stability and lasting peace in this region.
Uzbekistan supports the idea of a new role for the
United Nations as a global institution in safeguarding
security on Earth, which was advanced by the Secretary-
General of the United Nations, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
in his "An Agenda for Peace" (A/47/277), which he outlined
in the Security Council on 31 January 1992. We invite the
Secretary-General to pay a visit to the Central Asian region,
including the Republic of Uzbekistan. I am sure that the
authority of the United Nations and the Secretary-General
will make it possible to prevent the negative development of
events in the region.
In "An Agenda for Peace", Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
attaches great importance to preventive diplomacy in today’s
world, which coincides fully with our own view. From this
lofty international rostrum, I wish to call upon the United
Nations to strengthen further its peacemaking work,
specifically in zones of emerging conflicts.
It must unfortunately be admitted that, in many cases,
authoritative international agencies react to conflict situations
not when - speaking figuratively - they smell smoke, but
only afterwards, when the fire has already flared up and is
almost impossible to put out. To prevent the escalation of
conflicts, the international community should abandon the
role of passive observer it so often plays and instead adopt
the stance of an active peacemaker.
It would be expedient in this regard to establish a
special group under the United Nations Security Council to
analyse and forecast emerging international conflicts for the
purpose of rapidly preparing recommendations for the
Security Council, other United Nations agencies and the
world community so that the necessary measures can be
taken.
Current realities in the world today show that the
security of one nation cannot be guaranteed at the expense
of another State and that regional security can be viewed
solely in concert with global security. On this basis,
Uzbekistan is in favour of the total abolition of nuclear
weapons. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons will have to become a more efficient treaty,
unrestricted by any time limits. Our Republic will actively
participate in preliminary negotiations for the preparation of
a conference on the prolongation of this Treaty. Uzbekistan
is a staunch supporter of proclaiming Central Asia a
nuclear-free zone.
We are firmly determined also to hold negotiations on
signing the chemical weapons Convention. Uzbekistan
considers that we need international control over the
proliferation of chemical and bacteriological weapons in
Central Asia.
I should like to draw particular attention, among other
top-priority problems, to the question of stepping up our
common efforts against narcobusiness. We would like to see
a large-scale cooperation in the struggle against this scourge,
this white death. It is a secret to no one that a large
percentage of the narcotics consumed throughout the world
are produced in and transported through Central Asia.
Concentration of narcobusiness in a single region alone
provides sufficient ground for the world community to focus
its efforts on the elimination of this horrible business.
Uzbekistan is ready to cooperate in this area with all
interested countries and organizations. We would welcome
the establishment, under the aegis of the United Nations, of
a regional commission on Central Asia for the coordination
of joint efforts in the fight against narcobusiness.
We also favour greater United Nations involvement in
controlling the environment and preventing global ecological
disasters, and we are ready to facilitate the implementation
of that noble mission by all available means.
Like so many regions of the planet, Central Asia faces
an ecological disaster on an unprecedented scale. First and
foremost, there is the tragedy of the Aral Sea. In recent
years it has lost two thirds of its volume, its water table has
shrunk by half and its shoreline has retreated 80 kilometers,
the content of mineral salts has increased fourfold, 2 million
hectares of arable land have become desert, and sandstorms
range at distances greater than 300 kilometers from it. All
this adversely affects the sanitary and health situation in the
Forty-eighth session - 28 September l993 5
region. In its ecological and socio-economic consequences,
the problem of the Aral Sea, according to United Nations
experts, is one of the major calamities of the twentieth
century.
The death of the Aral Sea may have unpredictable
affects the whole world. We appeal to the world community
to render assistance in saving the Aral Sea and the adjoining
zone. In light of the global nature of this disaster,
Uzbekistan would appreciate the establishment of a United
Nations special commission on the Aral Sea which, in
coordination with the region’s Governments, and through
United Nations channels, would attract international
resources and opportunities for the solution of this ecological
tragedy. As a first step, this commission could hold an
international conference under United Nations aegis in
Nukus, bordering on the Aral Sea.
Uzbekistan became independent at the end of the cold
war. This new epoch requires a new and sober assessment
of all problems facing the United Nations and the world
community. We are concerned by the growing suspicion
between the advanced countries of the North and the
developing countries of the South. We regret that the former
ideological intolerance between East and West is now being
replaced by ethnic and religious intolerance. We are also
concerned about the growing trend towards fundamentalism,
extremism and terrorism.
In our view, under the circumstances, the United
Nations should be the world’s principal tool for the
prevention of new hotbeds of confrontation which could
jeopardize human progress. We believe that urgent and
effective measures are now necessary so that a key organ of
the United Nations - the Security Council - can adequately
reflect the socio-economic, ethno-cultural, religious and
spiritual diversity of today’s world; its currently conservative
structure should be reconsidered.
The world’s nations are on the threshold of a new
millennium. They want to face a bright, promising future
and leave behind the cataclysms of past global ideological
confrontation. There is growing conviction that there is no
alternative to peace, cooperation and universal security.
What will the future of mankind be like? What kind of
new era is opening? Will it succeed in overcoming the
heavy legacy of the past? Will it achieve openness and
sincerity in inter-State relations, eliminating mutual
suspicion, distrust and diktat, particularly the latter? The
future of the community of nations depends on the answers
to these questions. Uzbekistan is determined to progress
steadily towards the achievement of its national objectives,
in harmony with the common interests of the world
community and the deep democratic processes that
characterize the current level of its development. The Uzbek
people are aware that hard times still lie ahead but they are
assured of a great future in the single family of mankind.


Allow me, on behalf of Venezuela, to extend
to you, Sir, our very special congratulations on your election
as President of the General Assembly at its forty-eighth
session. It is of great significance to us that the Permanent
Representative of Guyana - a country with which we
maintain special relations of friendship and cooperation -
should be directing the work of this important Assembly.
The President of Venezuela, Mr. Ramon J. Velásquez, would
have liked to be present on this important occasion.
However, the current situation in the country necessitates his
remaining in Caracas.
In recent months Venezuela has had to assume
exceptional responsibilities. Yesterday marked the end of
our term as president of the Security Council. During that
term, events of vital importance have taken place in the
world. In particular, during the past 12 months we have
witnessed with horror the re-emergence of hatreds, barbarism
and episodes of ethnic cleansing that we thought had been
consigned for ever to the saddest and blackest pages of
history. In the conflict that is tearing apart the former
Republic of Yugoslavia, Venezuela has played an important
role - a role widely recognized by the other members of the
Council - in the protection of human rights. Acting within
the framework of the international bodies, we have sought,
above all, to restore peace to that tormented region.
The United Nations has accumulated a wealth of
experience in the deployment of operations for the
maintenance of order - even in some situations in which
peace had not yet been attained. With the new situation in
the world, an organization that was established for purposes
of dialogue and negotiation is faced with challenges of a
different kind. From the maintenance of order in a
traditional sense, it has moved on to operations that include
military aspects, humanitarian, institutional and electoral
assistance, the monitoring of human-rights issues and even
development aid. In recent months the United Nations has
played an active and varied role against an ever-changing
international background.
This year, too, the world has seen the emergence of new
hopes. In one of the most strife-torn regions of the planet,
where there appeared to be no prospect of understanding or
future coexistence, two old enemies, the State of Israel and
the Palestine Liberation Organization, have taken significant
steps towards a joint search for peace and the harmonious
development of the two peoples. Venezuela welcomes the
Washington agreement between Israel and the PLO, and will
work within the framework of the United Nations to achieve
a body of measures and resolutions that will help to erase
the hatreds of a past that is still too close. Similarly, we
support the peace initiatives and the process of
demilitarization and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
that have always been an essential part of the work of this
Assembly.
Forty-eighth session - 1 October l993 9
During our months on the Security Council, we have
experienced, at first hand, the accelerated pace of world
events today. We are concerned at the uncertainty of the
roads to be taken and the instability that prevails in many
corners of the world. There are no longer any ideologies,
established values or clear directions. Nevertheless, amidst
all the confusion a few issues have emerged which could
become the single prevalent ideology of mankind. These are
human rights, the defence of democracy and the protection
of the environment.
Last June, in Vienna, the United Nations sponsored that
remarkable encounter, the World Conference on Human
Rights. We engaged there in a fruitful dialogue between
Governments and non-governmental organizations, with the
aim of working together to wipe out the injustices that still
exist in our countries. In Vienna, we came to realize that
the protection of human rights has become a topic of interest
to people of different races from all parts of the world. The
Conference confirmed the universal value of those rights and
reaffirmed that democracy, human rights and development
are equally important and mutually reinforcing objectives.
The further improvement of democracy might begin in
this Organization, where the reform of the Security Council
continues to be necessary in order to make its decisions
more representative. The General Assembly must attach the
proper importance to the discussion of this issue. Venezuela
shares the general concern with making the United Nations
a more transparent and democratic Organization. The new
international scenario calls for a more representative Security
Council without exclusive rights that discriminate against
some Member States.
In the context of the defence of democracy, the United
Nations and regional organizations have made outstanding
efforts, especially in Haiti, where it is our hope that the
lawfully constituted Government will be restored, and in
Guatemala, where forces attempting a coup d’état were
defeated by the weight of civil society. Today, democratic
regimes prevail in almost all of Latin America. However,
our democracies are still young and have experienced
difficulties in recent months.
In Venezuela, we have overcome a severe political
crisis which undoubtedly had the result of strengthening our
institutions. Following a process which took place entirely
within the framework of the law, Mr. Ramón J. Velásquez
succeeded to the highest office. He is a distinguished
historian, respected by all political forces in the country for
the honesty he has shown in his career and for his profound
knowledge of the Venezuelan mentality.
Democracy is a system of values within which respect
for institutions is not only a duty but a necessity. There
have always been attempts in Latin America to justify the
use of force. Order, the fight against terrorism or
communism, the inefficiency of the State: these reasons
have often been used to justify regimes that, finally, did not
re-establish order but abolished freedom. In the past, this
has happened in Venezuela. Today, we have the serenity of
waiting for our institutions to function, and we can now say
with pride that democracy persists in Venezuela and that we
have been able to overcome a serious political crisis.
Nevertheless, our future is clouded by economic
difficulties. The defence and maintenance of democracy
requires the full cooperation of the industrialized countries
in the search for a form of economic development that will
afford our impoverished peoples a life of dignity. Hence,
we support the proposal by the President of the General
Assembly, Mr. Samuel Insanally, for a summit to discuss the
world’s economic problems and agree on programmes of
action to solve them. We agree that the "Agenda for Peace"
put forward by the Secretary-General,
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, should be complemented by an
agenda for development which would place socio-economic
problems on the same level as those of a purely political
nature. The establishment and preservation of democracy
involves reaching a balanced and equitable global growth
rate.
Balanced growth was the central topic of the first
session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in
New York. The establishment of that Commission is one of
the most significant outcomes of the Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro. There is an intimate link between the issue of
development, the financial resources required in order to
attain it and the strict protection of the environment. Despite
the lack of encouraging results, we still believe firmly in the
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and we
wish to draw particular attention to Principles 3 and 4, which
read as follows:
Principle 3:
"The right to development must be fulfilled so as to
equitably meet developmental and environmental needs
of present and future generations."
Principle 4:
"In order to achieve sustainable development,
environmental protection shall constitute an
10 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session
integral part of the development process and
cannot be considered in isolation from it."
Accordingly, we are greatly concerned at what is
happening on Venezuela’s Amazonian border. My country
has attached very special importance to the preservation of
nature. Fully 17 per cent of our territory consists of
specially protected national parks in which economic
activities are closely monitored and restricted. On the
southern border, in particular, we have had the support of
scientific organizations and universities in the establishment
of the Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve, covering
an area of 60,000 square kilometres. In this zone, by law,
economic activities must be compatible with the fragility of
the tropical forest ecosystem. Particular importance is
attached to the cultural and linguistic heritage of the
indigenous peoples, whose way of life has always been
compatible with preservation of the environment.
Over the past five years, unfortunately, we have
undergone a true invasion whose results are disastrous for
the environment and which has introduced a climate of
violence hitherto unknown in the area.
The cause is illegal mining, which, while taking
advantage of the forested and inaccessible nature of
Amazonia, is destroying rivers and whole hectares of
vegetation. This phenomenon has reached a scale large
enough to cause concern, to the point that it is escaping
control by the States. Just recently - last July - illegal
miners massacred a group of Venezuelans, of the Yanomami
tribe. Brazil and Venezuela, where the criminal act was
carried out, have established an ad hoc commission to
investigate the facts and to make sure that the criminals are
punished. But the fact that these events can occur gives a
clear idea of the seriousness of the situation we are facing in
Amazonia. Trees are being cut down, the sources of our
great rivers are being deforested, the waters of the great
tropical forest are being polluted with mercury and the
indigenous population, the original inhabitants of the region,
are being murdered.
The Amazonian border of Venezuela, 2,200 kilometres
long, has been preserved. On our side there is the biosphere
reserve, and in Brazil there is the Yanomami park,
established in 1992 and covering 94,000 square kilometres.
Nevertheless, the deaths of the indigenous Venezuelans show
that violence and destruction are beginning to penetrate these
protected areas. Illegal mining is a business behind which
are the gold and diamond transnationals that arm them,
provide them with machinery and build landing strips in the
forest. They are deforesting Amazonia. Each year an area
of forest the size of Portugal is destroyed. They are wiping
out plants and animals: it is estimated that
1,200,000 species will disappear in the next 25 years. They
are annihilating the local population, and this in 1993, when
the whole world is commemorating the International Year
for the World’s Indigenous People.
Therefore, Venezuela addresses the international
community to denounce this serious environmental situation.
All the countries of the Amazon Basin have clearly
proclaimed our sovereignty over the land in question.
Amazonia belongs to us, but we have the responsibility to
protect it, now and for future generations. We must work
together to preserve our tropical forest. Each country in the
region is making special efforts to take up the challenge of
sustainable development in this zone where the ecological
balance is so precarious. We particularly welcome the
establishment in Brazil of the Ministry of the Environment
and the Conservation of Amazonia, which will undoubtedly
be an important factor in solving the problem. Only open
and sincere dialogue between the countries of the region will
enable us to resist the gold and diamond multinationals that
are destroying, without regard for morality, this important
part of the heritage of mankind.
We must live up to the environmental commitments
entered into at the Rio Summit. We need technical support
and political, economic and social backing to confront the
economic interests that are destroying our heritage. I appeal
to the mining transnationals to understand that development
does not mean destruction; to international agencies to help
us implement the principles of sustainable development in
this zone; and to the wealthiest countries to understand that,
while poverty and ignorance persist among large segments
of the population in Latin America, violence and
environmental destruction will continue.
The United Nations has performed a monumental task
in convening the Earth Summit and the Conference on
Human Rights, and now the major meetings on population
and social development. The resolutions adopted at these
conferences are now being violated in Amazonia. Venezuela
is making a great effort to ensure the preservation of the
environment, often in areas to which access is extremely
difficult. We are fighting for human rights among people
who are not accustomed to respecting the law. We are
trying to proceed in accordance with the principles of
sustainable development, standing up to the companies that
are seeking only to extract the wealth of the soil at a rapid
pace. These are difficult tasks, but we are convinced that
this effort is necessary in order to conserve our Amazonia
and preserve it for future generations of our peoples and also
Forty-eighth session - 1 October l993 11
for future generations of all mankind. The United Nations
is the appropriate forum for the whole world to learn of our
efforts to preserve this territory, its biodiversity and the
integrity of its rightful inhabitants.


In addressing this Assembly for the first time, I
am pleased to extend to you, Sir, the congratulations of the
delegation of the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros,
which I have the honour to head, on your outstanding
election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its
forty-eighth session. In our view, your moral and
intellectual qualities and your extensive experience in
international affairs are clear guarantees of the success of
our work. I assure you that my delegation is fully prepared
to assist you as you undertake your noble mission.
I should like to join those representatives who have
congratulated your predecessor, Mr. Stoyan Ganev of
Bulgaria, on his effective leadership of the Assembly during
its forty-seventh session.
Let me take this opportunity also to express a warm
welcome to the new States Members of the Organization.
The multifaceted action of the United Nations over the
numerous years of its existence has given us a true
appreciation of the institution’s major role, as well as of the
worth of the men who, during that time, have borne the
responsibility for it. This is why my delegation expresses
satisfaction at seeing Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the head
of the Organization. We pay a resounding tribute to him for
his dedication and determination to work for peace and the
well-being of mankind.
Forty-eight years after its creation, and despite a
particularly difficult international situation, our Organization
is still struggling to discharge properly the lofty and onerous
mission entrusted to it. Equally, with the passage of time,
its activity has escalated and become more diversified.
Unfortunately, we are today obliged to note that the United
Nations is increasingly confronted by enormous financial
difficulties, which hamper its proper functioning. The
financial crisis that it is experiencing stems primarily from
the crushing imbalance between its various tasks and its
scanty financial means.
Thus, in the area of peace-keeping, the United Nations
is responsible for numerous rather costly operations, while,
in several regions of the world, hotbeds of tension and
increasing instability seem to presage other difficult
situations that are likely to transcend the boundaries of the
Organization’s ordinary or traditional role. The task is huge,
and we must not remain passive in the face of such
suffering. It is therefore up to all Member States to
contribute effectively to securing an improvement in the
Organization’s peace-keeping system.
While, within the framework of the work of this forty-
eighth session, we are still reviewing a multitude of
problems to which we must find solutions, let us recognize
that the session does have the advantage of being held at a
time when, for the first time in more than 40 years, we are
seeing encouraging and promising results with regard to the
developments in respect of the problem of Palestine.
The Government of the Comoros would like, through
me, to congratulate the signatories of the Washington
agreement. It provides grounds for hope that this mutual

recognition and the autonomy of certain territories represent
an unquestionable guarantee of the establishment of a
sovereign and independent Palestinian State, so that this part
of the world, which for so long has been disrupted by war,
can finally experience peace and stability. We pay a well-
deserved tribute to the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation
Organization for his perseverance in defending the rights of
the brotherly Palestinian people, whose just struggle we have
always supported.
In the same context, my country has great hopes for the
negotiations between the South African authorities and the
representatives of the black majority. My country sincerely
hopes that these negotiations will culminate in the
establishment of a truly united, multiracial and democratic
South African society.
It is clear that action by the various United Nations
authorities has made a considerable contribution to
strengthening the credibility of our Organization and the
confidence the international community has in it. On the
other hand, the rebirth of democracy in Eastern Europe, the
opening up of Africa to a multiparty system and the
relaxation of tensions among the super-Powers are also
factors which should give us hope for a better world. But
how can we not be concerned or doubtful when in some
parts of the world there are still hotbeds of tension and
fratricidal wars? In fact, the deterioration of the situation in
Somalia, with all its consequences, in particular the mass
displacement of the population and the murder of those who
are defending peace, calls for ever greater vigilance and
solidarity on our part. It is time for the international
community to take effective action with a view to the
holding of a conference of national reconciliation to put an
end to this war. It is also crucial that States and
international organizations continue to render their valuable
assistance to these peoples, who are in dire need.
With regard to Africa, I am concerned about our
neighbours in Mozambique, in Angola, in Liberia and in all
of these countries where human dignity and conscience are
being jeopardized, where, unfortunately, dialogue is yielding
to force and violence. The Federal Islamic Republic of the
Comoros is launching a fraternal appeal to these countries to
consider the consequences of these wars for the future of
their peoples and of Africa as a whole, and hopes that reason
will finally prevail.
Moreover, we are still deeply concerned at the present
situation in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
external aggression perpetrated against this independent and
sovereign State requires that our Organization, and in
particular the Security Council, the major organ responsible
for the maintenance of peace, take the necessary action to
save that country. We fully support the resolutions of the
Security Council concerning this problem, in particular
resolution 859 (1993), in which it called
"for an immediate cease-fire and cessation of hostilities
throughout the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as
essential for achieving a just and equitable political
solution to the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina
through peaceful negotiations".
On the other hand, the Federal Islamic Republic of the
Comoros is supporting the efforts of our Organization to find
a lasting solution to the Korean problem. My country urges
the parties involved to implement measures to facilitate the
reunification of this country, whose people have suffered for
so long from being divided.
Environmental problems are a concern of the
international community, which is aware of the adverse
consequences of the destruction of the ozone layer and the
deterioration of the ecological milieu. It is in this spirit that
our States are adopting strategies and policies aimed at
safeguarding the environment. Convinced that one cannot
separate the environment from development, our
Governments must establish procedures and devise national
frameworks which will give priority to sustainable
development, in accordance with the recommendations of the
Rio Conference. Along these lines, the Federal Islamic
Republic of the Comoros, with a view to combating the
problems of pollution, deforestation and the destruction of
natural species, has given priority in its development plan to
the preservation of the environment and its natural resources.
Another area to which we should devote specific
interest is that of human rights. By the adoption of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948,
the international community, through the General Assembly
of our Organization, for the first time in the history of
mankind, shouldered the permanent responsibility of
publicizing and championing human rights. Today more
than ever before, we continue to have confidence in our
Organization, which has always known how to stress the
concept of fundamental human rights and freedoms and has
made ensuring them one of its fundamental goals. It is
therefore important for the United Nations to give priority to
human rights programmes. There is also a need, within the
framework of national policy, to implement and create
institutional conditions that would guarantee respect for
human dignity.
The World Conference on Human Rights, held recently
in Vienna, Austria, allowed the international community to
Forty-eighth session - 8 October l993 3
reaffirm its unswerving dedication to respect for inalienable
human rights. However, it is our Organization that must see
to the implementation of the Vienna recommendations.
We cannot separate the concept of human rights from
the concept of democracy, for we cannot conceive of a
democracy that would ignore or fail to guarantee human
rights and freedoms. This is why our Organization should
show particular interest in the changes taking place
throughout the world, changes which are, inter alia, reflected
in the collapse of dictatorships and the emergence of
democratic political regimes. The United Nations must
encourage and support actions aimed at advancing the
democratic process.
As members are aware, the wind of freedom and
democracy that has wafted through the world has spared no
continent. Thus, in the Federal Islamic Republic of the
Comoros, the time has come for democracy and a multiparty
system. We have engaged in a revision of our Constitution
in order to adapt it to the realities of today’s world, with the
active participation of all national political movements. We
are moving towards legislative and regional elections to give
the country all the institutions required by a State of law.
You will agree with me, Mr. President, that this
transitional stage of our young democracy is difficult. We
are, however, aware that it must be passed through in order
to achieve a harmonization of the democratic process as a
whole. The Government of the Islamic Federal Republic of
the Comoros, concerned for the well-being of its people, is
sparing no effort to create conditions which promote respect
for human dignity and the maintenance of political and
social stability in the country.
Such an undertaking requires the assistance of peace-
and progress-loving countries and organizations, to help our
country effectively manage these freedoms, and to place our
young democracy on a solid foundation.
We cannot close this political chapter without recalling
another problem, a non-violent one, certainly but no less
important: that of the Comorian island of Mayotte. This
question will be the subject of a debate in the Assembly, as
it is at each of our regular sessions. That is why I will spare
the Assembly a list of the facts behind this thorny issue.
But I express again the full readiness of the Government of
His Excellency
Mr. Said Mohamed Djohar and the Comorian people to give
the highest priority to dialogue and concerted action to
resolve this regrettable dispute which we have had with
France since we attained our sovereignty.
There is no need to emphasize that the new
international political landscape at the end of the century
makes the interdependence of peoples and the solidarity of
nations the irreplaceable and only means by which we can
guarantee the economic and social development of our
States.
Unfortunately, international economic relations are still
marked by the bipolar attitude responsible for the growing
gap between rich and poor countries. We must now change
this attitude - an outcome of the cold war - as a result of
which the rich have been becoming even richer and the poor
even poorer, and create harmonious conditions for global
economic relations. We believe in the ideals of peace and
security, but we are firmly convinced that they cannot be
fully achieved if famine, malnutrition, disease and natural
disasters continue to be the lot of the majority of the States
which make up the international community.
The future of the developing countries continues to be
a priority of the various specialized institutions of our
Organization, but the failure of various development
programmes and strategies initiated in our respective
countries is no secret. That fact compels us to give thought
together to ways and means to relaunch a different type of
development, of which our Organization must be the
catalyst.
The advent of a new economic world order is more
likely today than yesterday, despite a crisis that is weakening
the financial Powers, de facto reducing their capacity to give
development assistance. We understand the new obligations
of the big Powers, faced with unemployment, reduced
productivity and the need to support the new States born of
the fragmentation of the eastern bloc. But it is up to them
to give a new impetus to vertical cooperation, in order to
enable the countries of the South to extricate themselves
from chaos.
In that spirit, the developing countries have indeed
learned the lesson that they must rely on themselves first and
foremost. This is why, from Africa to the Orient, structures
are emerging whose objective is to assure regional economic
integration. The establishment of the African Economic
Community will meet Africa’s need for an instrument for
functional cooperation which can harmonize development
and cooperation between the States of this continent, the
breadbasket of the world.
For the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros,
cooperation with the developing countries is an essential
element in such cooperative relations. My country is one of
those which are convinced that South-South cooperation can
4 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session
be an important factor in rebalancing world economic
relations.
In its continuous development efforts the Islamic
Federal Republic of the Comoros is focusing on freeing and
restructuring development support institutions. In the spirit
of this impetus towards socio-economic recovery, we have
agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank on a structural adjustment programme whose success
depends on the full and active support of the international
community.
As the century draws to a close, the world is
experiencing profound changes in the ideological, political,
economic, social, scientific and technical spheres. The
problems it is facing require consideration at the global level
from now on. International solidarity compels us to act in
greater cooperation in managing world affairs.
We have the instrument for this: the United Nations.
But we are among those who believe that if it is to be more
effective the Organization and its specialized agencies must
be transformed to adapt to the tremendous democratic
dynamism of the new international system. In order to give
the United Nations the political power for real decision-
making, the Security Council must genuinely represent the
world as it is today.