I salute you, Sir, on behalf of the Costa Rican people and wish you all success as President of the General Assembly. I salute also a tireless friend in the efforts for peace in Central America and the world, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar.
As President of Costa Rica I came here for the first time in 1986. I said then that Central America was on the brink of war. I have returned today for the last time during my term of office to tell the Assembly that we are on the verge of peace. Yesterday I came to ask for your help and today I come to thank you. Then, we had to stop a war*, now we must build peace. How quickly the world has changed in these few years. Brother has stopped killing brother in many places on this Earth. I ask myself: Where are the winners of those wars? Where are the vanquished? Let us not be afraid to say it; the only winners were those who had the courage to a peace accord? the only winners were those who had the courage to change history. Wherever violence continues, everyone is the loser.
The line between war and peace is a difficult and treacherous path. It also bears witness to resentments that persist for many years. At times the decisions of the few, immersed in ideological dogmatism of religious fanaticism, are enough to tip the scale towards destruction and death. On other occasions, men in faraway places encourage armed conflicts, disregarding the pain of those who are dying. It takes very little to turn peace one day into violence the next. It is also true that individuals and peoples can make a difference in favour of peace. The strength of forgiveness and dialogue can silence the guns and put everyone to work towards finding real solutions. Our destiny is not carved in stone and it is our responsibility to fashion a different future.
There are many who are unsure whether to commit themselves to the path of dialogue and reconciliation for fear of being called naive. It is easier to say that wars will always exist and wash one's hands of it, as did the great traitors in the history of humankind who could have prevented murder but chose to remain silent, who could have stopped war but encouraged it, who could have fought poverty but chose to ignore it. I am not afraid to say that the war which threatened to spread in so many directions has turned into an opportunity to build peace. My people are proud of having contributed to that change. We will not be prisoners of our past, not even for the sake of caution, when perpetuating that past violates the rights of men and women, limits their freedom, allows poverty and leads to war. The solutions to the problems that have been besetting us for so many years require imagination and courage. Let there be change. Let everything change so that hope can bring peoples together on one unified path.
Even though hunger is increasing in the world and inequalities between rich and poor countries are widening, the scale between war and peace has tipped towards peace. The direction of history in the struggle between dictatorship and the people has tipped in favour of freedom and democracy. Violence has not lessened pain, but severely increased it. It has not resolved problems, but has created other, bigger ones. The risks involved in forging a different future are less than
the pain and evil that will result if we persist in following the past blindly, to begin by ending war is the right way, but if we cannot build peace immediately we will have lost everything before we wake up to reality.
The Central American Peace Plan continues to move forward. The presidential summit meetings in El Salvador and Honduras have strengthened our commitment to fight to end the violence and improve democracy. The armed struggle in Nicaragua has stopped and thousands upon thousands of young people in that country owe their lives to that courageous agreement. An electoral process has begun, and in February 1990 the people of Nicaragua will elect a new president and parliament. With the help of many and with international supervision, elections in our sister country will be fair and equal guarantees will be given to all alike. We must continue to foster the reconciliation of the people of Nicaragua  the return of those who are in exile; the silencing of the guns that are still being fired; the end to violence demanded by reason, mercy and the peace plan.
The next presidential summit will be held in December in Nicaragua. That will be an opportunity for us all to verify the progress made towards the free and democratic elections that the entire world hopes to see. Nothing at that meeting could contribute to peace more greatly than an agreement to reduce the Sandinista armed forces substantially. This demilitarisation is an indispensable prerequisite if we want to achieve peace in our region. Because I have these hopes and will work for them, I was not afraid to come here in the past and say that Sandino had been murdered anew, for his struggle for freedom had been betrayed. I say today that I believe there is hope for the people of Nicaragua to become reconciled in democracy and freedom so that Sandino will rise again for all of them and so that together they can continue to pursue the revolution for freedom in freedom.
This month in Costa Rica, representatives of the Government of El Salvador will meet with leaders of the guerrilla forces of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. The purpose of the meeting is to negotiate an end to the hostilities. With God's help they will be able to reach an agreement similar to that obtained by the people of Nicaragua in Sapoa for the sake of peace. All the brutality in El Salvador has not led to any solution. Let anyone in this room rise and say without hesitation, in the presence of the nations of the world, what problems were solved by encouraging and supporting violence in our tortured Central America. I ask all those who can help to contribute to putting an end to the senseless killing and destruction in El Salvador. We demand an end to a decade of pain that has yielded no gains and provided no future.
Once more, as we come closer to the cease-fire negotiations, the conflicts and acts of war which torment that sister country have increased. Those who think that by demonstrating greater destructive power they will gain an advantage in the dialogue are badly mistaken, fin increase in violence reveals desperation and confirms weakness. There is no longer any sympathy in the world for heroic acts that turn into cowardice, for honour where blood is spilled.
Honduras rightly asks that the Nicaraguan Contras established in its territory immediately put down their weapons and return home. In Guatemala a few lunatics have escalated their acts of violence. They too will find no sympathy in a world that will not again confuse courage with terrorism nor fanaticism with the struggle for freedom. The doors of democracy have been opened for Guatemala, and we can all contribute to widening them. To abandon this path is to miss the call of history for democracy in that beloved sister nation. In the past few years the balance in Central America has tipped in favour of freedom, democracy and peace. Much remains to be done. We are very far from achieving the political coexistence we seek for every country and for the region, but we are moving in the right direction.
Everyone from His Holiness Pope John Paul II to the United Nations agrees that development and peace are inseparable. In the lands surrounding my country they are proceeding on dangerously separate paths. All the countries of the region, apart from Costa Rica, have become poorer. It is urgent to reverse that trend.
We are not unaware that many wish to help us. Nor can we fail to mention that only very slowly and in very few instances have good intentions materialized into facts. We shall maintain confidence in the United Nations special plan of economic assistance for Central America adopted by the Assembly, in the San Jose accords, which reflect the co-operation of the European Economic Community, in the Sanford Commission, which promotes development programmes that rise above political differences, and in the Caribbean Basin initiative, which jives preferential treatment to our exports. We shall never give up hope, because without development our peace will not last. In a few years we have to reverse more than 100 years of injustice and oppression.
The anguish of war, the hopes we share for a true peace and our dreams of sustainable development do not remove us from the challenges facing all mankind. We have not distanced ourselves from the political, technological and economic changes of our times. We are not unaware of the fact that imminent ecological disasters have become as serious a threat as war and are a harbinger of death, suffering and hunger. We are neither an economic nor a military Power. Nor are we merely part of a problem. We are part of a solution; we are defenders of ideas; we aspire to be a moral force. This year we shall celebrate 100 years of democracy in Costa Rica, and we have already celebrated more than 40 years as a people without weapons. We see a world weary of violence, tired of poverty. We see a world desperately seeking change. In the division between those who take refuge in the past and those who assume the risks of constructing a different future, my people is on the road of the future.
In this scenario, in which ideological walls are tumbling down and what was the iron curtain is opening up, and in which the wire fences that imprisoned nations are being cut, we can look without fear at the promise of freedom. Confrontation has not helped us solve our most basic differences. On the contrary, it contributed to spreading selfishness, to permitting dogmatic and fanatical men to govern in respectability. We mistook arrogance for courage. We made heroes of those who merely spoke against the powerful and promised to see justice done with arms. We forgot to work towards solutions, to make a commitment with respect to the suffering of our peoples, to accept the primary responsibility for taking up the challenges facing us. No one can be unaware that we have an opportunity to make a different world, to surmount through co-operation an agenda common to all, nations rich and poor, nations old and young.
The struggle for human rights must now and forever be without boundaries - without boundaries, the task of promoting peace in order to banish violence in the solution of our problems; without boundaries, the condemnation of terrorist acts; without boundaries, the determination to strengthen and buttress democracies, for never in history have democratic Governments made war upon one another; without boundaries, the obligation to take account of environmental concerns in our development plans; without boundaries, the commitment to free our children from the drugs that are killing and destroying them; without boundaries, our efforts to ensure that no nuclear weapon will ever be launched again, so that gradually, by replacing feat with understanding, we can destroy those weapons; without
boundaries, the commitment to control and reduce conventional weapons, and the disarmament that has become possible in this new era must guarantee resources for development and not only for the conquest of space; without boundaries, our hope for markets free from protectionism, for fair prices for commodities and for equitable opportunities for the growth of all peoples. Let us make this closing decade of the twentieth century one of peace and bread for all the world.
Much remains to be done before we finish tearing down the walls that reflect: the dogmatism and hatred of the past. Much remains to be done before we can commit ourselves to a common agenda. Beyond those two concerns, the greatest risk is that we will raise even higher walls separating the rich nations from the poor, separating the North from the South, "today, when a farmer who works in the lands and villages south of the Rio Grande crosses the border or the sea to enter a developed country, he gains 100 years of development for himself and 200 years for his children. In the past, millions came from Europe to the Americas in search of an opportunity to win the race against hunger, to open up horizons of freedom. Today we must ensure opportunities for balanced development for all nations and see to it that the walls that are torn down do not consolidate new alliances based on economic selfishness. If that happens, not only will the world's poor be the losers, but the rich too will find the ozone layer full of holes and their souls full of drugs. We must view the common agenda as a joint responsibility and share burdens and benefits without fear.
Certain countries and many people in various parts of the world refuse to co-operate in strengthening a new world. Matters remain that have not been settled, which causes an uncertainty that turns even the brave into cowards. It is of vital importance for us in Central America that the strict separation between East and West grow less rigid. If war is to end, it is crucial to abandon spheres of hegemony and make a commitment to work for freedom and democracy. For those who used to think that the only road to justice was the road of weaponry, the time has come to come down from the mountain and join the democratic process. I wrote the following the leader of the Soviet Unions
"I urge you once again, Mr. Gorbachev, to lay down arms in Central America. The young Russians who are dying today in Afghanistan have been punishment enough for a mistaken policy. They troops will return to the Soviet Union along the honourable path of courageously correcting one's mistakes. Correct also your policy towards Central America. let us also hold talks on eliminating conventional weapons, which today are killing our children and the children of the third world."
The answer, although slow in coming compared with the speed with which our young people were dying daily in Central America, was positive. The Soviet Government agreed to work for peaceful understanding and to suspend all military aid.
It saddens me to report that shipments of weapons to the region continue. In Cuba, the leaders seem to have decided to remain in the Sierra Maestra and turn their back on the new world that is being born. I reiterate here my impassioned plea to all nations of the world to halt military assistance to the Central American region. As Cuba withdrew its soldiers from Angola, it must withdraw its support for armed opposition in the lands of Central America.
The problems that hinder our struggle for peace have been compounded by the threats and evil deeds of drug traffickers and by fears arising from the setbacks suffered by democracy in Panama. In Costa Rica, we approved, with the unanimous vote of our legislative assembly one of the strictest laws ever enacted to fight drug trafficking aid all commerce related to it. We are fighting and we will fight on, without faltering, for that objective, because our homeland will never provide refuge or respite for these criminals. It must be part of our commitment to peace and to a common world agenda, that Central America become drug-free. Our countries must not be tainted by drug production and trafficking.
We have given our total support to President Virgilio Barco Vargas of Colombia, to whom, in a letter written on behalf of the people of Costa Rica I have said:
"When one is faced with such a difficult and crucial challenge, one cannot compromise. There can be no agreement with those who threaten everyone and everything with savage violence and disrespect our most sacred values. International solidarity is a categorical imperative. We cannot become accomplices, with a minute of silence or a minute of fear. You must triumph - for the greatness of your people and the dignity of the Americas." I repeat here that in the noble struggle of President Barco Vargas, each and every one of us is a foot soldier.
I shall never tire of repeating that the alliance for freedom and democracy in the Americas, for which I called on the day I took office as President of Costa Rica, is our only hope for a lasting peace and strengthening of the foundations of economic development. There are still authoritarian Governments in Latin America, however, and that threatens our coexistence.
In Panama, our neighbour and sister nation, the path of oppression has also become the road of impoverishment. The sooner the Panamanians themselves can solve their problems through free elections, the lesser will be the tragedy that people endures. In Panama, principles of the supranational courses of the new world agenda have been violated - principles that protect human rights and support democracy, that combat corruption and circumscribe freedoms.
The mandate of my people is to support the moral force of which the people of Costa Rica are proud in international affairs also. We therefore denounce violence and work for peace. We denounce dictatorship and work for democracy. We denounce corruption and work for honesty. At the beginning of my presidency, I broke diplomatic relations with the Government of South Africa because we cannot sustain a dialogue with those who are capable of segregating their brothers because of the colour of their skin. We have withdrawn our Ambassador to Panama for as long as the path of liberty and democracy for all Panamanians is not respected.
International politics must not fall prey to cynicism. To state publicly the intention to pursue a certain course of action and then privately to push in the opposite direction is often the destructive practice of strong and respected Governments as well as of small nations. This behaviour undermines the trust we wish to build and we must fight it, forcing international political forums to be accountable to the people.
The will of the majority is beginning to prevail. Dialogue has regained its strength as a way to find solutions to the most difficult conflicts that confront us. The best proof of this is the United Nations, which in recent years has again begun to shine as a centre of international diplomacy and whose voice increasingly has the authority of the majority who break the chains which bound it to the extremes of power. Politics cannot consist of manipulating our fears, nor of the art of exaggerating our differences: we can respect it only when its purpose is to achieve harmony.
Nothing could be more advantageous for mankind than reading history together. Let us attain justice by sharing the errors of the past and by working with confidence towards solutions within the framework of a new agenda for peace and development. The time has come to pay with interest for yesterday's errors and failures so that the sincere co-operation we need may arise, so that a common agenda may become a reality. There is an ecological debt that the developed world has toward future generations. Perhaps we should offset it with the financial debt of the third world. There is a social debt that is reflected in the poverty of millions. Perhaps we should offset it by opening and freeing the markets.
Once world peace has been secured, a greater effort must be made to attain harmony in two respects; ecological balance and equitable development for nations and peoples. As with so many things in life, it is easier to share ideals than to reach them. We have different ways of determining how ecological imbalances and injustices have come about. Through dialogue, we can find agreement.
Acid rain damages relations among the industrialized countries, but the lack of drinking water for millions of men, women and children is perhaps an even greater challenge. We are justifiably concerned about the possible consequences of the gradual global warming of the Earth. We know that one answer is massive reforestation of the tropical countries. The destruction of the ozone layer creates new risks for new forms of life on the planet. The technologies needed to face these challenges are based on patents so expensive they are un-affordable in our countries. We know that the extinction of different biological species must be stopped, and therefore certain practices that exist in our countries must be changed. We must also penalize the improper use of certain products by the developed countries. It is necessary to stop the loss of the forests, but soil erosion must not be neglected either.
Each time we are disrespectful of nature, we are pointing a deadly weapon at our Children. No one must impose his solution on others, but together we can find a way that respects the goal that we pursue and is suited to what each of us can do. The economic crisis and the environmental threat are now part and parcel of the same problem. The economics of waste in the North and the economics of survival in the South are poor models for development. It is now time to construct a new harmony, to aim again at achieving well-being for every people and equitable development with justice and appropriate conservation of nature.
When I came here for the first time, which seems so long ago now because of all the things that have happened since, I enthusiastically said that I proposed to come back here within four years, when my presidential term of office had ended, to tell you that together we had brought peace to Central America and that shanty-towns had become a thing of the past. Today I am here to tell you that shanty-towns still exist in my country. We have built more housing than ever before, much more than I promised in my electoral campaign. We have launched a crusade that no Government will ever be able to reverse in the future. But the shanty-towns still exist, as does the child abandoned in the street. We have extended peace, but the threat of war persists, and brothers are still killing each other in the corners of my little America.
There is no end to the struggle for justice and peace. It does not know a single day of rest. Some short-sighted people believe that the efforts to eliminate the slums in my country could have been more effective if we had not fought for peace. I thank God and Costa Rica that we never fell into that selfish way of thinking. My people can look back at the history of the last few years with their heads held high.
As I said to you at the beginning of my statement, I came to thank you because the successes we have attained would not have been possible without your help. You are giving a human face to a world that until recently had no face and knew no mercy. I leave with the joy of knowing that peace is closer at hand and with the confidence of knowing that the slums which still darken the horizon in my country will disappear. I will always continue to he a Costa Rican at the service of these causes and your ally in these struggles the world over.


Burkina Paso and Nigeria on joy fraternal and friendly relations. Therefore it is with some pride and pleasure that we see as President of the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session a son of Africa whose experience, personality and qualities are well known in the United Nations.
To his predecessor, Mr. Dante Caputo, we would like to convey our appreciation for the way in which he performed his functions. The Secretary-General's report on the work of the Organisation, as usual, has provided us with a complete overview of the state of the world and of the efforts made by our Organization. Mr. de Cuellar's patience, tireless activity and quiet determination have made it possible for the Organization to go through periods of great uncertainty until we have now reached a time when recognition off the need for our Organization has once again become unanimous.
"On the strength of this, I venture to hope that at the forty-fourth session of the General Assembly the last guns will have been silenced on the last battlefields of the world, the Palestinians will be back in their land building a future together with the Israelis, the state of emergency will have been lifted in South Africa, Nelson Mandela will have been released from the apartheid gaol and, finally, Namibia will occupy in this Hall, somewhere between Mozambique and Nepal, the place that has been its right for so long, and for which it has waited far too long|." (A/43/FV.7, p. 64)
these words which X have just quoted were the final paragraph of Burkina Peso statement in the general debate at the forty-third session.
Thee implementation of Security Council resolution 435 (1978) has gone through  lassitude and it is our hope that the present stage will see all parties keep : their commitment and make it possible for the provisions of the Security Council resolution to be applied fully and in their entirety. The Namibian peoples right to self-determination should be exercised in justice and democracy. We would also like to express again our confidence in the Secretary-General in the delicate ask that is his of ensuring that the process initiated will not be blocked by manoeuvres and diversionary tactics. It is being said and what has been done by the South African authorities do not o m to indicate that this ignominy of the present time, apartheid, has been attained at its root by its supporters. We cannot speak of any changes or improvement when Nelson Mandela and his companions remain in prison, when the movements that are demanding freedom are systematically restrained  when political parties and democratic movements are suspended, when the state of emergency is still in force, and when there is no sign of the beginnings of any real, consistent or detailed dialogue aimed at resolving the problem.
The fact that the international community has made the apartheid regime anathema has not yet brought it down. Nevertheless, the struggles and sacrifices of the South African people have induced the racist authorities to restrain their language and to come up with offers which could be expected to be confirmed subsequently by the simple dismantling of the apartheid regime. The recent elections in which more than 70 per cent of the population was excluded and the refusal of the racist authorities to recognize the democratic principle of "one man one vote" are not in keeping with the bland reassurances of President De Klerk.
The racist regime of Pretoria thus continues to pursue its policy of apartheid and destabilization of the front-line states, and the international community expects more than a chance in style and language. It expects feat men have their dignity restored to them.
The right of peoples is also being violated in the territories occupied by Israel. The right of fee Palestinian people to self-determination is ignored by Israel, The intifadah has been the bold and resolute response of a people which is determined to regain its inalienable and undeniable rights. Oppression and repression are the twin sinister companions which are no longer able to stifle the powerful cry for sovereignty and freedom of a people which has been gagged and trampled underfoot.
It must be regretted that Israel is locked in its conviction that concessions are due it, that Israel refuses to admit the increasingly incontrovertible reality that the Palestinian people do exist, that Palestine exists and that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is the authentic representative of fee Palestinian people.
Hitherto, important decisions have been taken by the Palestinian side without any positive Israeli reaction having been recorded. The Israeli authorities have stated that there will be no elections so long as the intifadah continues, that Jewish colonies will continue to be installed in fee occupied territories and that there will be no peace except under those conditions and only with those with whom they choose to speak. None of this is likely to restore peace to fee region.
That is not the logical path to take, and on 6 October last the General Assembly confirmed this once again When it demanded that Israel fulfil its obligations.
Just as apartheid has set southern Africa ablaze, Israel's policy as cause, effect and pretext has turned Lebanon into a victim on its last gasp. A country, a people, and a nation ace disintegrating. Burkina Faso supports the efforts of the Tripartite Committee of the Arab League to promote dialogue and the search for peace. We hope that peace will come to the Middle East, through the convening of an international conference under the auspices of the United Nations and with the participation of all the parties concerned, in particular Palestine. regional conflicts we hops will be resolved continue to cause concern in the international community.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, pursuant to the Geneva Agreements, has withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan more than six months ago. Burkina Faso supports all efforts to safeguard the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, as well as the unity of its people.
We appeal to Iran end Iraq to take the necessary action in order to ensure the complete implementation of Security Council resolution 598 (1967).
It was not possible to conclude en agreement at the Paris Conference on Cambodia, but we may still entertain some hope since the Conference is scheduled to resume at the beginning of 1990. The withdrawal of foreign troops should lead to dialogue among all the parties to the conflict, the only ones likely to arrive at the necessary compromises for a return to peace and the non-aligned status of Kampuchea. Similarly, in Central America we urge respect for the Esquipulas II agreements, so that the peoples of the region may enjoy peace and stability. Until this connection, the appeal must not go unheeded.
The question of Cyprus has still not been resolved, and we support all efforts to preserve its unity, sovereignty, independence and non-aligned status.
We reaffirm our solidarity wife the Korean people. Burkina Faso supports fee proposals for a peaceful reunification of Korea and to feat end we urge fee continuation of the North-South dialogue.
The efforts of the international community, in particular those of the African countries, led to fee beginning of a solution in Angola and Mozambique. Burkina Paso sincerely hopes feat these efforts will culminate in a final settlement guaranteeing fee national unity and independence of these two fraternal countries and making it possible for them to channel their energies into the tasks of development. And may all interference be excluded.
Wife regard to Western Sahara, courageous decisions have been taken to speed up fee peace process drawn up by fee United Nations on fee basis of fee relevant resolutions of the organization off African Unity (OAU). We urge the Secretary-General to pursue his efforts in conjunction wife fee current Chairman of the OAU with a view to implementing the right to self-determination of the Sahraoui people.
A distressing conflict has pitted two West African brothers against each other. Like a number of other African States, Burkina Faso is closely following this dispute and, in its capacity as Chairman to the Economic Continuity of West African States, is exerting its own efforts to find a peaceful and final settlement. Burkina Faso welcomes and is gratified by the recent agreements entered into by the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Chad, thus putting an end to 16 years of fratricidal confrontation.
It can be seen that there are still regional conflicts, although for the past two years the international climate has been described as having improved. Burkina Faso recognizes that there has been some improvement in the way in which problem are being tackled. Systematic confrontation or confrontation as a matter of principle has given way to dialogue and negotiation. No one could complain of such a turn of events. Nevertheless, for us, the countries of the South or fee third world, we cannot confuse style with substance.
Although changing fee way fee problem is posed helps to resolve it, feat does not change the actual nature of the problem.
Indeed, fee inequity of fee international economic system is penalizing our national economies and frustrating the efforts and sacrifices of our peoples. Year after year we have made use of fee rostrum of fee United Nations to make known our ills; we have gone to the institutions of the United Nations to heal our afflictions. In May 1986, fee critical economic situation in Africa led to the adoption of the United Nations programme of Action for African Recovery and Development, but its promise has not been fully realized. External debt has emphasized a glaring and obvious injustice. Our products are increasingly fetching below-market prices, while we are reimbursing many times over fee money we have borrowed, in view of the play of bank interest rates. This situation must be seen as very serious by debtors and creditors alike, because in fee long run it will be harmful to all parties.
In a world of interdependence where words are uttered and used as weapons - which, in any case have finally become blunted - it is nevertheless necessary to have recourse to negotiation, take into account the interests involved and inevitably move towards the implementation of a lust international economic order. The special session on international economic co-operation, to be held in April 1990, should not be just one more meeting* rather, it should mark a new approach in economic relations among States so that justice, equity and mutual advantage prevail in the world economy. However unrealistic this outcome may seem, it is nevertheless the best way to protect us all from economic paralysis and the incalculable consequences that that would entail.
In this connection, the environment which is today considered everyone's business, has long suffered the excesses and uses of the North, whether it be the ozone layer, acid rains, toxic wastes - we know where the responsibility lies. Hence we should welcome the fact that the environment has become an essential concern and that preparations are now being made for the United Nations conference on environment and development, scheduled for 1992.
We listened very closely to the statement made by President Virgilio Barco of Colombia. As we see it, two lessons can be learned from its the first is that, as he said, the international struggle against drugs cannot be a mere war of words; and the second, that in order to stem the supply of drugs, we must stem the demand for drugs.
In both cases it is co-operation and solidarity that can heal this contemporary wound. All the scourges that today beset human society can be overcome only through co-operation and solidarity.
A deplorable economic and social situation is the reason why this drug culture has developed. Burkina Paso affirms that this is a case involving human rights and
the rights of peoples. We refuse to follow anyone who ascribes importance exclusively to the individual and to the protection and security of the individual, when millions are ignored, trampled underfoot, exploited, reduced to earning a living by compromising their lives and the lives off others. The champions off human rights have enough compassion to defend freedom; but not enough wisdom to defend human beings made of flesh and blood, not enough wisdom to stop children born and raised in disastrous circumstances from being condemned to a life of delinquency and crime.
Somewhere along the line more attention began to be paid to abstract ideas than to meeting our practical, basic, concrete, pressing, real needs, when we seek to defend human rights we should begin with those needs. The defence of human rights begins with the promotion of a just international economic order.
In Burkina Faso, Comrade President Compaore, the leader of the Popular Front, is translating that desire for justice by organizing and ensuring the participation of people of all social levels and classes in making the political and economic decisions that mould our national life and our future. Democracy is a requirement of the Burkina Faso revolution. Revolution, for us, is not a hollow revolutionary slogan taken out of context, but the creative spirit linked to practical action towards qualitative change sustained and implemented in a permanent, organized way by the mass of the people for the mass of the people. In that context, women play a major role, children receive particular care and society acts in its own best interests, in order to live within its culture in harmony with the world.
Many have spoken of the imminent twenty-first century, the heritage we shall bequeath to our children, the increasingly interdependent world, threats and hopes. We in Burkina Faso want to live with our brothers throughout the world as worthy, free people. Co-operation and solidarity are the virtues needed today, tomorrow, and forever if we wish to bequeath a future to the generations to come. With that in mind we must be just and specific.


 Mr. President, the delegation of Algeria welcomes your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session. I have no doubt that in elevating you to this exceedingly demanding post the General Assembly was acknowledging your well-known personal merits and professional abilities.
The Assembly, thus, also pays a well deserved tribute to brotherly Nigeria for its remarkable contribution to the complete liberation of Africa, and particularly to its commitment to the struggle against apartheid. A united Africa, bound in solidarity, is itself honoured by this tribute to your country. Sir, precisely at a time when it is committed to the final phase of the elimination of colonialism. Your predecessor as President, Mr. Dante Caputo, carried out his responsibilities in a manner which has rightly earned him the congratulations of all the members of the Assembly today. We join in the unanimous expression of congratulations to him.
The whole international community is indeed grateful to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, who, as the embodiment of the unique role of the United Nations, has made praiseworthy efforts towards the attainment of peace and development whenever circumstances have required.
Relations between the two super-Powers have entered a new phase one of dialogue and mutual consultations. The conclusion of the first treaty on nuclear disarmament - the agreement on intermediate-range nuclear forces - marked both the effective start of that process and its first achievement. World peace can only gain from the transformation of the ideological and military rivalry between the two blocs into a relationship of partners who significantly contribute to the establishment of a genuine international front for world peace.
It is also encouraging that inflexible attitudes generated by the cold war are now beginning to yield to dialogue. That is most promising for our common future, but further efforts are required. My country reaffirms its commitment to that concept of world peace, which should be universal and global in its approach. Shared development requires extended and universal co-operation. Common peace calls for common efforts.
While recognizing the influence of European security on world security, we should now become aware of the partial nature of security confined to Europe, while the demands of the integration and complementarity of civilizations require that the legitimate security interests of the southern Mediterranean non-aligned countries be taken into account.
Regional mechanisms are often capable of formulating lasting solutions to local conflicts. When regional efforts fail, however, such conflicts must receive the sustained attention of the international community. The United Nations provides the ideal, irreplaceable framework in which just and genuine solutions can be found.
The Non-Aligned Movement works constantly to promote that common, global enterprise, as it did recently in Belgrade. Present developments in international relations provide the fullest justification of its message.
Our Movement intends to play its proper role in the current changes. It is clearly unacceptable that a few should claim the dominant part in the necessary repainting of the international landscape while the vast majority of mankind are confined to being passive spectators.
Algeria is aware of the contribution that each country must make in building a common peace and strengthening co-operation. It is in the African and Arab spheres to which it naturally belongs that Algeria is making its resolute contribution, which we hope will be significant as an act of faith and by virtue of the results it can produce.
Ever since the first Mahgreb Summit, held in Zeralda in Algeria which gathered the regional Heads of State, the Arab Maghreb has resolutely assumed its commitment to the common destiny of the peoples of the region. Since then, despite the changing international climate, objectives have come into focus and resources have been organized to meet the challenge of the future and show the way to a union that is based on a common heritage of civilization.
Given the scope of the enormous challenges, there can be no doubt that the building of the Mahgreb.- can only greatly benefit by a peaceful, just and lasting settlement of the question of Western Sahara. Therefore, Algeria profoundly welcomes the acceptance, last year, by Morocco and the POLISARIO Front of the joint proposals of the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, seeking to ensure the free and authentic exercise by the Sahraoui people of its right to self-determination and independence.
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It is also a source of satisfaction to my country that the peace dialogue between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front, a dialogue that Algeria has always advocated and fervently supported, reached a historic turning-point with the meeting last January between His Majesty King Hassan II of Morocco and the leaders of the POLISARIO Front. We firmly believe that the continuation of that dialogue will be decisive in ensuring that the two brotherly and neighbourly peoples confidently go forward and contribute significantly to the building of the Arab Mahgreb. All parties encourage this dialogue and hope that the process will lead to the referendum on self-determination that the United Nations and the OAU are preparing to organize in Western Sahara.
As concerns the mandate entrusted to them by the General Assembly, the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Secretary-General of the United Nations know that they can count on my country's support in the fulfilment of their peace mission. I wish, again today, to reaffirm that commitment.
In that spirit and with the same conviction, we have worked unceasingly to ensure the full restoration of brotherly relations and understanding between the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the Republic of Chad. My country was thus most satisfied to see that those two neighbouring countries have sealed their rapprochement through the agreement signed on 31 August in Algiers. By this historic completion of a process, which has been perseveringly and fraternally supported by Algeria the two sister countries have resolved to open the path to a future of good-neighbourly relations, friendliness and co-operation.
I wish to pay a well-deserved tribute here to the tireless efforts of the Adjtoc Committee of African Heads of State for that success, which is a success for all Africa. Africa as a whole is entitled to rejoice today over the new era of harmony now initiated between the peoples of Chad and Libya, thus releasing renewed common energy with which to meet the numerous challenges facing the continent.
There is no greater challenge for Africa than that posed by the apartheid regime in all its dimensions - the racist dimension in South Africa, the colonial in Namibia, and the destabilizing in southern Africa.
The Namibian people, which for decades has fought a liberation struggle under the leadership of the South West Africa People's Organization, is preparing to rejoin the community of independent nations. However, the international community, which has constantly supported that struggle, must not lower its guard at this crucial stage, when South Africa is trying to disrupt the fair and genuine electoral process envisaged by the international community.
The United Nations is therefore duty-bound constantly to exert all efforts to ensure the untrammelled implementation of Security Council resolution 435 (1978) and the free expression of sovereign will of the Namibian people.
In the same vein, if, as it appears, under the combined pressures of the international community, South Africa has yielded to the inevitability of Namibian independence, we must now redouble our efforts to bring about the collapse of the bulwark of racism in southern Africa. Only then will all the countries of southern Africa be able to enjoy the stability and peace necessary for the development to which they aspire.
As in Namibia, where it is the best guarantor of genuine independence, the United Nations continues to be the most suitable framework for a just and lasting settlement of the Middle East problem. Today, more than ever, the core of that conflict, the Palestinian question, cannot be overlooked. Despite the repression and oppression inflicted on it daily by the Israeli occupying forces, the Palestinian people through its heroic intifadah has demonstrated that it is willing to pay the price in order to recover all its rights, including the inalienable right to build its own State on its liberated homeland.
Proclaimed in Algeria a year ago, the birth of that State was immediately hailed and recognized by a majority of nations AS an inevitable, legitimate, fitting and timely response to the national aspirations of the Palestinian people. In that connection, there can be no just and lasting settlement without the satisfaction of the national rights of the Palestinian people, nor any viable alternative to an international conference having the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on an equal footing with all parties.
In Lebanon, another Arab people has endured a dreadful tragedy, which has aggravated an already heavy toll of death and destruction.
That fratricidal conflict has none the less not lessened the faith of the Lebanese in the rebuilding of their country once they have attained freedom and national reconciliation. Inspired by that same faith, the Tripartite Committee, consisting of President Chadli Benjedid, of the Custodian of the Two Holy Sites of Islam, King Fahd Ibn Abdelaziz, and of His Majesty King Hassan II, has worked with resolve to ensure that Lebanon recovers its unity, independence and sovereignty.
The comprehensive and definitive cease-fire that has just been established has opened the way to a brotherly dialogue and will make possible a definitive settlement of the Lebanese crisis in all its aspects. That was the objective of the Tripartite Committee, which has mobilized all its efforts, engaged in numerous contacts, explored all possibilities, and contacted all parties, neglecting or belittling none and favouring none. Algeria hopes that battered Lebanon will withstand the trials inflicted upon it, so that all its sons, in an upsurge of national patriotism, can restore the country's institutions and unity.
My country is glad to see that the conflict between Iraq and Iran is among those which have seen a distinct appeasement. Algeria hopes for a consolidation of the current cease-fire in order to promote dialogue in mutual respect and in the mutual interests of the parties. In that respect, the Secretary-General of our Organization has our full support for the implementation of Security Council resolution 598 (1987) .
In Central America, the Tela meeting has confirmed the will of the peoples of the region to work together towards regional peace and security. The process thus set in motion, involving an active contribution from the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, deserves the support of those who have it within their power to act in order to secure its successful outcome.
In Afghanistan, Algeria hopes to see the Geneva Accords fully and completely implemented, so that national reconciliation will eventually prevail and so that the independence and non-alignment of that country may be maintained. The gradual elimination of the nuclear threat, which is most certainly a vital objective, should not cause us, however, to overlook the necessity to combat underdevelopment, the breadth and tragic depth of which can also pose a threat of worldwide conflagration.
While the developed countries have overcome their difficulties and are moving ahead towards new prospects of economic and technological over-development, economic deterioration continues to have devastating effects on the living standards of the peoples in our countries, which are already relegated to a marginal status. On the one hand, the present international economic system has evolved the mechanisms by which it operates to the interest of the sustained development of some parties. On the other hand, it has maintained the underdevelopment of others who are now in a situation of virtual, if not outright, economic, social and political disruption.
The unceasing deterioration of the terms of trade has already aggravated the paradoxical phenomenon of the net transfer of resources from the poorer to the richer countries. It is well known today that, far from producing the promised positive effects, economic prosperity in the developed countries has in fact generated a new situation characterized by the disintegration of certain complementary bonds which would have constituted the economic link between North and South.
Because of the absence of appropriate and timely treatment, third world indebtedness is now reaching a threshold that leaves no room for hope for future economic growth. The debt burden is exhausting all reserves, including those needed for everyday life. The measures taken by the developed countries, though conceived with praiseworthy intentions, have been too few and too late.
The use of narcotics has spread to such an extent as to cause keen concern over the very future of many societies. Although the spread of the use of narcotics has taken place essentially within the more developed consumer societies, Algeria, as a member of the international community, conscious of the bonds which unite us all, feels directly concerned by the threat of the social and ecological disaster inherent in the spread of narcotics utilization and trafficking. Algeria therefore hails the courageous endeavour engaged in by Colombia, and washes to express its sympathy and solidarity towards all other major initiatives designed to wage relentless war against the use of and trafficking in narcotics.
My country, which signed the Vienna Convention as soon as it had been adopted, wishes to place on record once again its willingness to continue to contribute to the struggle against a phenomenon that truly afflicts the international community as a whole.
Having faith in a future which we shall build together, my country reaffirms its dedication to the strengthening of the incipient dialogue and to the spread of its benefits. From this point of view, the United Nations continues to be an efficient instrument for the implementation of our collective will. Our hope is that it will gain unanimous confidence in its vocation to co-ordinate our common efforts so that this session may be a fine opportunity to look forward to a promising future.


Before you began to occupy that exalted seat, Mr. President, you were already discharging a noble international mandate, having presided for years over the Special Committee against Apartheid. Under your direction, the global counterattack against that insult to the race of man has gained signal victories. And now, there you are, Mr. President, a friend of the Filipinos, who visited us in 1987, a friend of our late martyr, Ninoy Aquino, having worked with him at Harvard. We Filipinos rejoice that it is you who will preside over this body of nations for the next 365 days.
And to Mr. Dante Caputo, the former Foreign Minister of Argentina, let me say how much our prediction of success for his presidency last year has been proved correct. His expert hand steered us through the proceedings without conflict, without incident, without delay. We had faith in him as an outstanding human leader, and he justified that faith.
Filipinos can take added pride in the fact that Dante Caputo, our successful outgoing President, is a man who, like us, has his roots in the world of Hispanic culture.
Last year, I came to this rostrum to bring the Assembly a message from the poor of my country. I said that they are poor not because they come from an indolent race. For, I said, our countrymen now cover the earths 2 million of us in the Americas, half a million in the Middle East, a quarter of a million in Europe, half a million in Asia and the Pacific - seekers all of toil and life, teachers of nations, physicians of men, builders of industry, designers of modules that challenge the stars and settle on the moon, men and women of skill and diligence, like those of Europe who settled America and here built a new world. I said they are poor not because they do not know how to fight for their rights. For they were the first in Asia to shed their blood against Western colonialism and produce their own republic. Ninety years later, they were the first nation in the world to mass by the millions to confront guns with rosaries and bring down a dictator without the shedding of blood. In those four bloodless, spectacular days of February they raised, under Corazon C. Aquino, the new peaceful rallying cry of people power, which even now is resonating, sometimes unsuccessfully, always gloriously, in the streets of nations in transition on more than one continent of this earth.
I said they are poor not because they multiply too fast. And they know that in rich nations it is the building of cities and industries, not the extermination of human instincts, that has reduced this multiplication.
I said they are poor not because their nation does not grow. For our country does grow. Now that we are free again, although we remain harassed by the extremes of right and left, we have kept to our democratic course and our economy is growing again: last year by 6.8 per cent, last semester by 5.3 per cent.
They are poor, I said, because they have inherited an external debt from the dictator - now $30 billion - and in order to service it their country must divert about 20 per cent of its annual budget and send out annually $1.7 billion more than it receives. All these years the countries of the North have insisted that one may not talk of debt relief beyond the boardrooms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Yet international debt forgiveness became a reality just about the time the IMF and the World Bank were born, for both these institutions were conceived by the same bold, victorious, visionary leadership that, remembering the stubborn mistake in 1919 at Versailles, forgave in 1947, in London, 70 per cent of the German debt. And so I called last year for the formation of an international debt and development commission in order to recapture that original vision. The Group of 77 responded quickly, and two resolutions were drafted. The first called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to continue using his high offices towards a common understanding on a solution to the international external debt. That resolution was passed by the forty-third session of the General Assembly with only one member voting against, and one abstaining.
This year the second resolution, submitted as a draft decision by Tunisia on behalf of the Group of 77 - the one calling for the establishment of the commission on debt and development that I had the privilege of proposing last year - is on the agenda of this Assembly. The draft decision calls upon this forty-fourth session of the General Assembly
"To establish, under the aegis of the Secretary-General, an Advisory Commission on Debt and Development composed of eminent persons from the academic, political and financial sectors with knowledge and experience in international finance, trade and development, to develop innovative approaches and evolve specific proposals related to all types of debt in order to solve the debt problem of developing countries in a manner consistent with their sustained growth and development." (A/C.R/43/L.19) . The draft decision provides that
"Debtor and creditor interests shall be represented in the membership of the Commission, which shall take into account the need for appropriate geographical representation and regional balance.! (ibid.) . It commands that "The Commission shall take into consideration the various existing studies and recommendations on the subject, including the views of the Secretary-General set out in his report entitled 'Towards a durable solution of the debt problem and those expressed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in the Trade and Development Report, 1988." (ibid.). Finally, it gives this Commission a life of three years and commands it to submit annual reports to the General Assembly. A commission of this kind was proposed by the non-aligned summit in Belgrade early this month.
The Assembly must adopt this draft decision, for the global attack on debt must be pressed. The Assembly must adopt it because you yourself, Mr. President, have articulated the economic, political and social consequences of the international debt. The Assembly must adopt it, for the time is come when original rigidities are yielding to flexibilities. In 1987 Japan suggested IMF-funded bonds to buy out debtors' loans. At the 1988 Toronto summit France proposed the forgiveness of debts of the poorest of the poor in the sub-Sahara. At the forty-third session of the General Assembly last year, French President Francois Mitterand proposed an IMF-guaranteed conversion of loans into bonds to reduce financial charges of debtor countries and urged creditor countries to finance this scheme. Last year, as we were delivering our opening statements in this Hall, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States - at the annual IMF-World Bank meeting in Berlin - was standing firm against the use of international aid funds for private-debt reduction.
A week later, as I negotiated in Washington a review of the Philippine-United States military bases agreement, the same Secretary of the Treasury began to show flexibility. He agreed to the Philippine position that a portion of United States compensation money could be used for a debt-re duct ion component of the bases compensation package.
It was for us - and perhaps for all international debtors - a historic breakthrough, a budding promise of universal relief. Four months later the bud blossomed into a full-fledged plan. On 10 March 1989 United States Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady announced that plan, which allows - nay, encourages - the financing of international debt reduction and debt service by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Because of the plan, our Philippine negotiators may soon sign with private banks a debt-relief agreement that could be unprecedented. It will be voluntary, for the extent of debt relief is determined by the willingness of commercial banks to agree to substantial discounts on debts repaid. It will be a substantial debt reduction, possibly up to half of the debt to banks which choose to exit from our borrowing programme. And there will be new resources - up to $1 billion from the hard core of institutions that will continue to support us.
I spoke to the Assembly last year of our poor. They are still poor, and they are still there, but they may now look hopefully to new horizons. Flexible minds make new horizons possible. It is the flexible and creative mind of Secretary Brady, bending with the international reality, that has given us this new horizon. It is, indeed, thank God, the new age of flexibility. I saw it happening in the Soviet Union, too, last month, when I met with Mr. Gorbachev in Moscow, where flexibility is pronounced perestroika and glasnost, and includes the ability to change, to admit past imperfections and to dream of new perfections.
Let us aid this new flexibility, let us speed its momentum by providing it with global underpinnings, underpinnings which can emanate only from the peaceful processes of the United Nations and the instruments that awaken its talent to create. One such instrument could be the proposed Advisory Commission on Debt and Development. The Commission will come to life, not as a challenge to the creditor nations, but, indeed, as a tribute to them and as a move of collaboration by debtor nations in that new openness which creditors have begun to display.
The Brady plan sees forgiveness as essential to revitalizing adjustment and making us credit-worthy again. The Brady plan can jump-start the stalled engines of development of debtor nations. The Brady plan is a beginning, and it must answer still other questions. Is there no criterion, for instance, with which to judge the application of debt-reduction or relief, except that they should be pursued? Must we wait until all the physical levels of production and productivity potentials are obliterated for the debt to be written off or forgiven?  Are not meaningful reductions possible only when there are new facilities that are not caught up in the inertia of the international bureaucracy or of strongly held philosophies and interests? Otherwise, will the focus ever go beyond sub-Sahara?
Should not the Government major actors of the plan be mobilizing their leverage and adjusting their financial regulations? Is it enough to lay out the bare bones, which lose their flavour in the broth of rhetoric?
Should not the Commission be advising not only on how to persuade creditors to reduce debt but also on how to help debtors produce in order to pay debt?
There is, for instance, the generation of power - power produces goods? goods pay debts. The Commission could stimulate power-generation and raise the power capabilities of debtor countries. It could ask the question*, if rich countries have often been ready to underwrite slum clearances, cannot they launch a programme to underwrite power equipment on concessional terms for the development of a slum-cleared economy that in time will develop the capacity to repay these concessional loans? Let the world take note that the most outstanding success of the United Nations is the United Nations itself.
The United Nations cap is full of feathers these days. There is a feather for putting Namibia irreversibly on the road to independence and to becoming the 160th Member of the United Nations. There is another feather for the Secretary-General's mediating a cease-fire and bringing fighting between Iran and Iraq to an end. There is a special feather: the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize for the United Nations peace-keeping forces.
There are still other feathers perhaps soon to be pinned on that cap - for United Nations campaigns on drug abuse, on the environment and on terrorism. Can there be United Nations campaigns any more urgent than those against these universally recognized evils - drug abuse, abuse of the environment, terrorism? I submit that there can.
There is a conventional theological faith that every human being is born with original sin. There is a new theology, a theology of bondage, not liberation.
Today a human being is born not only with original sin but also with original debt. To quantify it, the third world now owes 41.3 trillion to creditors, so every child in that world is indebted up to 41,000 at the moment of birth. At an
annual rate of interest of 10 per cent compounded, these human beings at the age of 21 will each owe $7,000, and if they marry at that age, husband and wife will begin their married life with a joint burden of over 314,000. Is not that a challenge worthy of 15 9 Members of the United Nations to take up?
Is not this campaign worthy of being launched now, now that the momentum of flexibility has stirred the ranks of the lenders?
Is not this the moment for the debtors to extend the hand of collaboration to the creditors, in a Commission, as the draft decision puts it, "of eminent persons from the academic, political and financial sectors with knowledge and experience in international finance, trade and development, to develop innovative approaches and evolve specific proposals related to all types of debt in order to solve the debt problem of developing countries in a manner consistent with their sustained growth and development"? (A/C.2/43/L.19, para, (a))
Let the Commission be the next feather in the United Nations cap. It will be a timely and elegant feather. A world of hungry debtors awaits its pinning in the United Nations cap.


 I should like to convey to Mr. Joseph Garba our sincere congratulations on his election to the high office of President of the General Assembly at the forty-fourth session. I wish him every success in his important mission.
The Polish delegation also addresses its best wishes to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar. Recently it has been our honour to have the Secretary-General as our guest in Poland. We wish to express to him our great appreciation and full support for his indefatigable endeavours to ease international tension and solve regional conflicts.
The Assembly meets on the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. That war began in and against Poland as a result of aggression committed by the Nazi Government of Germany and executed in collusion with the Stalinist Government of the Soviet Union. At the same time those two Governments concluded a series of agreements that provided for the partition of Poland and its liquidation as a State. The agreements also concerned the fate of other countries in the region. All those arrangements went against international morality and conflicted with various treaties and fundamental and peremptory rules of general international law. The agreements were thus null and void from their very inception. Yet they were put into effect by their signatories, and as a result, they have brought about extreme suffering afflicting millions in that part of Europe.
 I am aware of the fact that the Assembly is not a place for historical reminiscences. However, I have mentioned the war for three reasons. First, we must have a full and definite clarification of what happened immediately before and during the war. That is necessary in order to eliminate the influence some past events still exercise on an essential part of our contemporary international
relations - and nay yet have an impact in the future - and on the reaction of public opinion in the respective countries. Secondly, we must make the United Nations more effective in its task of preventing armed conflicts. In that field the record of the Organization is less than perfect. Thirdly, 50 years ago frontiers and territorial acquisitions were at stake. Today, much emphasis must be put on the duty of all State not to question the frontiers and on the obligation to treat frontiers as inviolable. Some recent debates on territorial issues did more harm than good.
The past year has seen many important and favourable changes on the international scene. The development of East-West relations is to a large extent auspicious - including relations between the United states of America and the Soviet Union. Signs of rapprochement can be observed in new contacts and new areas of co-operation between the States of Eastern and Western Europe. Poland takes and will take an active part in that trend.
The extinction or mitigation of some regional conflicts also contributes to the overall improvement of the international situation. This is a development in which the United Nations has recently had a major role. Poland endorses the efforts of the Security Council and the Secretary-General for the peaceful settlement of regional conflicts. Consequently, Poland has dispatched military contingents and observer groups for duty in a number of the United Nations peace-keeping and observer missions.
But let us take a broader view. At this particular juncture the Organization has a chance to map out the ways of resolving the key problems which beset mankind. These problems include relieving the burden of the arms race, enhancing living standards, preventing further degradation of the environment, and problems of international law, in particular the protection of human rights.
Let me begin with the problem of armaments. In our view, the top priorities are limitation of armaments, progressive elimination of nuclear weapons, and elaboration of an effective system of supervision. The world needs new and far-reaching disarmament agreements in which all States would have their fair share. Such agreements should concern all types of armaments in all areas of the world.
We believe that all States, whatever their size and strength, bear responsibility for disarmament. Without detracting from the obvious role of the major Powers, each and every State should seek to initiate and promote disarmament measures, including steps of a unilateral character.
Poland has been present in that field for a long time. More than 30 years ago the Polish Government submitted proposals for a nuclear-free zone in Europe. Though they did not materialize, they did introduce the very idea into diplomatic thinking and practice.
Poland has been taking an active part in the work of the Geneva Disarmament Conference. We assume that the Conference will shortly produce a balanced draft treaty eliminating, once and forever, chemical weapons. The determination of many States to reach agreement on that important matter has been confirmed, among others by the Paris Conference of States Parties to the Geneva Protocol of 1925.
Naturally, Poland focuses its attention on Europe, but does that not only because it is a European country. In Europe, in spite of detente, we still have the largest concentration and, therefore, the heaviest concentration and confrontation of the armed forces of the two Power blocs. Hence, the Polish idea of making their military doctrines more defensive and less confrontational. Hence, also, the emphasis on political means of ensuring security, in contradistinction to measures of a strictly military nature. During the recent meeting of the Political Consultative Committee, the States parties to the Warsaw Treaty reaffirmed their readiness to engage, together with other interested States, in a common search for agreements with a view to eliminating all weapons of mass destruction, radically reducing conventional armed forces, preventing the arms races from spreading to outer space, gradually limiting industrial production for military purposes and significantly cutting back military expenditures.
On its part, Poland has been making a specific contribution to the limitation of armaments in Europe. The Polish Government decided to reduce its armed forces by the end of 1990 by some 40,000 soldiers, 850 main battle tanks, 900 artillery guns and mortars, 700 armoured vehicles and 80 combat aircraft. The Government also decided to eliminate a number of other items of military technical equipment.
At the same time, the Polish Government is also working to develop a new approach to regional disarmament in Europe. Poland has submitted a plan to decrease armaments and increase confidence in Central Europe. That is the Jaruzelski Plan. Motivated by the same aspiration, we take an active part in the Vienna talks of the 23 and 35 States. It is with satisfaction that we take note of the proposals made in regard to conventional forces in Europe at the summit session of the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). We are determined to do our utmost to make it possible for the first accord to be reached in 1990.
I now turn to the economic problems, particularly the problem of living standards. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Many countries have entered into economic regression. Incidentally, this is also the case of Poland. In the long run this situation will hurt everybody because it will lead to an eruption of social discontent on an unprecedented scale. The effects of such an upheaval may well cripple the interdependent world economy, for nowadays development has become indivisible. What we need is a new consensus on growth and development capable of bringing about an economic order that would be more efficient and of greater use to all groups of States, particularly those that remain under-privileged. We should reach such a consensus next year, during the special session of the General Assembly. We 3hould then start work on the elaboration and adoption of the International Development Strategy for the 1990s.
It is becoming imperative to co-ordinate national economic policies in order to reduce instability and unpredictability and to enhance International economic security.
We still face the global debt problem. Its magnitude, its persistence and the massive damage it inflicts on the development process in debtor countries and on the world economy are difficult to grasp. Some would assume that after a period of adjustment the debtor countries would return to financial viability and would grow and develop again. That assumption has not materialized. My country is particularly disturbed by the lack of significant progress in achieving a solution to the debt problem of the middle-income countries. In view of the Polish experience, I must tell members frankly that without debt reduction, national economic policies and austerity measures, no matter how vigorous and stringent, will remain but paper measures.
There should be a resumption of capital flows to indebted countries in the framework of an open international trading system. The adjustment effort, which are painful on the social plane, are likely to fail if there is no external support. And there is a pressing need for multilateral schemes. All this would amount to a "debt-with-growth" strategy.
May I add that the difficulty of some States is aggravated by the transfer of resources from the developing countries to the highly industrialized regions. I shall not deal at length with the economic problems of Poland. We realize that help must come from within, yet we seek reasonable assistance coming from abroad.
At the same time I can assure the Assembly that the process of liberalization of our trade regime is well advanced and this year a new customs tariff became effective. Moreover, we intend to modify our present formal status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in order to be put on an equal footing with other countries.
Against this background I should like, on behalf of my Government, to express our thanks to all countries that have responded to the recommendations of the Western economic summit and launched a special programme of economic assistance to Poland. Let me observe that this assistance transcends the realm of economic action. It has a broader sense because it helps to overcome the division of Europe.
I also feel it necessary to make some remarks on international law and human rights.
Apart from drafting treaties the General Assembly has its own methods of influencing the law-declaring or law-making process. I am thinking of the adoption of resolutions laying down rules of conduct for States. Certain branches or divisions of contemporary international law owe their origin to the initiatives undertaken by the Assembly along these lines.
The manner, however, in which the Assembly fulfils that role is sometimes open to doubt, and it is not without its flaws. The Organization and its Members have not succeeded in stopping the inflation of resolutions, and this statement also applies to some instruments, which aspire to a role in law-making. More often than not the dividing line between law and non-law is blurred. I think that the use of resolutions for declaring existing law and for suggesting new law should be more selective. There is still much room for improvement regarding procedures in this field more extensive preparatory work, elimination of haste, more insistence on agreed solutions - in contradistinction to those imposed by majorities - and much greater use of legal expertise. In the latter respect the Assembly could take more advantage of the International Law Commission.
This observation leads me to say a few words about that organ which has rendered so many services to the cause of international law.
The International Law Commission was restructured some time ago, but there are still doubts regarding its composition, methods of work and results. The influence of politics on the elections to the Commission has had some bad consequences. There is some connection between that problem and the value and authority of the Commission’s drafts. As to the choice of subjects, one may suggest that the Commission should not avoid the great legal issues of our time. The Commission's prudence is proof of its wisdom; yet, more imagination would enhance the process of law-making. The Commission should respond to the global challenges we face. It is only then that the Commission will be able to fulfil its mandate under the Charter.
In the important field of the judicial settlement of disputes Poland intends to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice according to Article 36 of its Statute. We think that the obligatory jurisdiction of the Court should be enhanced and supported.
Poland attaches major weight to the implementation of human rights. We put forward the idea of, and then initiated the work on, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We hope that this Convention will be adopted at the present session. We intend to accede to some instruments which are not yet binding on us.
In the first place we intend to accept the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We also look forward to the day when it will be possible for us to become a member of the Council of Europe and to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights.
I now come to my last point, which is Polish foreign policy seen against the background of our obligations under the Charter and the political changes now taking place in my country.
Poland has a geo-strategic location that makes its position militarily significant. This has a bearing on the whole region. Yet, I believe that one can control the consequences of this objective fact, or at least try to do it, so as to base Polish foreign policy firmly on the fundamentals of external sovereignty and internal independence. Poland will do its best to maintain peace, freedom and good-neighbourly co-operation in Europe.
In other words, without disregarding the facts, we have a vision of peace and freedom in a region which, in contemporary history, has been too often one of conflict, division and domination. If Poland is free and democratic, then its geopolitical and geostrategic importance could and should be turned into an asset that supports peace and fosters freedom.
Until recently the role of the ideological factor in international relations - at any rate among many States - has been considerable. Now that role is greatly reduced and the present Polish Government welcomes this development. We shall strive for the total elimination of ideology from inter-State relations, which does . not mean that we reject international morality. Ideology and morality are different things. Morality and respect for the human person remain our highest values.
I am convinced that the present reform movement in Poland is a good sign for the world and, more particularly, for Europe. The new Polish Government, under the imaginative leadership of Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, has no intention whatsoever to destabilize the existing international order and, in particular, one of its components, that is the mutual strategic security involving the two super-Powers. However, spheres of security can never mean spheres of influence. We regard changes such as those now taking place in Poland as an element of the disengagement of the super-Powers from their long-standing confrontation in the heart of Europe.
The key issue of Polish political strategy lies in our relations with the Soviet Union. We shall respect existing treaties and we firmly believe in mutual respect for national interests. Yet such respect does not impose any limitations regarding the choice and change of the system of government. The present Polish Government acts in such a way that the promotion of our vital interests is not in conflict with the interests of others.
We shall contribute to the recreation of a united Europe, in which Poland should have its place. The most recent step in that direction is our treaty with the European Economic Community. We highly appreciate the friendly and helpful attitude of the Community presided over by France.
Politics do not boil down to the mere application of some purported laws of history. Personally, I do not believe in the existence of such laws. Destiny can wait, but the time has now come and Poland must shape its fate. We count on our friends in the United Nations.