Allow me, Sir, to express
to you and to your delegation our sincere congratulations on
your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at
its fifty-second session. As you are an experienced United
Nations diplomat, we entertain great expectations of your
tenure of office as President of the Assembly.
We wish also to pay tribute to the outgoing
President, His Excellency Ambassador Razali Ismail of
Malaysia, whose stewardship of the fifty-first session will
forever be remembered for its creativity and dynamism.
We wish him well and thank him and his country,
Malaysia, for a job well done.
The Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, deserves in
ample measure our gratitude for the professionalism he
has demonstrated thus far in his leadership of the United
Nations. His reports on the work of the Organization and
on the wide-ranging reform of the United Nations system
renew the confidence and trust we reposed in him when
we elected him only nine months ago.
We live in a rapidly changing world. The past few
years have witnessed an unprecedented expansion of
world trade and commerce, and the trend continues
unabated. National boundaries are being transcended with
ease in the interaction of national economies through a
process which has been christened globalization. In the
international political arena, there is increasing unanimity
amongst the community of nations and other global actors
that narrow national interests should be superseded by
universal interests.
These complex changes in the world outlook call for
an enhanced role for the United Nations in international
affairs lest change become brutal, especially for the
developing countries. The United Nations has gained new
international stature in recent years, thanks to the
extirpation of the politics of paralysis of the cold-war era.
“Blue Helmets” are today being deployed in situations
formerly considered to be outside the range of the
responsibility of the United Nations for the maintenance
of international peace and security.
The United Nations has also built international
consensus through a series of conferences and meetings
on areas and issues as diverse as women and
development, youth, the environment, human rights,
ageing, population, social development and human
settlements, education and health, the outcome of which
will guide the thinking and actions of the international
community into the next millennium. Furthermore, the
United Nations has proved its capability to deal
effectively with the serious threats posed by nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons, a capability which is
often frustrated by a lack of political will and
commitment on the part of Member States.
8

In short, in the present-day reality, no one country, big
or small, rich or poor, weak or powerful, can exist in
isolation or act unilaterally without suffering the
consequences of its actions. Terrorism, drug trafficking,
cross-border crime, the depletion of the ozone layer, acid
rain, receding rain forests, advancing deserts, diminishing
fresh-water reserves, poverty, disease and many more
recognize no national boundaries; only collective action by
the States Members of the Organization can arrest and
reverse their advance.
The United Nations is the mother of genuine
multilateralism, and it should occupy centre stage in our
thinking about international relations. The heavy
responsibilities reposed in the world body by present-day
international realities demand that the United Nations
system should undergo substantial reform if it is to respond
more efficiently and effectively to the needs and concerns
of its Member States and their peoples, now and in the
future. The United Nations system needs to be streamlined
to remove administrative bottlenecks, weed out corruption
and other malpractices and eliminate duplication in the
activities of its organs, agencies, programmes, funds and
offices.
It is in that spirit that Botswana welcomes the recent
reform initiatives of the Secretary-General as the basis for
further discussion and debate on the reform process. My
delegation will have occasion to pronounce itself on the
various elements of the reform package in due course. At
this juncture, I can only observe that Botswana is disposed
to a holistic consideration of the package by the General
Assembly. The reform proposals constitute a single unit,
and its constituent parts should be discussed with that
understanding in mind.
This means, therefore, that those elements of the
package — the greatest number, we would hope — which
are acceptable to the majority of delegations, or on which
general consensus is attained, should be implemented
forthwith. True, many of the proposals are indeed
revolutionary, as the Secretary-General himself concedes,
and, if approved, they would in a positive sense change
permanently the way the Organization operates. The reform
package is the broadest and most extensive in the history of
the United Nations and, in my view, is an appropriate
response to the magnitude of the clamour for reform which
has echoed through the halls of this Organization and which
for some time now has even threatened its very existence.
It would have been the height of absurdity for my
delegation to have expected the whole reform package to be
agreeable or acceptable to every delegation in this Hall,
but I find the arguments and complaints from some
quarters that the package does not go far enough
preposterous to say the least. Reform, as the Secretary-
General rightly reminds us, is not an event but a process.
Reform should not and must not be apocalyptic. It cannot
and must not become synonymous with the downsizing of
the Organization to the extent that it would deprive it of
the requisite human and material resources to render
services to Member States, especially the developing
countries.
Such reform would be inimical to the efficacy of the
United Nations. Reform should lead to a more efficient,
more effective and more relevant United Nations, that is
a United Nations with a capacity to foresee and respond
adequately and expeditiously to imminent disaster
situations around the world and to other needs and
concerns of humankind today.
The Secretary-General’s reform proposals have
signalled the direction to take in the reform process; it is
the collaborative response of the Member States which is
awaited. I believe we are all very serious about reform of
the United Nations; now is the time to approve and
implement those reform proposals on which there is
general consensus. Our commitment, seriousness and
sincerity about United Nations reform would increasingly
be called into doubt if by the beginning of the fifty-third
session of the Assembly we had not implemented any of
the reform proposals contained in the Secretary-General’s
reform package.
No one country, region or group of countries can
arrogate to itself the right to dictate the reform agenda.
What should be established is a balanced, equitable and
non-discriminatory reform agenda in which the common
wishes and interests of every Member State can find
expression. This is the guiding principle my delegation
will follow in its contribution to the ongoing reform
process.
The Secretary-General’s reform package is not the
only momentous issue in the United Nations reform
process. Close to four years have elapsed, and the debate
on Security Council reform continues without an end in
sight. It is obvious that, unless we can suddenly acquire
Solomonic wisdom, we are unlikely to come to a
successful conclusion of this debate in another four years
9

or even much longer. Yet there has emerged a body of
thought which favours an increase in the membership of the
Security Council, in both the permanent and non-permanent
member categories, to reflect the configuration of today’s
international political realities.
Botswana was a member of the Security Council until
the end of last year, and we are convinced more than ever
before that the composition of the membership of the
Security Council, as well as its working methods and
procedures, needs reform. It is time for the debate on
Security Council reform to be brought to a successful
conclusion, so that all geographical regions can be equitably
represented in the Council. We should not allow the debate
to become sterile or degenerate into a dialogue between the
deaf and the dumb.
The financial health of the Organization is another
issue which remains a source of deep concern and anguish
to my delegation. The United Nations cannot be expected
to deliver the goods without the necessary financial
lifeblood. In other words, the United Nations cannot operate
on the basis of a shoestring budget and be expected to carry
out the heavy responsibilities imposed on it every day by
Member States. It is therefore imperative that each and
every Member State should meet its financial obligations to
this Organization on time, in full and without any
conditionalities, and clear all its arrears as a matter of
urgency.
The international community has made considerable
progress in the struggle for democracy around the world
since the end of the cold war. Today, peoples and nations
across the spectrum of the African continent live in relative
peace and tranquillity and are engaged in the reconstruction
of their national economies, thanks to the emergence of a
democratic culture. In spite of these positive developments,
the reality is that Africa is still bedeviled by deadly
conflicts.
However, we are happy to acknowledge that fighting
has ceased in Liberia. The Liberian people have at long last
freely chosen their leaders, and their verdict was respected.
The long-suffering and economically plundered
Democratic Republic of the Congo today enjoys relative
peace and security after a short but devastating crisis that
ended with the overthrow of a 32-year dictatorship. The
people of the Democratic Republic of Congo need the
understanding and sympathy of the international community
as they grapple with the reconstruction of their country.
The final settlement of the conflict in Angola
continues to elude the international community, but, thank
God, there has been no resumption of hostilities so far.
Progress is painfully slow, due to the failure by UNITA
to honour its obligations under the Lusaka Protocol, and
especially its refusal to disarm and demobilize its forces.
The United Nations should monitor the situation in
Angola very closely to ensure that the present slow
progress does not assume a state of permanence or lead
to a reversal of the gains made so far under the Lusaka
process.
The international community should continue to pay
closer attention to the situation in Somalia and help the
Somali parties hold a peace conference through which
they can settle, once and for all, their long-running
fratricidal conflict.
There is a renewed sense of expectation that the
efforts deployed to resolve the conflict in Western Sahara
will bear fruit. It is our hope and wish that the Secretary-
General, through his Personal Envoy, Mr. James Baker,
will achieve a breakthrough which will lead to the final
settlement of the Western Sahara conflict in the very near
future.
The situation in Sierra Leone is troubling. The
overthrow of a democratically elected Government in
Sierra Leone five months ago was a most unfortunate
reversal of the political gains that had been achieved in
that country. The international community has taken the
correct line in making it clear that it will no longer
tolerate any military dictatorships. The rejection and
isolation of the military junta in Sierra Leone should
serve as a warning to military leaders with similar designs
that military rule is unacceptable, whatever the
justification. The ballot, and not the bullet, should be the
only way through which political leadership can change
hands.
While the situation in the Balkans remains generally
tense, there is a light at the end of the tunnel signalling
the arrival of a new era of national reconciliation in the
constituent States of the former Yugoslavia. The time has
come for the various ethnic groups in the former
Yugoslavia to realize that none of their countries can exist
as an ethnically pure State without causing political
tensions and reawakening centuries-old hatreds. Their
future and destinies are, fortunately or unfortunately,
inextricably intertwined by reason of geography and
history. They should accept their fate for what it is.
Conflict and war have failed to resolve the ethnic
10

composition of these States in the past, and are unlikely to
resolve them in the future.
We salute the Secretary-General for his recent
initiative which brought together the leaders of the two
sides in the Cyprus conflict in New York for talks. We
encourage him to continue his good offices until the parties
reach a final solution to this decades old conflict.
Botswana supports the Middle East peace process.
Experience has shown that peace in that complex cauldron
of conflict cannot be achieved through war and bloodshed.
Only painstaking and rigorous negotiations conducted in an
atmosphere of give and take can lead to the desired result:
the peace that everyone is yearning for in the Middle East.
We hope that the State of Israel will realize the
insensitivity of the construction of new settlements on
Palestinian lands. This has contributed in no small measure
to the current crisis in the Middle East peace process. No
effort should be spared to put the Middle East peace
process back on track so that the hopes and aspirations of
the ordinary peoples of that region to live together in peace
as good neighbours may be realized.
We welcome the ongoing talks between the two
Koreas, in which China and the United States are also
participants. It is our ardent hope that the talks will lead to
a decrease in political tensions in the Korean peninsula, and
that the two Koreas will henceforth establish some common
ground which will assist in the eventual reunification of
their divided country.
I wish to welcome the recent conclusion of the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on
Their Destruction. I wish the Convention enjoyed the
support of all nations. Anti-personnel mines are diabolical
and cowardly instruments of warfare which indiscriminately
kill and maim their unsuspecting victims. They should have
been banned a long time ago, before they claimed more
lives and maimed many people. It is our fervent desire that
the Convention will soon enjoy the support of all Member
States. It is hoped that the experience gained in the
campaign for the elaboration and conclusion of this
Convention will be extended to all weapons of mass
destruction.
Several developing countries are still wrestling with
daunting economic and social problems. The number of
countries whose people still live in abject poverty and lack
basic nourishment is on the rise, especially in Africa.
Regrettably, multilateral assistance is declining rapidly in
relation to the rising poverty in the developing countries.
Only a handful of developed countries meet the agreed
goal of 0.7 per cent of gross national product to official
development assistance. At the same time, private capital
flows have been directed to only a few countries. The
United Nations funds and programmes are also unable to
implement their respective mandates due to lack of
resources. It is important that this trend be not only
arrested but reversed through strengthened international
cooperation for development.
For meaningful development to take root in the
developing countries, an enabling international
environment should be established which can address
such issues as macroeconomic stability, more open trade
regimes in developed countries, stable financial systems,
reasonable debt initiatives, such as those proposed under
the World Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt
Initiative, and greater financial flows from developed
countries to the developing countries. The international
community must also make concerted efforts to support
the development programmes of the developing countries
in capacity-building, infrastructure and manpower
development.
Obviously, there will be an absolute need for a
turnaround in the political and economic orientation of the
developed countries in favour of global prosperity if these
objectives are to be realized. It is such enlightened
thinking, which promises economic and political rewards
to the greatest number of the Member States of the
United Nations, which is absent in the development
bureaucracies of many developed countries.
As always, our faith in the United Nations as a
repository of the hopes and aspirations of humankind is
genuine, deep-rooted and unassailable. We are a young
and developing country in a troubled world — a world
caught between the extremes of rampant globalization and
resurgent isolationism. Our survival rests with this global
Organization and its Charter, to which we pledge our
unstinting commitment and loyalty.


On behalf of the
Government and people of the Republic of Trinidad and
Tobago, I have the distinct pleasure and honour to extend
sincere congratulations to you, Sir, and to the Government
of Ukraine on your election to the presidency of the
General Assembly at this fifty-second session. I am
confident that, under your able leadership, the urgent and
important issues which face the General Assembly at this
critical time in the history of the United Nations will be
advanced.
I would also like to express my profound
appreciation to your predecessor, Ambassador Razali
Ismail of Malaysia, for his excellent stewardship over the
last session. His inimitable and dynamic style has left a
distinctive mark on the modus operandi of the General
Assembly. Ambassador Ismail deserves our
commendation for his efforts to advance the work of the
General Assembly on issues such as the reform of the
Security Council, the Agenda for Development and the
nineteenth special session of the General Assembly to
review and appraise the implementation of Agenda 21.
Trinidad and Tobago remains committed to the
principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
Today, as we approach the twenty-first century and a new
range of issues demands our attention as nation States,
our commitment to the United Nations is no less focused,
no less poignant. Trinidad and Tobago continues to
believe in the efficacy of the United Nations, a body now
at a critical point in its evolution. We applaud Secretary-
General Kofi Annan, who has presented perhaps the most
extensive reform proposals in the history of the
Organization. A restructured Organization will be better
poised to respond more readily to the challenges of the
next century. There is no doubt about the need of the
international community for the United Nations. No other
body remotely approximates its universality of
membership and it remains the most appropriate forum
for addressing the interrelated issues of peace, security
and sustainable development.
While the international community must address
these perennial issues, we need at the same time to
confront the daunting tasks of providing humanitarian
5

assistance and reconstructive aid and ensuring the
promotion of good governance, democracy and human
rights. In this post-cold-war period, the United Nations
must strive to build an international community based on
peace, justice, equity, democracy and the rule of
international law.
Trinidad and Tobago is concerned about the rise in
political conflicts and tensions and the unresolved long-
standing disputes which continue to threaten international
peace and security. Increased efforts must be made by the
international community to address these conflicts through
peaceful means. Trinidad and Tobago wishes to restate its
commitment to the non-use of force in the conduct of
international relations and the peaceful settlement of
disputes. We will continue to support United Nations-led
peacekeeping missions and do our part to further
democracy, as exemplified by our participation in the
election processes in such countries as Haiti, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Namibia and South Africa.
This General Assembly will address yet again the
continuing quest for a just and lasting peace in the Middle
East. At this delicate period in the peace process, Trinidad
and Tobago believes that durable peace will be achieved
only if all parties to the dispute adhere to the relevant
United Nations resolutions and implement the agreements
and guarantees to which they have committed themselves
in bilateral and multilateral negotiations.
We in the Caribbean region appreciate the support
given by the international community to the Government
and people of Haiti. This support has contributed to the
progress made so far in the building of democracy and the
strengthening of its institutions. We are convinced that the
recent decision to extend the mandate of the United Nations
Transition Mission in Haiti was necessary to consolidate
gains already made. We must continue to provide material
and other support to strengthen Haiti’s democracy and its
economic development. These are necessary pillars for the
establishment of durable peace and stability in that country.
Trinidad and Tobago, as a member of the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM), pledges to continue to do its part
in consolidating this process. It is in this context that we
welcomed Haiti as the fifteenth member State of
CARICOM at the meeting last July of the Heads of
Government of CARICOM, which was held in Montego
Bay in Jamaica. Trinidad and Tobago continues to
participate in the efforts of the international community in
this transition period, as evidenced by the fact that a
Trinidad and Tobago national, Ambassador Colin
Granderson, is the Executive Director of the Organization
of American States/United Nations International Civilian
Mission in Haiti. It will also be recalled that Trinidad and
Tobago, as part of a hemispheric effort, participated in the
military mission that restored the democratically elected
President to Haiti and our efforts have continued at both
the civilian and military levels after that objective was
achieved.
In the post-cold-war era, the world has witnessed an
escalation in the abuse of human rights, including some
cases of genocide and other heinous crimes against
humanity. Trinidad and Tobago has always been
concerned about such atrocities. Trinidad and Tobago is
proud of the role it played in reintroducing on the
international political and legal agenda the question of the
establishment of a permanent international criminal court.
The Government of my country is heartened by the
increasing support for the establishment of the
international criminal court and we welcome the
substantial progress made thus far by the Preparatory
Committee for its establishment. Trinidad and Tobago
urges Member States to continue their constructive and
active participation during the forthcoming sessions of the
Preparatory Committee. We further urge wider
involvement in the process so as to ensure the successful
negotiation of a widely acceptable statute, which will be
finalized at a conference of plenipotentiaries to be held in
Rome in the summer of 1998.
It is because of this concern for the promotion and
protection of human rights and our absolute condemnation
of acts of genocide and crimes against humanity that
Trinidad and Tobago participated at the highest level
through our President, Mr. Arthur N. R. Robinson, at a
conference in Italy on reining in impunity for
international crimes and serious violations of fundamental
human rights. That conference addressed issues pertaining
to the ongoing work of the Preparatory Committee and
unanimous support was expressed for a permanent
international criminal court to ensure that perpetrators of
such crimes are brought to justice.
Linked to the considerations of peace and security
are the myriad socio-economic problems which continue
to undermine the stability of our nations. In this regard,
the international community has sought to respond by
convening a series of world conferences to analyse the
global situation and provide blueprints for action at the
national, regional and international levels.
6

A continuing concern for the Government of Trinidad
and Tobago remains the failure on the part of the
international community to provide adequate resources for
the accelerated implementation of the commitments made
at these conferences. Any reform of the United Nations
system aimed at delivering mandated programmes in a
more efficient manner must therefore take this factor into
account.
The World Summit for Social Development, which
was held in Copenhagen in 1995, highlighted the urgent
need to eradicate poverty and to develop policies to
promote social and economic equity. In October 1996, as a
follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development, a
Caribbean Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Eradication was
held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The assembled
Ministers developed a Plan of Action on poverty
eradication, which is guiding Governments of the region in
the elaboration of their own national plans. In this regard,
the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has adopted and
is vigilantly pursuing as one of its primary objectives a
policy of sustained economic growth with equity, with
special emphasis on poverty eradication.
My Government recognizes the central role of
education and its impact on the eradication of poverty and
we have begun to reform the curriculum to give all children
equal access to quality education as we strive continuously
in Trinidad and Tobago towards achieving a “total quality
nation”. Education, in itself, is central to the Government’s
objective of producing a total quality nation, in which all
our citizenry strives for excellence, is committed to the
highest standards, is technologically equipped to deal with
the realities of a knowledge-based work environment and is
afforded opportunities for life-long learning.
In addition, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago
has established mechanisms for addressing the scourge of
poverty and societal inequities through the following
initiatives.
First, we established a change-management unit for
poverty eradication and equity-building, which reports to a
Ministerial Council on Social Development. This Council
was launched in October 1996, with the assistance of the
Poverty Strategies Initiative of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). The Government
applauds UNDP’s support.
Secondly, we set up a Committee on Social
Displacement. The Committee’s terms of reference include
the development of holistic plans to provide relief to all
homeless and destitute persons.
Thirdly, expenditure on several other social safety-
net schemes has been significantly increased in order to
deal with problems and issues affecting women, the
elderly, children, adolescents, the disabled and the
dispossessed.
These measures have been recognized and indeed
reflected by UNDP in its 1997 Human Development
Report, which lists Trinidad and Tobago at the top of the
human poverty index rankings. According to the Report,
Trinidad and Tobago is among those countries which
have reduced human poverty to a human poverty index
value of less than 10 per cent.
We must all continue to support efforts for the
eradication of poverty in accordance with agreed
programmes and plans of action. The assault on poverty,
especially rural poverty, must take into account the
special needs of women and their full integration in the
development process.
Trinidad and Tobago therefore welcomes the
progress achieved by the United Nations in following up
the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing
in September 1995, which had as one of its primary
objectives the need to accord high priority to gender
issues. It welcomes as well the appointment of a high-
level official as a special adviser to the Secretary-General
on gender issues and the advancement of women.
Social and economic problems transcend national
boundaries and therefore require international solutions
based on strengthened global partnerships to support
action. When the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago,
The Honourable Basdeo Panday, addressed the fifty-first
session of the United Nations General Assembly, he
identified a number of social problems which pose a
particular threat to the stability and integrity of small
States. Among the problems he mentioned were drug
abuse and drug trafficking and the associated problems of
money laundering and trafficking in small arms, as well
as terrorism and social disintegration.
Trinidad and Tobago therefore welcomes the
convening of the special session of the United Nations
General Assembly on illicit drugs, to be held in New
York in June 1998. This session should provide an
appropriate opportunity for Governments to review
progress made in implementing the Global Programme of
7

Action on drugs adopted in February 1990 and serve to
intensify drug-control strategies and cooperation worldwide.
The drug scourge and its attendant consequences
require action at different levels. To that end, Caribbean
Governments have decided to establish a criminal justice
protection programme that would facilitate cooperation in
the confidential protection of witnesses, jurors, judicial and
law enforcement personnel and their families. If this
programme is to be successfully implemented, additional
training and technical assistance from the international
community and agencies such as the United Nations
International Drug Control Programme will be required.
The United Nations has a critical role to play, but it is
the responsibility — indeed, the duty — of every State to
act aggressively in this regard. Conscious of its
responsibility, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has
embarked upon initiatives to curb the illicit drug trade and
eradicate the associated downstream activity of money
laundering.
These initiatives are in keeping with international
conventions and declarations, such as the United Nations
Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances, the Commonwealth Scheme
relating to Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and the
Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in
Criminal Matters. Trinidad and Tobago has also entered
into bilateral agreements with other countries to foster
cooperation with regard to arresting the growth of
transnational crimes associated with trafficking.
Our Government has declared its commitment to
eliminating the threats to the stability, security and safety
of our society that emanate from the scourge of the illicit
drug trade. Some of the measures taken include the
following.
The first measure is the signing of an agreement on
maritime counter-drug operations with the United States of
America. This bilateral mechanism has already proved to be
very effective in dealing with the pernicious drug trade.
The second measure is the extension of the
Government’s powers of extradition and the negotiation of
agreements with countries with which it does not now have
extradition agreements. We are renegotiating existing
agreements to make extradition procedures more effective.
Trinidad and Tobago is also fulfilling its obligations under
existing extradition treaties.
The third measure is the serious implementation of
money- laundering drug laws. The illicit gains of the drug
trade and the resource base of drug criminals are being
attacked. The property and profits of drug lords are being
confiscated as a result of measures which have been
introduced in my country.
Also, a task force to counter narcotics and money
laundering has been established and the Government is
pursuing law reform in the area of bank secrecy.
Another measure is that Trinidad and Tobago —
with the cooperation of other CARICOM Governments,
Canada, Britain and the United States of America — has
created a witness protection programme. In addition, we
are establishing the criminal justice protection programme
to which I alluded earlier.
Finally, we continue to seek bilateral and multilateral
assistance in various forms, such as equipment, personnel,
aircraft and maritime support in our relentless fight
against illicit drugs.
Earlier I referred to the efforts to reform this
Organization. One of the key issues that will engage the
attention of delegations at the fifty-second session is the
question of the reform of the intergovernmental
machinery. We are particularly interested in efforts at
reform and reconstruction, especially as they relate to the
development activities of the United Nations. We view
with satisfaction the Secretary-General’s proposal,
introduced last March, that the new structure of the
Secretariat should serve to bolster support for Africa’s
development, South-South cooperation and the sustainable
development of small island States.
Trinidad and Tobago welcomes the recent decision
of the nineteenth special session of the General Assembly
to hold a comprehensive review of the United Nations
Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of
Small Island Developing States. That Conference, which
was held in Barbados in 1994, was of historic
significance, marking as it did the recognition on the part
of the international community of the special situation and
needs of small islands.
The Barbados Declaration and Programme of Action
have as their overall objective the management of
environmental problems, the management of our vital
natural resources and the improvement of human-resource
capability and institutional requirements for sustainable
development of small island States in the overall context
8

of Agenda 21. We look forward to the full support of the
United Nations and the international community when the
comprehensive review and appraisal of the implementation
of the Barbados Programme of Action takes place in 1999.
A new phase of international cooperation for the
Caribbean region was heralded in May 1997 at the first
meeting of the secretariats of CARICOM and the United
Nations, from which emanated a work programme for the
implementation of special projects. We commend this
initiative and are confident that this new relationship will be
of benefit to the people of the Caribbean region.
The volcanic eruptions in Montserrat bring to the fore
the vulnerability of small islands to natural disasters. This
phenomenon and other environmental problems have
received increased recognition since the 1992 Rio
Conference on Environment and Development. Trinidad and
Tobago shares the anguish felt by the citizens of the
Caribbean island of Montserrat, which is fast becoming
uninhabitable. CARICOM member States have responded
within their limited capabilities to the disaster, and we will
continue to provide logistic and other support.
To this end, Trinidad and Tobago, in response to the
plight of the Government and people of Montserrat, has
pledged financial and technical assistance, medical and
other relief and engineering personnel, and has been
involved in the establishment of a CARICOM village in the
northern part of the island of Montserrat — a decision that
was taken at the recent conference of CARICOM Heads of
Government. Within our available resources, Trinidad and
Tobago will continue to be of assistance.
The special concerns of small island developing States
were also incorporated in the recently adopted Agenda for
Development. The Agenda recognizes the fact that
economic development, social development and
environmental protection are interdependent and mutually
reinforcing components of sustainable development, and are
the basis for the achievement of a higher quality of life for
all people. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago
attaches great significance to this issue. We are therefore
pursuing economic, social and infrastructural development
in a sustainable way which avoids environmental
degradation, conserves our natural resource endowment and
helps to build and maintain a long-term national capacity to
support rising standards of living for the population, as well
as opportunities for self-actualization.
Recent steps to promote sustainable development in
Trinidad and Tobago in the area of environmental
management include: the establishment of an
environmental management authority and drafting of a
national environmental policy; the development of
environmental standards; the preparation of a water
resources management strategy; the development of a
national parks and watershed management project; and the
commissioning of a study to assist in establishing a policy
framework and facilities for the management of oil and
hazardous wastes.
Trinidad and Tobago has also ratified several
international conventions relating to the environment: the
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer; the 1994 United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change; the 1994 Basel Convention on the
Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and Their Disposal; and the 1996 Convention on
Biological Diversity.
In the area of macroeconomic policy, we have
proceeded to liberalize the trade and exchange regimes to
foster enhanced competitiveness; streamline the incentive
framework; privatize State-owned enterprises to promote
increasing levels of private investment; promote
entrepreneurial activity through, among other measures, a
venture capital regime; and to modernize and strengthen
intellectual property legislation to encourage investment
and the transfer of technology.
In the social sector, the Government has focused on
rationalization and restructuring of the social service
delivery system; expanding access to education for the
school-age population; rationalization and strengthening
of the health services through the health sector reform
programme; regularization of squatter communities;
restructuring of the unemployment relief programme to
allow for skill acquisition through on-the-job training; the
establishment of a community development fund to
provide financing for the delivery of basic social services
and infrastructure to the poor and vulnerable population
groups and communities; and the provision of institutional
support for the strengthening of non-governmental
organizations and community-based organizations to assist
in this regard.
Trinidad and Tobago is a cosmopolitan society in
which the human rights of each individual are
constitutionally guaranteed. We endeavour to achieve the
cherished ideal of a truly democratic nation, in which all
persons live together in harmony, with equal opportunities
for all, in order that each individual may contribute to the
process of national development. In this context, one of
9

the primary goals of the Government of Trinidad and
Tobago has been to seek to wider participation in the
decision-making process through a strengthened local
government machinery in a manner that will promote the
empowerment of local communities in the pursuit of
development efforts and the promotion of good governance.
In a similar vein, the United Nations, with the
diversity of its membership, must harness individual and
collective strengths to advance the interests of all Members
of the Organization as we move into a new millennium. In
this regard, Trinidad and Tobago welcomes the ongoing
discussions aimed at reforming the membership and
working procedures of the Security Council. It is our hope
that this process will result in a Council whose composition
more accurately reflects the wider membership of the
General Assembly and whose working procedures are more
open and inclusive than has previously been the norm.
We all need to work steadfastly to improve the image
of the United Nations from one of goal-setting to one which
facilitates prompt action by Members in a manner that is
consistent and wide-ranging and takes into account the
special needs of the most vulnerable among us.
It is incumbent on all Member States to imbue our
Organization with a renewed sense of self-confidence, faith
and optimism and to work in a global partnership to
achieve the goals and ideals of the United Nations. We owe
this legacy to present and future generations.


South Africa welcomes your
election, Sir, as the President of the General Assembly at
its fifty-second session. We congratulate you having
experienced at first hand your skills and role as Vice-
Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid. We
also express our appreciation to Ambassador Razali Ismail
for his tireless work as President of the General Assembly
at its fifty-first session.
May I also congratulate His Excellency Mr. Kofi
Annan on his election as the seventh Secretary-General of
the United Nations. The zeal that the Secretary-General
has displayed in addressing, through his reform proposals,
the difficulties confronting this Organization is
impressive. The Secretary-General’s reform programme
is one that in many respects complements the
intergovernmental process regarding the revitalization of
the Organization.
The General Assembly is well aware of the need to
reform the United Nations. The process of reform should
produce a revitalized Organization capable of addressing
humanity’s vital issues of peace and security. Central to
the process of modernization of the United Nations is the
restructuring of the Security Council to redress existing
imbalances and transform it into a transparent organ
accountable to the broader membership of the
Organization.
South Africa fully supports the Non-Aligned
Movement’s position that there should be no partial or
selective expansion in the membership of the Security
Council to the detriment of developing countries.
The reaffirmation at the Organization of African
Unity’s Harare Summit of Africa’s claim to two
permanent and five non-permanent seats, with the same
powers and prerogatives enjoyed by the current permanent
members in an expanded Security Council, is consistent
with the Charter principle of equitable geographical
representation. If the Security Council is to fulfil the role
of custodian of international peace and security envisaged
for it in the Charter, it must be perceived to be fully
legitimate by States and peoples.
South Africa is therefore of the view that a limited
expansion of only five or six new Security Council seats
will not fulfil the crucial requirement of transforming the
Security Council into a representative organ.
Central to the Security Council reform process is the
question of the veto, which has been a focal point in our
deliberations for the last three and a half years. Indeed,
the democratization of the Council hinges on the veto
being either eliminated or extended to the new permanent
members. Accordingly, the issue of the status of the veto
must of necessity form an integral part of a
comprehensive reform package. Permanent membership
without the veto represents merely a symbolic gesture to
new permanent members which would serve to perpetuate
13

an unjust and discriminatory practice and accord them an
inferior status.
I wish to recall that last year in the General Assembly,
I registered South Africa’s disappointment with the slow
pace of the debate relating to the reform of the Security
Council. The time has come for us all to display the
necessary political will and determination in order to reach
agreement on a comprehensive set of measures which will
lead to the creation of a Security Council which is
transparent, democratic, accountable and thus credible and
legitimate.
The fifty-first session of the General Assembly also
witnessed the conclusion of the work of the Open-ended
High-level Working Group on the Strengthening of the
United Nations System. Its notable recommendations
regarding the strengthening of the role and functions of the
General Assembly attest to the importance which we as
Member States attach to this body as the supreme political
organ of the Organization.
It is, however, disappointing that on the issue relating
to the election of a Secretary-General, the Working Group
was unable to reach consensus on the recommendation to
the permanent members of the Security Council to refrain
from using the veto to block the outcome of the election.
As a result of Africa’s painful past experiences under
colonial domination, as well as the abhorrent system of
apartheid, my Government is committed to the final
eradication of colonialism and fully supports the effective
implementation of the Plan of Action for the International
Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. We believe,
therefore, that the Committee of 24 should continue its
work in order to determine the interests of the peoples of
Non-Self-Governing Territories regarding their future
political status. We call on the administering Powers to lend
their full cooperation to the Committee.
South Africa is concerned that intra-State conflicts in
Africa continue to pose a threat to the continent’s stability.
These conflicts lead to loss of life and economic hardships
and are a major stumbling block on the road towards peace
and development. It is a matter of concern that conflicts in
Africa persist despite the commendable efforts of the
Organization of African Unity and of African leaders in
conflict resolution.
We therefore urge parties to the conflict in the
Republic of the Congo to observe the ceasefire agreement
and to make all efforts to ensure that the interim measures
for the holding of national elections in 1998 are instituted.
Similarly, we condemn the coup in Sierra Leone and
implore Member States of the United Nations to support
Africa’s efforts to restore constitutional order by
refraining from recognizing or giving support in any form
to the military Government.
South Africa is committed to the promotion of peace
in Angola, which we believe will contribute to the
consolidation and extension of stability to the whole of
our region of southern Africa. We are therefore concerned
about the failure of UNITA to fulfil its obligations under
the Lusaka Protocol. In this regard, my Government
welcomes the decision of the Security Council to impose
the punitive measures envisaged in its resolution 1127
(1997), as a means of ensuring UNITA’s compliance.
South Africa has followed the unfolding
developments in the Middle East with cautious optimism.
South Africa, and indeed the international community,
welcomed the signing of the Oslo accord by the Palestine
Liberation Organization and the Israeli Government and
applauded it as representing a positive step towards the
full realization of the long-awaited comprehensive and
just settlement in the region. But the decision of the
Government of Israel to construct new Jewish settlements
in Jebel Abu Ghneim has given rise to tensions and has
generated a crisis situation which has reignited conflict in
the region. We all know that this decision is a flagrant
violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and
of the relevant resolutions of this body. It is no doubt an
attempt to change the legal status of Jerusalem and to pre-
empt the final status negotiations.
The inalienable right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination is a prerequisite for achieving a durable
and comprehensive peace. For peace and stability to
prevail, the region requires the unconditional withdrawal
of Israel from all Palestinian and Arab territories occupied
since 1967.
South Africa welcomes the Secretary-General’s latest
initiatives currently under way to seek a lasting solution
to the question of Cyprus. We urge all parties to make
concerted efforts in working with the Secretary-General
and his good offices towards an overall comprehensive
settlement to this question, which has been on the agenda
of the United Nations for more than 30 years.
South Africa attaches great importance to preventive
diplomacy as a means of forestalling the possibility of
conflict. We commend the report of the Special
14

Committee on Peacekeeping Operations because it provides
us with measures aimed at strengthening the role of the
United Nations in peacekeeping. We also welcome the
Committee’s 1997 report on peacekeeping operations and
urge the Committee to address the question of the rapidly
deployable mission headquarters and the further
development of United Nations standby arrangements.
South Africa believes that progress on disarmament
issues will create a world free of war. The end of the cold
war heralded a period of progress in disarmament and non-
proliferation, as was evidenced by the entry into force of
the Chemical Weapons Convention and the conclusion of
the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. However, the
re-emergence of maximalist positions in the disarmament
debate retards global disarmament, as demonstrated by the
disappointing progress made at the Conference on
Disarmament this year. Despite the consensual adoption of
a mandate for the negotiation of a fissile-material cut-off
treaty, one of the essential elements for complete nuclear
disarmament, little progress has been made. Nevertheless,
South Africa is encouraged by the large number of States
which have committed themselves to the complete
eradication of weapons of mass destruction by joining
various non-proliferation and disarmament treaties during
the past year. Universal adherence to important
disarmament treaties will pave the way towards a world
free of weapons of mass destruction.
Humanity is faced with the daily threat of harm from
the use of conventional weapons. High priority should be
placed on strategies and policies intended to prevent the
proliferation of conventional weapons and to reduce their
flow to conflict areas. The conclusions reached by the
United Nations Panel of Governmental Experts on Small
Arms lay the foundation for future action by the
international community.
On 18 September 1997, the Oslo Diplomatic
Conference adopted the Convention on the Prohibition of
the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-
Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The Convention
is a clear and total ban on anti-personnel mines and
establishes a compelling new international norm against this
scourge which has for so long afflicted humanity, especially
innocent civilians, mostly women and children. South
Africa looks forward to the early entry into force of the
Convention and appeals to all States to heed the call of the
international community against these inhumane weapons.
South Africa has often expressed grave concern at the
involvement of its nationals in mercenary activities, because
these activities inhibit the achievement of peaceful
solutions to internal conflicts and destabilize regions.
Consequently, we have drafted legislation to regulate the
rendering of military assistance by private individuals and
companies to foreign Governments and agencies.
The South African Government puts a high premium
on the promotion and protection of human rights as a
cornerstone of its foreign policy. As we approach the
fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the thirtieth of the International Year
for Human Rights, we reaffirm our commitment to the
preeminent values of basic human dignity, values for
which we have fought and for which we must continue to
fight. Our peoples deserve no less. In this context, my
delegation supports the recommendation to convene a
world conference on racism and racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance.
My Government remains committed to addressing
gender inequities. The worst manifestations of these
unequal gender relations are the acts of violence
committed against women and girls. My Government has
pledged itself to preventing and combating this violence
by, among other initiatives, aligning its legislation,
policies and strategies with international instruments such
as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women.
South Africa believes in the strengthening of the role
of the United Nations in the promotion of international
cooperation for economic and social development. To this
end, we welcome those measures in the Secretary-
General’s proposed reform package which seek to
strengthen the capacity of the United Nations and to
revitalize its role in the context of development.
The adoption of the Agenda for Development by the
General Assembly was a milestone in our collective
search for a meaningful global partnership for
development. That the membership could reach agreement
on so complex a matter is testimony to the seriousness
with which States view the issue, and to the dynamics of
consensus-building in fostering a global partnership.
Member States should act to implement the Agenda for
Development in a coordinated manner, by creating
dynamic structures susceptible of successful delivery.
South Africa remains committed to an action-
orientated Agenda for Development which gives priority
to international cooperation for development. Partnerships
15

for development, as envisaged also in the Midrand
Ministerial Declaration and Partnership for Growth and
Development, should be established to ensure effective
delivery of assistance to the developing world.
The problems of abject poverty and social deprivation
continue to afflict and haunt many countries, particularly in
the developing world. In order to address this scourge,
which affects least-developed countries in particular,
effective and consistent measures need to be undertaken
within the context of the United Nations Decade for the
Eradication of Poverty.
The issue of external indebtedness continues to
frustrate the ability of the least-developed countries to
promote economic and social development. It is therefore
incumbent upon the international community to address and
find a solution to this problem as a matter of urgency.
One year after the conclusion of the mid-term review
of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of
Africa in the 1990s, we need to take stock and review
progress to see if the requisite resource mobilization levels
are anywhere near being met and whether the central
development goals are in place. As with the mid-term
review of the New Agenda, this would enable the
international community to take urgent and practical action
on behalf of the African continent to eradicate poverty and
underdevelopment.
We in southern Africa, as a region whose potential for
development was hamstrung by the repressive policies of
apartheid, cannot but seek the promotion of our people
through cooperation. It follows therefore that we should be
committed to the transformation of our Southern African
Development Community into an institution which provides
a framework for the promotion of the imperatives of
reconstruction and development. This would enhance the
degree to which, individually and collectively, the region
offers a basis to ensure a better life for all our peoples.
The global partnership for sustainable development
will be enhanced through the transfer of essential and
environmentally sound technologies to developing States on
preferential and concessional terms. The financial resources
and mechanisms necessary for the implementation of
Agenda 21 are still inadequate. Developed countries should
honour their commitment to raise official development
assistance flows to the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent
of gross domestic product. Those few countries which have
achieved this objective are commended.
We encourage the promotion and sustainable
management of the global environment to ensure a higher
quality of life for all. The objective of sustainable
development should be the integration of environmental,
economic and social policies in order to meet basic
human needs and to manage the environment on a
sustainable basis.
The disappointing lack of consensus at the special
session of the General Assembly on the environment held
in June 1997 leaves considerable follow-up action to be
undertaken in order to accelerate the implementation of
Agenda 21. In this respect, the role and importance of the
United Nations Environment Programme as one of the
leading United Nations bodies in the field of the
environment should be strengthened.
We commend the decision to convene a special
session on drugs to deal effectively with the illicit
production, sale, demand, trafficking and distribution of
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The special
session will offer Member States an opportunity to join
their efforts to combat drug abuse and illicit trafficking.
South Africa strongly favours the early establishment
of a permanent, independent and effective international
criminal court. An opportunity now exists to establish the
court before the turn of the century. We must therefore
redouble our efforts during the forthcoming sessions of
the Preparatory Committee to ensure that the diplomatic
conference in Rome can complete its work successfully.
It is imperative that all Member States continue fully
to support the international criminal tribunals for Rwanda
and the former Yugoslavia. To this end, my Government,
in collaboration with the Parliamentarians for Global
Action, recently hosted an international workshop on
securing State cooperation and compliance with the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Its purpose
was to review cooperation with the Rwanda Tribunal and
encourage the enactment of domestic legislation by
Member States, thus ensuring that those accused of acts
of genocide are swiftly brought to trial.
My Government welcomes efforts to elaborate a
draft convention to define terrorism. It is our belief that
acts of terrorism must be clearly distinguished from
national liberation struggles in pursuit of the right to self-
determination by peoples subjected to foreign or colonial
domination.
16

I should like to take this opportunity to announce to
the Assembly that on 20 August 1997, the South African
Cabinet approved ratification of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea. South Africa, a country
with considerable maritime interests, will, for its part,
continue to play a meaningful and constructive role in the
governance of the world’s oceans.
The continuing financial crisis of the Organization is
of great concern to my delegation. We fully support the
Secretary-General’s commitment to ending the long and
persistent near-bankruptcy of the Organization. It behoves
Member States to discharge their Charter obligation by
paying their contributions in full, on time and without
conditions.
The lofty ideals that brought us together should
continue to serve as an inspiration for us to strengthen the
authority and capacity of the United Nations as we move
into the next millennium.


Five years ago, when I first
addressed this Assembly, the cold war had only just
ended and the transition to a new era was beginning.
Now, together, we are making that historic transition.
Behind us, we leave a century full of humanity's capacity
for the worst and its genius for the best. Before us, at the
dawn of a new millennium, we can envision a new era
that escapes the twentieth century's darkest moments,
fulfils its most brilliant possibilities and crosses frontiers
yet unimagined.
We are off to a promising start. For the first time in
history, more than half the people represented in this
Assembly freely choose their own Governments. Free
markets are growing, spreading individual opportunity and
national well-being. Early in the twenty-first century,
more than 20 of this Assembly's members - home to
half the earth's population - will lift themselves from
the ranks of low-income nations.
Powerful forces are bringing us closer together,
profoundly changing the way we work, live and relate to
each other. Every day, millions of our citizens on every
continent use laptops and satellites to send information,
products and money across the planet in seconds. Bit by
bit, the information age is chipping away at barriers -
economic, political and social - that once kept people
locked in and ideas locked out. Science is unravelling
mysteries in the tiniest of human genes and in the vast
cosmos. Never in the course of human history have we
had a greater opportunity to make our people healthier
and wiser, to protect our planet from decay and abuse and
to reap the benefits of free markets without abandoning
the social contract and its concern for the common good.
Yet today's possibilities are not tomorrow's
guarantees. We have work to do.
7

The forces of global integration are a great tide,
inexorably wearing away the established order of things.
But we must decide what will be left in its wake. People
fear change when they feel its burdens but not its benefits.
They are susceptible to misguided protectionism and to the
poisoned appeals of extreme nationalism, and ethnic, racial
and religious hatreds. New global environmental challenges
require us to find ways to work together without damaging
legitimate aspirations for progress. We are all vulnerable to
the reckless acts of rogue States and to an unholy axis of
terrorists, drug traffickers and international criminals.
These twenty-first-century predators feed on the free
flow of information, ideas and people we cherish. They
abuse the vast power of technology to build black markets
for weapons, to compromise law enforcement with huge
bribes of illicit cash and to launder money with the
keystroke of a computer. These forces are our enemies. We
must face them together because no one can defeat them
alone.
To seize the opportunities and move against the threats
of this new global era, we need a new strategy of security.
Over the past five years, nations have begun to put that
strategy in place through a new network of institutions and
arrangements, with distinct missions, but a common
purpose: to secure and strengthen the gains of democracy
and free markets while turning back their enemies.
We see this strategy taking shape on every continent:
in expanded military alliances, such as the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO), its Partnership for Peace and
its partnerships with a democratic Russia and a democratic
Ukraine; in free trade arrangements, such as the World
Trade Organization and the global Information Technology
Agreement, and in the movement towards free-trade areas
by nations in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region and
elsewhere around the world; in strong arms-control regimes,
such as the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; in
multinational coalitions with zero tolerance for terrorism,
corruption, crime and drug trafficking; and in binding
international commitments to protect the environment and
safeguard human rights.
Through this web of institutions and arrangements,
nations are setting the international ground rules for the
twenty-first century, laying a foundation for security and
prosperity for those who live within them, while isolating
those who challenge them from the outside. This system
will develop and endure only if those who follow the rules
of peace and freedom fully reap their rewards. Only then
will our people believe that they have a stake in
supporting and shaping the emerging international system.
The United Nations must play a leading role in this
effort, filling in the fault lines of the new global era. The
core missions it has pursued during its first half century
will be just as relevant during the next half century: the
pursuit of peace and security, promoting human rights and
moving people from poverty to dignity and prosperity
through sustainable development.
Conceived in the cauldron of war, the United
Nations first task must remain the pursuit of peace and
security. For 50 years the United Nations has helped
prevent world war and nuclear holocaust. Unfortunately,
conflicts between nations, and within nations, have
endured. From 1945 until today, they have cost 20 million
lives. Just since the end of the cold war, each year there
have been more than 30 armed conflicts in which more
than 1,000 people have lost their lives - including, of
course, a quarter of a million killed in the former
Yugoslavia and more than half a million in Rwanda.
Millions of personal tragedies the world over are a
warning that we dare not be complacent or indifferent;
trouble in a far corner can become a plague on everyone's
house. People the world over cheer the hopeful
developments in Northern Ireland, grieve over the loss of
innocent lives and the stalling of the peace process in the
Middle East and long for a resolution of the differences
on the Korean peninsula, between Greece and Turkey or
between the great nations of India and Pakistan as they
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their birth.
The United Nations continues to keep many nations
away from bloodshed: in El Salvador and Mozambique;
in Haiti and Namibia; in Cyprus; and in Bosnia, where so
much remains to be done but can still be done because
the bloodshed has ended.
The United Nations record of service has left a
legacy of sacrifice. Just last week we lost some of our
finest sons and daughters in the crash of a United Nations
helicopter in Bosnia. Five were American, five German,
one Polish and one British - all citizens of the world we
are trying to make, each a selfless servant of peace. The
world is poorer for their passing.
At this very moment, the United Nations is keeping
the peace in 16 countries, often in partnership with
regional organizations such as NATO, the Organization of
American States, the Association of South-East Asian
8

Nations and the Economic Community of West African
States, avoiding wider conflicts and even greater suffering.
Our shared commitment to more realistic peacekeeping
training for United Nations troops, a stronger role for
civilian police and better integration between military and
civilian agencies - all these will help the United Nations
fulfil these missions in the years ahead.
At the same time, we must improve the United
Nations capabilities after a conflict ends to help peace
become self-sustaining. The United Nations cannot build
nations, but it can help nations build themselves by
fostering legitimate institutions of government, monitoring
elections and laying a strong foundation for economic
reconstruction.
This week the Security Council will hold an
unprecedented ministerial meeting on African security,
which our Secretary of State is proud to chair, and which
President Mugabe, Chairman of the Organization of African
Unity, will address. It will highlight the role the United
Nations can and should play in preventing conflict on a
continent where amazing progress towards democracy and
development is occurring alongside still too much discord,
disease and distress.
In the twenty-first century our security will be
challenged increasingly by interconnected groups that traffic
in terror, organized crime and drug smuggling. Already,
these international crime and drug syndicates drain up to
$750 billion a year from legitimate economies. That sum
that exceeds the combined gross national product of more
than half the nations in this Hall. These groups threaten to
undermine confidence in the fragile new democracies and
market economies that so many of you are working so hard
to see endure.
Two years ago I called upon all the members of this
Assembly to join in the fight against these forces. I applaud
the recent United Nations resolution calling on its Members
to join the major international anti-terrorism conventions,
making clear the emerging international consensus that
terrorism is always a crime and never a justifiable political
act. As more countries sign on, terrorists will have fewer
places to run or hide. I also applaud the steps that Members
are taking to implement the Declaration on Crime and
Public Security that the United States proposed two years
ago, calling for increased cooperation to strengthen every
citizen's right to basic safety, through cooperation on
extradition and asset forfeiture, shutting down grey markets
for guns and false documents, attacking corruption and
bringing higher standards to law enforcement in new
democracies.
The spread of these global criminal syndicates also
has made all the more urgent our common quest to
eliminate weapons of mass destruction. We cannot allow
them to fall into or remain in the wrong hands. Here too,
the United Nations must lead, and it has led - from the
United Nations Special Commission in Iraq to the
International Atomic Energy Agency, now the most
expansive global inspection system ever devised to police
arms-control agreements.
When we met here last year, I was honoured to be
the first of 146 leaders to sign the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), our commitment to end
all nuclear tests for all time, the longest-sought, hardest-
fought prize in the history of arms control. It will help
prevent the nuclear Powers from developing more
advanced and more dangerous weapons. It will limit the
possibilities for other States to acquire such devices. I am
pleased to announce that today I am sending this crucial
Treaty to the United States Senate for ratification. Our
common goal should be for the CTBT to enter into force
as soon as possible. I ask for of you to support that goal.
The United Nations second core mission must be to
defend and extend universal human rights and to help
democracy's remarkable gains endure. Fifty years ago the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
stated the international community's conviction that
people everywhere have the right to be treated with
dignity, to give voice to their opinions and to choose their
leaders; that these rights are universal - not American
rights, not Western rights, not rights for the developed
world only, but rights inherent in the humanity of people
everywhere.
Over the past decades these rights have become a
reality for more people than ever, from Asia to Africa,
from Europe to the Americas. In a world that links rich
and poor, North and South, city and countryside in an
electronic network of shared images in real time, the
more these universal rights take hold, the more people
who do not enjoy them will demand them. Armed with
photocopiers and fax machines, e-mail and the Internet;
supported by an increasingly important community of
non-governmental organizations, they will make their
demands known, spreading the spirit of freedom -
which, as the history of the last 10 years has shown us,
ultimately will prevail.
9

The United Nations must be prepared to respond -
not only by setting standards but by implementing them. To
deter abuses, we should strengthen the United Nations field
operations and early-warning systems. To strengthen
democratic institutions - the best guarantors of human
rights - we must pursue programmes to help new legal,
parliamentary and electoral institutions get off the ground.
To punish those responsible for crimes against humanity,
and to promote justice so that peace endures, we must
maintain our strong support for the United Nations war-
crime tribunals and truth commissions. And before the
century ends, we should establish a permanent international
court to prosecute the most serious violations of
humanitarian law.
The United States welcomes the Secretary General's
efforts to strengthen the role of human rights within the
United Nations system and his splendid choice of Mary
Robinson as the new High Commissioner for Human
Rights. We will work hard to make sure that she has the
support she needs to carry out her mandate.
Finally, the United Nations has a special responsibility
to make sure that as the global economy creates greater
wealth, it does not produce growing disparities between the
haves and have-nots or threaten the global environment, our
common home. Progress is not yet everyone's partner.
More than half the world's people are two days' walk from
a telephone, literally disconnected from the global economy.
Tens of millions lack the education, the training and the
skills they need to make the most of their God-given
abilities.
The men and women of the United Nations have
expertise across the entire range of humanitarian and
development activities. Every day they are making a
difference. We see it in nourished bodies of once-starving
children, in the full lives of those immunized against
disease, in the bright eyes of children exposed to education
through the rich storehouse of human knowledge, in
refugees cared for and returned to their homes and in the
health of rivers and lakes restored.
The United Nations must focus even more on shifting
resources from handouts to "hand ups", on giving people
the tools they need to make the most of their own destinies.
Spreading ideas and education and technology - the true
wealth of nations - is the best way to give the people the
chance to succeed.
The United Nations must continue to lead in ensuring
that today's progress does not come at tomorrow's expense.
When the nations of the world gather again next
December in Kyoto for the Conference of the Parties to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, all of us - developed and developing nations -
must seize the opportunity to turn back the clock on
greenhouse-gas emissions so that we can leave a healthy
planet to our children.
In these efforts, the United Nations no longer can,
and no longer need, go it alone. Innovative partnerships
with the private sector, non-governmental organizations
and the international financial institutions can leverage its
effectiveness many times over. Last week a truly
visionary American, Ted Turner, made a remarkable
donation to strengthen the United Nations development
and humanitarian programmes. His gesture highlights the
potential for partnership between the United Nations and
the private sector, in contributions of time, resources and
expertise. I hope more will follow his lead.
In this area and others, the Secretary-General is
aggressively pursuing the most far-reaching reform of the
United Nations in its history - not to make the United
Nations smaller as an end in itself, but to make it better.
The United States strongly supports his leadership. We
should pass the Secretary-General's reform agenda at this
session.
On every previous occasion I have addressed this
Assembly, the issue of our country's dues has brought the
commitment of the United States to the United Nations
into question. The United States was a founder of the
United Nations. We are proud to be its host. We believe
in its ideals. We continue to be, as we have been, its
largest contributor. We are committed to seeing the
United Nations succeed in the twenty-first century.
This year, for the first time since I have been
President, we have an opportunity to put the question of
debts and dues behind us once and for all and to put the
United Nations on a sounder financial footing for the
future. I have made it a priority to work with our
Congress on comprehensive legislation that would allow
us to pay off the bulk of our arrears and assure full
financing of America's assessment in the years ahead.
Our Congress's actions to solve this problem reflect a
strong bipartisan commitment to the United Nations and
to America's role within it. At the same time, we look to
Member States to adopt a more equitable scale of
assessments. Let me say that we also strongly support
expanding the Security Council to give more countries a
voice in the most important work of the United Nations.
10

In more equitably sharing responsibility for its successes,
we can make the United Nations stronger and more
democratic than it is today. I ask the General Assembly to
act on these proposals this year so that we can move
forward together.
At the dawn of a new century so full of hope but not
free of peril, more than ever we need a United Nations
where people of reason can work through shared problems
and take action to combat them, where nations of goodwill
can join in the struggle for freedom and prosperity and
where we can shape a future of peace, progress and the
preservation of our planet. We have the knowledge; we
have the intelligence; we have the energy; we have the
resources for the work before us. We are building the
necessary networks of cooperation. The great question
remaining is whether we have the vision and the heart
necessary to imagine a future that is different from the
past - necessary to free ourselves from destructive patterns
of relations with each other and within our own nations and
to live a future that is different.
A new century in a new millennium is upon us. We
are literally present at the future, and it is the great gift we
are obligated to leave to our children.


It gives me great pleasure to congratulate you, Sir, on your
election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-
second session. I am confident that your political
experience will help you conduct the work of the session
wisely and successfully.
I should also like to commend your predecessor, His
Excellency Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia, for the
excellent way in which he presided over the General
Assembly at its fifty-first session.
I also wish to extend our congratulations to the
Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, on his election to his
current position, and to express our appreciation for his
programme for the reform of the Organization. He can be
assured of our full support for any measures he takes to
that end.
As we approach a new millennium, the world is
witnessing a series of internal and external conflicts that
represent a great regression when compared to the
optimistic expectations that followed the end of the cold
war and the collapse of ideological conflicts. A new
world characterized by balance and equitable relations
among States was expected to emerge, with a view to the
creation of innovative cooperation among our States and
peoples in different areas of concern. However, I regret
to say that the world is still facing severe problems, such
as political conflict, poverty, famine and intensive
migratory movements. These are the result of poor
economic conditions, refugee flows caused by wars, the
deterioration of the environment, trafficking in illicit
drugs and the proliferation of organized crime.
In the context of these changes, and more than half
a century after the United Nations was established, there
is an urgent need for the Organization to undergo drastic
reforms, both structural and functional, so as to establish
rules and principles for a new international order free of
double standards. Such a new order would allow us to
rise to the new challenges and achieve the goals set forth
in the Charter more than 50 years ago for the
maintenance of international peace and security and the
intensification of international cooperation for the benefit
of the peoples of the world.
To this end, the process of reform must begin by
activating the role of the General Assembly and enabling
it to fulfil its duty in an effective manner that would give
its democratic resolutions vitality and credibility before
international public opinion. The Security Council must
also be reformed, so that it can carry out the role it has
been entrusted with, because it has a special status among

the United Nations bodies, as defined in the Charter. In our
view, this cannot be achieved except through a general
agreement that would regulate the use of the veto power,
limiting such use to cases covered by Chapter VII of the
United Nations Charter, namely, threats to international
peace.
In order for the Security Council to reflect the new
political and economic realities of a changing world, it must
increase the number of its non-permanent members to
provide for just and balanced representation and to enable
the Council to deal with the new international realities and
shoulder its responsibilities by becoming more democratic
through the adoption of a rotation system, not limiting
membership to certain States, and by giving all States the
opportunity to participate in its work and assume their share
of international responsibility.
Although we understand the opinions advocating an
increase in the number of permanent members, we believe
that the coexistence of permanent members that have the
power of veto with permanent members that do not, plus
non-permanent members, runs counter to the concepts of
equality among States, geographic and cultural
representation and international participation. It also runs
counter to the principle of democratic decision-making. In
order to achieve the required balance, fairness, justice,
equality and reason call for an increase in Security Council
membership for Asia, Africa and Latin America. Together,
those three continents have the majority of world population
and States. Nevertheless, their representation on the
Security Council is less than 50 per cent. In order for the
Secretary-General to be able to carry out the reforms that
fall within his competence, the financial crisis of the United
Nations must be addressed by making Member States
honour their legal commitments and pay their dues without
delay. In this regard, we would like to express our deep
gratitude to Mr. Ted Turner for his generous donation to
some United Nations humanitarian programmes. We hope
this will be an encouraging initiative for others to follow.
The task of maintaining international peace and
security has particular importance. Therefore, measures
recommended by the General Assembly or taken by the
Security Council should not be limited to post-conflict or
war situations. More attention should be given to
appropriate and timely preventive measures, because we
believe that early measures adopted by the international
community are the ideal way to avert the outbreak of
conflicts and wars and to avoid taking the necessary
political and military measures in the aftermath of the
conflict — let alone imposing half solutions that are often
unfair.
The question of disarmament plays an essential role
in building the foundation of international peace and
security. To achieve this goal, we believe that renewing
the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
(NPT) indefinitely is a decision that requires more support
and endorsement, so that the Treaty can acquire a
universal character, with the adherence of all States. In
this context, the State of Qatar affirms that Israel should
adhere to that Treaty and should place its nuclear
facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s
safeguards regime. This will be a basic step towards
establishing a zone free from nuclear and other weapons
of mass destruction in the Middle East. It would also
contribute to achieving equitable and balanced peace and
stability in that important area of the world so that there
would be no multiple criteria for defining the conduct of
States.
In the same context, we cannot fail to mention the
special importance of the Convention to ban anti-
personnel mines, which was finalized in Oslo recently. It
will be ready for signature in Ottawa next December. We
hope it will be signed by all States.
The world has witnessed fundamental economic
changes, such as the end of State control of economic life
in many States, the withering away of numerous restraints
on international trade, the easy transfer of capital and
huge investments across the world. Meanwhile, many
economies in developing countries are still deteriorating.
This requires that urgent and effective solutions be
provided by the international community to enable those
States to progress and develop their societies through
building strong and effective economies. Such an
endeavour requires us to take a new look at expenditures
on armaments, in order to save such huge sums and
allocate them to supporting education and health
programmes. This would also enable us to address the
problems of poverty and the environment and to develop
the economies of developing nations. This is an absolute
necessity for any new international economic order based
on integration and balance, and is capable of devising
desired solutions for the aforementioned problems. The
problems of poverty, backwardness and lack of access to
education and medical care are among the problems that
affect developing countries. The societies of such States
also suffer from a population explosion that is
disproportionate to their resources. At the same time,
fortunes are being wasted on armaments, arms races or
2

luxuries. This causes huge discrepancies in consumption
rates between the peoples of rich countries and those of
poor countries.
Such problems compel us to be fully aware of the fact
that solving them requires reconsidering the question of
military expenditures. It is no secret to anybody in authority
that while the programmes implemented by the United
Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development
Programme and the World Food Programme cost less than
$4.6 billion a year, Governments all over the world are
spending about $800 billion every year on armaments,
while 1.3 billion people are still living in a state of abject
poverty.
Now I would like to address the situation in the
Middle East and the crisis of the peace process.
The Israeli Government is still stalling in the
implementation of agreements and putting impediments and
obstacles in the way of achieving a just and comprehensive
peace. Israel is undermining the peace process by building
settlements, reneging on agreements and commitments
reached with the Palestinian Authority, imposing a blockade
on the Palestinian people, depriving them of their rights and
flouting international legality. This generates violence and
counter-violence. The Israeli policy runs counter to General
Assembly resolutions and Security Council resolutions,
especially resolutions 242 (1967), 271 (1969), 298 (1971),
478 (1980) and 672 (1990). They all provide that all
legislative and administrative measures taken by Israel
aimed at altering the legal status and demographic
composition of the occupied Arab territories, including the
city of Jerusalem, are null and void, and have no legal
relevance. They also run counter to the Fourth Geneva
Convention of 1949 concerning the protection of civilians
and their properties in time of war. Therefore, the
international community is called upon to exert pressure on
the Israeli Government to make it desist immediately from
implementing the policies that jeopardize the peace process
as a whole.
The Arab leaders affirmed last year at the Cairo
summit that peace in the Middle East is a strategic option.
They underlined the importance of having all the parties
committed to the Madrid formula that calls for a peace
based on the principle of land for peace. This means that
Israel should withdraw completely from all the occupied
Palestinian and Arab territories, including East Jerusalem,
to enable the Palestinian people to establish their
independent State, with Arab Jerusalem as its capital. It
should also withdraw completely from the Syrian Golan and
from southern Lebanon to the internationally recognized
borders, in keeping with Security Council resolutions 242
(1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978).
There has been a noticeable improvement over the
last five years on the road to achieving a just and
comprehensive peace in the Middle East. It started with
the Madrid Conference and moved on to Oslo and the
subsequent peace accords. Several economic conferences
were held to promote the Middle East peace process and
to contribute to moving it forward by underscoring the
common interests of the peoples of the region.
To that effect, arrangements are being made to hold
a fourth economic summit conference for the Middle East
and North Africa next November in Doha, the capital of
my country. In this connection, I would emphasize that
the State of Qatar has no private interest in acting as host
for this conference. Our interest in holding it is based on
the following reasons.
First, we believe that peace is a strategic choice that
the Arab countries have adopted since the Madrid
Conference.
Secondly, such a conference would manifest our
desire for the peace process to continue. Failure of the
peace process would have serious implications and would
threaten peace both at the regional and at the international
level.
Thirdly, our region has witnessed many wars in past
years, the last of which was the 1991 Gulf War, which
have impeded economic and political progress in our
region and imposed on us huge expenditures on
armaments at the expense of the social development and
well-being of our peoples.
Fourthly, at the 1995 Amman Economic Summit the
State of Qatar committed itself to acting as host to the
fourth summit conference, and honouring that
commitment is a question of our credibility as a State that
respects its commitments.
Some are of the opinion that the conference should
be cancelled due to current Israeli policy that does not
respect undertakings and agreements, flouts international
legality and tries to marginalize the role of the United
Nations. Although we in Qatar understand the reasons
behind such an opinion, which calls for the cancellation
of the conference in response to the practices of the
Israeli Government, which has not respected its
3

international commitments, we do respect our international
commitments, and we believe that no State should have
veto power with regard to the peace process. We have
therefore decided to act as host to the conference on its
appointed date. If it does not prove to be successful and
fails to achieve the desired results, the Government of Israel
will bear sole responsibility.
The State of Qatar welcomes the position of the
United States of America, as expressed by its Secretary of
State during our meeting in Saudi Arabia and here in New
York. We also welcome the resolve it has shown in dealing
with the disruption of the peace process in the Middle East,
as well as the fact that it has underlined the principle of
land for peace, the relevant resolutions of the Security
Council and the inadmissibility of taking unilateral
measures that run counter to the peace process.
My country also appreciates the position of the States
of the European Union, as well as the Russian Federation
for their support of the peace process in the Middle East.
The State of Qatar views with satisfaction and
appreciation the positions taken by States that support the
Middle East peace process and reject the Israeli settlement
policies that are obstructing that process. At the same time,
my country stresses the importance of the role of the
United Nations in the Middle East peace process and
opposes any attempts to exclude it.
The State of Qatar joins the other fraternal members
of the Gulf Cooperation Council in their endeavour to
promote security and stability in the Gulf region, which is
of strategic and vital importance to the entire world. The
State of Qatar is making a constructive effort in that
context with the aim of establishing good and constructive
relations with all countries of the region on the basis of
good-neighbourliness, mutual respect, non-intervention in
the internal affairs of others, respect for international
legality and the settlement of disputes through peaceful
means, dialogue and mediation or by arbitration under
international law. The State of Qatar supports the settlement
of the dispute between the United Arab Emirates and the
Islamic Republic of Iran over the three islands of Abu
Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb by those means.
My Government and people have expressed their
fraternal feelings and strong empathy towards the brotherly
people of Iraq, who are living in extremely difficult
circumstances resulting from the sanctions imposed on
them. We have therefore welcomed the oil-for-food
agreement between the United Nations and Iraq to alleviate
the suffering of the fraternal people of Iraq and to provide
them with such basic necessities as food and medicine.
My Government has also emphasized the importance of
respecting Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and
regional security. We condemn any foreign interference
in its internal affairs. In the same context, my
Government affirms the importance of implementation by
the Government of Iraq of the relevant resolutions of the
Security Council, in particular those concerning the
release of Kuwaiti prisoners and detainees and other
nationals in the same conditions. Such steps would help
the international community to lift the embargo imposed
on Iraq and would also enable Iraq to carry out a
constructive role in achieving security, stability and
rehabilitation in the region.
My Government also expresses its concern for the
suffering to which the brotherly people of Libya are being
subjected due to the sanctions imposed against that
country because of the Lockerbie issue. In that
connection, the State of Qatar calls for the creation of a
uniform and agreed regime for imposing sanctions and of
mechanisms to lift them subsequently in a manner that
does not distinguish among States and peoples and that
strikes a balance between international interests, on the
one hand, and the suffering to which peoples are
subjected, on the other.
Last week the Security Council devoted a meeting to
addressing the problems of disputes and wars in some
African countries. It considered ways of containing and
solving such problems. The State of Qatar, which has
fraternal relations with the African countries, is pained to
witness the current state of affairs in States such as the
Sudan, Somalia, the Comoros, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and
the Congo. We believe that the African States are capable
of overcoming their plight if they receive the necessary
international support, particularly for the purpose of
improving their economies and the transfer of technology
in an international partnership in which all would
participate.
My country was one of the first to welcome the
Dayton Peace Agreement because we believe in the
importance of peace and cooperation in the Balkans. We
have therefore supported the reconstruction of the
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have also made
contacts with our neighbour countries to urge them to
cooperate with each other to help rehabilitate the region,
develop its resources, link it to the international economy
and improve the situation of its peoples.
4

In conclusion, I would like to point out that in order
to solve the problems the world is facing it is imperative
for us to work together for the benefit of mankind.
Address by The Honourable Edison James, Prime
Minister and Minister for External Affairs, Legal
Affairs, Labour and Immigration of the Commonwealth
of Dominica