Mr. President, allow me to congratulate you on your election. Your professional skills and your kindness, which I had the opportunity to know during my recent visit to your country, will be much needed in guiding the present session of the General Assembly.
The past year was to a substantial extent a year of Europe. The eastern half of Europe is regaining its freedom and sovereignty.
Your presidency appears to me to be a symbol. You are taking office as a representative of a European country which is, however, also fairly close to Africa and whose port of Valletta was for centuries a place of clashes as well as a refuge that was always available on the routes between Europe and Asia, the West and the East, as was said in Rudyard Kipling's time, or the North and the South, as we are beginning to say nowadays.
The most recent sessions of the General Assembly have already indicated that the United Nations is only now returning to the opportunities of the time of its founding. The success of last year's session was due to your predecessor General Joseph N. Garba of Nigeria, who deserves our gratitude.
It has become customary to address here all the particular areas of United Nations activities. I shall certainly comment on some of them today, and we will express our views on others later. Yet I feel a need to be a little bit personal, which will take a little time.
It is a special honour for me to be welcomed into the community of nations as the first Foreign Minister of newly liberated Czechoslovakia. Twenty-two years ago I was sitting in this Hall in the press gallery and listening to a statement by the then Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko. He was putting forward arguments to back up a definition of aggression. It was a fine definition. However, I felt a shiver running down my spine. Gromyko was speaking as if he did not know that he was defining, describing and condemning precisely what his own country had perpetrated against Czechoslovakia no more than six weeks earlier. Then, for many years, I followed from the places where I had to live and work because of that aggression - among others from a prison - the difficulties and sometimes even political paralysis of this Organisation, the cascades of rhetoric and mutual accusations. It was not until the past few years that, among other things because of the more favourable developments in the eastern part of Europe, certain results emerged. To a considerable extent we owe it to the tireless activities of the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Peres de Cuellar, that the United Nations has, after all, played a meaningful role - for example in Namibia's accession to independence and in the assertion of minimum human-rights standards.
I have said that the past year was a year of Europe - a year of historical failure of its totalitarian regimes. My country, too, is now, after 50 years, rededicating itself to its democratic traditions. We are all still somewhat surprised. No more than a year ago I was living in a country mired in immorality, economic decline and police persecution; now I am living in a country full of hope that has already had free elections and is taking the first steps towards introducing a market economy, a year ago I was working as a boiler-room attendant, publishing an independent underground newspaper and being chased by the secret police, while today I am addressing you as the Foreign Minister of my country.
In the heart of Europe, at the crossroads of European history, we have often been compelled to think about our place within the community of nations. Armies used to roll over our territory, and a number of European wars started and ended there. More than once, forces stronger than ourselves forced us to give way to their interests. When we were not willing to do so - as at the time of Munich or the Prague Spring - they sent troops to make us obey. Nevertheless, we have always succeeded in recovering.
The first Czechoslovak President, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, believed that greatness was not a matter of size or numbers of population but rather a matter of inner strength, truth, culture and education, of the contribution a person or a nation can make to enrich the common treasury of humanity, of the values he or she will create and offer to others. Standing on the threshold of our new democracy, we want to meet this challenge.
The rapid disintegration of the totalitarian structures in Central and Eastern Europe wan the fruit of the activities of people yearning to live in freedom in a just, democratic and prosperous society. However, it was also a proof of the fact that systems incapable of reflection and self-renewal at ever higher levels are doomed to passivity, rigidity and ultimately to extinction. Many dictators have terrorised peoples in this century; there were Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, there were numbers of others in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the end, they always led their countries to failure and defeat. Undoubtedly, those continuing along similar lines today will end up in the same way. That, however, always costs a lot of suffering, misery and human lives.
We also know from our experience that those who cause suffering always seek to justify their actions by invoking lofty ideals: the only true faith; the interest of the nation; the struggle for the best of worlds. Then, m aggression is not an aggression but a holy war or a liberation struggle; killing is not murder but the defeat of enemies of freedom or of criminal elements. In the United Nations, too, we were encountering that approach for over four decades.
I am happy to note that, by taking an unambiguous stand on the Iraqi aggression against Kuwait, our Organisation is coming back - definitively, I hope - to its real mission. Only with the end of confrontation and with the East and the Nest engaging in genuine co-operation will the United Nations be able to exert more effective efforts in promoting global security and human rights, eradicating famine and underdevelopment, protecting and improving the environment, combating drug abuse and terrorism and building up mechanisms of economic development and co-operation for the whole world community.
If we are to succeed, we need a peaceful, favourable international environment where nobody suffers too much and where everybody has a chance. Naturally, there are differing priorities as to courses of development. The wealthier part of the world is in a process of economic integration. Europe at present is seeking ways towards integration not only in the economic sphere but also in the political and social spheres, and perhaps in defence as well. Most countries of the South have other priorities, the need to cope with hunger, population explosion, debt, falling prices of their traditional products and raw materials, lack of investments, an inadequate infrastructure, insufficient levels of know-how and a lack of access to modern technologies.
We know well from our own experience what it means to have a malfunctioning economy which creates a system of ever-present shortages and what consequences that entails for the life of the society in economic and moral terms. This is also the reason why we do not want to see confirmed the anxieties that a part of development assistance, already insufficient, might be drawn off because of the needs of Central and Eastern Europe.
In the past, development assistance was shrouded in numerous illusions, many of them voiced also in our Organisation. But even in the form it took and the extent to which it was provided, such assistance has resulted in a lot of good. Yet, fundamental issues have remained unresolved. At times development aid was turned into an instrument of ideological rivalry in third world countries, with the East-West conflict looming in the background. At present, nothing could be worse than the replacement of the disappearing cold war bipolarity by a new North-South bipolarity.
One hundred years ago, Radyard Kipling said: "East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet". For the author of the Jungle Book, admirer of Asia, Africa and the golden schools of fish at Mandalay, the difference in civilisations between his England end his India seemed impossible to overcome. From the mechanical viewpoint of that century, he could not foresee the age of computers. From the period of colonial empires and clearly geographically defined interests, he could not envision our global civilisation, where we can already determine common principles leading to the success or failure of our activities. Now, even a minor issue can become a global one - a conflict of religions or nationalities in the Middle East also makes itself felt through murders at an airport in Some or the Olympics in Munich.
We Czechs and Slovaks highly value our own national identity. Throughout our history, we had to struggle to preserve it. That is perhaps one of the reasons why we know that the identity of peoples cannot be confused with the political intentions of those who seek to stay in power or to gain power by fomenting fanaticism, be it of a nationalist, religious or ideological nature.
Thus, we do not consider Saddam Hussein's attack on Kuwait to be just a regional matter confined, let us say, to the Middle East. We perceive it to be an attack on the fundamental rules of coexistence among nations and States. These rules are also enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. Once we have succeeded in reaching the point where we are beginning to speak the same language, we should not let this opportunity of the world community slip out of our bands. Those who do not understand this or who do not want to understand this, those who would attempt to make use of the current situation to settle some problem of their own, jeopardise not only that opportunity and the international community, but also, ultimately, themselves.
This is certainly an emotional moment for me, personally, but I deem it much more important that my country has ended the long nightmare that befell a large part of the world and that was also impeding the activities of the United Nations. Although we had to exert efforts of our own to make the revolutionary change happen, we would not have been successful without the support and assistance of all democratic and freedom-loving countries and forces of the world community. These included the seven courageous Russians who demonstrated at Red Square against the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1966, the Polish Solidarity movement, members of the Congress of the United States and members of both Western European and American human rights movements, writers and politicians, people like Francois Mitterrand, Olof Palme and Andrei Sakharov, all of whom have supported us through personal contacts. I am naming but a few of those who have always known that the struggle for human rights, freedom and democracy is universal, that if we allow injustice to exist elsewhere, it can appear on our doorstep as wall. They have also included those Soviet politicians who, like Mikhail Gorbachev or Eduard Shevardnadze were not afraid to open a window to the world and set in motion the democratisation of their own society.
Czechoslovak foreign policy is now independent and ready to bear its share of responsibility for the future of the international community.
First of all, we had to normalize our relations with our neighbours. We wish to participate in the economic integration of Europe and to contribute in an active manner towards creating common human rights standards and a common European economic, legal, environmental, cultural and security structure. We wish to become a full member of the Council of Europe. We want to make a contribution to the institutionalisation of the process established by the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). We have put forward specific proposals. We are offering Prague as the host city of a permanent CSCE secretariat.
Our interest in building a united Europe also determines our stand on the unification of Germany. Czechoslovakia considers the forming of a single Germany as an act in implementation of the German people's right to self-determination, the outcome of a democratic process and a prerequisite for definitively overcoming the division of Europe and for settling the outstanding issues of the Second World War.
This year the United Nations ranks have grown even more with new Members joining the Organisation. We have welcomed in our midst the long-awaited Independent and free Namibia. We admitted Liechtenstein a few days ago. It gives me great pleasure to express my congratulations to both new Members from this rostrum. The principle of universality of our Organisation requires that it grant membership to all independent countries that show an interest in joining it, as is the case with the Republic of Korea at present.
Freed from the shackles of confrontation, the United Nations my offers a wide range of opportunities for the advancement of international co-operation in all fields. For our part we shall do our utmost to that end. We reaffirmed this during the visit of the Organisation's Secretary-General to the Czech and Slovak Federal Republics this year. We are now offering a spacious palace in Bratislava, with numerous halls and conference rooms, no more than 60 kilometres from Vienna, for activities of the Vienna International Centre. We shall continue to support the peace efforts of the United Nations.
Beginning next year we shall be ready to send, upon the request of the Security Council, a battalion-strength military unit to join in United Nations peace-keeping operations. We are prepared to act as mediators in the settlement of conflicts if we are requested to do so. It is our conviction that crises have to be settled solely on the basis of the United Nations Charter. Negotiation and the striving for compromise is, in our opinion, the only possible way out for the Middle East, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cyprus and elsewhere. Peaceful rather than violent means should be sought to eliminate the shameful system of apartheid.
Agreements on arms limitation and disarmament require verification and confidence-building measures. Therefore, we shall continue to publish data on our military expenditures according to United Nations guidelines. At the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva we shall contribute towards elaborating binding international instruments. We intend to become a party to the convention on the prohibition and destruction of chemical weapons as soon as it is finalised. We have published detailed information on our peacetime chemical potential. We have tested the feasibility of challenge inspections at chemical plants, as well as in military facilities. We have withdrawn our earlier reservation to the 1925 Geneva Protocol on the prohibition of the use of chemical weapons in war. We are encouraging endeavours aimed at achieving a general and complete nuclear-weapon-test ban and we shall take an active part in the Conference on the Moscow partial test-ban Treaty in January 1991.
We attach particular importance to the activities of the United Nations in the sphere of human rights. We are committed to this stand in view of the genesis of our revolution, and in view of our membership of the Commission on Human Sights from the beginning of next year - for the first time since the Commission was founded. We shall accede to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Bights and sign the Second Optional Protocol to the same Covenant concerning Ute abolition of capital punishment. We are preparing to accede to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and to the relevant Protocol. We are also making preparations for the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights. My country and Austria have co-sponsored at the current session of the General Assembly a proposal for the conclusion of an additional protocol on consular functions to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Our endeavour to build up a country fully governed by the rule of law is inseparably linked with support for the rule of international law in inter-State relations. We are therefore withdrawing our reservations to the provisions in international conventions on obligatory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. I could name here a number of other steps through which we are seeking, often with a delay of several decades, to redress the consequences of the narrow-minded ideological approach of the undemocratic governments of my country to the development of the international community. But we want more than that: we want to learn from the experience of the past 40 years and use the resulting lessons not only for our own benefit but offer it to be used for the benefit of all.
The aim of our peaceful democratic revolution was first and foremost to free men and women from fear, to restore to them their human dignity and freedom of expression, freedom to elect their own representatives and to build a State under the rule of law, to give our citizens the possibility of taking personal responsibility for their lives, for their work and its outcome. Thus in yet another part of the world there is now a growing belief that first we are human beings and citizens and only after that whites or blacks. Catholics, Muslins, or people without religion, Czechs, Slovaks, Americans, Chinese, Arabs or Jews, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, Westerners or Easterners, Northerners or Southerners. The colour of our skin, our nationality, religion or political convictions constitute personal characteristics that neither give us a right to put ourselves above others nor make us inferior. This applies to personal relations, to domestic and foreign policies of countries, and also to United Nations activities. Never again should the United Nations adopt one-sided positions that impair its credibility, such as it did once in the resolution identifying Zionism with racism.
It is my opinion that the time has come for the United Nations to carry its original underlying idea further by formulating principles that would represent the common heritage of the development of the whole human civilisation, principles that have proved to be an essential pre-condition for the successful development of any society, regardless of the part of the globe in which it lives. We have a worthy foundation in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights covenants. We hope that all United Nations Members will adopt these documents as their own and that efforts will be made to ensure their uniform interpretation and consistent implementation.
But let us go still furthers let us try to formulate principles of conduct for the world community to follow, so as to create a world economic space where each and every society, regardless of the level of its development and specific cultural traditions, would find its place, a world where opportunities and a chance of resolving social issues through prosperity, of raising the level of education and of having the voice of its national culture heard in the concert of world culture would be assured.
This relates also to the environment surrounding us. The United Nations is certainly the forum best suited for the formulation and assertion of common principles for the conservation and improvement of the environment. We know from our own experience that interference with nature in one part of the globe influences the destiny of us all. We shall discuss this subject at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development to be held in Brazil. I hope that it will produce binding principles and set in motion broadly conceived programmes. In his message to the President of the Commission of the European Community, Jacques Delors, Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel, proposed that the European Community, together with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, set up a programme aimed at a continent-wide solution of environmental problems.
I have already stated that after overcoming East-West bipolarity we can and must work harder than before to bridge the North-South gap. The conclusions drawn at the eighteenth special session of the General Assembly on the revitalisation of economic growth can be inspiring but financial resources remain the essential factor. I am afraid that the present conflict in the Persian Gulf will again substantially limit the possibilities for development assistance. Already today, as a result of rising oil prices, the situation of many countries is becoming critical. However, financial grants or loans to the developing world cannot be seen as the only rescue.
We have to look for other solutions as well. For instance, we must activate co-operation within regions or development areas. One of the available options might consist in the application of the plan I outlined at Harvard University last May for stabilisation of Central Europe and the USSR. We have suggested that the wealthiest States of the world set up a fund in the form of a dollar loan to the Soviet Union. That fund, to be administered by an international bank, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, would be used to pay for supplies from Czechoslovak, Polish and Hungarian enterprises to the USSB. These enterprises would be required to invest a part of their dollar earnings in their own modernisation. The Soviet Union would undertake to invest the rouble equivalent of the sum paid from the fund in the development of their own economy. Nobody would get any money in advance; payments would be committed to specific effective programmes under the supervision of the respective bank. The stimulating effect of such operations on the development of local industries is evident. Such a proposal offers, of course, just a model that could be elaborated so as to suit the specific conditions in individual cases. Most of the attempts made so far involving an active donor and a passive recipient have failed. Why not try some other ways?
Over the 45 years of its existence, the United Nations has gone through many a twist of fate. Yet, despite all drawbacks, it survived even the worst times of the cold war. Every third Tuesday in September those who would not have met otherwise met in this Hall: a thin thread connecting the international community was still there.
The end of bipolar confrontation, linked with the sweeping changes in Central and Eastern Europe, is making possible a renaissance of the ideas enshrined in the Charter of our Organisation. I am confident that it is the United Nations through which the new era of co-operation, in an area extending from San Francisco to Vladivostok, will be projected into co-operation with the South, and that this will create the essential pre-conditions and make available the resources that are necessary to eradicate poverty and to solve the problems of the environment;
One of the founding fathers of the United Nations - Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, son of our first President - pointed out, as long ago as 1947, that there are four cardinal points, not just east and west. In vain did he call for the forging of a democratic chain to encircle the whole globe. After the fall of democracy in Czechoslovakia in 1948 he tragically ended his life with a fall from a window of Cernin Palace, the seat of our Foreign Ministry. Sometimes I take my visitors to that window, thinking about how he would rejoice to see that we are again taking up this dream of his with renewed hope. Let me therefore conclude my statement with the same words with which he concluded his at the first General Assembly session: "So onward United Nations, marching as to peace".


I should like to begin by offering Mr. de Marco my sincere congratulations on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-fifth session. I am convinced that his vast experience, skills and commitment will guide the work of this session to a fruitful conclusion.
I commend his predecessor. Major General Joseph Garba, for his personal efforts and for the results achieved in the course of the forty-fourth session, over which he presided with efficiency and steadfastness. I also wish to express my appreciation to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Peres de Cuellar, for his dedication to the cause of international peace and security and for the skilful manner in which he has been assisting the diplomatic activities of the United Nations.
As the universality of the Organisation is enlarged by the admission of new Members, we take great pride and satisfaction in seeing Namibia occupy its place as a full Member of this assembly of independent nations. We congratulate the people of Namibia for having attained its freedom from the yoke of colonial occupation after many years of struggle and perseverance. We wish the people of Namibia the best in its effort to build a nation with dignity and to create spiritual and material well-being for itself.
We also welcome Liechtenstein's admission into the membership of the United Nations and pledge it the co-operation of my Government and delegation.
Over the past few months, we have witnessed a happy trend towards the reunification of nations. In that regard, I welcome with great satisfaction the reunification of Germany, a nation with which my country. Cape Verde, has always entertained the best relations. At a time when Germany, after four decades, has recovered its full national sovereignty and put an end to one of the most painful sequel to the Second World War, I wish the German people happiness, peace and prosperity in its reunited country.
I take this opportunity also to offer the Yemeni people my congratulations on the unification of its country and to wish it a future of peace and happiness. We hope soon to be able to welcome the unification of the Korean nation. In that context, encouragement should be given to the continuation of high-level contacts in the search for a peaceful solution to the Korean conflict.
We live today in a world of great changes and expectations. In Caps Verde, we have been following those changes with a great deal of interest for their repercussions on world peace and their impact upon the political, economic and social well-being of all nations.
The political events that have taken place over the last few years in Eastern Europe have generated a climate conducive to pence and co-operation among European nations and between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, thus putting an end to the cold war that polarised world politics for many decades.
The democratisation of the Eastern Europe countries and the reunification of Germany are events of paramount importance in the history of this century and represent the triumph of reason, a democratic and united Europe is a powerful factor for world peace and stability, economic development and the well-being of the peoples of the region. At this juncture, I sincerely wish the best to all the peoples of Europe, and that they unite their faith and garner their strength in redesigning their collective way of co-existing in peace. And I hope that, in a fraternal and democratic way, solutions will be found to the problems that separated them in the past and contributed to the economic failures of many.
I encourage the leaders of that region and their peoples to continue to build the peaceful relations necessary to foment the harmony and economic development of all countries in the region. I am convinced that the new Europe will contribute towards the political stability and economic development of other regions, and particularly to the region of Africa to which we belong.
The fundamental changes in the policy of the Soviet Union that have taken place over the past few years set in motion a process that seems to have contributed to the end of the cold war, thus ushering in a new chapter in the relationship between the super-Powers, based this time on co-operation, the upholding of the right of peoples to self-determination, and the creation of a better climate of world peace and security. Those changes augur well for the emergence of a new era in the history of nations, an era dominated not by the fear of a nuclear catastrophe, but characterised by co-operation among all countries, democratisation and economic development and respect for and maintenance of international law.
The democratisation of the world seems to be a fundamental political feature of the new era. At the international level, that democratisation  is based on respect for the sovereignty and integrity of all nations, the non-use of force in international relations, and co-operation among nations in the establishment of conditions of peace, prosperity and the political stability of all countries.
There is also democratisation at the national level, for we believe that the economic and social development of countries is a goal that goes hand in hand with the establishment of a system of real democracy that liberates the creativity of peoples, eliminates the political obstacles to private initiative, and creates stable conditions conducive to investment.
In Cape Verde, legal mechanisms have been set up and political reforms introduced to put in place a democratic parliamentary system of Government.
We are convinced that the reforms that have been introduced into our political life will undoubtedly strengthen our internal stability and reinforce the efforts and the commitments of the Cape Verdean people living at home and abroad to build a modern and developed nation, at peace with itself and with the world.
We also believe that the democratisation of nations will strengthen the checks-and-balances mechanisms of different governmental organs.
These checks and balances seem to gain more relevance in a world in which actions are being taken by some statesmen with total disregard for the basic norms of international law. Such actions could endanger world peace and stability and create economic hardship, especially for the economically vulnerable third-world countries.
The climate of peace and dialogue that we have been witnessing lately has suffered a great blow with the current situation in the Gulf. Cape Verde condemns most firmly the invasion of Kuwait and its purported annexation by Iraq. In due time the Security Council, voicing the feelings of frustration and indignation of the international community unequivocally condemned the invasion of Kuwait and took measures aimed at ending such an occupation. Cape Verde supports those measures unconditionally and supports the community of nations to take appropriate steps to restore the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Kuwait.
The prompt and unequivocal stand of the Security Council, which I commend, has broadened the prospects of United Nations activities in the maintenance of international peace and security, as a guarantor of the peace of all nations, especially of countries that are small or militarily weak.
On the other hand, it is high time the Security Council and the United Nations in general sought to resolve, once and for all, the conflict in the Middle East. The Security Council resolutions related to the region in general, and to the Palestinian conflict in particular, should be implemented with the same vigour and forcefulness. Major Charter principles must not be implemented selectively. They should be scrupulously observed and actively supported by all nations. If we went a credible United Nations and a reliable Security Council, then we, as nations, must act with seriousness of purpose, consistent with the Charter.
Regrettably, to the present day fundamental Charter principles have been violated time and again. We have seen the sovereignty of countries repeatedly violated in Angola, Mozambique and elsewhere; we have seen illegal occupation and annexation of territories in the Middle East. We have witnessed the flouting of the right of self-determination and independence in East Timor, the plight of the Timorese people, whose right to choose their destiny has fallen into oblivion and whose lives have been torn apart.
Yet those blatant and consistent patterns of disregard for the Charter's principles have not met with strong and vigorous condemnation and action by the United Nations.
Turning a blind eye to those principles or violating them whenever it suits the whims and interests of narrow foreign policy objectives means sending mixed signals as to the determination of the United Nations and the Security Council to defend them and impose complete compliance with them.
I hope that the actions taken by the Security Council against the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait represents a turning-point in the role of the Council and the United Nations and that they will live up to their responsibilities by consistently defending those principles and guaranteeing international peace and security.
Cape Verde is very sensitive to the problems of the environment. In this regard, it is very encouraging to note the enormous interest that countries all over the world have been showing in the protection and preservation of the environment.
At a time when there is concrete evidence of the continuous deterioration of environmental conditions on the planet, affecting the whole of mankind, the community of nations should seize the opportunity offered by the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development to take effective action to improve the quality of the air that we all breathe and protect the ozone layer and the world's climate.
The struggle against drought and desertification, which is spreading every year, is a pressing need that deserves the attention and serious effort not only of those immediately affected, but of all nations.
The time has come to undertake, at a world-wide level, new initiatives to counter-attack effectively the devastating ecological effects of drought and desertification.
Solving the global problems that we all face today - the democratisation of political institutions; the ensuring of world peace and security; world-wide human rights protection and protection of the children, in respect of whom the successful first World Summit recently took place in New York - requires and presupposes a substantial improvement in the living conditions of peoples in the developing countries.
The shaping of a new international relations that we all seem to visualize and that we all want, must be based on, or accompanied by the development of all countries.
UNLESS the world's economic and social problems are addressed, the impact of the relaxation of international tensions and conflicts will be Minimal; human rights abuses will continue to be perpetrated; the democratization of the world will for many be an unattainable goal; and the protection of the world's environment will be seriously threatened.
It is in the process of economic and social development, or as a consequence of it, that peoples learn to appreciate, cherish and respect the democratic values of society; it is in this process that peoples learn that arbitrary imprisonment, indiscriminate killings by death squads and other outrageous human rights violations belong to a world of tyranny and political backwardness that should no longer be tolerated; it is in this process that peoples learn how to love nature and preserve the environment.
The globalisation of issues and the need for harmonious and peaceful coexistence among countries require, today more than ever, a serious, consistent and general response to the challenges posed by underdevelopment.
At a time when we are witnessing with great satisfaction the unfolding of positive political events in the international arena and are preparing to forge a new era in international relations, it becomes imperative that a new agenda be drawn up to consider, and find collective answers to, global issues. Africa, step by step, is creating the conditions for, and is positioning itself as an active partner in, the emergence and definition of this new era.
The independence of Namibia and the prospects for a negotiated settlement of the conflict against apartheid in South Africa are important factors in the process of the restoration of Africa's freedom from colonialism and racism. In this context I encourage the ongoing contacts and efforts in South Africa with a view to eliminating apartheid and creating a non-racial, democratic and harmonious society.
We are very concerned over the economic, and social situation in Africa, a region with the highest number of least developed countries. This concern of ours is heightened by the poor results achieved at the second Conference of the Least Developed Countries.
We believe that the ongoing political reforms in Africa will greatly improve internal conditions for economic development in the continent. These courageous efforts by African countries should be supported with massive economic and financial assistance on the part of the developed countries that will help them consolidate their newly created democratic institutions.
We hope that the enthusiasm born of the political events in Europe and the subsequent emergence of new geographical areas of economic interest will not divert the attention of our partners of the developed world.
As the twentieth century draws to an end, it is our sincere hope that the next century will be a century of global democratisation and economic development, harmony and well-being of all peoples of the world. It is therefore incumbent upon us all to have a vision of the future and to take the necessary steps towards that and, thus creating a new society, a society of peoples of different cultures, but united by the same nature and destiny in a world without frontiers.


May I, first of all, extend to Mr. de Marco my congratulations on his election as President of this Assembly. With someone of his wisdom and experience in the Chair, the Assembly is undoubtedly in good hands. We can count on the constructive co-operation of the Netherlands delegation. Obviously, Mr. Vice-President, these remarks apply to you also and to the other officers of the Assembly.
Secondly, I extend a warm welcome to Liechtenstein, a new Member of this family of nations. Earlier this week my Italian counterpart, Mr. De Michelis, presented the common position of the 12 States members of the European Community on a wide range of international issues. That allows Us to concentrate on a few subjects that have my country's special attention.
So far, 1990 has been a year of spectacular success in international political affairs but, as we all know, it has also witnessed a serious setback. The cold war - a costly and sometimes frightening confrontation between East and West - is over. The democratisation of the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries has freed Europe from an old antagonism and has paved the way for increasing co-operation in arms control, trade, cultural exchanges, human rights and environmental protection.
The forthcoming unification of Germany symbolises this process of peaceful change - the healing of a once bitterly-divided Europe. We rejoice with our German friends, who are also our neighbours that the unity that they have long sought will finally become reality on 3 October.
The improved climate between East and West also positively influences multilateral co-operation, as is proved by the handling by the United Nations of the present crisis in the Gulf. The immediate cause of that crisis represents a dramatic step backward in international relations. It is a saddening paradox that, while in one part of the world - on the European continent - new policies have made possible improved relations and a process of substantial arms reductions, in another part of the world brutal force is again being used to settle political differences. Whatever disputes Iraq may have had with Kuwait; nothing can justify its naked aggression against a sovereign State Member of the United Nations.
The very core of the United Nations Charter – the maintenance of peace and the prevention of aggression - is at stake. It is heartening to observe that the United Nations is at last fulfilling its historic Missions. Consensus between the great Powers has bean instrumental in this. Fortunately it is now more widely realised that greater power brings greater responsibility. We therefore welcome the action that the Security Council has taken in response to Iraq's aggression, at the heart of which lies its call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, for the release of hostages, and for the restoration of the legitimate Government of that country. The Kingdom of the Netherlands fully supports the implementation of the Council's resolutions. Dutch naval and air forces have been made available to help ensure compliance with the embargo resolutions against Iraq and to contribute to security in the Gulf.
We strongly condemn the actions taken by Iraq against foreign nationals in Kuwait and Iraq and against diplomatic missions in Kuwait. We hold the Government of Iraq responsible under international law for its manipulation of innocent civilians for purposes of international blackmail.
It is our sincere hope that this conflict will be resolved peacefully. But we should always remember that it is Iraq that broke the peace in the first place. Its shameless annexation of Kuwait could not be left unanswered. Sometimes the countering of might with might is unavoidable, as is being underscored by more than SS United Nations Members that have deployed forces in the region. Far from harbouring aggressive thoughts of their own, they seek to uphold world order. The alternative is chaos and a free-for-all, from which everyone - not just the small and weak - would suffer. The sad story of the League of Nations has taught the world that w· must stand firm and united in the face of aggression.
Just as in Europe, we should prefer to see, regional solutions to the regional problems in the Middle East. In principle, therefore, we understand the call for an Arab solution to the conflict. We are dealing here, however, with the aggression of an Arab State against another Arab State; and it is at the request of Arab States, which feel threatened by Iraq, that countries outside the region have come to their aid. Moreover, international aggression and violent conquest transcend the confines of the region, because they strike at the heart of the United Nations Charter. Finally, legitimate interest in the stability of that part of the world is certainly not limited to the region itself. It should therefore be clear that an Arab solution cannot be a substitute for Security Council resolutions but could only take shape subject to Iraq's full compliance with then.
Meanwhile an embargo that is strictly abided by and properly enforced offers the best, if not the last, hope for a peaceful settlement of this conflict. In this contest we welcome the adoption yesterday of Security Council resolution 670 (1990), containing measures that further tighten the embargo. It is another clear signal to Iraq that time is not working in its favour and that aggression does not pay. Aggression entails human suffering and disastrous damage to the international economy - the most vulnerable economies in particular. The Netherlands, together with its partners in the European Community, is committed to extending assistance to these countries to enable them to fulfil their obligations under the Security Council resolutions.
Effective international co-operation within the framework of the United Nations has taken on a new dimension. By applying the instruments provided for in Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the world shows its willingness to unite for collective security. In recent years we have seen successful United Nations peace-keeping efforts, permitted by propitious international political conditions. If Iraq complies with the Security Council's resolutions and withdraws from Kuwait, the situation thereafter could very well require deployment of a United Nations peace-keeping force.
If, however, Iraq continues to refuse to comply with them and persists in its illegal occupation of Kuwait, additional action, consistent with the United Nations Charter, will be called for to enforce the restoration of peace. Clearly, if that situation should arise - and we all hope it will not - we look to the United Nations as the instrument for enforcement. Our fervent hope that we shall reach a peaceful solution should not prevent us from being prepared for such a contingency.
Our objectives are clear, but we do not know how, in the end, they will be achieved. What we do know is that this crisis is a test for the political resolve of the international community and of the United Nations. Chapter VII, regarded at the time of drafting as a great innovation, has never been applied so comprehensively. This crisis is an important demonstration of the possibilities of multilateral action for upholding vital principles of a just world order.
The Netherlands remains deeply concerned by the endemic instability of the Middle East. The Arab-Israeli conflict, the Palestinian problem and the situation in Lebanon are still unresolved. Any link between the solution of these problems and the Iraqi aggression should, however, be firmly rejected, as this would only give the appearance of justice to an unjust cause and thereby frustrate solution of the Gulf crisis.
Why is the Middle East such a powder-keg, such a warehouse packed full of arms, ready to explode at any time? Why is there no development towards stability and peaceful change, comparable to the one we are witnessing in other parts of the world? It seems to us that a crucial political precondition is missing as long as there are parties that do not accept reality as it is, but constantly try to postpone the inevitable. I refer to the contempt for existing borders, to the negation of existing statehood and to the disregard for legitimate political aspirations. It is hard to believe that peace will come to the Middle East as long as Israel feels insecure because it is not accepted by its Arab neighbours. Equally, there will be no peace for Israel as long as it does not permit Palestinian self-determination in the occupied territories.
We believe that a declared state of non-belligerency between the countries of the region is essential for the revival of the peace process. Therefore we call upon the Arab States formally to end the state of war with Israel and normalise relations with that country in the context of the peace process. Equally, we call upon Israel to comply with resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) within the framework of a comprehensive peace agreement.
Furthermore, in our view dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians remains indispensable. Even if one has to admit that the opportunities which presented themselves during the past years have been missed and that the prospects for peace have been undermined by the position the Palestine Liberation Organisation has adopted in the Gulf crisis, we nevertheless remain convinced that there is no other way ahead for Israel and the Palestinians than to demonstrate mutual recognition of fundamental rights and legitimate aspirations. Subsequent to the solution of the Gulf crisis, a renewed and determined effort by the international community is needed to induce the parties concerned to accept these prerequisites and to cross the threshold on the arduous road to a lasting peace.
With the lessons of the past in mind, notably in Europe, it seems that more democracy, more respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, in combination with more arms control instead of arms build-up, are vital ingredients to be more emphatically inserted into the Middle East peace process if durable stability and security are to be attained. While the positive trend in both nuclear and conventional arms control between East and Nest is very encouraging, such progress is distinctly lacking in other parts of the world, as the Gulf crisis shows. The Middle East especially is the scene of a rapid arms build-up. Weapons of every description ~ conventional, chemical, biological - are concentrated there on a huge scale whereas nuclear weapons seen to be imminent. Various means for delivery of such weapons are available in the region, including missiles, some of them with considerable reach.
Let existing instruments be fully applied to reverse this arms race, both worldwide and in the region. As for the danger of nuclear arms proliferation, there must be recognition of the vital need to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. All States of the region should become parties to that Treaty. The Treaty's safeguard system should be utilised in full, so as to include special inspections.
In the same view the biological weapons Treaty must become a more effective barrier against proliferation. It should be reinforced by area-wide accession and full ratification, further confidence·-building measures and, ultimately, a credible verification regime. We will be putting forward proposals to that end at next year's review conference.
It goes without saying that the Gulf crisis can only strengthen the urgency of a global ban on chemical weapons. After 20 years of negotiations, an effectively verifiable treaty with universal participation is long overdue. 1992 should really be not only our target but also our deadline. The Netherlands fully supports the Australian end French proposal to hold a ministerial conference early next year to provide the necessary political impetus. I would remind representatives that the Netherlands has offered to host the envisaged chemical weapons treaty organisation.
In the mean time, measures to stop further proliferation of biological and chemical weapons end their precursors as well as missiles end their technology are indispensable. The Netherlands recently joined the Missile Technology Control Regime.
An arms build-up is mainly a result and not a cause of tension as the cold war has taught us. That explains why w· soon expect to sign a comprehensive treaty on the substantial reduction of conventional forces in Europe. In other regions of the world these political pre-conditions are not yet fulfilled, so it may be hard for countries to feel secure enough to restrict themselves in this respect. That is why we feel it is so important that the ground rules for stability in the Middle East which I referred to before, find acceptance. These should pave the way for more comprehensive security arrangements in which confidence-building measures and conventional arms control have a prominent place, and they will help to counter proliferation of weapons in the region. We should realise, however, that there will always remain a dilemma between legitimate security needs, on the one hand, and the objective of avoiding an arms race, on the other. In this context, we shall also have to look at ways and means to restrain arms exports - a subject which has been broached for the first time in the United Nations.
Let me now strike a positive note. The combination of greatly improved East-West relations and the better functioning of the United Nations have a wholesome effect on the quest for solutions to regional conflicts. In a number of cases this has inspired the local or regional parties to stop feuding and start looking for a fair and lasting compromise. The prospects for resolving the conflict in Cambodia and the prospects for fundamental change in South Africa give rise to some optimism.
The comprehensive peace plan which the Five have developed for Cambodia contains a solid framework for the four warring factions to settle their differences and free their sorrowing country from the scourge of war and repression. The recent acceptance of the plan by the Cambodian parties, and their further agreement as to the details of the arrangement, should allow the country to make a safe transition to a democratic political system, with its sovereignty restored. The Cambodians must finally be free from the killing fields and from foreign interventions. We welcome the decision that Cambodia will be represented in the United Rations and elsewhere by the newly founded Supreme National Council. And if the Netherlands should be called upon to contribute to United Nations efforts to implement the peace plan, such a request will meet with positive consideration.
Notwithstanding our deep concern over recent violence, South Africa offers a ray of hope. Here we find two courageous leaders who have decided to bury the hatchet and endeavour to build a common future. The road ahead is full of obstacles. After 40 years of apartheid, its pillars still basically stand upright, but apartheid is to be dismantled. These leaders have to tear down the walls of distrust and bring the various groups in South Africa into the constitutional dialogue. They have to write a new language - one of conciliation and mutual respect - in a country which is used to the language of hatred and the practice of violence. They have to open up perspectives for peaceful change in a society split apart by deep divisions between the haves and the have-nots. In other words, their task is of Herculean proportions. And yet there is reason for hope as both parties combine goodwill with good sense. After years of vigorous support of the anti-apartheid struggle, the international community is now under an obligation to support the actual constructive forces of change in South Africa. We feel that a policy of encouraging the peaceful transition to a democratic South Africa in which all citizens enjoy equal rights is fully justified. Therefore, tangible progress on the road towards a complete dismantling of apartheid should, in our view, go hand in hand with a corresponding relaxation of economic pressures on South Africa.
Let us not forget Korea. In that country a start has been made on unfreezing the situation between North and South. While waiting for a further improvement of the relations between North and South Korea, we call for adequate representation of the Korean people in the United Nations.
Popular demand for democracy and the craving for human rights are growing stronger year after year. The human rights debate should not be permeated by a North-South divide. From Latin America to East Asia and from Eastern Europe to Africa, people cry out for freedom, underlining time and again that human rights are truly universal values.
As we welcome the end of the cold war, we also welcome a new perspective for the United Nations in the field of human rights. United Nations human rights standards have always provided clear and uncompromising criteria by which the conduct and achievement of Governments could be measured. Now a sustained effort can be made to strengthen the supervisory machinery which is so important if respect for human rights is really to be improved. In the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) mechanisms have been established which, more than the United Nations body of norms, provide States with specific detailed procedures to hold each other accountable for violations of human rights. The same may be true for the new norms which have been developed in the CSCB for compliance with the requisites of free elections and the rule of law. Here, as elsewhere, regional and United Nations systems should reinforce each other.
No political order will last very long if it does not permit change. In fact, the United Nations concept of world order has always been a combination of collective security and peaceful change. Concentrating on restoring the peace in the Gulf or elsewhere, however necessary and justified, is not enough. We must at the same time continue to put our energy into combating poverty, disease, illiteracy, drugs and terrorism, into promoting equitable economic development both domestically and internationally. The recent eighteenth special session of this Assembly, on international economic co-operation, has put the world back on the right track in its dialogue on development problems, after long years of fruitless polarisation. The Assembly's Declaration represents a fitting start for the formulation and implementation of the International Development Strategy for the Fourth Development Decade.
The Gulf crisis now seriously clouds the economic perspectives. Rising energy prices will severely impair development, particularly in third-world countries. Growth figures, debt-service ratios and adjustment programmes will have to be adapted to more pessimistic indicators. There is reason for concern about the possible implications for the multilateral trade negotiations in the Uruguay Sound. It is up to all of us to find a means of safeguarding the developing countries, and especially the least developed countries, from severe setbacks in their economic and social progress. The Netherlands has recently taken the initiative to propose a collective cancellation of official bilateral debt to severely indebted poorest countries which implement sound economic policies.
Just as it is difficult to imagine safeguarding international peace without at the same time striving to promote social peace, it is equally difficult to imagine that either can survive in the long run without an ecological balance - in short, green peace. Life on Earth for future generations could very well be endangered if man does not make peace with nature. And if not peace, then at least a cease-fire. The threats are real enough warming of the atmosphere, depletion of the ozone layer, acid rain, expanding deserts and reckless deforestation - to pick just a few from a growing list. It is indeed must urgent that we act, if only to stop further deterioration. We simply cannot afford the luxury of waiting for irrefutable scientific proof as to what precisely causes the different problems confronting us. We should not allow ourselves the benefit of the doubt.
It is crucial now to move towards the early conclusion of a world climate convention which should put an effective stop to such related phenomena as "arming of the atmosphere, depiction of the ozone layer and deforestation. We are happy to observe that the recent London Conference reached agreement on the total banning of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the year 2000.
Our endeavours to protect the atmosphere, and indeed the environment as a whole, can only be successful with the full participation of the developing countries. The industrialised countries have an obligation to help their already overburdened nations by providing, among others, facilitating funds. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, to be held in 1992, should set the seal on world-wide agreements on concrete measures for the protection of the environment and the restoration of the damage already inflicted, while taking account of the special position of the developing countries. The Netherlands will continue to play an active role in its preparation. In this contest, I should like to mention a high-level meeting on human settlements and sustainable development in November, which will be hosted by my country.
Both the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and the negotiations on new conventions, such as a world climate convention, serve as an opportunity to vest the United Nations with new crisis management and enforcement and powers ensuring compliance with environmental standards. We should seize these opportunities in an adequate manner. After all, conditions of life on Earth, and therewith the world's security, are at stake.
In conclusion, the Gulf crisis has once again made the world aware of the great value of a properly functioning United Nations. We sincerely hope that, after long years of stagnation, the United Nations will be able to enhance its role in the enforcement of collective security and the promotion of peaceful change. The United Nations should also seize upon the present opportunity to resume the work on the reform and the creating of a joint organization which has begun in the last few years.  The Netherlands has traditionally been an ardent supporter of the Organisation. We will do our share of the wor2c involved in strengthening this world Organisation and equally in strengthening international 1ш in all its dimensions, including promotion of a later recourse to the International Court of Justice, as recommended by the Secretary-General in his report on the work of the Organisation.
"With all its imperfections the United Nations Organisation offers the peace-loving nations of the world now a fully workable mechanism which will give them peace, if they want peace. To be sure, no piece of social machinery, however well constructed, can be effective unless there is, back of it, a will and determination to make it work."
Those words of one of the fathers of the United Nations were true in 1945 and are no less valid in 1990.
Let us make it work.


It is with great pleasure. Sir, that I congratulate you on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly, a role for which your extensive experience in international relations, your legal training and your interest in human rights qualify you highly. The excellent relationship between Australia and Malta is of long standing, based on extensive family and community ties as well as on our strong and active membership of the Commonwealth, and we do look forward to working very closely with you. I would also like to join others in extending warm welcome to Namibia and Liechtenstein, the newest Members of the United Nations.
We meet today in the General Assembly on the eve of the recreation of a united Germany, an event which marks, as no other could do so clearly, the end of the post-war era. It is an era which has been dominated by the cold war and nuclear confrontation, but which has also seen extraordinary change: the end of the European colonial empires and the re-emergence of the independent nations of Africa and Asia) the economic reconstruction and ever closer political association of Western Europe; and, starting with the creation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the specialised agencies of the United Nations, the growth of multilateralism on a remarkable and unprecedented scale.
However, the poet-war era has left for us many problems that still remain to be solved. Iraq's aggression in the Gulf has shown that the habits of millennia are not going to change overnight, and that the arrogance of military power remains a scourge with which the world will still have to deal.
The scourges of hunger, ill-health, poverty and debt also remain to an intolerable extent, threatening to widen rather than narrow the already alarming gulf between North and South. The scourge of racism, and ethnic and religious hatred, still remains to be purged from many countries and regions. And there is another scourge - the impact of human activity upon the sustaining environment o£ our planet itself - a scourge whose magnitude we are only now beginning to recognise.
The challenge for us all in the new era ahead of us, as relationships, policies and attitudes that had been frozen for so long continue to unfreeze, as the cold war becomes the great thaw, is for us to confront and overcome these scourges once and for all. If that is to happen, we will need, above all else, to develop habits of mind which are co-operative rather than confrontational, and habits of action which are instinctively multilateral.
Whether the challenge goes to the physical security of nations, the economic health of their peoples, the environmental integrity of the planet itself, or any other problem that no nation can solve wholly by itself. we have to derive inspiration from the thought that we are one world and can each survive only if we can all act collectively.
There is nothing inevitable about the development of any such approach. although events of recent weeks and mouths can certainly give us heart. The trends that will shape the new era are our own to make. Indeed. it is the actions over the next few years of the very men and women who have been assembled in this building over the last week that will launch that era for good or for ill. The world has been given a second chance. and this time we must not again take a false turn.
How we shape the security system of the new era is being comprehensively tested at its outset by the present Gulf crisis. If unity holds in this instance, if the community of nations, acting together under the authority of the United Nations Charter and with the full support of the Security Council, succeeds in demonstrating beyond doubt that aggression does not pay and cannot succeed, then that demonstration effect will weigh heavily on those nations, particularly those with great comparative regional power, which might in the future be tempted to settle disagreements by intimidation and force. If our resolve weakens, the demonstration effect will be equally convincing in its message that the international community is powerless to enforce decisions that we all recognise to be just. Such an outcome is unthinkable.
The crisis in the Gulf can be only resolved on the basis of the conditions set by the United Nations Security Council resolutions being fully and unequivocally met. That is by Iraq's complete withdrawal from Kuwait, the restoration of the legitimate Kuwaiti Government, and the release of all foreign nationals who want to leave. It is Australia's hope that those objectives can be met through the rigorous application of sanctions pursuant to Security Council resolutions 661 (1990), 665 (1990) and 670 (1990). Military-strike action cannot and should not be wholly ruled out at the end of the day should all other means of resolving the crisis fail, but Australia shares the universal hope that sanity will prevail and that a peace without appeasement will be achieved without the horrors of war having to be contemplated.
We can draw both encouragement and hope for the future from tin unprecedented level of international co-operation to meet the crisis, co-operation that has enabled the Security Council to respond promptly and effectively and has restored the Council to its proper central place in international security. The greater willingness of the five permanent members of the Security Council to work together has not only held the line in the Gulf crisis, but has been a crucial factor in what we now hope is the imminent resolution of the Cambodian problem - a problem that not only has involved many years of tragedy for the Cambodian people, but has been a severe ongoing challenge to the security of the South-East Asia region.
A detailed framework for a comprehensive Cambodian settlement has been drafted and agreed by the Permanent Five over the course of this year, and has now been accepted in its entirety by a meeting of the Cambodian parties convened by the Paris Conference co-Chairmen in Jakarta last month. That framework document - baaed in significant part, we are gratified to note, on ideas developed by Australia for an enhanced United Motions role - involves two central components first, the creation of a fully representative Supreme National Council to embody the sovereignty of the Cambodian nation; and, secondly, a role for the United Nations that extends not only to traditional peace-keeping activity and an increasingly common electoral organisation, but also to responsibility for key elements of civil administration in the transitional period pending free and fair elections. The Supreme National Council has been formally established. It will occupy the Cambodian seat in the United Nations, and the process of putting in place a final comprehensive settlement, endorsed by a reconvened Paris Conference, is well under way. A number of matters, procedural and substantive, do remain to be negotiated, and there is bound to be some faltering before the process is complete, but the commitment of relevant countries and parties to finally achieving peace is now such that it is possible, after years of frustration and disappointment, to be much more optimistic than ever before that a durable peace will shortly be achieved.
For some other long-running regional conflicts the outlook is much less, bright. Pre-eminent among them is the Palestinian issue, which, whatever the outcome of the Gulf crisis, will simply not go away until it is resolved in a manner that meets the basic needs and aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis. Australia has consistently expressed support for a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli dispute on the Palestinian issue on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). We assert Israel's right to live within secure and recognized borders, but we also acknowledge that of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including its right to an independent State if it so chooses. We regard the proposals for the establishment of an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue as a step towards the achievement of a peaceful settlement, and encourage all the involved parties to pursue that dialogue with real and sustained commitment.
One aspect of the issue that continues to hinder the peace process is General Assembly resolution 3379 (XXX) of 1975 equating Zionism with racism. Australia remains strongly opposed to that resolution, which only exacerbates the differences between the parties. We hope that, with the revitalisation of its role and responsibilities in promoting international co-operation, the United Nations will rescind the resolution.
Another Middle East issue of continuing concern, as we heard earlier this afternoon, is the situation in Lebanon, a country torn apart by conflict for 15 years now. The Taif Agreement, concluded in October last year by the Lebanese themselves with the support of the Arab League, represented a welcome breakthrough. The international community should stand ready to assist Lebanon in achieving peace, but the essential requirement is that there be a commitment from all the parties in Lebanon to national reconciliation, and a willingness to compromise to arrive at a negotiated solution. If anything has become clear over the last 15 years, it is that a lasting solution cannot be imposed by force.
The continuing troubles in Cyprus are another instance of entrenched attitudes making reconciliation extremely difficult. The failure of the attempt to revive the inter-communal talks in February was particularly disappointing. Prospects for progress will remain bleak unless there is a real determination to succeed on both sides and a willingness to enter into negotiations free of pre-conditions. Australia continues to support the efforts of the Secretary-General to promote a negotiated solution, in the belief that that is the route by which a just settlement is most likely to be reached.
That just settlements of apparently intractable problems can be reached with the help of the international community is amply demonstrated by recent events in southern Africa. In Namibia the United Nations mounted one of the most complex peace-keeping operations in its history and played a vital role in guaranteeing the impartiality of the elections and of the transition process. And in South Africa itself the Government has over the past few months at last begun to take steps towards negotiations with the representatives of the majority of South Africans and towards dismantling the repressive and brutal system of apartheid.
The Australian Government warmly welcomes the statesmanship shown to date by President De Klerk, but urges the South African Government to move as soon as possible into substantive constitutional negotiations and to remove the remaining legislative cornerstones of the apartheid system. More does need to be done before those who have suffered under apartheid and those who support their struggle can be confident that developments in South Africa do constitute profound and irreversible change. We believe that sanctions imposed by the international community have played a central role in bringing about the important changes now under way, and that the sanctions pressure should not yet be reduced or lifted. But we hope the time will rapidly come when it can be.
For Australia, the South Pacific is also an area of vital interest, and we continue to encourage processes of political development in the region. We are gratified in this respect by the continuing success of the Matignon and Oudinot Accords in creating a constructive and peaceful environment in New Caledonia for the working out of that country's political future. Equally, however, we continue to be deeply disappointed at the backward steps that occurred in Fiji with the events of 1987 and the recent promulgation of a Constitution which, while marking a welcome return to representative constitutional Government, none the less in the process builds new and far-reaching racially discriminatory principles into the Fijian political system.
Two countries in the Pacific which have been frustrated in fully developing a political identity of their own are the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, and Australia believes the United Nations has a constructive role to play in this respect. The full fruits of self-government which should have followed their legitimate acts of self-determination have been denied to then by legalistic approaches to the question of their political status. The continued application of the trusteeship regime to them not only belittles what they have already achieved in establishing independent political identities, but imposes practical disadvantages on them in their pursuit of national development.
If the coming era is to learn from the mistakes of the past, we need not only to find new co-operative ways of resolving regional problems - whether these be potentially global or much more limited in their consequences - but also to tackle with determination and stamina the most alarming global security problems of the cold war era - the upward spiral of arms procurement and the proliferation of increasingly more destructive weapons. That task is all the more important in our increasingly multipolar world. While the progress made by the United States and the Soviet Union in their bilateral negotiations is evidence of super-Power commitment to a more peaceful world, it should also now be complemented by progress in multilateral disarmament negotiations,
We in Australia are proud of our commitment to the process of disarmament and intend to redouble our efforts to capitalise on the current circumstances to achieve specific disarmament goals in the multilateral context, particularly in relation to chemical and nuclear weapons. Significant progress on the achievement of a chemical weapons convention has been made in the last year, but the need to conclude this convention is now greater than ever, and the opportunity to do so must be seized. Australia believes that a decisive step towards this goal would be a ministerial-level meeting of the Conference on Disarmament to be held as soon as possible.
We also continue to work assiduously to eliminate nuclear weapons. Australia is proud of its part, together with the other members of the South Pacific Forum, in the creation of the Treaty of Rarotonga, which has established a nuclear-free zone in the South Pacific. We will not rest until a comprehensive test-ban treaty has been achieved with appropriate verification procedures. To help move towards that goal, Australia will be once more proposing, with New Zealand and other sponsors, a draft resolution on a comprehensive test ban this year and looks forward again to achieving strong support for it. We would wish this support to be carried over to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, which is the appropriate forum for a comprehensive test ban to be negotiated. We are, therefore, pleased that the Conference on Disarmament has this year re-established an Ad Hoc Committee on a nuclear-test ban, which will provide the opportunity for important preparatory work to a comprehensive test-ban treaty to be undertaken.
Australia was an active participant in Geneva at the recent Review Conference of the nuclear non-proliferation Treaty. Despite the Conference's regrettable inability to adopt a final declaration, we none the loss consider it to have been a considerable success. Reaching agreement, as it did, on a number of important issues, in particular the question of full-scope safeguards as a condition for nuclear supply. We will be working to build on the achievements of the Conference and to set the scene for a successful review and extension of the Treaty in 193S. The non-proliferation Treaty is an absolutely essential foundation on which the new relationships of the coming era must be built.
The acquisition of conventional weapons continues at an alarming rate in many parts of the globe. Often scarce resources are diverted from social and economic development to military expenditure. Australia supports measures by all State· to reduce military budgets and to implement confidence-building measures which will reduce the risk of conflict.
The world community, while it is working together for a future of common security, has a second chance to show its equal determination to create a future of common prosperity. Meeting economic challenges is no less important than meeting security challenges if we are to provide guaranteed life and health for our children, and a fulfilling life for all our citizens.
Australia supports the efforts made by the United Nations in mobilising international support for development efforts. The eighteenth special session of the General Assembly in April highlighted a new sense of commitment and renewed optimism for global economic co-operation. The globalization of economic problems has been accompanied by a growing awareness that their resolution can be achieved only by a sustained international partnership.
Australia is particularly concerned at the human cost of heavy national indebtedness, which severely compromises development efforts in many countries. Debtors and creditors need to address the issues raised by that indebtedness again in a spirit of international economic co-operation and in a way that addresses not only the immediate but in addition the long-term problems of the nation in question. Debt-reduction packages should be implemented in such a way as to enhance credit-worthiness and new money flows, and to support reform progress in heavily indebted countries.
Australia firmly believes that, whatever may be the contribution of debt reduction and development co-operation programmes, the expansion of global trade is central to economic growth and development.
The Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is fundamentally about creating a more secure, stable and open international economic environment. GATT provides a framework of rights and obligations within which economic ambition can be channelled to the benefit of all countries, and not just the few most powerful. That is why the success of the Uruguay Round is so important. Between now and the final ministerial meeting in Brussels in December, all participants in the negotiations will have to intensify their efforts, and develop more of a spirit of compromise than has so far been evident, if a successful outcome is to be achieved. Nobody should be in any doubt that failure of the Uruguay Round would be disastrous for the world trading economy, for all the developing nations dependent on selling their commodities in the international marketplace and, indeed, for all the people we represent.
In addition to the abiding issues of security and economic development, there is a "third agenda" of problems now being given much increased prominence in international relations - problem that are either too big for each country to solve individually or which are of a character that global action or global pressure can very much help to solve. In areas such as threats to the global environment, health problems like AXDS, the illicit narcotics trade and the problem of refugees and displaced persons, global interdependence is an omnipresent reality, and Multilateral diplomacy an indispensable necessity. The era which we are entering is Marked by the Multiplication of such problems, and the quality of life of the people we represent will be very Much determined by our ability to solve them.
The global environment is certainly one of the key international issues of the 1990s. We are working towards the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development which should deal with these two issues in an integrated way. The Conference will not succeed, however, unless considerably more effort is put into reconciling the conflicts between environmental and economic development policies. The two are not inconsistent: the goal of sustainable development can be achieved. But if the United Nations is to lead international efforts in this sphere, we must stop discussing the processes and start debating the substance. For the United Nations to make the most constructive input into solving these problems, there has to be greater co-ordination between the United Nations environment agencies, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNKP) and United Nations development agencies, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). There is no obvious need for more agencies and institutions to deal with these issues; we do used to strengthen our existing institutions and to improve communication and co-ordination between them.
Australia is a strong supporter of the Antarctic Treaty System which reflects the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and has brought peace. stability and remarkable international co-operation to a very special region of the globe. Moves are sow under way, with strong support from Australia, for the establishment within the Antarctic Treaty System of a far-sighted comprehensive environmental protection regime. One aspect of which would, it is hoped, be a permanent ban on mining and oil drilling within the region, to guarantee once and for all the permanence of its uniquely fragile and irreplaceable environment. I would urge those countries not currently involved in these discussions but interested in promoting environmental protection in Antarctica to join the Antarctic Treaty, for it is only through that framework that an effective regime can and will be put in place.
Two other issues directly and immediately affecting the lives of individual citizens also particularly require concerted international action. The 1990s have been declared the Decade against Drug Abuse. Australia will continue to strive - in multilateral forums, with bilateral assistance, and by domestic action - to reverse the growth of this menace. In the global struggle against the AIDS pandemic Australia has supported the central co-ordinating role of the World Health Organisation and is providing financial assistance to its Global Plan AIDS for the development of national AIDS programmes, particularly in South-East Asia. and the Pacific and Indian Ocean island countries.
Human rights issues generally remain very much part of the new international agenda. The most important factor in establishing human rights in this new era will be the spread of democracy to those parts of the world where democratic and freedom are still unknown. The growth of democracy in Eastern Europe has already seen an encouraging reduction in East-West confrontation in the human rights arena. We have welcomed, in particular, a new spirit of co-operation that has become evident in the Commission on Human Rights.
Unfortunately, the record in human rights in all too many parts of the world has not been all positive over the past year. Australia is appalled at the treatment of innocent civilians caught up in the Gulf crisis and condemns in the strongest terms restrictions imposed by the Government of Iraq on the freedom of movement of hostages held in that country and in Kuwait. Closer to home, Australia is also concerned with continuing restrictions, on democratic and individual freedom, in both China and Myanmar, and we appeal to all involved in the situation in Sri Lanka to end the cycle of violence which is destroying the fabric of country in that nation. We frankly acknowledge that Australia’s own past is not without blemish in regard to human rights, in particular concerning the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. However, we have progressed along the path of rectifying those injustices. We welcome international scrutiny of our efforts and are prepared to engage in dialogue with any interested country at any time on such issues. We take the view that the question of conformity to international human rights standards is not each country's own internal business, but the world’s business.
I said at the outset that, as we move beyond the post-war era, the world has been given a second chance. This body, the United Nations, has also been given a second chance, and we, its Members, have to ensure that it is capable of grasping this opportunity. In many ways, the founders of the United Nations were far-sighted and built structures that will now stand us in good stead. In other respects, it is clear that they could not have foreseen the circumstance of this new era and we should not shy away from change, from discarding of long-established conventions and procedures and from the creation of new structures and new ways of doing things which better suit the new times. Our guiding criterion should be that we wish the United Nations to be effective and to influence events, rather than to be passively shaped and overwhelmed by them.
One area in which demands on the United Nations are obviously likely to grow in the new era is in the performance of conflict resolution and peace-keeping functions. Indeed, already over the past two years, five peace-keeping operations have been established and several others foreshadowed, including, of course, the comprehensive efforts that will be required in Cambodia. The peace-keeping function is still hampered by political, legal, financial and administrative, problems. Australia advocates the need for greater efficiency and economy in peace-keeping and for the whole peace-keeping area of United Nations activity to be put on a firmer financial end administrative footing. I welcome the steps the Secretary-General has recently taken to improve co-ordination and financing of peace-keeping but note that much more still needs to be done.
There is an urgent need to improve the ability of the United Nations, not only to service the demands of its members in regard to peace-keeping and peace-making, but also to deal with the major new issues of global interdependence, of which I spoke earlier. These major issues must be taken up more substantively and effectively than they are currently in the way different intergovernmental forms of the United Nations’ economic and social sector, and this sector needs to be drastically restructured if we are to see the same revival in the economic aspects of the United Nation’s role that we have seen on political issues. Equally there must be better central co-ordination and clearer common purpose among the various agencies and bodies of the United Nations, if each is to play its proper role in attacking Multisectoral problems that can be resolved only if they act together.
As far as the Organisation as a whole is concerned, universal Membership should remain our central principle. In this connection, Australia regards as a relic of the past era the continued absence of the two Koreas from the ranks of United Illations Membership. The Republic of Korea has stated its desire to become a full Member and we support admission of both Korean States either simultaneously or separately.
The resolutions of this organ of the United Nations, the General Assembly, embody the views of the broad membership of the Organisation. We need to make better use of these annual sessions of our general membership. Let us not be reluctant to remove from our agenda many items that are there by custom, and get rid of many time-wasting, if time-honoured, procedures. Let us use this Assembly to set the norms and standards of correct international behaviour in this new era.
The Security Council is showing us how well it can work. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that the world has changed since 194S and that there will be increasing and legitimate pressure to ensure that the membership of the Council better accords with today's realities. In any consideration of restructuring, our principal concern must be for the effectiveness of the Council and we need to be certain that what we do enhances, and does not risk undermining, the efficiency with which the Security Council is currently able to undertake its central role in international peace and security.
The Secretariat, which itself has in the past been the victim of cold war pressure, requires re-examination to ensure that its structures end its methods of recruiting its top people, both men and women, are best suited to the need· of the Organisation in the new era, when the demands upon them will grow ever more immense.
Two years ago, when I first addressed the United Nations as Foreign Minister of Australia, I drew inspiration from the Charter and from the important role my great Australian Labour predecessor, Mr. Herbert Vere Evatt, played in the founding of the United Nations. I continue to carry in my mind his vision as to what this institution he helped create should achieve - peace, justice and decent standards of living for all the peoples of the world.
The nations of the world are now entering a new era of co-operation; we are breaking new ground as we at last accept in full our international responsibility to Met aggression and to resolve regional disputes. And in doing this we have recommitted ourselves and our countries to pursue peace and to end human suffering - not in an ad hoc, almost accidental manner, but as part of a growing international determination that we can make no excuses to our constituents, or to our children, if these goals of peace and development cannot be achieved.
This Organisation at last holds out to its members the promise its founders envisaged. But that promise will not be self-fulfilling. There is a historic obligation on us, the Members of the United Nations, to take up at this time and build on the new spirit of international co-operation, to bend our efforts to bolster the new multilateral framework for global peace and security, to act vigorously on the economic challenges before us, and to tackle co-operatively all the social, environmental and health issues which demand global remedies. We have another opportunity to put it right and this time that opportunity must not be lost.