We inhabit a modern
world in which we must accept change as the normal
condition of life. Communication around the globe is
becoming faster. The distance between our countries is
becoming shorter. I travelled to New York at twice the
speed of sound and I landed before I took off. Every word
I say to the Assembly today will be sent to London down
a telephone line and within minutes it will appear on the
World Wide Web.
Our countries today are intertwined as never before in
a market place that is global. And our people have learned
that their purchasing decisions have an impact on jobs and
pay across the planet — from the fruit they buy at the
supermarket to the fuel they use in their cars. Changes to
the environment in one continent can produce changes to
the weather in another continent. Our countries are
increasingly interdependent, and the challenges we each
face are global challenges — challenges that we must face
together: poverty, conflict, climate change, international
crime and the drugs menace. These are all international
problems that require us to behave as a united nations not
just in name but in reality.
And so the United Nations should have a bigger role
than ever before. If it appears to be less relevant, it is not
for want of challenge but for want of reform. The United
Nations must modernize. It must be able to confront the
new global challenges that all its Members face. It will
need flexibility, competence and efficiency to meet the
complex needs of the twenty-first century because the
United Nations cannot give leadership to a changing
world if we ourselves refuse to change.
The outstanding leadership shown by the Secretary-
General is an important start. His proposals for
institutional reform will retain what is best in the United
Nations system but give it the flexibility and the
efficiency it needs to respond rapidly to the new
challenges of a new century. The member countries of the
United Nations must support his commitment to
modernization. We must each stop measuring each
proposal for reform in terms of narrow self-interest and,
instead, recognize that we all have a greater interest in
supporting reform.
Britain’s Labour Government is firmly committed to
the United Nations. We demonstrated this commitment as
soon as we were elected by rejoining the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) and by confirming our intention to stay in the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO). We were elected because we offered Britain
modernization to succeed in a new century. We pledge
ourselves to back modernization of the United Nations.
We do so because we know that our country, like all
other Member States, will benefit from a United Nations
that is efficient, representative and properly funded.
Let me take each of those in turn. Efficient does not
spell cheap. But we do want to see the United Nations do
the most it can with what it has got — a United Nations
that no longer spends $150 million producing 2,500 tons
of documents every year. We thoroughly welcome the
Secretary-General’s commitment to reduce the number of
documents by 25 per cent by next year. We want to see
an end to the duplication between United Nations
agencies, and I give my wholehearted support to the
Secretary-General’s proposal for a Special Commission to
look at the division of labour right across the United
Nations system.
15

Another way in which the United Nations is out of
date is its Security Council. We are all agreed in this
Chamber that what was appropriate in 1945 is not what is
right in 1997. The world has changed. Most of the
countries represented here today did not even exist when
the United Nations was formed. The Security Council must
move on if it is not to lose its legitimacy. Japan and
Germany should both be included in an expanded
permanent membership, and there should be a new balance
between developed and developing countries in a
modernized Security Council. We are all agreed on the
need for change; we have been discussing it for four years.
It is time that we agreed that a proposal for change which
has the backing of the vast majority of Members is better
than a status quo which has the backing of none.
It is not just all the countries of the United Nations
that must be properly represented, but all the people of
those countries. More than half those people are women.
Britain welcomes the United Nations willingness to put
gender perspective into all areas of its work. The new
Labour Government attaches particular importance to
strengthening the rights of women. Women do more than
half the world’s work. They should have equal status in the
international organizations of the world.
Let us also put the United Nations finances on a sound
basis. Speaker after speaker yesterday referred to the need
for us to cooperate to defeat those who make fortunes from
organized crime and to contain the drugs trade, second only
in value to the oil trade. We cannot defeat those well-
resourced menaces to the modern world through a United
Nations that staggers from year to year on the verge of
bankruptcy.
We need a solution based on the ability to pay. The
most equitable means of sharing the burden is to base
contributions on share of global gross national product. But
that measure will only be accepted as equitable if it is
updated regularly to reflect the rapid changes to the world
economy. And it is not equitable that some Members pay
their contributions while other Members do not. Britain
pays in full and on time. Britain expects every Member
State, however large or however small, to do the same.
These three issues — institutional reform, Security
Council reform and financial reform — are critical to the
United Nations future. Let us commit ourselves to progress
on all these issues by the end of 1997 and solutions by this
time next year. Next time we meet, let us celebrate a
modern United Nations that can face the future with
confidence, rather than looking back on another year of
agreeing about all the questions but not being able to
agree on any of the answers. And then the United Nations
will be able to get on with its job.
There are three key areas in which the United
Nations has a vital job to do — promoting sustainable
development, promoting peace and promoting human
rights. Those are not separate challenges, but different
faces of the same challenge. There can be no real and
sustainable development or respect for human rights
without peace. And there will be no permanent peace
where there is only poverty and injustice.
During every speech this week another 300 children
will die before their first birthday, most of them deaths
that could be easily and cheaply prevented. If the United
Nations is to be relevant to its Members, then more than
anything else it must enable people to lift themselves out
of poverty.
Britain supports the United Nations aid target. As
Britain’s contribution to achieving it, the mew Labour
Governments has committed itself to reversing the decline
in the British aid budget. Britain has also consistently
urged faster action in tackling the problem of debt, and at
the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting in
Mauritius last week, British Chancellor Gordon Brown
launched a new initiative to cut debt that will benefit 300
million of the world’s poorest people and help developing
countries escape from the debt trap.
But aid will not alone eliminate poverty. We need to
continue breaking down the barriers that deny the poorest
countries access to the world’s most lucrative markets.
We need to make sure that producers in Africa are
allowed to sell their goods to Europe and to America as
easily as their producers can sell their goods to Africa.
Sustainable development will do more than just
reduce poverty. Poverty is also one of the greatest threats
to the environment. If we want to preserve the planet for
future generations, we must make sure that development
respects the environment and does not destroy it. The
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
has made important progress towards this goal. But it is
not a task any country can subcontract to the United
Nations. We are all in this together. No country can opt
out of global warming or fence in its own private climate.
We need common action to save our common
environment.
16

The new Labour Government has set itself the
ambitious target of reducing Britain’s emissions of
greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by the year 2010. At the
third session of the Conference of the Parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in
Kyoto, the nations of the world must sign up to binding
targets and then they must keep to them.
The second key goal is peace — preventing conflicts
before they happen, helping to end them when they do
happen and helping to rebuild lasting peace after conflict.
Each of these contributions to peace is equally vital.
But it is the United Nations peacekeeping operations
that have the highest profile, and with good reason. The
blue berets have prevented worse conflict across the world,
from Eastern Slavonia to the Western Sahara. Many have
laid down their lives, not in the conduct of war but in the
pursuit of peace. The death of a dozen international
policemen and envoys, among them a British diplomat, in
the United Nations helicopter that crashed in Bosnia last
week, was a grim reminder of the risks we ask our peace-
builders to take. I pay tribute to their courage and salute
them for their professionalism and their skill.
The last area in which the United Nations must focus
is human rights. As the world becomes smaller, and news
and ideas travel faster, so the principle that certain rights
are universal becomes even more compelling. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out the right to
freedom from the fear of violence and the right to liberty
from the threat of unjust imprisonment. Those are rights to
which every citizen of the world irrespective of race, creed
or colour. They must not be limited to any one culture or
any one continent. As the Secretary-General has pointed out
Secretary-General has pointed out, the mothers from every
culture weep when their sons and daughters are killed or
maimed by repressive rule.
Nor do human rights hinder economic development.
The past two decades have demonstrated that political
freedom and economic development are not in conflict but
are mutually reinforcing. Free societies are efficient
economies. Authoritarian rule more often produces
economic stagnation. That is why Britain supports the
Secretary-General’s proposals to integrate human rights into
all the work that the United Nations does.
This is my first General Assembly. I attend it with
both hope and with anxiety — hope that, if it modernizes,
the United Nations can help us face the global challenges
of the future; anxiety that, without modernizing, the
United Nations will lose legitimacy and its effectiveness.
We must not let that happen. There are too many
children stunted by poverty, too many mothers fearful of
war, too many people whose basic human rights are being
abuse. The United Nations offers them hope. Let us
commit ourselves this week to achieving a modern,
reformed United Nations that will turn hope into reality.


At the outset I would like to
offer my sincere congratulations upon Mr. Udovenko’s
election to the honourable post of President of the United
Nations General Assembly at its fifty-second session. The
Polish delegation expresses its satisfaction that the
presidency of this session has been entrusted to an eminent
statesman from Ukraine, a country with which we have ties
of friendship and cooperation based on common values and
aspirations. The President may count on my delegation’s
full cooperation in the performance of his important tasks.
Please also allow me to extend expressions of
appreciation and respect to Mr. Razali Ismail, a prominent
representative of Malaysia, for his excellent guidance of the
work of the General Assembly during its fifty-first session.
I would also like to address words of the deepest respect
to Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, for the
outstanding manner in which he has demonstrated his
qualities of leadership and good judgement.
Seven years since the downfall of a polarized world
and less than three years away from the year 2000, we
are already living in a new era. Are we, the citizens of
the Earth, aware of the momentous changes and the new
responsibilities which they entail? When looking at
ourselves from the perspective of the Pathfinder on Mars,
or of the space station Mir, do we see humanity in its
entirety or, rather, spasmodic movements of an anthill,
always prepared to fight over every scrap, devoid of the
gift of synthesis and without ability to perceive the
whole?
These are the questions which all of us, especially
here in this Hall, are confronted with. The burden of
responsibility of the United Nations for resisting dangers
and facing challenges, for eliminating tensions and
constantly building foundations for the future, has not
been relieved. It has not diminished. Perhaps it weighs
even heavier today than ever before.
From that moment in 1945, in San Francisco, when
Arthur Rubinstein, an outstanding piano virtuoso and a
great Polish patriot, proudly inaugurated the United
Nations era with the notes of the Polish national anthem,
until today, our Organization has given the impression of
being oriented towards emergency actions rather than
systematic and comprehensive work programmes. The
General Assembly and the Security Council are
excessively preoccupied with current issues. Nonetheless,
torn apart by the global confrontation between the free
world and totalitarianism, they attempted to find
mechanisms of dialogue and negotiation that would
protect the world from global conflict. They have fulfilled
that role. No one, neither the fiercest opponents of the
idea of the United Nations nor the greatest promoters of
its radical modernization, can deny the United Nations
achievements in maintaining world peace and security and
resolving local conflicts. One has to bow to the visionary
skills and political genius of the creators of the Atlantic
Charter, which provided the foundation for our
Organization. Their work has stood the test of time in
circumstances unforeseeable when the system was
established.
Until now we have been concentrating on avoiding
war. Shocked by the tragedy of the Second World War
and the experience of ravages of previous wars, we have
14

put all our energy into the creed “Never again”. However,
concentrating on avoiding war, the United Nations has not
always been able to pay sufficient attention to building a
world for people, a world of harmonious existence and
balanced development. I should like to emphasize this point
again and again.
The time has come to pay more attention to building
a world for all people, of all races, all religions and all
cultures, for people in the wealthier North and the poorer
South.
An important area of international cooperation has
been the effort to eliminate weapons of mass destruction:
nuclear, chemical and biological. This Organization has
made a significant contribution to this activity. Among the
recent milestones in this domain, I should mention the
enactment of the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical
Weapons and on Their Destruction, as well as the signing
of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We also
consider extremely important the ongoing work towards
wider application and universalization of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the basis for a
global regime of nuclear-arms non-proliferation.
We attach particular significance to the willingness of
the United States and the Russian Federation, as confirmed
at the Helsinki summit this year, to continue the START
negotiations, taking them to a qualitatively new stage
involving the radical reduction of nuclear arsenals. We trust
that the ratification of START II by the Russian Federation,
upon which these negotiations are conditioned, will soon be
a fact, just as we hope that our expectations with regard to
the immediate ratification by Russia of the Chemical
Weapons Convention will become a reality in the near
future. We welcome President Clinton’s decision to submit
to the Senate for ratification the Comprehensive Nuclear-
Test-Ban Treaty, as he announced from this rostrum.
Both for humanitarian reasons and for reasons of our
country’s security interests, we attach great importance to
effective actions aimed at limiting or banning conventional
weapons, including anti-personnel landmines. We welcome
the momentous arrangements concerning this issue that
were agreed at the recent Oslo Diplomatic Conference. We
believe, however, that the consolidation and universalization
of these agreements should continue to be sought
persistently at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament.
This would guarantee participation in the negotiations of the
main manufacturers and exporters, which in turn would
serve to take better into account the legitimate security
interests of all countries.
In this context of conventional disarmament, allow
me to confess that it was with immense sadness that my
delegation — just like everyone else in the world —
received the news of the tragic death of Diana, Princess
of Wales, a great supporter of a ban on landmines.
We are currently starting a new and different stage
in the history of the United Nations. The moment has
come to pose truly fundamental questions about the future
and to provide answers. Global peace is a primary value,
but should we not reach beyond that? In our view, global
peace is a fundamental precondition to the preservation of
human dignity and the observance of human rights, to the
enhancement of economic and political justice and to
harmonious and sustainable development. But the time
has come for the United Nations to open up more so as
to meet other challenges of contemporary civilization.
United Nations agencies have already made progress
in this direction. The experience they have accumulated,
as well as their lasting achievements in the definite
improvement of living conditions for millions of people,
constitute an important starting point. In this respect,
sufficient funding aimed at specific programmes is the
prerequisite for success. We welcome donations and
philanthropy, which are an important source of additional
funding and a clear sign of public support. However, the
United Nations needs a solid foundation for its activities,
and regular contributions by all Members are
indispensable.
The reforms proposed by the Secretary-General in
his report, “Renewing the United Nations: A Programme
for Reform”, provide the basis for fundamental changes
in the activities of our Organization that will allow it to
serve better the needs and expectations of all the Member
nations facing the challenges of the twenty-first century.
It is with hope and optimism that we welcome the
initiatives of the Secretary-General. We believe they will
lead to improved effectiveness and better management of
the United Nations system. They increase the focus on
development programmes and enhance the credibility of
the Organization. They strengthen the relationship
between Member States and the United Nations. Poland
supports the proposed direction of the United Nations
reforms. We are prepared to cooperate actively in this
process, and we are vitally interested in further efforts to
reinvigorate the United Nations system, including its
economic and social sectors.
15

There is no immediate threat of a global conflict, but
local conflicts might often lead to conflicts on a much
greater scale. The world was not free of regional or even
internal conflicts before, but either their importance and
ramifications seemed less significant in the face of a threat
of worldwide conflict, or they were temporarily frozen by
the cold war. With the ice melting, local conflicts ignited
with renewed intensity. The international community, fully
aware of the threat they presented, made efforts to assist in
defusing them, with varying degree of success.
Understandably, the United Nations had a perception of its
responsibility and took action using the means at the
disposal of the Security Council. Poland supports all the
efforts to institute the concept of rapid deployment in order
to improve the capability of the United Nations to respond
quickly to crisis situations. Our experience proves that the
ability to address local conflicts should be one of the
priorities in our efforts to reform the Security Council.
The basic premise for balanced enlargement and
reform of the Council should be the increased effectiveness
of its work in an international environment which is
undergoing fundamental changes. With our experience of
nearly two years of participation in the Security Council,
we are inclined to conclude that the effectiveness of
Security Council activities is greatly enhanced when it
enjoys the full support of the respective regions represented
in the United Nations. Therefore, we support the aspirations
of various regional groups to additional seats in the Council
if its membership is expanded. At the same time, Poland
would find it necessary to increase the representation of
Central and Eastern Europe in the Council by an additional
member. Thus, my Government is in favour of the
accession of Japan and Germany to permanent seats.
Poland is among the countries convinced of the
necessity of reforming the Council to adapt it to current and
future tasks. While implementing these reforms, we should
take into consideration two parallel and sometimes
conflicting tendencies: globalization and regionalization.
The emerging concept of regional responsibility should
undergo consolidation. Its burden is being carried by
regional organizations engaged in resolving regional
conflicts, prominent cases in point being the activities of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Bosnia
and Herzegovina as well as those of the Organization of
African Unity.
We believe that regional organizations should be more
engaged in preventive diplomacy and maintaining peace
while ensuring full compatibility with the United Nations
Charter. Thus, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is contributing to the
fulfillment of the basic task of the United Nations —
maintaining international peace and security — through
active regional cooperation in both conflict prevention and
crisis management, as well as in post-conflict
rehabilitation.
When Poland assumes the duties of OSCE
Chairman-in-Office in 1998, it will make every effort to
maintain and develop further a high standard of
cooperation between that Organization and the United
Nations.
In an atmosphere of global peace there is a much
better chance to stand up to conflicts as old as humanity,
such as religious conflicts, those between rich and poor
and those between various ethnic groups.
The Polish people, with its historical experience of
times of freedom and times of bondage, is gaining new
experience today. As the pioneer of the 1990s
breakthrough, which led to the end of a polarized world,
today Poland is experiencing both joy and hardship: the
joy of returning to the family of free nations and the
hardship of a transformation period and the restructuring
of our economy.
This year Poland has been undergoing a bitter test,
fighting against a natural disaster unparalleled in
centuries: the catastrophic flood in the south and west of
the country. May I take this opportunity to extend our
heartfelt thanks to the countries, organizations and persons
of goodwill that have come to our assistance. If there is
any lesson to be drawn from this horrible experience, it
is that massive natural disasters are a kind of danger that
we all have to learn to withstand together.
This year’s flood, whose destructive force struck our
country, also had a disastrous effect on our neighbors, in
particular the Czech Republic and Germany. We found
that such disasters can be faced much more effectively if
the preventive and rescue operations are organized on an
international and, especially, a transboundary scale.
There is an old saying that a friend in need is a
friend indeed. But one can also find friends in moments
of success and moments of joy. Thanks to the help of our
friends, and to their satisfaction, Poland crossed two great
thresholds this year. It was invited to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization and to the European Union.
Negotiations with NATO are already under way, and
those with the European Union will commence at the
16

beginning of next year. Our readiness to shoulder
responsibility and our ability to meet the requirements have
been recognized. Poland is now considered a reliable and
respected member of the community of democratic nations.
The outcome of our recently held parliamentary
elections has confirmed that this basic orientation of our
foreign policy will remain unchanged and is supported by
the overwhelming majority of the Polish people.
The world is still imperfect. Millions of people are
paying — with their freedom, their dignity and sometimes
even their lives — the price of lack of democracy and lack
of respect for human rights. There are forces that feed on
ethnic antagonisms. Poverty is the fate of millions of people
across vast territories. But other problems on a global scale
are also visible — climate changes and diverse
environmental concerns, the constantly widening gap
between rich and poor and the insufficient reach of
education and health care. The reforms which we undertake
should increase the United Nations capability to address
these important issues. Let me now elaborate on some of
them.
Through deep and carefully thought-out reform, we
should equip the United Nations with mechanisms capable
of ensuring respect for the human rights of all the world’s
citizens to a greater degree than before. The United Nations
evolution and reform introduce the human rights issue in
quite a natural way to the Security Council agenda. We
welcome this trend. There is a clear connection between
international security and respect for human rights, which
should be reflected in the activities of the Security Council.
The events of the past few years in Africa have again
dramatically confirmed the existence of such a relationship.
1998 will be a special year for human rights. Half a
century ago the General Assembly adopted the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, a catalogue of the
individual’s rights and duties. However, the concept of
human rights still varies from region to region. I think that
on the threshold of the twenty-first century, as we
emphasized in Warsaw this January when inaugurating the
celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, it is worth considering how
to use this variety to build a universal concept of human
rights, just as the Declaration initially assumed. At the same
time, however, we oppose any attempt at the so-called
revision of the Universal Declaration, which must remain
a common minimal standard for all humanity.
As a member of the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights starting on 1 January 1998, Poland
confirms its willingness to continue the dialogue and
cooperation with representatives of all regional groups.
Observance and promotion of human rights are for all of
us a great challenge at the threshold of the twenty-first
century.
We also believe that closer economic cooperation
with developing countries will help them overcome
difficulties and actively participate in the world economy.
Poland is undertaking and will continue to undertake
important projects in this field. We also want to point out
the important role of international institutions in providing
development assistance for partners with lower levels of
income. We will continue to give them our support as
their tasks require and our capacity allows.
A year ago, in this General Assembly Hall, the
President of Poland, Mr. Aleksander Kwasniewski,
formulated a proposal for the elaboration of an
international convention against organized transnational
crime. We were encouraged by the massive support that
the Polish initiative received from the membership of this
Organization. We think that the international community
should take active measures to stop the spreading cancer
of transnational crime. We must secure the effective
cooperation of countries and organizations concerned.
We believe that the United Nations will find for
itself a creative and constructive role through the
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice,
which has been entrusted with the task of elaborating this
convention. Poland is ready to cooperate with other
countries to extend the scope and range of the convention
if such extension would meet the needs and expectations
of Member States. We appreciate the work of the
Commission on this subject and hope that the Assembly
will receive a final draft of the convention at its next
session.
Equally important are the environmental issues. The
most important among them are those related to climate
changes. To deal effectively with such problems as the
greenhouse effect, melting of glaciers and the protection
of tropical forests is a task far exceeding the ability of
any single country or even region. It is hard to imagine
effective action in this area unless we all join forces.
It is justifiable to reconsider whether the United
Nations is an organization capable of dealing with these
tasks. The doubts voiced by the skeptics should not be
17

ignored. However, Poland is among the countries that
believe that the United Nations system can, through the
collective effort of its Members, meet the challenges. This
effort has to be directed towards, among other things,
understanding current and future dilemmas which reach
beyond this century. It must be sustained with a vision,
shared by all Members of the system, of the shape they
wish to give to tomorrow. It must involve the will to
develop an organizational system and make it effective,
with each Member bearing its share of responsibility.
Today’s Poland — democratic, economically successful,
enjoying good relations with all its neighbours, binding
itself to alliances with the European Union and NATO —
is ready to participate in carrying out this task.
We must rise to the expectations of the United
Nations. As one of the Organization’s founding Members,
Poland will not cease in its support of the United Nations
as a global forum for resolving problems and conflicts, and
especially for ensuring a just and effective system of global
governance aimed at eliminating threats to humanity.
Poland stands ready to do its part for the purpose of
achieving these lofty goals.


Allow me first of all, on behalf of the
delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
to congratulate Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, the Minister For
Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, on his election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its current session.
We believe that his rich experience and diplomatic skill
in dealing with international affairs will lead this session
to fruitful results.
I also express my gratitude to the former President,
Mr. Razali Ismail, Malaysian Ambassador to the United
Nations, for his great contributions to the successful
conclusion of the fifty-first session of the General
Assembly. At the same time, I take this opportunity to
express appreciation to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, for his efforts devoted to the activities of the
United Nations.
The fifty-second session of the General Assembly is
now being held just two years before we enter a new
century. The twenty-first century should be different from
the present century, characterized by a history of hot and
cold wars. It is the desire of humankind and the common
task of the international community to make the
forthcoming century peaceful and prosperous.
17

Though we are at the end of the twentieth century, we
are still facing complex and intricate challenges. A
tendency towards domination continues to prevail in
international relations even after the abolition of
colonialism. Today the United Nations, which once
contributed to eradicating colonialism, has been placed in
danger of being converted into a tool that would allow
high-handedness and arbitrariness.
Though the cold war has ended, the nuclear stockpiles
remain as enormous as ever before, and the thinking of the
cold-war era dominates international relations. Today such
challenges are clearest in North-East Asia and, more
precisely, in the Korean peninsula. In the Korean peninsula,
national division, the legacy of the cold war era, continues,
the power and confrontation politics of the cold war era
persist and relations between the North and South of Korea
are ever worsening. The aggressive military alliances,
vestiges of the cold war, are being rearranged, and
provocative joint military exercises are being conducted
against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with
annually increased military expenditures amid the tense
situation in the Korean peninsula. In addition to the military
pressures, which have continued since the cold war era,
issues such as human rights, terrorism, economic sanctions,
food aid and so on are also being abused as tools for high-
handedness and interference in our internal affairs. All these
attempts are aimed at stifling our socialist system.
Like all other United Nations Member States, the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a sovereign State
with the right to choose its own political system, and it
deserves respect for this. Our style of socialism is the one
our people have chosen by themselves, and it is not a
system doomed to collapse even though others may attempt
to bring this about. The single-hearted unity between the
leader, the party and the masses is the source of the
invincibility of our system.
On 8 July this year, which marked the third year of
the demise of the great leader President Kim Il Sung, all
our people became mourners and observed the memorial
service. Simultaneously with the end of the mourning
period, we instituted a Juche calendar with the year 1912
as the base year, and designated 15 April as the Day of Sun
in memory of the birthday of the great leader President
Kim Il Sung. This affords a good illustration of the
unanimous will of our people who are determined to hand
down, forever, the revolutionary life and the immortal
exploits of the fatherly leader who created the Juche idea
and built socialism centred on the popular masses. Today
is 2 October, Juche 86 in our country, according to our
Juche Calendar.
For our Korean people, the last three years have
been a period of severe trials during which our people
suffered the greatest loss of the nation, confronted the
persistent manoeuvres of the hostile forces to stifle our
socialist system and suffered from a series of natural
calamities.
Nevertheless, our people have been always optimistic
and able to continue their victorious advancement by
overcoming all sorts of challenges, because they hold in
high esteem another great leader, General Kim Jong Il, an
iron-willed and brilliant commander.
Currently, the nomination process is under way in
my country to elect the great leader Comrade Kim Jong
Il as the General Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party,
and all our people are full of boundless joy and emotion
over their long-cherished desire being realized.
This clearly demonstrates the firm will and
conviction of our people to carry through the Juche cause,
holding in high esteem forever the great leader Comrade
Kim Jong Il as the head of our Party and our revolution.
This is the reality of socialist Korea, where the
people enjoy the blessing of the leadership and the leader
enjoys the blessing of the people through the generations.
I take this opportunity to reiterate our deep thanks to
the Governments, organizations and individuals of various
countries, and to the governmental and non-governmental
international organizations, including the United Nations,
for their deep sympathy and condolences, as well as for
the humanitarian assistance extended to our people who
suffered the deepest sorrow and natural calamities.
Korea’s reunification question is, in essence, a
question of regaining national sovereignty throughout the
country, which is being trampled by foreign forces and of
abolishing the legacy of the cold war era.
The Government of our Republic regards as its
Three Charters for National Reunification the three
principles of independence, peaceful reunification and
great national unity, the 10-Point Programme of the Great
Unity of the Whole Nation and the proposal for the
founding of the Democratic Confederal Republic of
Koryo.
18

The great leader General Kim Jong Il, in his
programmatic work published on 4 August of this year,
made clear our firm will and determination to clearly
reunify the country, holding aloft the Three Charters of
National Reunification set forth by the fatherly leader. The
three principles of national reunification constitute the great
common reunification programme for the Korean nation,
which was confirmed by the north and south through their
4 July Joint Statement and was supported by the twenty-
eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly as
well.
The 10-Point Programme of the Great Unity of the
Whole Nation for National Reunification is a political
programme aimed at attaining the unity of the whole nation
to strengthen the driving force of national reunification.
This programme indicates comprehensively the objective
and ideological basis, as well as the principles and methods,
for achieving the great national unity.
The proposed Democratic Confederal Republic of
Koryo is the blueprint which gives the full picture of a
reunified State and the ways for its realization as well.
More than half a century has passed since the north
and south of Korea have existed with different systems.
Under such circumstances, the establishment of a unified
national State through the confederation formula — based
on one nation and one State, two systems and two
Governments — becomes the most reasonable way of
efficiently resolving the issues pertaining to national
reunification.
The emergence of a unified national State —
independent, peaceful and neutral — in the Korean
peninsula will make a great contribution to lasting peace
and stability in North-East Asia, where the great Powers are
contiguous to each other.
No matter how the situation and circumstances may
change in the future, our people will remain unshakeable in
their will, and the Government of our Republic will adhere
to its consistent reunification policy in reunifying the
country, on the basis of the Three Charters for National
Reunification.
Improved relations between the north and south of
Korea are an urgent requirement for achieving the
independent and peaceful reunification of the country. If the
south Korean authorities give up their anti-national and
anti-reunification confrontation policies and make a positive
change in practice, we will meet them at any time to have
open-minded negotiations on the destiny of the nation and
make joint efforts for the country’s reunification.
For a correct solution to the Korean question, the
countries concerned must also play positive roles with a
sincere attitude about helping Korea’s reunification. The
United States, a State party which is directly responsible
for the Korean question, should make a radical change in
its anachronistic policy towards Korea and refrain from
laying obstacles in the way of the independent and
peaceful reunification of Korea. Japan, which imposed
immeasurable misfortune and disaster upon the Korean
people in the past, must sincerely reflect upon its past,
discontinue its hostile policy towards our Republic and
stop provoking Korea’s division and hindering its
reunification.
It is the consistent stand of the Government of our
Republic to prevent war and to ensure a lasting peace in
the Korean peninsula. This becomes our primary task in
the efforts to reunify the country peacefully, without
recourse to the armed forces. In order to ensure peace in
the Korean peninsula, it is imperative to oppose
aggression and war manoeuvres and to remove the danger
of war.
The prevailing situation in the Korean peninsula is
so tense that a war could break out at any moment, due
to the attempts of the United States, Japan and South
Korean authorities against our socialist Republic. In recent
years alone, the United States introduced over $3 billion
worth of war equipment into South Korea. At the same
time, it has been conducting joint military exercises more
frequently than ever before, and even directing the guns
of the United States forces in Japan and the Pacific fleet
towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Of late, Japan is also accelerating its political, legal
and diplomatic moves with a view to legalizing its
engagement of the self-defence force in a possible Korean
war under the signboard of the “revision” of the
“Guidelines for United States-Japan Military
Cooperation”.
In addition, the South Korean authorities increased
their military budget up to $17 billion for this year and
again decided to increase next year’s military budget up
to $19 billion, while bolstering military “cooperation”
with foreign forces against their fellow countrymen.
Such moves, reflecting the policies of the cold-war
era, inevitably provoke self-defensive counter-measures
19

from our Republic, thus maintaining the present tense
situation in a vicious cycle of aggravation.
This situation of the Korean peninsula urgently
requires the establishment of a new peace arrangement. In
order to ease tension and avert the danger of a war in the
Korean peninsula, the United States should, before anything
else, abandon its hostile policy against our Republic and
sign a peace agreement with the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea. The Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea and the United States are still in a state of temporary
ceasefire. The United States is in direct confrontation with
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, maintaining
tens of thousands of its troops in and around South Korea.
Removing the danger of war and ensuring peace in the
Korean peninsula presupposes the withdrawal of the United
States troops and the conclusion of a peace agreement
between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and
the United States. Hence, the resolution of the major issues
pertaining to the maintenance of peace and security in the
Korean peninsula falls under the responsibilities of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United
States. We recognize that these issues should be the top
priority on the agenda to be considered at the proposed
four-party talks if the talks are to be held to discuss the
issues of ensuring peace and security in the Korean
peninsula.
If the United States is sincerely interested in ensuring
peace in the Korean peninsula, it should, inter alia, show
its credibility by taking practical steps to discontinue
military threats and lift economic sanctions against the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The countries concerned should refrain from any acts
that would be likely to impede the withdrawal of the United
States troops from South Korea and the conclusion of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-United States peace
agreement.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea will continue, as in the past, to make every effort
to ensure peace in the Korean peninsula and to bring about
the peaceful reunification of the country, thus contributing
towards peace and security in North-East Asia and the rest
of the world.
In order to prepare itself for the demands of the next
century, the United Nations should make an early departure
from outdated structures that serve the interests of only a
few countries, allowing them privileges and high-
handedness. First of all, international society should be
democratized through the democratic reform of the United
Nations. The United Nations should be restructured so as
to reflect the will of developing countries, which make up
the majority of United Nations Members, and to enable
them to exercise their sovereignty on an equal footing.
The General Assembly, in which all United Nations
Member States are equally represented, has been
democratized, compared to the Security Council. Yet its
authority has been severely restricted. On the other hand,
the Security Council lacks democracy to a great extent,
although it enjoys powerful authority. The present
composition of the permanent membership of the Security
Council does not fully represent the developing countries,
which form the overwhelming majority of Member States.
Neither does the non-permanent membership reflect
geographical representation.
The end of the cold war has provided possibilities
for channelling more resources into the field of
development cooperation, but the present structure of the
United Nations system does not correspond to this
situation.
At this session of the General Assembly the
delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
will exert constructive efforts to resolve such problems
and seek active cooperation with other Member States,
including the non-aligned countries.
Despite the end of the cold war, the arms build-up
continues unabated in different parts of the world. The
United Nations has long called for comprehensive and
complete disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament.
However, some nuclear and military Powers are still
boosting their efforts aimed at the qualitative
modernization of military strength under cover of calls for
selective disarmament. As a result, in most cases
disarmament is now being replaced by the process of
replacing with more sophisticated weapons those that
have become obsolete as a result of technical
developments.
Today, after the conclusion of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the nuclear Powers are resorting
to subcritical nuclear tests to further modernize their
nuclear arsenals.
International society, and the non-nuclear-weapon
States in particular, should give due attention to taking
measures to overcome this phenomenon. It is in this
20

context that we support the proposal to convene the fourth
special session of the General Assembly devoted to
disarmament.
In recent years there have been ample discussions on
human rights at the United Nations and in other
international forums. However, the desired results have not
yet been achieved. This is mainly attributable to the fact
that United Nations Member States are pursuing different
ends in their deliberations on human rights and have
conflicting views with regard to standards for human rights.
As long as human rights issues continue to be abused
as a political means to put pressure on and interfere in the
internal affairs of others, any deliberations on human rights
will only have adverse effects upon international relations,
as is the case today. Furthermore, the application of double
standards has not ceased with regard to other crucial issues
such as disarmament and terrorism.
In order to eliminate high-handedness and
arbitrariness, and also to ensure fairness and justice in
resolving international issues, international society should
be democratized at the earliest possible date.
The twenty-first century should be a century devoted
to development and cooperation. Development is directly
linked to international peace and security.
In recent years major conferences, such as World
Summit for Social Development, the United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements and the World Food
Summit, were convened under the auspices of the United
Nations. These conferences made significant contributions
to elaborating action programmes and providing guidance
for international society with regard to cooperation in the
field of economic and social development.
The role of the United Nations should be further
strengthened to translate these documents into tangible
results. The United Nations has an important role in
persuading developed countries fully to implement their
commitments concerning official development assistance
and should pay due attention to resolving the issue of
external debt.
We are of the view that the ongoing reform process of
United Nations-affiliated organizations dealing with
economic and social issues and of the United Nations
Secretariat should be carried out in such a way as to enable
them to make the best use of their potential for
development and cooperation.
Developed countries are urged to be wise enough to
foresee that replacing the present unfair international
economic relations with new ones that are more fair, will,
in the long term, be beneficial to them, and they should
cooperate fully with other Member States in enhancing
the role of the United Nations in that direction.
We appreciate and support the joint efforts of the
countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America to expand
and strengthen regional cooperation for political
sovereignty and socio-economic development in a spirit
of collective self-reliance.
We support Syria and other Arab countries in their
just struggle to seek a fair and comprehensive solution to
the Middle East problem based on the principle of land
for peace, and hold that Israel should withdraw from all
occupied Arab territories.
The Government of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea adheres to the main ideal of our
foreign policy of independence, peace and friendship in
conformity with the purposes and principles of the United
Nations Charter, and will continue to do so in the future.
The delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea will make every sincere effort for the success of
deliberations on all agenda items that are before the
General Assembly at this session.


I am pleased to extend to
you, Sir, on behalf of my delegation, our most sincere
felicitations on your election to the presidency of the
fifty-second session of the United Nations General
Assembly.
8

We also wish to congratulate His Excellency Tan Sri
Razali Ismail, our colleague in the Assembly and our
partner in the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN), for his strong leadership as the President of the
fifty-first session.
We take great pleasure in congratulating His
Excellency Secretary-General Kofi Annan. We commit
ourselves to working with him for the improvement of our
Organization.
Next year the Philippines will commemorate the
centenary of its proclamation of independence. Next year
also the Philippines is scheduled to conduct the most sacred
exercise that democracy requires: electing national leaders
through the popular will. As we mark our first century as
the first Republic to arise in Asia, and as we prepare to
choose those who will lead our country into the twenty-first
century, we reflect on what we have achieved as a country
and as a member of our community of nations. Today
peace reigns in my country. Where there was strife, there
is now national reconciliation. Where there was violent
rebellion, there is now progress and hope.
Last year, with the wisdom and guidance of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in particular
the OIC’s Committee of Six, under the enlightened
leadership of Indonesia and with the active support of
Libya, the Philippine Government and the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) concluded a historic agreement
that brought peace to Mindanao after more than a quarter
century of open secessionist rebellion. The leader of the
MNLF is now the elected Governor of the Autonomous
Region of Muslim Mindanao and Chairman of the Southern
Philippines Council for Peace and Development. MNLF
fighters are now being integrated into the armed forces of
the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
Indeed, there is much for us to celebrate as a nation
and as a Republic. And this gives us even greater reason to
reflect on the world and to ask ourselves fundamental
questions about its present state and its emerging future.
One such question that comes to mind is this: Is our
world a safer place? The end of the cold war has in a sense
made it so. But is the world safe enough when we continue
to live under the threat posed by weapons of mass
destruction? Fortunately, the conclusion of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty last year and the
ongoing review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons give us some added security.
We must not stop here. Let us pursue negotiations
on the complete and total elimination of nuclear weapons
by a certain time. This call is already supported by the
International Court of Justice, which last year recognized
that all States have an obligation to pursue such
negotiations in good faith.
On 27 March 1997 the South-East Asia Nuclear-
Weapon-Free Zone Treaty entered into force. On that day,
the world of nuclear weapons became much smaller. We
now urge the nuclear-weapon States to support the Treaty
by becoming parties to its Protocol. At this session we
will once again consider the initiative of consolidating
existing nuclear-weapon-free zones and of promoting
cooperation among them with a view to the total
elimination of such weapons.
Global safety also demands control of the
proliferation of conventional arms, particularly small arms
and anti-personnel landmines, whether deployed or in
national stockpiles. In Oslo earlier this month the Ottawa
process produced, after less than a year, the text of a
treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. We will sign this
treaty in December. We will also continue to support the
noble efforts of the Organization, of individual
Governments and of non-governmental organizations to
clear minefields, to assist mine victims and to rehabilitate
areas plagued by these infernal devices.
At the dawn of the post-cold-war era, we must
acknowledge that the potential for the most serious
conflict has shifted almost entirely from the global to the
regional level. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Association
of South-East Asian Nations, in response to this new
reality, has led in creating the ASEAN Regional Forum,
a ministerial-level, multilateral forum for promoting
regional-security dialogue and cooperation. Today in the
Asia-Pacific region dialogue and cooperation are the pre-
eminent modes for securing peace.
However, the disputes in the South China Sea
remain a source of tension for our region. In 1992,
ASEAN issued, at Manila, a Declaration on the South
China Sea, which called for the settlement of disputes
exclusively by peaceful means and for the exercise of
self-restraint by all of the claimants. Other States have
endorsed this Declaration. We are determined to advance
towards a settlement of these disputes in conformity with
international law, including the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea, while avoiding all acts
inimical to stability and a sense of security in the region.
9

Like many here, we were saddened by the recent
events in the political life of Cambodia. We in ASEAN
have initiated a dialogue to address the Cambodian issue,
even as we look forward to the early admission of
Cambodia into the ASEAN family.
On the Korean peninsula, we hope that the current
talks will lead not only to large dividends of peace but also
to greater cooperation towards economic growth and
progress for East Asia.
In South Africa, following the collapse of apartheid,
we are witnessing bold and sincere efforts towards deeper
national reconciliation. In other parts of Africa we see
active regional cooperation to promote peace and justice in
the aftermath of terrible conflicts. In Liberia, in particular,
we welcome the holding of free and fair elections with the
support of the international community, led by the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
In the Middle East, peace is gravely imperilled by
terrorism and political aggression. We call on all parties to
renounce all forms of violence and intimidation to preserve
the peace process that was begun only a few years ago to
the applause of the whole world.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where much remains to be
done, we regret the deterioration of civil order and
condemn the violence directed against United Nations
personnel.
In Latin America, we welcome the honourable
termination of the civil war that had raged in Guatemala for
36 years.
Is the world a safer place for the world itself? The
environment of our planet is under threat. Our response
must be to accelerate implementation of Agenda 21 in line
with the programme adopted last June. As a priority, we
must address the lack of financial resources, technology,
know-how and international cooperation that inhibits the
promotion of worldwide sustainable development.
This December we will meet again to discuss a legally
binding instrument under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change to control harmful
emissions. We must agree now on emission reduction
targets, particularly for those who have emitted too much
for far too long.
How safe, we should also ask, is the world for the
individual human being? We can answer positively only
when it becomes universally accepted that every human
being has rights inherent in his or her person, and that all
basic rights — political, civil, social and economic —
must be in balanced harmony with one another. Thus, as
long as human rights are violated, as long as the right to
development is vitiated, as long as the rights of women
are not fully respected, as long as people are traded like
chattels, as long as migrant workers, especially women
migrant workers, are abused and exploited, we cannot say
that the world is a safer place for the individual human
person.
We must protect our women. We must act on the
decisions we reached in Beijing, and we must do more to
deepen and broaden respect for the rights of women
through the use of existing human rights agreements and
mechanisms.
We must protect our children. We must effectively
implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and
we must append to this Convention a protocol that would
organize global measures against child slavery,
prostitution and pornography.
In addition, we call for universal adherence to the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The protection of human rights finds its most
effective guarantees in democracy. Any threat to
democracy also poses a direct and indirect threat to the
rights of the human person. Today, in many countries,
including my own, democracy is no longer endangered by
the extreme political left or right. Rather, the threats to
democracy are more base and more insidious. Among
them are terrorism and the illicit traffic in narcotics.
With the objective of creating a regional consensus
on how best to address the issue of illicit drugs and other
transnational crimes, the Philippines will next year host
the regional ministerial meeting for Asia and the Pacific
on organized transnational crime and corruption. For this
meeting, we hope to take inspiration from and add to the
consensus achieved in the regional meetings held in
Africa and Latin America.
Our efforts to make the world a safer place, and to
safeguard the rights of the individual, would lose much of
their meaning if we were unable to answer the basic
question: have the opportunities for growth and economic
progress improved?
10

The rising tide of globalization has brought
unprecedented opportunities for the developed and
developing worlds alike. The acceptance of market-oriented
development and of free trade by an increasing number of
developing nations has expanded their participation in the
growth and commerce of the global economy. Yet the
benefits of globalization remain unevenly distributed.
Developing countries still suffer from the old problems of
external debt and of protectionism in developed-country
markets.
The recent currency turbulence in East Asia, the
region with the best long-term growth prospects in the
world, is a sobering reminder that globalization can cause
instability even where it has generated the greatest growth.
The existence of unbridled international speculation and of
other market ills that hinder rather than help development
is a powerful rationale for strengthening the United Nations
role in global development.
Only in the United Nations can we work to share,
among rich and poor nations alike, the burden of structural
adjustment imposed by globalization. Only within the
United Nations system can we mobilize concerted global
action to support progress in the poor regions of the globe,
particularly in Africa, whose needs call for special
attention.
The Bretton Woods system and the multilateral
development banks also need reform. Global flows of
multilateral development financing have to be increased,
especially since bilateral official development assistance is
declining.
Countries that wish to reduce their share in the
financing of the United Nations should be willing to do the
same in international financial institutions, so that those that
want to increase their contributions to these institutions are
able to do so without hindrance.
Another fundamental question we must ask is: are we
ready, as an Organization of States, as nations united, to
face the challenges of tomorrow? The short answer is “No”.
For this reason, the Philippines strongly believes that
we must immediately embark upon the reform of the
United Nations. We need to enhance the capacity of the
world body to meet the exigencies of modern times. A
fundamental objective of reform should be to restore
development to the centre of the United Nations agenda.
The Philippines, therefore, endorses the
recommendations of the Open-ended High Level Working
Group on the Strengthening of the United Nations
System. If properly implemented, they could render the
General Assembly more effective in fulfilling its Charter
responsibilities.
Our Secretary-General has given us a report on his
own reform proposals. These deserve the serious
consideration of the General Assembly. We appreciate the
emphasis placed by the Secretary-General on
development.
We also need to accelerate discussions on the reform
of the Security Council. In this regard, we welcome the
progress that has been made in clarifying and identifying
the elements that must be negotiated if we are to move
towards any expansion of the membership of the Council.
The Philippines favours the enlargement of the
membership of the Council in order to enhance its
efficiency and effectiveness. Security Council membership
should be more representative of the world’s developing
regions and more reflective of modern global realities.
New permanent members should enjoy the same rights as
current permanent members. The use of the veto should
be limited to actions under Chapter VII of the Charter.
Talking of reform is good. But our talk will lead
nowhere if our Organization does not have the resources
required to improve and revitalize itself. We survived the
balance of terror of the cold war. Let us now work on
balancing our cheque-books in the post-cold-war era.
There is much irony in this. The end of the cold war
should also have meant an end to the astronomical
finances spent on deterrence. It might have been
reasonable to expect that a fraction of those finances
could now be shared to help the United Nations promote
world peace, progress and prosperity.
Yet this is obviously not the case. The Secretary-
General’s proposed revolving credit fund of $1 billion, to
be financed though voluntary contributions or other
means — if it materializes — may provide temporary
relief. However, there is a real danger that this proposal
will encourage those in arrears to delay further their
payments to the Organization.
The Philippines is in favour of reform. But
reforming the United Nations should not be seen as an
opportunity to hold our Organization to ransom. We are
all in favour of reforming and strengthening the United
11

Nations. But setting benchmarks of reform should not be a
precondition for a Member State to pay its assessed
contributions.
In the 100 years since my country declared its
independence, war and occupation, dictatorship and partisan
politics have at one time or another endangered our
democracy. And in those eventful 100 years, we have
cultivated certain insights that might prove relevant to us
here today. We have learned, as a country, that we must
cherish the ideals of democracy in all aspects of our
national life, including in our dealings with other nations.
After my people emerged victorious in our last major
battle with forces opposed to democracy over a decade ago,
we resolved to share our experience with the rest of the
world. Thus, we organized in Manila the first meeting of
the International Conference of New or Restored
Democracies (ICNRD) in 1988. From the 13 nations that
first met in Manila, ICNRD has grown to 76 countries
today. I congratulate Romania for its successful hosting of
ICNRD’s third meeting earlier this month.
Given the diversity of the membership of our
Organization, it is not surprising that we may have some
differences even on such fundamental issues as international
peace, global development and the protection of the
individual. However, I submit that, if our Organization is to
function properly and if Member States are to relate to each
other in an effective manner, then we must all follow
certain basic principles and ideals. These principles and
ideals are those that democracy has taught us. Let us work
together with all the creative energy at our command and
with the ideals of democracy as our guiding light.


Your election to the presidency of the General Assembly
at its fifty-second session, Sir, gives me the pleasant
opportunity to congratulate you most warmly and to wish
you all the best for success in carrying out the noble task
entrusted to you.
I wish also to pay tribute to your predecessor,
Ambassador Razali Ismail, who discharged his mandate
with a skill and effectiveness that earned our respect and
appreciation.
My praise goes also to Mr. Kofi Annan, who since
taking up his duties has worked with courage and
selflessness to revitalize the Organization with a view to
bringing it into step with the times and with the
aspirations of the peoples it brings together.
10

We are meeting once again at a time when it is being
confirmed and reconfirmed that the international
Organization is facing a comprehensive transition involving
two fundamental questions: whether mankind is able, first,
to form a concept of the Organization and to put that
concept into practice, and secondly, to ensure that the
concept and its implementation enjoy universal participation
rather than being the sole preserve of the dominant Powers.
The fact is that this transition has both a political and
a strategic dimension. Now, soon after the cold war, the
closure of the East-West rift and the end of the bipolar
system, we must find a new pattern of balances in order to
establish a new, more just and more unified world order, a
world order that respects the interests and aspirations of all,
a world order that quite simply restores the values and
ideals on which our Organization was built.
This transitional phase also has a basic economic
dimension: the challenge of globalization, which must be
faced by us all in unity so that there will be room for the
aspirations of each of us. The test is to master
globalization, for unbridled globalization would bring new
setbacks and new exclusions, which would pose a threat to
all.
Finally, this transition has a new dimension: that of
coping with threats thus far misunderstood or
underestimated, such as the scourges of international
terrorism, drug trafficking, international organized crime
and environmental degradation. In a related vein, we must
share the objective of establishing States based on the rule
of law, human rights and good governance as the
foundation of the new international relations we are
building.
Clearly, the United Nations is an active partner in this
global transition; hence, it must first of all adapt itself to
ongoing changes so that it can influence their development.
The Secretary-General has in fact taken the good step of
beginning reflection along these lines, for which we
commend him, and has taken the initiative to reform the
Organization.
Here, let me share some of my thoughts on this great
plan for the future.
My first thought is somewhat methodological in
nature. In the package of reforms submitted we distinctly
see those which come within the sole purview of the
Secretary-General of our Organization, and he has the right
as well as the duty to implement these reforms. But at the
same time, it is equally clear that other proposed reforms
come only within the purview of Member States, which
must naturally discuss them before taking a decision.
My second thought gives me the opportunity first of
all to express our satisfaction at the inclusion of new
priorities in United Nations activities — be they in the
area of human rights, humanitarian affairs, the
environment, combating terrorism or the crackdown on
drug trafficking. These are all new universal concerns,
and the United Nations has a central place in dealing with
them.
Having said that, the objective of streamlining our
Organization’s activities should not sacrifice what has
been and remains the very reason for being of the United
Nations — the two pillars on which it has always rested,
namely peace and development.
From this standpoint, international cooperation for
development, as much as international security and
disarmament affairs, must not suffer on account of the
restructuring contemplated. Otherwise, the credibility and
effectiveness of the United Nations would be eroded in
these areas of action, which are destined to remain at the
forefront of the challenges which our countries will have
to face.
My third thought concerns the financial crisis of our
Organization. Proposals made by the Secretary-General,
be it to introduce a new culture of management of
resources or to create a revolving fund, are of some
interest. However, it is important that Member States be
motivated, first and foremost, by the obligation they have
pursuant to the provisions of the Charter to pay their
contribution to the budget of the Organization regularly
and fully. This, in effect, is where we find the genuine
and lasting solution to a problem which seems to go on
indefinitely and which should be distinguished and solved
as such, without its serving as justification for depriving
the United Nations of essential functions which it intends
to undertake in the service of all.
My fourth thought relates to the United Nations
General Assembly. If it has become absolutely necessary
today to streamline the work of this central body and to
re-examine its programme and work methods, we should,
by the same token, see to it that the Assembly continues
to be the special forum of States where essential issues
concerning peace, security and development can be
debated and considered. This is certainly one of the most
appropriate ways to ensure effective participation in the
11

management of world affairs, in our quest for solutions to
international problems, and to promote genuine
democratization of international relations.
In the era of democracy, transparency and proper
management that we are claiming for our countries, there
is nothing more normal than to insist, together, on the same
values and principles in this Organization which unites us.
It is in this same spirit that we see the problem of the
legal nature of General Assembly decisions and resolutions,
which should be given the necessary effectiveness. It is also
in this spirit that we see the problem of re-balancing the
powers of the Secretary-General and the General Assembly,
which should come consistently within the scope of
redefining all the relationships among the principal organs
of the United Nations.
Finally, and this is my last thought, a revision of the
United Nations Charter is of crucial importance and
requires in-depth thought which would raise our
Organization to a level on par with the vision, principles
and objectives which are inherent in it.
In this same line of thought, and even if this goes
beyond the context of reforms proposed by the Secretary-
General, I would like to refer to the issue of the expansion
of the Security Council. The Council is, quite obviously,
the body whose role and responsibilities best reflect the
hopes, expectations and, above all, the frustrations of
States. Consequently, it is important that the reform tries to
reflect correctly the qualitative and quantitative changes
which have taken place in international relations.
The enhancement of the political and moral authority,
as well as the legitimacy, of this vital body requires a
balanced representation within it, whether with regard to
permanent or non-permanent seats. Furthermore, any
decisions regarding its expansion and the revision of its
methods of deliberation and decision-making would benefit
by having the broadest possible support of Member States.
The declaration of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of
the Non-Aligned Countries in New Delhi in April 1997,
which was reaffirmed here in New York, and that of
African heads of State and Government in Harare in June
1997 are, in this regard, valuable contributions for our
collective thinking regarding the membership and
functioning of the Security Council which we all hope will
serve our common expectations.
Among the new challenges facing the international
community, terrorism is the one which apparently is the
most formidable because of its threats not only to the
basic rights of the individual but also to the very
democratic foundations of our societies. No State can
consider itself immune from these threats in the long run.
In this regard, we should welcome the international
community’s awareness which has taken shape of the real
nature of this phenomenon. This has been accompanied
by greater mobilization of efforts against this scourge,
which, above and beyond hindering economic and social
development of States, engenders the most serious
dangers to international peace and security. In addition,
we should welcome the decision of the General Assembly
to include the campaign against international terrorism
among the major priorities in its medium-term plan of
action. The present stage requires that we make effective
use of every achievement by guiding United Nations
action in an innovative and practical direction, based on
operational legal aspects of multilateral activities against
terrorism.
In the same vein, the conclusion of an international
convention to suppress acts of terrorism in an integrated,
global manner must be one of the major priority areas for
more effective international action. The international
community must, above all, resolutely respond to the
needs of the struggle against terrorism, depriving terrorists
of sanctuary and strictly abiding by the relevant
international instruments.
In every sphere, Algeria is continuing to work for
the emergence and consolidation of mutually beneficial
frameworks for dialogue, solidarity and cooperation and
for the promotion of relations based on confidence,
mutual respect and common interest. That is what guides
Algeria in its commitment to building a Maghreb that is
united, acts in solidarity and is stable and prosperous.
Algeria, which has made the Maghreb project a national
priority, is resolved to work together with its partners
there to relaunch the process of building the Maghreb on
a solid and durable basis.
To this end, my country is contributing to the search
for a just and lasting solution to the question of Western
Sahara. Aware of its responsibilities as both a
neighbouring country and an official observer of the
Settlement Plan, Algeria has repeatedly urged the
12

international community to shoulder its responsibilities with
regard to the peace process in Western Sahara. The recent
agreement in Houston, resulting from the direct talks
between the Kingdom of Morocco and the POLISARIO
Front, under the auspices of Mr. James Baker, the Personal
Envoy of the Secretary-General, brought a solution to
problems that had until then prevented implementation of
the United Nations Settlement Plan. This constitutes major
progress towards the final settlement of this conflict, and
Algeria, like the rest of the international community, is
delighted. Concerned for the stability and security of the
region, Algeria will continue to make a full contribution to
the efforts of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy
aimed at the holding of a referendum to enable the people
of Western Sahara freely to exercise their right to self-
determination.
In the Mediterranean almost a quarter of a century ago
my country distinguished itself through its pioneering role
in highlighting the indivisible link between the two coasts
of our common sea with regard to security and cooperation
matters. The Helsinki process began at that time. Because
of its dedication to the Barcelona process, Algeria is today
continuing to work to establish and consolidate permanent
frameworks for dialogue and cooperation so as to ensure
that we deal in a satisfactory manner with the political,
security, economic and human concerns of all the States in
the European-Mediterranean theatre as well as the
legitimate aspirations of their peoples. We are encouraged
in this regard by the reaffirmation at the Second Euro-
Mediterranean Conference, held in Malta on 15 and 16
April 1997, of the dedication of the Mediterranean countries
to the Barcelona process, which rightly constitutes a major
political achievement that should be preserved and promoted.
In the same context, I am pleased to refer to the
holding of the fourth meeting of Foreign Ministers of the
Mediterranean Forum in Algiers on 11 and 12 July. This
provided the European-Mediterranean theatre with a special
meeting place for dialogue to foster mutual understanding
and give a new dynamic to the promotion of the European-
Mediterranean partnership, at both the multilateral and
bilateral levels.
Within the Mediterranean theatre, recent developments
in the Middle East are in many respects causing great alarm
and legitimate concerns on the part of the international
community. Prospects for peace that were recently opened
up by the peace process now seem dangerously distant, and
fear of a return to confrontation is increasing every day.
At the heart of the current impasse are the Israeli
Administration’s renunciation of the Oslo declaration and
the Washington agreements; its negation of the principle
of land for peace and its refusal to resume negotiations at
the point at which they were suspended; and its
continuing policy of settlement, including in Al-Quds Al-
Sharif, where a programme of systematic judaization is
continuing. The Israeli Administration must understand
that only a lasting peace — that is, a just and
comprehensive peace — can ensure genuine security for
all the peoples of the region.
The revitalization of the peace process requires the
Israeli Administration urgently to end its unilateral
actions, which are contrary to the spirit and letter of the
commitments that it entered into.
Similarly, it cannot indefinitely and with impunity go
against the will of the international community, which has
set as an absolute requirement for peace withdrawal from
the Golan and southern Lebanon, as well as the right to
self-determination of the Palestinian people, including
their right to an independent State with Al-Quds Al-Sharif
as its capital.
Also in that part of the world the Iraqi people are
continuing to suffer unjustly from the effects of a cruel
embargo. My country can only renew its appeal for the
lifting of sanctions, which have lasted for too long and
cannot be justified today. This appeal also applies to the
situation of the Libyan people, who also continue to be
subjected to an embargo that is as unjust as it is invalid.
Given the start of the process of disengagement from
Africa by the international community, and the dangers of
marginalization, Africa’s resurgence demonstrates its firm
determination to take charge of its destiny and to break
the cycle of dependence once and for all. This welcome
development also demonstrates the collective
determination of Africa to face the considerable
challenges that confront it by relying first and foremost
on its own resources. In fact, every day Africa gives the
lie to the theory that it is condemned to be a zone without
laws or development, a zone of insecurity and instability.
The democracy and pluralism, which are gaining
ground every day in Africa and taking firm hold and the
economic growth at rates that are often spectacular, point
to new development prospects. At the same time, Africa
is showing a promising capacity for conflict management
and resolution.
13

The establishment of the Organization of African
Unity Central Organ’s Mechanism for Conflict Prevention,
Management and Resolution and the Treaty setting up the
African Economic Community are the product of the spirit
of solidarity and mutual assistance which is rooted in
African culture and of a strategy for giving fresh impetus
to intra-African factors of integration and complementarity.
This is the forum to state that the international community
must encourage and help these praiseworthy efforts.
In this regard, we welcome the convening of a special
ministerial meeting of the Security Council on Africa,
which is a major political advance. We venture to hope that
we are thereby taking steps towards international solidarity
with the African continent, which will finally be considered
an active partner which cannot be excluded from
humankind’s great march towards the fulfilment of its
destiny.
The signs of recovery which have recently been
evident through the growth of the world economy are a real
source of satisfaction. However, this slight improvement
needs to be consolidated so as to make it the lasting trend
of the end of the century.
In this regard, it is particularly important that the
problems of development around the world, and particularly
in developing countries, be given priority, since the current
contribution of developing countries is still well below their
potential and falls short of the role they legitimately want
to play.
The phenomenon of globalization, which promises so
much, instead continues to bring great uncertainty to the
countries of the South, which is compounded by concern at
seeing many of them further marginalized and even
excluded from the long-awaited overall development
process they so desire. This state of affairs is mainly due to
a structure of international relations still marked by the
North-South divide. It highlights the continuation of the
basically adverse nature of an international economic
environment characterized by the North’s increasing
monopoly of the decisive elements of development: trade,
financial and stock markets, flows of capital and
investment, and technology transfer.
The countries of the South have made economically
and socially costly adjustments, and carried out bold
reforms in their quest for greater integration into world
trade, but they still encounter numerous difficulties. These
are aggravated by, inter alia: stifling external indebtedness;
a continued deterioration of the terms of trade; an alarming
decline in official development assistance; and an equally
worrying reduction of international cooperation for
development in general.
These disturbing trends are in contrast with the
global consensus that has emerged during major
international conferences organized over the past decade
under the auspices of the United Nations. They raise
legitimate questions as to the very future of the system
established to organize international cooperation for
development.
On the eve of the third millennium, and at a time
when we are trying to find consensus on the need to
reform our Organization to prepare it to take up
challenges and face future tasks, we all need to do some
soul-searching. Tomorrow’s United Nations will be what
we, the peoples of the United Nations, want it to be. And
the new United Nations that our countries intend to build
will, above all, need to be freed from the mistakes and
bad habits of the past.
Yesterday, the United Nations was a melting pot for
the ideals and values that unite us; tomorrow its job is to
reconcile these ideals and values with all the expectations
of our peoples and nations that are still to be met. This
reform project should result in our ideals and values being
dealt with in the only way that matters, namely, turned
into a vision that become reality. This is what lies at the
heart of this major project which we can undertake for the
United Nations and, in the final analysis, for ourselves.