SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT GLOBALIZATION OF ECONOMY MUST GO HAND-IN-HAND WITH GLOBALIZATION OF DEMOCRACY
Press Release
SG/SM/5810/Rev.1*
SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT GLOBALIZATION OF ECONOMY MUST GO HAND-IN-HAND WITH GLOBALIZATION OF DEMOCRACY
19951110 Says UN Is Promoting Democratization Within and Among Nations; World Needs European Diplomacy and ValuesFollowing is the text of the address, translated from the French, to be delivered by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 14 November:
Allow me first of all to tell you, with a certain amount of solemnity, the importance I attach to my presence here before you.
In the first place because Europe, since the outset of the building of the Community, has been an essential partner of the United Nations. Through the commitment of its Member States and through the actions of its institutions, Europe is a full participant in the great universal adventure inaugurated 50 years ago by the founding fathers of the Charter.
But also because we are entering a period of history in which many problems need to be rethought in their totality and in which Europe, by virtue of the values that are its own, can serve as an inspiration for international society in the post-cold-war period.
As you are aware, the United Nations has just resoundingly celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. During these ceremonies, the 146 Heads of State and Government who came to reaffirm their faith in the principles of the Charter all insisted on the essential role the United Nations must play in serving as a framework for the global society into which we have now entered.
Like them, I am convinced that the United Nations cannot be reduced to an institution which assumes responsibility on an emergency basis for the conflicts and confrontations that emerge in many spots on our planet.
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* Reissued as delivered.
Important as that role may be, the United Nations must also keep abreast of the major changes in the world, foresee tomorrow's problems, identify the new dangers that threaten us and grasp international reality in its evolution and in its globality.
For the world is now faced with vast economic, social, technological, cultural and human movements which transcend, and sometimes transgress, the confines of States.
International public opinion and States are today well aware that the great major problems of mankind's future are essentially transnational problems. Be they a matter of protection of the environment, controlling population growth, combating AIDS, regulating international migrations or repressing transnational crime, it is today clear that all of these issues are now posed on a planet-wide scale and can be only very partially grasped on the scale of the nation State.
Very early on, the European Community gave consideration to these phenomena. Through the regulation of the movement of goods, persons and capital, through the adoption of common policies, through the building of a specific legal order, it is undeniably Europe which has taken the institutional construction of an integrated political space to its furthest extent.
If tomorrow the United Nations wishes to become the great universal organization of world society, it thus has a great deal to learn from Europe.
But we also recognize that the phenomenon of globalization may bring with it threats and give rise to fears. For there are many dangers in the world economy, among them that of destroying traditional links of solidarity, of marginalizing countries, indeed entire regions of the planet, and thus of widening still further the gap between rich and poor.
As we are all aware, these situations are not without their risks. The flames of warfare, exclusion, hatred and ethnic or religious antagonism are always fed in such a climate. Irrational and fanatical ideas are always lying in wait to offer false solutions to the distraught.
We thus also have, today, the vital obligation to reflect on a new plan for living collectively on the world-wide scale, so as to offer States and nations, men and women throughout the world, specific grounds for hope.
Here again, I am convinced that the world can draw its inspiration largely from the example of Europe and from the great philosophical and political values that are yours in the attempt to democratize world society. This is a major challenge for the international community as a whole. For I
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am convinced that the phenomenon of globalization of the economy must go hand- in-hand with a movement for the globalization of democracy.
It is thus important today not only to disseminate the idea of democracy, but also to promote it worldwide. For we must clearly understand that, in order for democracy to have real meaning, it must find expression in all the places where power is exercised. On the national level, of course, but also on the international level and, henceforth, on the transnational level.
This is the direction in which I want increasingly to commit the activities of the world Organization; it is this policy of democratization that I should like to discuss with you for a few moments.
For a number of years, pragmatically and empirically, the United Nations has been conducting a genuine diplomacy in favour of democracy actually within States.
This diplomacy is apparent first of all, in its most tangible form, in the mandates assigned to our Blue Helmets. Most peace-keeping operations now provide both for the restoration of democracy and for the protection of human rights.
This trend has found expression inter alia in most of the major operations conducted by the United Nations since the ending of the cold war, in Angola, in Mozambique, in El Salvador and of course in Cambodia. The demand for democracy now permeates the field of peace-keeping, assigning these operations a mission of national reconciliation and the strengthening of democracy.
The difficulties of the task can readily be gauged, but we must not underestimate the fact that today a new generation of forces is at work on peace-keeping, and that the democratic imperative is one of their foundations.
In addition, the United Nations is now offering States which so request genuine electoral assistance. And more and more States are interested in benefiting from this aid with a view to instituting democracy. Since 1992, the United Nations has thus been called upon to conduct more than 60 electoral assistance operations.
However, control and supervision of elections does not constitute a long-term guarantee of the process of democracy. In the recent past, the experience of Angola has afforded ample proof of this.
The United Nations cannot guarantee that there will exist, in the country which requested its assistance, sufficient democratic awareness to respect the result of the elections. Here again, progress needs to be made,
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helping States change their ways of thinking and convincing them to embark upon the course of structural reforms.
This is why the United Nations is expanding its activity, providing constitutional assistance as well. The countries of Eastern Europe have benefited extensively from this activity, but they are not the only ones. I am thinking in particular of the substantial assistance provided by the Centre for Human Rights to both Mongolia and South Africa.
The United Nations still has a long way to travel on the road of promoting democracy within States. It must be able to provide States with technical assistance which will enable them to adapt their institutions, educate their citizens and train managers, and to draw up legislation which respects human rights.
I wish in particular to emphasize the importance of establishing independent judiciaries, forming armies which will respect the rule of law and police forces which will uphold civil liberties, and establishing systems for education in the field of human rights.
Already, the United Nations has made substantial efforts. In El Salvador, for example, the United Nations provided training for the national civilian police and participated in the restoration of the public administration in the former conflict zones, as well as in the reform of the judicial system. In addition, the Organization instituted vast programmes for the reintegration of the combatants, particularly through transfers of agricultural land.
It acted in the same way in Mozambique.
Other concrete programmes of assistance and support for democracy are under way in various regions of the world, from Haiti to the Gaza Strip.
Let me take the opportunity here of emphasizing that the European Union is a major partner of the world Organization in this work of democratization. On its own initiative, or in collaboration with the United Nations, it is one of the main agents for the democratization of international life, and I should like to express to you today my deepest gratitude.
In this common effort to promote democracy, it is not a matter -- as all of us here are firmly convinced -- of encouraging States to engage in a kind of slavish imitation or of inviting them to borrow political institutions that are alien to them. On the contrary, I want to reiterate emphatically here before you that democracy does not belong exclusively to anyone. It can, and must, be assimilated by all cultures. It lends itself to many forms in order to accommodate the different realities of the world's peoples. Democracy is
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not a model to be copied from certain States, but rather an objective to be attained by all peoples.
I believe it is important to emphasize that democratic States are both the best guarantors of peace and the best protectors of human rights.
Indeed each day brings new proof that authoritarian regimes are potential causes of war and reveals the extent to which, conversely, the culture of democracy is essentially a culture of peace.
I should like, lastly, to recall that democracy is an instrument for helping the weakest States to achieve stability and to grow stronger. From this perspective, too, the policy of democratization pursued by the United Nations is in keeping with the global society which our world has become today. Indeed, the most serious ills that now plague the planet, whether drugs, AIDS, pollution, corruption or organized crime, are often spread through the weakest links in international society. And, very often, non- democratic States are these weak links. It is therefore essential for the sake of the common good to help such States to undertake reform.
Once again, this is an indication of how closely democracy and development are intertwined and the extent to which helping the developing countries is a way for the wealthiest States to help themselves and international society as a whole.
It is this universality of the democratic imperative which requires us today to promote greater democracy within the United Nations system itself, that is, not just within States but between States as well.
In the Agenda for Peace which I submitted to the Security Council, I pointed out that democracy within nations makes possible the social and political stability that are required for peace. But I also emphasized that democracy among nations means that all States, large and small, must have a say in the decisions which are taken on world issues. This is a prerequisite if nations are to respect one another and if there is to be any chance of creating the necessary conditions among the nations for lasting peace.
It is in this spirit that the idea of democracy must increasingly take root in the very management of the United Nations.
A few short years ago, no one ever spoke of making the United Nations system more democratic. Today, the question is on every agenda.
This new trend can be accounted for in large part by the fact that many Member States have only recently become democracies and that, as a result, the General Assembly has, understandably, become imbued with the demands of democracy.
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Similarly, many Member States now believe that there is a need to rethink the existing relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council.
In this same vein, States are generally in favour of an expansion of the Security Council which would make it more representative and more open to the many different viewpoints that exist within the international community. Most of the Heads of State who met in New York as part of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations took the opportunity to make this point.
Some have even suggested that the number of public meetings of the Security Council should be increased immediately and that non-members of the Council should be invited to express their views before the Council on a more regular basis so as to foster transparency of the Council's decisions and lend greater legitimacy to those decisions. These issues are therefore very much on the table for discussion today. And, it seems to me, this trend is a very eloquent indication of the democratic aspirations which have taken hold within the United Nations, including in its most political bodies.
It is this same strong desire that explains the decentralization that the Organization is pursuing today.
In the economic sphere, the United Nations has delegated to its regional commissions an important share of its activities.
Similarly, as regards international peace and security, the Organization is working to build up an increasingly closer network of cooperation with regional organizations.
In El Salvador, throughout the peace process, the Organization cooperated with Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela through an informal group known as the "Friends of the Secretary-General". In Georgia, the United Nations is acting in concert with the Commonwealth of Independent States. In Azerbaijan, it is cooperating with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In Somalia, it received assistance from the Organization of African Unity, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. In Haiti the first phase of its mission was entrusted to a multinational force assembled by the United States on the basis of a Security Council resolution.
The European Union, for its part, is engaged side-by-side with the United Nations, the Contact Group and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the difficult task of grappling with the situation in the former Yugoslavia. We are now entering a new phase and we know that the European Union must have its proper role to play in it.
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This wide-ranging decentralization of international activities has, as I see it, certain basic advantages: it lightens the burden on the Security Council, it entrusts responsibility to States which are concerned in the region and it thereby promotes the democratization of international relations.
As I emphasized when I began my statement, this strong desire to pursue democratization may be deprived of some of its meaning if, at the same time, power on a world-wide scale remains outside the reach of States, and if the new realms of power are not also governed by democratic principles.
It is clear, in fact, that, in a society which is becoming increasingly global, the latitude left to national decision makers is shrinking.
This change of perspective creates a new imperative for the United Nations: it calls upon it to make the idea of democracy part of the globalization of international life by creating new forms of solidarity.
We are all convinced that only a new concept of solidarity will make it possible to avoid -- or at least attenuate -- the inevitable exclusions which are inherent in the global society.
But solidarity cannot be achieved by decree. Solidarity is, in the first place, a profound conviction that we all belong to the same world. Solidarity is also a desire to build the future on a new social covenant.
Solidarity can, therefore, be achieved only by a collective commitment, in other words with the support of all the major actors in contemporary international society.
It is to this new phase of democratization that the United Nations has already wished to commit itself by calling for collective mobilization to deal with the new challenges which we face on this planet and by promoting the participation of private actors in the bringing about of a global democratic society.
At present, the United Nations is engaged in a far-reaching collective process of reflection in the economic and social sector, organizing a whole series of international conferences devoted to the major transnational problems which affect the future, indeed the destiny of mankind.
It is in this spirit that we should understand the Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio in 1992, and the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, held the following year. It was in this same spirit that the United Nations took the initiative of convening, in Cairo in September 1994, a Conference to reflect on population problems and the demographic future of the planet.
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A few months later, the States Members of the United Nations, meeting in Naples, drew up a Global Action Plan against Organized Transnational Crime.
This year, in Copenhagen, on the occasion of the World Summit for Social Development, the international community was able, for the first time in its history, to trace the outlines of a new social order on an international scale which would make it possible at the same time to reduce poverty, develop productive employment and strengthen social integration.
A few months ago, the important World Conference to reflect on the status and condition of women took place in Beijing.
In inviting all States to become involved in questions relating to the global future of our planet, the United Nations is demonstrating its resolve to move imperceptibly from a dialogue between States to transnational cooperation, and thus to turn itself into a truly democratic assembly of our planet.
As I have said, however, this democratization movement must go further. And it requires the participation of private actors.
In this connection, commercial enterprises and financial institutions today represent a fundamental seat of power on a planetary scale. As such, they must be more closely associated with international decisions. At the same time, however, they must agree to include in their economic strategies issues of general interest relating to the collective well-being.
For we are all aware of the fact that today it is no longer a matter of advocating some general plan or of letting the law of profit govern the economic future of the world and the future of generations to come.
It is therefore essential to draw transnational corporations into the democratization process so that they appear not as predators who would take advantage of the gaps in the international social order, but, on the contrary, as actors in development activities and essential factors in social integration.
This participation of enterprises in the elaboration of a new transnational social order is all the more important in that the weakening of the means of State control, the increasing permeability of territories and the crumbling of national economic interests make it necessary to invent new rules and new practices in the field of competition.
To this end, I am convinced that we need to persuade the major private economic leaders to participate in the drafting of these rules. It is through the democratization of methods of decision-making and the drafting of regulations that transnational corporations will be able to participate in the
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elaboration of a new social order and to feel that they, too, in a way, are citizens of the world.
Lastly, I should like to emphasize the importance which I attach to the role of non-governmental organizations in the process of the democratization of the global society.
Indeed, if we are to establish an open and living democracy, we must take into account not only the will of political subjects and the behaviour of economic agents, but also the aspirations of those active in the social and cultural sphere.
Non-governmental organizations fulfil an essential representational role in the contemporary world. Their participation in international organizations is, in a way, a guarantee of the political legitimacy of those organizations. Today, on all continents, non-governmental organizations continue to multiply. And this development is inseparable from the aspiration for freedom and democracy which today animates international society in various ways.
I have had occasion to state on several occasions -- in particular this summer before the members of the Interparliamentary Union meeting in New York -- that I hoped that non-governmental organizations would be given an increasingly important place within the United Nations itself.
From the standpoint of global democratization, we need the participation of international public opinion and the mobilizing power of non-governmental organizations.
By thus evoking the work undertaken by the United Nations in the field of democratization and by outlining what could be a new social and democratic order in today's global society, I have been well aware that I have been indulging in reflections mainly about the future.
Perhaps you are disappointed that I have not referred here to the specific problems which face us today -- the situation in the former Yugoslavia, perhaps, or the financial crisis of the United Nations. But I have sought, for a few moments, to rise above the demanding realities of our daily life, to outline the principal challenges which will face the international community of tomorrow, and to tell you what role Europe and its democratic values can play in this.
I put it to you in the strongest possible terms: the world needs Europe. The world has need of European diplomacy and European values.
Indeed, I remain convinced that it is ethical values as much as economic realities which provide the basis for, legitimize, give structure to and govern societies.
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Perhaps more than any other society, the international community is, above all, a society with a purpose. It must be built on a democratic and united perception of the future if it is to be able constantly to rebuild itself and surpass itself.
It is this strong conviction which, on your continent, inspired the founding fathers of Europe.
It is also this spirit which animated the drafters of the Charter when, 50 years ago, they inscribed at the head of the Preamble the words: "We the peoples of the United Nations".
I thank you for your attention and for the good example of democracy which the European Parliament offers to the international community as a whole.
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