SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS UN `UNIQUE INSTRUMENT' IN SERVICE OF MEMBER STATES IN ADDRESS TO UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF CHINA
Press Release
SG/SM/5938
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS UN `UNIQUE INSTRUMENT' IN SERVICE OF MEMBER STATES IN ADDRESS TO UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF CHINA
19960326 ADVANCE RELEASE Following is the text of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's address to the United Nations Association of China in Beijing, 26 March:It is great pleasure for me to be here again in Beijing. I am especially pleased to have this opportunity to address the United Nations Association of China.
Last October, 128 heads of State and government came together in New York, in the largest ever gathering of world leaders, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.
China was represented at this historic gathering by His Excellency President Jiang Zemin. Speaking before the General Assembly, and through the General Assembly to the world, President Jiang Zemin gave China's message to the world -- "Let Us Work Together for a Better World". This message summarizes, in one sentence, the mission of the United Nations -- people working with people for people, working together for a better world.
To achieve collective security, to promote friendly relations among nations based upon shared values, to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to engage in cooperative problem-solving of economic, social, cultural and humanitarian issues -- these were the goals of those who created the United Nations 50 years ago. They are the goals of today.
But the world of today is not the same as the world of 50 years ago. There are new and different dangers. There are new and different opportunities. All nations today feel the contradictory pressures of a huge paradox. On the one hand, fragmentation has provoked an upsurge in confrontation and conflict. On the other hand, the world is coming together, linked by the increasing fact of globalization.
In the new world environment, the United Nations is more than ever essential. It is a unique instrument in the service of its Member States.
I want to speak with you today about the unique role of the United Nations. The United Nations can provide, as no other organization can, ways to address both the new forms of conflict and confrontation, and the new problems brought on by globalization.
Let me turn first to the unique role of the United Nations in dealing with new issues of confrontation and conflict.
At the founding of the United Nations in 1945, the prevailing assumption was that inter-State warfare would continue to be the dominant threat to peace. The greatest fear throughout the cold war was of a nuclear conflict that could devastate the planet. Today's wars, by contrast, occur mainly within, not across, state borders. They present a new set of challenges in peace and security.
All States, however, have an interest in preventing a global pattern of violence, in checking the disease of conflict, and in deterring would-be aggressors. The United Nations, unlike any other organization, offers a framework for global burden-sharing for peace.
In the United Nations, Member States have a unique set of mechanisms for preventing conflict. Preventive diplomacy, conducted early in a dispute, can ease tensions and resolve problems before they erupt in war. Its techniques - - from confidence-building measures to fact-finding, from early warning to preventive deployment -- were analyzed "An Agenda for Peace", my 1992 report written at the request of the first-ever meeting of the Security Council at the level of heads of State. Since then, preventive diplomacy has increasingly been recognized as a distinctive and essential field of endeavour.
The United Nations can be most effective in the quiet practice of preventive diplomacy. As an impartial body, with a global mandate, and without the need to publicize its role, the United Nations can achieve a great deal behind the scenes. The United Nations can help parties settle their differences before their confrontation becomes public. Resolving an issue early and privately can be the key to preventing bloodshed.
In the United Nations, Member States have a unique mechanism for keeping peace. Traditional United Nations peace-keeping, as developed and practiced between 1948 and 1989, has proved largely effective. Peace-keepers help stabilize conflict situations between States and facilitate their search for a political settlement. Peace-keeping rests upon three principles: consent and cooperation of the parties; impartiality of the peace-keeping forces; and non- use of force except in self-defence. Today, in places from Asia to the Middle East to the Mediterranean, traditional United Nations peace-keeping continues, and it continues to work well.
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Since the end of the cold war, the United Nations has been asked to create a "second generation" of peace-keeping. United Nations "Blue Helmets" are joined by civilian experts who can provide political, social, economic, and humanitarian assistance. The aim is to help societies move from violent conflict toward national reconciliation, reconstruction and consolidation.
This approach shows much promise. Remarkable transformations are under way, with United Nations assistance, in El Salvador, Cambodia, Angola and Mozambique. It is more far-reaching and expensive than traditional peace- keeping. But if the international community is willing to commit its energy and resources, there is no reason why "second generation" peace-keeping should not prove effective in the future.
Setbacks have occurred where traditional peace-keeping operations have been deployed to deal with war-like situations. Where cease-fires were not respected. Where cooperation of the parties was limited and sporadic. Where the perception of impartiality was difficult to maintain, as peace-keepers were required to perform limited enforcement tasks, for their own and others' protection. In Somalia and Bosnia, the world has seen the dangers of giving peace-keepers enforcement tasks.
The future of United Nations peace-keeping -- and of our system of collective security as a whole -- depends upon the restoration of its unique logic, the realignment of its concepts. Where a cease-fire is in place, and where the cooperation of the parties is reliable, peace-keepers can be deployed. In a war situation calling for international action, the United Nations cannot intervene, the Security Council could authorize combat forces to deal with it. Peace-enforcement could then, if necessary, be followed by peace-keeping.
And in the United Nations, Member States have an essential framework for building peace. Lasting peace requires action to address the underlying economic, social, cultural, humanitarian and political roots of conflict. And it must include action to strengthen the foundations for development. In other words, "peace-building" must be a part of any effective framework for peace.
New United Nations initiatives in peace-building show a United Nations responding flexibly and creatively to the new face of conflict. United Nations peace-keepers today provide assistance in demilitarization. The United Nations is pioneering in what I have called "micro-disarmament". That means action to collect, control and dispose of small arms, which are responsible for most of the deaths in today's conflicts.
United Nations personnel are engaged in the dangerous task of mine clearance. a major activity for peace-building. The United Nations has taken the lead in calling for a ban on these hideous weapons. Land-mines devastate
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populations and make vast areas of land unavailable for development. There are signs that the United Nations initiative is gaining support.
All around the world, United Nations personnel are helping to repatriate refugees, to improve police and judicial systems, to support institutional reform and to assist in economic and social reconstruction. United Nations peace-building is a link between urgent efforts to deal with conflicts, and the long-term struggle for development. Here again, the role of the United Nations can be said to be unique.
The end of the cold war and the increasing globalization of economic activity and communications, have dramatically transformed the world scene. A fresh possibility exists for global conciliation and shared progress. In more and more locations, North and South, virtually every part of the world faces problems that can only be understood through the concept of development, in its largest scene.
Countries of the North now can recognize that they need the cooperation of countries from the South -- just as the reverse can be seen to be true. Age-old problems of poverty, unemployment and social dislocation -- once considered the exclusive province of national policy -- have become global problems, requiring global attention. And a new set of issues has arisen that is clearly global in character. Alarming environmental events expose the Earth to permanent damage and produce human migration on a massive scale. Forces of globalization are used for the rapid growth of transnational crime. Even the spread of technology, which has produced so much good, creates pressures that established institutions were not designed to address.
In the United Nations, Member States have a unique forum -- open, acceptable and accountable to all concerned -- for forging consensus and agreement on global issues. Instead of repeated reliance on emergency relief and assistance, the concerns of both developed and developing States today can be mediated through he intergovernmental framework of the United Nations, for the benefit of all. The United Nations is the world organization of States, but its flexible framework also offers a way to engage the relevant non-State actors, whose cooperation is increasingly needed to achieve global solutions. I refer to such actors as regional organizations, parliamentarians, non- governmental organizations -- such as your own United Nations Association -- civic associations, private business, the media and academia.
In this regard, United Nations conferences and summits have become an essential mechanism for bringing together all the relevant State and non-State actors to focus on a particular transnational issue.
China has played a key role in recent and unprecedented examples of this. In Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development -- "The Earth Summit" -- blazed the trail. At Rio, the
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developed countries of the North saw that they needed the cooperation of the South if the environment as a common good is to be sustained. And all States recognized the importance of creating a new partnership for sustainable development with actors of civil society, who played a critical role at the Summit itself and would be even more critical to its follow-up. The consensus forged at the Summit was transformed into a Plan of Action, Agenda 21, which remains the fundamental international document for development respectful of the environment and of future generations.
China played a particularly important role at the Earth Summit, where it was actively involved in forging agreement on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This landmark Convention launched a global process of cooperation to keep greenhouse gases within safe limits.
The momentum generated by the Earth Summit has been carried forward in the series of United Nations conferences and summits, held since Rio, on interlocking global issues. At Vienna (1993) the world addressed human rights. At Yokohama (1994), natural disasters. At Cairo (1994), population and development. At Copenhagen (1995), poverty, unemployment and social dislocation. And here, in Beijing (1995), the advancement of women was the subject of a successful and significant international gathering.
Here, in this great city, a new recognition was achieved: that women's issues and women's progress are essential to development in every social and economic area of concern. In case after case, attention to the advancement of women can be the turning point toward the solution to long-standing problems of human development.
This crucial recognition is informing the work of the final conference in the series, the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements -- Habitat II -- to be held in Istanbul this June. Taken together, these conferences are generating agreements and specific commitments that provide a new and comprehensive framework for international development cooperation.
My message today is that, in the United Nations, States and their peoples have the structures and mechanisms necessary to deal with the new forces at work in the world. But at this time, when our prospects should be bright, I must also tell you that the United Nations itself may be in danger.
Today, the United Nations -- a unique instrument for enabling all peoples "to work together for a better world", is being starved of resources and is on the verge of financial disaster. Three areas require action: emergency financial measures; organizational reform; and the search for long- term financial stability. In relation to the scope and significance of the Organization's activities, the United Nations budget is remarkably small. The regular budget for 1994 was only $1.3 billion, with another $3.3 billion for peace-keeping activities. Yet many Member States refuse to pay their assessed
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contributions fully and on time, leading to a chronic shortage of cash and placing a severe strain on the Organization.
As Secretary-General I have taken every conceivable step to acquire the needed funds. I supported a wide variety of financial measures proposed by my predecessor to solve the cash-flow problem. I convened the Independent Advisory Group on United Nations Finances, which produced the 1992 Volcker- Ogata Report. I put forward a bond-issue proposal to the Group of Seven in 1995. None of these proposals has been adopted.
At the same time, I have carried out a series of stringent budget- cutting measures. I have reduced the number of posts in the Secretariat, dramatically streamlining and rationalizing the bureaucracy. I have supported the appointment of an inspector-general for internal oversight, consolidated 13 offices into 3 departments, curtailed travel, established accountability standards, strengthened managerial training, simplified regulations, cut the regular 1994-1995 budget to nearly no-growth, and proposed a budget for 1996- 1997 that is 4.2 per cent lower than the current one. These cuts have reduced expenditures, but the possible savings are minor compared to the magnitude of the crisis. The financial gymnastics the crisis has required cannot long be maintained.
With long-term change in mind, I have committed myself to a mission of continuing reform. Far-reaching reform is essential if the United Nations is ever to enjoy the steady financial support of its Member States. The job is not complete, nor will it ever be. The Secretary-General must accept managerial, administrative, and structural reform as a perpetual responsibility.
The main arena for reform, however, is the intergovernmental machinery of the United Nations. The objective must be not only to gain greater efficiency but to promote the democratization of the United Nations system. Change in the composition of the Security Council and its relationship to the other principal organs -- decisions for the Member States to take -- will be at the heart of this endeavour.
But no effort at reform can succeed as long as the primary concern of the Organization is mere survival. Now is the time to address seriously the need for a United Nations that can operate on a secure and steady independent financial foundation. More resources are needed and mandates must be soundly related to capabilities. Predictability in funding is essential so that operations are not undermined once under way. Member States must become willing to establish sources of funding that are not dependent on their political and budgetary constraints. A system of assessed, negotiated, and voluntary contributions for financing the world body can be designed that will permit Governments to maintain proper control over the United Nations budget and agenda.
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The choices we make today will decide the international environment of tomorrow. Let us decide to leave the next generation a United Nations well- equipped to play its unique role as the only global framework for maintaining peaceful and cooperative relations among all States and all peoples.
I know that in this regard the United Nations can count on the Government and People of China, who understand the unique role of the United Nations, as is shown by China's own role in the Rio, Copenhagen and Beijing Conferences, by its presence as a Permanent Member of the Security Council, and in many other ways. Only a few days ago here in Beijing, you marked the global observance of World Water Day 1996 -- an important event in gaining support for preventing the impending world water crisis.
In his address to the Special Commemorative Session of the Fiftieth General Assembly, His Excellency President Jiang Zemin proposed five principles. He called for these objectives: creating an international environment of peace and stability; upholding the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs; establishing international economic relations of mutual benefit, complementarity and common development; achieving international harmony while allowing independent choices; and joining to meet the challenges to human survival and development.
These are indeed the agenda of the United Nations. China's full involvement and constructive influence as a great world power will be essential if a better world is to be built for the century to come. I express my deep appreciation to China for its engagement with the United Nations and for its support. I look forward to ever-deeper cooperation with China as we go forward to meet the exciting prospects ahead.
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