SECRETARY-GENERAL SUPPORTS BROADENING UNITED NATIONS 'EXCELLENT WORKING RELATIONSHIP' WITH OAS
Press Release
SG/SM/6264*
SECRETARY-GENERAL SUPPORTS BROADENING UNITED NATIONS 'EXCELLENT WORKING RELATIONSHIP' WITH OAS
19970618 Following is the statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C., today:Thank you for your warm welcome. It is good to be with you and to have this opportunity of addressing this Council. I am also grateful for the opportunity to exchange views with members of your secretariat. You, Secretary-General, embarked on a reform process of your organization soon after you became Secretary-General. You have become an expert on the subject.
Next month, I will be making some important reform proposals for the United Nations. I am sure I could learn a great deal from you.
I made clear three weeks ago, when I addressed the Organization of African Unity (OAU) at Harare, the high priority I attach to enhanced contact with regional organizations.
The United Nations enjoys an excellent working relationship with the Organization of American States. General Assembly resolution 51/4 of 7 November 1996, on "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of American States", set the scene. At your twenty-seventh General Assembly in Lima recently, Foreign Ministers passed a resolution noting the excellent cooperation between our two organizations.
My aim is to deepen and broaden that relationship. I believe that this is a good time -- a time of change and reform in the international system -- to take stock of our work together and to give it greater clarity and sense of purpose. I intend to visit the region before the end of the year to continue our dialogue.
In many ways, we are already pioneering new ways of working together. That is fully consistent with the charters of our two organizations.
Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations encourages the use of regional arrangements or agencies for the peaceful settlement of disputes and,
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in effect, calls for action to be carried out at the level -- international, regional, national or local -- where it can be most effective.
We should ask ourselves, in every instance, whether it is best for actions to be undertaken at the national, regional or international level. The criterion must always be that of effectiveness on the ground.
The MICIVIH, the OAS/United Nations International Civilian Mission in Haiti, is the only joint mission of the United Nations with a regional organization. We work as one in promoting and protecting human rights and assisting in institution-building. We established an effective and efficient division of labour in electoral assistance. The MICIVIH continues to be the main vehicle of cooperation between our two organizations in Haiti. It is discharging its mission under very difficult circumstances.
In Guatemala, the United Nations is now verifying all of the agreements between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG). The Organization of American States continues to play an important role in this new era.
Direct contacts at the working level are now the norm. Our work together embraces such priorities as the elimination of poverty, the protection of the environment, the promotion of sustainable development, the advancement of human rights and the strengthening of democracy.
The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report, just published, has both good news and bad news for the Americas. Several countries from the Americas are shown to have made extraordinary progress in the reduction of child mortality. There have been dramatic improvements in literacy in some countries.
The six countries which have made the most progress in combatting poverty among the most deprived members of their populations include two Caribbean nations, one from Central America and two from the South American continent.
But still, the disparity between rich and poor in the region has, on balance, worsened. Four out of every 10 persons are poor, and almost half of them live in absolute poverty.
New concerted approaches are called for, to mobilize resources for a sustained attack on poverty and exclusion. Regional initiatives are being taken. They are well coordinated with action and approaches at the international level.
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On the environment, the Plan of Action for the Sustainable Development of the Americas, adopted last year with the Declaration of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, recognizes that "alleviation of poverty is an integral part of sustainable development".
In March, the first meeting of the Inter-American Committee on Sustainable Development adopted the Inter-American Programme for Sustainable Development.
It is extremely important that the momentum of the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro, and of the plan of action, be maintained. Next week's special session of the United Nations General Assembly, which will serve as a review conference, will be of crucial importance.
So will mobilizing new partners, such as civil society -- including the private sector -- to ensure that commitments are implemented.
The peace processes in Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala are in their final chapter but are not yet complete. In these countries, in the tasks of institution-building, strengthening the institutions concerned with democracy and human rights, and building a state of law, the Organization of American States and the United Nations have played an important role. We must do yet more. Sustained support from the international community remains vital.
If there is one clear lesson from our experiences in those countries, it is that peace and security cannot be viewed as exclusively military in nature.
Attention to democratic governance is the best way of attacking corruption and of tackling the insidious phenomenon of impunity, which is corruption's best ally.
Narco-traffickers, for example, thrive where economic opportunities are limited and civic institutions are weak. Conversely, everything we do to strengthen the rule of law and to build strong institutions undercuts and weakens the narco-traffickers and their deadly trade.
Clearly, effective police action is also essential. But it should always be blended with social and economic development programmes, and strategies to strengthen judicial, police and administrative institutions and mechanisms.
The initiative of the eight Caribbean and Central American countries in establishing, in February, the Hemispheric Anti-Drug Strategy, has provided an important blueprint.
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But the war on drugs cannot be waged in the producer countries alone. It should be a shared responsibility between producer and consumer countries. Concerted action is needed.
We at the United Nations will play our part. We will not be content merely to interact with civil society. We will do our best to focus the international community's cooperation against the forces of "uncivil society" -- drug trafficking, transborder crime and environmental degradation. And in that we will work together.
The Lima Commitment, which your Assembly endorsed, is a vision of international cooperation for peace, security and social and economic progress. It is a vision based on a firm reality of law, justice and respect for human rights. It speaks of the importance of solidarity.
The Lima Commitment shares a vision of the future of international cooperation with the founders of the United Nations.
For geopolitical reasons, the vision of half a century ago could not be realized. Now, it is within our grasp to make it a reality. Let us go forward together. We have a full agenda, and we have made an excellent start.
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