SPEAKERS FOCUS ON UNITED NATIONS REFORM, INCLUDING SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM, AS ASSEMBLY'S GENERAL DEBATE CONTINUES

23 September 1997

Press Release
GA/9306

SPEAKERS FOCUS ON UNITED NATIONS REFORM, INCLUDING SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM, AS ASSEMBLY'S GENERAL DEBATE CONTINUES

19970923 European Union Says Assembly Must Examine Secretary-General's Reform Proposals In 'Integrated Manner and as a Package' for UN to be Renovated

If the United Nations appeared less relevant, it was not due to a lack of global challenges but a lack of reform, Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, told the General Assembly this morning as it continued its general debate.

Mr. Cook said the United Nations must modernize to confront the global challenges faced by all its Members. Institutional reform adding flexibility and efficiency was needed along with an updated Security Council. Council membership should be balanced between developed and developing countries, and include Germany and Japan as permanent members. United Nations financing must also become more equitable by basing contributions on a share of gross national product (GNP).

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Cooperation of Luxembourg, Jacques Poos, said the Assembly must examine the Secretary-General's reform proposals in an integrated manner and as a package if the United Nations was to be renovated. The reforms were balanced, took account of various interests and once implemented would enable the Organization to fulfil its mandate more adequately.

He called on Member States to show ambition, courage and clarity of vision and to be aware that compromise between interests would sometimes be divergent. The Union faced the challenge of reaching a general agreement on feasible, constructive and coherent responses to the Secretary-General's proposals.

The Foreign Minister of Nigeria, Tom Ikimi, said that United Nations reform should encompass all the views of the Member States. The process would be incomplete without reform of the Security Council, which should entail restructuring and expansion of the Council's membership in both categories and should reflect the interests of all the constituent regions. African leaders

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at the recent Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit had reaffirmed the need for the region to have two permanent seats with veto power. Nigeria considered that a legitimate and well deserved demand, he added

Statements were also made by the Prime Minister of Andorra Marc Forne Molne; the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Togo, Koffi Panou; the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Valdis Birkavs; and the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Primakov.

The Assembly will meet again at 3 p.m. this afternoon to continue its general debate.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this morning to continue its general debate. The schedule of speakers are: the Prime Minister of Andorra; the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Togo; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Cooperation of Luxembourg, on behalf of the European Union; the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom; and the Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation, Latvia and Nigeria.

Statements

MARC FORNE MOLNE, Prime Minister of Andorra, said the Secretary General's proposals for reform were conscientious, fair, innovative and practical. A deputy secretary-general, who faithfully represented the ideas of the Secretary-General, would be able to act as a "manager" leaving the Secretary-General free to act as a "statesman". The Secretary-General should always have the prerogative of reorganizing the structure and management of the United Nations. Andorra supported reinforcing the role of the Executive Committees established in January and the Secretary-General's decision to shift the work of the Organization towards concrete objectives within specific time-frames.

He said structural and functional reforms would lead to significant savings in the United Nations budget. However, States must pay their dues. They should keep in mind that delays in payment place a heavy burden on any attempt at reform. Andorra paid its contributions on time, each citizen contributing almost $2 to the United Nations budget. Noting that the creation of a revolving fund of 1 billion dollars was only a temporary remedy for a financial situation that should never have existed, he said Andorra was prepared, if other States did likewise, to pay an additional 10 per cent of its annual United Nations assessment to the revolving fund, on the condition that the debtor countries, "whether they be great or small", paid their past dues in full.

Only the United Nations had the structural organization to bring about sustainable development on a global scale, he said. Andorra applauded initiatives to reform development practices by ensuring less duplication and greater coordination of resources. Andorra shared the Secretary-General's concern for the environment and approved of his plan to transform the Trusteeship Council into a means of protecting the global environment. His Government also supported the mission of peace the Secretary-General foresaw for the Organization. As a small nation, Andorra had struggled without an army and without force to protect its integrity, and therefore understood the importance of preventive diplomacy. The Security Council should focus more on examining difficult situations before actual conflict broke out. If the United Nations was given the means, it could become a humanitarian and preventive force of the highest order. Andorra, which did not have nor want to have an army, was considering the establishment of a humanitarian force.

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The promotion of democracy and human rights was the best way to prevent conflicts, he said. For that reason, he had asked the Permanent Representative of Andorra to devote a lot of his attention during the current session to the work of the Assembly's Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural). There must be a continual effort to present the United Nations in a world of images. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Diana, Princess of Wales, had both used the media to spread their humanitarian messages with great success. In the United Kingdom, the Princess of Wales Fund was becoming one of the largest in the world. Yet, it was difficult to gain public sympathy and donations for the humanitarian work of the United Nations. In the final years of the twentieth century, the Organization should be linked with the people its Charter refers to. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had established an effective image through its national committees. The United Nations had the message, mandate and successes, so the Members should consider public relations strategies during the current session.

KOFFI PANOU, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Togo, said the maintenance of peace should continue to be the priority concern of the United Nations. Poverty was the principle threat to the world's stability and there could be no lasting peace until the problem of poverty was solved. Despite globalization, developed countries had erected protectionist barriers which limited the ability of developing countries to trade, contributing to poverty and making the conditions of life in developing countries more and more fragile.

On the African continent, fratricidal conflicts must be avoided, he said. An African peacekeeping force was urgently needed to react in a timely manner to conflicts and to restore much needed stability. The coup in Sierra Leone was to be condemned and constitutional order needed to be re- established. The worsening situation in the Republic of Congo was cause for deep concern and it was hoped that a peaceful solution to the crisis could be reached. The 19 July elections in Liberia had been conducted in a fair, disciplined and transparent manner, he added.

The proposal to enlarge the Security Council needed to take developing countries into account in order to make the body more democratic and representative, he said. A restructured Secretariat would be more effective and the administrative savings could be shifted to development, where those funds were needed.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, JACQUES POOS, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Cooperation of Luxembourg, said that the European Union would over the next few years establish an economic and monetary Union, strengthen its institutional base through the implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty, and prepare for further enlargement towards the east and south of Europe. Major decisions about the future enlargement of the Union would be made in December and would result in new frontiers, new neighbours, a larger Europe, a peaceful more united and stable area and common front against unemployment.

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He stated that economic and monetary union symbolized by the single currency known as the euro, would come into existence on 1 January 1999 and would help to achieve greater stability and a more balanced international monetary system. He informed the Assembly that on 17 June, the European Union had reached an agreement on a new treaty of Europe, the Amsterdam Treaty, which would be submitted for signing by plenipotentiaries in two weeks time.

The Treaty would provide greater consistency in the external action of the Union, and would enable it to anticipate crises more effectively and to provide a more efficient protection of its economic interests, he continued. In addition, the Treaty would emphasize the defence and security dimension of the European Union and clarify the Union's role in respect of peacekeeping. The new Treaty would also facilitate more effective action against terrorism, crime and illegal immigration.

The Union had adopted a joint action on anti-personnel landmines and it was determined to achieve the aim of totally eliminating such mines and was actively working towards the conclusion of an international agreement introducing a worldwide ban on those weapons, he said. In addition, the European Union was willing to continue its contribution to the international peace efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He called on the leaders of both communities in Cyprus to resume talks, called on the peoples and governments of the Middle East to renew the spirit of mutual confidence which had generated hope at Madrid and in Oslo, expressed the European Union's willingness to contribute its support for reconstruction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and appealed for an end to all violence in Cambodia.

Stating that the programme of reform proposed by the Secretary-General represented a balanced package, he observed that it took account of the various interests involved and that once implemented it would enable the Organization to fulfil its mandate more adequately while allowing it to carry out its tasks in the international community more effectively. He stressed the importance of the Secretary-General's proposals to be examined by the General Assembly in an integrated manner and as a package. He urged Member States to show ambition, courage and clarity of vision and to be aware that compromise between interests would sometimes be divergent. The challenge to the European Union would be to reach general agreement on feasible, constructive and coherent responses to the Secretary-General's proposals.

ROBIN COOK, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, said global challenges such as poverty, conflict, climate change and international crime made the role of the United Nations more relevant. If it appeared to be less relevant, it was not for want of challenges but for want of reform. The proposals for institutional reform presented by the Secretary-General would retain what was best of the United Nations, and give it the flexibility and efficiency needed. He called upon Member States to stop measuring each proposal for reform in terms of narrow self-interest and recognize the greater interests served by supporting reform. Specifically, institutional reform, Security Council reform and financial

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reform were critical to the United Nations future.

To reform an out-of-date Security Council, he said Japan and Germany should both be included in an expanded permanent membership. Also, there should be a balance between developed and developing countries. It was not just that all countries must be properly represented, but all the people of those countries. With more than half the global population being women, he welcomed the United Nations willingness to put the gender perspective into all areas of its work. United Nations finances must be put on a sound basis. The most equitable means of sharing the financial burden was a frequently updated system basing contributions on share of global gross national product (GNP).

For the United Nations to be relevant, it must enable people to lift themselves out of poverty, he continued. The United Kingdom supported the United Nations aid target, but aid alone would not eliminate poverty. The barriers which denied the poorest countries access to the world's most lucrative markets must be broken down. African producers must be assured access to European and American markets. With poverty the greatest threat to the environment, sustainable development would do more than reduce poverty. The new Labour Government in his country had set itself the target to reduce the United Kingdom's emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 per cent. At the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, nations must sign on to binding targets and stick to those commitments.

He stressed that in its efforts to contribute to peace, the United Nations must work to prevent conflicts before they happen, help resolve them through peacekeeping and mediation when they do occur, and help rebuild lasting peace after conflicts.

The United Nations must focus on protection of human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he said. Every citizen of the world was entitled to enjoy such rights, irrespective of race, creed or colour. Those rights must not be limited to any one culture or continent. The past two decades had demonstrated that political freedom and economic development were not in conflict, but were mutually reinforcing. Free societies were efficient economies, he concluded.

YEVGENY M. PRIMAKOV, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said regional conflicts, which were still one of the major sources of global instability, should not be allowed to continue into the next century. Although such conflicts were increasingly "self-sufficient" and "self-sustaining", they posed a threat to international security. Today, conflicts were often intra-State and inter-ethnic rather than social. Effective measures to counter such conflicts should combine preservation of the territorial integrity of States and the granting of the broadest possible rights to their national minorities. Regional conflicts could also trigger terrorist waves and spread them far beyond the zone of conflict.

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He stressed that the Russian Federation opposed the backing of terrorism in any form by any government. At the same time, individual Member States should not be stigmatized forever as rogues, irrespective of changes in their policies, simply because of their suspected links to terrorists.

No country should hold a monopoly on any conflict resolution effort, including the one in the Middle East, where the settlement process was stalemated, he continued. Broad-based international efforts were needed to undo the tight Middle East knot. As one of the co-sponsors of the peace process launched in Madrid in 1991, the Russian Federation was prepared to cooperate actively with everyone to achieve that goal. Similarly, the Cyprus issue was awaiting the effective international cooperation needed to resolve it. A synergy of efforts would provide the shortest cut to resolving both long-standing and relatively new conflicts. Individual countries could exert their influence in a conflict zone and on the conflicting parties without putting up a high fence to ward off others.

He then called attention to the Russian Federation's peacekeeping efforts in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, including in Tajikistan and the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, adding that "Nagorny Karabakh provided yet another example". Russian peacekeepers served in various hot spots under the United Nations flag taking part in nine out of 17 peacekeeping operations. It was extremely important that peacekeeping activities, whatever their sponsorship, should rely heavily on the underlying principles developed in the United Nations framework, forming a foundation of the entire institution of peacekeeping operations. There should be extreme caution with such actions, particularly with decentralization of peacekeeping operations. Forceful actions should only be taken when authorized by the Security Council and carried out under its strict supervision as provided for in the Charter.

He went on to outline efforts by the Russian Federation, together with the United States to reduce strategic arsenals under the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START I). Giving effect to the START II Treaty was next on the agenda. Understanding had been reached on the basic parameters of new START III arrangements. As a result of those efforts, the arsenals of the two largest nuclear-weapon Powers would be reduced by 80 per cent of the cold-war levels. However, all nuclear Powers must be involved in systematic efforts to reduce their nuclear arms. Stability of the multipolar world could only be assured by ending the nuclear arms race. However, conventional weapons killed most people in local conflicts. The Russian Federation was fully aware of the humanitarian dimension of the landmine problem. It advocated active phased efforts and negotiations on a global basis at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Turning to the subject of United Nations reform, he said the Organization needed a rational renovation. Its "usefulness quotient" must be enhanced, a goal which could only be achieved if the United Nations concentrated its efforts on the areas where it had obvious advantages over other international organizations. It was also imperative to eliminate

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duplication in the work of the agencies while directing the work of United Nations staff, as much as possible, to the real needs of Member States. Reform with an eye to increased efficiency would be inconceivable without overcoming the Organization's financial problems. All Member States were responsible for the United Nations financial health and all must pay their dues properly. The Russian Federation was in favour of expanding the Security Council membership, but such expansion should not render the Organization less efficient.

VALDIS BIRKAVS, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia, said the United Nations risked becoming irrelevant if it did not continually evolve to offer a coherent response to changing global conditions. Advances in technology, travel and information had facilitated an enormous and continuing expansion of international activities. Most importantly for the United Nations was the expansion of international activities by courts, police, central banks and regulatory agencies.

The package of reform proposals would enable the United Nations to respond to the imperatives of the changing global conditions, he said. However, the reform package should be viewed as a work in progress rather than a set of completed reform proposals for the long term. Lessons would be learned during the implementation of the reform proposals and those would suggest mid-course corrections, improvements and even termination of some elements of the package. The success of reforms depended on sound financial footing.

The Security Council should be expanded to create a more equitable geographic representation and the inclusion of small States, he said. His Government had a special interest in the future of peacekeeping operations since the Baltic Battalion (BALTBAT), where Latvians served side by side with Estonians, had completed a successful year. That had been accomplished while participating in the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The establishment of an independent, efficient, and authoritative international criminal court with independent prosecution would be the most important development in international law since the creation of the International Court of Justice, he said. There had been growth in crimes that escaped national punishment or that had crossed national borders, a situation that made the existence of an international criminal court necessary.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had contributed substantially to the improvement of social and economic well-being in Latvia, he said. An integrated office, essentially a United Nations house, had allowed cost-effective access to the technical assistance offered by all parts of the United Nations system, he concluded.

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TOM IKIMI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, said that his country saw in each troubled African State, a mirror of itself and a call to duty to render assistance in the tradition of African brotherhood. Nigeria's efforts in regional and subregional peace and security, arose from the historical circumstances of being the largest black nation on earth and being bountifully endowed. It was thus its destiny to champion the causes of black peoples in Africa and in the diaspora. He also saw Nigeria's embrace of a peacekeeping role as one that stemmed from consciousness of the plight of its African brothers rather than pursuit of expansionist and hegemonic interests.

He stated that Nigeria's contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations spanned nearly three-and-a-half decades and its troops, numbering some quarter of a million, have been variously deployed in its own region and elsewhere including Bosnia, Cambodia and Lebanon. While the United Nations had primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, it also recognized the crucial role of regional and subregional organizations in the process. Evidence of that was seen in the launching of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) comprised of 16 West African States to address the Liberian conflict that threatened peace and security in the entire West African subregion. That joint effort had resulted in disarmament of warring factions and the establishment of peace and security throughout Liberia.

Recalling that the military coup in Sierra Leone had been condemned by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations, he urged foreign governments and organizations to continue their non-recognition and non-support of the regime in Freetown, Sierra Leone. In the meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would spare no effort to seek a peaceful solution to the problem in Sierra Leone. ECOWAS, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) had all established reputations as viable instruments for conflict resolution. No peacekeeping initiative in the region and subregion, however well-intentioned, could resolve conflicts if they were not formulated within the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Resolution.

He informed the Assembly that since Nigeria's return to civil rule two years ago, commendable progress had been made. The Government was encouraged by the outcome of elections to ensure successful transition and was confident that the processes entailed in the transition programme would be completed by 1 October 1998. Nigeria's belief in peace and stability in Africa had resulted in a deliberate and substantial reduction of the Nigerian armed forces, from 500,000 to 100,000.

He also stated that United Nations reform should encompass all the views of the Member States. Reform would be incomplete without reform of the Security Council which should entail restructuring and expansion of the Council's membership in both categories and should reflect the interests of all the constituent regions. African leaders at the recent OAU Summit had reaffirmed the need for the region to have two permanent seats with veto powers. Nigeria considered that a legitimate and well deserved demand.

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