SECRETARY-GENERAL CITES NEED FOR GLOBAL ANSWERS TO GLOBAL QUESTIONS, IN ADDRESS TO NON-ALIGNED SUMMIT

Press Release
SG/SM/6688

SECRETARY-GENERAL CITES NEED FOR GLOBAL ANSWERS TO GLOBAL QUESTIONS, IN ADDRESS TO NON-ALIGNED SUMMIT

Following is the text of an address given today by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), meeting at Durban:

Every one of us must feel a special pleasure at the fact that the Non- Aligned Summit is being held in South Africa. For so many years, we had to think of this country as the enemy, because of its apartheid regime.

For so many years, we reiterated our support for our oppressed brothers and sisters here, hardly daring to hope that within this century, we would see them free, taking their rightful place in this Movement.

But that is what has happened. It is with deep emotion, Mr. Chairman, that I salute and congratulate you on the transformation that has been achieved in this country, without large-scale bloodshed or destruction, in no small measure thanks to your own historic role.

We all feel a profound sadness, I am sure, at the thought that this is the last Non-Aligned Summit you will attend as head of State. But in paying tribute to your extraordinary career, let me also say how much I admire your sagacity in carefully preparing a constitutional transfer of power. I count on your friendship and advice for many years to come.

I also thank you and your country for hosting this Conference and for assuming the responsibility of leading this Movement into the new millennium. It could not be in better hands.

As I said at the NAM Conference last year, both my country, Ghana, and I myself grew up with the Non-Aligned Movement. Its ideals have always been precious to me as an individual. And as Secretary-General of the United Nations, I rely heavily on it.

Your support for the United Nations and your ability to coordinate the views of such a wide group of Member States are among your greatest strengths.

Mr. Chairman, we meet at an extraordinary time in human history.

In many ways it is a time of hope and excitement.

New technologies have brought us all closer together, allowing us a free and unfettered flow of information and ideas.

The cold war is over, and the major Powers are at peace with each other.

New international agreements have banned or limited the use and production of some of the most lethal and inhuman weapons.

And as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, those rights are more universally recognized than ever before. Indeed, a historic step forward was taken in July with the adoption of the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court.

Increasingly, it is understood that human rights are not simply a matter of civil and political freedom. Genuine freedom of choice requires economic, social and cultural emancipation too.

Yet we are also meeting in a time of turmoil and uncertainty.

Globalization has raised living standards for many, but its volatility has made life more difficult for many others, whose lives have been dislocated by change. Moreover, it threatens to leave a large part of the world behind.

This continent of Africa, especially, has more than its share of the world's problems, from AIDS, through poverty and famine, to ethnic conflict and even genocide.

In April, at the request of the Security Council, I submitted a report on the causes of conflict in Africa. I recommended actions to reduce conflict and urged both Africans and non-Africans to summon the political will to rise to the challenges involved.

I wish I could say now that things have begun to improve.

Unhappily, in many parts of the continent the reverse is true.

We have not only seen conflict continue in countries such as Burundi, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

We have also seen a new inter-State war, the first this decade, between Eritrea and Ethiopia; a new intra-State conflict, in Guinea-Bissau, causing yet another mass displacement of people from their homes; the peace process in Angola hanging by a thread, and perhaps most worrying of all, the Democratic Republic

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of Congo once again engulfed in civil war, with forces from neighbouring States engaged on opposite sides.

My brother African leaders, I appeal to you once again. We Africans must summon the will to resolve our problems by political, not military, means. For every day that we fail to do so, the innocent people of this continent pay a terrible price.

As if that were not enough, in the past five weeks, three of Africa's major cities -- in Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania and here in South Africa -- have been subjected to the scourge of terrorism. Over 200 people have been killed and many more injured in acts of senseless violence, related to a quarrel in which the victims and their countries had no part.

Let us be very clear: such methods cannot be justified by any ideology, any grievance or any faith. We all have a duty to combat terrorism wherever and whenever it rears its head.

Some have suggested a world conference on terrorism. This should at least be seriously considered. In any case, the international community must come together to find ways of combating this truly universal menace.

But, of course, conflict and terrorism are far from being the only global threats we face. Over the last year, the Asian financial crisis has caused even some of the great success stories of economic development to falter. It has plunged economies which were the fastest growing in the world into severe recession.

Millions of people have seen their expectations shattered, their employers bankrupted, their families rendered destitute. Unemployment has soared. Wages have fallen. Standards of living have plummeted.

And in at least one country, Indonesia, a country with a very special place in the history of this Movement, economic crisis has led to social strife, violence and widespread destruction.

Not surprisingly, some people blame this crisis on globalization. Siren voices are telling us it was wrong to open up national economies and societies to global influences.

There is a temptation to retreat into our shells, to go back to the old economies of centralized State planning and protectionism to the old politics of emphasizing regional differences rather than recognizing universal values.

But do those voices have a real alternative to offer? I suggest that, for better or worse, there is no such choice. We cannot hold back the tide of technological and social change.

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Whether we like it or not, we live in a world where images and ideas travel thousands of miles in a few seconds, and where investment flows, whether domestic or foreign, are available only to those with something to sell in the global marketplace.

I know these global economic and social forces often seem to make the task of governing a nation State, especially a developing one, almost impossible.

And it is true that the time is past when people could look only to the State to satisfy their needs, or when States on their own could credibly aspire to control all aspects of social life.

We have learned that many tasks are better performed by individuals, by private companies, or by informal voluntary groups, many of which cannot be contained within State borders.

We are seeing the birth of global civil society. Non-governmental groups from all part of the world come together to work for global causes, from the ban on land mines or the punishment of war criminals, to the eradication of poverty and the promotion of sustainable development.

But these groups cannot replace the State. Nor do they aspire to. On the contrary, most of their activities are directed at the State -- that is, at influencing State policies towards their view of the common good.

The idea that globalization makes the State unnecessary or irrelevant is utterly wrong.

For while the processes of global change cannot be fought, they can and must be managed.

The groups and individuals who stand to lose from change need protection -- not against competition, but against its social consequences.

Even those with most to gain need regulation, to ensure that competition is fair and governed by clear rules.

Society as a whole needs infrastructure in the form of roads and bridges and telephone lines, but also, even more important, of schools and universities. And it needs the rule of law. Without those public goods, whole nations lose the chance to compete in the global market and find themselves condemned to endemic poverty.

The saddest countries in the world today are those where the State has failed and civil society is left at the mercy of warring factions; where children are recruited into militias instead of being sent to school; where whole populations have to flee their homes.

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In those countries, we at the United Nations often find ourselves called on to try and supplement, sometimes even to substitute for the State through humanitarian action, and to help rebuild it, through peacemaking and post- conflict peace-building.

It is a task we would much rather not have to do. We therefore have every interest in helping the States do their job, so that the point of failure is never reached.

A strong and successful State is by far the best recipe for conflict prevention. But what makes a State strong and successful?

Above all, I suggest, the confidence and support of its own people. All too often, people nowadays see the State not as a source of solutions but as part of their problem -- not as a friend but as an adversary.

How can a State win its people's trust and respect?

If a State wants popular support it must be honest, approachable, transparent, above all, effective. In other words, it has to provide good governance. Which means that it must attract the best people into its service. And of course, it has to respect human rights.

I know some non-aligned Governments are tired of hearing about good governance and human rights. So often these virtues are preached by rich and powerful States, whose own policies seem to take little account of the rights or interests of people in the developing world.

But it would be a terrible mistake to ignore these issues, simply because we suspect the motives of those who raise them. For in truth, human rights and good governance should be our agenda, adopted in our own interests as well as those of all humankind.

It is when people have the chance to express themselves freely, to choose their leaders democratically, to live in peace and contribute fully to the life of their nation, that the State is best equipped to cope with all the pressures bearing down upon it.

And even then, no one State on its own, not even the largest, can handle all the problems that globalization brings. The only answer is for States to work together, making use of the multilateral institutions they have built up over the decades, including this very Movement.

But in the end, these efforts must come together at the global level, which means at the United Nations.

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We need global answers to global questions. Our response to global economics must be global politics.

It would be foolhardy of me to try and spell out all the global answers here and now. The search for them is going on all the time, and will go on a long time yet.

But meanwhile, there are a few points all of us here can agree on.

One is the need for much faster and more resolute action to relieve the unsustainable debt burden currently borne by many developing countries, especially the poorest.

A second is that it is high time to reverse the decline in flows of official development assistance (ODA).

And thirdly, the very least we can ask is that globalization and liberalization should not be a one-way street. Industrialized countries must open their markets to goods from the developing world.

A chance to make progress on these and other issues will come in two weeks' time, when the General Assembly holds a high-level dialogue on the social and economic impact of globalization. Your deliberations here can make an important contribution.

The United Nations remains the unique, indispensable forum where such global issues can be discussed.

It is the place where the connection can be made -- which is so often neglected elsewhere -- between economic and social development on the one hand, and international peace and security on the other. It is an institution in which the whole world has a stake.

Of course, the United Nations is far from perfect. I am grateful to the non-aligned countries for the support they have already given to my reform proposals, and look forward to working with you to push the process further forward in the coming General Assembly session. The United Nations belongs to you. It is in your interest to see it work efficiently and effectively. Working together in the years ahead we can achieve great progress for all humankind, and especially for those who need it most: the peoples whom your Movement represents. I am deeply grateful for your support. I thank you. * *** *