MILLIONS IN POVERTY OFFENCE AGAINST UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Press Release
GA/9444
MILLIONS IN POVERTY OFFENCE AGAINST UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
19980921 Assembly Opens General Debate, Hearing From 5 Heads of State; President of United States Urges Common Cause Against TerrorismPresident Nelson Mandela of South Africa told the General Assembly this morning, that on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, many people could still not exercise fundamental democratic rights and the very right to be human was denied every day to hundreds of millions of people because of poverty and the unavailability of basic necessities, social ills that were an offence against the Declaration.
Speaking as the Assembly began its general debate for the fifty-third session, Mr. Mandela, who was greeted with a standing ovation for what was most likely his last address to the Assembly as head of State of South Africa, said that even as he grew "as ancient as the hills", he would continue to hope that a cadre of leaders would emerge in his country and region, on his continent and across the world, which would not allow any to be denied their freedom, turned into refugees, condemned to go hungry or be stripped of their human dignity.
The President of the United States, William Clinton, told the Assembly that the fight against terrorism should be at the top of the international community's common agenda. While his country had often been targeted for terrorist acts -- for reasons including its wealth and the values it symbolized -- there should be no ethnic, religious or economic dividing lines in fighting terrorism. "The only dividing line is between those who practice, support, or tolerate terror -- and those who understand that terrorism is murder, plain and simple", he said.
Addressing the role that small States can play at the United Nations, the President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, quoted from a speech her father had given to the Assembly in 1956 as Prime Minister: "My country is a small one, a weak one, a poor one, but I venture to think that today, particularly in an Organization such as this, the service that a country can render...is not to be measured alone by the size of that country,
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its population, its power or its strength. This is an Organization which expresses itself most effectively by bringing to bear a certain moral force -- the collective moral force and decency of human beings. That is a task in which the weak as well as the strong can render a useful service..."
The President of Uruguay, Julio Maria Sanguinetti, said that in the midst of the current economic crisis, the international community must consolidate and promote its efforts. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and other financial institutions were the tools available and they must be strengthened. The crisis, once over, would leave its consequences behind for years to come. He had, many times, been invited to the funeral of capitalism and care must be taken not to fall into another simplistic stance.
The "quiet revolution" was happening, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, told the Assembly. The United Nations family had begun to act with greater unity of purpose and coherence of effort than it had a year ago, particularly the Secretariat and its relations with the programmes and funds. However, the single greatest impediment to good performance was the financial straitjacket within which the Organization was obliged to operate. "Stringency is one thing; a starvation diet quite another", he said, appealing for full and timely payment of dues.
Statements were also made by: the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore; the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Luiz Felipe Lampreia.
The Assembly will meet again at 3 p.m. today.
Assembly Work Programme
The Assembly met this morning to hear a brief presentation by the Secretary-General on his annual report on the work of the Organization (A/53/1) and to begin its general debate. Scheduled to speak in the morning session were: the Foreign Minister of Brazil, the President of the United States; the President of South Africa; the President of Burkina Faso; the President of Uruguay; the President of Sri Lanka; and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. [For background information on the Secretary-General's report, see Press Release SG/2048 issued today.]
Statement by Secretary-General
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the "quiet revolution" was happening: that the United Nations family had begun to act with greater unity of purpose and coherence of effort than it had a year ago. That was particularly true of the Secretariat and its relations with the United Nations programmes and funds. Since reform was an ongoing process, Member States should carry the process forward during the current Assembly sessions by adopting further measures to refine or revise aspects of the Organization which only they had the power to change.
The single greatest impediment to its good performance was, likely, the financial straitjacket within which the Organization was obliged to operate, he said. Financial stringency was a feature of today's world and it had helped concentrate "our minds on giving you a better value for your money," he said. But, without money, there could be no value. Stringency was one thing; a starvation diet quite another. Those Member States who had fallen seriously behind with their contributions should follow the good example set by others. There could be no substitute for full and timely payment of what was due. What needed to be done was to identify a select few of the world's most pressing problems must be identified he said. Precise and achievable programmes for dealing with them must be set. Much, if not all, of such a programme, would be subsumed under a single rubric which had become the catchword of the time: globalization. Over the long term, globalization would have positive results. However, the long-term benefits for millions was simply too far off to be meaningful. The Asian downturn had triggered a worldwide economic crisis with devastating social consequences, he said. As usual, it was the most vulnerable groups which were hardest hit. The day had past when the seven major industrialized Powers could, or should, be expected to alone find answers to such problems. All must work to find solutions; solutions which addressed all aspects of the crisis, including: the financial; the economic; the social; the political. It was sometimes forgotten that a healthy economy depended on healthy politics: the politics of good governance; social justice; and the rule of law.
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While there was no single solution to all problems, certain principles were common to all, he said. They included legitimate, responsive, clean government -- whatever its form; respect for human rights and the rights of minorities; freedom of expression; and the right to fair trial. If those essential, universal pillars were neglected, the state and economic structures were deficient and would likely collapse when the storm came.
Reviewing the many and varied efforts of the United Nations during the past year to bring calm and peace to dangerous and difficult situations, he said he regretted a dramatic increase in attacks on United Nations and associated personnel. That situation prompted reflection on the conditions in which the Organization would send civilian staff into war zones where, too often, combatants seemed less and less willing to respect their neutral status. The perpetrators of attacks were almost never brought to justice. He hoped that would change now that the Statute of the International Criminal Court had defined intentional attacks against humanitarian and peacekeeping staff as a war crime.
Turning to Africa, he said, while the efforts of the United Nations had been successes -- notably in the restoration of the democratically elected Government of Sierra Leone -- conflicts continued in many African countries. Apparently, the peace process in Angola was crumbling. A new conflict had erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, involving forces of at least five other African States, which added a new twist to the long-running agony in the Great Lakes region. A special effort by the international community was needed if stability was to be restored there and suffering brought to an end. The United Nations needed to rediscover the connection between peace and economic security and embracing it as the unifying principle on which the Organization was founded.
Statements in General Debate
LUIZ FELIPE LAMPREIA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Brazil, said the defining trait of the current world situation was the troubling instability that had beset global financial markets. Since the last quarter of 1997, when the world first felt the shock waves of what was then called the "Asian crisis", the international economy had been suffering the effects of a phenomenon whose reach, depth and permanence were not yet clear.
In an era marked by the rapid integration of national economies, government action must be taken through coordination in the international sphere, he said. There had been some progress in international efforts to control the mechanisms that had led to the current crisis, but the measures adopted still fell short. Political will had not corresponded to the magnitude and gravity of the situation.
Experience taught that inaction could have a high cost, he continued. An extreme scenario would be a return to closed economic models, to the
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elusive search for self-sufficiency and isolation, and to notions of national security based on distrust. Progress in international relations depended on the perception that the international arena was not a source of potential threat, but an environment in which risks could be reduced and difficulties overcome by a pooling of wills and resources. Multilateral treatment should be given the priority it so often received in speeches and statements.
In addition, a world wrought by economic instability or despair could not be a safe environment, free of the threat of war, conflict or violence, he said. Conversely, material and social progress presupposed minimal conditions of security and peaceful coexistence. He called on all nuclear-armed and capable States to take decisive steps towards disarmament. There was no justification for postponing action in the nuclear field, or in the broader fight to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction.
On reform of the United Nations, he said the current composition of the Security Council mirrored a period of history that was long gone. There were fundamental deficiencies in terms of its legitimacy, representativeness and effectiveness, which must be addressed. The Council must be expanded in both categories of members, with the presence in both of developing countries. It was inconceivable that, on the eve of the new millennium, reform of the Organization could exclude the restructuring of the Security Council.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States, said the fight against terrorism must be placed at the top of the international community's common agenda. The United States had often been a target of terrorism in the past fifteen years, for different reasons. Many people viewed the United States as a symbol of values and a system they rejected, blaming the country for problems rooted elsewhere. However, it was a grave misconception to view terrorism as an American problem, because it constituted a clear and present danger to tolerant societies and innocent people everywhere.
Terrorists today took advantage of the revolution in information and technology, raising prospects of vulnerability to chemical and other kinds of attacks, he continued. The new technology of terror and its increasing availability made each person a potential victim. Every violent act, in addition to its physical consequences, affected open institutions and undermined the confidence needed for peace and stability. Each attack could be measured by grisly statistics of dead and wounded, but there were additional wounds that cannot be measured. How many agreements had been thwarted by bombs? The question was not how many lives were lost in attacks, but rather how many better lives were not built in their aftermath.
There was no justification for killing innocents, but there was a need to understand the forces that stirred terrorism, he said. Terrorism was often an act of desperation carried out by the enemies of peace who sought to turn back the tide of history. The bridging of ancient hatreds was a leap of faith and a break with the past; it threatened those who could not relinquish hate.
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There were economic causes as well. Profound and at times inequitable change in the world economy, combined with the uneven progress of democracy, made some people susceptible to the call to terrorism. But, killing innocents never amounted to social justice.
Resolute opposition to terrorism did not mean indifference to the conditions that fostered it, he continued. There was need to demonstrate that people had everything to gain by embracing cooperation and renouncing violence. Developing nations should spread new wealth fairly, create new opportunities and build new open economies. Developed countries should help developing nations stay on the path of prosperity, while sharing benefits and burdens responsibly. He had, a week ago, outlined ways to build a stronger international economy and bring concrete benefits to all persons.
Some believed that terrorism's principal causes lay in a clash of civilizations, particularly between Western and Islamic values, but that view was utterly wrong, he said. False prophets could distort any religion to justify their objectives. The 6 million people in the United States that practised Islam believed there was no inherent clash between Islam and their country. The people of the United States respected and honoured Islam. As he spoke to Muslim leaders in his country and throughout the world, the commonality of aspirations was evident; people wanted to live in peace, provide for their loved ones and follow the faith they chose. The United States would remain on a course of friendship and respect for the Muslim world.
When it came to terrorism, there should be no dividing line between religions or ethnic groups or between the developed and emerging economies, he said. "The only dividing line is between those who practice, support or tolerate terror and those who understand that terrorism is murder plain and simple." The community of nations had common obligations, among them: to give terrorists no support, including sanctuary or financial assistance; exert pressure on those States that did; act together to step up extradition and prosecution; sign global anti-terror conventions; strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention and enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention.
There was also a need to strengthen domestic laws and controls on the manufacture and export of explosives, raise international standards for airport security and combat the conditions that bred violence and despair, he continued. The United States was working to do its part. Its intelligence and law enforcement communities were tracking terrorist networks in cooperation with other governments. It would also do its part to address the sources of alienation and despair, supporting United Nations bodies in that effort. It recognized that it was of critical importance that all States, itself included, contribute to the United Nations and pay their fair share.
The world community should view terrorism as a clash between the past and the future, destruction and construction, chaos and community, he said.
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It was important to work together to give new meaning to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed 50 years ago. To do so, it was not necessary that every problem be solved or every difference be understood. Rather, it was necessary to believe in the primacy of the Universal Declaration and together say that terror was a throwback to yesterday, not the way to the future. Working together, the international community could overcome the threats and injuries of terrorism with confidence.
NELSON MANDELA, President of South Africa, said while the fifty-third session of the Assembly marked the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human beings continued to be afflicted by wars and violent conflicts. Humankind had not attained their freedom from fear of death by weapons of mass destruction or conventional arms. Many were still unable to exercise their fundamental right to determine the destiny of their country, families and children. The very right to be human was being denied to hundreds of millions of people due to poverty, and lack of basic necessities. The social ills which constituted an offence against the Declaration were the consequence of decisions taken, or not taken, by men and women -- all of whom would not hesitate to pledge their devoted support for visions in the Declaration.
Despite countless initiatives and resolutions, still there was no concrete proposal accepted by the nuclear-weapons States on a speedy, final and total elimination of nuclear weapons and capabilities, he said. In an attempt to chart the progressive steps required to eliminate those weapons, South Africa, Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia and Sweden would submit a draft resolution to the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) entitled: "Towards a nuclear weapon free world; the need for a new agenda." He called on all Member States to seriously consider the resolution and to give it their support.
The world was gripped by an economic crisis, which had plunged millions into sudden poverty and disrupted the lives of ordinary people, he said. President Mandela said he had hoped that with the problem facing all humanity, courage would not desert the powerful when it came to determining the correct course to be taken. Paradoxically, the challenge of poverty across the globe had been brought into sharp focus by the destructive, "fast movements of currents" of wealth from one part of the world to the other. Put starkly, the further accumulation of wealth, rather than improving the quality of life of all humanity, was generating poverty at a frighteningly accelerated pace.
The central challenge was to ensure that countries of the South gained access to the productive resources accumulated within the world economy, he said. Fortunately, it was no longer being disputed that multilateral financial and economic institutions must be restructured to address the problems of the world economy and to become more responsive to the urgent needs of the world's poor.
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Similarly, he said, the United Nations, including the Security Council, must itself go through its own process of reformation so that it served the interests of the world's people in keeping with the purposes for which it was established. As he grew as "ancient as the hills", he said he would continue to entertain the hope that a cadre of leaders would emerge in his country and region, on his continent, and across the world, which would not allow any to be denied their freedom; turned into refugees; condemned to go hungry; or stripped of their human dignity. He would also continue to hope that Africa's renaissance would strike deep roots and blossom forever, with regard to the changing seasons.
BLAISE COMPAORE, President of Burkina Faso and President of the Organization of African States (OAU), said the current century would be one of grand achievements, despite two world conflicts. The liberation of colonial peoples and territories had been necessary to assure a just civilization, a civilization that finally understood that its survival rested on genuine collective security. The expected peace, however, had become an illusion with the advent of the cold war and had not yet been consolidated. Disorder and conflicts, which no authority had been able to contain, signalled the return of crises.
The failure of the international community to restore peace in Somalia and to prevent genocide in Rwanda, would mark the history of the African continent, he continued. Those experiences revealed to Africa, if it still had doubt, the limits of the United Nations. Shocking as it was for those who still harbored the illusion of humanitarianism, the United Nations could not do everything to solve the continent's tension, nor assure its development. Africa itself must recognize that and assume responsibility. The thirty-fourth Summit of the Heads of States and governments of the OAU, held in Ouagadougou in June, had been devoted to that new reality. It demanded and challenged Africa to take charge of its destiny.
Africa, he continued, must be involved in a more systematic manner in the management and settlement of conflicts on the continent. The initiatives envisioned to respond to crises were born of Africans themselves and, therefore, had an advantage over other non-African solutions. Strong support from the international community was needed however, due to the inadequate human and financial resources of some countries. He drew attention to the conflict resolution mechanism set up in Cairo in 1993 by the OAU to prevent, manage and settle African conflicts. While it was recognized that no external mechanism could achieve lasting peace in Africa, the United Nations should reinforce the mechanism of conflict resolution as well as contribute technically and logistically to ensure peace and security there.
Africa must first of all rely upon itself, he said. In response to that prerequisite, no sacrifice had been spared to establish an internal climate conducive to economic growth and sustainable development. After years of stagnation, a new era of courageous reform and rationality in the management
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of State affairs had emerged. The movement towards transparency and good governance was being constructed daily, with the goal of establishing the African Economic Community in the first half of the century. Peace and sustainable development would be the daily struggle.
Globalization and its spirit of partnership no doubt limited the independence of States, he added. It was time to rethink the role of international organizations in regulating the world economy, so that the widening gap between rich and poor would not continue to grow. It was also time to rethink the balance between economic and social prosperity. The time had come, as well, to rethink Security Council reforms. As Africa accounted for one third of United Nations Members, it was unthinkable that an African representative was not seated on the Council.
JULIO MARIA SANGUINETTI, President of Uruguay, said his country, as a founding Member, had come to the United Nations not with dreams of power -- given the small size of its territory and its economy -- but with a dream of a world that was to be rebuilt. Uruguay had built a country of well-being, with a sound middle class that served as the foundation of its democracy.
In the 1980s Latin America went through a difficult economic period, he said. Those were the years when the strongest processes of democratization were consolidated in the region. Since that time, Latin American countries had made great strides and the region was once again a forum for growth and investment.
In the midst of the current economic crisis, the international community must consolidate its efforts in the economic area, he said. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other financial institutions must be strengthened. The magnitude and duration of the current crisis could not be predicted, but the behaviour of States could be. Protectionism was not the answer. Within the international financial system, leading countries had enormous responsibility and the major economies must assume their roles within the larger community.
The freeing of markets would not bring about tremendous growth, he said. Nor would the closing of markets solve the current situation. While no one had a road map to solve the crisis, some principles would be applied. Democracy must be strengthened. Market economy and open trade were being pursued in Latin America to improve production. Basic values of society, such as family, had to be maintained. Their weakening had led to many ills, including drug trafficking. Spiritual aspects had to be enhanced. Respect for human dignity and human rights must also be enhanced.
CHANDRIKA BANDARANAIKE KUMARATUNGA, President of Sri Lanka, said that the Non-Aligned Movement had recently expressed its concern with the issue of global nuclear disarmament and had consistently called for the Conference on Disarmament to establish, as the highest priority, an ad hoc committee to
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commence negotiations for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework. "The longer we shirk our responsibility, the greater the danger that looms ahead", she said.
Noting that she had been recently appointed the Chairperson of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, she said the recent summit meetings of the Association had marked a turning point. "Our leaders are aware of the awesome obligations that we jointly owe to the hundreds of millions of people who inhabit our region", she said, adding that the prospects for enhanced economic, technological, social and scientific cooperation in the region were exceedingly bright. The Association, like the Non-Aligned Movement, recognized that the twin currents of globalization and liberalization contained the potential for prosperity, as well as "the seed of a dangerous new process of uneven development".
Developing countries needed special consideration in globalizing their economies and "plugging them into the international economic system", she continued. United Nations bodies must play a critical role in that, citing the inadequacy of the international monetary mechanism in handling the recent crises. Among her suggestions for reform of the system were formulation of a "lender of last resort" facility, effective surveillance, and resumption of the special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund.
Concerning issues of women and children, she said the South Asian Association had finalized a draft text on combatting the crime of trafficking in women and children for prostitution. Her Government had also recently passed legislation setting up a National Child Protection Authority under her supervision. "While we are conscious of the tragic incidence of child prostitution and pornography in Sri Lanka, we have also traced the insidious international linkages which aggravate the problem further. We urge the international community to tighten laws and enforce mechanisms to ensure that those responsible for such heinous crimes will not receive refuge anywhere", she said.
Referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, she said the group sought to dismember Sri Lanka and create a mono-ethnic entity -- an objective totally unacceptable to the overwhelming majority in the country, and even to the very community whose cause the group claimed to represent. The Government was firmly committed to redressing ethnic grievances through political discussion and negotiations. However, that option remained open to the Liberation Tigers only if it eschewed terrorism and its bloody call for a separate State.
In conclusion, she quoted the following from a speech her father had given to the Assembly, in 1956, as Prime Minister: "My country is a small one, a weak one, a poor one, but I venture to think that today, particularly in an Organization such as this, that service that a country can render...is not to be measured alone by the size of that country, its population, its
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power or its strength. This is an Organization which expresses itself most effectively by bringing to bear a certain moral force -- the collective moral force and decency of human beings. That is a task in which the weak as well as the strong can render a useful service..." She added that Sri Lanka believed in the United Nations and wanted it to be the "guardian of all."
TONY BLAIR, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said that as finance, trade, media and culture were becoming increasingly transnational, it would be potentially dangerous for politics to remain locked in compartments created just after the Second World War. A new era of international partnership should be launched in which institutions were modernized. The United Nations must modernize urgently. All its parts needed proper accountability to go with secure funding, as well as better management and more effective coordination. There was need to strengthen the Security Council's authority by broadening its composition with new permanent seats for the developing world, Japan and Germany.
No challenge was more immediate than addressing the contagion of recession spreading from countries in difficulty to the wider world community, he said. The solution did not lie in attempts to impose a new panapoly of controls on international capital movements or a retreat from open trade. New mechanisms must be devised, including rules to encourage greater transparency in international and national financial dealings and structural reform programmes that took account of the social effects of restructuring.
Getting the financial framework right was only the start, he continued. The conditions for sustainable development must be created in all countries. The international community had set itself exacting targets, the most important of which was the goal of halving the number of people living in abject poverty by the year 2015. If poverty was to be eradicated, however, there was need to ensure that the least developed countries benefitted from the global economy.
For example, he continued, they should be allowed to sell their goods without imposing tariffs on them. The European Union was committed to zero tariffs for those countries by the year 2000 and he urged all developed countries to follow suit. Also, there was need to ease the debt burden on the poorest countries. Britain had proposed the Mauritius Mandate to speed assistance for those in the debt trap. By the year 2000, all qualifying, highly-indebted countries should have embarked on a systematic process of debt reduction.
Turning then to conflict and peace-building, he enumerated four principles upon which United Nations action should be based. First, prevention was always preferable to the cure. Second, United Nations peacekeepers should be given clear and achievable tasks, with the tools to do their job, as well as clear and effective command and control. Third, the United Nations needed to be able to act fast. In the next 6 months, the
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United Kingdom would conclude an agreement with the Organization to ensure that it could make rapid use of what his country had to offer when needed, the first such agreement by a permanent member of the Security Council. Fourth, peacekeeping must be accompanied from the start by peace-building, including efforts to foster democratic institutions, prosperity and human rights.
He said too many conflicts still raged -- often in the most vulnerable areas. Kosovo was an area of urgent concern. The international community had three responsibilities in that dangerous situation: to make it clear that continuation of military repression would lead to a new response; to impress on both sides the need to negotiate towards a mutually acceptable solution; and to prevent by any means necessary the pending humanitarian disaster. A new Security Council resolution was proposed which called for an immediate ceasefire and demanded an urgent end to the trampling on the rights of the inhabitants of Kosovo. It should be passed this week. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic "would ignore such a resolution at his peril".
He said the international community faced another serious challenge in Iraq. Earlier this year, the Secretary-General had reached an important decision with the Iraqi leadership about the United Nations Special Commission set up under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) in connection with the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (UNSCOM). That agreement had yet to honoured.
He highlighted drugs and terrorism as two global scourges that could undermine "our institutions if we let them". The growing links between drugs, crime and instability in so many countries were known. Now, every link in the drugs chain must be tackled. Collective efforts needed a much stronger focus. The fight against terrorism had also taken on a new urgency. The past year's global "roll call" included Luxor, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Omagh and many others. Each was a reminder that terrorism was a uniquely barbaric and cowardly crime and that it must have no hiding place, no opportunity to raise funds and there should be no pause in the determination to bring its perpetrators to justice.
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