QUESTIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY, HUMAN RIGHTS RAISED BY GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKERS

Press Release
GA/9608

QUESTIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY, HUMAN RIGHTS RAISED BY GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKERS

While the international community must not remain inactive in the face of gross and systematic violations of human rights, at the same time it was obvious that the principle of protection of human rights, once it was interpreted selectively, became meaningless, Ural Latypov, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Belarus, told the Assembly this morning on the sixth day of general debate.

Unfortunately, "double standards" in interpretation of the notion of human rights were still applied often in international politics, he said. It would be dangerously misleading to assume that human rights could be protected by means that ignored the principle of the sovereign equality of States. Disregarding State interests in the pursuit of individual values could cause unpredictable consequences.

Juan Gabriel Valdes, Foreign Minister of Chile, said the problem was that the globalization of justice was still under way, with the norms of jurisdiction unclear and subject to many interpretations, some arbitrary and misplaced. Chile faced the dilemma of administering justice with respect to the violations committed by the authoritarian regime in the period between 1973 and 1990. It did not accept impunity for such violations, and at present, nearly 300 cases were being tried in Chilean courts.

What grounds could the justice system of a third State have for exercising jurisdiction over acts which were the subject of proceedings in the courts of its own State, he asked. In a democratic State based on the rule of law, the task of administering justice must be the responsibility of the affected country.

Louis Michel, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Belgium. said the Kosovo crisis had implications for the security of Europe as a whole. The one lesson for the United Nations to learn from this century should be that for a State to massacre its own people could under no pretence be considered an "internal affair". While the Security Council was well-equipped to deal with massive violations of human rights, it was regrettable that a potential veto could stifle its action in situations of urgency. He hoped that resorting to force without Council approval would not constitute a precedent.

Also this morning, the Assembly was informed by its President, Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia), that Guinea had made the necessary payment to reduce its arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the Charter.

General Assembly Plenary - 1a - Press Release GA/9608 14th Meeting (AM) 25 September 1999

[Article 19 states that a Member of the United Nations which is in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions to the Organization shall have no vote in the Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of contributions due from it for the preceding two full years.]

Statements were also made by the by the Vice-President of Palau, and the Foreign Ministers of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Thailand, Burkina Faso and Malta.

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. It was expected to hear statements from the Vice-President of Palau, the Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Belgium and Chile.

Statements

TOMMY REMENGESAU, Vice President of Palau, said that in the next millennium, the Earth would be in great jeopardy if the environment could no longer support the human population. Global warming and climate change merited the utmost attention and a concerted effort on the part of all Member States to find meaningful solutions and take preventive actions to that growing international challenge. "Don't take climate change lightly", he said "for there will be dire consequences".

The fragile ecosystem for small islands such as Palau made the dangerous problems and consequences of climate change even greater, he said. While the El Niño phenomenon had impacted many world communities, Palau, in particular felt its far-reaching and dangerous effects. "At least one third of our hard coral communities died", he said. That loss affected the entire ecosystem and eventually the people of Palau and their economic livelihoods. El Niño had also caused extreme drought that destroyed a major portion of Palau's most important root crop, taro.

Palau and the Pacific region were also suffering from an unusually high rise in the tides, he said. That caused farmlands to be flooded with salt water, and even caused islands to disappear. A recent World Development report showed that a one-metre rise in sea level due to climate change would force nearly 70 million people to move and would have a dramatic effect on food security in Central Asia. Those examples begged for global cooperation on climate change, he said.

Palau recognized the link between climate change and biodiversity. Protection of the forests was one of the most cost-effective mechanisms to slow climate change, he said. Measures to that end and others on climate change and the rise in sea level had been incorporated into Palau's long-term strategic planning. He requested international assistance to develop a comprehensive vulnerability index that encompassed both economic and environmental factors. It was critical, he said, that no artificial restrictions be placed on the use of the mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol, as they were an integral component to the global solution to the issue of climate change. If all Member States could come to terms with the Kyoto mechanisms and develop a fair and realistic approach to their use, "there will be no sufficient reason why we cannot enter the new millennium with positive remedies to the issue of climate change", he said. "Maybe we can enter the millennium with a breath of fresh air."

URAL LATYPOV, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus, said the United Nations was virtually marginalized during the crisis in Yugoslavia. The decision to use military force against a sovereign State was taken without the authorization of the Security Council. Although the Kosovo crisis had now been brought back under the auspices of the Organization, the reoccurrence of attempts to use force randomly outside the mechanism of the Council could not be excluded. Consequently, the question of whether the Council should remain the only international institution to authorize the use of force for the maintenance of international peace and security was still unanswered. The answer given to that question today would determine the developments in the next century. Would it be the age of fairness and the rule of law or would the world be thrown back into times when force was the only argument, he asked

He said that a totally different world order in which all countries were equal and protected by international law and the United Nations would most adequately meet the interests of all members of the international community. The prerogative of the Council to establish and maintain peace and security was a key element in that system. Naturally that placed special responsibility on that body and its members. The increase in both permanent and non-permanent members of the Council on the principle of equitable geographical distribution would be an important measure that would improve its effectiveness. Special emphasis should also be put on the prevention of conflict by peaceful means. The international community must not remain inactive in the face of gross and systematic violations of human rights. At the same time it was obvious that the principle of protection of human rights, once it was interpreted selectively, became meaningless.

Unfortunately, "double standards" in interpretation of the notion of human rights were still applied often in international politics, he said. It would be dangerously misleading to assume that human rights could be protected by means that ignored the principle of the sovereign equality of States. Disregarding State interests in the pursuit of individual values could cause unpredictable consequences. His multi-ethnic country had avoided the religious and ethnic conflicts so characteristic of many post-Soviet countries. Situated at the crossroads between east, west, north and south of Europe, Belarus would be contributing further to international cooperation in combating transborder crime, terrorism and illicit drug trafficking. A few days ago, his country has also became a party to the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings.

He urged all countries who had not become parties to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) to join those who had made the establishment of a nuclear-weapon- free world their utmost priority. "We believe that the international community would be making a right step if it were to establish a preventive mechanism to take timely and coordinated measures to control the development and production of new types of weapons of mass destruction", he said. Belarus would therefore initiate a draft resolution to that effect at the current Assembly session. Continuing, he said that among the challenges faced by the United Nations was protection of the environment and alleviation of negative consequences of natural disasters and technological catastrophes. Elimination of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster had accounted for more than 20 per cent of his country's annual budget spending. To strengthen the Organization's capacity to respond to such challenges, Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine would present a related draft resolution at the current Assembly session.

PAEK NAM SUN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said that his country was being portrayed as a "dangerous area" of nuclear proliferation and a source of "missile threats". Those allegations were being used as pretexts for reviving a "Star Wars" plan. Large-scale striking forces were surreptitiously amassed in and around South Korea. It was becoming almost a reality -- not simply an assumption -- that the Korean peninsula would be the second Balkan region, where the "humanitarian crisis" had served as a pretext for war. In the Korean peninsula, the so-called "missile issue" was likely to be used as a pretext. His country's satellite launch was an exercise of equal rights for the use of outer space, and the strengthening of its national defence capabilities was an exercise of the sovereign right for legitimate defence.

Putting the whole Korean peninsula under its control was a top priority of the United States’ Asia strategy, he said. The same could be said about Japan's hysterical campaign against the Democratic People’s Republic. Japan had not liquidated its past crimes against his country, but the need to settle those crimes would not "fade away by itself". Sovereignty was the lifeline of his country, and socialism was the life of its people. The country was administering an army-first policy, under which the whole people was united with the army, thus making it possible to both defend the country and develop the economy. The key to peace and security on the Korean peninsula was to remove hostility in relations between the Democratic People’s Republic and the United States and realize Korea's reunification.

His country had demonstrated its good faith towards the United States through sincere implementation of the Agreed Framework between the two countries during the last five years. Now it was the United States' turn to show its goodwill. He welcomed recent partial lifting of economic sanctions against his country by the United States and said that his country looked forward to a comprehensive lifting of all sanctions. His country would participate in high- level talks between the two countries in response to the United States' request and would suspend missile launches while the talks were under way.

As long as Korea remained divided, the situation in the area would never be stable, he said. The most reasonable way for reunification was the confederal formula. Any attempts of one side to change the other would only entail confrontation and conflicts. The south Korean authorities, he continued, should abolish, inter alia, the "National Security Law" which had defined the fellow countrymen as the enemy. In April 1998, General Kim Jong Il had put forward a policy of great national unity, which would unite the whole nation under banners of patriotism and national reunification and improve the north-south relations.

Regarding United Nations reform, he said that the authority of the General Assembly should be enhanced. If it were empowered to deliberate on such crucial issues as ensuring international peace and security, it would be conducive to ensuring fairness. The Security Council should be reformed to make all regions equally represented and ensure full transparency in its activities. In that regard, his country was opposed, under any circumstances, to the permanent membership of a defeated nation, which had not liquidated its past crimes.

SURIN PITSUWAN, Minister for Foreign Affairs for Thailand, said that at the threshold of the new millennium, the United Nations and the international community were still preoccupied with maintaining international peace and security. But the traditional concepts of security were woefully inadequate to meet the new challenges faced by humankind. "More and more, we in the international community are being faced with the conflicts within States", he said "not between or among States as in the past". Rather than State rights, State interests, State sovereignty, the international community now had to grapple with the defence of the "common good", the protection of "rights beyond borders" and intervention to promote and safeguard humanitarian ideals and objectives. To that end he proposed a transfer of the traditional preoccupation with the security and sovereignty of the State to serious consideration on the emerging concept of "human security".

Though the scope of human security was not well defined, he said, it was clear that security was now more people-related than State-related. The interpretation of human security should be more comprehensive than the current one, which placed emphasis on the physical protection of the human person and strove to provide human beings with "freedom from fear", he said. Could we afford to attach less importance to addressing the economic and social dimensions of human security? Could we really enjoy "freedom from fear" without "freedom from want", he asked. Human beings would begin to enjoy genuine security only if they were able to have equal opportunities to make a living and to make their own decisions about their future.

Besides the traditional economic reforms and adjustments, Thailand, he said, sought to focus its efforts on addressing the short-term and long-term threats to the viability and welfare of both the individual and society. Thailand gave strong priority to promoting the establishment of adequate social safety nets and the development of human resources. "Those efforts had borne fruit and Thailand had emerged from the crisis more resilient and better prepared economically and socially.

He said that to meet the challenges of globalization, the international community needed to join hands to promote "globalization with a human face". To achieve that, globalization must lead to, among other things, greater equality among peoples and nations; easing of social tensions and strengthening of communities; enhanced protection and preservation of the environment; greater protection and promotion of human rights and freedoms; and most importantly, simply a better life for all peoples.

YOUSSOUF OUEDRAOGO, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, said globalization and the liberalization of world trade had worsened the social and economic differences between people. Increased challenges were making the work of the United Nations more difficult. However, while the waning century had thrown down challenges, it had also sparked hope. Despite the fact that the United Nations, helped by various regional and sub-regional organizations, had accomplished a useful task, peace was still a titanic and difficult task. International life was studded by wars and conflicts that wiped out all progress in the field of development. Turning to the issue of Kosovo, he said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation had been carried out on the basis of a human intervention to protect a persecuted ethnic minority. However, such interventions could only be justified by a clear and precise mandate, and under the supervision of the United Nations.

He said Africa had suffered the most from crises. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a solution was possible, but the Lusaka Protocol must be accepted for peace to be achieved. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), in collaboration with the United Nations, had worked to promote peace in Ethiopia and Eritrea. That had resulted in the Framework Agreement of Ougadougou. In Angola, only dialogue between the two parties could bring about a lasting and just solution to the 20-year fratricidal conflict. However, he noted, every peace would be fragile if not backed by disarmament.

A minority of States still dominated and controlled the rules and operations of the world economy for their own interests, he continued. Poverty had increased in developing countries and 1.5 billion people now had to make do on less than one dollar a day. Yet in the developed world, there was massive destruction of food products just to stabilize prices. Illiteracy was a constant that deprived the poor of access to knowledge while women and children did not enjoy the benefits of legal protection. The question of integration of the lesser developed countries into the multilateral trading system was under discussion. Protectionist measures must be suppressed. The greatest challenge of the twenty-first century would undoubtedly be the marginalization of the South. There was a need for a genuine North-South dialogue.

He hoped the sanctions against Libya would be lifted -- that was now an imperative. Addressing the issue of "the Republic of China on Taiwan", he said it was unfair to ostracize 22 million people. What was needed was to determine how that entity could be represented in the United Nations. To ensure a more democratic United Nations, reforms must extend to the heart of its central organ, the Security Council. The new international order required that political, economic and social forces join hands and become partners.

LOUIS MICHEL, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium, said that without any hidden agendas, the international community must endeavour to organize a new political world order. Politics must come first again, and democratic legitimacy must not be allowed to be circumvented or pushed into a corner by narrow self-interest or speculative moves. International law must prevail over the power of money. Belgium would support the efforts of the United Nations to restore its calling as protector against the unacceptable side- effects of globalization. His Government had clearly expressed its will to progressively increase its funding of bilateral partnerships and cooperation.

The Belgian Government had placed cooperation with Central Africa at the top of its agenda, he continued. Significant efforts of the international community would be needed to encourage and sustain the peace process there. His country would do its share and intensify its direct contacts, its development aid and its financial support to that area. Belgium fully respected the wishes of African leaders to find solutions to the political conflicts by themselves. However, that did not imply any ambiguity about the role of the Security Council and the General Assembly. Nor did it mean that the rest of the world should refrain from action, because achieving peace in the Great Lakes region would require tremendous efforts and resources. It was necessary to think about concluding a true partnership pact with the countries of Central Africa. Other regions of Africa also deserved more attention and efforts by the international community.

The Kosovo crisis had implications for the security of his own country and Europe as a whole, he continued. If there was one lesson for the United Nations to be learned from this century, it should be that for a State to massacre its own people could under no pretence be considered an "internal affair". The Security Council was well-equipped to deal with massive violations of human rights. His country deeply regretted that a potential double veto could stifle Council action in situations of such extreme urgency and hoped that resorting to force without the approval of the Council would not constitute a precedent. The world needed an international legal order over the law of the jungle.

On the reform of the Security Council, he said that the working group of the General Assembly was getting "bogged down" and was becoming repetitive. His Government, with others, was seeking a formula to which a greater number of Member States could adhere. Reform of the United Nations and the financial crisis of the Organization went hand-in-hand. Belgium was asking that all Member States pay their contributions in full, on time and without conditions. Belgium, a long-time friend and ally of the United States, affirmed that it was of primary importance that the United States play its role in the United Nations. That great country should assume its responsibilities -- including financial -- within the Organization.

JUAN GABRIEL VALDES, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile, said that the United Nations was becoming the only global actor capable of addressing not only the problems of cooperation and global conflict, but also issues that had ceased to be the exclusive competence of States. Democracy had become a universal concern, which no government could ignore. Protection of the environment had an unmistakable international dimension, and the fight against drug trafficking could be truly effective only within a framework of close regional and international cooperation. Treatment of refugees, the fight against hunger and mass epidemics fell squarely within the scope of multilateral action.

The Kosovo crisis had demonstrated that there was clearly shared responsibility on the part of the permanent Security Council members for the inadequate functioning of the mechanisms of collective security, he said. The veto or the threat of veto could reduce the Council to impotence. However, he was encouraged that after so many unnecessary deaths in East Timor, it had been possible to organize a multinational force under the leadership of Australia. Latin America had continued to contribute to international peace and stability. Chile was pleased to have contributed to the final settlement of the border conflict between Ecuador and Peru. His country had also reached a settlement with Argentina on the last border dispute between the two nations.

It was ironic that while so much effort had been devoted to establishing new trading regimes throughout the world, he continued, so little had been done in the field of international finance. The aim was not to impede international capital flows, but to establish an appropriate international framework to address the problems they entailed. It was essential to put all the energies into the new round of multilateral trade negotiations. The multilateral trade system, represented by the World Trade Organization, must be strengthened. The coming new round of tariff negotiations must reflect the interests of both developed and developing countries. Chile was opposed to a limited approach in the form of sectoral trade negotiations.

Chile welcomed the proposal that genocide and massive violations of human rights should fall within the competence of international tribunals, he said. However, the problem was that the process of globalization of justice was still under way, and the norms of jurisdiction were not clear and were subject to many interpretations, including most arbitrary and misplaced ones. Chile faced the dilemma of administering justice with respect to the violations committed by the authoritarian regime in the period between 1973 and 1990. It did not accept impunity for such violations, and at present, nearly 300 cases were being tried in Chilean courts. What grounds could the justice system of a third State have for exercising jurisdiction over acts which were the subject of proceedings in the courts of its own State, he asked. In a democratic State based on the rule of law, the task of administering justice must be the responsibility of the affected country.

JOE BORG, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta, said that peace and security were intimately intertwined with development and prosperity. Too often, the lack of development precipitated conflict. Promoting development also acted as a means of creating channels of cooperation within as well as among nations. While interdependence had become the norm, armed conflicts, economic imbalances and social dislocation had overshadowed progress. Gross violations of human rights and disregard for humanitarian principles continued to plague the globe. The tragedy of that predicament could not be ignored. "The international community cannot afford to be complacent about the humanitarian crises that we are witnessing today", he continued. Strengthening the United Nations to address contemporary needs and to meet the challenge of the future was now more urgent than ever.

One of the main thrusts of the United Nations work had been aimed at equitable and long-lasting reform of the Security Council, especially in view of the expanded membership of the Organization. "It is in the interest of all to find a solution to the Council's reform that will ensure its smooth functioning, transparency and enhanced relevance", he said.

While the root causes of conflicts were complex, the Minister said that illegal trafficking of weapons clearly had a destabilizing effect on societies and only served to prolong conflict. Malta looked forward to the eventual convening of an international conference on the illicit arms trade in all its aspects.

Malta's readiness to play an active and positive role in the furtherance of international peace and cooperation has led to the reactivation of its application for membership in the European Union. He said that this was more of a resumption of unfinished business than a new beginning. Due to its geographical location, Malta attached particular importance to cooperation in the Mediterranean, the Minister said.

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