GENERAL DEBATE CONTINUES IN ASSEMBLY; EAST TIMOR, MIDDLE EAST PEACE, SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM AMONG TOPICS RAISED

Press Release
GA/9615

GENERAL DEBATE CONTINUES IN ASSEMBLY; EAST TIMOR, MIDDLE EAST PEACE, SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM AMONG TOPICS RAISED

The arrival at the current position in East Timor was due to President B.J. Habibie of Indonesia, who had allowed the people of East Timor to choose between greater autonomy within Indonesia and independence, Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister of Australia, told the General Assembly this morning as it resumed its general debate on its seventh day following the conclusion of its two-day twenty-second special session on Small Island Developing States on Monday and Tuesday.

He said that the fact that more than 98.6 per cent of the 450,000 East Timorese who were able to register to vote did so, was a tribute to their courage and thirst for democracy. It was also a tribute to the effectiveness of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) -- a fine example of how effective the Organization could be in situations of conflict and transition. However, the several local employees of the Mission who paid for their dedication with their lives, was a stark reminder of the great personal cost associated with missions, and a further reminder of the need to make the security and personal safety of the Organization's staff an urgent priority.

He said elements of the 3,200-strong international Force in East Timor (INTERFET) were now spreading across East Timorese territory and had begun to bring peace back to the island while assisting in creating the right climate for the provision of food, shelter and medical assistance. UNAMET personnel had returned to East Timor and there was now an urgent need to move as soon as possible to Phase III of the United Nations Plan for East Timor. That would require all parties, especially Indonesia and Portugal, to work closely with the Secretariat.

David Levy, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel, said his country found itself confronted with contradicting realities. Parallel to the political process, its negotiating partners were conducting a strident political war against Israel in different international forums, including the Assembly. That dualism was intolerable, as were the extreme decisions taken by the Arab League against Israel, which were not harmonious with the spirit of peace as expressed in the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum. Israel, however, was

General Assembly Plenary - 1a - Press Release GA/9615 16th Meeting (AM) 29 September 1999

determined to reach a framework agreement, which would form the basis of the permanent status agreement by February 2000, as agreed upon in the Memorandum.

From Israel's perspective, there had never been any competition between the different negotiating tracks, he noted. It aspired to reach peace with Syria and Lebanon. Israel never had territorial claims or disputes with Lebanon -- its only interest was the safety and security of its citizens. The Lebanese Government had failed in the past to enforce its sovereignty in the southern part of Lebanon and to disarm the Hizbullah. Israel hoped that situation would take a turn for the better and that it would be able to leave south Lebanon as part of an agreement.

Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia said the demise of the Eastern bloc had been a disaster for small countries, exposing them to pressures they could not resist. A few had managed temporarily to grow and prosper, but currency manipulators and short-term investors had moved in and impoverished them by devaluing currencies and share prices. "Whether by design or through sheer lack of understanding, the economic regime imposed by the IMF -- from whom they were forced to borrow -- destroyed their economies even further. They were forced to accept political direction by that body. Their human rights situations, systems of government, judiciary and financial systems had been subjected to the scrutiny of the powerful countries, and they were being directed to change immediately, even though it caused destabilization and human suffering.

Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa, said reform measures for the Security Council must also provide for an early review of the regional groupings, since the current system was more representative of the past than the present. The anomaly of Australia and New Zealand being counted outside their geographic area should also be corrected.

Statements were also made this morning by the Foreign Ministers of Bahrain, Chad and Bhutan.

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

Assembly Work Programme

As the General Assembly continued its General Debate this morning, the Prime Ministers of Samoa and Malaysia, as well as Foreign Ministers of Australia, Israel, Bahrain, Chad and Bhutan were expected to take the floor.

Statements

TUILAEPA SAILELE MALIELEGAOI, Prime Minister of Samoa, said a lot more attention needed to be paid to the Secretary-General's reports on the work of the Organization. His latest report was thoughtful and challenging. The Secretary- General drew attention to the place of sovereignty in the context of contemporary "common interests" and to the means of defending them. Answers to those questions would define the role of the United Nations in the coming era. The experience of the United Nations itself in recent times did not yield satisfying answers. It was necessary to set clear criteria for intervention. The United Nations had been invested with global ideals to deal with interventions, and now it was necessary to look more deeply into root causes of failures. Above all, it was necessary to bear in mind the essential connection between peace, development and human rights.

Concerning the reform of the Security Council, it was necessary to move to a more definitive phase, he continued. Substantive changes were required, for the current structure did not reflect the reality and suffered from imbalance and inequities. The membership of the Council should be enlarged, and Japan deserved to become a permanent member. It would not be desirable to seek an increase in just one category of membership without attention to the other. Changes must be comprehensive, and they should include the power of veto, which needed to be resolved within the context of the current reform. There was a demonstrated case to curtail the power of veto and restrict it to Article VII of the Charter. Reform measures must also provide for an early review of the regional groupings, for the current system was more representative of the past, than the present. The anomaly of Australia and New Zealand being counted outside their geographic area should be corrected.

Alongside war and conflicts, natural disasters represented a major global challenge, he said. The world had experienced three times as many great natural disasters in the 1990s than in the 1960s. Yet, emergency aid funds had declined by 40 per cent in past five years alone. The immediate practical need was to determine what preventive action might be available, especially to the small and the vulnerable. Advanced early warning systems were essential, as was the need to train and improve capacities. Greater efforts to establish contingency planning were required.

MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD, Prime Minister of Malaysia, said that, when communism had collapsed, Eastern bloc countries had jettisoned their authoritarian, centrally planned economies and adopted the liberal democratic free market overnight, naively thinking that if their system of government were similar to that of the West, they would have friendship and cooperation from the Western nations. However, they had not known how to make the new system work. As the inability to manage a free market resulted in galloping inflation, destruction of State enterprises and massive unemployment, hedge funds and Western financial institutions had moved in to devalue the currencies and make debt defaulters of their once powerful enemy. Even though it was evident that they could not manage a free-market democracy, there had been no turning back for those countries; thus, their destruction was complete. No one would be allowed any other political or economic system except

what was prescribed by the sole dominant bloc. "The true ugliness of Western capitalism revealed itself, backed by the military might of capitalism's greatest proponent."

He said the end of the cold war had also meant that small countries were now exposed to pressures they could not resist. For a while, a few had apparently managed to grow and prosper, but the currency manipulators and short-term investors had soon moved in and impoverished them by devaluing their currencies and share prices. They had been forced to borrow from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Whether by design or through sheer lack of understanding, the economic regime imposed by the IMF destroyed their economies even further." Soon, those countries had been forced to accept political direction by the IMF; their political freedom had been subverted.

The small independent countries faced a bleak future, he said. They were told that the world should be borderless, that capital, goods and services should flow freely between countries, and there should be no discriminatory taxes. Local banks and industries must compete on the same footing as foreign banks and industries. Those things, it was said, would level the playing field and create fair competition. "But can competition between giants and dwarves be fair even if the playing field is level?" he asked. Because they made huge profits elsewhere, giant banks, corporations and industries from rich countries could afford to lose money in small countries. As small businesses closed, or were forced to sell to giant foreign companies, markets would eventually be destroyed, resulting in contraction of world trade. "The world would actually become poorer because of free trade."

As long as the world had been divided into Eastern and Western blocs, the principle of interference in the internal affairs of independent nations had been respected by all. But lately, the claimed victory of the West in the Gulf War was regarded as a moral endorsement of the right of the powerful to interfere in any country's internal affairs. Soon it was not only human rights, but systems of government, the administration of justice and financial systems that had come under the scrutiny of the powerful countries. They insisted that there must be openness and transparency in everything, and that there was only one way of administering a country. Ideals that were successful in the West did not necessarily work for everyone. Though it was acknowledged that it had taken centuries to make liberal democratic ideals work, new countries were not being allowed to learn how to operate the system, but were being directed to change immediately. It was irrelevant if their countries were destabilized, if their people suffered or their economies regressed.

There could be no change expected as long as the United Nations belonged to the Permanent Five, he said. The structure of the Organization would continue to reflect the glorious victory of those nations 50 years ago. "For the small countries, yearly speeches and various anniversary speeches will be allowed. Occasionally there will be membership in the Security Council." And, despite at least three of the Permanent Five being vociferous advocates for democracy, there would be no democracy in the United Nations. The only saving grace was the agencies and their good work. The United Nations had chosen a person well known for his virulent attacks against the Malaysian judiciary to report on that institution, and conferred on him total immunity against the laws of his country without reference or consent of the country. The peculiar system and principles that guided the choice of the United Nations Commissioner were unacceptable. By the same token, small countries backed a forum to air their views freely; their actions were distorted by Western media, and they were expected to give immunity to Western journalists. ALEXANDER DOWNER, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, said the international community's cooperation in helping to secure the release of the two CARE Australia workers -- Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace -- imprisoned in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia earlier this year, demonstrated a strong shared commitment to protecting humanitarian workers from persecution. His country would continue to support international efforts to secure the release of Branko Jelen, a Yugoslav national employee of CARE who continued to serve time in a Yugoslav prison. Turning to the questions of the future of East Timor, he said elements of the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) were now spreading across East Timorese territory. The Force had begun to bring peace back to the island and was assisting in creating the right climate for the provision of food, shelter and medical assistance. The arrival at the current position in East Timor was due to President B.J. Habibie of Indonesia who allowed the East Timorese to choose between greater autonomy within Indonesia and independence.

He said that the fact that more than 450,000 East Timorese were able to register to vote, and that 98.6 per cent of them actually did, was a remarkable tribute to the courage and thirst for democracy of those people. It was also a tribute to the effectiveness of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) - - a fine example of how effective the United Nations could be in situations of conflict and transition. The Mission carried out its work with great risk. Tragically, several local employees paid for their dedication with their lives. That was a stark reminder of the great personal cost associated with United Nations missions and a further reminder of the need to make the security and personal safety of the Organization's staff a most urgent priority. The large number of countries participating in the 3,200 strong international force in East Timor was evidence of the widespread international determination to see a peaceful and orderly transition in East Timor's status.

Noting that UNAMET personnel had now returned to East Timor, the Minister said Australia had pledged $7 million towards the efforts of United Nations humanitarian agencies. The Organization was also now seeking to redress the human rights violations that had been widespread in East Timor. There was now an urgent need to move as soon as possible to Phase III of the United Nations plan for East Timor. That would require all parties, especially Indonesia and Portugal, to work closely with the Secretariat. When the United Nations was established at the end of World War II, part of its rationale as an Organization was to have been the impartial and objective resolution of international problems, free of the old cycles of retribution through resort to aggression. "We have seen plenty of occasions in the past 50 years where practice has not measured up to the ideals. But every now and then, the process does work -- and I believe that many elements of the United Nations' work in East Timor are evidence of that", he noted. That was not to say, however, that the process could not be improved. "If we can identify and build upon the positive elements of our East Timor experience, I believe that we can not only improve the situation of the people of that territory, but also may be able to provide a speedier and more thorough resolution of other international crises in the future", he said.

Under the direction of the Secretary-General, the Organization had begun the important and necessary steps to face the challenges of the twenty-first century. It was important that the momentum was sustained and taken forward. "We need to accept that the United Nations exists in the real world and be realistic about what it can achieve", he said. An expanded, more representative and transparent Security Council, and an electoral group system which reflected the geo-political and economic realities of today rather than the early 1960s, was needed. Reform meant less waste and more practical activities. It meant creating a United Nations that could maintain its relevance when many of the national and international institutions were falling by the wayside.

He said that in the past, the nations of the world might have been forgiven if they acted too slowly in the face of a humanitarian crisis. Tales of atrocities, famine and natural disasters might have taken weeks or months to filter out from the more inaccessible areas of the globe. Today those same news stories were likely to be on television screens within hours, or even minutes. In the face of such indisputable evidence, Governments would be forced to act. Those that resisted would have to face a domestic and international audience as well informed as they. That was the kind of environment in which the United Nations would increasingly have to function, where the results of inaction would be seen instantly, and the consequences of failure subject to instant and telling scrutiny. Some would be concerned about interference in national sovereignty and others would say that the greater principle was that of natural human solidarity. "Whatever view is correct, this environment is a fact we now have to deal with, whether we like it or not", he stressed.

DAVID LEVY, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Israel, said that, on the way to achieving peace in the Middle East, Israel found itself confronted with contradicting realities. Parallel to the political process, its negotiating partners were conducting a strident political war against Israel in different international forums, including the General Assembly. That dualism was intolerable, as were the extreme decisions taken by the Arab League against Israel, which were not harmonious with the spirit of peace as expressed in the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum.

He said Israel was determined to reach a framework agreement, which would form the basis of the permanent status agreement, by February 2000 as agreed upon in the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum. The topics at hand were known, as were the different vantage points of each side. Those differences could be resolved only by direct negotiations.

Noting that there had never been any competition between the different negotiating tracks from Israel's perspective, he said Israel aspired to reach peace with Syria, its neighbour to the north. It was time to talk; meetings and discussions were not political sacrifices, but basic necessities. Israel wished to see Lebanon join the camp of peacemakers, he said. The anomaly which had developed on its territory must end. Israel had never had territorial claims or disputes with Lebanon. Its one and only interest was to guarantee the safety and security of its citizens. The Government of Lebanon had failed in past years to enforce its sovereignty in the southern part of Lebanon and to disarm the Hizbullah. Israel hoped that that situation would take a turn for the better and that it would be able to leave south Lebanon as part of an agreement.

SHAIKH MOHAMED BIN MUBARAK AL-KHALIFA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, stressed the vitally important role of the United Nations. "We ought to direct our actions to be consonant with the principles and objectives of the United Nations Charter", he said. Departure from United Nations principles and the Charter had strained relations among many States, caused regional disputes and ethnic conflicts.

He said that Bahrain's experience on the Security Council during the past two years had demonstrated that small countries were capable of contributing to the furtherance of international peace and security. Therefore, it was essential that efforts be made to reform the Council to reflect political realities and cope with the changing international climate. Peace-keeping and peace-building must be interrelated so that renewal of conflicts might be avoided. Such linkage was essential for the integration of political action and action in the field of economic and social development.

Calling on Iraq to implement relevant Security Council resolutions, especially those relating to weapons of mass destruction, he said Bahrain at the same time was eager to ensure the independence, unity and territorial integrity of Iraq. Turning to the Middle East peace process, he said Bahrain hoped that the new Israeli Government would translate its promises into full and complete implementation of all agreements reached.

MAHAMAT SALEH ANNADIF, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chad, said that Chad was hoping to ensure real reconciliation and political stability. Democracy was only effective if it were based on the primacy of law, justice, promotion of human rights and popular participation. Considerable efforts had been made in the area of human rights, and essential institutions, including a supreme court and constitutional council, had just been set up. His Government had also undertaken the process of decentralization. It was concentrating on problems of the army and landmines. It aimed to ensure sufficient training for demobilized soldiers to reintegrate them into society. With over 1 million mines still in place, it had also set up a de-mining programme to reduce the number of victims and facilitate the economic development of the mined regions.

Ambitious reforms had also been undertaken to create a modern economy, along with a new sustainable development programme, he continued. The Fourth Round Table on Chad had taken place in Geneva in 1998; he was thankful to those who had responded to the appeal for international solidarity. The problem of exploitation of oil resources was very important. In that respect, cooperation between Cameroon and Chad had been established. His country was considering the future petroleum era with caution. Mechanisms were needed to deal with oil income, and legislation had been adopted to guarantee the transparency of oil management. Oil provided an exceptional opportunity to stabilize the economy and ensure the well-being of the people.

Interdependence between peace and economic development was most evident in Chad in the aftermath of the conflict, he said. His country participated in the peacekeeping operations in the region to save human lives, including those in Rwanda and Burundi. It was also involved in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Following the signing of the Lusaka ceasefire agreement, his country had withdrawn its troops, but it would continue to support the peace process. The fragile situation in Angola was of great concern, for continuation of hostilities would mean the failure of considerable efforts to bring the country to reconciliation. Work towards restoring peace should also continue in Sierra Leone and Guinea- Bissau. He drew attention to a conference organized by the Permanent Consultative Committee on the Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms, to be held in Chad next month.

JIGMI Y. THINLEY, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bhutan, said that the primary responsibility of the United Nations was the maintenance of global peace and harmony on the basis of international law and the sovereign equality of all nations. Though this was a complex and difficult task, early dialogue aimed at peaceful resolution of differences remained the best mechanism to maintain peace and security. The use of force to resolve conflict should be considered carefully, he said; it must be fully within the context of international law and enjoy the support of the international community. He also said that Bhutan associated itself with the position of the Non-Aligned Movement that maintained that new global realities must be reflected through reform of the Security Council, both in terms of its working methods and its composition. "While it must have the flexibility to act promptly, it or its individual members must not operate in isolation." Developing countries should have an increased permanent representation on the Council.

International peace and security continued to be threatened by various other factors, he said. The abundance of weapons of mass destruction, as well as conventional arms, had not diminished. Progress on nuclear disarmament could only advance if the legitimate security concerns of all countries were addressed and there was a firm commitment to the eventual elimination of such weapons. Terrorism continued to undermine human rights, fundamental freedoms and security in a growing number of countries. The global community must cooperate to prevent, combat and eliminate this scourge, he said. The rapid process of globalization also gave rise to fears that developing nations might be marginalized by poverty, unemployment and social disorientation. The severe tests of the new and emerging international economic and financial systems had made it imperative that the capacities of the least developed countries should be strengthened. To that end, Bhutan welcomed the decision taken at the Cologne Summit in June 1999 aimed at alleviating some of the debt burden of poor countries.

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