GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS DISCUSSION ON SECRETARY-GENERAL"S ANNUAL REPORT ON WORK OF ORGANIZAION

Press Release
GA/9627

GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS DISCUSSION ON SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ANNUAL REPORT ON WORK OF ORGANIZAION

As the General Assembly this morning began its consideration of the Secretary-General’s annual report on the work of the Organization, many speakers expressed strong support for his call to change the culture of the United Nations from one that reacted to crises to one that prevented them, while several speakers highlighted the difficulties and implications of such a change.

The representative of Ireland stressed that the instruments for conflict prevention in the United Nations, while not new, were often ignored or underutilized. He said there were concerns that the early warning initiatives constituted an intrusion in the internal affairs of States or were an encroachment on national sovereignty, and those concerns would have to be addressed. The international community also needed to determine how best to strengthen early warning mechanisms, since the response to various crises in the past few years demonstrated that differences still remained.

The representative of Italy said that the Secretary-General's description of United Nations peacekeeping presented a divided picture. While the international community was deepening its commitment to world peace, the Organization was encountering limitations and difficulties in performing its tasks. Action was often blocked by the threat of veto or the reluctance of Member States to contribute forces. Prompt and effective action was critical to restoring peace quickly and reducing the number of victims, yet such efforts meant little unless accompanied by programmes of assistance that laid the foundations for lasting peace.

The representative of Colombia said that during the past year the United Nations had to respond to humanitarian challenges in ways that had no precedent in the history of the international community. That had been done, however, with resources that could otherwise have been used for development purposes. One way of achieving equilibrium between those limitations and the demands of humanitarian crises was through positive, permanent and committed cooperation with legitimate national governments, instead of interventions where United Nations limitations were balanced with direct help from great Powers.

General Assembly Plenary - 1a - Press Release GA/9627 27th Meeting (AM) 6 October 1999

The representative of Germany said the last 12 months had been a most difficult period, with an unusual amount of natural disasters and wars. Humanitarian aid, therefore, as provided by many countries, including his own, was not enough to develop the culture of prevention as recommended in the Secretary- General’s report. The tasks of the United Nations as peacekeeper had quadrupled, while peacekeeping was developing into peace-building.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Mexico, Kuwait, Mongolia, China, Singapore, Bangladesh, India, Kazakhstan and Venezuela.

The Assembly will continue its consideration of the report of the Secretary- General at 10 a.m. Thursday, 7 October. At 3 p.m. today, it will meet to begin its consideration of the advancement of women and implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this morning to begin its consideration of the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization.

Report of the Secretary-General

The humanitarian community faces a major challenge today from the increase in the number of natural disasters, and by a recent upsurge in armed conflict, according to Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his 1999 report on the work of the Organization. Confronted with those challenges, the Secretary-General calls for the strengthening of the Organization’s capacity to bring relief to victims, and for more effective strategies to prevent emergencies from arising in the first place.

The case for better and more cost-effective prevention strategies is the central theme of the report. Its introduction -– entitled “Facing the Humanitarian Challenge – Towards a Culture of Prevention” -- is also being published separately as a stand-alone essay. The 43-page report (document A/54/1) is divided into six chapters, covering such issues as achieving peace and security; cooperating for development; meeting humanitarian commitments; and engaging globalization. Other topics covered are the international legal order and human rights and managing change.

The introduction notes that 1998 was the worst on record for weather-related natural disasters, while armed conflicts broke out or re-erupted during the year in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Kashmir and Kosovo, and between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Other wars continued largely unreported by the global media. The challenge that the humanitarian agencies confront is heightened by the fact that neither the media, nor the international community, respond in a consistent way to humanitarian emergencies. The crisis in Kosovo received saturation coverage; the more protracted and deadly war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the resumption of Angola’s savage civil war received relatively little.

It is the Secretary-General’s strong view that international assistance should not be allocated on the basis of media coverage, politics or geography, and that the sole criterion should be human need. The first step to successful prevention strategies, according to the Secretary-General, is a clear understanding of underlying causes of the conflicts and disasters. With respect to disasters, the answers are relatively straightforward. Poverty, population pressures and unsustainable development practices increase the costs of natural disasters, while the recent increase in weather-related natural disasters is associated with the steady accumulation of carbon emissions and global warming.

Noting that the causes of war are inherently more difficult to explain, the introduction points out that recent research has shown that countries afflicted by war typically also suffer from inequality among ethnic, religious or other social groups, and that the shift from non-violent disputes to wars is many times triggered by the deliberate mobilization of grievances often propagated by hate- media. In other cases, armed conflict has less to do with ethnic, national or other enmities than the struggle to control economic resources.

Taking prevention more seriously will help ensure that there are fewer wars and less consequential disasters to cope with in the first place, the report states. There is a clear financial incentive for doing so. In the late 1960s, it observes, natural disasters caused some $52 billion in damage; in the 1990s the cost has already reached $479 billion. The cost to the international community of the seven major wars in the 1990s, not including Kosovo, was $199 billion. That was in addition to the costs to the countries actually at war. More effective preventive strategies would save not only tens of billions of dollars, but hundreds of thousands of lives as well.

The report argues that shifting from a culture of reaction to one of prevention is essential for the reduction of the human and economic costs of wars and disasters. It also warns that the transition will not be easy. While the costs of prevention have to be paid in the present, its benefits -– the wars and disasters that did not happen -– lie in the distant future. Moreover, for prevention to succeed, governments must place the welfare of all citizens over narrow sectional interests.

The report notes the major shifts in global conflict patterns in the 1990s with most wars taking place within, rather than between, States, with an overall reduction of some 30 per cent in the number and intensity of armed conflicts after 1992 and with a sharp increase in the number of peace agreements –- three times as many in the 1990s as in the previous decade. This has also been the era of inter- agency “peace-building” efforts by the United Nations, which have been generally successful, and greatly increased resort to international sanctions, where the track record has been ambiguous at best.

The new upsurge of conflict in 1998 was particularly worrying, as was the continued targeting of civilians, including United Nations personnel, the report further notes. The year has also been a difficult one for the United Nations as it sought to fulfil its collective security mandate. This was most obviously the case with respect to Kosovo, where division within the Security Council prevented any United Nations-sanctioned peace-enforcement operation in Kosovo.

On the peacekeeping front, the report states that the United Nations faces major new challenges with the unprecedentedly complex operation in Kosovo, preparations for a new mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, expansion of the mission in Sierra Leone and possible new operations in Ethiopia and Eritrea and East Timor.

In its ongoing efforts to reduce poverty and enhance economic and social development, the United Nations, according to the report, is placing increasing emphasis on cooperation and coordination between the various elements in the United Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions. This is reflected in the establishment of United Nations Houses around the world. More than 50 are already in place or are planned. The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) is playing an increasingly important role in assisting the development goals of national governments. Since 1997 more than 60 countries have initiated common country assessments with the aid of UNDAF.

The report further states that the socio-economic impact of globalization continues to be a major focus of the United Nations, with the issue being intensely debated in a number of Economic and Social Council meetings. One result of these system-wide discussions has been the 1999 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development that will be presented to the General Assembly later this year. The report also draws attention to the costs as well as the benefits of globalization, with specific references to global “uncivil society”, the international drug trade and the dark side of the Internet. It states: “Global demand for particular commodities, such as timber, diamonds and drugs, has provided the funds that have allowed warring factions to sustain fighting over many years. The same Internet that has facilitated the spread of human rights and good governance norms has also been a conduit for propagating intolerance and has diffused information necessary for building weapons of terror”.

In the humanitarian field, the report states, there has been increasing emphasis on the need to improve the environment for humanitarian action in the face of widespread attacks against civilians and, in many cases, United Nations personnel as well. A report dealing specifically with the protection of children in armed conflict will be presented to the Security Council in September, it adds.

The report also refers to the progress that continues to be made towards the establishment of the International Criminal Court, and notes that 84 States have now signed the Rome Statute, which was adopted last year at the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries.

The innovative ways being pursued to get the Organization’s message out and to improve access to its information sources are highlighted. The popularity of the United Nations Web site continues to grow at spectacular rate with usage increasing from 11.5 million “hits” in 1996 to a projected 150 million this year. The report also draws attention to the Organization’s financial situation, which remains critical. It observes that in mid-1999, the United Nations was still owed $2.5 billion. As a result, the Organization has not been able to repay Member States the $900 million owed for peacekeeping.

The report refers to the only self-financing entity of the Organization, the Project Services Office, which provides services for the United Nations agencies and other organizations. New business acquisitions exceeded $1 billion for the first time in 1998. As the United Nations embarks on a new relationship with the private sector the experience and advice of Project Services will be very valuable, it notes.

The Secretary-General observes that a culture of internal oversight, provided by the work of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, has been accepted and strengthened. The number of reports produced by the Office has been increasing each year, with more than 50 per cent being in response to mandates from the Security Council. The Office is also responsible for investigation of violations of United Nations rules and criminal acts perpetrated against the Organization.

Concluding the report’s introduction, the Secretary-General states: “Today, no one disputes that prevention is better, and cheaper, than reacting to crises after the fact. Yet our political and organizational cultures and practices remain oriented far more towards reaction than prevention”. Noting that the transition from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention will not be easy for the reasons outlined in the report, he stresses that the difficulty of the task ahead does not make it any less imperative. “War and natural disasters remain the major threats to the security of individuals and human communities worldwide. Our solemn duty to future generations is to reduce these threats. We know what needs to be done. What is now needed is the foresight and political will to do it.”

Statements

MANUEL TELLO (Mexico) said that the central question of the report of the Secretary-General seemed to be about the parameters for the use of force in the work of the Organization. His country was convinced that the United Nations was the ideal forum to make proposals to achieve solutions. If the Charter of San Francisco did not exist, would it be possible to plan a structure to organize activities in such areas as education, environment, health and finance? Was it not the United Nations that provided a privileged form to structure the definition of a new political concern? he asked.

The use of force was at the centre of the security system developed in 1945, he continued. The type of confrontation the world now faced was domestic conflict, which created challenges to an Organization created to solve conflicts among States. He was convinced that in seeking to settle disputes, efforts must be in conformity with the principles of the Charter and that the use of force, even if motivated by humanitarian reasons, was no solution, but rather the source of great instability.

He said the concept of sovereignty in the context of the relationships between State and individual must be redefined. That reconceptualization would require a change, and the achievement would be difficult. In expressing full support for the report of the Secretary-General, he stressed the need to pay careful attention to the questions regarding the common interest. Member States must embark on a process of finding common ground between human crisis and the capacity of the Organization to respond. The credibility, ethic and moral authority of the United Nations must rest on the principles of legal equality, justice and democracy. Mexico was convinced that dialogue was the best instrument in interrelationship and he called for the launch of consultations between the Member States to carry out corrected thinking on the manner the United Nations could organize response to the questions of the Secretary-General.

HANNS SCHUMACHER (Germany) said the last 12 months had been a most difficult period, with an unusual amount of natural disasters and wars. Therefore, Humanitarian aid, as provided by Germany and many other countries, was not enough. Thus, Germany was fully prepared to make its contribution to developing the culture of prevention, as recommended in the report. He stressed that the task of the United Nations as peacekeeper had quadrupled and peacekeeping was developing into complex peace-building. The crises in the southern Balkans and East Timor had presented a new dimension to the challenge. The United Nations had begun to prove its ability to be able to carry out the task once it was given the necessary funds.

He noted that Germany had begun to contribute troops in its effort to cooperate. In two days, a German general was expected to take over command of the multinational force in Kosovo -- KFOR. Kosovo had undoubtedly challenged the role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security. That crisis had highlighted the fact that the United Nations could only be as strong as its Member States would allow it to be. Therefore, Members needed to pay their dues in full and on time, he stressed.

He said State sovereignty would remain the guiding principle in international relations but non-interference in the face of human rights violations could be detrimental. The reputation of the United Nations would be at stake, if it was no longer seen as the advocate and protector of the United Nations Charter. No State or society could live without constant reform. If the United Nations wished to remain prominent, it had to effect constant reform. In that light, reform of the Security Council had become critical and the success of that reform would depend on the political will and pragmatism of States. He also hoped that during the current General Assembly session work on two legal instruments dealing with international terrorism would be finalized.

ALFONSO VALDIVIESO (Colombia) said during the past year, the United Nations had responded to the humanitarian challenge in ways that had no precedent in the history of the international community and that had been done with resources that could otherwise have been used for development. The United Nations ability to respond had been overwhelmed. The Organization had structural limits that had to be resolved each time there was a demanding humanitarian situation. One way of achieving equilibrium between United Nations limitations and the demands of humanitarian crises was through positive, permanent and committed cooperation with legitimate national governments. As opposed to the method of intervention where United Nations limitations were balanced with direct help from the great powers, his suggestion implied that governments would be interested and willing to participate in the prevention of crises, as well as in their solution.

He said the difficulties that arose when evaluating the work of the Organization in preventing and solving humanitarian crises arose when it was done based on geographical and political considerations. It was understood that the actions of some States with regards to prevention of and solutions to those crises were sometimes conditioned by some political considerations. However, it would be unacceptable to restrict the United Nations to playing only a technical role, and his Government favoured more participation by the Organization in decision-making for humanitarian operations, he stated. The United Nations could be a source of leadership for the development of specific objectives, he concluded.

RICHARD RYAN (Ireland) said the principal challenge facing the United Nations today was how best to respond to the political, human rights and humanitarian crises affecting so much of the world today and how best to devise strategies aimed at anticipating and preventing such crises. While the Organization's instruments for conflict prevention were not new, regrettably they were often ignored or under-utilized. There were concerns that the early warning initiatives constituted an intrusion in the internal affairs of States or were an encroachment on national sovereignty. There was, therefore, a need to allay those concerns. In addition, the international community needed to work out how best to strengthen early warning mechanisms, as the various crises of the past few years had shown that differences still remained in that area. The essential ingredients for an effective early warning strategy should include: information gathered by the Secretary-General from his contacts in the particular region; information and analysis made available to the Secretary-General and other members of the United Nations by international and regional organizations; and information from relevant non-governmental organizations.

Continuing, he said that if as a result of that information it became clear that conflict would ensue in the absence of urgent action, the Security Council, in consultation with the Secretary-General, might consider the dispatch of an urgent mission of Council members to the conflict area for the purpose of reporting on immediate steps that might be taken to prevent the crisis from escalating. There could be little doubt that one of the causes of conflict was chronic under-development, which led to economic marginalization and poverty. In that context, the extent of the debt burden on developing countries must be considered and confronted. A key objective in the consolidation of peace must be to allow the administrative capacity and infrastructure that were damaged during the conflict to be rebuilt in the conversion from peace to war. In the end, the prevention of conflict could best be avoided when all members of society felt included. It was the sense of inclusiveness and participation which offered a means whereby profound differences could be accommodated. Peace, development and human rights were all interrelated and the right balance should be the universal objective of all nations.

MOHAMMAD ABULHASAN (Kuwait) said among strategies in the Secretary- Generals's call for a culture of prevention was the early warning system. However, while there must be measures to confront any international problem, those measures should not contravene State sovereignty or interfere in the internal affairs of a country. The issue of prisoners of war, detainees and third party nationals was very important. The Secretary-General's report had addressed those issues with regard to Iraq's implementation of Security Council resolutions, especially those that called for the release of Kuwaiti prisoners of war and the return of stolen Kuwaiti cultural artifacts. The international community must also be assured that Iraq no longer had the capacity to develop and use weapons of mass destruction.

He said that for nine years Iraq had not respected various demands to settle humanitarian issues. At present there were 605 prisoners of war; 481 of them civilians and 124 military personnel. Seven of those prisoners were women, 124 of them were students and 345 were between the ages of 14 and 30 when they were taken as prisoners. Those statistics showed the suffering that was being inflicted on homes in Kuwait. He was, therefore, asking the international community to pressure Iraq to settle that issue. Kuwait rejected the double standards that existed when confronting humanitarian issues. There was no humanitarian issue of greater importance than that of prisoners of war. The international community must be guided by the need to return Kuwaiti prisoners to their families.

JARGALSAIKHANY ENKHSAIKHAN (Mongolia) said the general debate had demonstrated that the role of the United Nations in reacting to international emergencies should be clearly defined. The question of so-called humanitarian interventions raised many delicate, debatable and pertinent questions. They included State sovereignty, the moral imperative to act forcefully in the face of gross violations of human rights and others. He agreed with the Secretary-General that enforcement actions without Security Council authorization threatened the very core of the international security system founded on the Charter of the United Nations.

The Secretary-General’s report clearly showed the shift in the nature of peacekeeping, which was acquiring a multi-dimensional role, he said. The role of the United Nations and its peacekeeping functions would continue to increase. That was why Mongolia had last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding on standby arrangements, under which it would contribute staff officers, observers and medical officers to future United Nations operations.

The United Nations was only as good as its members, he said. Every nation, big and small alike, had to play its part. Mongolia was trying to play an active role in areas where it could contribute most -– including non-proliferation and confidence-building. Situated between two nuclear powers and having been caught up in the past in their dispute, Mongolia had declared itself nuclear-weapon-free and was working toward institutionalizing that status.

He added that the general debate had also shown that most of the problems that States faced today were concerned in one way or another with “human security”, an issue that was attracting growing attention. The notion of human security was in line with what the Secretary-General had referred to last year as “the holistic approach to security”. It would be useful for the Secretary-General to appoint a group of experts to undertake a comprehensive study of that new concept.

QIN HUASUN (China) said deviation from the principles of respect for State sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs could damage widely accepted norms of international relations, with dangerous consequences. Sovereignty was the last "defence screen" of small and weak countries against foreign bullying. There would be no peace if that screen was broken.

There should be discussions of the new concept of humanitarian intervention in the spirit of the United Nations Charter, he said. China endorsed the Secretary-General's statement, in his report, that only the Charter provided a universally accepted legal basis for the use of force. It also agreed with his view that a rejection of the primacy of the Security Council -- with respect to the maintenance of international peace and security –- would bring into question the very foundations of international law as represented by the Charter.

Globalization had brought severe challenges, together with abundant opportunities, he said. Developing countries, in particular, had suffered its adverse impact and should be helped to benefit from globalization. He commended United Nations work in poverty eradication and hoped it would conduct in-depth discussions of the ominous impact of globalization on poverty elimination. Strategies should be adopted to suit the needs of developing countries. He also hoped United Nations operational activities would make poverty elimination their priority task.

Humanitarian assistance should be handled in accordance with the principles of humanitarianism, neutrality and fairness, he said. For too long humanitarian disasters in Africa had not received active or adequate assistance from the international community. That situation was very worrisome and should be reversed. He recognized and respected the universality of human rights, but believed that the principle should be combined with national conditions and realities. Politicizing the issue and using double standards did not demonstrate real respect for human rights and should not be allowed to continue.

Negative actions in the past year in the field of international security had seriously hindered the healthy development of multilateral arms control and disarmament, he said. The two most salient examples were the development and proliferation of a missile defence system by some countries and the reckless use of advanced missiles against developing countries. He hoped prevention of an arms race in outer space would once again become a pressing issue in the field of multilateral arms control and that substantive work on the subject would begin soon. He would continue to support United Nations role in disarmament, especially in pushing for concrete observance and implementation of existing disarmament treaties.

KISHORE MAHBUBANI (Singapore) said a clear divergence of views had emerged in response to the report. Those who argued for humanitarian intervention where gross violations of human rights had occurred, even if it meant encroaching on the country's sovereignty, had a valid argument, as did those who argued for the preservation of sovereignty. Before the introduction of the United Nations Charter and the concept of sovereignty, the law of the jungle prevailed -- the strong preyed on the weak. Implementation of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention would be a reversal to that principle. Would any developed country allow, either in principle or in practice, humanitarian intervention in its territory? he asked.

The concept itself posed a number of difficulties, he continued. There had been situations where the Security Council had been unable to act when the five permanent members disagreed. Yet, it was clear that many countries were willing to intervene in times of humanitarian disasters or genocide. On the other hand, there had been times when many Member States had been uncomfortable with Security Council decisions. As a solution to the latter, his delegation recommended Security Council reform. While there had been some progress in its transparency and democratic processes, more could still be done.

The General Assembly was a universal body and it was also more transparent, he added. A broader political consensus could be achieved through that body, although its decisions were not binding. Nonetheless, those decisions could be legitimizing and used to build consensus. He further suggested that it might be worthwhile for the Assembly to discuss the balance between quick action and the need for political consensus.

PIER BENEDETTO FRANCESE (Italy) said that the Secretary-General's description of United Nations peacekeeping presented a divided picture. At the same time that the international community was deepening its commitment to world peace, the United Nations was encountering growing limits and difficulties in trying to perform its tasks. Action by the United Nations was often blocked by the threat of vetoes on the Security Council, as well as the reluctance of Member States to place their forces in harm's way.

Prompt and effective action was critical to restoring peace and reducing the number of victims, he continued. Yet, efforts to restore peace were of little worth unless they were accompanied by programmes of assistance that created the foundations for a lasting peace. For that reason, more priority should be given to post-conflict peace-building and more effort should be made to provide the United Nations with qualified police forces able to understand and respect local needs and aid effectively in the restoration of State institutions.

In the area of development cooperation, he enthusiastically supported the call of the Secretary-General to build a culture of prevention strategies that required cooperation across a broad range of different agencies and departments. However, the report attributed a marginal role to the Economic and Social Council and its initiatives, in particular in the areas of poverty eradication, African development and post-conflict peace building. Referring to the report, he said that only passing reference was made to the Economic and Social Council Geneva session of last July and that not a single word was dedicated to the outcome of the session.

Turning to the area of communication, he said he supported any and all efforts of the United Nations Department of Public Information to accelerate the delivery of the United Nations news through the use of the new technologies. Moreover, the United Nations World Television Forum represented a unique opportunity for newsmakers and news-providers alike to join together in a debate over the rights and responsibilities of the media in a global world. In that regard, Italy would again be one of the main sponsors and supporters of the fourth edition of that important Forum in November. In the field of international legal norms rights, he believed that the agreement reached last year in Rome to establish the International Criminal Court was "a watershed in the history of international cooperation".

ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said that devising preventive strategies would require a clear understanding of the underlying causes of conflict. Preventive diplomacy was also complemented by preventive deployment and preventive disarmament. While peacekeeping was an effective tool for conflict prevention, such operations should be carried out only under a transparent political direction, a precise mandate of the United Nations and an effective command and control structure. While this year’s report made reference to the Micro-credit Summit and its goals, it did not have sufficient focus on the impact of micro-credit activities on the eradication of poverty and empowerment of women. The Secretary-General in future reports should highlight the emerging and significant role of micro-credit.

He said that, while drawing the attention of the international community to the transnationalization of the activities of uncivil society side by side with the benefits of globalization, the report did not adequately address the concerns of the developing nations, which were facing the threat of marginalization in the emerging global process. Accountability and oversight should continue. The monitoring of the reform process and resulting improvements in its operations required the close attention of Member States and should be reported upon regularly in a transparent manner.

KAMALESH SHARMA (India) said the primary objectives that should be served through international relations were social progress and better standards of life. His country had always given highest importance to providing humanitarian assistance, in spite of strained resources. India itself, however, had not sought that assistance, but rather had attempted to tackle natural disasters on its own. The problem of bias that arose in providing humanitarian assistance could only be solved when that assistance was perceived as genuinely impartial and neutral, and provided in accordance with the guiding principles enunciated by the General Assembly.

The concept of intervention was in danger of exacerbating conflicts between and within countries, he added. It was possible that it could revive the insecurities of a bygone era, since the developing world consisted of nascent sovereignties. Another danger was that any justification of interference could result in strengthening covert interventionists.

The role of the United Nations should be to promote greater international cohesiveness in international cooperation for development, he stated. Poverty would not be eradicated unless there was a transformation in the global dispensation, which currently failed to promote and preserve the interests of poorer countries. Developing societies could not thrive only on advice. Rather, democracy, rule of law, transparent and accountable governance, respect for human rights, economic growth and development were mutually reinforcing. Also, peacekeeping should not be perceived as a substitute for nation-building.

His Government was disappointed that the Conference on Disarmament could not agree on a programme of work. He strongly agreed with the elimination of all nuclear weapons. His Government had proposed, earlier this year, a phased programme for the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons before the end of the millennium and was disappointed that the United Nations was still more preoccupied with regimes of non-proliferation. With regard to globalization and liberalization, he felt that hasty liberalization could constrain the State by leaving it economically distressed and unable to address its own social agenda, as well as leaving it open to other dangers, as had been recently witnessed.

AKMARAL KH.ARYSTANBEKOVA (Kazakhstan) said States must intensify efforts to build a multipolar world, free from power centres, interference in the internal affairs of others and the imposition of policy directives. The Security Council's responsibility for maintaining international peace and security must be increased and it should also be given sole authority to make decisions on the use of coercive measures on behalf of the international community. Her country supported the Secretary-General's proposal on the building of a culture of prevention and continuing dialogue with Member States on questions of preventive strategy.

On the role of regional organizations in ensuring stability, she said her country was continuing efforts to convene a conference on interaction and confidence-building measures in Asia. The Foreign Ministers of Asian countries had last September signed a declaration of principles guiding their relations. The declaration emphasized the importance of conducting interstate relations on the basis of the principles of sovereign equality, as well as the United Nations Charter and international law. An important step had been taken to create a broad regional forum for strengthening peace, stability and cooperation in Asia. Another example of security cooperation was the joint work of the States comprising the group known as the Shanghai Five –- Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation and Tajikistan. Agreements concluded at their August meeting would contribute to ensuring security and stability in the region.

She attached importance to the concrete steps taken by the United Nations to strengthen cooperation between Member States in combating transnational organized crime. She supported efforts towards strengthening the potential of the United Nations as a coordinating body on that issue. The lessons learned from the global financial crisis demonstrated the urgent need for concerted action to stabilize and revitalize international economic development. Her country welcomed the broadening of dialogue between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions. The United Nations must play an even more important role in solving the problems of sustainable development and coordinating development assistance to developing countries, as well as countries in transition.

DIANA BIVERO (Venezuela) said that it was up to the international community to ensure that disasters that had occurred at the end of the current century did not recur in the new millennium. International disasters required complex international solutions. In compatibility with national sovereignty, the international community should tackle those issues in an arena of international cooperation. One important issue that required international attention was the problem of illicit trans-border activity, particularly drug trafficking. That issue must be tackled as a current priority.

For preventive diplomacy to be effective, she noted, early warning played a crucial role. Her Government also attached particular importance to humanitarian activities and human rights. Today, there was an urgency on the issue, because of the proliferation of internal wars and armed conflicts. Merely reacting to those events did not fulfil the lofty purpose of the United Nations. Although he had focused attention on only one topic of the report, it considered the entire document very important in fulfilling the work of the Organization.

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