ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION IDEALLY PLACED TO PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN SEARCH FOR SOLUTION TO WORLD PROBLEMS

Press Release
GA/SM/115

ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION IDEALLY PLACED TO PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN SEARCH FOR SOLUTION TO WORLD PROBLEMS

Following is the statement made today by Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia), President of the General Assembly, to the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union:

In April 1998, my country, Namibia, hosted the ninety-ninth Inter- Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference in Windhoek where I was privileged to be the guest speaker. That occasion marked the hosting of the first ever IPU Conference in southern Africa. I still believe that the acceptance by parliamentarians from all over the world, to come to Namibia, was a huge vote of confidence in my country and our fledgling democracy.

Today, although I am here in my capacity as President of the fifty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly, I continue to remain Foreign Minister of Namibia and a Member of Parliament. I am thus very much part of you and the IPU. How delighted I am to see my Speaker, Mose Tjitendero, among you and to be able to welcome him to the United Nations.

Let me, first of all, extend a warm word of welcome to the rest of you, fellow Members of Parliament, to the United Nations and express my wish that your brief stay in New York will be a pleasant one. Now our annual meeting of the IPU members in New York, coinciding with the General Assembly session, has become a good tradition. This provides us, parliamentarians, with an opportunity for firsthand briefings from senior United Nations officials on major issues on the agenda of the Organization as well as for exchanging views on the ongoing cooperation between the United Nations and the IPU. This year, and the fifty- fourth United Nations General Assembly session, is no exception in this regard. A relevant resolution will be adopted to further that cooperation.

When we met in Windhoek, I shared my thoughts with the participants on key issues which I felt were of concern to us all. They included the current unipolarity of the world, democratization, challenges of globalization, regional cooperation, poverty eradication, unemployment, the worsening gap between the rich and the poor – industrialized and developing countries – alienation of youth, abuse of children, HIV/AIDS, wars and armed conflict, including landmines, denuclearization, sustainable development, United Nations restructuring and democratization, as well as protection of the environment. All these issues remain relevant and urgent on the international agenda and constitute the business at hand for the United Nations.

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It is in this context of our common pursuit for solutions to these burning issues and challenges that the IPU and the United Nations should continue defining the extent of and enhanced cooperation between them. With its membership and activities transcending members’ political convictions, culture, religion and economics, the IPU is ideally placed for playing a constructive role in our common search towards finding workable solutions to the problems besetting our nations and peoples. Parliaments play a very important role towards ensuring the maintenance of international peace and security, whether through the ratification of treaties, mediatory roles or legislative actions.

We all share a universal desire for world peace and security and are striving to further strengthen international cooperation and brotherhood. The year ahead, ushering in the twenty-first century, is going to be a challenging one for the international community and the United Nations alike. With review conferences coming up on the Fourth World Conference on Women and the World Summit for Social Development, both to be held in June 2000, I am happy to note that the IPU and its member States are providing a parliamentary dimension to and support for the implementation and outcome of the mandates and follow-up actions of those conferences.

It is equally important that the international community fulfil the promises made by world leaders during a series of much-publicized United Nations summits of the past decade. Those summits ignited great expectations and raised the hopes of millions and millions of peoples all over the world for a more secure, peaceful and prosperous world. It is our shared responsibility, rather duty, to see to it that decisions taken and commitments made during those summits result in people- driven public policy and resource allocation for poverty eradication, gender equality and sustainable development.

During this session of the General Assembly, Member States will have to finalize preparations for the Millennium Summit and Millennium Assembly. It is the responsibility of the current President of the General Assembly to spearhead that work and see to it that preparations for those two events are concluded in good time. I welcome the holding of a Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments that will take place in conjunction with the Millennium Assembly.

The work that the IPU is doing in support of the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought, Particularly in Africa -- Namibia being one of them -- is indeed laudable. Parliaments are best placed to promote initiatives and positive actions at the local level and national levels. Similarly, I also welcome the IPU’s support for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and for combating child labour in the context of the Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. I would add here the elimination of the menace of child soldiering in armed conflict situations. I have made the plight of children, in particular children in armed conflict, the theme of my Presidency of the General Assembly.

These global challenges may seem daunting, but with concerted and united action, involving all key actors, in particular the decision makers, like parliamentarians, I am convinced that the international community, with the United

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Nations taking the lead, will be able to find solutions and make the world a better and happier place for all in the twenty-first century.

In conclusion, the United Nations General Assembly is the world’s most prestigious Parliament, now comprising 188 United Nations Member States, from the smallest to the biggest, from the richest to the poorest. It is the world itself.

It is here, in the General Assembly, and nowhere else in the United Nations system, that democracy and equality should always reign supreme. Some Member States boast of military and economic power; others of enormous wealth and highest standards of living for their people; still others of abundant natural resources; a few of them boast of huge populations; and again more of them of virtually unlimited expanse of land mass. There are also those that bring to the table brainpower and wisdom. So, no country is insignificant in furthering the lofty principles and goals of the United Nations Charter.

All of them together represent the global community and more often than not decisions made by Parliaments influence, in a big way, resolutions passed by the United Nations. Hence, the need for the United Nations and the IPU to treasure the ever-growing and fine tradition of cooperation and to keep on strengthening it.

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