ASSEMBLY TAKES NOTE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL"S ANNUAL REPORT ON WORK OF ORGANIZATION

Press Release
GA/9783

ASSEMBLY TAKES NOTE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ANNUAL REPORT ON WORK OF ORGANIZATION

Water was life and the issue of fresh water would become one of the main challenges of the new century, the representative of Tajikistan told the General Assembly this morning, as it concluded its consideration of the Secretary- General's Report on the Work of the Organization.

He said over one billion people did not have access to safe drinking water. The problem arose on all continents, and half of the world’s water resources had already been used up. Water could become a main reason for conflict in the future. Only by working together could the problem be solved. Water must be available at affordable prices to all people.

Also addressing water security, Australia's representative said the issue was worthy of attention at several levels, not only because of potential disputes and conflict as a result of competition for water resources, but also because freshwater availability was a significant development issue. There had been a 37 per cent decline in per capita terms in global availability of freshwater since 1970, as population growth and degradation of water supplies had outstripped capacity to develop new sources. The proposal for an International Year of Freshwater and the quest for practical means of pursuing the Millennium Summit target of halving the proportion of people with no access to safe drinking water must be considered under the rubric of development and humanitarian assistance.

Development and poverty eradication were equally daunting tasks, the representative of Pakistan said. It was clear that the existing international financial and trade architecture had failed to meet those challenges. The fact that the number of people worldwide living in abject poverty had increased was a clear signal of the imbalances and bias in the current global financial and trading system. In addition, official development assistance had progressively declined, he added.

Speaking on the United Nations peacekeeping and peace-building operations in Kosovo, Albania's representative said United Nations bodies must increase their efforts and cooperation with the international community to prepare normal living conditions for the return of more than 200,000 refugees presently living in different European countries. Furthermore, the troubling situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and potential further influxes of refugees required that humanitarian agencies developed emergency plans to deal with any possible humanitarian consequences. He hoped that the recent presidential and

General Assembly Plenary - 1a - Press Release GA/9783 31st Meeting (AM) 28 September 2000

parliamentary elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would bring an end to the Milosevic regime, and open up new understanding among the Balkan countries.

At the conclusion of its debate on the subject, the Assembly decided to take note of the Secretary-General's report.

In other action, the Assembly, on a recommendation of its General Committee, decided to include in its agenda an item called “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Community of Central African States”, and to consider that item directly in the plenary.

In further action, the Assembly decided to consider its agenda item titled “Crime prevention and criminal justice”, directly in plenary, for the sole purpose of taking action on the draft United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its draft protocols.

The representatives of the Republic of Moldova, Iraq, Iran, Jamaica, United Republic of Tanzania, Bangladesh, Indonesia, New Zealand, Namibia, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan and Oman also spoke.

The Assembly will meet again on a date to be announced in the Journal.

General Assembly Plenary - 3 - Press Release GA/9783 31st Meeting (AM) 28 September 2000

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this morning to conclude its consideration of the Secretary-General's report on the work of the Organization. The Assembly was also expected to take up the second report of the Assembly's General Committee (document A/55/250/Add.1) on the Organization of the fifty-fifth regular session of the General Assembly.

According to that report, the General Committee recommended an item entitled "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Community of Central African States" be included in the agenda and considered directly in plenary. The Committee also decided to recommend to the Assembly that agenda item 105, entitled "Crime prevention and criminal justice", be considered directly in plenary for the sole purpose of taking action on the draft United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the draft protocols thereto.

Statements

ION BOTNARU (Republic of Moldova) welcomed the Secretary-General's report for its emphasis on the issues of peace and security. The numerous internal conflicts that have broken out resulted in efforts by the international community to bring peace and stability in those areas, but with rather mixed success. Some even showed a distressing tendency to unravel. The Republic of Moldova was affected by a long-running internal conflict and had always been very sensitive to issues involved in preventing or solving conflicts. Therefore, he supported the Secretary-General's proposals and approaches to prevent and stop armed conflicts, and to keep and build sustainable peace in those areas.

The Secretary-General's convening of the Brahimi Panel on United Nations Peace Operations should be commended, as well as his commitment to implement its key recommendations, he said. Experience of recent years had shown that the United Nations capacity to meet an expanding and increasingly complex range of peacekeeping demands requires significant improvement. The Department of Peacekeeping Operations must be strengthened and reformed. In the area of conflict prevention, the Organization's capacity to identify and respond to conflict situations was enhanced by the establishment of a prevention team within the Department of Political Affairs. Successful preventive strategies must reach all communities that were experiencing emergencies.

He closed by noting that the United Nations needed to be re-focused, in order to increase its effectiveness in this globalizing era. Globalization was a great historic shift, offering an unparalleled opportunity to bring about a huge advancement in human development. But, as the Secretary-General pointed out, there were risks because globalization created losers as well as winners. The challenge was to manage globalization equitably and sustainably. The Republic of Moldova welcomed the Organization's dialogue with the private sector and civil organizations. Those new partnerships enhanced the capacity of the United Nations to assist developing countries to share the benefits of globalization.

MOHAMMED AL-HUMAIMIDI (Iraq) said the Secretary-General’s report covered the increasing activities of the United Nations in a world where events were developing very rapidly and touched upon many important topics. Focusing on the topic of sanctions, he welcomed the Secretary-General’s conclusion that recent years had witnessed increasing doubt about the effectiveness of sanctions, and increasing concern about the suffering of a country’s civilian population. That conclusion called upon the international community to reflect on the system of sanctions. The comprehensive sanctions on Iraq were entering their eleventh year and, by any standards, were a punishment that had lead to the death of 1.5 million Iraqi, including some 500,000 children. The sanctions had also destroyed the social texture of Iraq.

He said that, according to a working paper adopted by the subcommittee of Protection and Promotion of Human Rights at its fifty-second session in Geneva from 31 July to 18 August, the comprehensive sanctions against Iraq breached international humanitarian laws and human rights laws. Despite increasing demands by the international community, the United States and the United Kingdom insisted on maintaining those sanctions as part of a plan to destabilize the region, to impose hegemony on its peoples’ destiny and to steal their wealth. The United States had declared its intention to use the veto in the Security Council if there was action to lift the sanctions. The sanctions had gone beyond the principles and goals of the Charter and had become a cover for a policy of genocide.

In his report, the Secretary-General spoke about achieving peace and security and of the change in threats to peace after the cold war, he said. However, individual States still used armed force against other States, as was the case in aggression towards Yugoslavia and Iraq. Iraq was daily attacked by United States and United Kingdom planes, which took off from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. That aggression had no base in relevant resolutions of the Security Council. He called upon the United Nations to put an end to that aggression, and to make those responsible accountable for it. He joined those countries who thought the idea of humanitarian intervention was in contradiction with international law, the Charter and principles of sovereignty, regional integrity, territorial integrity and non- intervention. Human rights should not be used as a political tool to intervene in the internal affairs of States.

HADI NEJAD HOSSEINIAN (Iran) said that there was a pressing need for, as well as precious opportunity to articulate, a more effective and efficient role for the United Nations in conflict management. More and better-equipped troops, adequate resources, appropriate mandate, preparedness for worst case scenarios, and coordinated and joint action by Member States and the Secretariat were needed. In the context of conflict resolution, it was worth recalling that religion could help to combat the hatred and persecution which continued to fuel so many conflicts. He endorsed the Secretary-General’s remark at the Millennium Summit, in which he invited religious leaders to promote justice, equality, reconciliation and peace.

Globalization was gaining currency as the prevailing conceptual framework within which a considerable portion of recent international developments, as well as interdependencies, were interpreted. Globalization could improve the overall performance of developing countries’ economies by opening up market opportunities for their exports, promoting the transfer of technology and increasing the financial resources available for investment. However, international cooperation was the only way to harness the power of globalization to a vision of a good life for all.

The eradication of poverty lay at the heart of all endeavours for development, he said. The outcomes of major United Nations conferences had set targets for the international community to halve poverty by 2015. Translation of these commitments to effective actions needed coherence and coordinated action by all relevant bodies within the United Nations system. Aid alone could not and would not eradicate poverty. Rather, active participation of developing countries in the international economy and their integration into the international financial and trade system, and market access, were imperative for successful policies for poverty eradication.

M. PATRICIA DURRANT (Jamaica) focused on the phenomenon of globalization, which had resulted in extraordinary improvements in the lives of many, but presented challenges such as the growing digital divide between the North and South and increasing levels of poverty, deprivation and social inequality. These challenges required the most urgent attention of the United Nations, and Jamaica took note of the attention given in the Secretary-General’s report to issues relating to the delivery of humanitarian services, social development and the advancement of women, human rights, and the problem of HIV/AIDS.

On the problems of peacekeeping, peace-building, and long-term development, it was clear that peace operations no longer involved merely separating warring parties and monitoring ceasefire agreements, she said. Peace operations, as the Secretary-General noted, were complex undertakings involving disarmament, demobilization of combatants, monitoring of human rights, and institutional and legal reforms. The recommendations in the Brahimi Report on United Nations peace operations were relevant; especially the need for stronger political and financial support, rapid deployment standards and improved technical support. She stated that her Government supported the Secretary-General’s call for a “Culture of Prevention” and asked the international community to convert the fruits of dialogue on conflict prevention into an effective course of action for the twenty- first century.

Jamaica took note of the annual observance of Staff Day on 25 September 2000, she said. Regrettably, there was a sad reminder that, over the past year, some 65 peacekeepers and civilian staff had lost their lives while discharging their duties. She expressed profound concern at continued attacks against humanitarian workers and recalled the recent brutal killing of United Nations staff in West Timor. The constant dangers faced by field personnel highlighted the urgency with which the issue of safety and security of humanitarian personnel must be addressed. The international community should, as a matter of priority, strengthen international humanitarian and human rights standards. The Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel was an important contribution to the legal regime for the protection of humanitarian workers.

DAUDI N. MWAKAWAGO (United Republic of Tanzania), said that what Africa needed now was concrete commitments for a new partnership. It behoved the United Nations and the Secretary-General to draw to the attention of world public opinion the new challenge of helping Africa equip itself to compete in the global economy. The Organization should also give momentum to consideration of issues impeding Africa’s competitiveness. Those included poor resource flows, access to markets, debt relief, technology transfer and fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Concerning the debt problem, more needed to be done to enable more countries to qualify for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative.

The Secretary-General raised key questions concerning the complexities of preventing and resolving conflicts, he said. But some of the conflicts were only complicated by the Organization’s own sense of limitations. His country was conscious of the need to protect peacekeepers in the field. Recent tragedies in Sierra Leone were a grim reminder of the risks confronting participants in peacekeeping operations. But no two situations were alike. Unlike Sierra Leone, all the parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been calling for the deployment of a United Nations force in the territory. He appealed for a reassessment of the decision made on the deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Secretary-General had started an important undertaking in calling for the reaffirmation of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as the universal foundation of refugee protection, he said. The scope of the refugee problem must be reevaluated. For example, while the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) figures on refugees in Tanzania were close to half a million, the actual number residing in the country was close to a million. Furthermore, Tanzania continued to be one of the countries suffering the spillover effect of the instabilities in the Great Lakes region. He appealed for more assistance for refugees as well as to host countries.

ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said that the Secretary-General’s report identified issues that had the potential to challenge the international community in the coming years. Both substantive issues and issues of institutional reforms received appropriate balanced attention. Both aspects required the full and thorough consideration of Member States to be effective and efficient. His country believed that the Secretary-General was correct in describing many peace missions as being charged with nothing less than helping rebuild shattered societies, almost from scratch.

Bangladesh believed that peacekeeping was an effective tool for conflict prevention and that peacekeeping operations should be carried out only under transparent political direction -- a precise mandate from the United Nations -- and an effective command and control structure, he said. There was a shift from a culture of reaction to one of prevention, which would be highly cost-effective, both in human and financial terms. He was encouraged by the creation of a prevention team by the Department of Political Affairs.

He welcomed the attention that the Secretary-General gave to natural disasters, which posed serious challenges to the United Nations. The development mandate of the Organization had special significance for Bangladesh, especially the Secretary-General’s goal of eliminating poverty worldwide. The need to bridge the digital divide should help narrow the gap between rich and poor. The attention the Secretary-General gave to accountability and oversight was welcome and should continue, as should the monitoring of the reform process and resulting improvements in operations. The international community was alerted to human rights imperatives and initiatives, and Bangladesh hoped for more activities related to the culture of peace, particularly linking it to ongoing initiatives involving civil society as a whole.

RASHID ALIMOV (Tajikistan) said the Secretary-General’s report covered a great breadth of problems facing the Organization, and offered his vision of cooperation between the entire membership of the international community in order to improve the life of those people who live on hope alone. The Millennium Summit was unprecedented in the scope of its representation and confirmed that the United Nations would remain the main focus for settling international problems in the coming century. Since joining the United Nations, Tajikistan had given priority to strengthening the Organization’s stabilizing role, so it could react appropriately to what was happening in the world.

He said there was no other issue that required more attention than attainment of peace and security. The complex crises of the last decade required analysis of the current mechanisms available to the United Nations. The Brahimi report provided realistic assessments and recommendations with which Tajikistan agreed. Strengthening of peacekeeping operations must be based on full respect for the territorial integrity of countries. The settlement of the crisis in Tajikistan was a clear example of the United Nations potential for settling crises and underlined the importance of preventive diplomacy. Trafficking of weapons and drugs often fed conflicts. The scope and transborder nature of the drug threat from Afghanistan was so serious that no State could fight it alone.

He called attention to one of the problems not sufficiently addressed in the report, namely the issue of fresh water. Water was life and would become one of the main challenges facing the new century. Over a billion people did not have access to safe drinking water. The problem came up in all continents. Half of the world’s water resources had already been used up. Water could become a main reason for conflict in the future. Only by working together could the problem be solved. Water must be available at affordable prices to all people, he said.

MAKARIM WIBISONO (Indonesia) said that peacekeeping and peacemaking had become more complex and demanding and the Brahimi report warranted serious consideration. While all aspects of United Nations activities had faced financial constraints, none had been so severely affected as peacekeeping. Funding was inadequate and the heaviest burden was placed on developing countries. Equally important, peacekeeping should be non-intrusive and non-interventionist in nature. In Indonesia’s point of view, humanitarian assistance could only be rendered by the United Nations following a request from the State concerned or, at least, with its approval. To do otherwise would threaten the very foundations of the United Nations.

He believed that global and regional approaches to disarmament should be pursued simultaneously, he said. The real causes of stalemate were the untenable approaches adopted by some countries in the post-cold war era. The challenge today, and for the future, was to ensure full implementation of all provisions of all treaties by all of the States parties. The question of illicit traffic in small arms had acquired urgency as civilians had become targets. The linkage of children to violence was due partly to the availability of those arms. The forthcoming conference on that question could only be successful if the international community looked at the root causes of the problem.

Humanitarian assistance should be considered in a balanced way, he continued. Indonesia agreed with the Secretary-General’s view that an international response to the situation of internally displaced persons should be designed in collaboration with the governments of each country. Humanitarian responsibilities lay primarily with the government concerned and the international community should respect State sovereignty. Indonesia had always been committed to strengthening its national human rights mechanisms. It was important to note that what was required was the optimal use of existing human rights bodies, by reviewing their procedures with a view to avoiding unnecessary overlapping of activities.

MICHAEL FOWLES (New Zealand) said that, in his report, the Secretary-General had noted that many questions surrounding humanitarian intervention and national sovereignty remained unanswered. There was some polarization among the membership which must be put aside if the Organization was to move forward. He saw no inherent contradiction between intervention and national sovereignty in terms of the United Nations Charter. According to the Charter’s Article 2.7, there were circumstances where Member States did not have exclusive jurisdiction over their domestic affairs. The Charter provided that measures to preserve international peace and security could override State sovereignty.

If there was new ground to be broken in order to improve the Organization’s ability to respond more effectively, it probably lay, in part, in the domain of the Security Council, which had the task of determining threats to the peace or breaches of it, he said. The main impediment to the Council’s taking concerted action to try to end massive human rights abuses -- including recently, in the cases of Rwanda and Kosovo -- had been shown to lie in its decision-making processes. By use of the veto, the will of the wider membership of the Organization could be continually frustrated. The veto was omnipresent in negotiations in the Council, even if it was less frequently deployed formally these days, he said.

As to developments in the South Pacific region, where the United Nations had become more involved recently, he paid tribute to the fine work being done by the United Nations Political Office, which comprised just three substantive staff, in helping to further the Bougainville peace process. The Secretary-General had made the point that sustainable peace and prosperity could only be assured in Fiji if the aspirations of all Fiji islanders, regardless of race, were taken into account and if all its citizens could play a “meaningful role in the political and economic life of the country”. New Zealand and Australia were working with the Solomon Islands Government to lay the ground for peace talks among the ethnic factions. He expressed support for the Secretary-General’s observation that future sanctions regimes should be designed for maximizing pressure on the target while minimizing the effect on the innocent.

SHAMSHAD AHMAD (Pakistan) said the two main themes that pervaded discussion during the Millennium Summit were peace and security, and development and poverty eradication. Both constituted the two central challenges to the United Nations in the new millennium. He continued, “Durable peace cannot flourish in the absence of sustainable development. Development is unsustainable in the absence of peace.” The Secretary-General’s call for a shift from a culture of reaction to one of prevention required a commitment that must be translated into action. In addition, the Security Council must act in a uniform manner in accordance with the relevant provisions of the United Nations Charter; there must be no selectivity.

In his discussion of the dilemma of intervention, the Secretary-General reminded the international community of the tragedies of Rwanda and Srebrenica. The General Assembly and the Security Council must strengthen the Organization’s capacity to effectively prevent crimes against humanity. Countries that were guilty of systematic and gross violation of human rights and international humanitarian law must not go unpunished, he added. His Government referred to the suppression of the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people by India. The United Nations must fulfil its promise to Kashmir, as consecrated in Security Council resolutions. The credibility and effectiveness of the United Nations system was at stake, as well as peace and security in South Asia, which today was the most volatile region in the world.

Development and poverty eradication were equally daunting, and required the strengthening of international cooperation for the promotion of sustainable development. Globalization had taken place, but not without negative consequences, notably the widening of the economic divide between the North and the South and the deepening of the gap between rich and poor. It was clear that the existing international financial and trade architecture had failed to meet the challenges of development and poverty eradication. The fact that the number of people worldwide living in abject poverty had increased was a clear signal of the imbalances and bias in the current global financial and trading system. In addition, official development assistance had progressively declined, and developing countries continued to be heavily burdened by external debt, which mitigated against efforts to achieve sustainable development.

MARTIN ANDJABA (Namibia), said that HIV/AIDS was a serious development crisis. The AIDS pandemic represented a real threat to the peace and security of the African continent. Given the magnitude of the crisis, he believed it was only proper that the General Assembly properly address the crisis and urgently adopt concrete action to tackle the scourge. Time was long overdue for that august body to deal with the matter and to set exact dates for the forthcoming Special Session on the subject. It was also important that the preparatory process and the Special Session should be inclusive.

His country appreciated the succinct presentation on the subject of development and poverty eradication in the Secretary-General’s report, he said. Namibia maintained that there was an urgent need to review and redesign the basic paradigm of globalization itself. He would like to see a closer link established between the commitments of the Millennium Declaration and the upcoming High-Level Event on Financing for Development. The Event must fully take into account the needs of all developing countries. Furthermore, it should present the opportunity to have a fresh look at the recommendations and commitments of all major United Nations Conferences of the past decade.

International peace and security remained elusive, he said, especially on the African continent. His delegation joined others in calling for the early consideration of the Brahimi report. Namibia also shared the concerns of the Secretary-General expressed in paragraphs 31 through 37 of the Report on the work of the Organization. However, as the Foreign Minister of Namibia had already stated, Namibia remained unconvinced and would continue to oppose any form of unilateral humanitarian intervention outside the Charter. His country noted the initiative of Canada for the establishment of an independent commission on humanitarian intervention, yet maintained that the General Assembly itself should remain seized of this issue until a satisfactory outcome was reached.

DAVID STUART (Australia) said the elimination of poverty was the United Nations most important development goal. The target of reducing the number of people living on or below the level of one dollar a day from 1-2 billion in 600 million was a daunting task. However, one should not be deterred, as the experience of several East Asian countries had shown that strong economic growth over a generation could have a major impact on poverty levels. The report, however, was rather thin on specific suggestions for action. One of the tasks for this session of the Assembly was to identify what more the United Nations could do to promote the levels of economic growth that could generate such a significant fall in levels of poverty, including by considering how to encourage the removal of constraints to growth in developing countries.

Those constraints were both internal and external, he said. Externally, there was a need for an equitable, rules-based system for international trade and financing. Increased and fairer access to markets and removal of trade barriers and export subsidies would provide a major impetus to growth. One of the most important internal constraints to growth was the impact that national policies and institutions had on development. The United Nations and its agencies had a role to play in helping to strengthen good governance as an element of sustainable and equitable development. At the same time, it should be recognized that political will and decision-making at the national level were vital ingredients in developing policies and ordering priorities for economic and social development, including in response to the opportunities and challenges of technological change.

Another issue that must be considered under the rubric of development and humanitarian assistance was water security, including the proposal for an International Year of Freshwater and the quest for practical means of pursuing the Millennium Summit target of halving the proportion of people with no access to safe drinking water. The issue was worthy of attention at several levels, not only because of potential disputes and conflict over competition for water resources, but also because freshwater availability was a significant development issue, given a 37 per cent decline in per capita terms in global availability of freshwater since 1970, as population growth and degradation of water supplies had outstripped capacity to develop new sources.

O. ENKHTSETSEG (Mongolia) said the implementation of the Millennium Declaration required the further pursuit of the reform of the United Nations, including restoration of the General Assembly's important role as envisaged in the Charter, reform of the Security Council, enhancement of the role of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and better coordination of United Nations activities with international economic and financial institutions. Reform of the Organization was a continuing process, which was yielding results in some areas, she said. The reform of the Security Council had, however, not brought Member States closer to resolving one of the main issues -- the expansion of the Council to reflect present-day realities and increase its effectiveness. The number of its permanent and non-permanent members should be increased to make it more representative, and also to enable a growing number of Member States to contribute to the Council's work. The right of veto should be considerably curtailed, she said.

Welcoming the Brahimi report on United Nations peacekeeping, she said its forthright recommendations for change deserved serious consideration and specific action by the current session of the General Assembly. Mongolia had signed the Department of Peacekeeping Operations Memorandum of Understanding and now had personnel who were trained for peacekeeping activities. Furthermore, a special platoon of its armed forces had recently successfully participated in a United Nations-supported peacekeeping exercise in Central Asia.

Mongolia supported the Secretary-General's proposal to convene an international conference on identifying ways to eliminate nuclear dangers, she said. It hoped the timely proposal would be seriously considered during the current session of the Assembly. Mongolia also believed that pending the conclusion of a fissile materials cut-off treaty, the United Nations could establish a register for all stocks of weapons-grade fissile material. That would also help establish an important balance with the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, he said. As part of the worldwide effort to promote the goals of the United Nations Charter and to ensure their attainment, he said Mongolia was trying to turn its vast territory into a nuclear-weapons-free area. It had undertaken a series of consultations with the five nuclear-weapon States of the Security Council on institutionalizing Mongolia's international security and nuclear-weapons-free status. As a result of the consultations, it was expected that those powers would soon make a joint statement providing nuclear security assurances to Mongolia, she said.

SUN JOUN-YUNG (Republic of Korea) said that the international community had recently witnessed a resurgence of United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world. The complexity of recent crisis situations required peacekeeping operations to expand their scope beyond the traditional realm of peacekeeping. Peacekeeping and peace-building had to become inseparably linked. His country welcomed the Brahimi report, but the budgetary implications should be taken into account. The decision-making process of the Security Council should become more transparent and countries contributing with troops or other important means should be given the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process.

It was common knowledge, he said, that globalization presented tremendous potential for economic growth and poverty eradication. Information technology had facilitated that. The United Nations continued to take the lead in building the “digital bridge”, enabling developing countries to join the information technology revolution, but more concerted action was required at the national, regional and international level. Genuine partnership with major development stakeholders, such as the Bretton Woods institutions and the private sector, was increasingly important. His delegation supported the Secretary-General's Global Compact initiative proposed last year.

He then turned to the successful outcome of the two Special Sessions to review and appraise the implementation of the Copenhagen and Beijing commitments for the realization of a “Society for All”. Through these sessions, the international community’s commitment to development was reaffirmed. For development to be sustainable, he said, it must be carried out with a genuine respect for democracy and human rights. In this regard, he welcomed the resolution on the role of good governance in the promotion of human rights adopted by the Commission on Human Rights last April.

ARNOLDO LISTRE (Argentina) said that, in the last year, the outbreak of new conflicts had been witnessed. Wars, extreme poverty, disasters –- natural or man- made -– and the AIDS pandemic symbolized the terrible suffering being endured. There was an ever more clear link between conflict and poverty. Ranks had to be closed, in a spirit of solidarity, by providing the means necessary for just and sustainable development for all humankind. The Secretary-General had challenged the United Nations to consider limits on sovereignty in the face of serious human rights violations. The principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States was the basic principle for inter-State relations, but the principle of non-indifference must be added to that. According to the latter principal, those who committed crimes against humanity could not go unpunished. He welcomed the creation of an International Criminal Court and the international tribunals for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, which marked important advances on the route to peace, national reconciliation and justice.

United Nations officials and humanitarian personnel were continuing to suffer from serious assaults, he said, and he paid tribute to those who most recently had lost their lives. He supported the notion that the Security Council must be made more democratic, transparent and effective. Expansion of membership must be done only through expansion of the number of non-permanent members. The resonance amongst Member States that the Brahimi report on peacekeeping operations enjoyed was a recognition of the importance of peacekeeping. The moment must be seized to implement the report’s recommendations. Implementation hinged on the political will of Members States, which must provide to the Organization the necessary financial resources for it, he said.

Regarding effort by the United Nations to alleviate suffering caused by humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters and armed conflicts, he said the Organization was impeded system-wide by financial and political factors. The decline in contributions to appeals was alarming. He supported the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, regarding refugees and internally displaced persons. The international community must support affected States to enable them to provide their internally displaced citizens with basic services and create the conditions that would allow them to return to their homes in safety. He welcomed the resolution on good governance recently adopted by the Committee on Human Rights. Transparent government was a guarantee of respect for human rights, he said.

FELIPE PAOLILLO (Uruguay) stated that whenever the United Nations had failed, it had not failed for lack of means or because of constitutional deficiencies, but rather because of the failure of human management to respond effectively to the crisis. Missteps required the determination of means to remedy them, just as a lack of political will must be overcome with political will. When the Secretary-General spoke about the dilemma of intervention, it was clear that that dilemma could not be solved by unilateral actions by States acting outside of the United Nations. The problem of responsibility for massive violations of human rights required all countries to act on behalf of us all.

In the past, he observed, well-intentioned interventions often generated more problems than they solved. Uruguay might be able to support humanitarian intervention in extreme cases, but it felt that such action must not be institutionalized, nor recognized as an instrument for putting an end to the commission of international crimes. He believed that the Brahimi report could not have come at a better time, because it provided a profound analysis of peacekeeping operations, revealing their deficiencies and their shortcomings. He hoped that its recommendations would be translated into immediate action.

Preventive action was a very important part of peacekeeping, he said. Information and coordination mechanisms with other international organizations must be developed and strengthened to ensure a high level of professionalism, as well as to discern threats to world peace. The formation of a prevention team in the Department of Political Affairs was an important step. United Nations cooperation with regional organizations, which remained difficult due to organizational and practical problems, must be improved because relations with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) could be very useful, as they were more familiar with the realities of conflicts in their regions. Institutional instruments to ensure peace and security must be adapted to promote a multilateral approach, since cooperation between States was becoming more necessary than ever.

DUMISANI S. KUMALO (South Africa) said that, following the Millennium Summit, it was no longer possible to address questions of peace and security, globalization, and poverty eradication in isolation from each other. The work of the United Nations in the twenty-first century would have to be about getting closer to the lives of the people the Organization served. There could no longer be decisions taken that were not people-centred in their approach. Africans had defined the broad objectives of the African renaissance as the establishment of democratic political systems -- making sure that those systems took account of African specifics, and establishing institutions and procedures which enabled the continent to deal collectively with questions of democracy, peace and stability. It also meant achieving sustainable development , qualitatively changing Africa's place in the global economy, ensuring full emancipation of women, and successfully confronting the scourge of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The renaissance was about protecting Africa's environment and ensuring the sustainable use of its natural resources.

One of the cornerstones of the objective of striving for socio-economic development, democratization and good governance was to achieve security and stability on the continent, he said. This could not be done without combating the proliferation and the excessive accumulation of conventional arms and their illicit trafficking. South Africa welcomed the reference to the question in the Millennium Declaration and hoped the 2001 Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects would offer another opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its commitment on those issues. Welcoming the Brahimi report on United Nations peace operations, he said his delegation hoped the important issue of humanitarian intervention would be discussed during the current session of the General Assembly.

On the question of the United Nations scales of assessment, he said South Africa looked forward to being moved from Category B to Category C for the peacekeeping scale. It counted on the support of Member States in that matter, while thanking those that had committed themselves to helping South Africa achieve that goal. He also reaffirmed that South Africa would be honoured to host the 2002 Earth Summit, which should reinvigorate the global community's support for sustainable development and full implementation of Agenda 21, which was adopted at the 1992 Rio Conference.

AGIM NESHO (Albania) spoke on United Nations peacekeeping and peace-building operations in Kosovo. Albania had welcomed and supported the work of United Nations Mission there, and considered that it had brought positive changes to Kosovo in the fields of administration, humanitarian assistance and the building of democratic institutions. He also applauded the activity of the international military presence, KFOR, and of the civilian police in Kosovo. They had created a safe and secure environment for the people of Kosovo, and for the international presence there.

It was important that United Nations bodies increased their efforts and their cooperation with the international community to prepare normal living conditions for the return of more than 200,000 refugees who were presently living in different European countries. Furthermore, the troubling situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the potential for further influxes of refugees, required humanitarian agencies to have emergency plans prepared to deal with potential humanitarian crises.

Albania supported a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo and had condemned acts of violence, he said. However, it should not be forgotten that at the roots of such violence were the Serb genocide and ethnic cleansing committed against the Kosovar Albanians. In that genocide, thousands of Albanians were killed. The Kosovar Albanians wanted a peaceful and democratic Kosovo, while the Milosevic regime was continuously trying to destabilize the situation by generating violence inside Kosovo and jeopardizing the United Nations Mission in Kosovo’s objectives. He hoped that the recent presidential and parliamentary elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would bring an end to the Milosevic regime, and open up a new understanding among the Balkan countries.

ELMIRA IBRAIMOVA (Kyrgyzstan) said her country faced drug-trafficking problems that might severely undermine its national security. Seventy-five percent of drug addicts were young people under 30 years old, according to World Health Organization (WHO) experts in the country. She expressed her Government's gratitude to the United Nations Drug Control Programme for its close collaboration in combating drug trafficking. Kyrgyzstan would support and contribute to the strengthening of global consensus on combating international terrorism and drug trafficking. It supported the proposal for an international conference in 2001 on small arms proliferation.

Kyrgyzstan anticipated a positive outcome of the preparations for the “Rio + 10” Conference in 2002, which would provide an important opportunity for assessing the status of the progress achieved to meet the goals established by the Earth Summit in 1992. That Conference had adopted a comprehensive plan for global action in all areas of sustainable development. Noting that 2002 had also been set aside for the observance of the International Year of Mountains, she expressed gratitude to the Secretary-General for his report on the preparations for the event. Kyrgyzstan appreciated the work already undertaken to achieve sustainable development of mountains by States and organizations of the United Nations system, particularly the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Kyrgyzstan encouraged all States and United Nations system bodies to take advantage of the International Year of Mountains to ensure the present and future well-being of mountain communities by promoting conservation and sustainable development in mountainous areas, and increasing awareness of and knowledge of mountain ecosystems. She said her country planned to submit a draft resolution on the issue to the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and appealed for co- sponsorship and support.

FUAD MUBARAK AL-HINAI (Oman) said that the Secretary-General was right when he pointed out that there would be strong reactions by Member States to the issue of humanitarian intervention. He emphasized that the focus of the Organization must remain within the mandates specified by the United Nations Charter. Sanctions regimes had also received great attention. They had become a weapon that had harmed the basic rights of societies. That contradicted the letter and spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His country endorsed the call on the Security Council to adopt new policies and effective mechanisms to relieve the suffering they caused to States and people.

The greatest challenge facing the Organization today was the maintenance of international peace and security, he said. In this regard, his country commended the Brahimi report. He could not but emphasize the need for consensus on this issue, and the need to avoid stretching the capabilities of the Organization beyond its intended capacity -- to the point where it might become party to conflicts. The reform of the United Nations and its organs remained a lofty goal, and the membership of the Security Council should be reviewed. The Council should be made more representative and made to better reflect the changes that had occurred in the world since 1945.

He said that while globalization brought benefits to certain societies in the developed world, it had a negative impact on the developing world. The international community must take into account the concerns of developing countries, with the aim of narrowing the economic and technological gap. In the same vein, his country supported the Secretary-General’s call to tackle the challenges that were facing Africa and the least developed countries. The international community should not spare any effort to help African countries and the least developed to face these challenges, and those efforts should include -- among others -- relief from debt.

Action

The Assembly then decided to take note of the Secretary-General’s report on the work of the Organization.

It also decided to include in the agenda of its current session an item entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Community of Central African States” and further decided to consider the item directly in plenary.

The Assembly also decided to consider item 105 of the agenda, entitled “Crime prevention and criminal justice”, directly in plenary meeting for the sole purpose of taking action on the draft United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the draft protocols thereto.

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