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Security Council

PROVISIONAL

S/PV.3046

31 January 1992

ENGLISH

PROVISIONAL VERBATIM RECORD OF THE THREE THOUSAND AND

FORTY-SIXTH MEETING

Held at Headquarters, New York,

on Friday, 31 January 1992, at 10.30

a.m.

President:

Mr. MAJOR

,J

Members:

Austria

Belgium

Cape Verde

China

Ecuador

France

Hungary

India

Japan

Morocco

Russian Federation

United States

Venezuela

Zimbabwe

(United Kingdom of

Great

Britain and Northern

Ireland)

Mr. VRANITZKY

Mr. MARTENS

Mr. VEIGA

Mr. LI Peng

President BORJA

President MITTERRAND

Mr. JESZENSZKY

Mr. RAO

Mr. MTYAZAWA

King HASSAN II

President YELTSIN

President BUSH

President PEREZ

Mr. SHAMUYARIRA

This record contains the original text of speeches delivered in English

and interpretations of speeches in the other languages. The final text will

be printed in the Official Records of the Securitv Council.

Corrections should be submitted to original speeches only. They should

be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned, within

one week,

to the Chief, Official Records Editing Section, Department of

Conference Services,

room DC2-750, 2 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in

a copy of the record.

92-60198 8295-96V (E)

8, :

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Z?V.3046

2

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The meetino was called to order at 10.45 a.m.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

The asenda was adopted.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL IN THE MAINTENANCE OF INTERNATIONAL

PEACE AND SECURITY

The PRESIDENT: The Security Council will now begin its

consideration of the item on its agenda.

With the permission of my colleagues, I shall make a brief introductory

statement to our meeting today.

This is a unique meeting. We are meeting at

a

time

of momentous change. Just a year ago,

the Council met the challenge of

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and the Council did that with great success. But

today we face new challenges, and to set a new course in tackling them, it is

right,

I believe, that we should

meet

for the first

time

ever at the level of

Heads of State or Government. Today, we must show that the Security Council

is working with a common purpose.

I welcome very much the presence today of so many Heads of State or

Government. It is proof of the importance we all attach to the United Nations

and of our commitment to the ideals of the United Nations.

We

come

today from

all p-arts of the world. Each of our countries has its own characteristics,

its own concerns. But we are united in one particular aspect, We are united

by our commitment to strengthen the wider community to which we belong, to

reinforce collective security and to maintain international peace a& security.

In convening this extraordinary meeting this morning, I intended that our

discussion could serve four important purposes. First, our presence today

marks a turning-point in the world and at the United Nations. On the

international scene, we have witnessed the end of the cold war. States

Members of this Organization have divided and reformed themselves.

This

~I *#A1 *,,-'s _,

.~~preS&..&&nmellSe

opportunities, but it carries with it also new risks. At the

,'

Ftw2

UPV.3046

3-5

(The President)

United Nations, the term

of

office of Mt. Perez de Cuellar has come to a

close. He has served the international community for many years with

outstanding distinction, and I am delighted to be able to thank him

for

that

work. We are here not only to wish his successor, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali,

well, but to give him our full backing in carrying out his mandate.

A new

situation in the world needs new ideas and a new impetus.

BCT/ed

S1PV.3046

7

/

(The President)

not discuss all of them today - are also in our minds.

It is of course true

that without economic development and prosperity we cannot hope to achieve

lasting peace and stability.

But it is

every

bit as true that only when

conditions

of

security and peace are assured can sustained economic

development take place. Both are needed.

Only when we have both can

resources be directed to where they are so urgently needed - towards the

economic

and social needs

of

the world's population.

The opening line of our Charter - the Charter of the United Nations -

does not talk

about

States

or

Governments; it talks about people. The world

now has the best chance for peace, security and development since the founding

of the United Nations. I hope, like the founders of the United Nations

themselves, that we can today renew the resolve enshrined in the Charter - the

resolve to combine our efforts to accomplish the

aims

of the Charter in the

interests

of

all the people we are privileged to represent. That is our

role,

and I wish the Council well in its work today.

Members of the Council, we have a great deal to do today,

In accordance

with custom I shall, with your agreement,

make

my

national statement when all

other colleagues have spoken.

We shall now commence our debate,

and I invite the Secretary-General to

address US,

The SECRETARY-GENERAL:

Mr. President, Excellencies:

it is a great

honour for

me

to

welxome

you to this historic meeting of the Security

Council.

The significance of this gathering exceeds its symbolic value. It

is one of those occasions when symbol enhances substance. Your presence here

is a striking demonstration of your reliance on the United Nations.

This

expression of support is profoundly gratifying to the Secretary-General whom

you have just elected.

BCT/ed

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6

(The President)

Secondly, we should today reaffirm our attachment to the principle of

collective security, and to the resolution of disputes in accordance with the

principles of the United Nations Charter. We should,send a clear signal that

it is through the United Nations and its Security Council that we intend

to

deal with threats to international peace and security.

Thirdly, we should today consider anew the means by which collective

security is upheld through the United Nations and consider how best to update

and to develop them.

It is

time

to review all the instruments at our

disposal - preventive action: to avert crises by monitoring and addressing the

causes of conflict; peacemaking: to restore peace by diplomatic means;

peace-keeping: to reduce tensions, to consolidate and underpin efforts to

restore peace. These, I believe,

are the matters that we should consider

now. Even today, as we

meet

here, peace-keeping operations are under way in

Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Europe. The need is not

likely to decrease in the future.

We must consider how we can enhance the

ability of the United Nations to respond effectively and ensure that it has

the necessary resources, both financial and

material, to enable it to

do so.

In all of these, of course,

the role

of

the Secretary-General is vital.

Fourthly, we should today commit ourselves anew to upholding

international peace and security through reinforced measures of arms control.

Activity to restrain the accumulation and transfer of

arms, to

prevent the

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, affects all Members of the

United Nations. Arms-control policy has become genuinely global. The role of

this Organization

- not just the Security Council, but the whole of the

Organization - is an increasingly important one.

As we meet to consider the specific responsibilities of the Security

Council, the wider concerns of the international community - even if we shall

BCT/ed

WPV.3046

8

(The Secretary-General)

r”

This meeting could not have been

more

timely.

As

the new era begins, it

calls for both ideas and action to place international life on stronger

foundations. What shape the emerging order will take;what defences will be

built against anarchy and terrorism,

and how entrenched inequities can be

removed will depend greatly on the wisdom, foresight and compassion.

of

the

world's leadership. It is the leaders of nations, engaged in joint

deliberations, who can address not only the apparent problems but also

the

frustrations and fears that underlie and intensify them.

As other summit

gatherings are held regularly,

it would be in tune with this time of the

acceleration of history that the Security Council also

meet at

the summit

level periodically to take stock of the state of the world. If this

suggestion of mine is well received,

it would strengthen the tone of authority

that the United Nations needs at this critical stage. It would also help to

assure that transfiguration of this house which the world hopes to be

completed before its fiftieth anniversary, in 1995.

There has hardly been a stage more critical in modern history.

The

revolution that is sweeping large parts of

the

world derives its momentum and

authenticity not from any outdated or recycled ideology but from the primal

need

of

peoples

for

freedom, for justice,

for

solidarity and for recognition

of their identities. The contours

of

the global order to which it will lead

are not yet clearly perceivable. But several lessons are already being driven

home:

Democratization at the national level dictates a corresponding

process at the global level. At both levels, it

aims at

the rule of law.

For

national societies, democracy means strengthening the institutions of popular

participation and consent, political pluralism and the defence of human

BCT/ed

WPV.3046

9

(The Secretarv-General)

rights, including those of minorities. For global society, it

means

the

dlemocratization of international relations and the participation of all States

in developing new

norms

of international life. Small States can play large

constructive roles, and the record of the United Nations proves that political

will and imagination can make more fruitful contributions to peace than

military power or economic power. Where such participation is not fully

forthcoming,

it needs to be encouraged.

.That, in turn, requires the

willingness to accommodate different viewpoints and a readiness to offer

special assistance to the democratization process.

It would,

of

course, be naive to suppose that democratization alone,

whether at the national or at the planetary level, will solve all

our

:problems.

At both levels, democracy is a delicate plant that needs the

,nourishing soil of peace, security and economic development.

New ways

of

preventing internal disputes and inter-State confrontations will therefore

need to be developed.

State sovereignty takes a new meaning in this context. Added to its

dimension of right is the dimension

of

responsibility, both internal and

external,

Violation of State sovereignty is, and will remain, an offence

against the global order,

But its misuse also may undermine human rights and

jeopardize a peaceful global life. Civil wars care no longer civil, and the

carnage they inflict will not let the world remain indifferent.

The narrow

nationalism that would oppose or disregard the norms of a stable international

order and the micro-nationalism that resists healthy economic or political

integration can disrupt a peaceful global existence. Nations are too

BCT/ed WPV.3046

10

(The Secretary-General)

ixiterdependent, national frontiers are too porous and transnational

realities - in the spheres of technology and investment, on the one'side, and

poverty and misery, on the other - too dangerous to permit egocentric

isolationism.

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S1PV.3046

11

(The Secretary-General)

Collective SeCUrity can be based only on collective confidence and

good faith -

COM%lenCe in the principles by which it is governed and good

faith in the means by which

it

is sought to be ensured,

With all the v""

convulsions in global society,

Only one power is left that can impose order on

incipient chaos:

it is the power of principles transcending changing

perceptions of expediency.

(spoke in French)

Now that the cold war has

come to

an end we must work to avoid the

outbreak or resurgence of new conflicts.

The explosion of nationalities,

which is pushing countries with many ethnic groups towards division, is a new

challenge to peace and security, Could the United Nations discharge its

responsibilities if, instead of being composed of 166 States, it had double

,that number of Members? Nationalist fever will increase ad infinitum the

:number of communities claiming sovereignty, for there will always be

dissatisfied minorities within those minorities that achieve independence.

Peace, first threatened by ethnic conflicts and tribal warsI could then Often

be troubled by border disputes.

The United Nations will have to adopt a new strategy to respond t0 the

irredentist claims of ethnic and cultural communities or their Calls for

autonomy.

It will have to take into account the abundant supply Of arms1 the

aggravation of economic inequalities between various communities and the flow

Of refugees.

We legitimately emphasize preventive diplomacy, which

means

identifying

potential zones of conflict

, offering good offices while those conflicts are

Still in the gestation stage and resolving crises before they degenerate into

armed confrontation.

That requires means for observation, a sophisticated

communications network and new financial resources.

It will also be necessary

JP/edd

S/PV.3046

12

/

(The Secretarv-General)

to obtain the agreement of the State in crisis as well as that

of

communities

in revolt and to invent new federal formulas for the future.

The whole strategy will be pursued under the pressures of extreme

urgency, with combat and destruction and images of death, wounded people and

refugees clouding the political scene,

We have to

some

extent succeeded in

establishing the foundations of this new strategy. We have succeeded in

maintaining a cease-fire or restoring peace in Africa, Central America, Asia

and Europe.

We have gone even further; we have even touched on the sphere of

the institutional management of national reconciliation.

Behind the clamour of conflict, the tumult

of

aspirations and

resentments, there is hope - the hope that the United Nations will act. The

peoples expect Member States, and in particular those in a position to help,

to rise above their rivalries, to respond to the peoples' need for dignity,

equity and justice and to make the spirit of conciliation and dialogue

prevail, for without it there can be no peaceful settlement of disputes.

At

this very moment millions and millions of victims of war, tyranny, fanaticism

and economic injustice are anxiously following your deliberations, in the

expectation that a remedy will be found to their ills and their misery.

Their

hope will not be in vain if people of good will, courage, compassion and

vision take the initiative to resolve the problems that have broken so many

human lives.

You are those people of good will.

On behalf of the men and women who

work in this Organization,

on behalf of the thousands

of

civil servants,

military people,

observers and experts who make history in far-flung countries

and try to put an end to war and begin dialogue,

I thank you for your presence

JPYedd

WPV. 3046

13

(The Secretary-General)

here among us and for the hope that it awakens in those who pursue their daily

struggle for the triumph of peace and sovereign justice.

The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General. I know the

Council looks forward to hearing you on many occasions in the years ahead.

Thank you very much for what you have had to say to us today.

I now invite the President of France to address the Council.

President MITTERRAND (interpretation from French): First,

MX-.

President, I should like to thank you for your initiative which has

brought us together here as members of the Security Council, It is a very

important event, as the Secretary-General has just emphasiaed.

1 should like

to tell him how pleased we are to see him today heading our great

international society,

I wish him every

success

in his work, in which we

slhall be unsparing in our support.

In addition to those words of encouragement,

I should like to express our

gratitude to Mr. Perez de Cuellar, gratitude which has already been so well

expressed by you, Mr. President.

I myself had hoped for a meeting such as this 10 months ago, when we were

a.t the end of a war waged to deal with aggression and to restore

law

and

clrder,

under the aegis of the United Nations.

That was a new, but essential

step, though the war

of

course inevitably brought suffering in its

wake.

There have been many upheavals since then, with people thrown onto the

road, civil wars and the disruption of vast political entities of long

standing.

Where are we heading? We are looking

for

signposts, but we do not always

find them. It is the role of the Security Council and the General Assembly to

point the way.

JP/edd

S/PV.3046

14-15

(President Mitterrand)

Disorder and upredictability have become the rule. It will be said

that

Perhaps there are too

many

things happening at the same

time

and that the only

constant today is change. But are we now to mourn the old order and prefer,

with Goethe, the great German writer, injustice to disorder?

Surely

not!

Liberty has grown in the world; we must continue to help it.

Are there any clear responses? It is true that a

time

of crisis, such

as

we are living through now, is also a time of choice. On the one hand there is

war, exodus, the break-up of States and terrorism. Are they unavoidable? We

can prevent them. That is

my

first assertion,

Preventing them is precisely

the primary

task

of the Security Council of the United Nations, in accordance

with the Charter.

EMS/5

S/PV. 304,6

16

(President Mitterrand)

A

meeting like today’s has been needed since

March

of last year.

Prime Minister Major was absolutely right:

the

time

was ripe for inviting us

here.. By

no

means does everything depend on us - but a great deal does.

Let me join

my

colleagues in tracing the route we should follow.

First

of all, a world in crisis requires instruments for comprehensive, universal

a.ction; secondly, we must guarantee collective security; and finally, we must

c!reate new forms of solidarity,

Needless to say,

my

statement will not be exhaustive, for we have only a

3.imited amount of

time

to say what we want to say - and that

may

be a good

thing,

I shall

merely

put forward a

few

ideas, a few plans.

It is a fact that since 1945 all the world’s

major

problems have required

a universal approach, We must now create the instruments for that universal

action:

instruments on security, on how to expand the means available to the

Security Council for intervention.

Take, for example, resolution 687 (1991),

Iwhich put an end to the Kuwait war.

Its strict implementation is necessary to

:restore peace in the Middle East, but it is not enough.

The situation clearly

calls for the creation of a zone free of weapons of

mass

destruction, which

means the participation

of

all the States of the region - and Of Other

regions.

It also calls for universal adherence to the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

For its ‘part, France is in the process

Of ratifying that Treaty.

France will also become at party to Additional

Protocol I of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin

America -

the Treaty of Tlatelolco -

whose twenty-fifth anniversary will be

marked in two weeks.

EMS/5 SDV.3046

17

(President Mitterrand)

But the establishment of such a zone requires also the adoption of a

convention banning chemical weapons. That is possible, which is why I call

upon all States to come to Paris to sign such a convention before the end of

the year.

We should also try to monitor and limit arms transfers and, as so aptly

proposed by President Bush and President Yeltsin, to accelerate genuine

reductions in nuclear weapons, We should establish a closer link between the

concepts of non-proliferation and disarmament, and so forth,

We are no longer engaged in a race towards over-armament; on the

contrary.

That is excellent news.

Everyone

must

now participate in nuclear disarmament, provided first and

foremost that all States in question are able to see that their security is

assured. There should not be vast differences among the nuclear potentials of

various parties.

Economic interdependence is another

axiom.

We have a great deal of

ground to cover in order to reap the practical benefits of such

interdependence. We are now in a position to decrease military budgets for

the benefit of development. I would recall that many of us have called for

continued dialogue between the North and the South. We do not want the gap to

grow even wider. We must continue the work already begun, for example, on the

question of debt by considering the position of intermediatekincome countries

among the less wealthy. I would mention the case of Venezuela and France:

without any great fanfare, we have been working since July to achieve an

agreement between a consumer and a producer of oil.

We must revise many of our methods, our concepts and our approaches,

EMS/S

WPV.3046

18

(JVesident Mitterranc3)

I shall not dwell on the question

of

the environment. Soon a conference

on the subject will be held in Rio de Janeiro, where we shall have to take a

broad view in order to save the planet while still enabling peoples to make

progress. Peoples are often compelled to alter the natural balance, because

they lack the

means

.to live in any other way.

Human rights have triumphed - and I hope it is no temporary triumph - in

the ideological struggle of the cold war.

I am not proposing a new

system.

I merely

remind the Council that

democracy begins in the schools.

We must consider and renew the role-of the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to

make it exemplary;

we must consolidate it.

It is time for the States that

have left UNESCO to return and contribute to its great task.

Collective security will be jeopardiaed very quickly if we do not create

up-to-date conditions foi it,

Past

experience has shown that nothing can be

done without the determination of States, particularly the

major

Powers, to

I

reject the law of the jungle and the'principle that might is right.

That

determination is reflected in the Charter of the United Nations. For a long

time,

the Charter was hobbled, but today all its provisions are usable, and we

must implement them immediately.

I am certain that other colleagues will also be making proposals to

ens'ure the greater effectiveness of peace-keeping operations.

I

state

that

for its part France is ready to make available to the Secretary-General a

l,OOO-man contingent for peace-keeping operations, at any time, on 48-hours

notice.

That figure could be doubled within a week.

Such deployments would

involve activity by the Military Staff Committee, as provided for in the

Charter,

EMS/5

S/PV.3046

19-20

(President Mitterrand)

Secondly,

it is indispensible that we develop preventive diplomacy.

Members of the Council should undertake systematically to provide the

Secretary-General with information on international security and to give him

the mandate to maintain regular contacts with his counterparts, the leaders of

regional organiaations. Chapter VIII of the Charter, on regional

arrangements, should no longer be disregarded. We must be able to turn as

necessary to new bodies to meet specific needs.

On the relationship between disarmament and development, suggestions have

recently been made, for example by Germany,

Those are good suggestions, which

is why France recommends the establishment of regional funds for the

conversion of military research and development to civilian production, for

the benefit, to begin with, of new States: republics, with urgent needs,

which once formed part of the formerSoviet Union,

I am certain that other

countries too will be able to, benefit,

including States of the Middle East.

Similarly, on the model of Europe,

why should we not establish in each

region appropriate arbitrating bodies? The European Community already has

such a body.

Those are a few of the possible instruments.

We must, moreover,

ensure that the United Nations has regular, increasing

financing. To that end, arrears must be paid. I am not making any specific

allusions, but I would remind the Council that this would make it possible to

demonstrate that a spirit of cooperation will be present in our work.

JB/6

S1PV.3046

21

(President Mitterrand)

My third and last point concerns the conditions for a new solidarity.

Security cannot be conceived solely in military terms. Obviously, it has an

economic aspect which is in fact supreme over the other as time passes and so

long as economic insecurity does not generate new military conflicts.

Many proposals can be made. North-South confrontation should not be

allowed to replace the East-West confrontation.

I am sure all will agree to

that. Politics, like economics, disarmament,

social development and the

environment, takes us back to the same law - that of solidarity.

For

a long

time now the general term "developing countries"

has not been in keeping with

reality,

Twenty years ago,

we could believe in general and uniform progress.

Today, there is in truth two basic categories of countries:

some

have

succeeded in making progress, but many others - particularly in Africa but

elsewhere as well,

such as in the Indochinese peninsula - are bogged down in a

situation from which they cannot emerge without our assistance.

If there are many kinds of developing countries - to use the traditional

term that I am challenging - we need adapted forms of aid. Those developing

countries which really are developing need private and public investment,

cheap credit, and growth in international trade. Bence the importance of

international negotiations currently under way.

As

for

other countries which have not yet succeeded in bringing about

true development, let us not mince words:

how can they be reinjected into the

world economy? We should really examine this, giving particular thought to

the necessary control of primary commodities.

Otherwise,

intolerable

situations will arise and countries of goodwill , which work and require a

great deal of their citizens, often find themselves in terrible crises.

Their

JB/6 S/W.3046

22

(President Mitterrand)

two-, three- or five,-year plans for recovery are demolished simply because in

a single week international speculation has come into play.

Those are a few of the issues I would like the Council to consider. I

very much hope - and my country is requesting it - that there will be a world

summit on social development that&will enable us to rejuvenate our thinking on

development itself and to highlight the human dimension of things.

That is what I wished to say today.

We

are experiencing in Europe - in

Western Europe particularly -

an exceptional experiment:

that

of

a community

which has known atrocious wars. These wars monopolized the entire history of

this century, piled destruction upon disaster, and long destroyed any chance

our continent had. Well, we decided more than 40 years ago to settle our

differences by negotiation, to bring about the necessary reconciliations and

to learn to share our sovereignties and resources equally in the interests of

security and the common good.

I do not wish to set that up as an example. Many others elsewhere have

much to teach us by way

of

example.

All are rich in tradition, culture and

contributions to world civilisation.

I simply ask Your Excellencies to be

good enough, on behalf of the Security Council of the United Nations, to

exploit them.

The PRESIDENT:

I thank President Mitterrand for his remarks. The

initiative for a meeting of this sort did originally spring from President

Mitterrand some months ago, and I am delighted to have been able to bring it

about today.

I now invite the Constitutional President of Ecuador to take the

floor.

S1PV.3046

23

President BORJA (interpretation from Spanish):

In the maelstrom of

concerns afflicting the spirit of modern humanity in this'last decade of the

twentieth century, four main issues are outstanding.

The first is violence in all its forms, nuances and manifestations:

violence from above and from below:

institutionalised violence and the

violence of protest; political and economic violence; religious violence and

racial violence - in brief, all the various and devastating forms of violence

that beset the world.

Then, we have the age-old issue that political authority must be subject

to the law

- in other words,

the limitation of power, which is a problem of

conscience for any thinking person and which arouses profound ethical debate

concerning the relationship between society and the individual, the balance

between authority and freedom, the demarcation of authority, the juridical

security of those governed,

and respect for human rights.

Another of our concerns is undoubtedly the protection of the environment

as an expression of solidarity with those who will follow us in this exciting

adventure of life on our planet and to whom we are morally obliged to bequeath

clean water, pure air, fertile land and green surroundings.

It is a

self-evident truth

that

no one can

claim

ownership of the freshness of the air

or the purity of water.

Finally, there is human development,

which is much

more

than economic

development and the mere accumulation of material wealth, which goes beyond

material consumption and which embraces a broad range of tangible and

intangible possessions and values that together determine the quality Of

a

people's life.

These, while not the only ones, are clearly the concerns that most deeply

Pervade the human spirit today.

For a long time following the Second World

5816

WPV.3046

24-25

(President Borja)

War, when the concept

of

economic development was born, the inevitable

question was: how much does p society produce? The answer was always given

iq..eoonpmetric

terms

of the gross.qati,onal product,

Now things have changed

and the.questions are different.

How are the inhabitants of a nation faring?

What is their quality of life? And the answers must be found in the way in

L..

!

which the benefits of progress are distributed in a community and the

I

fundamental needs of the

human

being are

met.

According to the criteria of

the United Nations Development Programme itself, this involves longevity,

education, personal security, political freedom, community participation and

respect for human rights.

As

President Mitterrand just put it, this is the human dimension of

development. In the past, the concern was quantitative in nature, always

involving national production indices measured by econometric formulas which

were often deceptive in countries

of

great contrasts. Today, the concern is

qualitative and human development is understood to mean freedom, health,

security, well-being, culture, environment,

satisfaction in one's work, the

good use

of

leisure time and a wide range

of

other values.

lBHS/plj ,S/PV.3046

26

(President Boris)

Economic development does not necessarily and

automatically

presuppose

'human development. There are countries which, despite high levels

of

economic

growth, have unacceptable social problems. Inversely, there are other

countries that have low per capita income and, none the less, have reached'

considerable levels

of

human development.

The United Nations was established 47 years ago as an answer to the

deeply felt need for peace and security in the world following the untold'

suffering caused by the last world war.

Its birth was inspired at that

historic time by the ideal so eloquently expressed in the preamble to its

Charter, which states:

"We the peoples of the United Nations,

determined to save succeeding

generations from the scourge of war,

which twice in our lifetime has

brought untold sorrow to mankind . ..".

We are far from having completely won the battle for peace.

There still

persist aggressive intentions, inferiority complexes that lead to violence,

and misanthropy in the minds of certain political leaders.

Racial and.

religious fanaticism, senseless nationalism, and xenophobia also constitute

threats to the harmonious coexistence of peoples.

The United Nations has lent

invaluable services to mankind. Just consider how different the world of

today is from the world of 50 years ago.

We must remember the nature of

nazi-fascism and the horrors of war and what followed. We had East-West

confrontation with its implacable struggle to divide the planet into zones Of

influence, the madness of military expenditures, the SS-20s and the

Pershing-2s that were targeted at human civilization, with the peace of the

world subjected to the balance of terror. We need to recall these irrational

and warlike elements in order better to admire and value the work done by the

United Nations during its first 50 years of existence.

BHS/plj WPV.3046

27

(VBorja)

Let us begin by recalling the importance for the destiny of mankind of

that one initiative taken on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco to establish a

world-wide community of States capable of resolving,

on the basis of unity and

consensws, problems that States could not have been able to resolve

individually and in isolation.

There is a clear parallel between the age-old process of forming human

communities and the process of forming societies of States. In both cases,

the same motivating factors exist.

In the former case, man, an essentially

incomplete being, ill-equipped to meet the needs of his own existence, was

forced to join with others in order to survive: in the latter case,'the State,

which with the passage of years has proved incapable of resolving alone the

problems of economic and social development, has also been compelled to

establish communities of States in order to join forces and attain common

goals,

Jean Jacques Rousseau, one of the clpssic exponents of political thinking

and universal thought, in explaining the origins of human society, affirmed

that in a society its members,

"giving of themselves to all give themselves to

no one in particular and,

since in any such partnership the partners enjoy

equal rights towards each other, one wins in that exchange the equivalent of

everything one loses, and greater strength to preserve what one has".

The s,ame thing happens in the international sphere.

The liberty of

States, which is called sovereignty, is not undermined but rather is

strengthened by the establishment of international organizations, The Italian

philosopher and jurist, Giorgio de1 Vecchio, in referring to this issue,

states:

BHS/plj

S1PV.3046

20

(President Boria)

"Only by obeying the law of our nature do we become truly free. Thus,

the sovereignty of a State is truly affirmed as such only when the State

does not betray its own essence, in other words, its nature as a

participant in a possible and necessary community of States, in which it

has the power neither to disregard nor to deny its own nature."

Following the implosion of the Marxist regimes, in other words, the

crumbling from within of the walls and scaffolding of their systems, the i

lbipolar

distribution of global power and therefore East-West confrontation

have disappeared.

In this respect, I would say that I consider commendable

,the announcement made a few hours ago by Presidents Bush and Yeltsin of their

readiness to eliminate nuclear missiles and reduce arsenals of other types of

strategic weapons. This would be a

major

step on the road to disarmament. I

say this as a leader who, deeply committed to the peaceful settlement of

international disputes, proposed, last September before the General Assembly

Of the United Nations, the arbitration of Pope John Paul II to put an end to

an old territorial dispute between my country and Peru.

I am pleased in this

connection to inform the Security Council that, since that time, we have begun

an era of understanding and negotiation with the Government of Peru, inspired

by the aspirations of peace and cooperation of both peoples.

There can be no doubt whatsoever that a new stage has begun in the

history of mankind. I believe that this meeting symbolises that fact.

It is

the turning of a page of history.

The challenge today is international economic and social justice and

human development.

A

primary responsibility of the United Nations is to

Contribute to their attainment,

Its fundamental mission as we look to the

BHS/plj

S/PV.3046

29-30

(President Boria)

future should be the attainment of a new order which does justice to the poor

countries, which allows them to participate equitably in global income and

which distributes with justice the benefits

of

progress. That is why Ecuador

enthusiastically supports the initiative to which President Mitterrand

referred just a few moments ago, of convening a summit meeting on social

development.

RF/8 S/W.3046

31

(President Borja)

Ecuador therefore enthusiastically supports the initiative, to which

PIresident Mitterrand referred just a

few

moments ago, of convening a summit on

social development,

we must be clear about the idea that behind poverty there

l.urk serious threats to the peace because

- as they had not in

times

gone

hy -

khe

peoples of today have passed value judgements on poverty. People used to

view

poverty as a household object and with the familiarity with which one

views a household object, but they do not do so today.

The conviction that

poverty can be avoided leads to rebellion, and thus a dangerous and explosive

political equation has now arisen:

poverty plus a value judgmement on it plus

rebellion equal the breaking of the peace.

The same thing is happening in the international sphere: mankind has.

become aware

of its own imbalances; ethical value judgements have been passed

on countries' situations,

and this has added a new chapter to modern economic

science, on the study of - to paraphrase Adam Smith - the causes of the

poverty of nations.

Human development is, definitively,

the

most

important issue

of

our day.

Non-military risks to security have increased. Today, in the marginal

countries,

there is more poverty, 'more unemployment and

more

social

instability than there was 10 years ago.

The end

of

the cold'war, as the Secretary-General said in his last

report, will make it possible for mankind to release very considerable

financial resources to social and to human development. This is, in the view

Of

Ecuador, the most important,

most

crucial task of the United Nations during

the new, historic phase, which is beginning today.

EF/8

S/PV.3046

32

The PRESIDENT: Mr. President,

thank you very much. It was good to

hear the environmental themes aired so thoroughly this morning, and many of

ust

of course,

look forward to taking up that debate at Rio iater this year.

I now have pleasure in inviting His Majesty the King of Morocco to

address the Council.

Kina HASSAN II (interpretation from Arabic): Praise to the Lord,

and prayer for the Prophet and his family.

The holding of a summit meeting of the countries members of the Security

Council,

upon the invitation of His Excellency the Prime Minister of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Mr. Major, who is

President of the Security Council this month,

is an excellent initiative and,

clearly, a commendable precedent in the history of the United Nations.

The high level of representation of the countries members of the Council

confers a special significance on this exceptional, historic, event. It

reflects not only the desire of the members of the Council to discharge their

responsibilities but also their commitment to international cooperation and

their support for the noble mission of the United Nations for greater

understanding in the interest of world peace, all of,which is with a view to

avoiding a return to international confrontation and its sorry train of

harmful consequences for the world.

The peace between the wars lasted only a

short space of time, and hardly had one conflict been stanched when another

confrontation of even greater fury and violence was unleashed, giving mankind

no respite.

This summit meeting is being held in appropriate circumstances, as it is

taking place after the historic changes which have just occurred in the world

and have profoundly altered all the givens of international politics.

:EF/S

5VPV.3046

33

(Kina Hassan II)

These changes have brought about a situation for our planet which was

completely unforeseeable before the '80s. That is why this summit meeting is

an invaluable occasion for us to exchange views on the events that we have

experienced and to reflect, together,

on effective ways to meet the challenges

now facing mankind as it enters the last decade before the twenty-first

1

century.

We

cannot

fail to take this opportunity to express our warmest'

congratulations to the Secretary-General of our Organization, His Excellency

Mr.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who,

thanks to his intellectual powers and his

moral

qualities, has very deservedly assumed this highly responsible post.

There can be no doubt that his election constitutes not only the consecration

crowning his success in the duties he performed in his own country, but also a

tribute to the region to'which he belongs and a just recognition of the

contribution of Arabs and Africans to the development

of

the United Nations

and to the accomplishment of its misiion.

We would be failing in our duty if we were not also to pay a special

tribute to his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar who,

through his tireless efforts, made an invaluable contribution to the

revitalisation of the United Nations and its positive development during a

sensitive period in its history, so enabling it to tackle global problems and

alleviate tension, thus commanding respect from the world at large.

The fact that Morocco is part, at one and the same time, of Africa and of

the Arab and Islamic worlds gives it the duty, on this happy occasion, of

expressing its ideas and views while at the same time taking into account the

positions of the various parties which belong to these same regions. We are

therefore honoured to be able to transmit to you the feelings, observations

EF/E S/PV.3046

34-35

(Kins Hassan II)

and questions raised in our region by the initiative of the President of the

Council in convening this summit meeting.

As

far as the United Nations is concerned, we commend the major role it

has played since the end of the Second World War in establishing a new era

based on the maintenance of peace and security and on the attainment of

progress for all the countries and peoples of the world. Nevertheless, the

Security Council, which has functions in the field of the maintenance of

international peace and security, has not always been capable of carrying out

its mission under the Charter

of

the Organization, and in particular under

Chapter VI.

The Council has, for

most

of the

time,

been paralysed because of

the cold war, which was reflected in the Council by the exercise of the right

of veto by the great Powers of one or another bloc.

,For the same reason, the

Security Council found itself incapable of finding satisfactory solutions to

regional conflicts,

which had harmful consequences in the international arena.

:RM/9

SjPV.3046

36

(Kinci Hassan II)

The desire to support the United Nations role requires, first and

foremost, action to maintain world peace and achieve the peaceful settlement

of disputes.

In other words,

dialogue and mediation must be given.pride of

place, and all of the mechanisms of the United Nations and the provisions of

the Charter must be employed;

the Secretary-General must be given all the I

means of preventive diplomacy to prevent the degeneration of disputes into

armed conflicts.

In addition, the provisions of the Charter concerning collective security

cannot become operational unless all.countries fully.respect international law

and unless the principle of equality among States is made a reality.

Since the end of the cold war, the United Nations responsibilities have

broadened and its role has been increased.

Given the new configuration of the world scene, the international

community is itself confronting new difficulties and new challenges at a time

when it aspires to peace.

This is why all countries are hopeful that the

Organisation will be more effective at this crucial stage in the evolving

international situation,

In this connection the Kingdom of Morocco reaffirms the need to

strengthen the organs of the United Nations,

to improve their functioning and

to review their

mechanisms

in order to increase their effectiveness and

credibility and adapt them to the new realities they face.

Morocco can therefore only support the often-expressed will to revitalize

the United Nations and reform its organsI

and we hope that precise and

concrete proposals will be made in this respect as soon as possible.

The strengthening of the organs of the United Nations and of their role

in the maintenance of international peace and security requires that the

RM/9 S/ET.3046

37

(King Hassan II)

international community give serious consideration to disarmament questions.

In this respect, it is our view that the international instruments concluded

in recent years all provide glimmers of hope and encouraging prospects in this

area.

Nevertheless,

the progress achieved by the United Nations in the nuclear

sphere should not prevent us from redoubling our efforts to ensure the success

of the Geneva negotiations on the prohibition of chemical weapons and their

destruction in order to rid ourselves of a devastating weapon that constitutes

a negation of civilization and noble human values.

We believe that disarmament will have no true significance unless it

engenders in the countries of the North the dynamics of cooperation with the

countries of the South to help the latter to free themselves from

underdevelopment. Moreover, we believe in the need to establish a link

between peace and disarmament, and it is regrettable that the close

relationship that exists between peace and development is underestimated, '

We must not forget that underdevelopment has been and remains the

greatest threat to world peace and security and that at the present time it

represents the greatest challenge the international community must meet,

We are a part of Africa, a continent that we cherish and respect. We

suffer its problems and we share its aspirations, even though we may not

always have benefited from all of the understanding we had the right to expect

from the Organization of African Unity, It is a continent whose situation is

worsening and where living conditions are deteriorating under the combined

effect of growing indebtedness, the decline in the prices of raw materials,

galloping population growth 'and the scarcity of foreign investment.

PM/g

S/PV.3046

3%

(Rinff Hassan

II)

In addition, Africa is confronted with a worsening economic crisis

because of natural disasters, famine and the displacement of over 10 million

refugees to neighbouring countries.

.This is a crisis that will imperil the

continent's future if the international community, does not take urgent

measures to give effect to the commitments it has undertaken in this respect.'

It

is impossible to envisage the establishment of a new world order when

the Arab world is living a tragedy that has lasted for nearly a half century.

That tragedy is the tragedy of the Palestinian people, deprived of the

exercise of their rights, stripped of their territory and their homeland,

threatened in their identity and their history, whose children are dying

before the eyes of the entire world.

Although the international community has set out to find short-term or

longer-term solutions to some political problems, the persistence

of

this

problem for so long a time demonstrates the inability of the universal

conscience to resolve

it

and to put an end to its negative consequences.

Thus

the international community must redouble its efforts to find a definitive

solution to the problem of the Middle East in accordance with the relevant

resolutions of the Security Council, which have, inter alia, emphasized the

withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories and the recognition of

the rights of Palestinians, including the right of refugees to return to their

homeland.

Morocco was among the first to encourage dialogue among the parties to

the conflict in the Middle East. In so doing, we were acting consistently in

unhesitatingly supporting the peace initiative,

We thus hope that that

process will be completed and that the countries that have prepared the

meeting of the parties to the conflict will encourage dialogue leading to a

solution that will be just and acceptable to all.

RM/9

S/W.3046

39-40

(Kina Hassan II)

In this framework, we should

like

to focus on the specific status of the

city of

Al

Quds Al Sharif and recall that in 1979 the Organization of the

Islamic Conference entrusted us with the chairmanship of the'A1 Quds

Committee. Over these 12 years we have continuously sought to find an

equitable and just solution to the fate of the Holy City.

We understand that the Holy Places in that city are of paramount

importance to Muslims, Christians and Jews. That is why the Arab and Islamic

side has shown openness in all the gatherings it has held, and in particular

at the Summit Conference held at Fez in 1982, displaying a spirit of

cooperation and taking the first steps towards the other side, However, and

to our profound regret, that openness and the initiatives taken with a view to

attaining peace have been met,with political immobility, with rigid positions,

the use of force and the fuelling of tensions.

BCT/ed

(Kina Hassan II)

Clear progress has been achieved in the international sphere in respect

of human rights, Morocco takes this opportunity to express its pleasure at

this fact, because the concept of human rights, as we see it, is universal and

can in no way be departed from or called into que,stion.

We believe that human rights mean respect for dignity and its corollaryr

the safeguarding of individual and collective rights. It is to this principle

that civilised communities are committed. It is a pleasure for us to say on

this occasion that the principles of the Universal Declaration

of

Human Rights

reflect,the human concepts which we have upheld for 14 centuries and which

include political, economic and social rights. The second Caliph of Islam,

Omar Ibn El-Khattab, proclaimed the principle

of

human rights in the following

words:

"HOW is it possible to subjugate man, when he is born free?".

Your initiative, Mr. President, gives the countries members of the

Security Council the opportunity,

for the first

time,

to

meet

at the highest

level and enables them to have a thorough and interesting discussion of the

problems of our day. The exchange of opinions and the discussion reflected in

'the final presidential declaration which will be the culmination of our work

today will allow us to note the progress we have achieved and the breadth of

the tasks that await us if we are to

meet

the challenges with which we are

confronted.

While we cannot

claim

that our meeting will resolve the problems facing

the world, we can at least affirm that this meeting has the merit of enabling

us to consult together and to chart the course

of

that new world order to

which we aspire.

BCT/ed SiPV.3046

42

The PRESIDENT: Your Majesty, we thank you for that very

wide-ranging and comprehensive speech.

I now invite the President and Chairman of the Government of the Russian

Federation to address the Security Council.

President YELTSIN (interpretation from Russian): This summit

meeting of the Security Council, the first of its kind on the political

Olympus of the contemporary world,

is a historic and unprecedented event. The

end of the twentieth century is a time

of

great promise and new anxieties.

The age-old search for truth and the attempt to discern what the future has in

store for humanity seem to be getting a kind of second

wind.

Perhaps for the

first time ever there is now

a real

chance to put an end to despotism and to

dismantle the totalitarian order, whatever shape it may take.

I trust that

after all the unthinkable tragedies and tremendous losses it has suffered,

mankind will reject this legacy; it will not allow the twenty-first century to

bring new suffering and privation to our children and grandchildren.

The process of profound change is already under way in various spheres of

life, and above all in the economic sphere.. It is a problem that concerns not

just individual nations or States, but the whole of mankind, After all, it is

an economy mutilated by ideological diktat and built in defiance of all common

sense that forms the principal material

base

of totalitarianism. A profound

awareness of this causal relationship has led the Russian leadership to embark

upon a most.difficult course of economic reform. We

have taken that

risk in a

country where an all-out war was waged against economic interests for many

decades.

I am grateful to the world community

for

its support of our efforts and

for understanding that the future not only of the people of Russia but of the

BCT/ed WPV.3046

43 .

(President Yeltsin)

entire planet largely depends on.whether or not these reforms are successful.

I am also grateful to the people of Russia for their courage and

steadfastness.

They should take a great deal of credit for the fact that the

world

community

is moving ever farther away from the totalitarian past,

Democracy is one of the major achievements of human civilization, All

times

and all countries have known people who have risen up selflessly in its

defence. The people of Russia defended democracy at the walls of our Moscow

White House. Now we must accomplish the

most

difficult task - that is, the

creation of legal, political and socio-economic guarantees to make democratic

changes irreversible.

All of us our weighed down by a tremendous burden of mutual mistrust.

It

is no secret that a

most

profound abyss has separated the two States that

until recently were referred to as the super-Powers. This abyss must be

bridged.

That is the wish

of

our nations and the commitment of the Presidents

Of the United States of America and the Russian Federation.

The new political situation in the world

makes

it possible not only to

advance new, original ideas but also to make even the

most

ambitious of

them

practicable. Our proposals have been outlined in our

messages

to the

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and the

President

of

the United States, Mr. George Bush. Russia believes that the

time has come to reduce considerably the presence of means of destruction on

our planet,

I am convinced that together we are capable of making the

principle of minimum defence sufficiency a fundamental law of the existence of

contemporary States. Today there are real opportunities for implementing deep

cuts in strategic offensive arms and tactical nuclear weapons; resolutely

BCT/ed

S/PV.3046

44

(President Yeltsin)

moving towards significant limitations on nuclear

testing and even towards its

complete cessation;

making anti-ballistic-missile defences less complicated

and costly and eliminating anti-satellite systems; considerably reducing

conventional armaments and armed forces;

ensuring practical implementation of

international agreements on the prohibition of chemical and bacteriological

weapons;

and enhancing the reliability of barriers to the proliferation of

weapons of

mass

destruction.

The problem of experts engaged in the development and production of such

weapons,

including nuclear physicists, has lately become a top priority. No

country has the right to use its talents

for

political gains, at the expense

of

international security. Russia is fully aware of its own responsibility

and is taking steps to make provision

for

the social security of such

experts.

At

the same time, we support the idea

of

establishing international

centres which could coordinate appropriate research and support the most

promising areas of work.

I think the time has come to consider creating a global defence system

for

the world community. It could be based on a reorientation of the United

States Strategic Defense Initiative,

to make use of high technologies

developed in Russia's defence complex.

We are ready to participate actively in building and putting in place a

pan-European collective security system - in particular during the Vienna

talks and the upcoming post-Helsinki-II talks

on

security and cooperation in

Europe.

Russia regards the United States and the West not as mere partners but

rather as allies. This is a basic prerequisite for, I would say, a revolution

in peaceful cooperation between progressive nations. We reject any

BCT/ed

(President Yeltsin)

subordination

of

foreign policy to pure ideology or ideological doctrines.

Our principles are clear and simple:

primacy of democracy, human rights and

freedoms,

Legal

and

moral

standards.

I hope that this is something that our

partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States also hold dear. We support

their early admission to the United Nations and believe that this will have a

beneficial impact on the evolution of the Commonwealth itself. The

Commonwealth has been formed by the participating States on the basis of full

equality and of their own free will.

It rests on natural human ties among

tens of millions of people. Russia is fully

aware

of its responsibility for

making the Commonwealth of Independent States an important factor of stability

in the world. This applies above all to nuclear forces.

The participating

States

of

the Commonwealth share the view that nuclear weapons are an integral

part of the strategic forces of the Commonwealth under a single command and

unified control.

Today talks are under way about the future

of

the armed forces of the

former Union. The main task is to carry out the transformation of them in a

civilised manner and on p clearly defined legal basis.

m/cad

E2PV.3046

46

(President Yeltsin)

Our top priority is to guarantee all human rights and freedoms in their

entirety, including political and civil rights and decent socio-economic and

environmental living standards.

I believe that these questions are not an internal matter of States, but

rather their obligations under the United Nations Charter, international

covenants and conventions. We want to see this approach become a universal

norm. The Security Council is called upon to underscore the civilized world's

collective responsibility for the protection

of

human rights and freedoms.

In the near future Russia intends to adopt legislation that will reflect

the highest international

standards

in the field of the protection of human

freedom, honour and dignity. This applies above all to ensuring personal

security, to the Criminal Code and the Corrective Labour Code, to protection

of Russian citizens abroad, to alternative military service and to other

issues.

We are prepared to accede to the international,instruments on migration

and to join in the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees. I believe that the experience of the world community in these areas

will be useful for Russia and other States of the Commonwealth.

A

few days ago the 10 remaining political prisoners were pardoned by a

decree of the President of the Russian Federation. There are no longer any

prisoners of conscience in free Russia.

A

special role in establishing a new international

dimate

in the world

belongs to the United Nations. This Organisation has stood the test of time

and

managed,

even in the ice age of confrontation, to preserve the nascent

norms

of

civilized international cohabitation contained in its Charter.

JP/edd

S/PV,3046

47

(President Yeltsin)

We

welcome

the United Nations increased efforts to strengthen global and

regional stability and to build a new democratic world order based on the

equality of all States, big or

small.

Russia is prepared to continue partnership between the'permanent members

of the Security Council. The current

climate

in the

activities

of this body

is conducive to cooperative and constructive work.

For us, the peace-making experience of the United Nations is particularly

valuable.

The new Russian diplomacy will contribute in every possible way to the

final settlement of conflicts in various regions of the world that have been

unblocked with the assistance of the United Nations.

We are ready to become

more

fully engaged in these efforts.

We will make use of the effective role of the United Nations and the

Security Council and

take

part in the search for lasting solutions to the

Yugoslav and Afghan problems and for a normalization of theNsituation in the

Near

and Middle East, in Cambodia and in other regions.

I

believe that we need a special rapid-response mechanism, as mentioned

by President Mitterrand

of

France, to ensure peace and stability.

Upon

decision of the Security Council it could be expeditiously activated in areas

of crisis.

We are prepared to play a practical role in United Nations peace-keeping

Operations and contribute to their logistical support.

My country firmly supports steps to consolidate the rule of law

throughout the world.

It is necessary to enhance the prestige of the

International Court of Justice as an effective instrument for the peaceful

settlement of international disputes.

JP/edd

WPV.3046

48

(President Yeltsin)

On the whole, I think it is high time we considered serious reform of the

United Nations.

The world has changed and certain areas of United Nations

activities have lost their relevance.

We should do away with those structures

which yield no practical benefits to Member States.

We are ready to present

our proposals for reform

of

the United Nations.

It is a historical irony that the Russian Federation, a State with

centuries-long experience in foreign policy and diplomacy, has only just

appeared on the political map of the world.

I am confident that the world

community will find in Russia, as an equal participant in international

relations and as a permanent member' of the Security Council, a firm and

steadfast champion of freedom, democracy and humanism.

Last year's events have confirmed that the nations of ,the world have now

come of age and are capable

of

adopting responsible and meaningful decisions.

This was vividly demonstrated by the developments in the Gulf, when our

joint efforts resulted in the just punishment of the aggressor, and by the

defeat of the coup in Moscow last August.

Difficult work lies ahead

for

us all to consolidate the positive trends

in the evolution of today's world .and to make them irreversible.

It is only

on this basis that we can ensure a decent and prosperous life for our nations

and every individual.

Russia is prepared to do all it can to achieve this

goal.

In conclusion, permit me to wish Mr.

Boutros-Ghali every success in his

important post of Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The PRESIDENT: Mr, President, thank you,

I know the Council would

wish me to

welcome

Russia as a permanent

member

of our Council.

You are very

welcome

indeed.

JP/e&t

WPV.3046

49

(The President)

I now invite the President of the United States of America to take the

floor.

President BUSH:

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you for your

key

role in convening this first-ever summit of the United Nations Security

Council.

Mr. Secretary-General, I offer congratulations to you as you take office

at this time of tremendous challenge and opportunity.

For the United States it is a high honour to participate and speak at

this history-making event.

We meet at a moment of new beginnings - for this institution and for

every Member nation. For most of its history the United Nations was caught in

a cold-war crossfire. I think back to my days here in the early 1970s as a

Permanent Representative and of the way polemics then displaced

peace-keeping.

Long before I came onto the scene, and long after I left, the

United Nations was all too often paralysed by cruel ideological divisions and

the struggle to contain Soviet expansion.

Today all that has changed.

The collapse of imperial communism and the end of the cold war breathe

new

life

into the United Nations,

It was just one year ago that the world saw

this new invigorated United Nations in action as the Council stood

fast

against aggression,

and stood for the sacred principles enshrined in the

United Nations Charter.

Now it is time to step forward again, to make the internal reforms,

accelerate the revitalization,

accept the responsibilities necessary for a

vigorous and effective United Nations.

I want to assure the members of the Council and the Secretary-General

that

the

United Nations can count on our full support in this task.

JP/edd

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50

(President Bush)

Today, for these brief

remarks,

I will not talk on the economic and

social agenda so eloquently addressed by President Borja, but, rather, I will

mention

the proliferation of weapons of

mass

destruction, regional conflicts,

destabilizing renegade regimes that are on the horizon, terrorism, and human

rights; they all require our immediate attention.

The world also challenges us to strengthen and sustain positive change.

We

must

advance the momentous movement towards democracy and freedom - I

believe our Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali called this "democratisation" -

and expand the circle of nations committed to human rights and the rule of

law, It is an exciting opportunity

for

our United Nations. We must not allow

it to slip away.

Right now, across the globe,.

the United Nations is working night and day

in the cause of peace. Never before in its

four

decades have the United

Nations blue helmets and blue berets been so engaged in the noble work of

peace-keeping, even to the extent

of

building the foundation for free

elections.

And never before has the United Nations been so ready, and so compelled,

to step up to the task

of

peace-making - both to resolve hot wars and to

conduct that forward-looking mission known as preventive diplomacy.

In the

lives of millions of men and women around the world its import is simple:

it

can mean the difference between war and,peace, healing and hatred. Where

there is fear and despair, it can mean hope.

We look to the Secretary-General to present to this Council his

recommendations to ensure effective and efficient peace-keeping, peace-making

and preventive diplomacy. We look forward to exploring these ideas together.

JP/edd

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50(a-a)

(President Bush)

We must be practical as well as principled as we seek to free people from

the spectre of conflict.

We recognise every nation's obligation to invest in peace. As conflicts

are resolved and violence subsides, then the institutions of free societies

can take

hold. As they do, they become our strongest safeguards against

aggression and tyranny. Democracy; human rights; the rule of law - these are

the building blocks of peace and freedom.

EMS/12 WPV.3046

51

(President Bush)

We have witnessed change of enormous breadth and scope, all in but a few

short years. A remarkable revolution has swept away the old

regimes

from

Managua to Moscow. But everywhere, free Government and the institutions that

give it form will take

time

to flourish and mature.

Free elections give democracy a foothold, but true democracy

means more

than simply the rule of the majority. It means an irrevocable commitment to

democratic principles. It means equal rights for minorities. And above all

it means the sanctity

of

even a single individual against the unjust power of

the State. The will of the majority must never degenerate into the whim of

the majority.

This fundamental principle transcends all borders.

Human dignity, the inalienable rights of man: these are not the

possessions of the State. They are universal.

In Asia, in Africa, in Europe,

iti the Americas the, United Nations must stand with those who seek greater

freedom and democracy. That is my deep belief, and that is the belief of the

American people. And it is the belief that breathes life into the great

principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Our changed world is a more hopeful world indeed. But it is not absent

those who would turn back the clock to the darker days of threats and

bullying. Our world is still a dangerous world, rife with far too many

terrible weapons.

In my first address to the United Nations as President, I challenged the

Soviet Union to eliminate chemical weapons and called on every nation to join

us in that crusade. His Majesty King Hassan II of Morocco made that point so

well right here today. What greater cause for this great body than to make

certain the world has seen the last of these terrible weapons?

So let us vow

to make this year the year all nations at long last join to ban this scourge.

EMS/12 S/PV.3046 '

52

(President Bush)

There is much

more

to do regarding weapons of

mass

destruction. Just

three days ago,

in

my

State of the Union

message,

I announced the steps -

far-reaching unilateral steps - that we will take to reduce our nuclear

arsenal.

These steps affect each element in our strategic triad: the land,

the sea and the air.

In addition to those unilateral steps we are prepared to

move

forward on

mutual arms reductions. I noted the constructive comments of

President Yeltsin here today, and tomorrow in

my

meeting with him we will

continue the search for common ground on this vitally important issue. He

responded with

some very

serious proposals

just

the other day.

We

welcome

- the world

welcomes -

statements by several of the new States

that won independence after the collapse of the USSR that they will abide by

the nuclear non-proliferation Treaty. Yet realism requires us to remain

vigilant in this

time

of transition:

the danger of proliferation remains.

Let

me

single

out

the remarks earlier by the President of the French Republic,

President Mitterrand, on this subject:

a clarion call

to

do something about

it.

We must act together so that from this

time

forward people involved in

sophisticated weapons programmes will redirect their energies to peaceful

endeavours.

We will do more,

in cooperation with our allies, to ensure that

dangerous

materials

and techology do not fall into the hands of terrorists

or

others.

And we will continue to work with these new States to ensure a strong

commitment in word and deed to all global non-proliferation standards.

Today, the threat of global nuclear war is

more

distant than at any time

in the nuclear era. Drawing down the old cold-war arsenals will further ease

that dread. But the spectre of

mass

destruction remains all too real,

EMS/12

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53

(President Bush)

especially as some nations continue to push to acquire weapons of mass

destruction and the means to deliver them.

Our triumph in the Gulf is testament to the United Nations mission: that

security is a shared responsibility.

And today,

this institution spearheads a

quarantine against the outlaw regime of Saddam Hussein. It is the strong

belief of my country that we must keep sanctions in place and take the

following steps to preserve our common security:.

We must continue to focus on Iraq's capability to build or maintain

weapons of mass destruction.

And we must make clear to the world and, most

important, to the people of Iraq that no normalization is possible so long as

Saddam Hussein remains there, remains in power.

As

on all the urgent issues I have mentioned today, progress comes from

adting

in

concert. We must deal resolutely with these renegade regimes, if

necessary by sanctions or stronger measures,

to compel them to observe

international standards of behaviour. We will not be blind to the dangers we

still face. Terrorists and their State sponsors must know there will be

serious consequences if they violate international law.

Two

weeks

ago, this Council in unity sent a very strong message to Libya,

and let me repeat today: resolution 731 (1992), passed unanimously by this

body,

the Security Council, calls on Libya to comply fully with the requests

of three States members of this Council.

I would just like to use this

meeting today to call on Libya to heed the call of the Security Council

of

the

United Nations.

Last year in the Gulf, in concert,

we responded to an attack on the

sovereignty of one nation as an assault on the security of all.

So let us

EMS112

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54-55

(President Bush)

make it our mission to give this principle the greatest practical meaning in

the conduct of nations.

Today we stand at another crossroads,

For perhaps the first time since

that hopeful moment in San Francisco

, we can look at our Charter as a living,

breathing document,

Yes, after so many years it may still be in its infancy,

requiring the careful and vigilant nurturing of its parents, but I believe in

my heart that it is alive and well.

Our mission is to make, it strong and

sturdy through increased dedication and cooperation, and I know that we are up

to the challenge.

The nations represented here

- like the larger community of the United

Nations represented by so many Permanent Representatives in this Chamber

today - have it in their power to act

for

peace and freedom.

May

God bless

the United Nations as it pursues its noble goal.

The PRESIDENT: Mr. President, thank you for setting out so clearly

the opportunities and responsibilities that lie ahead for the United Nations.

I now invite the President of Venezuela to take the floor.

President

PEREZ

(interpretation from Spanish): Ever since the San

Francisco Conference in 1945, Venezuela has underscored the principles that,

in its view, should guide the action of the United Nations.

Then as now, that

action is to organize the peace.

But to organize the peace, the United Nations was compelled, owing to the

Circumstances of its foundation,

to sacrifice sovereign equality in the

fulf il.ment of its mandate.

In San Francisco Venezuela expressed its hope that

the formula adopted on the powers of the Security Council and the General

Assembly

“might evolve in time towards modalities that are

more

democratic and

more

representative of all peOples”*

3B/13

S/PV.3046

56

(President Perez)

The end of the East-West conflict; the momentum of the process of

democratisation throughout the world; interrelation and global economic

interdependence; the end

of

the decolonization process and, more recently

still, the resurgence of nationalities on the Euro-Asian continent all show us

that circumstances are so different today that it would be imprudent to

disregard the implications.

The right of veto has been an extraordinary power. The circumstances on

which it was based have to a great extent been superseded by history,

It was

highly useful in ensuring the survival of the Organization, which, without

that power, might perhaps have met the same fate as the League of Nations.

Now that those risks are gone, the Organisation must restore the basic

principle underlying its validity: that of equality of rights and

obligations. The Security Council reflects political realities as they

existed at the end of the Second World War, and not current realities. The

General Assembly is repetitive in its resolutions and

weak

in providing

political guidance to humanity. Its organs in the field of cultural, economic

and social cooperation must be reviewed, reinvigorated, streamlined and

effectively redesigned to contribute to North-South dialogue and the

development of the peoples of the third world.

The office of the

Secretary-General must be strengthened and provided with modern management.

I believe that another priority of the United Nations in maintaining

peace is the strengthening of regional organisations in an operational

relationship with the United Nations.

The role of the international Court in The Hague should be,complemented

by the establishment of an international penal tribunal, as has so often been

requested, The situations that have arisen in the Republic of Panama and now

JR/l3 S/PV,3046

57

(President Perez)

in Libya, bearing serious risks for peace and the enforcement of international

law, alert us clearly to that need.

Regional conflicts, which could become the

most

serious and aggressive

threat to the peace, must be approached through a methodology that sets aside

the interests that predominated in the past and reflected the quest for

hegemony and zones of influence among the dominant Powers.

The permanent representatives to the United Nations of the Rio Group, to

which Venezuela belongs, prepared a document for the consideration of the

General Assembly.

Its title is an accurate reflection

of

this change in

global life:

@*From

Confrontation to International

COOperatiOn”‘.

I wish to

stress the main lines of the Rio Group's declaration because they reflect the

thinking of all Latin America on the role which this Organization should play.

We can replace the nuclear threat with the challenge of disarmament.

This task is not the exclusive responsibility of those who confronted each

other during the cold war. It is a collective responsibility.

It

means

reconverting to peaceful uses the industrial-military apparatus and

controlling the flow of technology.

It means the development of guarantees

and controls by the international community.

We must adapt the traditional concept of national sovereignty,

incorporating into it the transnational responsibilities implicit in the

interdependence

of

all our nations and in supranationality, which has been

fully recognized through the democratisation of global society.

We must

reshape the traditional concept of national sovereignty to the full range of

State duties and peoples' rights.

This is obvious when it

comes

to the issue

of the environment and,

even more so in connection with natural resourcesl

which have been described as a collective heritage.

We must also adapt and

JB/13

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58

(Eresident Perez)

reshape it to an essential body of human rights and States' commitments among

themselves and towards their peoples with the new concept of a democratic

legal philosophy.

The Rio summit on development and the environment can be an initial

staging ground for the democratixation of international relations and the role

which

relations between North and South must now play. It must be followed by

a summit on social development,

as proposed by President Mitterrand, if we

wish to be consistent with the goals that we have expressed.

May I recall that Venezuela was the country which proposed an

international convention on the question of the traffic in narcotic drugs and

psychotropic substances. Venesuela was also spokesman

for

efforts to focus

the international community's attention and action on the serious and

persistent absurdity

of

underdevelopmeat , which continues to distort the

fabric of North-South relations. Venezuela has been and remains a staunch

promoter

of

relations among developing countries - South-South relations - in

the conviction that it is in the interest

of

all nations to put an end once

and for all to the inequality of conditions and opportunities on which

contemporary international society has been built.

The welcome reconciliation and cooperation between East and West must not

be at the expense of the necessary cooperation and agreement between North and

South. These are no longer national problems. If anything demonstrates that

fact, it is the constant tension that exists between models

of

global economic

organisation and new regional structures.that are exclusive in nature and

threaten to create not only competitive but antagonistic blocs.

JB/13 S/PV.3046

59-60

(President Perez)

Here I wish to quote the reflections contained in the annual statement of

the Canadian Institute

for

International Peace and Security, which I believe

to

be

particularly

timely

and eloquent:

"Can anyone seriously envisage a

‘new

world order' composed of three

closed blocs formed by the wealthy sector

of

humanity wielding the

economic dagger,

calmly

advocating democracy, market economies and

disarmament to a majority that is ever more desperate, and all of this in

a world

of

overburdened natural systems, openly proclaimed divergent

values and

massive

migrations such as have never been seen before, as

well as technology and weapons of

mass

destruction proliferating

throughout the world'?"

We must deal with

all

of these risks in a democratic and legal way, just as in

each

of our national societies only the rule of law can safeguard

international coexistence through a legal

system

that ensures international

justice.

No longer can the United Nations live on the sidelines of history.

We have the good fortune to be able to strengthen and guide it. Undoubtedly,

this will require new instruments of action in accordance,with the new

priorities we set together. And it is clear, perhaps for the first time, that

the United Nations is indispensable to us all. We cannot and must not presume

that this will be easy.

But we can and

must

determine how it can be made part

of

the

solution of present-day challenges,

BHWPLJ

S1PV.3046

61

(President Perez)

This means placing our trust in its leadership and in its set-up, as well

as in the decision-making machinery.

The guiding principles must be those

that inspired its establishment,

now brought to complete fruition.

That is how I see the task of peace-building, peace-making and

peace-keeping.

The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you also for

drawing some fresh subjects to the attention of the Council.

I now invite the Federal Chancellor of Austria to address the Council.

Mr. VRANITZKY (Austria):

Mr. President, your initiative to convene

this high-level meeting of the members of the Security Council is indeed

timely:

the end of the cold war has freed minds and resources which were for

so long bound by a wasteful and useless confrontation. Dramatic changes have

.

occurred in a ve'ry short time; a new quality in international relations is

making itself felt. Austria, situated on the former iron curtain, can

certainly testify to that.

These changes also provide us with a new, maybe unique, opportunity to

face new challenges with a new perspective. There is a new partnership in

global responsibility shared by all members of the Security Council.

Permanent and non-permanent members alike have worked together and have

enabled the Council to take a number of unanimous positions on some of the

most

complex and critical issues.

In this Organization the powerful and the weak, the large and the small,

the wealthy and the struggling

come

together as equals to solve their

problems, to look for support, to

look

for justice,

It certainly is in our

interest to have the United Nations as effective as possible, as respected as

1.

I

possible, as' influential as possible,

so that it can really fulfil our common

goal,

the maintenance of international peace and security.

This Organization,

BUS/PLY

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62

(Mr. Vranitzkv. Austria)

its new Secretary-General and this, in

many ways, new Security Council, must

be agents of peaceful and constructive change.

There are four major

issues of great importance in this context:

the

strengthening of the United Nations in peace-making and peace-keeping: the

need

for further progress in disarmament

and arms control, including the

dismantling of weapons of

mass

destruction;

the significance of human rights,

minority rights and democratic processes for de,velopment, prosperity and

peace; and the need for effective measures against poverty to create a

long-term basis for stability and security in international relations.

Peace-keeping activities are a very effective 'instrument of the United

Nations. From its modest beginning, conceived with ingenuity and carried out

pragmatically, peace-keeping has grown in size and scoper has grown into a

universally accepted and by now indispensable tool.

Much experience has been gained over the years.

I fully agree with the

former

Secretary-General who,

when accepting the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize for

the United Nations,peace-keeping forces,

stated that the principles and

techniques

involved in peace-keeping may also be applicable to conflict

resolution in general:

the principles of impartiality and objectivity, the

symbolic representation of international authority, the process of seeking

Compliance through cooperation,

the capacity for fact-finding, the monitoring

of the implementation of agreements,

and the development of a capacity to

prevent conflicts.

Now the Security Council has begun to fulfil

more

effectively

its

primary

responsibility for the maintenance of

international peace and security.

Now

we also have the chance to give a new impetus to a

Stronger role Of

the United

Nations in these areas.

BHS/PLJ S/PV.3046

63

(Mr. Vranitzkv, Austria)

Some of the recent crises have made one fact very clear:

there is an

urgent need

for ,an early

reaction to potential conflicts. Preventive

diplomacy both by the Secretary-General and, where appropriate, by the

Security Council will have to be developed further.

An early deployment of peace-keeping personnel, possibly also at the

request of only one party to a conflict, may help to contain a dispute and

facilitate a process of negotiation and compromise before'the outbreak of

hostilities.

I strongly believe that the Security Council will have to

consider the possibility of this measure and other preventive measures.

Many of the questions currently on the agenda of this Council relate

directly to internal conflicts. They

are

born of ethnic, nationalistic or

religious rivalries or are the result of long suppressed grievances.

Nevertheless, they all sooner or later affect.regional or international peace

and security.

The tragic situation in Yugoslavia provides an instructive example.

Austria was among the first to call at an early stage for international

peace-making efforts in this conflict and for the deployment of United Nations

peace-keeping forces. We welcome the fact that the United Nations role in

solving this crisis is now universally accepted.

However, some of the

bloodshed and destruction could have been avoided by a swifter response.

In other areas the United Nations has clearly shown that it is indeed

able to give an adequate response to new challenges by expanding the mandate

of peace-keeping to new responsibilities,

such

as

the protection of human

rights or the supervision of free and fair elections.

It may also be useful to recall the Charter's ambitious goal of

multilateral peace enforcement and the creation of an effective system of

global collective security. The authorization given by the Security Council

BHS/PLJ S/PV.3046

64-65

(Mr. Vranitzkv, Austria)

to a coalition of States to use all necessary means to implement the mandatory

resolutions of the Council was a significant step in this direction.

Another step would be to have,a fresh look at Article 43 of the Charter.

As one of the

most

important future tasks of the Security Council, I see

a

more

active involvement in the areas of arms control, non-proliferation and

disarmament.

In Article 26, the Charter has given us an excellent programme

for future action of the Council.

This is not only a political priority of the first order; it also

responds to the wishes of our peoples. Given the tremendous challenges of

achieving sustainable development and international economic progress and

social justice, the need for reduction of military budgets becomes obvious.

Security can be achieved at a lower level, and the achievements in the

intermediate-range nuclear forces (XNF), the strategic

arms

reduction talks

(START) and the conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE) negotiations clearly

show that this is possible. The latest announcements by Presidents Bush and

Yeltsin of further cuts are very promising indeed and highly

welcome.

New successes

seem

within reach also with regard to chemical weapons and

a broadened acceptance of non-proliferation. The nuclear-weapon States in the

terms

of

the non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) are also the permanent members of

the Security Council. They have a special responsibility to develop policies

that at least contain the promise of a nuclear-weapon-free world.

The global efforts and the negotiations in Europe will, in

my view,

have

to be complemented by regional and even subregional

moves

towards

arms

reduction and disarmament in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and also South

America.

They also can.profit from the so-called peace dividend. A reduction

Of

their military budgets can provide financial resources acquired for

economic and social development.

EF/15

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66

(Mr.

Vranitzky, Austria)

It is obvious that such efforts will be possible only in a climate, of

international trust and confidence.

Existing verification instruments will

have to be strengthened and expanded.

Technical expertise has been

accumulated in specialized agencies: now,

it has to be put to good use. One

such organization , without a doubt,

is the International Atomic Energy Agency,

located in Vienna. Given its experience and its capacity, I am convinced that

it should have a central role in the very special problem of the destruction

of nuclear weapons.

The protection of human rights and, in particular, of the rights of

ethnic minorities too, has had an important impact on the development of

peaceful relations between States. There is a direct connection between

democratic processes within countries and the evolution of a political culture

which is conducive to the peaceful settlement

of

disputes.

From our own

history, we know that peace was most threatened when human rights were

abolished and minorities persecuted and when democratic processes gave way to

totalitarian practices. Buman rights, minority rights and democracy are,

therefore, important cornerstones in our common endeavour.

The Secretary-General has identified these issues as priority areas for

the future work of the Organisation.

I

fully

share and support this view.

Today, nobody should be allowed to use outdated interpretations of legal

documents as protective walls behind which human rights can be systematically

and massively violated with total impunity.

Democracy and human rights are easily endangered in a state of poverty,

as has already been said this morning.

No

system

has ever been able to ensure

peace and security unless at the same time it provided social justice.

Our

search for peace cannot be separated from the need to improve economic and

EF/15

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67

(Mr. Vrnnitxkv, Austria)

social conditions everywhere in the world.

Adequate strategies are

necessary* They will have to be formulated quickly and implemented with speed

and efficiency.

As we move, through the actions of this Council, to strengthen an

international system based on international law and justice, increased support

will also be required for those institutions which care for and uphold the

effectiveness

of

international law.

In particular, I am referring

to

the

International Court of Justice: its role must be expanded and strengthened in

accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

In conclusion, I should like to touch, briefly and in general

terms,

on

the future

of

this Council. If our ideas

are

truly to bear fruit, we must act

on behalf of as well as in the interest of all States.

We must act in an

even-handed, impartial manner,

and we must also be perceived as doing so. If

we truly want to turn over a new page in the book of this Organization today,

then we must also be aware that the realisation of our hopes depends on the

trust of all the world's States and peoples in our impartiality and in our

goodwill.

This trust we,must earn - over and over again.

Today is only a

beginning.

The PRESIDENT: Mr. Federal Chancellor, thank you for your very

comprehensive remarks.

I now invite the Prime Minister of Belgium to take the floor.

Mr. MARTENS (Belgium) (interpretation from French):

The framework

of international relations has gone through profound changes during the past

few years. The balance of power that emerged after the end

of

the Second

World War has now dramatically shifted. As history is unfolding at such great

speed, it is undoubtedly appropriate to call for an exceptional meeting to

EF/15

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68

(Mr, Martens, Belgium)

discuss

some

of the consequences of these changes for our Organization. That

is why Belgium immediately welcomed your initiative, Mr. President, of

convening a meeting of the Security Council at the level of Heads of State or

Government.

1

The radical turn in the balance of international relations indeed

requires an updating of the role of the Security Council. It also requires a

rethinking of the interplay between the various bodies of the United Nations.

In the course of this process, the Secretary-General will have to exercise

fully his right to take initiatives. In our changing world, the

Secretary-General

must

invent new kinds of diplomacy; he must take new risks

and

meet

many kinds of challenges, such as terrorism, the recurrence of civil

wars and the emergence of international conflicts linked to the violation of

human rights. His function will take on a more vital importance, and the

international community will have ever higher expectations of him.

When in 1978 Egypt took the "peace risk"

and embarked on

extremely

difficult negotiations, our new Secretary-General seized the opportunity to

show his courage and his talents as a diplomat. Needless to say, Belgium is

extremely

satisfied at seeing

Mr,

Boutros Boutros-Ghali occupying that seat

within the Council.

Your predecessor, Mr. Secretary-General, had the very difficult task of

carrying out his important responsibilities at a time which was extremely

important for the United Nations and for the world. Mr. Perez de Cuellar

succeeded in becoming a true incarnation of the hopes of our Organiaation and

'its Member States. The success of his efforts bear witness to his tenacity

and his skill. Recently, thanks to his diplomatic talent, we saw a solution

EF/15

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(Mr. Martens, Belaium)

to the painful problem of the hostages in the Middle East,

We fervently hope

this process will be brought to fruition.

Among the most important tasks before us, I see three which

may

be

implemented through the means of action at our disposal:

cooperation and

coordination between the United Nations and international regional

organizations:

extension of the powers of initiative and inquiry of the

Secretary-General and the Security Council; and the greatest possible

efficiency of the United Nations peace-keeping operations.

Furthermore, for

Belgium, it is essential that the Security Council and the Secretary-General

take full account of the importance

of

universal observance of human rights in

international peace-keeping and security issues;

they should act accordingly,

with the full weight of their authority.

First of all, I should like to address the issue of international

regional organizations,

which should be involved

systematically

in the

Security Council's actions. Very recently, in its resolutions concerning the

Yugoslav crisis,

the Security Council constantly referred to the intervention

of the European Community as well as to the efforts made within the Conference

On Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) framework.

Belgium considers

this road to be

very

promising,

inasmuch as regional structures genuinely

carry out their actions within the United Nations framework of values.

In this context,

some

aspects of the Treaty on Political Union, which the

12 States members of the European Community have just concluded in Maastricht,

should be highlighted.

The Treaty invites the Twelve to broaden their

Cooperation to Security Council matters in order to defend their common

positions.

As far as Belgium is concerned,

the framework of common foreign

Policy and security policy should enable the Twelve to speak with a single

EF/15

S1PV.3046

70

(Mr, Martens. Belgium)

voice in due time.

A

particularly positive example of this increasing

coordination of the Twelve is their common diplomatic initiative which led to

the adoption by the General Assembly

of

the idea of an arms transfer

register. In the same spirit, the Twelve will shortly be considering what

action they can take to support the recent proposal of the German Government

aiming at preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

RM/lB

S/PV.3046

71

(Mr. Martens, Belcriwn)

The power of the Security Council and the Secretary-General to take

initiatives is a second means

of

action at our disposal.

That role would

become more efficient if we could facilitate a swift United Nations response

whenever conflicts or pre-conflict situations arise.

My country has been defending the principle of an extension

of

the

Secretary-General's preventive-diplomacy powers since 1983. Belgium's

diplomatic efforts, which Germany, Spain,

Italy, Japan and New Zealand have

joined, resulted in the adoption

of

a resolution at the forty-third session of

the General Assembly exclusively addressing the prevention of conflicts.

Belgium and the aforementioned States, together with Czechoslovakia, then went

on to examine the issue of fact-finding, which resulted in the adoption of a

resolution a few weeks ago during the forty-sixth session of the General

Assembly.

The central theme of both of those documents is the role of the

Secretary-General and the Security Council in the early stages of conflict

situations.

The Secretary-General should enjoy the full support of the

Security Council whenever he considers taking early initiatives to deal with

delicate situations.

If need be,

the Security Council could enhance that

political support by requesting the Secretary-General to prepare a report on a

specific issue.

Moreover,

he could be requested to contact the various

parties as soon as it became clear that the conflict might reach alarming

proportions. Accordingly,

the Secretary-General might be invited by the

Security Council to formulate concrete proposals aimed at preventing a

deterioration of the situation.

The third issue I should like to take up is that of peace-keeping

operations,

which are one of the most efficient means of action available to

RM/16

S/IV.3046

72

(Mr. Martens. Belsium)

the Security Council in coordination with the Secretary-General.

The

Secretariat should now reorganize and streamline their management and

administration, given the success of such operations and their increase in

number over the past few years,

and given also the new scope of those

operations that will be initiated in the near future in our often

very

delicate political environment.

We must first of all ensure the immediate availability of funds from the

moment the Security Council decides on the launching of a peace-keeping

operation. In this regard Belgium proposes the creation

of

budgetary

reserves.

The size of those reserves would be agreed on annually according to

the operations planned.

The Council could allocate a portion of

them

to the

provisional financing of the preliminary stages of peace-keeping operations.

Within the framework of peace-keeping operations set up by

the

Security

Council, my country will give favourable consideration to the secondment of

troops and observers to the United Nations for possible deployment. Through

specific training programmes,

Belgium will ensure rapid deployment of Belgian

contingents in United Nations peace-keeping forces.

In addition to the procedures and means of action at the Organization's

disposal,

the time has now

come

to place our actions once

more

in the

perspective envisaged by the authors of the Charter, to which all peoples

aspire. In this endeavour to allow the fundamental principles

of

the Charter

to prevail, it is essential that the Security Council and the

Secretary-General show courage and initiative.

The new solidarity

has

permitted the collective defence of international law; it should now serve the

collective defence of human rights.

Last October in the General Assembly Belgium stated that:

RM/16

WPV.3046

73

(Mr. Martens, Belaium)

"States are liable internationally for their national policies in the

field of human rights."

(~146lPV.27,

D. 49-50)

Every State here today will agree that the fate of civil populations that fall

victim to internal repressions fully justifies the compassion and concern of

the United Nations. Indeed, all States Members

of

the Organization concur in

their determination to defend human rights.

They have committed themselves to

acting to that end, in keeping with the Charter of the United Nations.

My

country believes that the raison d'gtre of the principle of

non-interference is to allow States to foster in freedom the well-being of

their peoples.

However,

no Government should use that principle as

a

legal

argument to condone abuses of human rights. State rights are subservient to

human rights.

The Security Council and the Secretary-General should

focus

especial

attention on these matters. The Commission on Human Rights already provides

mechanisms for denouncing serious violations of human rights.

In this

connection,

Belgium would suggest that the Security Council deal with such

cases at an early stage and support any action taken elsewhere to put an end

to unacceptable situations that could pose a direct threat to international

peace and security.

Recently, the United Nations has participated in the organization and

supervision of free elections. Such assistance could also be provided in

situations where administrative structures have collapsed as a result

of

natural disaster or conflict.

The United Nations might decide on procedures

to be implemented on short notice. Member States could thus draw up lists of

national civil servants available

for

rapid depl,oyment on certain missions.

RW16 WPV.3046

74-75

(Mr. Martens. Belgium)

In addition to international peace and security, we should also make an

effort to pursue justice in other fields in order, in the words of the

preamble to the Charter,

"to promote better standards of life in larger

freedom" for the largest possible number of people.

The

Security

Council and the Secretary-General are facing difficult tasks

in the field

of

international peace and security.

For the sake of efficiency,

a thorough symbiosis with other United Nations bodies is required, taking into

account their respective fields of competence.

In that respect, all other

objectives pursued by the United Nations continue to be of crucial importance,

in particular, the need to pursue, together, sustainable economic development

for all, fruitful dialogue between richest and poorest nations and the common

fight against such scourges as hunger, disease, illiteracy and pollution.

- Belgium will continue to cooperate actively in the implementation of the

decisions of the Security Council and, as it has in the past, it will continue

to support the actions of the Secretary-General.

If the better-organized and more unified world I have just outlined is to

live in peace, it should also pay due regard to the problems of the

less-well-off and poor in a more effective,way. Respec,t for the dignity and

worth of every human being is a universal aspiration, one we should uphold not

only in principle but one we should also try to translate into facts. Peace

iS

a necessary step - but only a step - towards man's self-liberation, which

requires the joint efforts of all Member States and of the whole of the United

Nations.

wcka

SPF'V.3046

76

The PRESIDENT:

I

thank the Prime Minister of

Belgium

for dealing

SO

well with the matters at the heart of our debate today.

I now invite the Prime Minister of Cape Verde to address the Security

Council.

Mr. VEIGA (Cape Verde) (spoke in Portuguese; English text furnished

by the delegation): It gives me great pleasure, Sir, to see you presiding

over this'important meeting of the Security Council.

I congratulate

Your Excellency on this timely initiative of convening this high-level meeting

of the Security Council at this important

time

in the history of nations.

I take this opportunity to affirm publicly my Government's great

satisfaction at the election

of

Mr. Boutros-Ghali as the new

Secretary-General. I pledge our full cooperation with him and wish him a

successful mandate.

This meeting is convened

at a time

when profound changes are taking place

in the world. In many parts of the planet one witnesses a redefinition of the

political structures and goals of nations. At the same

time, a

strong

movement for democratixation is gaining momentum and taking hold everywhere;

human rights concerns are gaining ever-increasing importance, while the

serious problems of the world environment are capturing

our

attention and the

need to address poverty and underdevelopment are becoming

more

acute and

pressing.

These are global symptoms of a world that is going through a process of

deep transformation, the end result of which we only hope will

be

a better,

safer, more just and prosperous world order.'

The Charter of the United Nations conferred upon this Council the primary

responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, so as

BCT/ed

S/PV.3046

77

(Mr. Veiaa. Caue Verda)

to ensure a stable world, free from the scourge of war.

This is a function

whose implementation is becoming ever

more

pressing in a world that has

accumulated massive amounts of highly destructive conventional armaments and

has not ceased building and perfecting nuclear arsenals.

This important

United Nations responsibility was not successfully carried out in the past, as

is well known to us all.

For decades the ideological confrontation of the cold war crept into the

deliberations of the Security Council and made it impossible for us "to unite

our strength to maintaininternational peace and security" - to use the words

in the preamble'of the Charter.

We are glad to note that with the end of the cold war the Council has now

developed a new approach to its work, based on cooperation, especially between

its permanent

members.

This cooperation has enabled the Council to assist,

through negotiations, in the settlement of age-old conflicts in many parts of

the world and to take swift and decisive action to reverse aggression and

restore the independence and sovereignty of Kuwait.

We believe that the Council has now embarked upon the right course of

action by effectively and efficiently shouldering its responsibility of

maintaining international peace and security.

As

a result, the eyes of the

world have now turned to the United Nations as a source of international

peace, stability and justice,

and nations

seem

to have a renewed interest and

faith in the Security Council as a peacemaker and as a guarantor of the

independence and territorial integrity

of

countries.

As a small,

peace-loving country that under no circumstances condones the

threat or use

of

force to settle international conflicts, Cape Verde

welcomes

BCT/ed

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78

(Mr. Veiaa. CaDe Verde)

this new era Of positive cooperation in the Council and strongly believes that

it should be further strengthened,

in order to allow for full and regular

implementation

of

the Charter collective security system.

The United Nations,

through its Security Council, has to act

- as envisaged by the Charter - as

the guardian of the security of nations,

especially the small countries, and

as a catalyst for the promotion of the primacy of the rule

of

law in

/

international relations.

The actions .and decisions of the Council in the last

two years have raised new hopes in this regard.

We

Strongly

urge the Council to pursue this course and, certainly, as one

Of its members we shall spare no effort to promote and strengthen its Charter

role

of

taking prompt and decisive action against aggression, of labouring to

bring existing conflicts to a peaceful end and of creating a more stable and

peaceful world environment,

It is therefore imperative that,

now that the Council has gained new

impetus in carrying out its function and has gained the respect of the people

Of the world, it should act in such a way as to strengthen its international

credibility and its moral authority,

so that it will become an ever-present

instrument for maintaining world peace and promoting and strengthening

international security.

A

strong Security Council is certainly one whose decisions are based upon

frank discussion by all its members and are a reflection of the views of all

of them. In our view,

the moral authority of the Council is bound to suffer

whenever a decision is taken without exhaustive efforts to achieve COnSenSUSo

We believe that when decisions of the Council command across-the-board Support

from its members,

the

possibilities

of their implementation are considerably

increased.

BCT/ed

LYPV.3046

79-80

(Mr, Veiaa, Case Verde)

The Council,

in addressing aggression and illegal occupatio&

must

be

even-handed.

Whenever a,selective approach is taken in this respect, it

necessarily damages the Council's credibility and substantially weakens its

moral authority.

Equally damaging to the Council's credibility is what could

be perceived to be selective implementation of its resolutions.

In our view,

if the Council is to have,

in the eyes of the peoples

of

the world, the

credibility such an important organ deserves,

then it becomes highly advisable

that the Council secure the implementation of all its resolutions,

The Security Council's role in promoting a safer and more stable climate

needs to be strengthened. One of the most important tasks facing the Council

in this regard is the implementation of the collective security system

envisaged in the Charter.

The new climate of cooperation between the members

of the Council seems to have contributed to creating the conditions that will

facilitate measures leading to the implementation of that system.

It is unfortunate that we live in a world where there is still aggression

by some States against others.

We believe that aggression should always be

swiftly and decisively reversed by the United Nations.

JP/edd

S/PV.3046

81

(Mr. Veiga. Caoe Verde)

On the other hand, we believe that the role of the peace-keeping forces

should be strengthened. Although peace-keeping activities were ingeniously

invented to fill, partially, the vacuum created since the early days of the

United Nations, by the inability of the latter

to implement

the collective

security

system,

we think that such activities have gained a life of their own

and have become an indispensable and important tool in the hands of the

Security Council in its conflict-management role.

United Nations peace-keeping operations have been deployed in various

parts

of

the world with proven success, and in many instances have contributed

to defuse tension and prevented the escalation of hostilities and in

some

cases have even become an indispensable element of a negotiated solution.

We

also believe that, without interfering with the sovereignty of

countries, the deployment of United Nations peace-keeping forces can play an

important and decisive role in helping bring about a speedy peaceful outcome

to

national conflicts whenever no Government is really in charge and chaos

sets in.

National conflicts

are sometimes

as destructive as the fiercest

international conflicts,

The enormous loss of life and the human tragedy they

produce demand no less attention and appeal for no less speedy a response from

the international community.

Apart from the loss of human lives, every national confl.ict has an

international dimension,

for

it generates

massive

numbers of refugees, thus

creating enormous social pressure in neighbouring countries, threatening their

peace and stability.

We are glad to note the positive response of the Security Council in this

respect in recent cases, and we encourage the Council to pursue this course.

JP/edd

WPV.3046

82

(Mr.

Veiaa, Cane Verde)

Because of its important role and its beneficial result in

conflict-management, we favour a review of the United Nations peace-keeping

activities with a view to consolidating their performance and increasing their

effectiveness.

The Secretary-General has an important Charter role to play in assisting

the Security Council in its peacemaking efforts,

by bringing to its attention

any matter that

may,

in his judgement, threaten international peace and

security. This eminently relevant political function of the Secretary-General

has not been implemented in the past as it should have been.

In the current international climate, characterised by a proliferation of

violent conflicts, we believe it to be of great importance that the

Secretary-General use, as often as required,

this prerogative of his as an

inescapable functional duty that, when performed in a

timely

manner, might

prevent a potential dispute from developing into an open conflict. We

encourage the Secretary-General to make effective use of preventive diplomacy.

Whatever the efforts of the Security Council in maintaining international

peace and security, and however commendable the cooperation between its

members might be, the Council measures, in and of themselves, will not suffice

to secure the permanent stability of nations, to quell regional rivalries once

and for all and to weed out violence.

The Council's role will be facilitated when, and only when, the root

causes of instability and conflicts are properly addressed.

Therefore, if we, Members of the United Nations, are to succeed in

creating a safer and

more

stable world, we should be prepared to couple the

efforts of the Security Council with those of the United Nations

system

and

the international community in general to help find an urgent and satisfactory

JP/edd SjPV.3046

83-85

(Mr. Veiaa, Cane Verde)

answer to poverty, underdevelopment and social problems, all of them natural

ferments that brew frustration and violence and spawn constant instability in

world affairs. In this respect, we firmly support the initiative to convene a

world summit on social development.

In many instances, the best, most efficient and longest-lasting security

measure to avoid conflict is to invest in the solution of social problems, the

eradication of poverty and underdevelopment and to promote a cult of respect

for, and strict observance of, the Charter principles - particularly, strict

observance of the principle

of

the peaceful settlement of disputes.

The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Prime Minister, for your speech and your

very strong support

for

the United Nations role.

I propose that we now suspend our meeting until 3 p.m., when I shall

invite Premier Li Peng to address the Council.

EMS/29

S1PV.3046

86

The meetina was susDended at 1.25 p.m. and resumed at 3.10 u.m.

The PRESIDENT: I now invite the Premier of the State Council of the

People's Republic of China

to make a statement.

Mr. LI Peng (China) (interpretation from Chinese): For the first

time

in the 47-year history of the United Nations the Security Council is

meeting here today at the level of Heads of State or Government of its member

States. I am very glad to have the opportunity to attend this meeting as the

representative of the People's Republic of China and, together with my

colleagues from other countries, to discuss major international issues

including in particular ways to give support to a greater role for the United

Nations in maintaining peace and promoting development in the world, as well

as to exchange views on other issues of common interest.

I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to thank the Right Honourable

John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, for his initiative to hold

this meeting.

I should also like to express once again our warmest congratulations to

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali on his assumption of the office of Secretary-General.

The present-day world is at a vital turning-point. The old structure has

come

to an end, while a new one has yet to take shape. The world is moving in

the direction of multipolarization.

World peace, national stability and

economic development are aspirations shared by peoples everywhere. The tense

face-off between the two

major

military bl.ocs in Europe, which lasted for

nearly half a century, is no longer in place.

Some

regional hot spots have

either been or are in the process of being removed. The international

situation has eased to some extent.

EMS/29 S/PV.3046

87

(Mr. Li Pena, China)

However,

factors threatening world peace and causing international

tension have not been removed completely. While some old contradictions and

confrontations have disappeared, new ones have cropped up, rendering our world

neither tranquil nor peaceful.

The Middle East question remains unresolved after the Gulf war, and the

peace talks between the

Arab

countries and Israel

are

likely to be a long and

difficult process. In some European countries conflicts of varying intensity,

or even wars,

have broken out as a result of ethnic strife.

No one can say

for sure that similar conflicts and wars will not take place in other parts of

Europe.

What deserves the close attention of the international community is the

fact that the developing countries, whose populations constitute the

overwhelming majority of the world total,

are finding themselves in an

increasingly difficult position. The gap between the North and the South

continues to biden, with the rich countries becoming richer and the poor

poorer. That state of affairs, if allowed to continue, will eventually lead

to fresh disturbances or even new regional conflicts.

The stark reality shows

that the questions of peace and development,

the two principal themes of the

present-day world, remain to be solved.

In contrast to a turbulent Europe,

the Asia-Pacific region enjoys

relative stability. The signing of the Paris Agreement has laid the

/

foundation for a final settlement of the Cambodian conflict.

Following their

simultaneous admission to membership of the United Nations, the North and the

South of Korea have signed a protocol on mutual non-agression and a joint

declaration on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. The situation on

the peninsula is moving towards relaxation and stability.

EMS/29

S/PV,3046

88-90

(Mr. Li Pena, China)

Quite a few countries in the Asia-Pacific region have enjoyed a rather

high economic growth rate thanks to political stability at home.

This region

has now become a dynamic and promising region in world economic development.

A stable and economically prosperous China not only is in the fundamental

interests of the Chinese people but also constitutes an important factor

making for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world as

a whole. Over the past decade or more,

China has firmly implemented the

policy of reform and opening to the outside world initiated by

Comrade Deng Xiaoping, which has brought enormous changes to the country.

Now

China enjoys political stability, social tranquility, ethnic harmony and

sustained economic growth. With full confidence, the Chinese people are

advancing on the road of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. As

a developing country with a huge population, China knows full well that its

modernization will take a considerably long period of time.

The attainment of

this goal requires two indispensable conditions,

namely an environment

of

prolonged peace and stability internationally and prolonged political

stability at home.

China pursues an independent foreign policy

of

peace. It

always maintains that differences in social system, ideology, cultural

tradition and religious belief should not be an obstacle to establishing and

developing normal relations between States.

JB/30

WPV.3046

91

(Mr, Li Penu, China)

China is ready to develop friendly relations with all countries on the

basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence. It will never become a

threat to any country or any region of the world. China is of the view that

no country should seek hegemony or practice power politics. This should be

made a principle to be observed universally in international relations. China

does not seek a sphere of influence for itself. It does not seek hegemony now

and

will

not

seek

hegemony in future when it grows stronger.

The past few years have seen a further strengthening and development of

friendly and good-neighbourly relations between China and the countries

surrounding it, as a result of the concerted efforts of China and those

countries.

This in our view not only serves the common interests of both

China and those countries but also contributes to the peace and development of

the region and the world as a whole.

In order to win a genuine peace in the world and create a favourable

environment for development for the people of all countries, the international

c&nmunity is focusing

more

and

more

on the subject of what kind of new

international order should be established.

In our view, such basic principles

as the sovereign equality of Member States and non-interference in their

internal affairs, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, should be

observed by all its Members without exception. In ,compliance with the spirit

of the Charter and the established norms governing international relations,

and in the light of the changes in the international situation, the Chinese

Government wishes to share with the Governments of other countries

some of

its

basic views concerning the establishment of a new international order that

will be stable;

rational, just and conducive to world peace and development,

These basic views are:

JB/30

WPV.3046

92

(Mr. Li Pencr, China)

The new international order should be established on the basis of

the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,

mutual non-aggression,

non-interference in each other's internal affairs,

equality, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence.

The core of these

principles is non-interference in each other's internal affairs. The people

and Governments of the various countries are entitled to adopt the social

system and ideology of their own choice in the light

of

their national

conditions.

All countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, are

entitled to participate in world affairs as equal members of the international

community and to,make their own contributions to world peace and development.

I$!$ -

The new international order should include a new economic order,

AS

'<h

the ever-widening gap between North and South and the continued exacerbation

of the disparities between them have become a destabilizing factor in

international life, the establishment of a just and rational new international

economic order based on equality,

mutual benefit and providing for appropriate

handling of the debt burden has become

ever

more urgent and crucial.

The human rights and fundamental freedoms of all mankind should be

universally respected.

Human rights cover many aspects. They include not

only civil and political rights but also economic, social and cultural

rights.

As

far as the large number of developing countries is concerned;the

rights to independence,

subsistence and development are of paramount

importance.

In essence, the issue of human rights falls within the

sovereignty of each country.

A

country's human rights situation should not be

judged in total disregard of its history and national conditions. It is

neither appropriate nor workable to demand that all countries measure up to

the human rights criteria or models of one country

or

a small number of

JB/30

SIPV.3046

93

(Mr. Li Penu, China)

countries. China values human rights and stands ready to engage in discussion

and cooperation with other countries on an equal footing on the question of

human rights on the basis

of

mutual understanding,

mutual respect and seeking

consensusl while reserving differences.

However, it is opposed to

interference in the internal affairs of other countries using the human rights

issue as an excuse.

Effective disarmament and

arms

control should be achieved in a fair,

reasonable, comprehensive and balanced manner.

Efforts should be stepped up

to attain the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear and

chemical weapons at an early date and to ban the development of space

weapons.

Countries in possession of the largest nuclear and conventional

arsenals should take the lead in discharging their special responsibilities

for disarmament.

All nuclear-weapon States should undertake not to be the

first to use nuclear weapons and not to use or threaten to use such weapons

against non-nuclear-weapon States or nuclear-free zones*

The nuclear weapons

Of the disintegrated Soviet Union should be placed under effective control.

As the disarmament issue bears on the national security of all States, it

should be discussed and addressed with their participation.

The United Nations should uphold justice and play a more active role

in maintaining world peace and promoting development, as well as in helping to

establish a new international order.

As most

States Members of the United

Nations belong to the developing world,

it is only reasonable for people to

expect that the Organisation will do

more

to defend the rights and interests

of the developing countries.

In recent years, the United Nations has played an important role in

maintaining world peace and security,

accelerating the settlement of regional

JB/30

S/PV.3046

94

(Mr. Li Pena. China)

conflicts and promoting the economic and social development

of

various

countries.

In so doing, the United Nations has enhanced its prestige and

that

of its Security Council and increased peoples' confidence in the

Organization.

While affirming this, we must also be aware that the drastic

and profound changes in the international situation have led to the

re-emergence

of

numerous contradictions previously hidden from public view,

adding to instability in the pursuit of peace and development in the world.

It is in this sense that the responsibility of the United Nations and its

Security Council has become heavier and that the challenges facing them have

grown

more

formidable.

China is ready to cooperate with all the other

members

of the Security

Council, to discuss issues of common interest to the international community

and to exchange views with them as equals in the spirit of seeking common

ground while reserving difference?,

so as to expand areas of consensus.

China

sincerely hopes that the United Nations and its Security Council will play a

still more active and constructive role in international affairs.

We now have

a newly elected United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros-Ghali.

China

supports the

work

of the Secretary-General and wishes to pledge its full

cooperation. We are confident that,

in discharging his duties, the

Secretary-General will receive extensive support from the developing countries

and the international community at large.

It is our hope that this meeting will have a positive impact on the

maintenance of world peace and security and that it will play an important

role in helping to establish the new international order and to defend the

rights and interests of the developing countries,

thus making a contribution

to the progress of humanity.

JB/30 WPV.3046

95

The PRESIDENT: I thank the Premier for his valuable contribution to

start our afternoon session.

I now invite the Prime Minister of India to

take

the floor.

Mr. RAG (India): Mr. President, we appreciate the initiative you

have taken in convening this meeting. Its deliberations can

show

us a

direction which is indeed important at this juncture. It is good of you to

have helped usmake a beginning.

I also wish to pay a tribute to a personal friend and colleague of

distinction and eminence, whom the United Rations has rightly chosen as its

Secretary-General.

To my brother Boutros Boutros-Ghali, our heartiest

greetings.

May I also recall with gratitude and appreciation the services of

Mr. Perez de Cuellar, which have left so distinctive a

&ark

on this

Organization.

BHS/edd

S/PV.3046

96

(Mr. Rao, India)

We miss today the presence of a distinguished member of this fraternity,

President Mugabe.

We grieve with him in his personal bereavement and convey

to him, through his delegation,

our deepest condolences. To the President of

Hungary,

our good wishes for a speedy recovery from his indisposition.

We are living in a time of change, palpable change. Until very recently,

the Security Council's effectiveness was inhibited by the cold war.

We have

since witnessed an upsurge of democratic sentiment all over the world. We

have been touched by the desire in diverse countries that the values of

liberty, economic justice and the dignity of man should govern the conduct of

world affairs. These are trends of which,our discussions must take cognizance.

The United Nations and the Security Council played the role required of

them in recent months because the permanent members of the Council adopted a

harmonious, cohesive and firm stance in dealing with the threats to the

cherished values of man.

India's support to the United Nations has been complete and consistent.

It has had no fluctuations.

Today, we welcome this fresh effective role of

the Security Council and shall continue our support.

In visualizing its

future role, it is essential that we take note of the emerging forces, the

socio-political undercurrents, that result in unrest, instability and the

recurrence of violence across the globe.

Lasting peace and security necessarily require comparable levels of human

happiness across the globe,

It is impossible to think of a United Nations

functioning usefully or harmoniously while humankind continues to be riddled

with ever-increasing disparities and while the world's natural resources -

land, water and air -

which are really humanity's common heritage are getting

fast depleted by thoughtless acts of overexploitation and environmental

BBS/edd

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(Mr. Rao, India)

degradation. This is the single simple truth which this Organisation has to

take note of. All else falls in place, although the overall task remains

extremely

complicated, even with the best will in the world.

The role of the United Nations must naturally rest on the Charter, which

incorporates the vital framework for action for maintenance of international

peace and security.

But the Charter is only as

legitimate

and secure as its

underpinning by the collective will of the international community.

At every

step, the interpretation of the Charter as well as the actions by the Security

A-

Council must flow from that collective will and not from the views or

predilections of a few.

A

general consensus must always prevail. What is

right and just

must

become transparent. It is as simple as that. Members of

the Security Council, whether permanent or elected, should insist on this

consensus, scrupulously avoiding the temptation to dictate for quick results.

Besides, while prescribing norms and standards for national or international

conduct,

the Security Council must scrupulously accept those norms for itself.

As the composition of the General Assembly has trebled since its

inception, the size of the Security Council cannot remain constant any

longer. Wider representation in the Security Council is a must, if it is to

*:S

ensure

its moral

sanction and political effectiveness.

While implementing its resolutions in good faith, it is incumbent on the

Security Council to anticipate all the consequences of its decisions.

Some

oonsequences

may

be unintended, but they can affect those whom they are least

intended to affect. For instance, economic sanctions against one country can

have

a major

impact on its trading partners.

For developing countries, this

impact can be catastrophic. If the Security Council's actions are to continue

BHS/edd

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(Mr, Rao, India)

to command adherence and

Support,

it must take speedy and parallel action to

address problems arising in a third country from the implementation of its

resolutions. Resides,

it must act decisively and in time to alleviate human

suffering in the country in question,

once the primary purpose 'of imposing

economic sanctions has been fulfilled.

I have profound respect for those who are crusading for the protection

and preservation of human rights.

A

country with a history of over 5,000

years,

with a record of non-invasion and non-annexation of alien territories,

with the shining example of a powerful monarch like Asoka turning into an

apostle of non-violence,

another powerful heir apparent becoming the one and

only Buddha, with a contemporary political system modelled on the best

traditions of human rights and liberties - such is my country,

Indian culture

and human rights in their loftiest form are almost synonymous. However,

having stated this,

we cannot countenance a situation where all human rights

are reserved only for the practitioners of terrorism, while Governments

dealing with this menace are arraigned day and night on grounds of violation

of human rights -

real or imaginary, mostly the latter,

I am fully conscious of the obligations of the State in preserving human

rights, as contrasted with terrorist and secessionist elements killing

innocent citizens with impunity.

What should really be suggested at this

meeting is perhaps to delineate the parameters that harmonise the defence of

national integrity with respect for human rights.

In this view, India is ever

willing to discuss and contribute in the endeavour.

It is also important to note that the content and nature

of

human rights

are conditioned by the social,

traditional and cultural forces that inform

different societies.

While the endeavour of the United Nations as being

BHWedd

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(Mr. Rao. Indig)

intimated in this meeting is gradually to move towards creating uniform

international norms for human rights,

such norms should not be unilaterally

defined and set up as absolute preconditions for interaction between States

and societies in the political or economic spheres.

Our endeavour should be

to work towards a just and fair world economic order and to encourage

countries to

move

towards universal norms of human rights.

We fully share the concerns expressed by several leaders on the threat

posed to international peace and security by the proliferation of nuclear

weapons + Another dimension of international security today is that of the

possible loss of control over nuclear arsenals, What we are faced with is no

longer the possible acquisition

of

such weapons by a handful of threshold

States, but an uncontrolled spread

of

ready-made nuclear weapons

across

the

globe by a variety of means and methods. The proliferation

issue

has thus

assumed a qualitatively and frighteningly new dimension.

While sharing these concerns, we wish to underline, however, that

measures of preventive or punitive action on a selective basis will not

achieve the results we are aiming at.

The sense of disquiet and urgency that

pervades the discussion of this issue is precisely because it has now become a

global

problem and not of a few potential nuclear-weapon States.

In this

imponderable yet terrible scenario,

technical fixes or regional arrangements

can no longer suffice.

The

difficulties of monitoring and policing activities

in a large number of States,

several of them not even accurately identified at

any given

time,

preclude effective results. The Secretary-General cannot, I

submit,

be expected to be inspecting basements and searching for bombs.

This

can hardly succeed, as anyone can see.

There

must

be some other way.

BHWedd

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(Mr. Rao. India)

What then is the answer to this difficult dilemma7 In our view, the only

logical route available to us is to pursue a global approach, based on a new

international consensus on non-proliferation.

To be effective, this global

non-proliferation

regime

must be universal, comprehensive and

non-discriminatory and linked to the goal of complete nuclear disarmament.

At'the third special session of the United Nations devoted to

disarmament, held in 1988, the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India put

forward a specific Action Plan for Disarmament, which would eliminate all

weapons of

mass

destruction in stages, eventually leading to a

nuclear-weapon-free and non-violent world. The plan contained all the

key

elements of a new international consensus on nuclear non-proliferation,

First, it called for the conclusion

of

an international convention on the

prohibition of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. Second, it

advocated a comprehensive test-ban treaty.

Third, threshold States would

undertake obligations not to cross the threshold, and this would be linked to

corresponding obligations by nuclear-weapon States to eliminate their nuclear

arsenals by the year 2010 at the latest.

El!‘/32

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(Mr. Rae, India)

At

the time this action plan was put forward,

some nuclear-weapon States

expressed difficulty in accepting these ideas in view of their adherence to

the so called doctrine of nuclear deterrence. This doctrine was anchored in

the specific! context of East-West confrontation and the cold war. The cold

war is now over: the nuclear stand-off is a thing of the past.

The doctrine

of nuclear deterrence is no longer relevant.

We are now offered a historic opportunity to exercise statesmanship and

move,

quickly,

to eliminate

nuclear weapons altogether

from

the face of the

Earth. In particular,

the ideas India put forward in its action plan - or any

alterations thereof -

for

example,

a universal pledge to abjure the use of

nuclear weapons,

to conclude a comprehensive test-ban treaty and to develop a

new,

universal and non-discriminatory approach to non-proliferation, acquire

compelling relevance. It is only within the framework of such a consensusI

and through no other means, that the Security Council can deal effectively

with the threats to peace emanating from the proliferation

of

nuclear weapons

in

its current, global dimension.

If our meeting today can make a declaration

along these lines, we will have made a truly historic contribution to the

promotion of lasting peace and security.

In fact,

I would venture to suggest that, going even beyond India's

action plan, the.target date for a nuclear-weapon-free world should now be

advanced to the end of the present century.

It would be a hopeful note on

which to enter the twenty-first century.

Mr. President,

the statement you will be reading out on behalf of the

members of the Council at the end of today's meeting has been the subject

of

intensive, productive discussions. We were happy to be part of the exercise

and to have made our contribution to it.

We consider it an important

EF/32

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(Mr. Rao. India)

statement. However,

I find that the statement does not reflect one or two of

India's crucial concerns.

These I have mentioned clearly in my intervention

just now.

This, of course, does not detract from the significance of the

statement you are about to make or from 1ndia's"cooperation. Indeed, I trust

that today's meeting will spur our common efforts to cooperate to mutual

benefit and in the interest of all, in accordance with the provisions of the

Charter.

The PRESIDENT: Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for that comprehensive

contribution.

I now invite the Prime Minister of Japan to address the Council.

Mr,

MIYAZAWiJ

(Japan): The year 1992 marks a point of departure

towards a promising future for the United Nations. It is thus

most

appropriate that,

for

the first time in its history, the Security Council has

convened a meeting

of

Heads of State or Government at the beginning of the

year. I should like to convey my sincere respect to Prime Minister John Major

for his excellent leadership in making this summit meeting a reality.

I should also like to extend a heartfelt welcome to

President Boris Yeltsin, who is here at the United Nations for the first time

as the leader of the Russian Federation.

The political and economic stability

of the Federation is of great importance to the peace and stability of the

entire world. I am confident that Russia will successfully discharge its

awesome

responsibilities,

not only as a Member of the United Nations but also

as a permanent member of the Security Council.

I also extend

my warmest

congratulations to Secretary-General

Boutros-Ghali, who has assumed his new post amid growing expectations of the

EF/32 SIPV.3046

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(Mr. Mivazawa. JaRan)

role to be played by the United Nations. 1 take this opportunity to express

the firm determination of

my

Government to support him in all his endeavours.

The cold war that divided East and West throughout the post-war period

has finally ended, and the configuration of the world is about to undergo

epochal change. While the international situation in this post-cold-war era

is highly fluid, it also presents abundant opportunities to build a new and

peaceful world order. The precise shape of this new world order is not yet

clear, but all countries must join together to construct a new peace order

appropriate to the new era, for the sake of the freedom and prosperity of

humankind and the future of our planet.

At this time of transition,

the United Nations has begun to play, both in

theoryland in practice, a central role in efforts to achieve and maintain

world peace, Expectations of the United Nations among the peoples of the

world have reached new heights; its role, and particularly that of the

Security Council, during the Gulf crisis,

remains vivid in our memory. United

Nations involvement has been central to the attainment of peace in Central

America,

to the resolution of the conflict in Yugoslavia and to the final

phase of the Cambodian peace process.

United Nations peace-keeping operations have played a

major role

in

ensuring world peace and security over the more than 40 years since the

operation was first established. Their importance continues to grow, as

reflected in the fact that five new peace-keeping operations were established

in the last year alone, and, in the Asia-Pacific region, the United Nations

Transitional Authority in Cambodia,

soon to be established, will have a range

Of activities unprecedented in United Nations history.

EF/32

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(Mr. Miyazawa. Japan)

Clearly, more active cooperation by Members of the United Nations will be

needed in this area. Keenly aware

of

this need,

Japan is now striving to make

the necessary domestic arrangements to contribute personnel to peace-keeping

operations. I shall do my utmost to have the relevant legislation approved by

the Japanese Diet during its current session, which commenced this month.

What are the issues confronting the United Nations today as it responds

to expectations for the role it is to play in the attainment and maintenance

of peace? The major issues are, in my view: first, how the United Nations

will adjust itself to the epochal changes; secondly, how it will improve its

effectiveness in peace-keeping and peace-making efforts; and, thirdly, how it

can secure a sound financial base that will enable it to carry out those '

efforts.

First of all, I believe that, in securing a peaceful world order, the

ideals and purposes of the United Nations Charter,

which represent fundamental

and universal values, will be of even greater relevance than ever before. It

is incumbent on Member States to strive, constantly, to ensure that each of

these values is 'respected in practice.

At the same time, it is also necessary

for the United Nations to evolve while adapting to a changing world.

For

example, certain sections of the United Nations Charter are based on the

realities prevailing in 1945,

when the United Nations was founded, which

predate even the cold war.

In addition, since the Security Council is at the centre of United

Nations efforts to maintain international peace and security, it is important

to consider thoroughly ways to adjust its functions, composition and other

aspects so as to make it more reflective of the realities of the new era.

This is a process in which Japan is prepared to take an active part.

RW33 S/W.3046

106

(Mr. Mivazawafl JW)

Secondly,

it is important to consider concrete measures to strengthan th*

functions

of the United Nations so that it can work more effectively

t0

Secure

a peaceful world order.

The importance of peace-keeping activities doem *Ot

need to be repeated here, but I should like to comment on the need to

Strengthen the functions of the United Nations in the area of conflict

prevention. It is essential that the Secretary-General, who plays a crucial

role

in the United Nations mediation efforts and good offices, be given

sufficient information concerning tensions that could escalate into

international conflicts. An important step in that direction was

mada last:

December with the adoption by the General Assembly of the Declaration On

Fact-Finding by the United Nations in the Field of the Maintenance

Of

\

International Peace and Security, which was proposed and sponsored by Japan

and other countries, It would also be useful if countries with sophisticated

information-gathering capabilities would provide the Secretary-General with

relevant information, as appropriate. I

hope

that this

issue

will receive due

consideration.

Thirdly, a sound financial base is essential to enhancing

the

effectiveness of the United Nations and to ensuring that its various

activities are conducted smoothly.

As

reported last autumn by the then

Secretary-General

Mr.

Javier Peres

de Cuellar,

the United Nations

continues ko

be faced with critical financial difficulties. At the end

of 1991 a total of

approximately US$ 800 million in assessed contributions was

still

outstanding. If the United Nations is to play

a

central

role in establishing

a new and peaceful world order,

serious efforts by all Member States are

urgently required to resolve this issue.

Nor

are

peace-keeping

operations

immune to these difficulties. In particular,

the availability

of

funds

RM/33

S'PV.3046

107

(Mr. Mivazawa.

Japan)

necessary for the start-up phase of a peace-keeping operation is essential to

its smooth deployment. It is also important that States concerned, including

those which would extend considerable financial support to ,the peace-keeping

operations, become involved in consultations on its establishment from the

earliest steps.

I should add that the International Court of Justice also plays an

important role in promoting the peaceful settlement

of

international

conflicts. At this time, when strengthening the rule of law in international

affairs should be an important element in the creation of a new and peaceful

world order, it,is necessary to make better use of the Court and to enhance

its functions.

The threat of military'force has long been considered the primary threat

to peace and security. While this threat seems to have subsided considerably,

humankind's economic and technological achievements have, ironically, given

rise to a host of global environmental problems and other threats to human

survival of a non-military nature. The United Nations will consider global

environmental problems at the Conference on Environment and Development to be

held in June. I would hope that this is just a beginning and that the United

Nations will hereafter address these new threats with the determination and

effectiveness they demand.

The trend towards world peace that we are witnessing today will not

endure unless the dividends

of

peace are shared by all - but especially by the

peoples of the South who are beset with famine, poverty, disease and other

hardships. The serious efforts of the United Nations in addressing the

North-South problem should contribute to world peace and stability. It is

also necessary to extend appropriate assistance to the self-help efforts

of

RM/33 WPV.3046

108

(m, Miw3zawa~ J-1

developing countries, Those efforts, in turn,

will foster

respect

for human

rights and the spread of

democracy,

values shared by peoples in

all parts Of

the world.

In securing peace the United Nations also has a

tremendously' imPorkank

role to play in the field of arms control and disarmament.

Japan has been

actively contributing to'strengthening the role

of

the

United Nations in that

field and has strongly supported the efforts of the countries concerned

towards disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, with a view to

attaining strategic stability at a lower level

of

armament.

I welcome

the

disarmament proposals

made

very recently by President Bush and

President Yeltsin. I sincerely hope that, through consultations between the

United States and the Russian Federation, they will lead to concrete results.

The dramatic changes in the international

milieu have once again

highlighted the importtince of disarmament effdrts, including those to prevent

the proliferation of weapons of

mass

destruction.

I

need

not point out: to

those assembled here today that,

with the dissolution of

the SoGiet Union

and

the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States

(CIS), the question

of

how

to prevent the dissemination of those weapons,

of

their

production facilities

and of related technologies is one of vital importance.

I commend the

leaders

of the CIS for their determination to liberate

their institutions from

military domination, and I hope that they will continue to work to

prevent

the

proliferation of nuclear and

other weapons of

mass

destruction as well as

related technologies.

The proliferation and transfer of weapons is a matter

Of

Concern t0 every

member of the international CommunitY-

Spurred by the initiatives from

Japan

and countries of the European ~O~unitY~

the

General Assembly

last

year

RM/33 SiPV.3046

109-110

(Mr. Mivazawa, JaDan)

formally

adopted a resolution to establish a United Nations Register on Arms

Transfers,

I call upon the members of the Security Council to

w&rk

together

for the smooth implementdtion of this Register. Steps to strengthen the

regime

of

the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation

of

Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to

conclude successfully negotiations on the convention on chemical weapons this

year are also

of

major

importance. The Security Council ought to be seized of

the developments made in these areas.

In the light of the circumstances I have just described, I should like to

propose the following measures to render the United Nations

more

suited to the

international situation of the twenty-first century.

First, looking ahead to 1995, when the United Nations will celebrate its

fiftieth anniversary, I should like to propose that discussions be held within

the Organization to ensure that it plays a central role in maintaining and

strengthening the peaceful world order.

These discussions should include a

consideration

of

the functions and organisational structure of the United

Nations.

BCT/ed SlPV.3046

111

(Mr, Mivazawa, Japan)

Secondly,

in order to secure the smooth functioning

of

peace-keeping

operations, I would propose the creation, as necessary, of a consultative

mechanism on their establishment, particularly the establishment of

large-scale peace-keeping operations. This mechanism would be in the form of

a consultative group of an appropriate size whose members would include

countries which are major contributors of funds, among other things, as well

as the countries concerned in the region.

I would also emphasize the

importance

of

securing sufficient funds for peace-keeping operations at their

initial stage, and invite Member States to

make

voluntary contributions to the

peace-keeping-operation Trust Fund in the United Nations.

Thirdly, I propose that concrete ways be sought to strengthen the role of

the United Nations in facing non-military threats to the future security and

prosperity of humankind, including those relating to the environment, refugees

and poverty, I hope that the Secretary-General will bring these non-military

threats to the attention of the relevant United Nations organs.

Fourthly, in the area of arms control and disarmament, I propose that

concrete measures be urgently considered for bolstering

the

efforts of the

United Nations and the countries concerned to strengthen the control of, and

to

prevent the proliferation of, nuclear and other weapons of

mass

destruction, in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and to

restrain the international transfer

of

conventional weapons.

It is the responsibility of all the members of the international

community to

work

for the maintenance of world peace.

As

we enter the

twenty-first century, the Security Council and,

indeed, every country in the

world are required to face in earnest the problems which lie before us as we

shape a new and peaceful world order. Having recently commenced its term as a

BCT/ed

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(Mr. Mivazawa, Janan)

non-permanent member of the Security Council,

Japan realizes that present

circumstances confer upon it particularly weighty responsibilities.

Japan

earnestly embraces these responsibilities without reservation and, as

envisaged in its Constitution,

is determined to continue to extend

maximum

support to the United Nations in the name of international cooperation.

The PRESIDENT: I thank the Prime Minister for stressing his

commitment to the work of the United Nations and setting out

some

proposals

for its future.

I now invite the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Personal Emissary of

the Prime Minister of Hungary to address the Council.

Mr, JESZENSZKY (Hungary): At this meeting of historic significance,

I have the honour to deliver my statement also on behalf of the Prime Minister

of Hungary, who regrets that he is not able to be present amongst us. I have

just spoken to him on the telephone.

The world order that appeared unshakeable for decades is now passing

through a period of stormy and radical change. Following the end of the cold

war, the world is witnessing the growing advance of freedom, democracy and the

rule of law. A striking manifestation of this progress was the announcement

made this morning by President Yeltsin about the release of the very last

political prisoners in Russia. However, this transformation is accompanied by

tremendous difficulties and tensions which are especially manifest in the

former Communist countries.

At

the present juncture, all the democratic

Governments are being called upon to play an active role in shaping the course

of world history for the coming decades,

BCT/ed S/PV. 3046

113

(Mr. Jeszenszkv. Hungarv)

Mr. President, the Republic of Hungary welcomes and highly appreciates

your initiative of inviting the States members of the United Nations Security

Council to meet in New York. The very fact that the States represented in

this body are meeting at the highest level for the first time in the history

of the world Organisation is a telling indication

of

the increased role and

importance of this forum, bearing as it does primary responsibility for the

maintenance of international peace and security.

My

country, as well as the

region I come from, has always looked to this body with great expectations and

hopes. We did so particularly in the dramatic days of 1956, when we believed

that

the United Nations would be able to stop the Soviet tanks from

suppressing the democratic revolution and the freedom fight of the Hungarian

people and could prevent bloody reprisals,

Today, we are pleased that after

35 years the leaders in Moscow openly dissociate themselves

from

those past

Soviet actions, For well-known reasons, however, no active assistance was

forthcoming at that time, but the

moral

and political support of the United

Nations still meant a lot to us,

The experience of that period should

encourage us to urge the United Nations, with its increased capacity for

action,

not to leave peoples alone in their struggle for the realization

of

their right to self-determination, and to do its utmost to ensure free and

democratic development and the exercise of human rights in each and every

country of the world.

The favourable changes of recent years have created proper conditions for

the United Nations to put into practice the principles and purposes enshrined

in its Charter as long ago as 1945. The world Organization has now escaped

the paralysing effect of great-Power confrontation,

and is now able to respond

BCT/ed

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114

(Mr. Jeszenszkv, Hungary)

more effectively to the challenges to peace and security.

It is our firm

belief that, along with its peace-keeping activities and by its involvement in

making and building peace,

the United Nations is becoming an irreplaceable

factor

of

international relations.

we hold that the peace-keeping

miSSiOnS

Of

the United Nations should no longer be seen as some kind of an external

fOrC@

designed

merely

to confine conflicts and to preserve status ouos, but as

factors contributing creatively to removing hotbeds of crisis by upholding

democratic values and enforcing respect for human rights.

As

a member of the

Security Council, Hungary wishes to take its share in ensuring that this new

philosophy of preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping is

translated into concrete and effective measures.

In this phase

of

profound transformations, a review

of

the activities and

the efficiency of the United Nations has become necessary. What the world

needs i,s a renewed and reformed United Nations capable of meeting the

challenges of the present and the future.

It was exactly a year ago that,

under the authority of the Security

Council, the multinational coalition of countries took action to liberate

Kuwait. The operation against the Iraqi aggression was a landmark in the

history of the United Nations,

On the one hand, it provided evidence of the

capacity of the international community,

through the Security Council, to

undertake peacemaking actions and to deal with local conflicts in the interest

of collective security,

as set forth in the Charter.

On the other hand, it

highlighted another,

exemplary Security Council action:

launching a

large-scale humanitarian operation to save the Kurds of Iraq.

We view those

steps taken by the Security Council as a manifestation

of

the peace-building

activity to safeguard human rights and the rights of minorities.

S/W.3046

115

(Mr. Jeszensakv, Hunaary)

For the Republic of Hungary, respect for human rights and the rights of

national minorities is not merely a legal and humanitarian question:

it is

also an integral part of international collective security, Therefore, it is

indispensable for the Security Council to take resolute action to defend and

protect these rights.

JPIASW

WPV.3046

116

(Mr. Jeszenszkv, Hunaary)

The presence,

wherever needed, of United Nations personnel to guarantee

the enforcement of those rights should be seen as an integral part of United

Nations peace-building activities.

The decisions of the Security Council regarding the military arsenal of a

United Nations Member State having committed aggression are, in our judgement,

a precedent deserving unreserved support.

The limitation of the armaments and

the number of troops of an aggressor State or, for that

matter,

of an

aggressor

army

out of political control,

as well as their disarmament under an

international verification

system,

should be a new,

important dimension of the

activities of the Security Council.

Central and Eastern Europe is the scene of major, crucial changes.

The

peoples of that region, after

long

decades,

are again free to decide their own

destiny.

At

the same time, the communist-dictatorial

system

has bequeathed a grave

legacy. This

may be

a source of tensions jeopardizing and weakening the hoped

for stability in the region. The United Nations is faced with great tasks in

ensuring, with its authority and through avenues open to it under

international law,

that the transition to democracy and a market economy in

the countries

of

that region follow a peaceful course and lead to stability.

One of the

most

urgent

tasks stems from

the situation emerging after the

disintegration of the former Soviet Union.

Following

more

than seven decades

of rule by a totalitarian regime,

which

took

a toll

of

millions of human

lives, what

emerges is

an economy in ruins with ensuing grave social problems,

no clear-cut arrangements for the control of formidable nuclear weapons and

the eruption of violent ethnic discords.

This situation could plunge the

worid into a critical state.

The successor States of the defunct empire are

JP/ASW

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(Mr, Jeszensskv, Hunaary)

fully

justified in their efforts to build the closest possible ties with the

world community.

This, in turn,

can offer us reliable prospects for a

positive settlement of the many relevant security and arms-control

questions,

as well as

for

the full observance of international standards in the fields of

human rights and minority rights.

Hungary is guided

by these

considerations

when it lends support to a strong involvement of the

former Soviet

republics

in the work of multilateral forums,

primarily the United Nations and its

specialised agencies, and also the Conference on Security and Cooperation in

Europe process.

The processes of rearrangement taking place in our region have led not

only to potential crisis situations but also to an actual explosion in what

was Yugoslavia. The senseless war raging in

our

vicinity has affected Hungary

most directly,

Continuous violations of our airspace and borders and the flow

of over 50,000 refugees to our country are indications of a critical situation

that poses a serious threat to international peace and security and carries

additional grave implications,

Public opinion in Hungary and the Government are deeply concerned at the

human misery and material devastation brought upon the peoples of that land,

including the continuous and

systematic

violations of the human rights and

minority rights of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians who live in the

province of Vojvodina and the sufferings

of

those Hungarians who live along

the

Croatian front lines.

The future of the Hungarians there, like that Of

any

other minorities inhabiting the southern Slav States, could be assured by,

among other things,

the institution of territorial and cultural aUtOnOmieSr as

proposed

by Lord Carrington. In our opinion, during the political

negotiations aimed at reaching a durable and satisfactory settlement of the

JP/ASW

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(Mr. Jesaenszkv, HunoarY)

problems it is incumbent upon the Security Council to monitor carefully,

in

close cooperation with the European Community,

the developments in that land

and to deploy United Nations

monitors

or peace-keeping forces in all areas

where tensions or conflicts might arise.

In the present situation the United Nations has

a major

contribution to

make to the solution of the conflict between the southern Slav peoples.

Hungary pledges its full support for an early dispatch of United Nations

peace-keeping forces,

in accordance with the plan formulated by the

Secretary-General.

We expect such action - together with the embargo on all

deliveries of weapons and

military

equipment, which must be strictly observed

by all Member States of the United Nations -

to facilitate significantly the

reaching of a comprehensive political settlement there. The admission of

former Yugoslav republics to membership in the United Nations would be a

further step along the way to peace and stability in the whole region.

The current involvement of the United Nations in the Yugoslav crisis can

in no way replace talks between the peoples and minorities concerned, nor

should it impede the conclusion of arrangements which would have to take into

account the legitimate interests of all the parties concerned,

We are of the

view that a peaceful future for the region can be ensured only by reaffirming

the inadmissibility of the forcible change of borders, recognising the rights

of peoples to self-determination and enforcing human rights.

We consider that

the setting up of a control mechanism for the verification of the provisions

of the relevant agreements could be highly important elements of a

comprehensive settlement.

At this historic moment of unprecedented change we ought to consider

another no less important repercussion of these transformations.

The world

JP/ASW

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(Mr. Jeszenszkv. Hungary)

has to face the challenge

of

dismantling enormous war

machines

and

no political control. Not only should war industries be converted to civilian

purposes, but a large number of

scientists,

experts and professional soldiers

also need to be retrained or reprogrammed.

The future

of

the newly

independent States in the Balkans and in the former Soviet Union hinges

largely on the success or failure of this huge endeavour of human conversion.

Parallel with this demolition and recycling process, there should be

some

new creations as well. In our view,

under the changed international

Circumstances, due consideration

should

be given to the idea of the United

Nations instituting a force readily and constantly available that could be

mobilized on very short notice, at any given time,

and deployed without delay

in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter

t0 any conflict-stricken region

of

the world.

Today's event, unique in the history of the United Nations, and made

possible by the fading away of the obsolete ideological confrontations of the

past, gives us an opportunity, and creates much better conditions, to take up

successfully the challenges of our era and to give the right answers to the

global problems

of

security, democracy, economic and social development and

ecology that we are faced with.

In this context,

the idea of convening a

meaningful summit meeting on questions of social development

merits

our close

attention.

Our gathering here also gives us an opportunity to reaffirm our

confidence in, and support

for,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali,,the new

Secretary-General of our Organisation, whose well-known commitment to peace

and international understanding is a guarantee that the effective role of the

JP/ASW WPV.3046

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(Mr. Jeszenszkv, Hunaary)

United Nations in international relations will continue to grow in the years

to come. The Government of the Republic of Hungary is ready to contribute

fully to the strengthenng of our world Organisation and to the improvement of

its functioning in accordance with the exigencies of our

times,

There can be

no doubt that the United Nations, born in 1945, will be

a major

factor in the

world of the twenty-first century.

The PRESIDENT:

Thank you,

Mr.

Minister, for your statement on your

own behalf and on behalf of Prime Minister Antall.

I have been asked by the Prime Minister of Hungary to convey his

apologies and most sincere greetings to all the Heads of State or Government

of the countries participating in this meeting

of

the Security Council, and I

do that

most

happily.

I now have pleasure in inviting the Minister of Foreign Affairs and

Personal Emissary of the President of Zimbabwe to take the floor.

EMS/36 S1PV.3046

121

Mr. SHAMUYARIRA (Zimbabwe):

May I say how very pleased I am to see

YOU,

Prime Minister Major, presiding over our deliberations today. I

Congratulate you and I thank you for the very timely initiative you have taken

in convening this historic gathering.

I also take this opportunity to

welcome

our new

Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and to convey to him Zimbabwe's congratulations on

his election.

Those of us who

come

from Africa have known him

as one

Of Our

eminent intellectuals and as an unflinching defender of peace. We are

appreciative of the enormous wealth of experience and skill he brings

to

the

helm

of

this world body.

We are greatly indebted also to his predecessor, Mr, Javier Perez

de Cuellar,

a dignified arbiter who, during his terms of office, turned around

the fortunes of this Organisation and tirelessly worked

for

peace, even to the

very last minute of his tour of duty. We are grateful to him and we wish him

good health and many successes in his

retirement.

As we

meet

today we are witnessing ominous developments that threaten to

suffocate the fragile positive trends we had begun to see recently. Signs

abound that we have entered a world situation almost as unpredictable and

dangerous as that which prevailed in the cold-war era. Conflicts and tensions

Of a new nature are erupting in regions that had been spared instability in

the post-Second World War era. We have heard many references to those

situations in the speeches made this morning and this, afternoon in this

distinguished gathering.

The bold strides in disarmament that had been made hy the United States

of

America

and

the

then Soviet Union had given us enormous

comfort

and hope

that we were at last safe from the threat of nuclear annihilation.

But

EMS/36

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122

(Mr, Shamuvarira. Zimbabwe)

instead of entering a post-nuclear

age we

are now witnessing

the

possible

beginning of an age of dangerous and uncontrolled proliferation and civil

strife in several areas. As was said by another speaker earlier,

some

of

those areas of civil strife spill over into regional and international threats

to peace and security.

To make

matters

worser

as business booms in the

international arms bazaar, the weak economies of the South remain in the grip

of deepening crisis, while growing poverty -

a tragically potent source of

instability - is becoming a menace to recent gains in democracy;

The responsibility lies squarely with the United Nations and in

particular with this Council to rescue us from this unpredictable and

dangerous situation. The Organization of African Unity looks to this body to

democratise the international

system

so that all nations big and

small

can

participate fully in peace-making and peace-keeping. As the principles of the

United Nations Charter must govern the global order we wish to construct, and

since our efforts should

result

in a United Nations that is stronger

and

more

effective, Zimbabwe holds the view: that the process must begin with a

reexamination of the Charter itself in the context of the changing

international circumstances.

That is also the expressed view of the

Organiaation of African Unity.

A

nevi world order can best be constructed by

reexamining the Charter,

rectifying the flaws and closing the gaps that have

been revealed by recent developments,

and updating those of its provisions

that have been rendered obsolete by the new international circumstances.

The fact that we have had to resort to improvisation in certain cases is

in itself clear evidence of the need to revise the Charter.

For instance, as

Mr. Perez de Cuellar's report of 1991 rightly observed, the costs and

capabilities demanded by modern warfare inevitably led

to major

modifications

EMS/36 S/PV.3046

123

(Mr. Shamuvarira, Zimbabwe)

in the application of Article 42, Chapter VII, with respect to carrying out

combined international enforcement action during the Gulf crisis. Also, we

have developed and pursued peace-keeping and peace-making operations which are

not provided for anywhere in the Charter. Yet these are among the most

effective and successful activities of the United Nations.

In the

presentations made this morning and this afternoon

, much stress has been

placed on the importance of the peace-keeping role of the United Nations in

the world. We strongly support that view.

Certainly, the Organisation of

African Unity would like to see greater assistance from the United Nations in

areas of strife in Africa that need some international external intervention.

But, as I said, this was not specifically provided for in the Charter; we have

been operating under arrangements we made in the early 1960s as the problems

arose.

It is in this context that I wish to comment on some aspects of the

Charter and to share with colleagues some preliminary suggestions regarding

how we can bring some missing pieces 'into the Charter, how we can reinforce

those of its provisions that have served us well in the past, how we can

revive some of its potentially valuable provisions that have been dormant, and

how we can update the provisions we feel have been rendered obsolete by the

changed international situation.

Obviously, I will not deal at length with these provisions; my task has

been made lighter by some of the references already made by earlier speakers

such as the President of Venezuela, the President of France and the Prime

Minister of Japan to the need to look again at the Charter.

In the emerging international situation we would like to see increasing

use of Article 41, Chapter VII, of the Charter, relating to effective

EMS/36 SIPV.3046

124-125

(Mr, Shamuvarira. Zimbabwe)

collective measures that

can

be

taken,

but not involving the use of armed

force, That means

more

use

of

measures such as economic sanctions to ensure

compliance with Security Council resolutions. But the problem with economic

sanctions is the adverse effect they

may

have on third countries, or what are

called victim States. Although Article 50 was designed to give some

protection to such States, the experience of the Gulf war revealed that

some

gaps need to be closed. The application of sanctions against Iraq brought

hardship to many countries in the region and beyond. The fact that

representations continue to

come

to the sanctions Committee from the

most

affected States even today demonstrates the inadequacy of Article 50. What is

required are clear criteria for determining who deserves assistance and

standing United Nations arrangements for the mobilisation

of

the resources

needed to assist the affected States.,

We hope that when the Secretary-General, presents his recommendations to

us before July, as we shall request him to do at today's meeting, he will have

had time to reflect on

some

of the issues that we are only mentioning now. We

shall certainly cooperate in looking at those issues in much greater depth.

A

related issue that

may

need to be looked at again is the effect

economic sanctions

may

have on innocent civilians living in a State whose

Government they cannot change.

Such people lack the political means to

reverse the very policies that give rise to the offence that is the object of

sanctions.

JB/37 S/PV.3046

126

(Mr. Shamuvarira. Zimbabwe)

In order to avoid the many misgivings expressed by some regarding the

prosecution of the Gulf War, future collective enforcement operations must be

fully accountable to the Security Council and should be truly representative.

This can be achieved by strengthening Article 46 of the Charter, which gives a

role to the Military Staff Committee. However, if we are to give such an

important role to the Military Staff Committee, its membership cannot remain

limited to only a few. Non-permanent

members

should also participate in all

the work of the Committee,. This would ensure that collective enforcement

actions

are

not

dominated by a single group of countries.

/

Collective enforcement arrangements of the United Nations should also

ensure uniformity.

In the event

of

aggression, combined international

enforcement action should be taken irrespective of who the aggressor is or who

the victim. Zimbabwe believes that a collective security

system

liable to a

veto by one or a few States is not reliable. It

means

that the Security

Council cannot take any action in a conflict in which one

of

the permanent

members has a direct interest,

Undoubtedly,

this was one of the

considerations at San Francisco, but has that issue not now been overtaken by

events? In this regard, consideration could be given to extending paragraph 3

Of Article 27, which provides that in decisions relating to peaceful

settlements of disputes under Chapter VI, a party to a dispute shall abstain

from

voting. Our view is that this should also apply to Chapter VII, so that

those who wield the veto power

may

not block the imposition of sanctions or

any other collective enforcement action where they are party to a conflict.

A

very positive development in the emerging new world order is the

increasing reluctance we see on the part of the permanent members to use their

own veto. They now prefer to reach decisions by consensus. We welcome and

encourage this trend, and hold out the hope that the veto

may

eventually be

JB/37

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(Mr. Shamuvarira. Zimbabwe)

abolished or

will

fall away because of disuse,

While in the aftermath of the

Second World War the victorious Powers had special privileges, now in the

post-cold war era we believe that we are all victors and that there should be

no losers. Consequently,

no one deserves any special privileges.

Zimbabwe and other non-aligned States have always subscribed to the

principle that general and complete disarmament.can only be achieved in the

multilateral forum of this body

of

the United Nations.

In the face of the

growing menace from the proliferation

of

weapons of

mass

destruction, which

has been referred to,

we hope that by addressing the issue of disarmament in

resolution 687 (1991) and in the draft declaration before us, the Security

Council has now

come

to recognise this principle as well.

We also believe that the Security Council should ensure that the

initiators of the Arms Transfer Register established by the General Assembly

only last month, and to which Zimbabwe lent its support, will follow through

on their assurances to us that, in time,

it will develop into a comprehensive

and non-discriminatory register that also covers nuclear-weapon stockpiles,

domestic production and the transfer of dual-purpose items.

In tandem with the Arms Transfer Register, we believe that multilateral

disarmament could further be boosted by the use of the provisions

of

Article

26 and

of

paragraph 1 of Article 47 of the Charter, which

empower the

Security Council, with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee, to put

in place a

system

for the regulation of armaments.

These provisions, which

have been dormant since the founding of the Organization, would have rendered

unnecessary the ad hoc creation by resolution 687 (1991) of the Special

Commission currently dealing with the disarmament measures imposed on Iraq.

It is our view that an opportunity still exists to utilise them in

JB/37 UPV.3046

128

(Mr. Shamuvarira, Zimbabwe)

implementing the disarmament

measures

for the wider Middle East region

provided for in resolution 687 (1991).

In addition to unilateral reductions of nuclear arsenals, those who hold

nuclear weapons should demonstrate their commitment to making the post-cold

war world a safer place by subscribing to the conversion of the present

partial test-ban Treaty of 1962 into a comprehensive test-ban treaty.

Having

ourselves recently acceded to the non-proliferation Treaty - and we are happy

to note that some members at this table are in the process of acceding to that

Treaty -

we hope that at the next review of the Treaty'our oft-voiced concerns

will be adequately addressed. In particular, we hope that the International

Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections

of

the nuclear facilities of recent

adherents to the non-proliferation Treaty will be thorough and detailed. We

should avoid taking action when it is too late.

But the route we should take

in the area

of

disarmament is to demilitarize consistently both the domestic

and the international situations.

The manufacturers as well as the recipients

and users of dangerous weapons should be stopped from trading in death. We

should demilitarize our societies in the new world order.

In Africa, many Governments are rightly linking disarmament to

development. They visualiae a situation where more funds will now be made

available for debt relief and various forms

of

aid. The vast sums of money

being spent on armaments would go a long way towards ameliorating the plight

of millions of people in developing countries who are in dire need of

resources to raise their standards

of

living. In the new climate resulting

from the ending of ideological confrontations, a reexamination of the

conclusions of the International Conference on the Relationship between

JB/37

SlPV.3046

129

(MI-.

Shamuvarira, Zimbabwe)

Disarmament

and Development,

held here in New York in 1987, might help us to

go forward.

A proposal to expand the membership of the Security Council and to ensure

equitable representation in

this body has been before the General Assembly

since 1979,

alongside the other items which I mentioned earlier, which have

also been before this body for

some

time.

The Council.cannot afford to shield

itself from change

at a time

when all the other major organs of the United

Nations are going through a process of

reform

and when new international

circumstances call for readjustments.

The increase in the total membership of

the United Nations alone is sufficient to warrant expansion of the membership

of the Council.

The Prime Minister of India gave us some figures to indicate

the rapid increase that has taken place in the membership of the United

Nations itself.

The Security Council takes decisions of

major

importance on behalf of the

entire membership of the United Nations.

Those decisions should be made

representative of the will of the general membership,

In 1945, the Council

represented 20 per cent of the United Nations membership: but now, with United

Nations membership having risen to 166,

the Council represents less than

10 per cent. Clearly, the Council has become less representative than it was

before, and the question of equitable geographical representation also has to

be addressed.

One region is clearly overrepresented on the Council, while

Africa and Latin America are not represented at all among the permament

members.

Zimbabwe believes that the decisions of an expanded and

more

representative Council would carry

more

weight.

We support the proposal of

the Organisation of African Unity that

matters

of restructuring the organs of

JP/37 SjPV.3046

130

'

(Mr,

Shamuvarira, Zimbabwe)

the United Nations should be discussed in the General Assembly so that members

there can express their views and contribute to the new world order which we

are discussing.

On the question of human rights, Zimbabwe is fully committed to the

promotion of the full enjoyment of all basic, human rights by all citizens in

any State that is a Member of the United Nations. Established principles

governing inter-State relations - such as that of non-interference in the

internal affairs of other States and infringing on the sovereignty of States -

will have to accommodate efforts by the United Nations and by regional

organiaations to protect the basic human rights of individuals and social

groups that are threatened in particular States.

For example, when the United Nations condemned the doctrine of apartheid

in South Africa, it became a concern of the whole international community to

promote human rights there. It could no longer be described or regarded as a

domestic issue in South Africa alone. We are pleased that steps are now being

taken to dismantle the ugly edifice of apartheid in South Africa. Massive and

deliberate violations

of

human rights or the existence of situations

of

oppression and repression can no longer be tolerated anywhere in the world.

mweaa

S/PV.3046

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(or. Shamuyarira, Zimbabwe)

In the era we are entering,

the Council will be called uponto deal

more

and more with conflicts and humanitarian situations of a domestic nature that

could pose threats to international peace and stability.

However, great care

has to be taken to see that these domestic conflicts are not used as a pretext

for the intervention

of

big Powers in the

legitimate

domestic affairs of

small

States,

or that human rights issues are not used for totally different

purposes of destabilising other Governments. There is, therefore, the need to

strike a delicate balance between the rights of States, as enshrined in the

Charter, and the rights of individuals, as enshrined in the Universal

' Declaration of Human Rights.

Zimbabwe supports very strongly both the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights and the Charter on these issues. Zimbabwe is a firm subscriber to the

principles in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. However, we

cannot but express our apprehension about who will decide when to get the

Security Council involved in an internal

matter

and in what manner.

In other

words, who will judge when a threshold is passed that calls for international

action?

Who will decide what should be done,

how it will be done and by

whom? This clearly calls for a careful drawing up and drafting of general

principles and guidelines that would guide decisions on when a domestic

situation warrants international action, either by the Security Council or by

regional organisations.

This could be one of the tasks this Council could

entrust to the Secretary-General.

The

welcome

end of East-West confrontation should propel us to end the

North-South confrontation as well.

I am very glad that the President of

France dwelt at

some

length on this

matter

this morning. Hence I will not

belabour the point. The growing economic gap between the two sides will

BHS/edd SIPV.3046

132

(Mr. Shamuvarira. Zimbabwe)

lead to catastrophe for us all. We should provide a forum for analysing and

discussing these issues and finding viable solutions. The environment

conference in Brazil next June will give participants an opportunity to

discuss the very pressing problem of increasing poverty in developing

countries and the alarming rate

of

degradation of the environment. After the

debates, it will be up to the United Nations and its specialized agencies to

implement those recommendations on which action could be taken. The

specialized agencies of the United Nations are doing

most

valuable work in

bringing expertise and skills to developing countries.

We look forward to the

convening of the projected World Summit on Social Development as another

important forum for exchanging views, experiences and knowledge. The social

condition

of

millions of people 5n developing countries must be a source of

great concern to all leaders of Governments. While the technology of

developed nations is enabling them to reach outer space, ours is

not

sufficient to reach the village, especially in Africa. A new world order that

does not make a special effort to eliminate poverty and narrow the widening

disparities existing between industrialized and developing countries will not

be sustainable.

African States face a multitude of problems as they enter the new world

order. They are taking painful steps of political, social and economic

adjustments

of

existing structures in order to be accommodated in the

emerging

new order and also in order to improve the standard of living of their own

people generally on a

more

sustainable and permanent basis. They will need

strong Governments to implement these reforms, and they will require financial

and material resources on an increasing scale.

Zimbabwe supports strongly'the

proposal of the Secretary-General to mediate in the civil strife in Somalia in

BHS/edd

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(Mr. Shamuvarira, Zimbabwe)

particular.

But we would urge him to take similar steps in five other African

countries facing similar strife.

Some of the problems of civil strife in

Africa could be contained with vigorous preventive diplomacy by the

Secretary-General as well as the Secretaries-General of the Organization of

African Unity and the Arab League. We are pleased that the Secretary-General

is taking very vigorous steps in this direction early in his tenure of office.

We have also recently witnessed how ill-equipped the United Nations is to

deal with problems of drug-trafficking and international terrorism, which are

likely to become a major threat to international peace and security in the era

we are entering. The President of the United States, in his intervention this

morning, made reference to some of these important problem areas.

We believe

this could very well be the time to revive the idea

of

an international

criminal code and to create an international criminal court.

In a document entitled "The Hague Declaration on the Rule of Law in

Inter-State Relations",

the non-aligned States offered some useful ideas which

were well-received by the General

Assembly

at its forty-fourth session, when

it declared the 1990s a Decade of International Law.

We hope that the

Security Council will also consider taking decisions that will result in the

establishment of the primacy of law in the emerging world order and, in

particular, consider proposals to strengthen the authority of the

International Court of Justice. The Non-Aligned Movement has taken very

vigorous steps in the direction of strengthening international law in the

important meeting which was held in The Hague and which produced this very

important Declaration.

mweaa

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(Mr. Shamuvarira. Zimbabwe)

In the final analysis, I think we can all agree that peace and security

based on mutual interests and shared values is much

more

likely to be enduring

than that based on the threat of arms, It is therefore imperative that we

take full advantage of the disappearance of cold-war rivalries and mutual

suspicions to create and promote this shared community of interests and

values.

Where disputes do arise, let us

focus

on the root causes rather than

on the symptoms.

It is much better to prevent conflicts and, disputes than to

resolve

them,

This calls for the primacy

of

preventive diplomacy we are

expecting from our Secretary-General. This calls for an activist

role

on the

part of the Secretary-General in terms of Article 99

of

the Charter, which

calls upon him to bring before the Security Council any matter which, in his

opinion, threatens international peace and security.

It goes without saying that in order to play the key role envisaged in

the

Charter, both the Secretary-General and the United Nations require

adequate resources. Is it not one of the great ironies of our time that, when

it comes to war-making, resources become available in abundance, but when it

comes

to peace-making,

resources become extremely scarce? It will not be

possible for the United Nations to play a key role in the peace and security

of a new world order if it is not rescued from its continuing financial

crisis. We trust that, as we are giving the new Secretary-General a strong

mandate and an elaborate programme over the next five years, he will be

provided

with the means of executing that task.

BHS/edd

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135

The PRBSIDERT:

Thank you, Mr, Minister, for your contribution.

Perhaps I might ask you to take back to President Mugabe on behalf of the

Council our deepest sympathy at his recent bereavement. Mrs. Mugabe was very

well known, I know, to many people present and she will be very greatly

missed. I would be grateful if you would pass our very strong sense of loss

to President Mugabe when you return.

With the permission of the Council,

I should now like to make a statement

in my capacity as representative of the United Kingdom.

EF/39 S1PV.3046

136

(The President;)

Today's meeting is, I think, a historic event; the first time in its

history that the United Nations

Security

Council has met at the ,level of Heads

of State or Government, an extraordinary event to match extraordinary times.

We meet here today partly to celebrate - to celebrate the appointment of a new

and distinguished Secretary-General,

Mr.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

And in one

way,

our new Secretary-General is a lucky man:

he is the first

Secretary-General in many years to inherit a United Nations that is confident

in its own ability to solve problems while still being conscious of the

magnitude of its task. We celebrate too a new world Power: the Russian

Federation,

the Power which has now emerged from an aberration that lasted for

70

years.

I think we are here also

for

other reasons:

to gather strength from each

other for the tasks ahead: to revitalize our joint sense of purpose; to

reaffirm the intention of the United Nations to redouble its efforts in the

cause of peace

- but not to forget, as we do so, that we need economic

development and prosperity in order to achieve lasting peace and stability.

A‘great deal has already been achieved. Last year, the United Nations

authorised the international community's response to Iraq's invasion of

Kuwait. Today, Baghdad is still defying international law and human rights.

Iraq must comply with all the relevant United Nations Security Council

resolutions. Saddam Hussein's defiance hurts the Iraqi people, but sanctions

must remain fully in force until all the resolutions are implemented.

In the aftermath of Iraq's eviction from Kuwait, Saddam Hussein turned on

his own people. Resolution 688 (1991) set up a humanitarian mission to help

the fleeing Kurds and Shi'ites. Their plight still remains our

responsibility. As time goes on,

more of Saddam Hussein's wickedness is

.-.

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(The President)

revealed. Even today he is stopping food,

medicines and other vital supplies

going to the Kurds.

The Security Council cannot ignore that breach of

resolution 688 (1991). We cannot lay down the shield we provided to protect

Iraq's vulnerable communities.

There will be other such crises.

People

everywhere expect the United Nations to react, to save lives. This can be

done with full respect for Charter principles; but people increasingly agree

that humanitarian affairs are every man's affair.

In recent

weeks,

the Security Council has been involved in taking

decisions on Yugoslavia, Cambodia, El Salvador,

Somalia and Western Sahara.

The Council recently adopted resolution 731 (1992), unanimously condemning

State terrorism, and Libya must respond positively to the demands that this

Council has made of it. The world already has an effective instrument to

uphold collective security,

but it is not yet a perfect instrument, and I hope

this meeting will set in hand work to strengthen the United Nations.

New ideas focus on new opportunities in preventive diplomacy, in

peace-making and in peace-keeping,

but what do we mean by preventive

diplomacy? I believe we mean action to avert - or at least to contain -

crises, and

we must

exploit the unrealiaed potential of the United Nations

Charter.

We need also to be

more

active in crisis prevention, That is just as

important -

if

not

more so

- than perfecting our skills at crisis management.

The Secretary-General -

our new Secretary-General - should take the initiative

boldly, the initiative to draw potential conflict to the attention

of

the

Security Council.

In the past, his predecessors have often been hobbled by

the political rivalry between Member States,

often reflected

most

sharply in

the Council.

In

future, the Council must be prepared to act before tension

EF/39 SlPV.3046

138

(The President)

becomes conflict. The Secretary-General deserves an assurance of our good

faith in his good judgement. This meeting can give him that assurance.

Peace-making and peace-keeping should run in parallel. Demand, in the

future, is not likely to decrease. We should

like

to enhance the United

Nations ability to respond. We recognize the load placed on the Organization

and the skills and experience of its staff, but we want the United Nations to

be able to carry out its mission even more effectively, and that is why we

propose that the Council should invite the Secretary-General to give his ideas

on how this might be done. It will be an important report. The report might

look at the United Nations role in identifying, and dealing with, the causes

of

instability and potential crises,

as well as the contribution to be made by

regional bodies in helping the work of the Council.

If we are to safeguard international peace and security, the States

Members of the United Nations -

all of them without exception - must also be

active in arms control,

and this means giving high priority to three central

objectives:

First, we must implement what has already been agreed, notably in the

START and Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaties.

Secondly, we must commit ourselves to working for further measures of

disarmament, both regional and global

, with special attention in 1992 to the

chemical weapons convention.

I strongly endorse what was said earlier by a

number of speakers on this particular point.

Thirdly, we must make sure that each of us has in place arrangements

which prevent proliferation and discourage the accumulation of lethal

weaponry. I can announce today that the United Kingdom Government is acting

to strengthen controls on the export of specific biological materials and

EF/39

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(The President)

organisms which could be misused for weapons purposes.

We are also looking at

the ideas of others,

including our German colleagues , which are intended to

limit

further the scope for proliferation.

These are daunting challenges at a time when the map is being radically

reshaped, but we can draw on valuable new assets:

a new degree of cooperation

between the former enemies of East and West; a new readiness to help each

other, for example in the destruction of surplus nuclear weapons; a new

awareness, from the Iraq war, of the dangers

of

proliferation; and a new

willingness, shown in the adoption of the United Nations register of

arms

transfers, to cooperate on a global basis here in the United Nations itself.

Between now and the Conference to renew the Non-Proliferation Treaty in

1995, we have a unique chance to consolidate the gains

of

the last few years

on a truly durable basis.

Britain believes that all States must respect human rights and

fundamental freedoms. Good government is not a luxury, it is the bedrock on

which we build a stable and prosperous society, and that in turn is

essentially built on international peace and security.

Peace-keeping

operations tend now to include provision for human rights verification and

free and fair elections as vital components

of

a peaceful settlement. I am

sure that is right, and I hope that will continue to be the case.

In the first four decades of the United Nations, my own continent

experienced fewer dramatic changes than almost any other area of the world.

The cold war imposed upon Europe immobility of an unenviable sort - the uneasy

stand-off

of

two nuclear-armed, opposing camps.

But this decade has been

different. This decade has seen headlong and profoundly hopeful change come

to Europe -

a chain-reaction of revolutionary change. That change is

EF/39

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(The President)

personified, clearly and unmistakably, by the presence in this Council today

of two outstanding figures from the first generation of post-communist

leaders - President Yeltsin of Russia and Foreign Minister Jeszenszky of

Hungary. We meet them here as friends and partners. Today, we share a common

outlook and common objectives. Other things are different: no longer are the

leaders of East and West competing. No longer does ideology drive us apart.

No longer do we threaten each other. And not least among the benefits is the

prospect of making ever more productive use of the United Nations.

The 1990s will be a decade of transformation

in

Europe.

There are huge

tasks

to be accomplished in the rebuilding

of

economies smothered by communism

for generations,

and in rooting democracy firmly in the soil of open politics

and free markets. There are risks too: the communist empire has bequeathed a

host of potential problems between peoples and States.

Some of them have

already led to conflict. The United Nations can play a key role in promoting

acceptance

of

the principles of the Charter and the peaceful settlement of

disputes.

'Colleagues, we in Britain will

work

closely with the Secretary-General -

closely,

to

strengthen and enhance the

United Nations

capacity to respond to

crisis,

and incipient crisis,

wherever it threatens.

The challenge is

a

formidable one,

and it is one which only the United Nations, with the full

support

of

Member Governments,

can meet.

Today I am happy to pledge

to you

the

full support of the British Government in that movement.

RM/40

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141

(The President)

I now resume

my

functions as President of the Security Council.

I should like to turn to the presidential

statement

that is the outcome

of our negotiations and deliberations today.

It is my understanding that the

members of the Security Council are content for

me

to issue the declaration

which, in accordance with custom, I shall read in a moment as a presidential

statement

on their behalf. I am grateful for that authority, and I should now

like to read out to the Council the

statement

that has been agreed, It reads

as follows:

"The members of the Security Council have authorized

me to

make the

following statement on their behalf.

"The Security Council

met

at the Headquarters of the United Nations

in New York on 31 January 1992,

for the first

time at

the level

of

Heads

of State and Government.

The members of the Council considered, within

the framework

of

their commitment to the United Nations Charter, 'The

responsibility of the Security Council in the maintenance of

international peace and security'.

"The

members

of the Security Council consider that their meeting is

a timely recognition of the fact that there are new favourable

international circumstances under which the Security Council has begun

to

fulfil

more

effectively its primary responsibility for the maintenance

Of

international peace and security.

“A

time

of

chancre

"This meeting takes place at a time

of

momentous change. The ending

of the Cold War has raised hopes for a safer,

more

equitable and

more

humane world,

Rapid progress has been made, in many regions of

the

world, towards democracy and responsive

forms

of government, as well as

RW40 WPV.3046

142

(The President)

towards achieving the Purposes set out in the Charter. The completion of

the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa would constitute

a major

contribution to these Purposes and positive trends, including to the

encouragement of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

"Last year, under the authority of the United Nations, the

international community succeeded in enabling

Kuwait

to regain its

sovereignty and territorial integrity, which it had lost as a result of

Iraqi aggression. The resolutions adopted by the Security Council remain

essential to the restoration

of

peace and stability in the region and

must be fully implemented.

At the same time the

members

of the Council

are concerned by the humanitarian situation of the innocent civilian

population of Iraq.

"The

members

of the Council support the Middle East peace process,

facilitated by the Russian Federation and the United States, and hope

that it will be brought to a successful conclusion on the basis of

Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).

"They welcome the role the United Nations has been able to play

under the Charter in progress towards settling long-standing regional

disputes, and will work for further progress towards their resolution.

They applaud the valuable contribution being made by United Nations

peace-keeping forces now operating in Asia, Africa, Latin America and

Europe.

"The

members

of

the Council note that United Nations peace-keeping

tasks have increased, and broadened considerably in recent years.

Election monitoring, human rights verification and the repatriation of

refugees have in the settlement of some regional conflicts, at the

RM/40

W~V.3046

143

(The President)

request

or with the

agreement

of the parties concerned, been integral

parts of the Security Council's effort to maintain international peace

and security.

They welcome these developments.

"The

members

of the Council also recognize that change, however

welcome,

has brought new risks for stability and security.

Some of the

most

acute problems result

from

changes to State structures.

The members

of the Council will

encourage

all efforts to help achieve peace,

stability and cooperation during these changes,

"The international community therefore

faces new

challenges in the

search for peace.

All Member

States expect the United Nations to play a

central role at this crucial stage. The

members

of the Council stress

the importance

of

strengthening and improving the United Nations to

increase its effectiveness.

They are determined to assume fully their

responsibilities within the United Nations Organixation in the framework

of the Charter.

"The absence of war and military conflicts amongst States does not

in itself ensure international peace and security.

The non-military

sources of instability in the economic,

social, humanitarian and

ecological fields have become threats to peace and security.

The United

Nations membership as a whole,

working through the appropriate bodies,

needs to give the highest priority to the solution of these matters,

I,

itment

to

collective security

"The members of the Council pledge their commitment to international

law and to the United Nations Charter.

All disputes between States

should be peacefully resolved in accordance with the provisions of the

Charter.

RW40 WPV.3046

144

(The President)

"The

members

of the Council reaffirm their commitment to the

collective security system of the Charter to deal with threats to peace

and to

reverse

acts

of

aggression.

"The members of the Council express their deep concern over acts of

international terrorism and'emphasize the need for the international

community to deal effectively with all such acts.

"Peacemakina and peace-keeDinq

"TO strengthen the effectiveness of these commitments, and

in order

that the Security Council should have the means to discharge its

primary

responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance

of

international

peace and security, the members of the Council have decided on the

d

following approach.

"They invite the Secretary-General to prepare, for circulation to

the Members of the United Nations by 1 July 1992, his analysis and

recommendations on ways of strengthening and making more efficient within

the framework and provisions of the Charter the capacity of the United

Nations for preventive diplomacy,

for peacemaking and for peace-keeping.

“The

Secretary-General's analysis and recommendations could

cover

the role of the United Nations in identifying potential crises and

areas

of instability as well as the contribution to be made by regional

organixations in accordance with Chapter VIII of the United Nations

Charter in helping the

work

of the Council. They could also cover the

need for adequate resources, both material and financial.

The

Secretary-General might draw on lessons learned in recent United Nations

peace-keeping missions to recommend ways of making more effective

RW40

WPV.3046

145

(The President)

Secretariat planning and operations.

He could also consider how greater

use

might be made of his good

Offices,

and of his other functions under

the United Nations Charter.

"Disarmament, arms

control and weanons of mass destruction

"The members of the Council, while fully conscious of the

responsibilities of other organs of the United Nations in the fields of

disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation, reaffirm the crucial

contribution which progress in these areas can make to the maintenance of

international peace and

security.

They express their commitment to

take

concrete steps to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in

these areas,

"The members of the Council underline the need for all Member States

to fulfil their obligations in relation

to arms

control and disarmament;

to prevent the proliferation in all its aspects of all weapons of

mass

destruction;

to avoid excessive and destabilising accumulations and

transfers of arms;

and to resolve

peacefully in accordance with the

Charter any problems concerning these matters threatening or disrupting

the maintenance of regional and global

st&ility.

They emphasize the

importance

Of

the early ratification and implementation'by the States

concerned of all international and regional arms control arrangements,

especially the START and

CFE Treaties,

*'The proliferation of all weapons of mass destruction constitutes a

(

threat to international peace and

security.

The members of the Council

commit themselves to working to prevent the spread of technology related

I

to the research for or production of such weapons and to take appropriate

action to that end.

PM/40

WPV.3046

145 (a-x)

(The President;)

"On nuclear proliferation, they note the importance of the decision

of

many countries to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and emphasize

the integral role in the implementation of that Treaty of fully effective

IAEA

safeguards, as well as the importance of effective export controls.

The

members

of the Council will take appropriate measures in the case of

any violations notified to them by the IAEA.

"On chemical weapons, they support the efforts

of

the Geneva

Conference with a view to reaching agreement on the conclusion, by the

end

of

1992, of a universal convention,

including a verification regime,

to prohibit chemical weapons.

BCT/ed

WPV.3046

146

(The President)

"On conventional armaments, they note the General Assembly's vote in

favour

of

a United Nations register of arms transfers as a first step,

and in this connection recognize the importance of all States providing

all the information called

for

in the General Assembly's resolution.

"In conclusion, the members of the Security Council affirm their

determination to build on the initiative of their meeting in order to

secure positive advances in promoting international peace and security.

They agree that the United Nations Secretary-General has a crucial role

to play. The members

of

the Council express their deep appreciation to

the outgoing Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Javier Perez

de Cuellar, for his outstanding contribution to the work of the United

Nations, culminating in the signature of the El Salvador peace

agreement. They welcome the new Secretary-General, His Excellency

Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and note with satisfaction his intention to

strengthen and improve the functioning of the United Nations.

They

pledge their full support to him,

and undertake to work closely with him

,and his staff in fulfilment of their shared objectives, including a

more

efficient and effective United Nations system.

"The members of the Council agree that the world now has the best

chance of achieving international peace and security since the foundation

of

the United Nations.

They undertake to work in close cooperation with

)

other United Nations Member States in their own efforts to achieve this,

as well as to address urgently all the other problems, in particular

BCT/ed WPV.3046

147

I

.I

(The President)

those of economic and social developmept, requiring the collective

response of the international community. They recognize that peace and

prosperity are indivisible and that lasting peace and stability require

i

effective international cooperation for the eradication of poverty and

P

the promotion of a better life for all in larger freedom."

1,

That concludes the statement we have agreed.

I would inform the Council

that the statement will be published as Security Council document S/23500.

The Security Council has thus completed its business for this meeting,

and I therefore declare it adjourned.

The

meetina

rose

at

5.10

D.m.