Belgium, 1997

At the outset, allow me to take this opportunity

to congratulate Minister Udovenko, our colleague from

Ukraine, on his election as President of this session of

the General Assembly and to express my most sincere

thanks to Ambassador Razali of Malaysia for the

invaluable work he helped us achieve during the fifty-

first session of the Assembly.

It is clear that the way in which we organize

ourselves as a world community is of the utmost

importance for questions of war and peace, poverty and

wealth, and justice and injustice in the world.

The United Nations Secretariat and the leadership of

our Organization have a key role in this regard. All those

serving United Nations institutions deserve our gratitude

for the way in which they carry out their work, both here

in New York and in the field, often in precarious

situations in which some have even lost their lives.

But we should ask whether we, the Member States,

have done enough to find common responses. Have we

given the United Nations the necessary tools for

comprehensive management? Have we not blamed the

Organization for a lack of success in some of its

endeavours, when they may have been doomed to failure

anyway because there was not enough support from

Member States?

We must be fully aware that, as Member States, we

sometimes try to impose tasks upon the Organization

which are beyond its capabilities, while we are all too

often slow to provide help and support whenever and

wherever it is really needed. More than once we have

seen — in Africa, for example — that the United

Nations has had to spread itself too thinly over vast

distances and that adequate support for a United

Nations role has not been forthcoming from Member

States, which has weakened the United Nations ability

to react when a dynamic response was needed in crisis

situations.

Has not the time come, during this session, to

ensure that the Organization can act with renewed

vigour and reconfirm its authority? I am convinced that

the answer to this question should be positive, and that

we should, like the President of the European Union

and other previous speakers, throw our full weight

behind the Secretary-General's proposals to prepare the

Organization more effectively for the coming

millennium.

More efficiency and coordination, greater cohesion

and better cooperation between Headquarters and

agencies in the field are minimal changes, but fully

justified. However, we need to do more because this

year we must resolve the United Nations financial

crisis.

It is unacceptable that Member States should not

pay their dues in full and that they attach conditions to

the payment of what they owe. All the speakers in the

general debate should be able to proclaim from this

rostrum not just that they want to improve the

Organization's efficiency and that they support the

Secretary-General in his efforts to that end, but also

that their contributions have been paid in full,

unconditionally, thus proving their commitment to the

goals of the United Nations and our common agenda.

There can be no doubt that this agenda includes

the achievements of the 12 United Nations conferences

which, from the 1990 World Summit for Children to

the 1996 World Food Summit, have paved the way for

the current agenda in the area of international

development. But responsibilities have often been

distributed injudiciously and too widely, while mandates

have proved insufficient. A more integrated approach in

the social and economic sector has in any case become

necessary. I therefore welcome the fact that the

Secretary-General’s proposals for reform pay particular

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attention to development, and I subscribe fully to his

proposals.

Furthermore, a well-balanced expansion of the

Security Council should be achieved without delay.

Belgium, together with a number of like-minded

countries that share the general concern with regard to

strengthening the authority of the Security Council, has

clearly stated its views here in New York. We advocate

an increase in both permanent and non-permanent

members, greater regional representativeness, enhanced

Council efficiency and a limitation of the right of veto.

The right of veto is incompatible with the general

interest. It should be possible to modify the

decision-making mechanism so as to avoid recourse to

this instrument, which has become entirely obsolete.

Belgium also pleads for more transparency and closer

cooperation between the Security Council and countries

contributing to peacekeeping operations.

Such organizational and financial reform can

succeed only if it can rely upon a team of officials who

see themselves as being at the service of the Organization

and of the common good. Ultimately, an Organization

reformed along these lines and better able to meet global

challenges will have to strengthen its ties with and

complement regional organizations, not only in the

political field but also at the social and economic level. It

will not be possible to make our world more humane

without the joint effort of all international organizations

in support of a global approach. In this effort, the United

Nations, together with regional and specialized

institutions, is a beacon of hope for millions of people.

Strengthening the United Nations also means

strengthening its ties with other organizations and

associations so that they can keep pace with the overall

reshaping of our Organization and of our world vision.

I should like to provide two examples. With regard

to its policy on Africa, Belgium again stresses the need

for an objective approach on the one hand and

accountability on the other. The approach that we wish to

promote is based on universal principles, the most

important of which is that of human rights sustained by

mutual respect based on equality. It is high time that we

progressed to true mental decolonization. Efforts

originating in the region itself should be given every

chance to prosper and should be fully recognized by the

international community. As for Central Africa in

particular, our common efforts should give priority to the

reconstruction and democratization of the Congo, in the

interests not only of that country and its people, but of

stability in the Great Lakes region as a whole.

On the other hand, in certain areas, such as

Eastern Slavonia, United Nations “blue helmets” have

succeeded in separating warring parties, protecting

populations and preparing for reconstruction. It is

therefore the responsibility first of the parties

themselves and then of the international community to

make every effort to prevent these achievements from

slipping away. By extension, this is also true for the

region as a whole. With regard to Eastern Slavonia in

particular, it is important for the activities of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to

be based on the accomplishments of the United Nations

Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia,

Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) and for such

activities to be inspired by and based upon United

Nations experience in the region.

I should now like to focus on another

contemporary issue: disarmament. Needless to say,

weapons of mass destruction should be forbidden. But

this is also true for weapons whose sole purpose is to

destroy human beings, such as anti-personnel

landmines. In Angola, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Cambodia

and elsewhere, these indiscriminate and cowardly

weapons kill some 9,600 people and maim another

14,000 every year. They kill and mutilate more people

than all the weapons of mass destruction put together.

It is high time that these devices were banned. In

less than two years the objective of a total ban on

anti-personnel landmines has met with a positive

response in most parts of the world. Belgium, which

was keen to play a leading role in this field, fully

supports this objective. As chairman of the international

conference on a total ban on anti-personnel landmines,

which took place in Brussels in June, I myself noted

the existence of the political will necessary to achieve a

ban by the end of 1997.

The recent conclusion in Oslo of the negotiations

on a legally binding instrument means that most of us

will be able to go to Ottawa in early December to sign

this important treaty. My country made a great effort to

ensure that we produced a strong legal instrument, with

no exceptions or reservations, and we also advocated

that assistance to landmine victims should be an

essential part of this convention. Belgium is pleased to

note that this international humanitarian standard will

soon become a reality and invites all other States to

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join in the effort. It is also my firm hope that States will

not wait for the treaty to come into force before they

honour this total ban.

Humanitarian tragedies will continue to occur

throughout the world. Whatever their origins, crises are

become increasingly complicated. Still considerable in

number, they create countless victims and immense

human suffering. Despite greater solidarity and increased

humanitarian assistance granted by a growing number of

humanitarian and non-governmental organizations,

difficulties on the ground have continued to grow in

recent years. Above all, in addition to the problem of

access to victims, the lack of security and total disregard

for international humanitarian law and human rights

require our particular attention. Indeed, I am especially

worried about the recent increase in aggression against

humanitarian personnel. These acts are often carried out

with the sole purpose of blocking their access to

populations who are suffering. It goes without saying that

the authorities hosting the humanitarian workers bear

primary responsibility for their safety.

These authorities must also ensure respect for

humanitarian law, based on values for which a consensus

exists within the international community but whose

concrete application on the ground remains a daily

challenge. This is another task for the United Nations.

Existing legal instruments must be strengthened and

expanded in order to extend the same maximum

protection to humanitarian personnel in the field as is

currently provided for military personnel in peacekeeping

missions. In addition, the directives on humanitarian law

such as those proposed by the International Committee of

the Red Cross should also be revitalized and thoroughly

examined.

Our Organization is increasingly confronted with

crises that require global responses comprising not only

their humanitarian dimensions, but also their military,

economic, political and social dimensions. In these

circumstances, humanitarian organizations must not only

continue to ensure a thorough coordination of the

assistance delivered, but also develop stepped-up

convergence between, for instance, United Nations Blue

Helmets involved in peacekeeping missions and

humanitarian workers.

Greater interaction and cooperation between them is

imperative if we wish to devise an integrated and suitable

response to the ever more complex crisis situations facing

the international community.

I believe that much remains to be done in order to

improve and develop such cooperation: for example,

joint planning for crisis situations, training, defining

roles and mandates and, finally, implementation and

follow-up of operations.

We must bear in mind that humanitarian assistance

must never be used for mere political purposes, and it

cannot by itself be intended to provide a lasting

solution to a conflict. Humanitarian assistance should

therefore never be a substitute for political, diplomatic

and military action.

In this context, Belgium, in close cooperation with

the International Committee of the Red Cross, intends

to organize next year, an international seminar precisely

on the relationship between humanitarian, political and

military actions. The focus will be on interaction

between humanitarian, political and military actors in

situations of crisis. This will be an opportunity to

analyse closely the often widely varying approaches to

this problem.

The objective of international humanitarian

assistance is not only to guarantee the survival of

victims of humanitarian tragedies. It should also help

them be reintegrated into society. Viewed in this

fashion, humanitarian assistance is an important factor

in the protection of human dignity, human rights and

humanitarian law. The international community must

therefore put an end to the impunity of persons

responsible for grave violations of international

humanitarian law, whether committed against

populations or humanitarian personnel.

The creation of the ad hoc tribunals for the

prosecution and punishment of such violations and the

necessary creation of a standing international criminal

court, are important steps towards the fulfilment of

these goals.

However, it is essential that these international

judiciary bodies should be given a fair chance to carry

out their functions. Thus, their legal competence should

be firmly established and recognized by all Member

States.

Respect for human rights has become an essential

yardstick of the legitimacy of the exercise of State

power and is increasingly considered a vital part of a

country’s international status and influence. It has

31

become the new basis for the confidence we bestow on

our fellow Member States.

Next year the General Assembly will devote part of

its session to the commemoration of the fiftieth

anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights.

That Declaration, without any doubt, is one of the

most important texts of our times. It is the foundation of

the whole array of standards that came after it and that

have been incorporated into a number of international

legal instruments. It is also the bedrock upon which rest

all United Nations activities aimed at better respect for

and promotion of human rights, in accordance with the

Charter.

In the spirit of the Vienna World Conference on

Human Rights, a growing number of Member States, in

full exercise of their sovereignty, have accepted

international commitments by ratifying those human

rights instruments. However, I should like to express the

hope that Member States will also spare no effort in

having their provisions implemented. By so doing they

will contribute to the universality of human rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains

an inexhaustible source of hope for all those who are

deprived of their rights, especially the victims of social,

political or economic exclusion or exploitation on the

basis of their race, origin, religion, sex or any other

grounds.

Consequently, I, fully subscribe to the Secretary-

General’s stated intention to integrate human rights

horizontally throughout the full range of United Nations

activities. Belgium reiterates to the Secretary-General its

full support in this respect.

Let me conclude by saying that my country will

make every effort — nationally, regionally and

globally — so that the commemoration of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights will be a resounding

success that reflects the capital importance of the event.