Belize, 1993

The delegation of Belize takes

immense pride, Sir, in your election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its forty-eighth session. This is the

first time in the history of the Organization that a

Commonwealth Caribbean national has been chosen to

superintend the deliberations of the General Assembly. Your

election is, thus, not only the highest tribute that could have

been paid you, but is also the accomplishment of your

country, Guyana, and of the wider Commonwealth

Caribbean. As a part of the latter, Belize may be forgiven

for any note of self-congratulation that creeps into the

encomiums we heap upon you today.

In that regard - and we say this only slightly with

tongue in cheek - we note that almost your first act of

wisdom upon assuming office was the selection of a very

excellent Belizean as presidential spokesperson.

Let me at this time also record my delegation’s

appreciation of the most able manner in which the outgoing

President, Mr. Stoyan Ganev, conducted the work of the

General Assembly at its forty-seventh session.

14 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

In addition, may I take the opportunity to welcome

formally to the United Nations family the six countries - the

Czech Republic, Eritrea, Monaco, the Slovak Republic, The

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Andorra -

which have joined the Organization this year.

Allow me also to offer, on behalf of the people and the

Government of Belize, our deep sympathy to the people and

the Government of India for the heavy death toll and

considerable material loss caused by the devastating

earthquake on 30 September.

Over the five years since I last appeared in this Hall,

many things have changed in the world. In Belize we, too,

have experienced change. On 30 June 1993 the people of

Belize voted, through peaceful elections, for a new

government. Once more we have demonstrated the stability

of our democratic institutions and the maturity of our polity.

In an age when the so-called global trend towards

democratization seems at times to be a process that moves

one step forward and two steps back, we in Belize are justly

proud of our record.

In these five years, some of the changes occurring in

the global prospect have been favourable, and many of these

are attributable to this Organization, which, under its

distinguished Secretary-General, has been striving to fulfil

the mandate of its Charter and find ways and means to cope

with problems not necessarily envisaged by the framers of

that Charter.

In the brief tour d’horizon of the international scene

which I shall undertake today, the first matter I wish to

address is peace and security. We are very gratified by the

positive developments that have occurred in several places.

Uppermost in our minds is our own subregion of Central

America. There we have been heartened by the movement

of several of our neighbours towards reconciliation and

social justice.

In particular, we note with satisfaction that the brief

hiccup of the events in the Republic of Guatemala in May

and June does not appear to have seriously flawed that

country’s efforts at permanent redemocratization. We are

happy that the new government there has publicly confirmed

Guatemala’s recognition of sovereign and independent

Belize. Diplomatic relations between our two countries can

once again proceed apace; and we shall continue the work

for the preservation of bilateral and regional security and the

search for a lasting solution to the issues that still bedevil us.

In accordance with the principles enunciated by this

Organization, such a solution must be on the basis of mutual

respect for peace, for the rights of both countries to

self-determination and for the integrity of each other’s land

and sea territory.

In the Caribbean we have hopes that the long-suffering

people of Haiti will be rewarded by the return of its

legitimate government.

Recent developments in South Africa are clearly very

encouraging, and we are confident of the success of the

transition to majority rule, which will be heralded by the

non-racial elections scheduled for April 1994.

Then, in the midst of continued strife in the Middle

East, we believe we see positive signs of the way forward

with the dramatic opening between the people of Palestine

and the State of Israel. At long last there seems a real

possibility of the Palestinian people’s right to self-

determination coexisting with the State of Israel’s right to

safe and secure borders.

We welcome the finalization of the demarcation of the

boundary between Kuwait and Iraq, which was accomplished

by the Iraq-Kuwait Boundary Demarcation Commission on

20 May 1993. We also welcome the adoption by the

Security Council of resolution 833 (1993), in which it

guaranteed the inviolability of the boundary between the two

States.

Encouraging, too, has been the consolidation of the

broad consultative mechanisms for confidence-building,

security, human rights and cooperation originally established

for Europe in the Helsinki Conference and now substantially

expanded. Such structures have considerable value, and we

understand that our colleagues in the countries members of

the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are

in the process of developing a similar mechanism with a

distinct ASEAN character. Above all, we commend the

Secretary-General for his vision in "An Agenda for Peace".

Despite all these promising developments, however, the

overall outlook for world security remains bleak. In far too

many places the peace is disrupted by fratricidal struggle.

Everywhere the crushing burden of armaments - to employ

a famous expression used by President Roosevelt and

Winston Churchill in 1941 - bids to drive our planet off its

established course. The Second World War was partly

fought, and this great Organization was largely established,

to eradicate programmes of ethnic genocide. Now, nearly

50 years after the birth of the United Nations, we are

experiencing several such programmes on a massive scale.

Forty-eighth session - 13 October l993 15

I urge that during this session we take the first major

step to right these imbalances, which affect global peace and

security. Just as the Helsinki model is one way forward, we

hope that another is the International Tribunal on war

crimes, the judges of which this Assembly recently elected.

Among other steps which might be taken are the

following: Governments must forswear profiteering from

the sale or sponsorship of the sale of armaments. There

must be an expansion of regional and subregional systems of

cooperation and coordination in the cognate areas of

security, narcotics interdiction and counter-terrorism. This

body must make firm recommendations for the development

and rigid enforcement of domestic neutrality laws

everywhere. Likewise, the international law relating to

neutrality must be thoroughly modernized to proscribe and

severely punish trafficking in arms. This must be not only

in situations of belligerency, but also in cases of insurgency,

rebellion and other armed conflict, both internal and

international. The recent salutary reinvigoration of this

Organization’s peace-keeping mechanisms must be furthered.

This is a time when the United Nations is increasingly

being called upon to act as a peacemaker in troubled and

turbulent regions of the world. It is to the Organization’s

credit that it has risen to the occasion by undertaking

complex and challenqinq assignments around the globe.

There was a time when United Nations peace-keeping

forces could successfully be composed of contingents from

the so-called third world countries. But recent experience

has now shown that large and difficult operations of the

Bosnia and Somalia type stand little chance of success

without the active participation of major Powers. In this

context, we welcome President Clinton’s speech in this

session of the Assembly, offering to commit United States

troops to the United Nations Bosnia operation under certain

conditions.

Yet there is still a role for small States. And we in

Belize would be prepared to offer training facilities to the

Organization as a contribution to increasing the efficiency of

peace-keeping forces. This would be in accordance with

Article 43 of the Charter, which calls for member

Governments to make available to the Security Council

"assistance and facilities ... necessary for the purpose of

maintaining international peace and security". Needless to

say, we would be happy to make our contribution in concert

with other countries in our area. Either pre-existing regional

security mechanisms and/or new bilateral and multilateral

arrangements might serve as the vehicle for small country

efforts at cooperation.

As a backdrop to all this, the provisions of the Charter

relative to peacemaking must be strengthened. In particular,

a standing United Nations force under unified United

Nations command should be considered and the Military

Staff Committee must be made fully operational. In keeping

with the Secretary-General’s quest to improve efficiencies,

strict military discipline of United Nations forces must be

established and there must be improved coordination at

Headquarters and in the field.

The most important of the steps which my Government

believes should be taken is reform of the Security Council.

It is self-evident that in these times of turmoil and increased

United Nations activity the agenda item of equitable

representation on, and increase in membership of, the

Council looms large. Belize has recently submitted a paper

to the Secretary-General, detailing our ideas on this

all-important topic.

I wish to turn next to international cooperation. I

believe that there exists an international legal obligation to

cooperate in good faith. It is anticipated in the Articles on

principles and purposes and other provisions of the United

Nations Charter, and is reiterated in such Declarations as the

friendly relations Declaration of 1970 and the 1974 Charter

of Economic Rights and Duties of States. I will address the

question of economic cooperation at a later stage in my

remarks. At this point, I wish to train the spotlight on

cooperation in the area of ecospheric concerns.

As regards the ecosphere, Belize considers that the

early and universal ratification of the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea is of paramount

importance. It will be recalled that the Convention imposes

myriad duties of cooperation. In that way, the weak, and not

only the strong and mighty, will inherit the Earth and its

waters.

We have seen two recent examples of successful efforts

at cooperation in the ecosphere. The first involves the ozone

layer. In that connection, intensive cooperation by

Governments and by private industry, pursuant to the

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone

Layer, as amended, has led to a significant decline in the

rate of expansion of the hole in the ozone layer.

My other example is the cooperation of foreign and

domestic agencies with the Governments of my country,

Belize and Costa Rica, which has contributed to substantial

16 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

success in our conservation efforts. Cognizant of these

successes, we appeal for intensive cooperation in all aspects

of the ecosphere, including the termination of ocean and

terrestrial dumping, the halt of desertification and the

reduction of the causes of global warming. We also hope for

a concrete programme of action at next April’s Global

Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States to be held in Barbados.

One area in which we must redouble our efforts at

cooperation is the moral environment. In numerous Member

countries the people have clamoured for cessation of corrupt

practices in government and business, both national and

international. Now, we are extremely happy to observe that

the Secretary-General has established the new post of

Assistant Secretary-General for Inspections and

Investigations. In so doing, he has made it clear that the

moral environment of our organization must be sanitized.

We must support him in this endeavour. At the same time,

we lend our voice to those who call for the accountability of

all inter-governmental organizations to independent auditors

and inspectors.

My Government attaches the greatest importance to

integrity and decency in public life. We applaud such

international efforts as the forthcoming anti-corruption

conference to be held in Mexico later this year to plan

national strategies for fighting corruption. And we in Belize

have recently taken our own action to strengthen the legal

infrastructure necessary to banish the scourge of political

corruption. In just three months since taking office, we have

introduced four major pieces of legislation in our Parliament.

They are the Prevention of Corruption in Public Life Bill,

the Ombudsman Bill, the Contractor General Bill and the

Freedom of Information Bill. This last, as far as we can

determine, is the only one of its kind in the entire

Commonwealth Carribean. These measures bear testimony

to my Government’s determination to wage a total war on

corruption and to make Belize the model of a just, honest

and democratic society.

I turn next to issues relating to international

development and economic relations. For over 30 years, the

Organization has painstakingly sought to spell out that the

right to development and the duty of the privileged to assist

the underprivileged are firmly based in international law and

public policies. This right and duty were part of the

"freedom from want" principle, one of the founding

principles of the 1942 wartime coalition that was the first to

be called the "United Nations". Freedom from want had

nothing to do with ideology and great-Power rivalry.

Nevertheless, there have been dramatic ideological,

geopolitical and economic changes during the late 1980s. As

these changes have occurred, needs have increased but

resources have not. Yet we have heard rumours that various

initiatives to bring economic justice to this planet are no

longer necessary.

I respectfully suggest that nothing could be further from

the truth. In fact, such controversial movements as the one

to establish a new international economic order were merely,

as we have intimated, the reiteration of an established

principle. That is, those initiatives were the renewal of an

order, not a new order. Furthermore, in the original Somalia

intervention, we see strong confirmation of the continuing

vitality of the principle of "freedom from want" - for all of

us will remember that the avowed objective of the current

exercises in that beleaguered country was to bring food,

comfort and succour to its suffering people.

Thus, I believe, we are seeing the reaffirmation of

freedom from want as a human right. At the same time, I

would urge the Assembly to take firm steps to ensure that

food no longer be used as a weapon by parties to civil and

international conflicts.

In all this we are acutely aware of the shift in world

trading patterns brought on by the formation of new trading

blocs. The most recent and prominent of these are of course

the North American Free Trade Agreement among Mexico,

the United States of America and Canada, and the Single

European Market. And so, in some areas at least, the march

towards wider trade liberalization and true market economy

moves inexorably forward. But we in the South also see that

our economies and life as we know them are threatened by

these developments; our preferential access to markets

steadily erodes and our terms of trade consistently worsen.

What we are in fact concerned about here is the

pressure to open up our borders prematurely to the free flow

of agricultural and other products from the more developed

countries. It is a bitter pill to swallow, even as we watch

the protectionist squabbling among developed countries that

has prevented the successful conclusion of the Uruguay

Round of Multilateral trade negotiations under the General

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Of course, it

would also result in massive economic dislocation followed

inevitably by social and political unrest in our countries.

Nevertheless, we acknowledge that we must in the long

run identify alternative commodities that we can produce

efficiently and with comparative advantage. I must stress,

however, that we are hard pressed to find the resources

required for comprehensive research, development and

Forty-eighth session - 13 October l993 17

promotion programmes for new products. We must be

afforded an adequate transition period to adjust our

economic and production activities. I would wish, therefore,

to take this opportunity to call on the countries members of

the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development to identify and dedicate significant financial

and technical resources to assist small countries in

developing alternative products. Of course, current trends in

official and private financial flows to the developing world

suggest that this is a cry that will fall largely on deaf ears.

On a more positive note, permit me at this juncture to

applaud the apparent resolve of the United Nations organs

for development assistance to improve their efforts at

coordination. In this connection, I single out for special

mention the Secretary- General’s ongoing formulation of an

agenda for development and the determined spirit of the

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to

strengthen its mission and revamp its machinery. This,

however, is but a beginning of what must be a crusade for

development.

The last set of issues I shall address are social, political,

cultural and humanitarian. First, we must do much more to

ensure that women are accorded their proper rights in the

domestic and international orders. No longer should we

merely echo the litany that women’s development is

indispensable for economic development. We must ensure

that women are accorded equal rights in all spheres.

Furthermore, they must urgently be given equal

representation in our political, social, cultural and other

institutions. Again, I take note of the recent efforts of this

Organization to improve the position of women in the upper

echelons of the United Nations Secretariat.

As regards refugees, it would be disingenuous to call

for their enhanced protection without acknowledging the

severe problems which host countries increasingly face. For

instance, we in Belize do the best we can, but overcrowding

a slender raft - even in a relative haven of calm - can bring

dire consequences to all its occupants.

Nevertheless, I am happy to report to this Assembly

that Belize’s record of human rights is good and worthy of

emulation. Our Constitution is founded on the principles of

justice and respect for the fundamental freedoms of all our

people, and our laws and practices fully conform to the

mandate of our Constitution.

The international scourge of narcotics continues

unabated. Again, we add our voices to those who urge that

at least the same degree of attention be given to curbing

demand and improving public health, as to addressing

supply. Narcotics, terrorism and urban violence are all gross

manifestations of an awful cancer seeking to engulf our

planet. One clear contributor to this is the mass and

universal culture, or what passes for culture, purveyed by the

moguls of television. While we welcome the utility of the

new global news channels, we lament the other, baneful,

influences to which our people are subjected by some

aspects of worldwide programming. It is high time that this

Organization tackle this problem.

Finally, as regards human riqhts and humanitarian law,

even over the brief period of five years since I last addressed

this body, we have witnessed significant expansion in the

activities of the Commission on Human Rights and the

bodies established under the various United Nations

instruments for the protection of fundamental rights and

freedoms. We have seen this Organization, on invitation,

participate in monitoring and conducting elections and, in the

unprecedented case of Cambodia, actually administer a

country prior to the holding of democratic elections. Yet the

basic rights of human beings in numerous places are still

seriously impaired. Many of those who should protect, in

fact violate. And conferences, tribunals and conventions

bring scarce relief.

In the realm of humanitarian law, we are hopeful that

the International Tribunal on war crimes will set a healthy

precedent. Nevertheless, we view with increasing concern

the flouting of the Geneva regime, especially the 1977

Protocols applicable to various forms of civil strife. That

regime is the other side of the coin of human rights.

Whichever side comes up when that coin is tossed, it comes

up tarnished.

Clearly, despite a somewhat mixed record, the United

Nations is no moribund organization. Nevertheless, as it

nears its golden jubilee, it does require additional impetus,

a more focused consensus for reform and revitalization. Let

all of us, then, as we go about the business of this forty-

eighth session, bear well in mind the words of the Preamble

to the Charter and accordingly pledge our rededication to the

task of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of

war, reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights and

equality, and creating the moral climate in which justice and

international law will finally prevail.