Bolivia, 1996

Allow me to convey the congratulations of the

Government and the people of Bolivia, President Razali

Ismail, on your unanimous election, which is a token of the

admiration and esteem in which the peoples of the world

hold Malaysia and constitutes just recognition of your

merits.

My delegation is grateful to the President of the

Assembly at its previous session, Ambassador Diogo Freitas

do Amaral, for the remarkable job he did. For the

delegation of Bolivia, it was a distinct honour to serve as

Vice-President of the Assembly under his able guidance.

I wish also to congratulate Secretary-General Boutros

Boutros-Ghali and extend to him our most sincere

appreciation for his valuable contributions to international

peace and cooperation, as well as for his insightful and

untiring dedication to the cause of the United Nations.

Allow me first to refer to some aspects of the far-

reaching structural reform in my country.

Domestically, since 1993, the Administration of

President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada has been

simultaneously transforming the State and the system of

social participation, while also adapting the productive

base of society to enable Bolivia to dynamically meet the

demands inherent to the changes in contemporary

international life.

The Government of Bolivia’s current efforts are

essentially based on the consolidation of participatory

democratic institutions and on the conviction that

economic development must be compatible with care for

nature and the environment — in other words, that this

must take place within the framework of sustainable

development and of respect for ethnic and cultural

diversity, in order to make unity in diversity possible.

My Government’s national plan confers the highest

priority on the struggle against poverty. It strives

vigorously to increase work opportunities and seeks a

better quality of life for all Bolivians, aiming to enter the

twenty-first century with a modern, decentralized,

participatory State. This perspective guides our policies of

grass-roots participation, educational reform, and

capitalization of major public enterprises.

Part and parcel of this landscape of change are our

initiatives in support of children, women and the elderly.

We are working hard to reduce infant and maternal

mortality, to improve levels of nutrition and to provide

assistance to those who most urgently need it. These tasks

are an essential aspect of our effort to improve the lot of

poor families.

My country is proud of its pluri-cultural and

multi-ethnic character, and it is therefore taking important

initiatives for the advancement of indigenous peoples. The

Vice-President of the Republic, Victor Hugo Cárdenas, is

a distinguished representative of Bolivia’s Aymará people.

In the international arena, we are actively pursuing

peaceful coexistence among States and trying to make

international justice a reality.

Our position is based on the principles of equal rights

of States, non-intervention in internal affairs,

non-recognition of territorial acquisitions by force, respect

for human rights and the other fundamental principles of

international law.

The support we give to intergovernmental

organizations, particularly the United Nations and the

Organization of American States (OAS), reflects our

confidence in the potential of multilateral cooperation in a

world that is growing ever more complex and

interdependent.

At the regional level, we are seeking the economic

integration of Latin America and the Caribbean with the

aim of establishing optimal conditions for forging a

hemispheric community and establishing a united presence

as the world opens up and markets expand.

We are seeking the closest possible ties with countries

that share our subregional realities, and we are committed

to merging the various integration processes. That policy

has prompted Bolivia to sign an agreement forming a free-

trade area with the members of the Southern Cone

Common Market (MERCOSUR) — Argentina, Brazil,

Paraguay, and Uruguay — to sign agreements aimed at

updating and reinvigorating the Andean Common Market,

made up of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and

Venezuela, and to give effect to numerous bilateral treaties

to enhance mutual complementarity on the basis of our

experiences and the need to foster material and spiritual

exchanges between nations.

The physical integration of the countries of the region

constitutes another central issue deserving priority attention.

We are working actively on the definition of inter-oceanic

corridors, and we attach great importance to the future of

the Plata Basin and the Treaty for Amazonian Cooperation.

With regard to Bolivia’s maritime question, I must

inform the international community, as we have done every

year, that Bolivia has reiterated in various forums its

political willingness to begin negotiations that take proper

account of the interests of all the parties involved and

ensure Bolivia’s sovereign presence with regard to the

Pacific Ocean.

No clear willingness to engage in dialogue can yet

be seen. However, on the basis of contacts on this matter

we can say that, despite historical difficulties and

ultranationalist suspicions, minds are opening and

objective foundations are being laid with a view to

encouraging a timely solution to old problems through the

exchange of ideas, the nurturing of mutual trust, mutual

interest and hemispheric understanding, in the hope that,

before long, brotherhood, equality, justice and the

requirements of international peace and cooperation will

truly prevail.

This year Bolivia had the honour to act as pro

tempore secretariat of the Rio Group, a high-level forum

of consultation and political coordination for an important

group of Latin American and Caribbean States. In that

capacity, Bolivia was the venue of the sixth regular

meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Rio Group

and the European Union, held last April in the city of

Cochabamba. On that occasion we reaffirmed our

readiness for joint endeavours between Latin America, the

Caribbean and Western Europe. The meeting strengthened

ties between the two regions, based on respect for human

rights, the fundamental rights of citizens and the

principles of democracy and political pluralism.

The Ministers highlighted, inter alia, the danger of

drugs and related problems, recognizing the importance of

maintaining political dialogue on this issue at the highest

level and agreeing on the need to strengthen the United

Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).

The meeting called upon the international community to

deal with the phenomenon of drugs through joint action

based on the principle of global, shared responsibility. To

that end, consideration and support were given to the

proposal to hold a special session of the General

Assembly in 1998 to address this crucial issue.

Worldwide awareness of the need for joint action is

reaching its peak, and Bolivia hopes that the proposed

meeting will lay down positive guidelines to put an end

to the scourge of drugs.

I am also pleased to inform representatives that on

3 and 4 September 1996, again in the Bolivian city of

Cochabamba, the Meeting of Heads of State of the Rio

Group took place, on the occasion of the tenth

anniversary of the creation of that standing body. It was

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a great honour for my country to welcome such illustrious

guests.

The Presidents and Prime Minister gathered there

noted with satisfaction that our region had made significant

headway in fighting international crime. As evidence of

this, they pointed to the signing in Caracas of the Inter-

American Convention against Corruption, the results of the

Specialized Inter-American Conference on Terrorism, held

in Lima, and advances in the development of a hemispheric

strategy against drugs and related crimes in the framework

of the Inter-American Commission against Drug Abuse.

The Heads of State and Government expressed their

satisfaction at the fact that our region had become the first

nuclear-weapon-free zone through the adoption of the

Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin

America and the Caribbean.

The Final Declaration of the tenth summit expressed

the joint position of the Governments of the region on the

issues of representative democracy and the eradication of

poverty. It placed on record their deep conviction with

regard to sustainable development; it set forth precise

guidelines on regional integration and trade; it expressed a

firm resolve to press ahead in the fight against drugs and

related crimes; it emphasized, in particular, the importance

of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption; and

it reiterated emphatically the crucial importance

Governments, from their position of lofty responsibility,

attached to cultural integration.

My delegation has requested that the Secretariat of the

United Nations circulate the final document of the

Cochabamba meeting to all delegations in the General

Assembly.

With regard to the matter of the extraterritoriality of

national laws, a most sensitive issue for peoples and

Governments the world over, the Rio Group summit

meeting expressed its rejection of any attempt to use a

country’s domestic legislation to impose unilateral sanctions

of an extraterritorial character, as this contravenes the

standards governing coexistence between States, disregards

the fundamental principle of respect for sovereignty and is

a clear violation of international law.

Bolivia is confident that intelligence and fairness will

prevail on this delicate matter and that a solution will soon

be found, in the interest of international coexistence and

economic and commercial freedom for all peoples of the

world.

One of the most outstanding international

developments of our time was undoubtedly the United

Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in

Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

With the aim of laying the groundwork for a

hemispheric agenda for sustainable development, several

international meetings, starting with the Summit held in

Miami in 1994, have expressed support for the decision

to hold a hemispheric meeting at the level of Heads of

State and Government in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz

de la Sierra, scheduled for 7 and 8 December of this year.

That meeting will be a new opportunity to set the course

of national and international endeavours for sustainable

development in the light of economic, social and

environmental goals and in reaffirmation of the

importance of obtaining new and additional resources to

finance the plan of action to be adopted.

Bolivia has offered to work its hardest alongside its

sister nations to ensure the success of this major

hemispheric event and is certain that inter-American

solidarity will lead to positive results.

The agenda of the fifty-first session of the General

Assembly contains more than 160 items of particular

interest to the international community. My Government

is prepared to participate constructively in the

consideration and resolution of each of them.

We are concerned with problems of international

peace and security and trust that the United Nations

system will contribute effectively to finding solutions for

the many parts of the world beset by conflicts and war.

As I stated on a previous occasion, Bolivia is of the

view that many conflict situations can be explained by the

persistence of unresolved social and national problems, as

well as by the accumulation of age-old injustices and

resentments; by geopolitical and economic interests that

for decades have been fuelling confrontation from without

and from within; and, above all, by Governments’

inability to cooperate effectively so as to provide timely

and peaceful solutions to the problems of greatest national

concern.

We have participated in the debates on reforms of

the United Nations Charter, and we believe that it is of

the utmost importance to reach consensus in order to

strengthen the multilateral system in the interests of the

world community. We support the positions set forth by

the Non-Aligned Movement in this regard.

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Difficult international circumstances are making it

increasingly clear that the United Nations needs to be

strengthened, to adapt its structures and strengthen the

Organization as a legitimate forum for the study,

coordination, follow-up and implementation of universally

accepted policies. Accordingly, Bolivia considers it essential

to strengthen the General Assembly, the Security Council

and the role of the International Court of Justice. With

regard to the expansion of the Security Council, we

consider it necessary that Germany and Japan be present as

new permanent members and that three other permanent

members from Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the

Caribbean be selected. The expansion should be

complemented by an appropriate number of non-permanent

members from the developing world. Of course, if

consensus could be reached on other formulas, then other

proposals, such as the one presented by Italy, would need

to be considered.

With regard to the veto, Bolivia shares the view that,

ideally, the international community should move towards

eliminating this device — and, one would hope, in the not-

too-distant future. In the meantime, use of this device

should be strictly limited to actions relating to cases of

threats to the peace, breach of the peace or acts of

aggression referred to in Chapter VII of the United Nations

Charter.

Bolivia is greatly concerned about the political and

social situation in many African countries. We express our

solidarity with these countries, as we did to fraternal South

Africa during its times of trial, and we urge the

international community, especially the rich countries of the

world, to cooperate generously and resolutely in order to

cope with the grave economic problems of this continent.

We also express our solidarity with our brothers in the

Middle East. We believe that the time has come to heal old

wounds and frame the terms of a just and lasting peace,

taking into account the need for secure borders for all and

definitively resolving the situation through the creation of

a Palestinian state. A solution must also be found to the

questions of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and the

territorial integrity and full sovereignty of all States of the

region must be preserved.

We rejoice in the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina

has embarked upon a new road to understanding, unity and

construction of new democratic institutions.

The brotherly nations of Asia offer us remarkable

examples of the possibilities and opportunities for

accelerated economic development. Their successes fill us

with confidence, and we are certain that they will apply

the same wisdom to finding solutions to the social and

political problems that some of them still face.

We are convinced that the Comprehensive Nuclear-

Test-Ban Treaty, adopted by the General Assembly on 10

September of this year, represents a landmark along the

road to the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Bolivia

has signed the papers of accession to the new Treaty and

hopes to complete the constitutional procedures for its

approval and ratification in a relatively short time.

We stress just as emphatically the need to ban the

use and production of anti-personnel mines, which have

been leaving a trail of blood among the peoples of the

world.

The economic and social items before the Assembly

also deserve our keenest interest, since they are among

the essential tasks of the United Nations and of

international cooperation. From our view of the

international scene, questions pertaining to respect for

human rights and democratic development in all countries

are also matters of very high priority.

As representatives are aware, Bolivia has put

forward its candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the

Security Council for the period 1997-1998, the elections

for which will be held during the present session of the

General Assembly.

As a founding member of the United Nations,

Bolivia carries the principles of the Charter deep within

its national spirit and has maintained a policy of

recognition of and support for this universal Organization.

In recent years my country has contributed to the forces

of United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ),

as well as to the election-monitoring processes in

El Salvador and Mozambique. We are also prepared to

participate in United Nations standby arrangements. With

regard to Haiti, Bolivia had the privilege of presiding over

the ad hoc group of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of

the Organization of American States and contributed

police personnel during the first stage of the democratic

normalization of that sister nation. Bolivia intends to

continue participating in United Nations activities to

foster international peace and cooperation.

In this regard, I am pleased to note that my country

enjoys excellent, long-standing diplomatic relations with

the five permanent members of the Security Council and

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that it plays an active part in the Non-Aligned Movement,

whose thirty-fifth anniversary we have just celebrated in an

expression of steadfastness in our convictions and in

continued political cooperation.

We share common problems with developing

countries, land-locked States and small States the world

over. Our established friendship with all the countries of

America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania has enabled us

to learn from their important experiences and better to

understand their many problems.If our brother nations

represented here see fit to honour us with their trust,

Bolivia undertakes to place its particular dedication at the

service of the international community in the Security

Council.

As we move towards the end of the twentieth century

and make preparations to welcome a new century and a

new millennium, peoples and nations cannot ignore deep-

rooted trends towards new and untrodden systems of human

coexistence.

In that connection, we must ensure that small States

participate actively in the international arena in promoting

mankind’s dream of making one out of many. That can

occur only if the rules of the game are clearly defined and

implemented and if effective worldwide instruments are

created. It is here, in the existence of and respect for

international law and justice and the institutions that

embody them, that peoples, nations and States can find the

only possible lodestar to guide them. Otherwise, they will

be condemned to new and ominous forms of modern

slavery. That is why Bolivia believes, today more than ever,

in the validity of the United Nations and will work to the

utmost to defending and strengthening it.