Guyana, 1996

As the United Nations faces

the beginning of its second half-century and the dawn of

a new millennium, we look to the Organization for the

continuing fulfilment of the high purposes of its Charter:

the maintenance of international peace and security and

the achievement of international cooperation in solving

problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian

character.

The experience of the past 50 years has shown that

these goals are not easily attained. The end of the cold

war has not meant an end to conflicts. The world has now

entered a new era in which civil strife has replaced super-

power rivalry as the main threat to peace and security.

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We have yet to find workable solutions to many situations

in which conflict continues to prevail. At the same time, the

vast majority of mankind remains prey to poverty, hunger

and disease. Such inhumane conditions serve as a fertile

breeding ground for chronic economic and social

degradation.

You, Mr. President, face the enormous task of guiding

us through this vast thicket of concerns. We are confident,

however, that your well-known diplomatic experience and

skills will lead us to new paths in the search for satisfactory

solutions. As a son of Malaysia, a country which has long

championed the cause of peace and development, you will

undoubtedly bring to bear a sense of urgency to the

discharge of the many responsibilities with which you will

be entrusted.

In so doing, you will build upon the efforts of your

predecessor, Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal, who

spearheaded our thrust to reform and restructure the world

Organization in order to make it more responsive to our

needs in the post-cold-war era. He is deserving of our

gratitude for his labour during the past year.

I would also like to pay tribute to the Secretary-

General for providing dynamic leadership to the Secretariat

in these challenging times.

The special commemorative meeting held last year to

mark our Organization’s fiftieth anniversary provided an

excellent opportunity not only for reflection on its past

achievements, but also on its future direction. There was no

dearth of ideas and proposals for strengthening the United

Nations in order to help it face the challenges of the

twenty-first century. It may be useful for us to look closer

at some of those suggestions to determine their feasibility

for implementation. It is an exercise in which some of our

main Committees, our several working groups and the

Secretariat may profitably engage so that the thinking of

our Heads of State and Governments does not fall by the

wayside, unheeded and forgotten.

My own President, on that historic occasion, presented

his concept of a new global human order in which the

nations of the world could come together in a creative

partnership for progress. This concept of partnership is

predicated on the belief that we all now live in an

interdependent world, in which, unless we learn to hang

together, we will certainly hang separately.

No one nation, no matter how militarily and

economically powerful, can hope adequately to address the

many complex cross-boundary problems which it now

faces. States Members of the United Nations need to

come together urgently to see how they can enhance

cooperation in the various areas specified by the United

Nations Charter.

Among the immediate imperatives would be the

creation of a partnership for peace, for, although the

world has been mercifully spared another world war since

1945, it has witnessed a number of conflicts, both old and

new, which continue to proliferate and to sap our

collective strength. The causes of these eruptions are

often deep-seated and not easily eradicated. They require

careful study and attempts at resolution. Invariably, this

will mean that the United Nations will have to go beyond

traditional peacemaking and peacekeeping to the increased

practice of preventive diplomacy aimed at pacifying

potential conflict situations. The experience of past

operations, both successes and failures, should be distilled

with a view to garnering those lessons which may be of

guidance in future cases. In this context, classical

approaches to conflict resolution may have to be

supplemented by new and imaginative ideas.

Over the past few years, we have together made a

laudable effort to enhance the Security Council’s capacity

to deal with threats to international peace and security. To

our credit, we have been somewhat successful in making

the Council’s operations more transparent to the public

eye. We have yet to decide, however, on the major

aspects of resolution 48/26 on the question of equitable

representation on and increase in the membership of the

Security Council.

Ideas abound on ways and means of achieving these

aims. Our challenge is to reconcile these so that a

consensus can be reached on reform. My delegation

believes that the various proposals now on the table, such

as those made by Belize, Italy and Malaysia, need to be

further examined to determine both their political

acceptability and feasibility. It is possible that, under the

right circumstances and with the necessary political will,

a reformed and more representative Council will emerge.

A more democratic Security Council will command

the respect and enjoy the confidence of United Nations

Member States. In time, they may be persuaded to rely

less on their own costly defence forces and more on the

collective security system provided by the Organization.

As specified by the Charter, the various organs and

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agencies such as the Assembly, the Council itself, the

International Court of Justice, the Secretariat and — under

Chapter VIII — regional arrangements, can combine to

form an effective bulwark against breaches of peace.

During the cold war, some of these organs were precluded

from performing their several functions. We must now seek

to endow them with the machinery needed for their full

operation.

At the same time, we need to strengthen the

partnership against the proliferation of all lethal weapons,

nuclear and conventional alike. Following the indefinite

extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons, we have the opportunity now to sign the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty which, while

admittedly less than satisfactory, nevertheless offers a

chance to proscribe the further development of dangerous

weapons.

Although considered less worrisome than their nuclear

counterparts, conventional weapons are no less destructive

of human life and property. With the ending of the East-

West arms race, these weapons are being diverted by

producer States to developing countries, where they fuel

tensions and eventual conflict. These dangerous transfers

must be closely monitored and a serious attempt made to

convert the arms industry to development purposes. It is

time that we see a dividend from our investment in peace.

In eschewing the use of arms, we must seek to

promote dialogue, negotiation and development to remove

the root causes of all disputes and conflicts. The persistent

eruption of violence in the Middle East demonstrates that,

unless respect is shown for the fundamental rights of the

Palestinian people, peace will continue to elude that

troubled region. The peace process cannot, therefore, be

allowed to die since without it there is little prospect of

reconciliation among belligerents. Similarly, in the Korean

peninsula and, indeed, in all areas where divisions among

peoples exist, we must use our best diplomatic and political

efforts to reduce tensions and encourage peaceful

reunification.

Our security concerns have widened in the post-cold-

war era to other areas, such as the environment and drug-

trafficking. As a small State and member of the

Commission on Sustainable Development, Guyana looks

forward to the review of the United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development, which is due to take place

in 1997. That meeting will provide us with an opportunity

to assess the progress made towards implementing the

commitments assumed both at Rio and Bridgetown.

With regard to our efforts to combat drug-trafficking

and abuse, we were pleased to participate in the high-

level debate in the Economic and Social Council last

June. We urge further international action on the

measures agreed upon and also on the early establishment

of an international criminal court which, in our view, will

serve as an effective deterrent to drug-related crimes and

to other violations against humanity.

Having participated in the various summit

conferences which have been held on the environment

and development, population and development, human

settlements, women and children and social development,

my Government is also anxious to see these agreements

fully implemented. We also look to the upcoming World

Food Summit in Rome to build upon these existing

commitments. Eliminating hunger and guaranteeing food

security to all the world’s people are urgent imperatives

for the international community.

As a country which has suffered from the deleterious

effects of colonialism, Guyana stands in solidarity with all

States that now face the formidable challenge of

development. We were thus pleased to participate in the

recent mid-term review of the implementation of the

United Nations New Agenda for the Development of

Africa in the 1990s. The results of that review gave

reasons to hope that the African predicament can be

overcome through a much-strengthened cooperation

between African countries and the international

community. We wish at this time to call on all States to

intensify their efforts to support Africa’s initiatives to

promote its development, for the success or failure of the

African Agenda will be the success or failure of us all.

These issues are at the heart of the wider and

comprehensive Agenda for Development which we are in

the process of elaborating. The endeavour we have made

this past year to complete our negotiations on the content

of this important document, while significant, points to

the inevitable conclusion that we have yet to find the

level of political will needed for meaningful agreement.

We seem to be stuck in the confrontational mode set

during our previous years of dialogue. My delegation is

nonetheless of the view that, given the growing

interdependence of Member States and the globalization

of the world economy and society generally, there are

now sufficient elements to form the basis of a global

partnership for peace and development.

The terms of this partnership could be drawn up by

mutual agreement of the parties, specifying both the

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obligations and the rights of each side. On the part of the

developing countries, there would be acceptance of their

primary responsibility for their development as well as the

need for good governance. The developed nations, on the

other hand, would commit themselves to supporting these

endogenous efforts and to assisting in the creation of an

international economic environment that would be

propitious to success.

Like the Lomé partnership that has existed for some

time now between a large group of African, Caribbean and

Pacific States and countries of the European Union, such an

arrangement would provide a fair degree of predictability in

its operations. Developed and developing countries alike

would have the assurances of joint performance and

common benefit. Eventually, this partnership would form

the basis of a new and enlightened world order to which we

have all aspired for many years.

My President, Mr. Cheddi Jagan and the Government

and people of Guyana are dedicated to the creation of this

new global partnership. We were pleased to note that

several international conferences — including the ninth

session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development at Midrand, South Africa, and the meeting of

the Group of Seven in Lyon, France — have fully

subscribed to the concept. We are therefore encouraged to

think that the time has come for the establishment of a new

global human order that would be based on respect for

national sovereignty, participatory democracy, socio-

economic equality, people-centred development and the

realization of the economic, social and cultural rights

enshrined in the United Nations Charter. We know that

such an order or partnership — call it what you will — will

not be easy to create and will require the adoption of a

fundamentally new development paradigm which will bring

together all actors, governmental and non-governmental

alike, as well as multilateral and regional institutions, to

work together for economic and social progress.

At a symposium which was hosted in August 1996 by

the Government of Guyana, ample consideration was given

to ways and means of promoting this new order. In light of

the changed political, economic and social circumstances of

the world today, the conference agreed inter alia, that, since

the enormous debt burden continued to inhibit development,

serious consideration should be given to the cancellation of

the debt of the least developed countries; a significant

reduction in multilateral debt; and a reduction of the

remaining debt stock to sustainable levels for the other

developing countries, with debt-service payments limited to

10 per cent of exports, provided that 50 per cent of the

savings are used for social sector development. There

should also be a significant increase in transfers of long-

term development finance to developing countries by,

first, attaining the existing official development assistance

target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product by

mobilizing new and additional sources of finance;

secondly, creating a global fund by mobilizing resources

using new and innovative measures, such as the Tobin tax

and environment-related levies from which Governments

in both the North and the South would benefit; and,

thirdly, introducing measures to stabilize the international

monetary system and financial markets.

In our efforts to promote the concept of the new

global human order, we believe that serious consideration

should also be given to the establishment of a fair and

equitable trading system, including the provision of

reliable access to the markets of the North. Such a system

should take into account the special needs of small

developing States; ensure fair and stable commodity

prices; secure a renegotiation of the provisions of the

World Trade Organization, especially with respect to trade

and environment, intellectual property rights and foreign

direct investments; a reduction and relaxation of

conditions attached to future financial transfers; a new

emphasis on the expansion of production and growth for

sustainable development and a safe physical environment

in the south; the development of the social sector as a

focus of any new programme with emphasis on education,

human resources, health and the development needs of

women, children and indigenous peoples; and the

enhancement of efforts to democratize and strengthen the

United Nations and to restructure other multilateral

financial institutions to respond more effectively to the

challenge of people-centred development.

In this regard, we must quickly resolve the financial

crisis in which the Organization finds itself. Member

States, particularly the developed countries, must honour

their payment obligations so that the funding of all United

Nations activities may be placed on a sound and

predictable basis.

These are some of the measures which my

Government believes need to be taken urgently by the

international community in order to promote global peace

and security. Admittedly, some, if not all, may seem in

the eyes of many to be too bold and far- reaching. Yet, if

they are not implemented soon, we run the grave risk of

jeopardizing the future of generations to come. We have

the moral imperative to act swiftly to prevent the further

decline of our peoples and, indeed, of our entire

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civilization. Let us therefore resolve to make this fifty-first

session of the General Assembly a decisive turning point in

the life of the Organization and an opportunity for forging

a just and enlightened partnership among the peoples of the

world.