Italy, 1996

On behalf of Italy, I am pleased to

express to you, Sir, my warmest congratulations on your

election to the presidency of this session of the General

Assembly. Your extensive and widely recognized

knowledge and experience of the activities and functions

of the United Nations is the best guarantee of your

success. At the same time, allow me to sincerely thank

your predecessor, Professor Diogo Freitas do Amaral of

Portugal, who so ably led the historic fiftieth session of

the General Assembly.

In addition, I should like to express our great

appreciation for the inspiring role and constructive

leadership of the United Nations provided by Secretary-

General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Italy shares and fully supports the statement made

before the General Assembly on Tuesday by the Deputy

Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ireland on behalf

of the European Union. At the special commemorative

meeting for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations,

there was a solemn reaffirmation of the need for the

United Nations to implement significant changes to keep

step with the new global realities. Italy believes that the

time has come to translate ideas into urgently needed

reforms. Let me briefly address them.

The General Assembly is the most representative

expression of the values of our Organization. Therefore,

we believe that the General Assembly must increasingly

reflect the opinions of our peoples and become more

democratic through direct links to the institutional realities

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of its Member States. The Italian delegation to the General

Assembly, for example, includes representatives of both the

Senate and the Chamber of Deputies of our Parliament,

which helps our political forces to have a fuller appreciation

for the role and activities of the United Nations. We hope

that this practice, which is also followed by certain other

countries, becomes more widespread and consolidated.

The General Assembly’s subsidiary bodies should be

simplified, merging some committees while streamlining the

agenda. Greater transparency is needed in relations between

the General Assembly, the Security Council and the

Secretariat.

At the same time, we believe that the Secretariat

should be restructured, so as to organize resources and

functions around two focal points: on the one hand, peace

and security; and on the other, democracy and development.

In this context, Italy proposes that the three economic and

social departments of the United Nations Secretariat should

be merged into a single entity under the leadership of a

Deputy Secretary-General, who would also act as the

Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Council.

Italy is actively committed to Security Council reform

and has presented a detailed proposal inspired by the

fundamental principles of democracy, equitable

geographical representation, efficiency and transparency.

Reform should not lead to the establishment of new

regimes of privilege, which would diminish rather than

increase equitable representation on the Council. Last April,

in his address before the General Assembly, the President

of the Republic of Italy, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, warned that

stressing the elitist nature of the Council

“could widen the gap and thus reduce the interest of

the excluded, demeaning their political commitment in

the process and perhaps marginalizing them and

giving them the dangerous feeling that they are token

presences, mere spectators.” (Official Records of the

General Assembly, Fiftieth Session, Plenary Meetings,

103rd meeting, p. 3-4)

Our goal instead must be to stimulate a greater involvement

of all countries, large and small, through a rotation

mechanism.

The Italian proposal would maintain a central role for

the General Assembly. In fact, it would be up to the

General Assembly to decide, on the basis of objective

criteria, which countries could rotate more frequently. It

would be up to the General Assembly to elect these

countries, by a two-thirds majority and by secret ballot, in

a truly democratic way. And it would be up to the

General Assembly periodically to review the countries in

question.

The Open-ended Working Group on the Question of

Equitable Representation on and Increase in the

Membership of the Security Council has found it difficult

to reach a consensus. Italy considers its proposal a

balanced way of reconciling the new international

realities, namely the emergence of countries with notable

political and economic capacities — and I include Italy

among them — and the rise in developing countries, a

full 132 of which are Member States of the United

Nations today. However, we are willing to discuss and

adhere to a formula that is not inconsistent with the

fundamental principles that govern our own proposal.

A new generation of peace-keeping has begun. From

its original role as a force of interposition, peace-keeping

has gradually taken on the broader tasks of pacification,

support for the process of national reconciliation, and

today the protection of populations threatened by inter-

ethnic conflicts. Italy believes that in confronting these

tasks every Member State should responsibly consider

making, and be prepared to make, larger and more

qualified military contingents available to the United

Nations. Italy is capable of doing its part, as demonstrated

in Mozambique and in Bosnia.

To make United Nations actions more effective in

this field, Italy proposes the following 10 concrete

measures which would be designed to: involve troop-

contributing countries in the decision-making process;

conduct annual reviews of the mission, mandate, and

means of peace-keeping operations; have readily

deployable military forces available as soon as Security

Council decisions are made; create a reliable and unified

command structure for peace-keeping operations; expand

logistical support for peace-keeping operations; prioritize

training programmes for peace-keeping personnel;

improve the financing of peace-keeping operations; fill

the gap between peace-keeping and post-conflict peace-

building; entrust certain peace-keeping operations to

regional organizations; and, finally, enhance cooperation

between the United Nations and the Organization of

African Unity (OAU).

To go into these points more at length, first of all

we are glad that the Security Council, as suggested by

Italy and other countries, has made it a regular practice to

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hold consultations with troop-contributing countries before

adopting decisions on peace-keeping operations. The next

step is a formal mechanism that guarantees the participation

of troop-contributing countries in the decision-making

process. In this connection, Italy will lend its full support

to the proposal put forward by the Prime Minister of

Norway, Mrs. Brundtland, for an annual seminar to focus

on the three M’s of peace-keeping: Mission, Mandate and

Means.

The United Nations must be ready to deal with

conflicts where and when they break out, and to this end,

it must be able to count on readily available military forces,

as provided for by Article 43 of the Charter of the United

Nations. We would also support the establishment, as

suggested by Canada, of a headquarters module for peace-

keeping at the United Nations Secretariat, whose

composition should respect the principle of equitable

geographical representation.

Italy intends to promote specific proposals to expand

logistical support, on the strength of its experience with the

United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and the

Implementation Force (IFOR). Already, we have made

available the first United Nations logistic base in Brindisi,

which should be further expanded to ensure efficient

resource management for peace-keeping operations and we

suggest a separate allocation in peace-keeping budgets for

the creation of logistic bases.

The training of peace-keeping personnel is the duty of

the United Nations Staff College in Turin, which was

created on the Secretary-General’s initiative. The College

is receiving the maximum support of the Italian

Government and will hopefully receive the support of other

Member States as well. Financing of peace-keeping

operations could be improved through a peace-keeping

surcharge for new, frequently rotating Security Council

members, as Italy has proposed. This would distribute the

burden of the surcharge to a larger number of countries.

Another essential component of peace-keeping is

humanitarian assistance during and immediately after a

conflict. Between the management of a conflict and post-

conflict peace-building there is a gap. To fill just such a

gap in Central America, Italy designed and funded the

Development Progress for Displaced Persons, Refugees and

Returnees (PRODERE) programme, which contributed

substantially to the process of reconciliation. A model effort

of the same type is now under way in Mozambique.

Closer coordination with regional organizations could

help provide the United Nations with the human and

material resources it needs. Without detracting from the

United Nations central role, certain peace-keeping and

peace-enforcement operations should be entrusted to

regional organizations or coalitions. A good example of

this is the success of the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO) in fulfilling the mandate it was

given by the United Nations in the former Yugoslavia,

where the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe has also played an increasing and important role.

Italy hopes for growing dialogue between the

Organization of African Unity and the United Nations,

and a strengthening of the peace-keeping capabilities of

African countries. The OAU must be concretely helped to

enhance its mechanism for conflict prevention and crisis

management. In line with Italy’s traditional support for

democratic development, we are planning a broad series

of initiatives in Africa aimed at supporting parliamentary

activities and strengthening judicial structures and

training.

The United Nations is a global system, and it

pursues global objectives. Conflict prevention and the

promotion of peaceful solutions to controversies cannot be

pursued solely at the political and military level. The

conditions for peace are found, perhaps primarily, in the

economic, social and cultural development of peoples.

Poverty, underdevelopment, and cultural isolation disrupt

relations between countries and thus constitute threats to

international peace.

Through its funds, programmes, and specialized

agencies, the United Nations plays a vital role in

preventing these obstacles from jeopardizing peaceful

coexistence. It helps restore the conditions for orderly

global development after disruptions caused by internal

and international conflicts. Italy appreciates the

importance of both prevention and post-conflict

reconstruction, and is determined to strengthen its

collaboration with the United Nations specialized

agencies.

With this in mind Italy has chosen the United

Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO) as one of the main points of reference for the

reconstruction of the city of Mostar. Collaboration with

the cultural agency of the United Nations will also prove

valuable in other areas of the former Yugoslavia on

projects to reconstruct prestigious landmarks such as the

Sarajevo library and historic buildings in Ragusa/

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Dubrovnik.

The reform process also concerns the economic and

social fields of the United Nations. The adoption of

resolution 50/227 is a significant step forward, especially

where it refers to strengthening the role of the Economic

and Social Council. Special attention should be paid to the

operative follow-up to this resolution.

The identification of priorities by the United Nations,

in accordance with changes in international reality, is

essential to achieving greater efficiency to serve the best

interests of the beneficiary countries, as well as those of the

United Nations itself.

During the last five years the United Nations has

sponsored a series of global conferences to address

systematically the key issues facing humanity today. The

upcoming World Food Summit, which will take place in

Rome from November 13-17 of this year, will close this

important cycle. This summit will provide an opportunity

to define new strategic objectives for international action in

the field of food security in order to overcome structural

shortages, especially in the nutrition sector, in many regions

of our planet. In preparation, Italy is promoting a joint

development initiative for Angola with the three agricultural

agencies whose headquarters are in Rome.

The process of economic globalization and the

growing interdependence of markets offer enormous

economic and social growth possibilities. From this

perspective, the concept of global partnership provides for

an equitable sharing of responsibilities. The Ministerial

Meeting in Singapore is an excellent opportunity to focus

on these issues, consolidating the process of trade

liberalization sanctioned by the Uruguay Round and

strengthening the regulatory role of the World Trade

Organization (WTO).

Italy is actively participating in the preparation of the

1997 special session of the United Nations General

Assembly dedicated to the environment. While keeping in

mind the results of the Rio Conference and foreseeable

future scenarios for sustainable development, that session

should update the instruments for action and continue to

strive for implementation of Agenda 21. In 1996 significant

achievements have been made in the field of disarmament.

A major step on the road to nuclear disarmament has of

course been taken with the signing of the Comprehensive

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. In the field of conventional

weapons, an important agreement was reached in Florence

last June on arms control in the former Yugoslavia. Our

next goal should be a cut-off in the production of fissile

material for military purposes.

The Italian Government pledges to renounce once

and for all the production and export of anti-personnel

land-mines. We will also initiate the destruction of

existing devices and promote further restrictions in the

hope that such measures will contribute to reaching a

solid international understanding and a definitive ban. To

this end, we propose the prompt opening of international

negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in

Geneva.

The fundamental role of law in the creation of a new

world order must be upheld. National sovereignty has

nothing to fear from the consolidation of international

law. We believe that the cause of peace can only profit

from the establishment of an international criminal court

on violations of international humanitarian law and crimes

against humanity. Italy is committed to this goal and is

ready to host a diplomatic conference in 1998 to sanction

the birth of such a court. Italy is also promoting a

campaign for a worldwide moratorium on the application

of the death penalty.

The European Union has constantly emphasized that

financial reform is essential to any modernizing of the

United Nations structure, and we share the ideas

expressed on this subject by the Irish presidency. We are

convinced that financial reform is a prerequisite to the

United Nations maintaining its crucial function in

international relations. The role that United Nations

Member States intend to play in pursuing the objectives

of the Charter cannot be independent of their specific

responsibility to honour their financial obligations. We

firmly reiterate the validity of the specific proposal for

financial reform presented by the European Union under

Italy’s presidency during the first half of this year.

A formidable task awaits us: to adapt our

Organization to the needs and the challenges of the

twenty-first century. Italy is prepared to spare no effort in

the pursuit of our common goals.