Cambodia, 1994

On this solemn occasion allow me first to

convey to you, Sir, on behalf of the Cambodian delegation,

heartfelt congratulations on your election to the presidency

of the United Nations General Assembly at its forty-ninth

session. Your election is very important because it is a

tribute not only to your diplomatic skills, to someone

experienced in international affairs, but also to the tireless

work done by Côte d’Ivoire, your glorious country, for

peace.

I am delighted to take this opportunity to convey to

your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally,

our satisfaction at the exemplary way in which he

presided over the work of last year’s session of the

General Assembly.

We wish also to congratulate the Secretary-General

of the United Nations, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, on the

many efforts he has constantly made for peace and

security throughout the world since he has been at the

head of the Organization. The Kingdom of Cambodia

reiterates its firm support to the Secretary-General.

(spoke in English)

It gives me particular pride to be here today as the

representative of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Royal

Government under the First Prime Minister, His Royal

Highness Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and the Second

Prime Minister, Samdech Hun Sen, was installed as the

legitimate Government of Cambodia a little more than a

year ago, on 24 September 1993, through the foresight,

generosity and courage of the Members of the United

Nations and the bravery of the Cambodian people in

choosing, through United Nations-sponsored elections, a

liberal democracy, building up national reconciliation

under the high guidance of His Majesty King Norodom

Sihanouk.

I have come here today to represent the Cambodian

people in expressing our warmest gratitude to the

Members of the United Nations for their wonderful gift of

freedom. After 23 years of war Cambodia is now at

peace and able to start to move towards development,

social justice and prosperity. This has not been an easy

task because our financial base is still very low. As a

member of the group of least developed countries,

Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the

world and a large proportion of its people are saddled

with crushing poverty. But, again, the United Nations is

at our side. The Bretton Woods institutions are helping

us to re-establish a solid fiscal base and the specialized

agencies have almost all moved in to assist development

and strengthen our institutions.

In the economic field, there has been some progress

over the past few years. According to the 1992 report,

the inflation rate was estimated to be 300 per cent, but in

1993 it dropped to 70 per cent. This year our local

currency is very stable: 1 dollar is equal to 2,500 riels.

Bilateral donors have also been generous, and as

assistance moves from the area of emergency

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rehabilitation to that of reconstruction, achievements are

beginning to be noted.

However, the most important of the Royal

Government’s priorities for reconstruction and rural

development have unfortunately lagged behind other kinds

of development. The constraints of distance, an

infrastructure ruined by two decades of war and a

continuing insurgency have hampered efforts, but in our

second year of office, the Government, together with our

friends, will tackle those problems. Infrastructure can be

rebuilt, and our king, His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, is

leading the move for reconciliation with the insurgents, the

so-called Khmer Rouge group, who do not recognize the

United Nations-sponsored elections and continue to

challenge the legally elected democratic government, and

above all have rejected the cease-fire that has been

proposed through His Majesty’s tireless efforts.

Please allow me to reiterate, on behalf of all the

people of Cambodia, our deep and lasting gratitude to all of

the States Members of the United Nations and to the

individual bilateral donors who have so generously

supported reconstruction in our country, both through the

United Nations and its institutions, and through their

pledges at the first and second ministerial meetings of the

Intergovernmental Committees on the Reconstruction of

Cambodia (ICORC), held in Paris and Tokyo respectively.

With the assistance of the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) we have now developed our first

country programme, which will be presented to the

Executive Board of UNDP on 6 October 1994.

The UNDP is also assisting us to reform the civil

administration within Cambodia.

Many other specialized agencies of the United Nations

are also doing excellent work within the country: the United

Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children’s

Fund, the International Labour Organization, the United

Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,

the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations and the World Food Programme, to name a few.

Cambodia has itself been through the holocaust of

tyranny, invasion and internal disturbances. Our National

Assembly is now in the process of restoring Cambodia as

a judicial State where human rights, political pluralism,

liberal democracy and, above all, freedom of expression are

respected, as envisaged in our Constitution. To this end,

we have been grateful for the support and encouragement

of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of

the United Nations, whose close cooperation with the

Cambodian Government has helped us in our task of re-

establishing law and confidence in the country.

Cambodia is the only country in the region to have

asked the Secretary-General of the United Nations to

dispatch a special representative for human rights. In

comparison with the twenty years of war and

totalitarianism under the previous regimes, progress has

been made. We also appreciate the early visit of the

newly appointed United Nations Commissioner for

Human Rights, the Honorable José Ayala Lasso.

Because of our own terrible experiences, Cambodia

feels to the depths of its soul for the plight of the

ordinary people in Rwanda. We congratulate the

international community for its intervention in Rwanda

and we are pleased to see that the situation is now

stabilized. In particular, we wish to applaud and

commend the French for the rapid action they took to

help put an end to the killing and suffering of the

Rwandese people.

On the same basis, Cambodia wishes to call on the

rival factions in the former Yugoslavia to stop their

fighting and cooperate with the United Nations.

Cambodia is, of course, well acquainted with the Special

Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in

the former Yugoslavia, His Excellency Mr. Yasushi

Akashi, and is full of admiration for, and confidence in,

his efforts to restore peace and security to the people of

that troubled region.

Again, from the Cambodian experience of using

democratic elections as a catalyst for peace, we wish to

congratulate the people of South Africa and the new

democratic government led by President Nelson Mandela,

on their move towards a normalization of the lives of the

people and on the return of South Africa to the world’s

embrace.

Cambodia fully supports the Geneva Declaration of

12 August 1994 between the United States of America

and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and

hopes that the Declaration will be fully and sincerely

implemented. Cambodia strongly supports the earnest

desires of the Korean people who, in the not-too-distant

future, will bring their beloved country towards full

reunification.

Cambodia welcomed the just initiative taken by the

international community on the question of Haiti to avoid

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bloodshed and to oversee the smooth transition to a

democratically elected government. Cambodia calls on the

people of Haiti to work towards the national reconciliation

and development of their country under the democratically

elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide.

We pray for an end to the senseless killing in

Afghanistan, so that the Afghan people may be able to

resume their normal lives and rebuild and develop their

war-torn nation.

We are pleased to see the political outcome in

Northern Ireland and hope that peace and happiness will

soon return to that beautiful land.

The situation in the Middle East has brought us great

joy. The peace agreement between Israel and the

Palestinian people is the most encouraging historical event

of our time.

The recent accord between Israel and Jordan is

definitely the right step towards peace, security and stability

in that region. We encourage others to follow the example

of this discussion for a peaceful world.

Cambodia is situated in south-east Asia, in the Asia-

Pacific region. As we have moved towards development

and prosperity for the Kingdom we have welcomed the

friendship of the member countries of the Association of

South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which invited

Cambodia to be a special guest for the second time at the

twenty-seventh annual ministerial meeting held in Bangkok

in July 1994. At an appropriate time, Cambodia looks

forward with great enthusiasm to full membership in

ASEAN. We will be delighted to see all 10 countries of

our subregion one day join in the great ASEAN family.

This will be a positive development for harmony and

security in our part of the world. ASEAN has done a great

deal for Cambodia during our difficult years, and for this

we are eternally grateful to all of its six distinguished

members: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,

Singapore and Thailand. Cambodia also welcomes the

positive developments around the continuing growth of the

Asia Pacific Economic Community. To use the economic

achievements of the most prosperous of the nations of our

wider region as a springboard for further growth, peace and

stability is something that Cambodia highly values.

(spoke in French)

In addition to the constant efforts made by the

Cambodian authorities to rebuild our country after the

disastrous 20 years of war, Cambodia also aspires to

rejoin the international community as a State of law.

The policy of neutrality and peaceful coexistence

advocated by His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk since

the period of Sangkum Reastr Niyum - People’s Socialist

Community - which lasted from the 1950s to the 1970s,

remains the key to our foreign policy in order to promote

peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cambodia is committed to development and peace

for the well-being of our people, and we heartily welcome

the important appeal by Mr. Clinton, President of the

United States, for the elimination of anti-personnel land-

mines throughout the world, as the sine qua non for

development and lasting peace. Our people bear the scars

of these deadly practices, and a sincere commitment from

the international community would save the lives of

innocent men, women and children throughout the world.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank sincerely

all donor countries for their generous contributions to the

Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC).

The globalization of national socio-cultural policies

can be harmonious only if there is close and sincere

cooperation between the industrialized countries and the

developing countries. Hence, we wish to pay tribute to

the international community for its support for the

International Committee to Save the Temples of Angkor

Wat, in particular, the valuable work done by UNESCO

and the École Française d’extrème orient. The temples

of Angkor Wat, one of the seven wonders of the world,

have been designated the common heritage of mankind.

Cambodia is also concerned about environmental

issues, and will be signing the Agreement to Combat

Desertification in Paris.

Cambodia welcomes the convening of the World

Summit for Social Development, to be held in

Copenhagen, and the World Conference on Women, to be

held in Beijing next year. We give particular attention to

the development of our human sources, because of its

implications for the process of social stabilization.

Cambodia will actively participate in the work of these

summits.

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Cambodia welcomes the commemoration of the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations and has already set up a

national committee to participate in various events to be

held next year.

Before concluding, I wish to voice sincere gratitude to

the United Nations for the deployment of peace-keeping

forces, and Cambodia takes this opportunity to inform the

international community that it will make available its small

peace-keeping forces at the request of this Organization.

In conclusion, Cambodia remains convinced that

Member States will respond to emergencies and will meet

their obligations. Cambodia is solemnly committed to

complying with the United Nations Charter.