Liechtenstein, 1997

On behalf of the

Liechtenstein Government, I should like to congratulate the

President on his election to preside over the fifty-second

session of the General Assembly. I wish also to express my

thanks and recognition to the Permanent Representative of

Malaysia, Ambassador Razali Ismail, for the dynamic way

in which he conducted the work of the fifty-first session.

Further, I should like to pay tribute to Mr. Kofi Annan, our

new Secretary-General. In the first nine months of his

tenure, and at a particularly decisive time for the United

Nations, he has shown great leadership qualities. I wish to

assure him of our full support and cooperation.

We live in a world that is more interdependent than

ever before. Globalization implies that Governments and

societies can best meet such global challenges as

democracy, the eradication of poverty, the promotion and

protection of human rights, sustainable development,

humanitarian emergencies and refugee problems if they take

action together. International problems require international

solutions, and the world community must work together to

deal with them on the basis of international law, through a

constructive dialogue of the international community as a

whole.

This leads me to our Organization, which is a unique

— indeed, the only — forum for such cooperation, and to

the deep and far-reaching reform proposals which the

Secretary-General, after a first reform package submitted in

March, presented in his report (A/51/950) of 14 July 1997.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has taken on the challenging

task of reform with the necessary combination of energy

and circumspection. I wish first of all to state that we

welcome the report and will lend our full support to

achieving its objectives. I hope that the reform process will

lead to concrete results before the end of this year. We

share the opinion of those countries that have stressed that

reform must not be a cost-cutting exercise but a matter of

strengthening the role of the Organization as an active and

effective world forum.

We welcome and support the Secretary-General’s

proposal to establish the post of a Deputy Secretary-General

who will have a particular role in ensuring the success of

activities and programmes that cross functional sectors and

Secretariat units. We particularly support the Secretary-

General’s suggestion to fill that post with a qualified

woman. We also welcome the proposal to replace the

Department of Humanitarian Affairs with an Office of the

Emergency Relief Coordinator, and we hope that this

measure will bring about the necessary changes to ensure

a more efficient coordination of United Nations activities

in this very important field.

The Secretary-General has also suggested integrating

human rights into all the principal activities of the United

Nations, and we are fully supportive of this approach

because it reflects the comprehensive and cross-cutting

nature of human rights. We are gratified to see Mrs. Mary

Robinson in her new post as United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights. We wish her success in

her challenging tasks and pledge to her our full support.

We are confident that her appointment will give

additional momentum to the promotion and protection of

human rights worldwide and that the consolidation of her

Office with the Centre for Human Rights will provide her

with a solid institutional basis from which to take on her

principal responsibility for United Nations human rights

activities. That will be possible, however, only if the

underfunding of human rights programmes that we have

witnessed for so long finally comes to an end. Human

rights are the legitimate concern of the international

community, and this should be reflected in the

appropriation of sufficient funds from the regular budget.

We also continue to be very concerned about the

precarious overall financial situation of the Organization,

which is obviously linked to the failure of some Member

States to fulfil their obligations regarding the prompt and

full payment of their assessed financial contributions. It

is important to note that the best reform efforts will be

seriously hampered unless the Organization’s finances are

put in order.

Since we last met in New York for the general

debate at the fifty-first session of the General Assembly,

major — indeed, crucial — efforts have been undertaken

to eliminate anti-personnel landmines. This matter has

become a truly global cause, promoted by individuals and

non-governmental organizations worldwide and propelled

by Governments, which have committed themselves to the

Ottawa process to achieve a global ban on landmines.

This is of exemplary value. Liechtenstein remains

committed to the elimination of anti-personnel landmines,

and we therefore wholeheartedly support the results of the

negotiations that were concluded recently at Oslo. We are

particularly pleased that it was possible to agree on a final

text which is simple, with no exceptions, no reservations

and no loopholes. We are of the opinion that only such a

treaty can bring us closer to the goal of the total

elimination of anti-personnel landmines, and I would like

to take this opportunity to thank all those who have made

outstanding efforts in the course of the Ottawa process,

20

particularly the Governments of Canada, Austria, Belgium

and Norway, as well as the International Committee of the

Red Cross.

While the adoption of the treaty will constitute a

milestone in the history of both disarmament and

international humanitarian law, further steps will be needed,

and the participation of as many States as possible in the

meeting which will bring the process back to Ottawa in

December will be a crucial element in those efforts.

Liechtenstein plans to sign the Convention on the

Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer

of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction and is

committed to its ratification at the earliest possible date.

The establishment of an international criminal court is

another area in which we have been able to make

significant progress over the past year, and we are

approaching the date of the diplomatic conference at which

the statute of the court will be adopted. We wholeheartedly

support the establishment of the international criminal court,

which will constitute a milestone in the history of

international law, and we continue to believe that that court

has to be strong and independent if it is to make an

effective contribution to the protection of human rights and

the observance of international humanitarian law. It is of

crucial importance that the General Assembly agree at this

session on the precise dates for the diplomatic conference

and that that decision allow for the fullest possible

participation by small States, which have a particular

interest in this matter.

Two years ago, we adopted the Declaration and

Platform of Action at the Fourth World Conference on

Women in Beijing. Initiatives and actions have been taken

towards the implementation of these commitments. The

Liechtenstein Government has since taken a number of

appropriate measures, while a comprehensive package

containing detailed further action is presently being

prepared.

The role of women in preventive diplomacy and in

peacekeeping and the persistent absence of women from

peace negotiations are of particular concern to my

delegation. The more active participation of women in

conflict resolution should be promoted, since women bring

different perspectives and innovative approaches to

preventive diplomacy as well as to peacekeeping. The equal

access and full participation of women in decision-making

at all levels and in power structures, including challenging

assignments, such as serving as special representatives of

the Secretary-General, are also important in the area of

the promotion and maintenance of peace and security.

Special attention should be given to the situation of

women in armed conflicts, including refugee women.

Women are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and

human rights violations, both before they flee and as

refugees. In the Beijing Platform of Action, the need to

provide protection, assistance and training to refugee

women and displaced women is clearly recognized.

Liechtenstein first introduced in 1991 an initiative on

the right of self-determination, the ultimate goal of which

is to enable States facing internal problems — be they

between the central Government and communities or

between communities within States — to cope with these

problems in a peaceful and flexible manner on the basis

of international law and through constructive dialogue.

Ever since, we have consolidated and further developed

our ideas, and we would like to thank all those who have

given us active support in this endeavour.

At the end of October, the Liechtenstein Research

Program in Self-Determination at the Woodrow Wilson

School of Princeton University will continue its series of

conferences devoted to issues of self-government and self-

administration. I would like to renew to all here our

invitation to attend the next conference, which will take

place from 31 October to 1 November. We hope that this

conference will provide a deeper understanding of the

complex issues underlying the concept of self-

determination, which has played such an outstanding role

in the history of our Organization. We hope that this

initiative can be a positive contribution to the future work

of the United Nations.

The capacity of the United Nations to deal with the

challenges of the future, however, will depend on our

decisions on the reform of the Organization, decisions

which we have to take now. Today, I wish to renew

Liechtenstein’s commitment to the principles and

purposes of the United Nations. We are willing to

contribute to the extent possible so that this chance to

renew the United Nations will not pass us by.