Liechtenstein, 1998

I wish to welcome at the

outset the President of the General Assembly at its fifty-

third session. He has assumed a difficult and important

task, and we have full confidence in his ability to give

this body the direction required at a time when many

complex issues are on its agenda.

I would like to pay tribute to Secretary-General Kofi

Annan, who has continued to represent our Organization

in an outstanding manner and to whom we are all

indebted for initiating a comprehensive reform process.

His presentation of the report on the work of the

Organization at the beginning of the general debate has

provided us with a clear picture of where the United

Nations stands today and of the major issues we must

address.

We remain committed to the reform process and

hope that the ongoing changes will bring about the

urgently needed improvement in the financial situation of

the Organization. We share the Secretary-General?s deep

concern at the deterioration of the security situation of

United Nations personnel involved in field operations and

the view that determined action by the General Assembly

is needed to address this problem, which poses a threat to

many core activities of the United Nations. On the

positive side, we share the satisfaction felt at the entry

into force of the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-

personnel Mines next spring and are pleased to announce

that Liechtenstein will deposit its own instrument of

ratification very soon.

After a series of major conferences in the first half

of this decade, we now have to tackle the important task

of addressing the follow-up processes to these major

events, in order to ensure that the relevant final

documents are implemented on the national and

international levels and thus translated into concrete

action for the benefit of people worldwide.

This year, we celebrate both the adoption of the

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action five years

ago and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights in 1948, which is usually referred to as the

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“50 plus 5” anniversary. We hope this event will send a

powerful message to the world that the United Nations and

its Member States are aware of the need for genuine and

effective national policies and international cooperation in

order to achieve the standards established in this area by

the United Nations.

The Universal Declaration constitutes a milestone in

the history of human rights activities of the United Nations

and the basis for the remarkable achievements made over

the following years and decades. Therefore, it is our view

that on 10 December we should reaffirm in strong and clear

terms the contents of this Declaration, as well as our

commitment to fully implement its provisions, in order to

ensure that all individuals worldwide benefit from the

standards set out in the Declaration.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

have been a key element in the human rights deliberations

for half a decade now. The value and importance of this

document have become very clear during this period of

time, while the implementation of many of its contents has

been slow and not satisfactory. The Vienna document is

complementary to the previously existing instruments and

standards in the field of human rights.

Our main task is to ensure that these high-quality

standards under international law are made a reality in daily

life for people worldwide, since there continues to be a

very noticeable deep gap between these standards and their

implementation in practice. I am pleased to announce that

the Liechtenstein parliament has approved accession to the

International Covenants on Human Rights, as well as to the

protocols to the second Covenant.

We fully subscribe to the principle that all human

rights are interdependent and mutually reinforcing and have

thus to be treated on the same footing. There is, however,

one area to which we would like to give particular

emphasis, namely, the promotion and protection of the

rights of children, which warrant our special attention. The

scope and number of violations of the rights of the child

are particularly disturbing, and we are grateful to note that

the international community has in the recent past stepped

up its efforts to combat some of the most outrageous forms

of such violations. Another welcome and necessary measure

is the appointment of a Special Representative of the

Secretary-General on children in armed conflicts. We

pledge our full support to the activities undertaken by

Mr. Olara Otunnu and express our hope that his office will

be provided with the necessary human and financial

resources to fulfil its far-reaching and complex tasks. We

are disappointed that it has not yet been possible to adopt

an optional protocol on children in armed conflicts, which

could make a major contribution in this respect.

A very important and timely impetus to the cause of

human rights and international humanitarian law was

provided by the adoption of the Statute of an International

Criminal Court this summer in Rome. While the

International Criminal Court is not a human rights court,

we consider the Rome Statute to be a very important

contribution to Human Rights Year. We welcome the

outcome of the Rome Conference as an achievement of

truly historic dimensions and — like the Ottawa

process — as an example of the fruitful role civil society

can play in an intergovernmental negotiating process of

high complexity. While we would have preferred to give

the International Criminal Court more far-reaching

competence, we are very satisfied and encouraged to note

that what seemed like a dream just a few years ago now

has a chance to become a reality. It is of crucial

importance to realize that the adoption of the statute was

not the end of the process, but, rather, a decisive step

which requires determined follow-up and further hard

work from all of us. Constructive and serious work in the

Preparatory Commission and a speedy process of

signature and ratification are the most important tasks for

the imminent future, and we hope that the General

Assembly will send out a strong message to this end. As

a participant in the Rome Conference and as one of the

first signatories of the Statute, Liechtenstein stands ready

to make its contribution.

One of the most disturbing developments in the past

year took place in the field of nuclear non-proliferation.

Liechtenstein continues to condemn all nuclear tests and

has expressed its concern at the impact of the tests

conducted this year on political stability in the region

concerned. This matter touches on the very existence of

humankind, and thus we have to make every effort to

create a non-proliferation regime which is just, effective

and credible. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons (NPT) of 1968 and the Comprehensive

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty of 1996 constitute, if fully

implemented, two cornerstones of such a regime. Other

measures will be necessary, and it is of crucial

significance that all countries stand ready to make their

contribution to solving this issue in the interest of all of

us.

Our own region has been affected by the crisis in the

former Yugoslavia for many years now. We all welcomed

the conclusion of the Dayton Agreements, because they

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brought an end to the terrible suffering of the people in the

former Yugoslavia. We remain concerned, however, at the

slow process of implementation, especially with regard to

the civilian aspects of the Agreements.

The year 1998 has brought about a new crisis of

alarming dimensions: the conflict in Kosovo. Liechtenstein

condemns the numerous and serious violations of

international humanitarian law in this conflict and remains

very concerned about the situation of the civilian population

and the potential impact of the developments in Kosovo on

regional stability. Preventing a further deterioration of the

humanitarian situation and finding a viable political solution

are the two most important issues for a solution to the

Kosovo crisis, which poses a clear threat to international

peace and security and should therefore be dealt with

appropriately by the United Nations. It has become clear

once again that the capacity of our Organization to deal

with such challenges needs to be enhanced and improved.

As with other crises in the recent past, most notably the one

in Rwanda, the outbreak of violence in Kosovo came as a

surprise to nobody, and yet not enough was done to prevent

it.

Further developing the concept of prevention and

translating it into concrete action remains, therefore, in our

view, one of the most important issues on the agenda of the

United Nations, and the increased involvement of women

in preventive diplomacy continues to be of particular

importance to us. We note with gratitude the signs of an

increased political will to support the concept of prevention,

while we believe that more concerted and determined

efforts to this end have to be made. We are ready to make

our contribution, and I would like to recall in this context

once again our initiative on the right of self-determination.

We are more convinced than ever that a more innovative

and flexible application and implementation of this right has

great potential to defuse tensions and prevent conflicts

within States — the type of conflicts with which the

international community is most commonly faced these

days. A genuine political dialogue between central

Governments and communities living within States lies at

the heart of our ideas, the ultimate goal of which is the

prevention of tendencies by such communities to claim

statehood and attempt to achieve this goal through violent

means. The Liechtenstein Research Programme on Self-

determination, conducted at Princeton University, has

continued and increased its activities over the past year, and

we have noted with great satisfaction and gratitude the

interest and contributions from a large number of

permanent missions in New York. We will continue to try

and enhance political support for our ideas, which we hope

can make a contribution to the effectiveness of our

Organization in the future.