Monaco, 1994

At the outset, I should like to extend my sincere

congratulations to you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the forty-ninth session of the General

Assembly, and to the newly elected members of the

Bureau. Your outstanding personal and professional

qualities are, I am sure, a guarantee of the success of our

work.

I also take this occasion to pay a tribute to your

predecessor on the podium, Mr. Samuel Insanally, who,

often in difficult circumstances, fulfilled his mandate

expertly and efficiently. For instance, the opportunity he

gave us freely to express our opinions and ideas on

several important problems of our time, such as that of

development, was a significant initiative that will certainly

5

have a positive impact on all our further thinking and work

on these questions.

I turn now to our Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, to thank him warmly for his efforts in

undertaking the very complex and sensitive missions

entrusted to him by the General Assembly and the Security

Council over the past months. Given that, in many

respects, the state of the world continues to deteriorate,

these efforts have been all the more worthy. While some

conflicts were born or rekindled, others - often long-

standing, but no less virulent - have become worse or have

expanded. Brutality and violence, sometimes interethnic,

have all too often exploded, and no real means have existed

or been available to redress their effects or the harm they

have caused.

While we have been heartened by certain encouraging

developments in South Africa - which we welcome back to

democratic life - or in the Middle East, many potential

conflicts remain and others have already erupted or are

about to do so. Entire peoples are still under the yoke of

dictatorship. The suffering and barbarity entailed are all the

more vicious and painful because the methods of repression

have kept pace with scientific and technical advances. The

crimes of the highest civilization go hand in hand with the

crimes of the highest barbarity. More than ever before,

women, children, the elderly and the weakest and most

vulnerable are threatened and victimized. When peace

collapses - and the more fragile it is the more violent is its

collapse - war quickly becomes total, and civilian

populations, especially the poorest, are rarely spared.

The international community, pained and

overwhelmed, can only resort, in desperation, to

humanitarian assistance. Bosnia and Herzegovina and

Rwanda are the most striking examples of this. Most often,

this humanitarian assistance comes in response to tragic

situations and complex political circumstances that make it

difficult to deliver and, despite all the haste and the efforts

made, render its benefits uncertain.

Bearing in mind the decisions taken by the Security

Council in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a view

to protecting the civilian populations, and inspired by the

courageous and generous initiative recently undertaken by

France in Rwanda with the support of Africa and the

United Nations, should not the international community

adopt a convention-based instrument that would meet this

challenge? For such challenges could face it again in the

future.

Through such an instrument, States parties would

undertake in advance to authorize in case of a conflict the

establishment of protection and security areas reserved for

defenceless children, women and the elderly. The

boundaries of these zones would, of course, need to be

clearly established, with the agreement of the State or

States concerned. Special access routes to such areas -

neutralized airports, roads and railroads - would be

provided for in this treaty in order to ensure the delivery

of humanitarian assistance. The protection and

functioning of these areas would have to be guaranteed by

unarmed agents, preferably volunteers, under the auspices

and responsibility of the United Nations, and they would

wear white helmets or have some other distinctive

insignia, as has already been suggested.

The Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the

Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12

August 1949 - which envisaged cordons sanitaires and

security zones, without however making them mandatory

- could serve as a model to a great extent when we

consider this matter. Does not protection for the most

vulnerable sectors of the non-combatant population -

children, women and the elderly - deserve true

international commitment? It would be particularly

significant and symbolic if, on the occasion of its fiftieth

anniversary, after considering a desirability study drafted

by the Secretary-General, our Organization equipped itself

with such an instrument, open for signature by all States,

providing for the establishment of humanitarian zones in

time of conflict.

In this way, the High Commissioner for Refugees,

the United Nations Children’s Fund and international

charitable institutions such as the International Committee

of the Red Cross or certain non-governmental

organizations recognized for their humanitarian activities

would be in a better position rapidly to provide

protection, relief and assistance to the civilian populations

afflicted by destructive conflicts and deprived of their

most fundamental rights.

While it is more important than ever for our

Organization to secure for itself effective means of

protecting innocent civilian populations, we must none the

less not neglect future generations. By depleting the

natural resources of our Earth and damaging our

environment, often out of simple negligence, we are

jeopardizing the future and the happiness of our children.

The Principality of Monaco is fully aware of this and is

striving to assist to the extent within its power in

6

protecting the environment as well as in combating

pollution in the oceans and seas.

By virtue of its maritime traditions, Monaco has

primarily throughout its history stressed the protection of

the resources of the marine environment. A large number

of initiatives have been taken in this respect on the local,

regional and even international levels. The Principality is

always ready to step up its efforts and to strengthen

international cooperation in these areas.

Indeed, in this respect a cooperative undertaking with

the United Nations has existed since 1961. Pursuant to an

agreement concluded between the International Atomic

Energy Agency and the Government of Monaco, an

international marine radioactivity laboratory has been

operating in the Principality. This laboratory has garnered

important and interesting experience in the realm of the

measurement of levels of radioactivity in the seas and

oceans. With the assistance of the United Nations

Environment Programme, it has developed various methods

of monitoring the marine environment on a worldwide

scale.

The proclamation of 1998 as the International Year of

the Ocean, as proposed by the Economic and Social

Council, would, I am convinced, provide an opportunity to

bolster this international cooperation and to once again take

stock of the marine environment, after the assessment

drawn up in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 at the Earth Summit.

In this spirit, we have paid particular attention to

certain conclusions of the Fourth United Nations

Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory

Fish Stocks whose migrations take place both within and

outside exclusive economic zones, which took place here in

August. The alarm that was sounded as a result in

particular of the report drawn up by the Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United Nations with respect

to the overexploitation of the seas and oceans cannot leave

us indifferent. The careful husbandry and use of such

precious marine resources and the stepped up struggle to

combat marine pollution should continue to be the subject

of the most energetic and attentive concern on the part of

this Organization.

The agreement recently adopted in the context of the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - and we

very much welcome the felicitous conclusion of that

agreement - demonstrates that with goodwill, the

international community can find the right formulae to

accommodate the interests of all by preserving the general

interest, that is, thinking globally but also acting locally.

Only world cooperation can make it possible to

solve the grave problems associated with safeguarding our

environment and as a result respond to the tremendous

challenges that we face now and will increasingly face in

the future. With future generations in mind, I feel

impelled to speak of the future of our Organization,

which next year will celebrate a landmark event: its

fiftieth anniversary.

Important world conferences - the one on population

and development which has just concluded in Cairo, the

one on social development scheduled for Copenhagen in

March next year, or the Fourth World Conference on

Women, which will take place in September 1995 in

Beijing - have been and will be opportunities to intensify

our thinking and build up our means of intervention in

key areas for the future.

The work in progress to improve the functioning of

the Organization and its structures is encouraging. The

Government of the Principality is following these

developments with interest.

I should be remiss if I concluded my statement

without thanking the members of the Security Council

and the States that have contributed to peace-keeping

operations and without stating that the Principality fully

appreciates the sacrifices made. Men and women serving

the Organization have lost their lives. We salute them

and pay tribute to their memory. We must be watchful -

and this is a major responsibility - in order to ensure

better protection for these soldiers of peace while

remembering their wives, their children and their families.

Our action is and should always be designed first

and foremost to serve mankind, to alleviate its sufferings

and remedy the evils of its plight. Is it not time at last to

say, as André Breton wrote, "for man to go over to the

side of man, lock, stock and barrel".

I wish, as I conclude my statement, to express my

fervent and sincere wishes for the success of the work of

this forty-ninth session of the General Assembly.

I venture to hope that thanks to general goodwill and

mutual understanding we may be able to find practical

and effective solutions, in keeping with the spirit and

letter of the Charter of the United Nations, to the key

issues before us for our consideration.