Maldives, 1995

It gives me great pleasure

to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Freitas do Amaral on

his election to the presidency of the United Nations

General Assembly on this momentous occasion of its

fiftieth anniversary. Aware of the strenuous task that this

Assembly has to perform, I remain confident of his

competence to guide our work to satisfactory conclusions.

It is also my privilege and honour to pay a tribute to

the President of the forty-ninth session of the General

Assembly of the United Nations, His Excellency

Mr. Amara Essy of Côte d’Ivoire for the skilful manner

in which he discharged the onerous responsibilities of the

presidency of the forty-ninth session of the General

Assembly.

I would also like to convey my country’s deep

appreciation to the Secretary-General for displaying

exceptional capability and a capacity to meet the daunting

challenges and obstacles to his noble mission, and for his

ever-readiness to work selflessly not only to retain the

credibility and the validity of the United Nations but also

to make this Organization stand tall in this rapidly

changing world. My delegation sincerely wishes him

every success in his unenviable task.

The United Nations is celebrating the fiftieth

anniversary of its founding, and many of us are

advocating the need for reforming and restructuring this

Organization. There is no doubt in our minds that the

world is passing through an era of dramatic change

affecting the map of international political relations and

changing the balance of economic and trade relations, a

reason which would naturally justify this call. But we

should not ignore the fact that this Organization has

succeeded in preventing a third world war — and the

greatest fear 50 years ago was that such a war would

occur.

Furthermore, this Organization has effectively freed

the world from the evils of colonialism and racial

discrimination. It has also helped in establishing a regime

of international cooperation based on the principles of

equality and respect for the rule of law. If not for the

noble role that the United Nations has played in many

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areas of human activity, we would not have harvested the

progress we enjoy today in the fields of disarmament,

containment of the proliferation of nuclear weapons,

promotion of human rights, and many important issues such

as those related to environment and the welfare of refugees,

children, youth and women.

Of course there have been failures and set-backs.

Many a time we have come across situations which have

made us suspect the credibility of the Organization and the

effectiveness of its decisions.

But the fact remains that the United Nations has

served and is continuing to serve humanity — individuals,

peoples and the world community as a whole — with

profound dignity and with a sense of purpose, guided by

the noble principles of the Charter. And if we are talking

about reforming or restructuring this Organization, then our

concentration should first be focused on the realities of

today in order to transpose our collective efforts to

strengthen international cooperation for the achievement of

our common objectives in full accord with the principles

enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

Moreover, the reforming and restructuring not only

should be focused on the concept of international peace and

security, but also should be extended to include the entire

spectrum of the economic and social development of the

human race. In other words, the effect of reform should

reach all areas of United Nations activities, including those

involving the maintenance of international peace and

security, the achievement of equitable economic

development, the revitalization of the international

economic order, the protection of the global environment,

the combating of terrorism and drug trafficking, the

protection of human rights, and the promotion of

democratic values and legal order within and among

nations.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my

compliments to the specialized agencies of the United

Nations for their efforts to achieve economic growth and

sustainable development. The Rio Conference on

Environment, the Population Conference in Cairo, the

Copenhagen Social Summit, and the recently concluded

World Conference on Women, in Beijing, have taken us a

long way in this regard.

However it is regrettable to note that, in spite of the

encouraging signs, the overall picture of development is not

optimistic. The global Official Development Assistance

(ODA) today is at its lowest level in 21 years. As a least

developed island State, my Government is of the view

that there is an urgently felt need to reverse this situation

radically. A first step will be for all industrialized

countries to live up to the targets specified by the United

Nations. If we work in the spirit of collective

responsibility and match our efforts with the concerns of

the real people in the real world, I am confident that

success will be achieved.

As far as the principal organs of the United Nations

are concerned, Maldives believes that the General

Assembly should continue to play its central role as the

global council which has the competence and capacity for

taking collective decisions and reaching consensus on

important matters related to international peace and

security, development, and international cooperation in

general.

Meanwhile, the role and functions of the Security

Council should be strengthened and improved upon in a

way consistent with the realities of the present time,

which obviously are significantly different from the

geopolitical conditions which prevailed 50 years ago.

However, the Maldives is of the view that if a major

restructuring exercise is to be carried out it should be a

result-oriented one, which would strengthen the authority

of the Council and increase its ability to implement its

decisions rather than simply increasing the number of

members of the Council on a selective basis. Even if we

go along with the emerging consensus that the

membership of the Council should be increased, my

country strongly feels that careful consideration should be

given in the process to ensuring that the Council remains

a representative body for all regions and groups of

nations, including, of course, the developing countries and

small States that share the responsibilities for maintaining

peace and security in the world with the more developed

and the larger Member States of the United Nations. The

main criteria should be, we believe, the capability of the

Member States to fulfil their obligations and commitments

towards the United Nations and its principles, and their

respect for and adherence to international covenants.

Fifty years ago membership of this Organization

comprised only a few countries. They had the privilege of

having a say in world affairs. They created this body to

safeguard not only their own interests but also the

interests of future generations of the entire world.

The vast majority of Member States that are

represented here today, including small States like my

own country, Maldives, had been deprived of their

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freedom in one form or other. It was the principles on

which this Organization was founded that helped shape the

events which eventually led to the restoration of the

legitimate rights of deprived peoples on all continents

across the globe.

Now, ours is a community of nations that share the

same values and depend on each other in achieving our

common and individual interests. Among the Member

States of the United Nations there is a large number of

small States which are actively interacting with other

Member States, not because they merely need the

cooperation of the others for their survival and existence,

but because they actually are inseparable parts of this large,

interdependent world.

What the United Nations is trying to do is to promote

peace and justice, eliminate racial and religious prejudices

and set up universal standards for aspects of our lives

which affect our dignity as equal human beings. Small

States are participating in this endeavour with the same

conviction that the larger countries have. Therefore, it is

more than reasonable that small States should be given the

opportunity to play their role in decision-making and

carrying forward the torch of our common mission.

As I first mentioned, the reform of the United Nations

must be comprehensive and should include the three main

organs, the specialized agencies, and all aspects of the

United Nations work and activities; a reform which would

change the United Nations truly in to a “mission-oriented

and results-oriented” Organization, to use the Secretary-

General’s description. Therefore, my delegation feels that

it is important to maintain effective coordination between

the open-ended working groups which are already being

established, and that we should, by all means, avoid

producing a partial package of improvement.

As the world anticipates seeing a revitalized United

Nations, we should pause to review the current world

situation.

In this context, it is with great disappointment that we

see that the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina remains as

critical as ever. We are still witnessing the destruction of

life and property, the violation of human rights and the

defiance of Security Council resolutions by the Bosnian

Serb leadership. The continuing deterioration of the

situation has led many of us to doubt the applicability of

the arms embargo. Many of us, furthermore, fear the

consequences of partitioning Bosnia and Herzegovina on

the basis of the ethnic composition of this independent

State. We urge the international community to exert its

influence on the Bosnian Serbs to accept the settlement

now being proposed, which we are confident will result

in a comprehensive and viable solution to this tragic

episode. Meanwhile, we wish to express our deep

appreciation to the countries that are contributing bravely

to the efforts of the United Nations Protection Force

under extremely difficult conditions.

The situation in the Middle East seems to be

improving through the peace process. The United Nations

has continuously supported the rights of the Palestinian

people to self-determination and independence. The recent

accords, which enable the Palestinian people to exercise

a degree of self-rule, are certainly a good basis for the

realization of this objective. While appreciating the

important role played by the sponsors of the recent

initiative, we feel that the United Nations should continue

to give support to the people of Palestine and to enhance,

by all available means, the fulfilment of their legitimate

rights.

The recent events that took place in the Islamic

Federal Republic of the Comoros demonstrate once again

the vulnerability of small States to terrorism and the

activities of mercenaries, which threaten not only the

security and stability of small States, but also democratic

institutions and the lawful existence of Governments. This

time the victim was again a small island State in the

Indian Ocean. But we have seen that acts of terrorism

similar to this one — which took many innocent lives —

are occurring rather frequently in many parts of the

world. Recalling General Assembly resolution 49/31, on

the Protection and Security of Small States, my

Government calls upon the international community to

take all necessary steps to prevent mercenaries from

carrying out their criminal acts.

Giant steps have been taken towards universal

disarmament. During the Conference earlier this year at

which the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was discussed

Maldives supported the Treaty’s indefinite extension, with

the firm conviction that it plays a central role in

containing the danger of the proliferation of nuclear

weapons. Treaties have been concluded on chemical and

other weapons of mass destruction. It is our fervent hope

that the comprehensive test-ban treaty will be signed

before the end of 1996. In the meantime, it is most

important at this juncture that all States refrain from

testing nuclear devices, and those which aspire to

achieving nuclear-weapon capabilities should refrain from

developing them. Instead, efforts must be made to

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dismantle all existing nuclear weapons and free the world

from this dreadful menace. Further, the countries of each

region should agree to establish nuclear-weapon-free zones,

thus striving collectively towards a nuclear-weapon-free

world. Furthermore, my Government believes that the

course of universal disarmament will translate into an

increase in available resources that can be used for urgently

needed humanitarian and social development needs.

As mankind awaits the dawn of the twenty-first

century with great expectations for peace and justice and

for the emergence of a United Nations that will carry

forward the noble mission for which it was created, we, the

Government and the people of the Maldives, renew our

commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United

Nations and pledge that we will do whatever is possible, in

cooperation with other Member States, to uphold these

principles and work towards a better future.

My delegation wishes to extend its felicitations to all

States Members of this Organization on this occasion of its

fiftieth anniversary and to congratulate this world body on

its tremendous achievements.