Mauritius, 1992

I bring to the General Assembly the

greetings of the people and Government of Mauritius. I assure you. Sir, of

our unstinted cooperation and support in the discharge of the important task

that you have assumed upon your election to the high office of President of

the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session. I join those who have

already congratulated you on this singular honour, which is also a tribute to

your country.

I should like also to offer my felicitations to all the other officers of

the Assembly and to wish them success as they take the reins for the current

session.

In addition, I want to put on record our appreciation of the masterly

manner in which your distinguished predecessor conducted the affairs of the

General Assembly at its forty-sixth session, which was held at a time when the

most crucial transformation on which the Organization has embarked was taking

place. He can take pride in the commendable achievements of the Organization

under his wise guidance.

It is an equally pleasant duty to welcome the 13 States of Eastern Europe

that have joined our ranks as members of this comity of free nations. Their

membership in the United Nations can only reinforce the foundations of the

Organization and make a positive contribution to the new agenda that it has

assumed.

The beginning of the current session of the General Assembly follows a

year which was very eventful on the international scene but, more important,

within the Organization itself. Indeed, during the past year the United

Nations has witnessed, and in some cases has triggered, major developments.

When I addressed the Assembly during the general debate last year, I referred

to the selection of a new man to take the helm of the Organization. I said

that we were in a new era and that the new Secretary-General would have to

tackle a different agenda and face new challenges as we approached the

twenty-first century. I also said that it would be appropriate to have a

Secretary-General from the South and, indeed, from Africa. In that respect we

have been served well.

It is therefore with pride that I record as one of the important

developments in our system the brilliant choice of Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali

as Secretary-General, which has kindled in many a Member nation fresh hope

that its just aspirations will be addressed and fulfilled.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali's election to lead this world body has been welcomed with

elation by the international community, and with great expectation by those of

us who are from Africa. We take pride in the fact that this wise man of

proven distinguished leadership and excellence is an Egyptian son of Africa.

Mauritius would like to associate itself with all those who have

commended the Secretary-General on the laudable actions he has undertaken so

far in his bid to initiate the much-needed reform of the Organization. It is

conceded that reform of an organization like the United Nations is not an easy

task, but it is more than overdue, especially at a time when the cold war has

definitely been laid to rest. The drop of the curtain on the cold-war era has

brought the reform and restructuring of the United Nations within the realm of

possibility. The task is mammoth for sure, but it is one that is imperative,

given the new priorities on the international agenda.

The Secretary-General deserves all the encouragement possible in his

endeavours along this difficult path. His task becomes even more exacting

when it is placed in the perspective of the forthcoming fiftieth anniversary

of the Organization in 1995, which, incidentally, is also the year when the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons will come up for renewal.

The years leading up to 1995 are, to our mind, absolutely crucial for the

United Nations. Now, more than ever before, it is of paramount importance

that the United Nations address, with renewed vigour but within the parameters

of the Charter, the various and complex issues that preoccupy the

international community.

It is with those preoccupations in mind that we in Mauritius have

welcomed the Secretary-General's "Agenda for Peace" submitted under the

mandate issued at the end of the historic and first-of-its-kind summit meeting

of the Security Council held on 31 January last. We share the

Secretary-General's optimism when he states:

"A conviction has grown, among nations large and small, that an

opportunity has been regained to achieve the great objectives of the

Charter a United Nations capable of maintaining international peace and

security, of securing justice and human rights and of promoting, in the

words of the Charter, 'social progress and better standards of life in

larger freedom.'" (A/47/277, para. 3)

Yes, we agree that this opportunity must not be allowed to pass, must not

be squandered. It is for us Member States to ensure that the Charter is

strengthened to create the appropriate conditions for the Organization to

assume the role to which we want it to aspire. Our faith in the United

Nations should be reinforced, and we should match our words with action to

give the innovative structures proposed by the Secretary-General a chance to

work, and thus move the Organization out of the paralysis that characterized

it during the cold-war era. The first steps out of this paralysis have been

taken, but there are still miles to go. In our endeavours to achieve the

redefined objectives meant to ensure international peace and security we must

be wary that no attempt is made, deliberate or otherwise, to overstretch the

interpretation of the Charter to suit any hidden political or even economic

agendas.

The universal membership of the United Nations should make it possible

for the international community to discuss with equity, fairness and justice

any issue that is likely to jeopardize or bring into question the atmosphere

of international peace and security in which we aspire to live. In that

perspective, I should like to commit the support of Mauritius to the proposals

of the Secretary-General with respect to preventive diplomacy, peacemaking,

peace-keeping and confidence-building measures envisaged for the United

Nations and its executing organs. But, as the Secretary-General has said in

his annual report, the demands on the United Nations are not matched by an

equivalent provision of resources, expecially by those who can well afford

such resources. The Secretary-General's report informs us that since 1988

13 new peace-keeping operations have been organized and that the Organization

is at present administering 12 peace-keeping operations in various regions of

the world, operations that are estimated to cost close to $3 billion in the

current 12-month period.

If we expect the United Nations to fulfil the new role that we are

designing for it we must collectively ensure that we provide as well the

financial support that it requires. It is only with secure financial

foundations that the United Nations will be able to respond adequately and

satisfactorily to our aspirations. I should therefore like to appeal to

fellow Member States to honour their financial obligations within a reasonable

time and thus remove the current pecuniary constraints faced by the

Organization. I must also add that my country, which is among those Member

States that religiously pay up their annual assessed contributions, will give

favourable consideration to the Secretary-General's proposals to deal with the

cash-flow problems, as outlined in his report.

I should not like to leave the issue of reform of the Organization

without joining my voice with those that have called for a review of the

responsibilities of the Security Council in this changed environment of ours.

We must be cautious lest we fall easy prey to the dangers that a unipolar

world can trigger. It is evident that a new world order is emerging. Let us

commit ourselves not to take a limited view of this new world order or,

indeed, give it a limited concept. We welcome the ever-increasing activities

of the Security Council to the extent that, as the Secretary-General informs

us in his report, during the first 7 months of this year, 46 resolutions were

adopted by the Council compared to 14 in all in 1987. We should, however,

beware of allowing ambiguities to crop up in those resolutions, ambiguities

that may make it dangerously possible for various interpretations to be given

to those resolutions, the implementation of which may perpetuate the situation

of conflicts that unfortunately pervades our globe. Indeed, criticism has

been levelled at the Council for its seemingly ad hoc approach to matters

relating to international security. There is therefore a need to define set

considerations, which, in turn, would determine what situations constitute

threats to international peace and security requiring action by the Security

Council.

Furthermore, it has been rightly and forcefully argued that while a more

vigorous and dynamic role is being envisaged for the Security Council, this

magnified mandate of the Council should be matched by enhanced transparency

and democracy. We fully concur with the Secretary-General, who, in the

introduction to his report, while arguing that the current international

situation rquires an Organization capable of dealing comprehensively with the

economic, social, environmental and political dimensions of human development,

underlines that:

"This requires the full application of the principles of democracy within

the family of nations and within our Organization." (A/47/1, para. 9)

In this context, we await with keen interest the results of the

deliberations of the high-level Working Group for the Restructuring of the

United Nations set up by the recent summit meeting of the Movement of

Non-Aligned Countries.

Earlier on I said that while 1995 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of

the Organization, it will also be the year when the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons will come up for review and renewal.

Last year in my address to the Assembly, I dwelt at length on the issue of

disarmament, principally because it constitutes especially to us smaller

States of the world the only path to lasting security. I expressed the hope

then that in the wake of the dramatic announcements made by

President Gorbachev, the leader of the then-Soviet Union, President Bush and

President Mitterrand the disarmament race would be confirmed. It is with deep

satisfaction that my country notes the tremendous progress achieved over the

past year in that race. We welcome the vote by the United States Senate two

months ago for a nine-month moratorium on United States nuclear testing and an

end to all such tests by September 1996, which came in the wake of the French

and Russian moratoriums. Those developments lead us to assert that the time

has now come for all of us seriously to consider a comprehensive

nuclear-test-ban treaty, the more so in that the international community

hailed the agreement by Presidents Bush and Yeltsin in Washington D.C. in June

of this year to cut the number of long-range nuclear-missile warheads on the

United States and Russian sides by about two thirds.

Another encouraging event in the field of disarmament has been the

promise kept by China and France, which have deposited their instruments of

accession to the non-proliferation Treaty. Speaking of that Treaty brings me

to reiterate the dire need for an informal dialogue to be undertaken between

now and 1995 between States Parties to the Treaty and non-party States, with a

view to addressing in the best possible way those provisions of the Treaty

that have so far prevented it from acquiring a universal dimension.

We also look forward to the establishment in 1993 of the Preparatory

Committee for the 1995 nuclear non-proliferation Treaty renewal Conference and

are confident that it will have fruitful and conclusive deliberations.

We applaud the progress that has been achieved in the formulation of a

chemical weapons convention and congratulate the negotiators in Geneva who

have put in arduous hours to ensure that the target date of 1992 for the

completion of such a convention be met. I am pleased to inform the Assembly

that Mauritius will co-sponsor with others the resolution on that convention

and will be among its original signatories when it comes up for ratification.

We believe that, with the end of the cold war and in this new era,

complete nuclear disarmament and the elimination of weapons of mass

destruction are no longer a dream but are now very much in the realm of

reality. On the way towards that ideal objective, Mauritius will support all

plausible initiatives, including the elaboration of a convention providing for

a "cut off" in the production of fissile nuclear material for weapons

purposes, as well as an international convention on negative nuclear security

assurances.

While we welcome the positive elements in the field of disarmament, some

of which I have just mentioned, we deplore the continued movement of highly

dangerous nuclear material on land and on the high seas. We have also taken

cognizance with grave concern of the movement of plutonium and other toxic

waste across the world. We exhort the countries involved in such trade to

refrain from such actions and pay heed to the genuine concerns that have been

expressed and continue to be voiced by the international community.

Mauritius deplores the fact that some private companies based in Europe

are shamefully exploiting the situations of disarray and complete chaos

prevailing in Somalia to dump toxic waste on its territory, thereby adding to

the calamities that are already claiming a heavy toll of human lives. The

international community should, with o single voice, condemn such abominable

actions. It is indeed regrettable that while we, within the context of the

new role of the United Nations and other regional organizations, are trying to

resolve the conflicts that beset the world, others, with no qualms whatsoever,

are exploiting those conflicts for their own material benefit.

As regards the situation of conflicts throughout the world, a sad sight

unfolds before our eyes. In certain areas, especially after the historic

collapse of one ideological bloc, new dangers loom heavily over entire

populations enmeshed in ethnic and nationalist bickering. Their release from

long years of repression seems to have given way to an unfortunate lust for

self-destruction.

We are particularly concerned at the utter lack of consideration for the

value of human life and property that has become an everyday occurrence in

certain parts of Eastern Europe. It is very difficult for us to accept that

ethnic, religious, and nationalist feelings could be so strong as to render

entire populations expendable, or that political leaders should encourage such

murderous and genocidal sprees when it ought to have been possible for them to

thrash out their differences peacefully through civilized negotiations. The

sadness of the matter is that, while the various political groups often

motivated by a misguided and exaggerated sense of territorial expansion, turn

whole areas into wargrounds of desolation and lay to ruin entire cities and

towns, it is the innocent civilian population that has to hold the thorny end

of the stick. I do not need to retell the countless stories of atrocities

being perpetrated daily in many parts of our world to convince anybody of the

kind of manmade calamity that afflicts us. Every God-given day is turned into

a nightmare by the needless killings perpetrated in the name of supremacy.

On the one hand, we do everything in our power to rid ourselves

collectively of oppressive regimes and superficial ideologies; but on the

other, once that goal is achieved we turn the guns on one another. Entire

nations have crumbled over the past few months, principally in Europe and

Africa. Entire populations have been decimated. Bosnia and Herzegovina and

Somalia are indeed sad and disgraceful examples of the kind of cruelty and

brutality of which man is capable. On both counts, the international

community has been shamefully slow in addressing the issues with a view to

bringing an end to the senseless killings that have characterized the daily

evolution of the situation in those countries, whose victims have been the

innocent and helpless populations.

What a sad reflection this is on humanity. For months we have remained

impassive to the images of desolation and despair, of emaciated fellow beings

too sick and too weak to move, of mutilated people degenerating into

apparitions of skin and bones - images brought to us in the comfort of our

living rooms on the small screen. The Somali human rights disaster for

indeed that is what it is has been left to simmer for months unheeded. This

brings me to address another area of priority on the international agenda

the issue of human rights.

It has been known since time immemorial that man as an individual has a

capacity to go to extremes. As capable as he is of displaying a depthless

sense of compassion and love, he is just as able to manifest a diametrically

opposed and excruciating sense of cruelty and oppression towards his fellow

being. But when such harassment and privation of man's basic rights become

institutionalized, it is a matter of distress that should be the concern of

the international community.

One cannot talk of economic development and progress on the one hand

without on the other hand ensuring that man who remains at the centre of

development and therefore of progress is not prevented from enjoying his

dignity, nor divested of his basic freedoms and rights. The promotion and

upholding of human rights should remain high on the international community's

list of priorities. In fact, as the Secretary-General reminds us in his

report, the Charter of the United Nations makes the promotion of human rights

one of our priority objectives. Constant dialogue with a view to defusing any

situation in which human rights have been breached should be encouraged and

welcomed at all levels.

Human rights are indivisible. Political, social, civil and economic

rights are fundamental to humanity in its quest for progress and its

endeavours towards the economic and social improvement of its environment.

That is why we in Mauritius staunchly support those who believe that concern

for human rights and the promotion and defence thereof cannot be considered as

interference in the internal affairs of a State where that State displays an

arrogant disregard for the basic rights and freedoms of its people. We

believe that violations and gross abuse of human rights should be decried

forcefully. In the same manner that the international community has with one

voice condemned,apartheid as a human rights abuse, it should be free and

honest enough to point the finger at those who continue to thwart the efforts

of man to assert his dignity. If we can without restraint declare ourselves

against such scourges as apartheid, racism and xenophobia, we should equally

be at full liberty to denounce those who for archaic or obscure reasons but

often out of self-interest deny their fellow beings the freedom to exercise

their basic rights.

We therefore condemn without reserve those who, for political expediency

and/or survival, find it necessary in the normal course of events to deprive

their people of civil and political rights to the extent of imprisoning and

even exterminating those who militate for such rights. We also view with

grave concern those cases in which human rights monitors, local or

international, have been arrested, jailed, or even killed while trying to come

to the assistance of populations that are victims of human rights deprivation.

However, we should like to appeal to the donor community to ensure that,

while withholding or cutting off aid and assistance to any country or region

as a punitive measure against regimes guilty of gross violations and abuse of

human rights, nothing be done to exacerbate the plight of innocent people

whose lives are already miserable as a result of their being deprived of their

basic rights. After all, human feelings and therefore humanitarian compassion

should transcend political considerations. A people afflicted by severe human

rights abuse should not be made to endure further suffering by being deprived

of much-needed assistance.

With a view to addressing serious human-rights-abuse situations in

certain territories in a positive and constructive manner, we are fully

supportive of the idea that the General Assembly or the Security Council

should be able to entrust the Secretary-General with mounting fact-finding

missions to those territories, either at the request of the Government thereof

or at the behest of the appropriate organ of the United Nations itself

subject, of course, to prior arrangements having been made with the States

concerned.

We must here commend the work done by the United Nations Commission on

Human Rights and Human Rights Committee, the Centre for Human Rights in Geneva

and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the

various non-governmental organizations which have been playing a crucial role

in the protection and enhancement of human rights. We must also place on

record our appreciation for those States that have legislated appropriately to

give human rights the protection of the law and make their enjoyment a matter

of course.

In the context of the international concern for human rights, we hope

that the opportunity provided by the second World Conference on Human Rights,

to be held in Vienna in June 1993, will be seized by all concerned to pledge

themselves to the universal upholding and promotion of human rights. Respect

for human rights must become a cardinal characteristic of all Governments. A

passionate debate is currently on regarding the relationship between

democracy, development and human rights, as indeed on the issue of human

rights and sovereignty. We believe that the 1993 Conference will be the

perfect platform to debate these issues sufficiently for universal norms

thereon to emerge. I should like to seize this opportunity to wish the

Preparatory Committee in Geneva success in the work it has started.

The upsurge of racism and xenophobia in certain countries of the West is

also a matter of great concern to us, and we consider the discrimination in

the treatment of migrant workers and foreign students in those countries a

human-rights violation. It is a matter of deep regret that some countries

that have come to the fore as champions of human rights should themselves be

found wanting on that level. Let them put their human-rights house in order

first before decrying and acting on violations beyond their frontiers.

Similarly, some countries that are quick to denounce human-rights abuse

do not always abide by the consistency that is required in such matters. We

firmly believe that the same approach should be applied in all cases of

alleged human-rights abuse, whenever they may occur. No political or economic

interest should interfere with that approach. Picking and choosing between

countries will only make a farce of the human-rights issue.

I now wish to touch briefly on a few issues that are of specific

importance to us in Mauritius. The unfortunate turn of events in South

Africa, in particular the Boipatong massacre and the Bisho killings, has

dampened the ardour with which we were anticipating the accession of the

Republic of South Africa to the fold of free and democratic countries of the

world. We call on all the parties concerned in the South African arena, and

especially those currently in power, to recast their bearings in as positive a

way as possible to ensure that the objective we dream of for that country is

achieved in the not-too-distant future, so that every citizen of the nation

that will emerge can start working towards its reconstruction based on

freedom, peace, equality and justice. We are hopeful that the wisdom of the

leaders involved and the encouragement of the international community will

make it possible for the stalled negotiations to be resumed, for the benefit

of all South African citizens.

In neighbouring Mozambigue, a breakthrough had appeared at hand as all

parties concerned declared their readiness to work for the progress of that

country in the wake of the recent negotiations aimed at ending years of civil

strife. We hope that last-minute snags will be overcome in a spirit of

compromise so that peace can at last prevail in the better interests of the

population.*

Similarly, we are encouraged by the ongoing Middle East peace talks. We

must, however, constantly remind ourselves that the crux of the matter remains

an equitable and just solution to the Palestinian issue.

The scourge of famine and drought that continues to take its toll of

lives on the African continent, especially in its southern part and in the

Horn of Africa, is a matter of deep concern. We would like to see the

international community act more urgently to stop the dreadful loss of life

that has become a daily occurrence in many countries of that region.

Mauritius is ready to contribute within the possibility of its means to any

action aimed at alleviating the plight of those unfortunate and often

forgotten souls.

Another issue that is of great importance to us in Mauritius is the need

to respect the territorial integrity of nations. I should here like to place

once more on record the appreciation of my country to all those countries that

have consistently expressed their support of our sovereignty over the Chagos

Archipelago, including Diego Garcia. We should like to inform the Assembly

that we have resumed exchanges with the United Kingdom on this issue.

In my address to the Assembly last year, I expressed the hope that the

leaders of Fiji would redress the situation that prevails there by amending

its present Constitution to the satisfaction of all the citizens of that

sister island nation. Mauritius draws comfort from recent assertions by the

Prime Minister of that country that he is morally committed to reviewing the

Constitution of the land. We are confident that the Fijian Government will

now act on the basis of those assertions and make it once more possible for

the Fijian citizens, irrespective of the community to which they belong, to

work hand in hand for the progress of their nation.

Similarly, we commend the authorities of that other neighbourly sister

island of Sri Lanka for the efforts being deployed to put an end to the

unfortunate strife that has ravaged their country and taken such a heavy toll

of human lives. We are confident that with a reasonable degree of compromise

on all sides, peace and harmony will prevail anew there.

Finally, allow me to reiterate the continued faith of my country in the

collective wisdom of our Organization and pledge anew our unstinting support

for its laudable efforts, under the skilled and enlightened leadership of

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to address the political, social and economic

obstacles that remain strewn on the path to harmonious coexistence and global

progress.