Nepal, 1996

On behalf of my delegation and

on my own behalf, I should like at the outset to

congratulate Mr. Razali Ismail on his unanimous election to

the presidency of the fifty-first session of the General

Assembly, and to express my happiness at seeing a fellow

Asian, from Malaysia, with which my country enjoys the

best of relations, guiding our deliberations. I pledge to him

the full cooperation of my delegation. I wish also to thank

Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral for having guided the fiftieth

session of the General Assembly to a successful conclusion.

My profound appreciation and gratitude also go to

the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his

tireless efforts in quest of a world of peace, progress,

justice and humanity.

The past five decades have seen the United Nations

striving to fulfil its Charter objectives. Yet peace and

prosperity — mankind’s highest dream — remain

unrealized. Conflicts, enormous cruelty, poverty, hunger

and, of late, population and environmental problems, have

been relentlessly on the rise. The United Nations, which

has limited resources at its disposal and is thus ill-

prepared to deal with such situations, has become the

target of increasing public criticism. The tendency to

focus on the Organization’s set-backs while ignoring its

record of real and substantive success threatens to

undermine the raison d’être of the United Nations.

Those formidable odds notwithstanding, the world

body has achieved a great deal of success in the field of

peace, democracy and human rights. It has many recent

achievements to its credit, in Namibia, Mozambique,

Cambodia, Haiti and El Salvador, to name but a few.

Thanks to the efforts of the United Nations, the hope for

stability and democracy has been a living reality in those

countries.

The presence of the United Nations Interim Force in

Lebanon, the United Nations Disengagement Observer

Force and the United Nations Truce Supervision

Organization continues to make a difference in the Middle

East. Similarly, the United Nations has exerted efforts to

keep and mediate peace in many countries of Asia,

Africa, Europe and Latin America through use of its good

offices and through peacekeeping operations. In spite of

perceived setbacks suffered by the Organization in some

peacekeeping operations, which were undermanned and

lacked clear-cut mandates, we must not forget the real

good that has been achieved through the prevention of

further genocides, the provision of massive humanitarian

relief and paving the way for political settlements.

A year ago, many world leaders gathered here to

commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the United

Nations. With a deep sense of optimism, they took stock

of the past and present performance of the Organization,

as they also pondered the future course that it may have

to traverse. They reaffirmed their faith in the principles

and purposes of the United Nations Charter, renewed their

commitment to the world body and pledged their support

to enable the Organization to come to grips with new

realities and challenges. No doubt the fiftieth anniversary

14

underlined the need to reactivate the United Nations as the

centrepiece of international relations, thereby further

deepening our hopes in the world body.

Nepal takes comfort in the fact that the Dayton peace

process has provided the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina

with a chance to realize their long-cherished dream of a

peaceful homeland. The recently concluded elections, we

hope, will contribute to a lasting peace in the Balkans, and

we take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to all

who contributed to this election process. We are equally

happy to be part of this peace process through our

contribution of civilian police monitors to the International

Police Task Force and the United Nations Transitional

Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western

Sirmium, under the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and

Herzegovina. We hope that the next local elections will also

be held peacefully.

Last year in this Hall I said that the peace process in

the Middle East had become irreversible. That is still the

view of Nepal, but the recent aggravation of the situation,

involving heavy loss of lives and consequent negative

implications for peace, has given us deep concern. It is my

earnest hope that the recent Washington summit meeting

between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat

will restore trust between the two sides and be instrumental

in the immediate resumption of serious negotiations within

the Middle East peace process.

More than any other country, the landlocked country

of Afghanistan has been a victim of the cold war, and the

Afghan people are still suffering from its far-reaching

consequences. We hope that peace prevails in that country.

Nepal, however, was deeply concerned at the flagrant

violation of the United Nations sanctuary.

We believe that United Nations peacekeeping

operations are indispensable in the maintenance of

international peace and security. Nepal has been a major

troop-contributing country to peacekeeping missions of the

United Nations. Over the years we have participated in

various peacekeeping operations with a total of 30,000

troops and hundreds of civilian police. Our commitment to

United Nations peace initiatives continues undiminished.

Nepal supports ongoing efforts for the establishment

of a rapidly deployable Headquarters team in the

Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United

Nations Secretariat, within the framework of a system of

stand-by arrangements to enhance the rapid response

capabilities of the United Nations — a system to which

Nepal has made a stand-by commitment to provide up to

2,000 troops and 200 police monitors. Work on such a

Headquarters team should proceed in a transparent

manner and involve all interested Member States,

particularly troop-contributing nations. We believe that it

should be composed of staff recruited by the United

Nations.

The United Nations is unfortunately beset with a

chronic financial crisis, which has seriously impaired the

Organization’s ability to perform well. Despite the year-

long meetings of the High-level Open-ended Working

Group on the Financial Situation of the United Nations,

the financial health of the Organization is still precarious,

and cross-funding of the regular budget from the

peacekeeping account is becoming almost the rule rather

than the exception. The continuation of such practice,

which invariably results in late reimbursements to the

troop-contributing countries, is detrimental to the rapid

deployment capability expected of the United Nations.

The capacity of the United Nations to plan and execute

peacekeeping missions will be greatly undermined if the

present financial crisis persists. Without a secure financial

base, the international community cannot expect the

United Nations to play the role demanded of it in the

maintenance of international peace and security.

Modern peacekeeping missions, involving complex

intra-State conflicts combined with massive humanitarian

relief operations, expose peacekeepers to an

unprecedented level of danger. It is therefore only fitting

that those brave harbingers of peace who are put in

harm’s way be treated on an equal footing by the United

Nations. We hope that a just system of death and

disability compensation, as mandated by the fiftieth

session of the General Assembly, will be established

soon.

For Nepal, the recent adoption by the General

Assembly of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

is a landmark in the history of nuclear non-proliferation

and arms control. We hope that it is the culmination of

our efforts to ban nuclear testing once and for all. We

believe that the conclusion of the Comprehensive

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty brings us a step closer to our

dream of a nuclear-weapon-free world. It is precisely for

that reason that Nepal supported the Treaty, to which I

put my signature yesterday on behalf of my country.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is only

a partial fulfilment of our Treaty commitment to pursue

in good faith the goal of the total elimination of nuclear

15

weapons. With the adoption of the Treaty, it has become

more urgent than ever that we seriously consider other

priority issues of nuclear disarmament in a practicable,

time-bound framework. In this regard, Nepal wishes to

underline its support for the programme of action recently

put forward by 28 non-aligned and neutral countries for the

elimination of nuclear weapons through a phased

programme.

In recent times, substantial progress has been made in

the creation and expansion of nuclear-weapon-free zones.

The Treaty of Bangkok and the Treaty of Pelindaba have

established South-East Asia and the continent of Africa,

respectively, as nuclear-weapon-free zones. Indeed, these

are steps, in the best tradition of the Treaties of Tlatelolco

and Rarotonga, that could contribute greatly to the cause of

nuclear disarmament and the global nuclear non-

proliferation regime. We earnestly hope that efforts will be

intensified in the Middle East and in our own region of

South Asia so that the goal of nuclear-weapon-free zones

becomes a reality in those regions as well.

We are of the view that our efforts towards the goal

of total nuclear disarmament must be matched by efforts to

achieve the non-proliferation of other weapons of mass

destruction. We therefore fully support measures aimed at

imposing a total ban on chemical, biological and other

inhumane weapons, including the production, sale and

export of anti-personnel landmines. In this regard, I am

glad to say that Nepal is now at the final stage of

completing the necessary constitutional process in order to

ratify the chemical weapons Convention, which we have

already signed.

As host to the United Nations Regional Centre for

Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, my

delegation wishes to emphasize the need for institutional

arrangements for the strengthening of the World

Disarmament Campaign. The Kathmandu Centre has

contributed to international, regional and subregional

dialogue aimed at transparency and confidence-building in

the areas of disarmament and security.

In his annual report on the work of the United

Nations, the Secretary-General notes that the past year

witnessed a determined effort by the international

community to take action to end the scourge of terrorism.

I would like to reaffirm the commitment of Nepal to the

Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International

Terrorism adopted by the General Assembly two years ago.

The reform of the Security Council is considered

necessary to make that crucial organ of the United

Nations more reflective of contemporary realities. We

agree that any expansion of the Security Council must

accommodate the interests and concerns of the bulk of the

total membership, to redress the existing imbalance and

anomalous representation. Any agreed formula for

expansion, in our view, must take into account the issue

of equitable global representativity. The selection of the

members of an expanded Security Council should be

guided by the contribution of Member States to the

maintenance of international peace and security.

Having said that, I want to emphasize that since the

Security Council is the principal instrument of the

international community in the area of collective security,

no expansion or reform should diminish in any way its

capacity for prompt and effective action to maintain

international peace and security.

The establishment of the World Trade Organization

(WTO) following the conclusion of the Uruguay Round

has made it clear that no country can ignore the

globalization process, which is gaining tremendous

momentum. At the same time, the acceleration of this

process of global economic integration has failed to

narrow the gap between the developed and the developing

countries. The economic situation of many countries of

Africa and the least developed countries is further

deteriorating, and those countries are being marginalized

because of unfavourable conditions prevailing in the

global market in the trade of their exportable products.

Furthermore, those countries lack national capacity in

terms of technology and product development capability

and also face various tariff and non-tariff barriers to their

exports abroad.

The situation of the landlocked developing countries

among the least developed countries is further exacerbated

by the high costs associated with the production and

transportation of their exportable commodities and their

difficulty in maintaining the tight delivery schedules

demanded by the global market. Without direct access to

the sea and given the absence of a significant market base

within their boundaries, those landlocked countries cannot

offer any of the comparative advantages so essential to

attracting foreign investment. Additional financial

resources and the transfer of appropriate technology,

accompanied by concrete measures to offset those built-in

handicaps, are the bare minimum requirements. We

expect that the WTO ministerial meeting at Singapore

will take this reality into account and ensure that the

16

products of the least developed countries are given free and

unrestricted access to world markets in order to facilitate

the integration of those countries into the liberalizing and

globalizing world economy.

It is with great distress that the developing countries,

and in particular the least developed countries, witness the

steep decline in the resources of United Nations operational

activities for development. The least developed countries

need the enhanced support of those agencies more than

ever, since most of them have embarked on far-reaching

reforms. In the absence of the flows of direct foreign

investment now available to many developing countries, the

least developed countries that lack basic physical

infrastructure and material resources have nowhere else to

turn. The efforts of the organs of the United Nations system

engaged in providing technical and advisory assistance to

the least developed countries, particularly the United

Nations Conference on Trade and Development

(UNCTAD), need to be supplemented adequately by the

Bretton Woods institutions and regional financial

institutions to arrest and reverse the declining economic and

social situation of the least developed countries.

The solidarity of the support received from the

representatives of the Non-Aligned Movement and the

Group of 77 during the recently concluded ministerial

meeting of least developed countries is an expression of

understanding and an acknowledgment of the responsibility

of the international community to the least developed

countries. We are confident that the emphasis given by the

leaders of the Group of Seven at the Lyon Summit on the

need to assist the least developed countries and to integrate

them in the global economy will be backed by concrete

actions.

South-South cooperation is another important

component of international economic cooperation that

should be further explored and promoted. The Government

of Costa Rica deserves our appreciation for its generous

offer to host a South-South conference on finance, trade

and investment in January next year.

In recent years we have witnessed a decline in the

economic conditions of more and more people, especially

those from the developing countries, who now comprise a

population of 1.3 billion people living in poverty. The

Declaration of the year 1996 as the International Year for

the Eradication of Poverty and the Declaration of the first

United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty,

beginning in 1997, must be taken seriously if poverty is to

be eradicated with renewed vigour and dedication. The

eradication of poverty must be a priority agenda for all

multilateral development institutions.

In this regard, we express our appreciation to the

Secretary-General for his initiative to establish, through

the Administrative Committee on Coordination, inter-

agency task forces to oversee coherent implementation by

the United Nations system of various cross-sectoral issues

covered in recent major international conferences. It is

heartening to note that one of the task forces, which is on

the creation of an enabling environment, is chaired by the

World Bank. We look forward to the reports of the task

forces, which are expected in April 1997.

We are confident that the special session of the

General Assembly on the Rio Declaration to be held in

June of next year will be successful in achieving the

objective of acquiring new and additional resources to

implement Agenda 21. We urge the developed countries

to honour the commitments they have made at major

international conferences, including those at Rio, Cairo,

Copenhagen, Beijing and Istanbul. We are deeply

concerned at the declining level of official development

assistance to developing countries, in particular the least

developed countries.

We are happy to see that the Framework Convention

on Climate Change has entered into force and is being

implemented effectively. We are at the same time

concerned about the Convention on Biological Diversity,

which has not been ratified by many countries. I am

especially pleased to say that the Parliament of Nepal has

already ratified the International Convention to Combat

Desertification.

We are firmly committed to the Charter obligation

to promote and protect fundamental human rights for all,

without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.

My delegation is closely following the negotiations that

are taking place in the Third Committee working group

established to oversee the recommendations of the Vienna

Declaration and Programme of Action.

The Fourth World Conference on Women was a

landmark in reaffirming the equal rights of women, and

focused our attention on the important aspect of the equal

participation of men and women in development

activities. We in Nepal are serious about implementing

the outcome of that Conference, with the creation,

initially, of a separate Ministry of Women and Social

Welfare.

17

Political strife, ethnic conflicts and the denial of basic

human rights in many parts of the world have resulted in an

influx of a large number of refugees, mostly women and

children. We express our appreciation to the High

Commissioner for Refugees for her untiring and continued

efforts to take care of refugees around the world, despite

the limited resources at her disposal. The Office of the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

deserves our special praise for providing

necessary food and other services to some 100,000

refugees in the camps in eastern Nepal. His Majesty’s

Government of Nepal upholds the right of every refugee

to return to his or her homeland safely and with dignity.

The Government will make every effort to solve the

problem of refugees from Bhutan through mutual

discussion and understanding.

As a critical part of our broad policy of peace,

cooperation and friendship with all countries of the world

on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations and the

principle of non-alignment, Nepal is pursuing a policy of

promoting regional cooperation and understanding under

the umbrella of the South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation (SAARC). We celebrated the tenth

anniversary of the Association last year. The seven

countries of the Association are engaged in various areas

of cooperation, including the suppression of terrorism and

drug abuse, environmental preservation, poverty

alleviation and the promotion of regional trade. It is a fact

that SAARC is far behind other similar regional

cooperation arrangements, but the countries of the

Association, particularly Nepal, are persevering in their

determination to develop both the habit and concrete

measures of cooperation, understanding and peace among

the South Asian partners.