Philippines, 1995

It is with special fervour

that I congratulate Mr. Freitas do Amaral, on behalf of the

Philippine delegation, on his election as President of the

United Nations General Assembly in this landmark session.

Let me also express the gratitude of my delegation to Mr.

Amara Essy, the Foreign Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, for the

excellent leadership which he provided us at our forty-ninth

session. Our tribute goes also to the Secretary-General, Mr.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali and to the men and women of the

Secretariat, who, in the course of the past year, carried out

their indispensable tasks under circumstances of great

difficulty for them and for the Organization.

In three weeks, most of the world’s Heads of State or

Government will gather in this Hall to commemorate the

fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the United Nations. They

will no doubt recall how the founding fathers of our

Organization convened in San Francisco, animated by their

resolve to transform the world. It was a world devastated

by a global war. Like most wars, it was ignited by the

propensity and ability of nations to use force to acquire

territory and resources, to avenge past wrongs, or to

promote, at the expense of others, the security and

welfare of their people.

This was the world which the United Nations was

created to transform. Our founding fathers were idealistic

enough to insist that questions of war and peace had

ultimately to be resolved in the hearts and minds of men

and nations; but they were realistic enough to recognize

that practical measures and considerations were necessary

to deter the use of force and mitigate its effects. They

were realistic enough to concede that States that held a

preponderance of military force had to be allowed a large

measure of authority and responsibility; but they were

idealistic enough to hope that those States would use their

power for the good of all.

With the hindsight of 50 years, we can see that the

United Nations has not fulfilled the vision that the

founders had for it, but it succeeded well beyond what it

was reasonable to expect of it at that time. The world was

spared yet another global cataclysm. The quiet work of

the United Nations, particularly through its specialized

agencies, advanced the well-being and raised the standard

of living of countless millions around the world.

Sadly, however, these considerable achievements

were offset, in a fundamental way, by the continued and

repeated defiance of the United Nations proclaimed

purposes by so many men and nations, in so many

instances. Almost from the beginning of the existence of

the United Nations, and despite the United Nations, man

persisted in his ability, propensity and willingness to use

force in order to achieve his national or ideological ends.

If peace was kept on a global scale, it was only because

the mutual threat of nuclear annihilation deterred the

launching of full-scale war. In the international economy,

countries sought to beggar their neighbours through the

unabashed use of a full range of protectionist and

mercantilist tools.

Today, however, in the fiftieth year of the United

Nations, we can say with a measure of plausibility, that

the world has indeed been transformed; and we can hope,

with a degree of realism, that the idealistic vision of the

United Nations can be substantially attained.

One of the central aims of the United Nations — the

liberation of colonized nations — has been largely

achieved. The world’s most mightily armed Powers have

pulled back from the brink of nuclear annihilation. No

longer do nuclear-armed ideological camps face each

other in deadly confrontation, and mankind’s survival no

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longer hangs in the perilous balance of mutual nuclear

threat. The Philippines is gratified by the decision earlier

this year to extend indefinitely the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and calls for the

conclusion early next year of a comprehensive test-ban

treaty that would put an absolute end to all nuclear testing.

The international community has reached agreement

on the elimination of other devices of mass destruction and

of inhumane weapons. In particular, the Philippines urges

the ratification and the strengthening of the 1980

Convention on the Prohibition of Restrictions on the Use of

Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to

be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects.

We call for the early entry into force of the Convention on

the Prohibition of the Development, Production and

Stockpiling of Chemical Weapons and on Their

Destruction, and the full implementation of the Convention

on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and

Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons and

Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction.

In place of the use and threat of force, more and more

nations have resorted to dialogue and reconciliation in

dealing with disputes among themselves or with their

neighbours, even in the case of conflicts which the

“realistic” had considered to be insoluble. Almost

throughout its entire existence, the United Nations has been

seized with the conflicts in the Middle East. But only four

days ago, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization,

with the approbation of other States in the area, took

another significant step on the difficult road to peace. In

South Africa, where a minority regime long oppressed the

majority with systematic cruelty, a multiracial Government

now administers the country with success that has surpassed

even the world’s most fervent expectations. In Latin

America, old territorial disputes are now the subject of

dialogue and consultation.

In our own region, the political settlement of the

conflict in Cambodia and the emergence of an elected

government in that long-suffering country stand as

crowning achievements of the United Nations, as well as of

the countries of the region — a triumph of negotiation over

the force of arms. We welcome the accord that was so

painstakingly crafted a year ago to avert the development

of nuclear arms in the Korean peninsula. We urge the

resumption of serious talks between North and South Korea

as a further contribution to peace and reconciliation in our

region. The Government of Myanmar has agreed on a

cease-fire and has undertaken negotiations with all but one

of the minority nationalities in Myanmar, a remarkable

development in a country riven by inter-ethnic conflict for

so long.

Matching the spread of the spirit of dialogue and

reconciliation, faith in the efficacy of market forces and

economic liberalization as a condition and stimulant of

development has been sweeping the world. Policies

arising from this faith have unleashed the productive

energies of many of the world’s people, a development

largely responsible for the remarkable economic growth

of countries in many parts of the world. Liberalization of

international economic transactions and the resulting

interdependence of the global economy have raised the

stake of nations in one another’s prosperity and have thus

considerably brightened the prospects of enduring stability

and peace. Thus, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

Council, of which the Philippines is an active founding

participant, is devoted solely to economic collaboration.

But one of its salutary by-products is the

strengthening of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific

region, for now APEC participants have a growing stake

in one another’s economic progress and political stability.

We find in my country, the Philippines, a microcosm

of the global trend of political reconciliation, economic

liberalization, and regionalism. The peace talks that we

are undertaking with rebel groups in the spirit of national

reconciliation have brought a new stability to the country,

providing the atmosphere of tranquillity so necessary for

the resurgence of the economy.

The military rebels have availed themselves of a

programme of amnesty. Many of them now pursue their

ambitions for the country through the legal political

system, with one of them recently elected as a Senator of

the Republic. The Government has been negotiating in

Europe with the self-exiled leaders of the Communist

Party, which is now legal in the Philippines and whose

members are free to contest Philippine elections.

With the assistance of the Committee of Six of the

Organization of the Islamic Conference, under the

chairmanship of Indonesia, negotiations are taking place

with the Moro National Liberation Front. These

negotiations have resulted in a cease-fire and agreement

on more than 80 per cent of the points at issue. Peace in

the southern Philippines has made possible an

extraordinary surge in the economic growth of that

region. We have opened wide the doors to the Philippine

economy, welcoming foreign investment, letting in the

bracing wind of foreign competition. We have lowered

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our barriers to trade in fulfilment of international

commitments or through unilateral measures.

One of the results of these structural reforms is a

growth rate that is respectable even by the standards of our

fast-growing region. There are bright prospects for the

continuation of this growth rate because it proceeds from

solid policy foundations and is taking place within a system

of pluralistic democracy, respect for human rights, and the

rule of law.

We have strengthened our bonds with our neighbours,

through the Association of South-East Asian Nations above

all. We have dealt with border questions and territorial

disputes, including the conflicting claims in the South

China Sea, through peaceful dialogue and consultation.

The general improvement in global security, the rising

tide of global prosperity, and the intensification of regional

cooperation should give rise to hope, but it should not

induce complacency, as new threats have arisen to confront

us and old ones have swollen in magnitude and virulence.

The dissolution of power blocs has unleashed latent

tribalism that had been under authoritarian constraint. One

of the most savage manifestations of this has been taking

place in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

International terrorism has become a global menace.

The illicit trade in drugs undermines the fabric of society.

Trafficking in women and children is a crime that cries out

for international cooperative countermeasures.

The recent resumption of nuclear testing by two of the

nuclear-weapon States poses an immediate threat to

people’s health, the natural environment, and the

non-proliferation regime. We repeat our condemnation of

these tests and ask that they stop — now and forever.

Even as the notion of economic liberalization has been

almost universally embraced as a condition and catalyst for

development, many countries have resorted to inventive

measures of disguised protectionism. Numerous developing

countries continue to labour, like Sisyphus, under the

crushing burden of foreign debt.

Shortages of labour in resource-rich or rapidly

industrializing economies have induced the large-scale

migration of workers across national boundaries. Their

presence in foreign lands has placed them in positions of

vulnerability that require international cooperation for the

protection of their rights and dignity as human beings.

The Philippines calls upon all States to ratify the

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights

of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.

The Philippines is at one with the Group of 77 in calling

for a United Nations-sponsored global conference on

international migration.

My delegation intends to pursue with great vigour

General Assembly resolutions on violence against women

migrant workers and on trafficking in women and girls.

These are some of the more outstanding challenges

that confront the United Nations as it enters its second

half-century and approaches the next millennium. The

United Nations, however, cannot respond to the

challenges of today and the next century with the

organization and procedures of 50 years ago. The nature

of the new threats to international peace and security

requires a review of United Nations peace-keeping

operations in order to streamline them and make them

more effective.

At this stage, I must stress that, whatever measures

are agreed upon, they must be financed adequately, in

proportion to the capacity and degree of responsibility of

Member States and not by sacrificing any development

programmes.

The United Nations is in a desperate financial

situation. We cannot demand that it fulfil tasks that we

are unwilling to finance. We cannot simply use the United

Nations and then withhold from it the resources needed

for its effective functioning. Year after year, we call for

better management of the United Nations. The Philippines

supports this call, and strongly articulated its position in

this Hall last year.

At the same time, we must point out that the United

Nations cannot be managed efficiently if it is constantly

uncertain of the resources available to it. We therefore

appeal to all Member States, particularly the larger

contributors, to make up their arrears, to pay their dues,

and to pay on time.

We have of late heard the proposition that in trying

to achieve economy and efficiency in the United Nations

we should look to the economic and social area, to those

bodies whose mandate is to advance the interests of the

developing countries — abolishing agencies here, gutting

programmes there. We support the streamlining of

multilateral development institutions and programmes. But

we cannot accept moves to abolish the development

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agencies in the name of the "division of labour" or

“comparative advantage”. What the international community

needs to do with respect to these agencies — and the

Bretton Woods institutions and the regional development

banks — is to augment their resources, not to reduce them.

We deplore the position of some Powers that refuse to raise

their contributions to the international and regional financial

institutions, but in their desire to maintain a dominant role

in those bodies prevent others from increasing their own

share.

We have all come to this session ready to address the

question of reform of the structure of the Security Council.

The Council’s structure is no longer adequate to meet the

new and enlarged demands upon its mandate and no longer

reflects the size and composition of the United Nations. The

Philippines fully supports the enlargement of the Council’s

membership in order to ensure the equitable representation

of all regions and of the developing countries.

Any reform, however, must go beyond the question of

membership. The question of the veto must be reviewed, as

must the Council’s working methods and procedures, in

order to ensure the greatest transparency possible and the

participation of as broad a range of countries as possible.

The vital nature of its decisions requires no less.

At the same time, the growing importance of the role

of the United Nations requires that its membership, as well

as its functions, reflect the realities of today. Accordingly,

we need to consider the proposition that, in the high

interests of universality, no significant group of people

should be left without representation in the United Nations.

In this fiftieth year, as we recall the founding

principles and fundamental goals of our Organization, as we

review its mandate and as we assess its strengths and

weaknesses, its achievements and shortcomings, we must

never lose sight of the fact that all our labours in the

United Nations have as their centre and object the human

person — his or her security, dignity and well-being —

above ideology, above religion, above even the State itself.

With the shrinking of this planet Earth, a process

helped in no small measure by the United Nations itself,

hundreds of millions more people are crying out for their

own empowerment and for the universal respect of their

rights and dignity.

In this fiftieth year of our Organization, we in the

United Nations must heed their cry if we are to keep faith

with its mandate and mission.