Papua New Guinea, 1992

On behalf of the Government and

people of Papua New Guinea, I should like to congratulate you. Sir, on your

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-seventh

session. Your personal presence in this Hall, and your unanimous election to

preside over our proceedings, are symbolic not only of the stirring changes

which have been occurring in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but

of the manner in which they have been welcomed around the world. In offering

you my delegation's greetings, cooperation and support, I should also like to

pay tribute to the efficient manner in which your predecessor.

Ambassador Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia, performed his duties.

Just as your election. Sir, is symbolic of wider changes in the world, so

is the presence here for the first time of delegations from States which for a

period were incorporated in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. My

delegation takes very great pleasure in welcoming the membership of, and

participation in the United Nations by, the nine States which were once part

of the Soviet Union and the three States which were once part of Yugoslavia

whose representatives have just joined us. Their presence provides eloquent

testimony to the power of ordinary people to resist - and eventually to

overcome - both the ideology and the technology that are used in order to

oppress them.

With the addition of San Marino, the goal of universal membership - and

of global coverage - of the United Nations is now in sight.

Coming from a region where membership of the United Nations is less

widespread than it is in other parts of the world, I pledge my Government's

cooperation in the efforts to strengthen links between other South Pacific

island States and the United Nations.

Previous statements in this debate have made it quite clear that we have,

in the words of the Secretary-General in "An Agenda for Peace",

"entered a time of global transition." (A/47/277, para. 11)

The Jakarta Message issued by the Tenth Summit Conference of Heads of

State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, of which my Government has

just become a full member, describes the present as "a time of profound change

and rapid transition." But transition to what? And will the effects be the

same around the globe?

Even as we welcome the end of the cold war, we would do well to bear in

mind the observation made in "An Agenda for Peace", that

"the issues between States north and south grow more acute." (A/47/277.

para. 8)

It is, again in the words of the Jakarta Message:

"a time of great promise as well as grave challenge, a time of

opportunity amidst pervasive uncertainty."

It is no accident that the preamble to the Charter contains not only

political, but economic and social objectives, or that the Charter provides

for both a Security Council and an Economic and Social Council. Security has

never been simply a military or a political question; it has always had

economic and social aspects. For people in developing countries in particular

the economic and social aspects of security are inseparable from and often

of great immediate importance than the military and political aspects.

If the transition on which so many previous speakers believe we have

embarked is to be towards global peace, then we need to pay greater attention

to the economic and social issues which divide North and South. Thus my

Government supports the proposal to convene, looks forward to taking part in.

and hopes for a positive outcome from, the world summit for social development

proposed to be held in 1995.

Disappointed though my Government is in the level of agreement reached at

the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in

Rio de Janeiro in June this year, we shall continue to support the UNCED

effort in particular and similar efforts by the United Nations generally. We

have therefore offered to host a regional post-Rio seminar to follow up on

UNCED in Port Moresby in November.

My Government welcomes the changes which have allowed people in Central

and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia to participate directly in

national political and economic life again. We welcome them and their

Governments to greater participation in international political and economic

affairs, too.

We welcome no less the changes which have led to the replacement of

dictatorships in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. But in doing so I would

not be honest unless I added that we are concerned about ensuring that the

change is both comprehensive and enduring.

My Government is profoundly disturbed by the savage violence and terrible

suffering being experienced by the victims of "ethnic cleansing" in the former

Yugoslavia and of interracial, religious and ethnic conflicts there and

elsewhere.

We sympathize with the concerns expressed by the members of the

Organization of the Islamic Conference, and support the efforts being made by

the United Nations and the European Economic Community to reduce these

conflicts and to provide aid.

But, as the Secretary-General has so pointedly reminded the world, there

are terrible conflicts and suffering no less worthy of attention in other

parts of the world, including Somalia.

It seems distressingly significant that evert after the end of the cold

war, and during the global transition which the Secretary-General has so

eloquently analysed, part of the world where most humans live and where needs

are greatest is still referred to and treated as a very poor third.

I ask you. Sir, to cast your mind back to the 1960s, when foreign

domination came to an end in many parts of the world, a record number of new

Members was admitted to the United Nations and the prospects for democracy and

development seemed, by common consent, to be quite bright. Then think of the

economic difficulties which often followed, and the dictatorships which all

too frequently lasted until the present transition. And then ask why,

whatever our hopes might be, we should expect that the future will be

different.

The world has learned or, at least, should have learned - from the

past. But have we all drawn the right conclusions? And what have we done to

act on even the most obvious of our conclusions?

It is one thing to welcome the holding of free elections. It is quite

another to be certain either that they make a difference, or that they will

continue to be held in an orderly, constitutional and fair way.

Politicians characteristically promise results. Their ability to be

re-elected depends on results. So, too, does democracy itself. In other

words, democracy, like security, is more than a matter of politics; it also

has economic and social roots.

In developing countries or, more precisely, countries where development

is a far-distant aim rather than a near-reality democracy depends not only

on opportunities for political participation, but on opportunities for

economic and social participation as well. As one who has played a modest

part in constitution-making in Papua New Guinea, I am proud that the National

Goals and Directive Principles contained in our national Constitution

explicitly recognize that point.

I can recall a time, before Papua New Guinea became independent, when not

only free elections but free markets were widely regarded as characteristic

or, at least, attainable - goals of many developing countries. I can also

recall the pain and anger felt by ordinary village people when they discovered

that free elections and free markets did not necessarily benefit them.

I am, in fact, spokesman for a movement which mobilized tens of thousands

of people to ensure that political and economic development would serve their

interests, and which paved the way to Papua New Guinea's independence. It is

precisely because of the lessons I learned from, and with, my people that I

have chosen to make opportunity and participation the main theme of the policy

I shall follow as my Government's Minister for Foreign Affairs. Those lessons

are also among the reasons why my Government will be seeking support for an

initiative designed to help identify, create, maintain, diversify and enlarge

opportunities for economic participation, with particular reference to

developing countries.

"An Agenda for Peace" is a most constructive contribution to thinking

about conflict-avoidance, conflict-management and conflict-reduction after the

end of the cold war. The initiative on self-determination being pursued by the

Government of Liechtenstein should provide support for, and assist in, the

development of ideas contained in the report. Ongoing discussions concerning

options for reform of the United Nations, including the High-Level Working

Group set up by the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as many statements made in

the current debate, are clearly intended to contribute to the same end. It is

surely among the most promising signs of the times that we can talk of a

global agenda at all - and that the global agenda should be for peace.

The initiative which my Government proposes is intended to be, in effect,

the economic counterpart to "An Agenda for Peace". Our aim is not to engage

again in a general debate on development issues - although we have an obvious

interest in continuing discussion of the nature, direction, pace and

international environment for developmental change but to stimulate the

exchange of practical ideas and experiences relevant to enhancing and

increasing opportunities for economic participation for the benefit of people

in developing countries.

In short, the proposal is to seek support for the appointment of a panel

of distinguished, expert and experienced persons to prepare a practical report

based on experience in diverse countries and on a close, critical analysis of

possible options for presentation to the United Nations.

My Government's plan is to seek the support of fellow members of the

South Pacific Forum and other regional groups to which we belong or with

which, like the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), we have close

and cordial relations, to raise the proposal for consideration by members of

the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, and to discuss it on a bilateral

basis as widely as we can with a view to submitting a resolution to the

Assembly at its forty-eighth session. We would hope to see a panel appointed

in time to present a report during the forty-ninth session of the General

Assembly, and to have it debated in 1995.

Like many other countries represented in this Assembly, Papua New Guinea

inherited many of its economic, legal and other arrangements from abroad. Many

of the practices, policies and laws followed in the monetary sector of our

national economy were originally devised in different conditions, by different

people and to serve different objectives.

We believe that we have not exhausted - or even considered all

practical policy or legal options for facilitating economic participation by

our citizens in either national or international affairs. We have not had

ready and systematic access to experiences elsewhere.

We do not believe that market forces on their own will necessarily allow

our people adequate opportunities to participate in and benefit from economic

development without further change.

Further options need to be identified and further changes will have to be

made if people seeking to participate in economic development from the

baseline at which most people in developing countries start are to be able to

identify, utilize and benefit from the opportunities which are more often in

theory than in practice available to them. We want to learn what the

options are.

My Government will, therefore, be looking to other Members of the United

Nations for support and ideas to advance our proposal. The result will, we

hope, be an important, practical guide to options for creating, maintaining,

diversifying and/or enlarging opportunities for economic participation, with

particular reference to developing countries.

My Government has recently found itself being criticized, for the first

time, before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and the

Joint Assembly of the African, Caribbean and Pacific signatories of the Lome

Convention and the European Economic Community over human rights abuses in the

North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea.

It gives me no pleasure to say, even though it is true, that most of the

abuses, for which parties on all sides of the conflict must accept some

responsibility, occurred while a previous Government was in office, and that

my colleagues and I opposed them at the time. As members of the present

Government, we are now responsible for resolving the situation, whatever its

causes. We must accept responsibility for what we decide or condone from now

on. But the situation which gave rise to the criticism to which I have

referred owes much to economic practices, policies and laws which were devised

with little or no regard for popular participation, and with even less regard

for the particular characteristics of the societies in which most of the

people in the area continue to live.

It also highlights the need to recognize that processes which might help

alleviate tensions and reduce conflicts in some parts of the world might not

have the same effects in others. They might, in fact, only make matters worse.

For Papua New Guinea, as for many other developing countries which have

become independent since the Second World War, nation-building remains a

difficult problem and a pressing concern. The issue for us is not, as it is

elsewhere, to find ways of managing ethnic and other tensions now that the

ideological and technological weight of the cold war has been lifted from

previously subject peoples, but rather to reconcile differences within and

harness them to a common, national cause.

Furthermore, my Government has taken the view that dealing with human

rights on their own is often not to the point. It can, in fact, be irrelevant

and can even actively contribute to further suffering.

My Government has, therefore, admitted that wrongs have been committed by

participants on all sides of the conflict in Papua New Guinea's North Solomons

Province. It has taken steps to ensure that they cease and are not repeated

and has invited other Governments and international organizations to help

redress them by contributing, for example, to the costs of assessing needs,

planning rehabilitation and restoring services to people who have suffered

without them.

My Government believes that Papua New Guineans are best placed to resolve

the conflict; but we look to others for help in rehabilitating people,

repairing damage and restoring services.

My Government intends to be among the concerned participants in the

second world conference on human rights, scheduled for June 1993. As was done

at the tenth Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, we reaffirm the

universality of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, which are

embodied in the Papua New Guinea Constitution. But, like other members of the

Non-Aligned Movement, we believe that economic and social progress facilitates

the achievement of such rights and freedoms, which is why I have emphasized

economic opportunity and participation. For similar reasons we welcome the

broad scope proposed for the world conference on women in 1995, which focuses

on action in the context of equality, development and peace.

As an active participant in the work of the Fourth Committee of the

General Assembly and the Committee of 24, my Government is a strong supporter

of the International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (1990-2000).

We therefore look forward to hosting a Pacific regional seminar on

decolonization in Port Moresby in 1993 in order to help further the plan of

action for the Decade.

In our immediate region, we continue to support United Nations

involvement in the decolonization of New Caledonia and trust that the outcome

of the forthcoming mid-term review of the implementation of the Matignon

Accords will lead to further progress towards safeguarding the legitimate

rights of the Kanaks.

As far as other developments in the South Pacific are concerned, we

welcome the French Government's decision to suspend its nuclear-weapon-testing

programme in French Polynesia. We urge that it be ended for good.

We look to the Government of the United States of America to honour

President Bush's promise to limit the use of Johnston Atoll for disposing of

weapons which were never directed at us while they were active but which now

threaten our safety, health and economic welfare.

We seek assurances that the Pacific Ocean will not be used to transport

plutonium or other hazardous nuclear, chemical or biological materials which

might pollute the seas on which we rely. Promises that every precaution will

be taken are simply not enough.

Like the Governments of other South Pacific island countries, we are

sympathetic to the aspirations of those who favour increased regional economic

cooperation in Europe and North America. We support efforts to assist former

communist States in the immense task of economic and social reconstruction

which lies ahead. But, like the Governments of other developing countries, we

in the South Pacific are concerned that regional integration and efforts to

meet needs in other parts of the world should not proceed at the expense of

the needs of our people.

We are also concerned that the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on

Tariffs and Trade (GATT) be brought to an early conclusion, with due regard

for the need to secure and expand opportunities for the economic participation

of developing countries in the international economy. It is, in fact,

precisely because we believe that opportunities for economic participation

should be greater and more equitably distributed than they have been that my

Government has proposed the initiative I have previously outlined.

My Government supports the active role being taken by the United Nations,

in difficult circumstances, to ensure peace and to bring about a return to

normalcy in Cambodia. We also support efforts to secure peace in Bosnia and

Herzegovina and to facilitate relief efforts in Somalia. We are heartened by

what we have heard from the Governments of Israel and neighbouring States

concerning the prospects for a negotiated settlement of outstanding sources of

conflict in the Middle East.

We are cautiously hopeful about the prospects for a democratic,

non-racial South Africa. But, as the situation now stands, my Government

believes that it should maintain existing bans on all dealings with South

Africa, continue to monitor developments there closely and consider relaxing

those bans only as further progress occurs in the desired direction and in

close consultation with African States.

Like our predecessors, my Government supports efforts to limit the

production and sale of arms. We believe that unwanted foreign military forces

should be removed from countries which do not pose a threat to their

neighbours or to international law.

However, coming as I do from a developing country, I feel it important to

repeat that we need to acknowledge the reality, recognized also in the report

"An Agenda for Peace", that there are non-military threats to peace which are

perhaps becoming more obvious than ever before. My Government agrees with the

observation made in the report that there is a need to strengthen arrangements

to identify, monitor, synthesize information about and act collectively to

avert, reduce and limit such threats, with sensitivity to local circumstances,

including the interests of well-intentioned States, and with full regard for

international law.

I cannot help noticing not only how the membership and the agenda of the

General Assembly have changed in recent years but also how the content, tone

and frankness with regard to domestic difficulties, and even the length of

contributions to the general debate, have changed, and generally for the

better.

As head of my country's delegation, I have had the privilege of listening

to delegations from newly admitted Member States make use of the opportunity

to participate in the General Assembly on their own account for the first

time. I trust that other Governments will see fit to support my proposal for

a United Nations-sponsored initiative to prepare and discuss a detailed report

on how best to go about the task complementary to securing increased

opportunities for political participation of securing increased

opportunities for economic participation, with particular reference to needs

in and of developing countries. Opportunity and participation are the keys to

political development, security and peace. They are also the keys to economic

development and justice, including equity between, and within, the northern

and southern parts of the globe.