San Marino, 1993

More than 12 months ago,

addressing the Assembly, which since then has seen a steady

increase in its membership, with the admission of new

Members that I welcome today with great pleasure, I

expressed my personal satisfaction and that of the people of

the Republic of San Marino over the momentous changes

that have marked these past hectic years.

Today, however, we face the pressing and serious

problem of managing those changes. It is of fundamental

importance to those peoples who have seen the laying of the

foundations of the edifice called "Democracy" that this

process continue and be shored up by solid institutions. The

strengthening of those institutions must be accomplished to

guarantee the solidity of that essential edifice, which may be

altered or changed in some of its parts, but which cannot be

deprived of its foundations.

Today more than ever, the importance of democratic

institutions must be acknowledged, upheld and stressed.

Now more than ever, peoples need to be assured that

struggles for power, those between factions and those caused

by ethnic, economic and political interests, will be averted

for ever so that real peace may be made, restored and

maintained.

My country is convinced that a renewed commitment

of the United Nations is necessary for the attainment of this

aim, in virtue of the role it plays as a universal factor that

has become a real point of reference for the entire world.

Not even the most advanced democratic society can

fully meet the needs arising out of the exercise of freedom.

In my opinion, however, any form of political regime other

than democracy would deprive man of his freedom to an

even greater degree. Democracy, even in its initial and most

incomplete forms, is organized in such a way that

individuals may take part, directly or indirectly, in the

exercise of power.

Further development of the existing democratic régime

is a precise commitment that my country has undertaken in

an attempt to find a solution to one of the consequences of

the past emigration of its citizens. I am referring to the

efforts we are making to facilitate the exercise of their right

and duty to participate in political life through their votes.

In our attempts to solve this problem the relevant

international instruments of the United Nations will be a

precise point of reference and an irreplaceable guide.

I am following with particular interest the discussion

under way on the possibility of reforming the institutional

mechanisms of the Organization. It is undoubtedly wise to

adapt institutions to present circumstances, so that they will

respond effectively to the new challenges. San Marino

supports those reforms, prompted by the conviction that

wider participation leads to more effective and shared

interventions. That is why with my country is following

with special attention the application submitted by Sweden,

in its capacity as Chairman-in-Office of the Conference on

Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), for the CSCE’s

admission to the United Nations with Observer States. That

application enjoys the full support of all participating States,

and I wish to express here the desire of my country to see

it accepted.

14 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

The CSCE continues to play a leading role in Europe

in favour of peace and the safeguarding of human rights.

Closer cooperation with the United Nations has now become

indispensable, and it will surely produce positive results.

The initial task of the United Nations was to lay down

the fundamental principles for the protection of human

dignity and for a peaceful, democratic and civil coexistence.

It then undertook a wider-ranging task, in light of the

evolution of rights and of those systems established for their

safeguard. Now the Organization must intensify its

intervention straightforwardly and incisively in order to

resolve critical situations.

The policy of pursuing the peaceful solution, resorting

to negotiations, mediation and political diplomatic initiatives,

is unquestionably the right course. That is the path to follow

in our times; it is policy of a democratic society in which

reason must always prevail.

Recourse to force, even when it seems indispensable to

maintain or restore democracy, is always an unfair and

dangerous option, since it takes a heavy toll of lives and

creates grounds for revenge that are risky and difficult to

dispel and may always trigger civil wars.

I truly hope we will not have to say one day that the

magic moment when our dreams seemed to have become

reality has passed us by. We must persist in averting the

dangerous strategy of nuclear deterrence.

If we manage to create a world with collective security

as its prevailing feature, there will no longer be grounds for

conflicts. Peace, however, does not depend exclusively on

the possession of weapons and on the thirst for supremacy.

Today, more than ever, peace depends on solidarity, on

respect for rights and on our efforts in favour of tolerance.

Europe is plagued by conflicts that offend peoples,

minorities, women, children and the poor. Every continent

is afflicted by wars and deep crises, which have become so

endemic as to arouse the suspicion that they have been

accepted as the norm. Some of the conflicts have become

so acute that even humane acts, solidarity and the most

indispensable interventions against hunger and cold seem

now to have faded into the background.

Exhausting and sincere mediation initiatives fail; crisis-

management becomes impossible; the solution of conflicts

seems unattainable, despite the growing number of political,

diplomatic and military missions, and even relief missions

are hindered in the performance of their work.

San Marino believes that the United Nations has the

ability, the authority and the structures to formulate a

dynamic and effective plan able to prevent and solve

conflicts, manage crises and maintain peace.

The authority and the means of the Organization may

sometimes not involve military choices. In any case, such

interventions can be justified only when all possibilities of

a peaceful solution have been considered and it is borne in

mind that resort to this option must not cause victims.

Crises and conflicts may be averted by eliminating their

root causes. When riches are not fairly distributed; when all

citizens do not enjoy the same rights and duties; when rights

and freedoms are not respected; when it is forgotten that

minorities are composed of individuals; when a distinction

is made between the dignity of man and that of woman;

when injustice exists; when man and his rights do not prevail

over the organization of the State and its military apparatus;

then conflicts inevitably arise.

The key principle of the United Nations, which has

always fascinated the people of the Republic of San Marino

and has now become our trusted point of reference, is that

of the indissoluble bond between personal freedom and the

liberty of all peoples. That freedom must be based on a

complex system of limits so that no man, in the exercise of

his rights, can ride roughshod over the rights of another.

In that spirit the Republic of San Marino recently

welcomed with sincere satisfaction the agreement of mutual

recognition signed by the State of Israel and the Palestine

Liberation Organization (PLO). That agreement, concerning

an area that has been theatre of war for a very long time,

was reached through peaceful negotiations and political

mediation in which both sides gave up something to

facilitate the peace process.

This major event is an important point of reference, a

proof of the existing good will and wish for certainty,

confirming that this is the only possible way to resolve

conflicts.

My country is convinced that many challenges have yet

to be met and still await effective solutions. We have to

exert our best endeavours to defend the poor from

underdevelopment, to sustain and contribute to their progress

by restoring to them, when the situation so requires, the

environment of which they have been deprived as a

consequence of ecological degradation. Every man is a

guardian of the world and is entitled to ask that it be used

correctly.

Forty-eighth session - 12 October l993 15

We must express solidarity in the forms that such a

humanitarian and understanding attitude requires, respecting

the dignity of peoples and their freedom to make their own

choices and determine their own destinies.

We must play a fundamental role in educating future

generations on mutual understanding, respect and tolerance.

This is the challenge facing the entire world and Europe in

particular. Together we will have to overcome the

consequences of intolerance to which we have given the

names of racism, "ethnic cleansing", mass migrations, refuge

and asylum.

The people of San Marino are following with particular

concern all issues related to minorities, their inalienable right

to free existence and well-balanced development, respect for

their cultures and religions, and the real exercise of these

rights under the same conditions enjoyed by the majorities.

The reason for this special interest is probably to be found

in the numerically small population of my country, which

history has always taught to offer hospitality and express

solidarity with the weak, the oppressed and the victims of

persecution.

Today this problem has reached proportions that might

become alarming. Nobody knows how many people may

be forced in the future to leave their native countries in

order to survive, whether in flight from underdevelopment

and hunger or prompted by the desire for freedom. Thus,

the problem has two faces. The first is the fact that no one

should be forced to leave his home and country; the second

is the fact that all people, to the extent their circumstances

permit, must be willing to offer hospitality in a spirit of

solidarity and brotherhood.

Having referred to this problem, I cannot fail to

mention the situation affecting the former Yugoslavia, the

coast of which can be seen, when the air is clear, from the

mountain on which the Republic of San Marino is situated.

Who knows the destiny of that poor people or when this

unacceptable war will finally end? I appeal to the General

Assembly, to all States of the world and to the United

Nations that we put a halt to the catastrophe. Let us

reiterate and strengthen within our own nations a sense of

tolerance undertaken as a duty and not as a right.