Ukraine, 1996

It is my honour to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the post of

President of the General Assembly at its fifty-first

session. On behalf of the Ukrainian delegation, I would

also like to express my appreciation to Mr. Freitas

do Amaral, who presided so efficiently over the last

session and encouraged an intensive exchange of opinions

on the role of the United Nations in today’s world.

A year ago, at the commemorative session of the

General Assembly, our Organization received a substantial

credit of trust as a universal international institution

which, in the Declaration on the Occasion of the Fiftieth

Anniversary of the United Nations, was called upon to

“create new opportunities for peace, development,

democracy and cooperation.” (resolution 50/6, third

preambular para.)

Today, we can assert that the United Nations has

been and remains the key mechanism for maintaining and

strengthening peace and security — and there is much

proof of that. There is no doubt that the past year has

been extremely important for arms control and

disarmament. Tomorrow, 27 September, I will have the

honour to sign, on behalf of Ukraine, the Comprehensive

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), as adopted in historic

resolution 50/245. This important instrument calls for the

de jure affirmation of the end of the nuclear-arms-race

era. In signing this Treaty, Ukraine will make yet another

contribution to disarmament, the importance of which

cannot be overstated.

In this context, I recall another historic event: the

final withdrawal of strategic nuclear warheads from the

territory of Ukraine. Having eliminated the world’s third-

largest nuclear arsenal, which we had inherited, Ukraine

became a nuclear-weapon-free State on 1 June 1996. In

doing so, we believe that Ukraine made an unprecedented

contribution, which has not yet received adequate

recognition by the international community, to

diminishing the global nuclear threat and thereby

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demonstrated to the whole world its peaceful, consistent

and reliable policy. Accordingly, we expect the nuclear

States strictly to adhere to their commitments relating to the

security assurances given to Ukraine by the United States

of America, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and France

in December 1994.

Ukraine’s important role in the new European security

architecture has been recognized recently in several

international documents. For us, this means a special

responsibility for the maintenance of stability in the whole

of Europe. We therefore believe that the process of nuclear

disarmament should become more dynamic. In this context,

the initiative put forward by the President of Ukraine,

Leonid Kuchma, with regard to the creation of a nuclear-

weapon-free zone in Central and Eastern Europe between

the Baltic and the Black Seas is the next logical step and an

important move in the right direction. I would like to

emphasize that the possible deployment of nuclear weapons

on the territories of our neighbours in Central and Eastern

Europe is a matter of great concern to us. We believe that

support for the idea of a non-nuclear Central Europe would

promote an atmosphere of confidence between and among

the States of the region and prevent the emergence of new

dividing lines on the European continent. By adding to the

existing zones in Antarctica, the South Pacific, Latin

America and the Caribbean, as well as the nuclear-weapon-

free zones in South-East Asia and Africa, the creation of a

nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central and Eastern Europe

would create the “critical mass” that would foster the

process of global nuclear disarmament.

In our opinion, the Conference on Disarmament, which

includes Ukraine as a new, full-fledged member, should

immediately start developing a programme of complete

nuclear disarmament with a view to bringing closer the

realization of Ukraine’s appeal for a twenty-first century

without nuclear weapons.

Among other important international achievements of

the past year, I would like to refer to the beginning of the

peace settlement in the former Yugoslavia. It is important

to remember that the peace-keeping efforts of the United

Nations were not in vain. Risking their lives in difficult

conditions, the Blue Helmets have fulfilled their mission

and prevented the spillover of the conflict. In this context,

I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to the

necessity of the speedy entry into force and implementation

of the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations

and Associated Personnel.

We hope that the peace process initiated in Dayton

has become irreversible. The proof of this will be in the

successful implementation of the military aspects of the

Peace Agreement by the Implementation Force (IFOR)

and of the recent elections held in Bosnia under the

auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation

in Europe (OSCE).

In general, we think that recent international efforts

in the former Yugoslavia have been a success not only for

a peace settlement. In my opinion, we have also

witnessed the appearance of a potential machinery for

effective cooperation between various international

structures in crisis management. I refer in particular to an

important experience of the Implementation Force (IFOR)

operation carried out, under the mandate of the Security

Council, by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(NATO), its partners — including Ukraine — and other

countries. At the same time, the ultimate success of the

peace process will be impossible without the active and

action-oriented involvement of the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the

implementation of civil aspects of the Agreement. The

concerted efforts by the United Nations, NATO and the

OSCE to settle one of the most tragic conflicts of our

time prove that political will and a clear division of

functions between the respective structures make it

possible to transform the idea of mutually reinforcing

institutions into reality. In the meantime, the international

community may have acquired a reliable mechanism for

the solution of its acute problems.

I believe that the experience of the peace settlement

in the former Yugoslavia could serve as a shining

example for the common elaboration of a future global

security architecture by all Members of this world

Organization. This architecture should also contain a

comprehensive concept of peace-keeping, the elaboration

of which, within the framework of the General Assembly,

has to be accelerated. An essential element in this work

could be the eventual reorientation of peace-keeping

towards preventive diplomacy.

However, it is obvious that we will not be able to

build up a new global security architecture without radical

reform of the United Nations itself. The need for United

Nations reform was emphasized by virtually all

participants at the last session of the General Assembly.

This issue is also a matter of discussion at the current

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session. Yet real changes can be achieved only on the

condition of a substantial revision of the existing financial

system of the United Nations.

ln recent years the United Nations has been

experiencing an unprecedented financial crisis which poses

a real threat to its very functioning. Experience shows that

financial crises are the result either of a wrong taxation

policy or of unsound spending. We think that in the case of

the United Nations both factors are involved. The inability

of a number of Member States to meet their financial

obligations is a direct consequence of the overassessment of

their contribution rates. It will be impossible for the United

Nations to avert financial crisis unless existing irregularities

in the scale of apportionment of its expenses are eliminated.

And we expect that the current session will find a proper

solution to this problem.

Against its will, Ukraine has been made one of the

United Nations debtors. This has occurred due to the fact

that the decision on the relocation of my country to group

(c) in the scale for the financing of peace-keeping

operations has been delayed for several years. The

accumulation of a substantial debt is a direct result of the

General Assembly’s unfair decision 47/456, whose sponsors

were perfectly well aware that the decision would lead to

the current financial crisis. They refused to increase the

contribution of those nations which could afford to pay and,

contrary to the rules, placed larger assessments on the

shoulders of the countries which were unable to pay such

amounts.

Ukraine has always been aware of the need to provide

the United Nations with adequate financial resources. Upon

the instructions of my Government, I would like to inform

members that Ukraine will start paying off its debt to the

United Nations. As early as this year, the amount will be

reduced by $20 million. In coming years, its real payments

to the Organization’s budget will be increased.

The reform of the Security Council should become

another important component of transformation within the

United Nations. We support the desire of Germany and

Japan to acquire the status of permanent members of the

Security Council, but at the same time stand for increasing

the number of non-permanent members on the basis of

equitable geographical representation, which would also

take into account the interests of the Eastern European

regional group. I hope that the “two plus eight” formula

which was proposed by Ukraine and which, in principle,

coincides with the Italian approach and that of other

countries, will be conducive to the achievement of a

mutually acceptable solution to the problem within the

framework of the relevant Working Group of the General

Assembly.

One of the essential features of general peace and

security in the next millennium should be qualitatively

new international economic cooperation, the globalization

of production and trade, the development of science and

technology and the broadening of the flows of finances

and services.

We believe that the attention of the world

community should focus today on more than the political

and military aspects of security. It must also encompass

the economic, social and ecological dimensions of peace

and sustainable development. For Ukraine, this is not just

an abstract idea without a fixed deadline for its

implementation. Chernobyl turned the ecological

dimension of our national security into a priority of

Ukrainian domestic and foreign policy.

Ten years have passed since that catastrophe, but we

are still experiencing its grave consequences. Chernobyl

has not disappeared into the past. If humankind continues

to ignore common sense and to think only about today,

Chernobyl may be a reflection of our future.

We are encouraged by the Secretary-General’s report

on the work of the Organization (A/51/1) stating that the

United Nations remains deeply concerned by the

consequences of Chernobyl and is committed to pursuing

measures aimed at their alleviation. We hope that the

international community will continue to create

conditions, including material and financial ones, which

would allow Ukraine to meet its obligation and to

decommission the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by the

year 2000.

We should also remember that durable peace and

sustainable development on a global scale cannot be

achieved unless all countries secure adequate living

standards for their populations and overcome

unemployment, poverty, social disintegration and

environmental pollution.

In this context, I would like to draw attention to the

initiative concerning the creation of the Council on

Economic Security put forward by the President of

Ukraine at the Special Commemorative Meeting of the

General Assembly last year. In our view, it is high time

to concentrate the efforts of United Nations Member

States on the formation of a legal basis which would

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allow us to implement this important initiative as one of the

steps towards increasing the level of international economic

security, securing the global coordination of the activities

of international, regional and national economic institutions

and preventing economic coercion and discrimination.

The issues of international terrorism, organized crime,

illicit trafficking of drugs and money laundering have

become matters of special concern. Ukraine has always

played an active role in international efforts, particularly

within the framework of the United Nations, aimed at

eliminating these scourges of the present, which not only

threaten the security and the health of people but have a

negative impact on the social, economic and political

situation in many countries. We believe that special

attention should be paid to the elaboration of specific

actions to be taken against transnational organized crime. In

this context, Poland’s initiative to place on the agenda of

the current session the question of the possible elaboration

of a convention on those issues is more than timely and

should be supported. Ukraine is ready to participate in the

drafting of this legal instrument.

In view of the present financial situation of the

Organization, the search for new ways to revitalize

international cooperation in the field of development has

acquired new significance. One of the promising trends,

primarily in finding additional sources of financing, is the

promotion of regular dialogue between the United Nations

and the financial institution of the Bretton Woods system.

We are convinced that larger resources allocated by

these institutions for development would speed up social

and economic transformations both in economies in

transition and in developing countries. They would also

create conditions for the successful reform of the global

system of international economic relations. It is quite

obvious that the integration of those countries into the

world economic system would benefit the entire global

community. We believe that this very philosophy should

become a foundation for a new strategy of global economic

development. The United Nations is called upon to play a

decisive role in its elaboration.

In this context, we welcome the gradual deepening of

understanding among Member States of the problems faced

by the countries with economies in transition, as is shown

by the increased resources allocated by the United Nations

Development Programme for its operational activities in the

countries of Eastern Europe, including Ukraine. For its part,

Ukraine is considering becoming a full member of the

multilateral General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World

Trade Organization system as an integral part of its own

economic reform.

The successes of the United Nations depend upon

the stable development of each Member State. Steadily

overcoming the obstacles that befell our State in the

process of radically transforming its society, Ukraine has

recently marked the fifth anniversary of its independence.

From this rostrum I would like to reaffirm that the choice

of the Ukrainian people in favour of independent

democratic development is final and irreversible.

The adoption on 28 June of this year of the

Constitution of Ukraine has become an event of historic

importance for the Ukrainian people. As President Leonid

Kuchma emphasized,

“It is an event of a great significance belonging to

those few historical dates which unite people not by

the iron fist but by the imperatives of the heart, and

which turn a population into a nation and a territory

into a State.”

In adopting its fundamental law, Ukraine has chosen

its own model of State-building and for reformatting its

public life. In drafting the law, Ukrainian legislators

benefited not only from previous historical experiences —

such as that provided by Pylyp Orlyk, a famous

seventeenth-century Ukrainian public figure who wrote

one of the first European democratic constitutions — but

also drew upon the modern experience, in particular that

of the members of the Council of Europe.

We in Ukraine are consistently building a sovereign,

independent, democratic and socially-oriented State which

promotes human rights as the highest social value. Under

extremely difficult circumstances, we have managed to

follow the European model of public life.

I would like to emphasize that integration into

European and Euro-Atlantic structures is a strategic goal

of Ukraine. At the same time my country is still

committed to non-bloc status. Having yesterday become

an observer in the Non-Aligned Movement, Ukraine once

again proved this.

No less important for us remain relations with the

newly independent States of the former Soviet Union,

notably with the Russian Federation, to which we are

linked by common historical experiences.

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Transformations initiated by the market reform of the

economy are becoming increasingly perceptible in Ukraine.

The recent introduction of a new currency, the hryvnya,

proves conclusively that the radical economic changes in

Ukraine have become irreversible. The first results of

monetary reform show that in addition to a positive impact

on business activities, it has had a stabilizing psychological

effect on the Ukrainian people.

Our society is in the process of formation. We realize

that ours is a long and difficult path. There are a number of

important objectives we have to achieve. This will require

the gradual revival of democratic standards and their

introduction into the fabric of Ukrainian society, which has

been scarred by the totalitarian policies of the last decades.

While advancing along this road, Ukraine will

continue to count on the support of the international

community. At the same time, I would like to reaffirm that

Ukraine will continue to be committed to supporting the

United Nations which, like my own country, is experiencing

a difficult but vital time of transformation. This is the

imperative of our times, and we have to meet this

challenge.