South Africa, 1995

Mr. President, I wish to

extend to you, on behalf of the South African delegation,

my sincere congratulations on your election to the

presidency of the fiftieth session of the General Assembly.

Your election demonstrates the high regard in which the

international community holds your country. I should also

like to express our deep gratitude to your predecessor, His

Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, a brother from Africa and the

Foreign Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, who presided over the

forty-ninth session with great wisdom. I should also like to

express to the Secretary-General, His Excellency

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, our continued confidence in

his guidance of the Organization.

A half century ago representatives from 50 countries

met at San Francisco to draft the United Nations Charter,

the Declaration of Human Rights and the Statute of the

International Court of Justice. For the United Nations to

have survived for a period of 50 years in an imperfect

world is indeed a milestone and a tribute to the visionary

steps taken half a century ago towards the creation of a

better world.

South Africa’s involvement with the United Nations

goes back to the very conception and birth of this

illustrious body. The then-Prime Minister of South Africa,

Field Marshal J. C. Smuts, helped to draft the Preamble

to the Charter of the United Nations. In the Preamble

many lofty ideas were expressed, among which were the

following:

“to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in

the dignity and worth of the human person, in the

equal rights of men and women and of nations large

and small”.

How ironic that those in power in South Africa since

then, and until last year, acted in a precisely contrary

spirit. The United Nations contributed significantly in

bringing about change in South Africa. Through

perseverance and commitment, the United Nations

assisted us in our struggle to achieve democracy. Our

General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting

Fiftieth session 13 October 1995

reward is its reward. I should like again to express the

gratitude of both the people and the Government of South

Africa for its foresight and courage.

Just over a year ago, on 23 June 1994 to be precise,

I had the honour to address the Assembly on behalf of the

people and the Government of the Republic of South

Africa. On that occasion, which marked South Africa’s

resumption of its participation in the work of the General

Assembly of the United Nations, we were filled with joy

and pride at the peaceful transition of South Africa into a

united, non-racial, democratic and non-sexist society.

In the intervening months I have travelled to many

countries, visited with many foreign ministers and met with

several Heads of State or Government. We spoke of the

miracle that is South Africa. We shared our thoughts and

experiences on the road to that miracle. In that context, we

continue to encourage those who seek change for a better

life to stand fast in their belief.

As the representative of a Member of the United

Nations, I should like to reassure you of our belief in and

support for the purposes and principles of the Charter of the

Organization.

The events in April 1994 in South Africa marked a

break with the past as well as a commitment to the future,

placing a heavy burden on us. As a young democracy, we

are ready to meet the challenge. South Africa will meet this

challenge with a firm commitment to the promotion of

national welfare, prosperity and security, with a firm

commitment to the strengthening of cooperation in the

pursuit of the economic development and security of the

southern African subregion, with an active commitment to

peace, stability and good governance within the African

region and elsewhere, with a firm commitment to South-

South cooperation and with a commitment to responsible

international citizenship.

The Southern African Development Community

(SADC) was conceived in the struggle for freedom in

southern Africa and born of the courage of its leaders in

setting out to create a new reality.

The liberation of South Africa and the end of southern

Africa’s destabilization brought great opportunities for the

development of our subregion. We must now translate those

hopes into reality. In accordance with the Abuja Treaty, we

must transform the southern African region into one of the

reliable building blocks on which Africa’s economic

regeneration will be built.

Our greatest need today is to eradicate the scourge

of poverty afflicting the great mass of our people. Only

then can we fulfil the dream of Africa’s liberation in the

health, happiness and well-being of its children.

The mission of SADC reflects the reality that

southern Africa has long since passed the stage of

lamenting the privations of the past. The challenge is to

find within ourselves the resources to overcome this

legacy, with the cooperation of the international

community. We need to adapt to the demands of a rapidly

changing world economy and to develop the skills needed

to compete internationally.

South Africa’s main objective is to play a

constructive role in bringing peace and stability to the

region. We are totally committed to the utilization of

preventive diplomacy, peace-keeping and peacemaking,

through the use of regional and multilateral mechanisms.

In this context, South Africa participated with others

in the resolution of the conflict in Lesotho and provided

logistical support for the elections in Mozambique. Our

support for United Nations resolutions and actions

regarding Angola and the Western Sahara should also be

seen in that light.

As an elected member of the Central Organ of the

Conflict Resolution Mechanism of the Organization of

African Unity (OAU) from June 1994 to June 1995, we

participated in several missions to Burundi. South Africa

was part of a special four-member ministerial mission

elected to assess the nature and the scope of the Burundi

conflict with a view to encouraging and assisting the

Burundians to resolve their differences and end that

conflict. We continue to participate in the Mechanism as

an invited observer.

In view of the desperate situation in the former

Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, it has become imperative for

States to cooperate as far as possible with the respective

ad hoc criminal tribunals that have been created for those

territories. In that regard, my country has made available

some of its most talented jurists to assist.

These situations have demonstrated anew the real

need for the establishment of a permanent international

criminal court. This issue has been revitalized in the past

few years, and a window of opportunity now exists to

finally bring the court into existence. It is my sincere

hope that significant progress will be made in that regard

during this session of the General Assembly.

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General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting

Fiftieth session 13 October 1995

As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the United

Nations, mankind is still faced with political instability,

dictatorship, corruption, civil war, millions of refugees and

internally displaced persons, persistent economic decline

and continued impoverishment.

In the past year, the international political climate has

experienced a succession of changes which have brought

both hope and a certain measure of despair to mankind.

Hope has, however, remained a beckoning beacon bringing

about a sense of confidence in the future. We were

saddened by events in Somalia, but rejoiced at the transition

in Haiti and El Salvador. We despair at the tragedy that is

Bosnia, yet hope that the emerging signs of a solution will

come to fruition.

In this spirit, allow me to congratulate the peoples of

Israel and Palestine on having reached yet another landmark

in their journey towards a lasting settlement. We encourage

and support the Middle East peace process.

The issues of proliferation and disarmament, in

particular nuclear disarmament, are among the major

questions that have been facing the international community

in recent times. At the historic 1995 Review and Extension

Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), all those present

agreed to exercise the utmost restraint pending the entry

into force of a comprehensive test-ban treaty. We are of the

view that the recent tests conducted by two nuclear-weapon

States are retrogressive steps in the international

community’s endeavour to ban nuclear testing. We believe

that these tests will negatively affect the outcome of work

on a comprehensive test-ban treaty. The South African

Government is strongly opposed to these and any further

nuclear tests being conducted, and calls upon those States

to cease testing, so as to enhance international efforts

towards non-proliferation and disarmament. We call upon

them to honour both the letter and the spirit of the

Principles and Objectives which they agreed to and helped

negotiate at the NPT Review and Extension Conference.

South Africa has dismantled its nuclear capability. South

Africa, for its part, has proven its commitment to nuclear

disarmament. Now it is the turn of others to manifest a

similar commitment.

South Africa notes with great satisfaction the progress

achieved thus far towards the establishment of an African

nuclear-weapon-free zone. We have been actively involved

in trying to find solutions to the outstanding issues, and we

trust that these hurdles can be overcome and the draft treaty

of Pelindaba can receive due consideration during this

session of the General Assembly. The draft treaty is

important as it would expand the non-nuclear-weapon

area of the globe considerably and would be a further step

towards the final goal of complete nuclear disarmament.

South Africa appeals to the nuclear-weapon States to

ensure that the draft treaty is concluded and the relevant

protocols signed.

Since the 1986 declaration of the Zone of Peace and

Cooperation of the South Atlantic, significant progress has

been made in the political, economic, scientific, technical

and cultural spheres to further the objectives of the Zone.

Only relatively few obstacles remain. We hope to advance

this endeavour when the next meeting of participating

nations takes place in Cape Town in March 1996.

On 13 September 1995 South Africa became the

thirty-seventh State party to the Convention on the

Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling

and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction.

On the same day South Africa also acceded to the

Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of

Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed

to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate

Effects. The ratification of the chemical weapons

Convention again underlines the commitment of the

Government of National Unity to the non-proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction. South Africa’s accession to

the Convention on certain conventional weapons

underlines my Government’s commitment to the

elimination of the suffering that is caused by the scourge

of war. South Africa has, for this reason, decided to

extend its moratorium on the export of land-mines by the

introduction of a permanent ban on the export or sale of

long-lived anti-personnel land-mines. Furthermore, on

30 August 1995 the Government of National Unity

approved the draft of a new conventional-arms-control

policy. A National Conventional Arms Control Committee

has been established and will function in accordance with

predetermined guiding principles and criteria to ensure

that arms trade and transfers conform to accepted

international practice.

As previously mentioned, the principal role of the

United Nations is to safeguard international peace and

security in order to implement universal respect for

human rights and to create conditions necessary for

sustainable development. Without peace, security and

human rights, sustainable development will be difficult to

achieve. Without development and respect for human

rights, international peace and security will continually be

threatened.

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General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting

Fiftieth session 13 October 1995

As President Mandela stated in 1992,

“Our common humanity transcends the oceans

and all national boundaries. It binds us together in

common cause against tyranny, to act together in

defence of our very humanity. Let it never be asked of

any one of us what we did when we knew that

another was oppressed.”

Mankind should learn to act against all tyranny in a

unified manner through the United Nations. This should be

our basic aim for the future.

South Africa also wishes to call attention to the

activities of mercenaries, irrespective of their origin and

objectives. Their destabilizing activities cannot be tolerated.

We call on the international community and the United

Nations to be seized of this problem of mercenaries.

The women of South Africa have lived, in varying

degrees, under three forms of oppression, relating to race,

to class and to gender. One of the first steps towards

initiating positive change in the lives of all South African

women was the entrenchment of gender rights in our Bill

of Rights. It was with much pride that the South African

delegation took their seats at the Fourth World Conference

on Women, in Beijing. That was the first time South Africa

participated in a conference on women which focused on

the eradication of poverty, and equal access to education

and to health services. South Africa is fully committed to

implementing the Platform for Action adopted at that

Conference, which will serve as the impetus for a world of

equality, development and peace for all. In addition, our

Parliament has most recently approved South Africa’s

ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination against Women, without any

reservations.

Years of apartheid rule have bequeathed the

overwhelming majority black population with a heavy

legacy of poverty, social disintegration and political

cleavages based on colour and ethnic animosities. It

therefore became the priority task of the South African

Government of National Unity to devise a national strategy

to address this catastrophic situation. A comprehensive and

multi-pronged developmental strategy known as the

Reconstruction and Development Programme is now being

implemented. The implementation of this Programme relies

primarily on the mobilization of domestic resources through

prioritization of budgetary resources, with a view to

addressing the huge material inequalities in such areas as

education, health, housing, infrastructure development and

land reform. It is a unique people-centred and people-

driven Programme, which seeks to translate into economic

benefit the political miracle in our country. At the very

heart of this Programme is the acknowledgement of the

inextricable interdependence between the need for

transparent, accountable and democratic governance of

our society and the imperative of dynamic economic

growth and sustainable development.

South Africa will host the ninth United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IX)

from 26 April to 11 May 1996. This is an event which all

South Africans are looking forward to with great

expectation. Indeed, it is my pleasure to announce that

our preparations are well advanced and on course.

We attach great significance to UNCTAD IX for a

number of reasons. We believe that the rapid progress of

globalization and liberalization of the world economy has

underscored the relevance and importance of UNCTAD

as a United Nations institution with a strong development

mandate and perspective. We also believe that the

successful completion of the Uruguay Round of

negotiations and the resultant creation of the World Trade

Organization not only has stressed the validity and

relevance of UNCTAD, but has also reinforced the need

to retain and strengthen UNCTAD’s mandate as a policy-

oriented global intergovernmental forum on trade and

development issues. It is a forum where a strong

partnership for development between the developed and

the developing countries can, and must, be forged. While

there may be a need to streamline certain UNCTAD

activities, this should not lead to its demise. Without

UNCTAD, our world, especially the developing world,

would be the poorer.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my

Government’s satisfaction with the intergovernmental

process at the United Nations to draw up a United

Nations Agenda for Development. We believe that the

United Nations is the appropriate forum for the

elaboration of the Agenda for Development. The Agenda

for Development could open great possibilities for

development and for partnership between the developed

and the developing countries. It is for this reason that

South Africa is taking great interest in the work of the Ad

Hoc Open-ended Working Group of the General

Assembly on an Agenda for Development.

My Government has been following with great

interest the ongoing High-level Intergovernmental

Meeting on the Mid-term Global Review of the

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General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting

Fiftieth session 13 October 1995

Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least

Developed Countries. In this connection, I join others in

calling on the international community to devise a global

strategy to effectively address the debt question confronting

the least developed countries, and to use innovative

measures — whether it be official development aid, foreign

direct investment or multilateral financial assistance — to

arrest the decline of resources destined for the least

developed countries.

I would also like to call upon the international

community to vigorously pursue measures required to

successfully implement the United Nations New Agenda for

the Development of Africa in the 1990s. We are pleased in

that regard by the progress registered during the Economic

and Social Council’s session in Geneva, especially the high-

level segment, which was devoted to the aforementioned

Agenda. Of course, the challenge before the international

community is to find adequate resources to translate this

Agenda into tangible results. It is our hope that this issue

will be treated with the required urgency, given that next

year there will be a mid-term global review of the New

Agenda for the Development of Africa.

Recognizing the importance of cooperation between

developing States, South Africa has acceded to an

agreement establishing the South Centre. The South Centre

will effectively operate as a policy research unit for the

Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77, and will draft

policy-oriented position papers on issues of critical

importance to the South. It will, in addition to this basic

function, generate ideas and proposals for consideration by

Governments of the South and other institutions.

The United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development engendered a process of environmental action

and awareness centred on the relationship between

economic development and the sustainable management of

the environment. It is our duty to carry this process forward

in an integrated manner and reconfirm our commitment to

the implementation of international agreements which seek

to manage and preserve the world’s environment.

South Africa is very conscious that the capacity of

developing countries to implement sustainable

environmental strategies will have to be strengthened. The

resources pledged towards the attainment of goals set out in

Agenda 21 will have to be made available if we are to

succeed in achieving the imperatives of development,

sustainable use of the environment, and democracy in the

world.

In Africa, in particular, the ravages of drought and

the advances of desertification require urgent attention.

The global community’s concern for the environment

should be reflected in a common approach to the

manifold environmental pressures threatening our global

heritage.

The United Nations also has an important role to

play in assisting States threatened by natural or man-made

disasters. Preventive diplomacy can contribute towards

eliminating man-made disasters. However, the results of

both man-made disasters and natural disasters can be

ameliorated by effective international humanitarian

assistance coordination through the United Nations. This

will naturally require more coherent programmed delivery

and coordination by the Office of the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Food

and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

(FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United

Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) and

other international institutions. The United Nations will

have to ensure that the necessary capacities and

mechanisms are created. Recent international action,

especially the follow-up to the Tokyo Conference, has

demonstrated that sufficient international will exists to

perform this function.

We welcome the adoption on 14 September 1995 of

General Assembly resolution 49/252, on the strengthening

of the United Nations. I wish to assure the Assembly of

our intention to work constructively with the President in

this endeavour.

The world in which we find ourselves today is

greatly changed from just 10 years ago. The cold war has

ended, the scourge of apartheid has been removed from

our common society and peace has come to Mozambique

and now Angola. We have also seen the membership of

our United Nations increase to 185, a substantial increase

since the time the Security Council’s membership was last

increased. As a result of these, and other, factors the

international community faces a window of opportunity

within which the Security Council can be successfully

restructured and reformed.

Within the overall effort to reform the United

Nations, South Africa believes that the structure and

functioning of the Security Council should be reformed to

make it more representative, democratic and transparent.

The product of these efforts must be a Security Council

that is effective and legitimate, and that reflects the

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General Assembly 22nd plenary meeting

Fiftieth session 13 October 1995

realities of our modern world. This result can be achieved

only if reform and restructuring is dealt with as a package.

One of the products of this reform process must result in

Africa having equitable representation on any enlarged

Security Council.

It would be appropriate for me to conclude by

referring to the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.

The people of South Africa will celebrate this fiftieth

anniversary in concert with the rest of the world. Our

National Committee organizing the events in our country

has adopted the following as its Declaration of Intent:

“To create an awareness among the peoples of South

Africa of the role which the United nations can play

in their daily lives, and to assist the United Nations in

responding to the challenges of the twenty-first

century.”

President Mandela looks forward to joining his fellow

world leaders in a few weeks’ time to celebrate the

visionary step taken half a century ago towards the creation

of a better world. Building on the successes and victories

of the past, we now embrace the future. We can face the

challenges ahead, inspired by a vision of a new world

where peace and respect for human dignity are the standard.