South Africa, 2000

Allow me to

congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of

the stewardship of this historic Assembly and also to

congratulate your predecessor, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab,

on his sterling guidance of the Assembly's work during

the previous session.

The dawn of the new millennium offers us a

unique opportunity to reflect on the successes and

failures of the United Nations since its inception. It

also provides us with an opportunity to dream about the

future of humanity in the third millennium. The

founders of the United Nations based the Charter on

the assertion of human dignity, human rights and the

equality of women and men and the aim of promoting

better social standards. Indeed, billions of people today

enjoy human rights and live in dignity, free from

disease, ignorance and fear, enjoying the benefits of

technology and scientific advances and able to take full

advantage of the process of globalization. Equally,

there are billions who are humiliated, degraded and

stripped of their innate human dignity and worth by

poverty, disease, ignorance, homelessness, hunger and

wars.

This Assembly, following the very inspiring

Millennium Summit, provides us with an opportunity

to reflect on the wise words of the leaders of the world

and on the Declaration they adopted. Global consensus

has at last emerged and confirms that we live in one

world and belong to the same human race; therefore,

while each Government has the responsibility to take

care of its citizens, we all have to work together for the

good of humanity as a whole. This means that we have

to create a people-centred world that is more caring,

with a strong sense of solidarity, where we are all our

brothers' and sisters' keepers, if I may borrow those

words from the Bible.

There is also universal consensus now that while

billions of people are being degraded and dehumanized

by poverty, disease and hunger, there are indeed

enough resources in the world to feed, educate and

restore the dignity of all human beings and make this

world a better place for all. It is therefore clear that the

eradication of hunger and poverty should be the

priority of all priorities and should be our collective

responsibility.

There is also agreement that we have a collective

responsibility in dealing with infectious diseases, such

as malaria, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted

diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. There is a need to

mobilize material and human resources, provide better

infrastructure, provide health education and ensure

access to affordable medicine.

There is also consensus that Africa poses the

biggest development challenge. The success or failure

of the United Nations and of humankind as a whole in

this century will be determined by their success in

dealing with the African development challenge.

We would like to urge the United Nations, in

partnership with the Organization of African Unity and

regional organizations, to accelerate the work towards

peace and stability in many of the countries of our

continent, such as Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Eritrea,

Somalia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Sudan and Burundi, so that these countries may

take their rightful place in the continent, be seized with

the needs of their people, promote development,

produce and export goods and not be areas of perpetual

suffering and war that result in their being the net

exporters of refugees. We welcome the Brahimi report

and are studying it, as it contains very serious

suggestions about the future operations of the United

Nations.

The United Nations, particularly the Security

Council, is humanity's principal agent for collective

security and it needs urgent reform so as to be able to

live up to this solemn responsibility. The world has

changed dramatically and continues to do so. It is

imperative that the composition and role of the

Security Council reflect that change and not remain

obsolete. The Bretton Woods institutions are equally in

need of urgent reform in order to discharge their

mandate and respond to the new development

12

challenge. The World Trade Organization has to adapt

its international trade rules so that they are equitable

and fair and take account of global development

challenges.

It is a source of great concern to the developing

countries that, increasingly, decisions are taken outside

the United Nations and other global structures by

developed and rich countries when these decisions

have a great impact on the poorer countries and

directly affect the lives of billions of poor people. That

is why a partnership between poor and rich countries

and dialogue between North and South are so critical.

Nuclear weapons still constitute a threat to our

planet. We have to pursue the path of universal

disarmament and the destruction of all weapons of

mass destruction.

The need to protect the environment has assumed

greater importance and we can succeed only if we work

together.

The self-determination of the people of East

Timor, Western Sahara and Palestine must be a concern

to all of us. To this end, we urge the United Nations to

do all it can to expedite the processes in East Timor

and Western Sahara. We commend the peace efforts in

the Middle East and the role of the United States. We

would like to pledge our support to the Palestinian and

Israeli leaderships as they try to find creative solutions

to their problems. They must be urged to take

advantage of this unique historic moment, as it seems

that a real possibility exists for a solution.

The equality of women and men still remains a

subject of great concern. All we need to do is look

around this Hall to realize how far we are from

realizing the vision of the founding Members of the

United Nations. Secondly, the feminization of poverty

is a big problem. The marginalization of women, both

in their countries and in the multilateral forums, means

that our countries and organizations, including the

United Nations, are functioning at half-capacity and are

deprived of the unique qualities, energies and creativity

that women would bring. In this context, I cannot

forget the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma. She

deserves active support from this gathering and the

world.

The United Nations was founded in part to make

sure that the monsters of fascism and racism should not

rear their ugly heads again. Unfortunately, all over the

world racism and xenophobia are on the increase.

Some countries and regions are responding by

developing a new fortress mentality, which does not

help the situation. This should flash red warning lights

to all of us and activate our utmost vigilance against

the scourges of racism and xenophobia.

It is only when we turn our backs on racism,

xenophobia and other forms of discrimination that we

can succeed in building a caring world where we feel

diminished by the suffering and hunger of other human

beings. It was for this reason that we felt a sense of

obligation and agreed to host the world racism

Conference next year. Of course, our country and

people experienced the most systematic, most brutal

and most inhumane form of racism, which the United

Nations declared a crime against humanity. We are

happy to take our place in the fight against racism in

our country and in the world. It is our fervent hope that

the Conference will come up with a programme of

action against racism, xenophobia and other forms of

discrimination.

In conclusion, let us all put our collective will,

courage and intellectual creativity together in shaping

the dream of a better world; a world of solidarity; a

world where no child should starve or die of

preventable and curable diseases; a world where no

child will be deprived of schooling; a world where

children will not be sent to war; a world where no child

can be a slave or be used as an object for trafficking; a

world where children grow up as children and play

with toys and do not have to be breadwinners or worry

about where their next meal is going to come from; a

world where women will enjoy all rights and where the

eradication of poverty and war is our collective

responsibility.

The dream for the new millennium is indeed

realisable. If we act with courage and determination,

we can turn the hopes of billions across the world into

reality.