Belarus, 1998

Please accept our sincere

congratulations, Sir, on the occasion of your election to

preside over the fifty-third session, as well as our wishes

for success in realizing the goals and principles of the

United Nations.

We welcome all the efforts of the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, for the benefit of the Organization and

its Member States, and sincerely wish him further success

on his way, which is strewn not with roses alone.

With appropriate respect and great appreciation for

the activities of the President of the General Assembly at

its fifty-second session, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko of

Ukraine, we wish him important achievements in his

activities as a Member of Parliament in his native

country.

Today, on the very threshold of the third

millennium, it becomes clear for the majority of Member

States that the time has come to take comprehensive

measures for everyone to turn the determination of the

peoples of the United Nations, declared in its Charter,

into reality “to save succeeding generations from the

scourge of war ... to practice tolerance and live together

in peace with one another as good neighbours”. In fact,

that was the ultimate goal behind all the diverse activities

of the United Nations in the years after its Charter came

into force in 1945.

The world goes through non-stop change. Today the

global environment in which Member States cooperate to

achieve the goals of the Charter is different from that of

half a century ago. United Nations activities should reflect

more adequately those sweeping changes of the second

half of the twentieth century, many of which shattered the

world.

The Government of the Republic of Belarus has

been persistent and consistent in its efforts to promote

peace, friendship, good-neighbourly relations and

mutually beneficial cooperation. This policy is enshrined

in the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, chapter 18

of which, in particular, declares:

“In its foreign policy the Republic of Belarus

proceeds from the principles of the equality of

States, non-use of force or the threat to use force,

inviolability of frontiers, peaceful settlement of

disputes, non-interference in internal affairs of States

and other universally acknowledged principles and

standards of international law.

“The Republic of Belarus pledges itself to

make its territory a neutral, nuclear-weapon-free

State.”

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Thus the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is

consistent with all our obligations under the United Nations

Charter and other instruments of international law to which

Belarus is a party.

The United Nations is to define far-reaching goals and

guidelines for international cooperation into the twenty-first

century. Everybody wants to be better off, to have the

opportunity to work and live in peace and freedom. There

is a need for the United Nations to elaborate an effective

legislative, economic, social and political framework to give

humankind an opportunity to realize these legitimate

aspirations in an environment much more favourable than

the one we have had in the century that draws to its close.

Most global problems are persistent, hard to resolve

and resist old approaches. We should seek new solutions

and reach agreements to do away with the problems in

unconventional, innovative ways. I believe that the

proposed reform of the United Nations will give us a good

opportunity to achieve this. Our attitude to the reform was

defined in the letter of the President of the Republic of

Belarus, His Excellency Mr. Alyaksandr Lukashenka, to the

Secretary-General. We must ensure that reforming the

activities of the United Nations does not disrupt the

attainment of its goals and the implementation of its

principles or derogate the interests of Member States and

regional groups. Reforms should not mean disorganization.

Reforms should mean the synergy of the best United

Nations achievements in all areas of its activities, which

have been developed for more than half a century. We

believe in the ability of the Secretary-General and his staff

to lead our Organization exactly in the required direction.

On its part, the Republic of Belarus will do its utmost

to contribute in all ways possible to the enhancement of the

efficiency of the United Nations and its specialized

agencies, and will seek generally acceptable agreements on

all the issues of the global agenda. Strengthening the United

Nations system and reforming the Security Council on the

basis of just and balanced representation of the regional

groups would be most instrumental in this respect. Together

with other East European States, in particular members of

the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Belarus

has been an active initial proponent of the demand to

allocate an additional non-permanent seat to that group

in the expanded Security Council.

People all over the world and the international

community as a whole can no longer tolerate the killing of

human beings in inter-State and intra-State armed conflicts.

During the years after the Second World War thousands

upon thousands, if not millions of people, have been

killed. Nevertheless, hostilities continue in different

regions of the globe. Conflicts in Africa, the Middle East

and the Balkans stay unresolved; still unsettled are

situations in Cyprus and other regions. In these

tremendously difficult circumstances the United Nations

is continuing to fulfil its responsibility with dignity. Yet

there is ample room for further improvement.

We consider that the principles of the peaceful

settlement of disputes and non-interference in internal

affairs should be strictly observed while bringing about

reconciliation in regional and domestic conflicts. Any

enforcement measures should only be applied following

the adoption of a Security Council resolution.

Accordingly, the use of force by individual States or

regional organizations at their own discretion should not

be permissible. One of the objectives stipulated in the

United Nations Charter, in the preamble, is “to ensure, by

the acceptance of principles and the institution of

methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the

common interest”.

It is difficult for the Government and people of the

Republic of Belarus to comprehend why in certain

quarters the idea of a military attack on the sovereign

State of Yugoslavia is being publicly discussed just

because the latter decided to solve its domestic problems,

though really complicated, in its own way and would not

rubber-stamp recipes enforced from outside. It is also

time that Yugoslavia?s full membership of the United

Nations be resumed. The mere threat of the use of force

could seriously disrupt peace and stability in Europe,

revive old fears and animosities and generate more

distrust.

The very serious problems that humanity faces today

can be solved by reason and joint actions, rather than by

force. Paradoxically, despite the ever growing industrial

and economic output in the world, the number of people

living below the poverty line is not diminishing. More

and more people are becoming refugees or displaced

persons. Humanism, justice, fairness and respect for

human rights have not become universal. Terrorism,

organized crime and illegal drug trafficking have not been

overcome, and even tend to grow. We share the

Secretary-General?s view that the forces of globalization

“pose extraordinary opportunities, as well as enormous

challenges”. (A/53/1, para. 229) The recent financial

crisis in many parts of the world is one of the latest and

clearest manifestations of that.

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Ecological interdependence has not yet become a

matter of common awareness, as evidenced, in particular,

by the attitude to efforts to mitigate the after-effects of the

Chernobyl disaster. Belarus, which absorbed 70 per cent of

all the radioactive Chernobyl fallout, spends one fifth of its

budget annually to eliminate the consequences of the

Chernobyl catastrophe. We are grateful for all international

assistance, particularly in the rehabilitation of children. At

the same time, the United Nations has prepared the inter-

agency programme of international assistance to areas

affected by the Chernobyl disaster, in order to revive

international interaction for Chernobyl programmes and

make it more purposeful and effective. Furthermore, the

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs has organized two international special donor

meetings to raise funds for the implementation of this

programme, estimated at $74 million. Yet the results of

those meetings appear modest so far and demonstrate a

disappointing deficit of international solidarity with the

affected countries in solving their problems.

Given the global dimensions and implications of the

disaster, I would like to take this opportunity to again call

on the donor countries, international organizations and non-

governmental organizations to consider every possibility of

their participation in financing the implementation of the

programme.

It is common knowledge that Belarus took an

unprecedented step in post-world-war history by voluntarily

and unconditionally renouncing the nuclear arsenal in its

possession. Ukraine and Kazakhstan undertook similar

measures, but at a later stage. These initiatives received

unanimous high international appreciation, as confirmed by

relevant United Nations resolutions, and were also endorsed

by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member

States, which explicitly welcomed the step. The latter

specifically voiced, through NATO?s Secretary-General, its

support of the goal shared by Belarus to “establish a

common security system that would meet the interests of all

States”. At first, it seemed that there was a will to legally

consolidate a newly emerging international security system

and to promote disarmament, non-proliferation and the non-

use of nuclear weapons. Those aspirations, however, have

yet to be realized.

According to the United Nations Disarmament

Commission, nuclear-weapon-free zones at present cover

more than half of the Earth?s surface, with an aggregate

membership of 144 countries. Yet there is still resistance to

the creation of new nuclear-weapon-free zones, in the

southern hemisphere as well as the northern hemisphere.

Therefore, the Belarus initiative of retaining a nuclear-

weapon-free status quo in Central and Eastern Europe is

also stalled. The emergence of new nuclear-capable

countries also affected the situation with regard to the

existing nuclear-weapon-free zones, whose members have

yet to win the acknowledgement of their nuclear-weapon-

free status by the nuclear States. Moreover, there are no

guarantees that other “threshold” States will not express

in the future their intention to join the “nuclear club”. We

urge those Member States which have not yet done so to

accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty (CTBT). We would also welcome progress in the

respective activities of the Conference on Disarmament

and the United Nations Disarmament Commission.

In view of the above, a more constructive approach

to the issue of disarmament and arms limitation, inter

alia, in the nuclear field, is called for. The reduction of

nuclear stockpiles currently under way in the United

States and Russia is to be complemented by similar

efforts by other holders of nuclear weapons, so as to

jointly facilitate the complete disbanding of nuclear and

other means of mass destruction. It is the ultimate

objective. To attain it, a number of specific prerequisites

must be created.

I would like to refer in particular to the statement of

the NATO ministerial meeting on 10 December 1996,

confirmed by the NATO heads of State or Government in

the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and

Security between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

and the Russian Federation of 27 May 1997, which

maintains that “the NATO States have no intention, plan

or reason to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of

the new members.” We believe that that statement by

NATO deserves approval by a General Assembly

resolution.

I should also mention the 1996 Stockholm

Declaration of the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly,

which contains a reference to the decision of the 1995

NPT Review and Extension Conference that “the

establishment of additional nuclear-weapon-free zones by

the time of the Review Conference in the year 2000

would be welcome.” (NPT/Conf.1995/32, Part I, Decision

2, para. 6)

With due regard to that, we cannot accept the

argument that it is premature to discuss and implement

the initiative to create a nuclear-weapon-free space in

32

Central and Eastern Europe at this juncture, and that it

might only be addressed in the distant future. Inspired by

new partnerships, we cannot possibly let the existing de

facto nuclear-weapon-free status of Central and Eastern

Europe evaporate. We are convinced that the establishment

of a nuclear-weapon-free space in Europe would

constructively contribute to the shaping of a new European

security architecture aspired to by all the OSCE Member

States.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights is widely celebrated this year throughout

the world. The provisions of the Declaration and other

international instruments on human rights, to which Belarus

is a dutiful party, are reflected in the Constitution and other

legislation of my country and are strictly implemented at

the State level, proceeding from the indivisibility and

interdependency of civil rights and obligations.

Much has been done in Belarus to highlight the United

Nations efforts to promote and protect human rights. The

Universal Declaration of Human Rights was reprinted and

widely circulated. The National Assembly held

parliamentary hearings devoted to human rights. It should

be noted here that the hearings were broadcast live on

Belorussian radio in their entirety. Other undertakings are

envisaged, including preparations to introduce the institution

of Ombudsman in Belarus. All these efforts are aimed, to

cite the United Nations Charter, at promoting “social

progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”. The

representatives of Belarus will give a detailed account of

these matters during the discussion of relevant issues on the

agenda.

At the same time, we share the position of other

Member States that there is an ever pressing need to

observe the United Nations Charter and declarations based

thereon concerning non-interference in the internal affairs

of States and the protection of their independence and

sovereignty. The same is true of the principles of

international law referring to friendly relations and

cooperation between States.

I would like to pay special tribute to the positive

experience Belarus has gained in cooperating with United

Nations bodies. We greatly appreciate the role and

importance of the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP) in our country regarding human resources

development, strengthening the potential of State

management, restructuring industries and creating civil

society.

We hope for a broadening of the United Nations

programme activities related to solving the problems

faced by the Republic of Belarus and other countries with

economies in transition.

Our people live in a non-violent environment and

work very hard to overcome current economic difficulties

and achieve substantial output in the State-owned and

private sectors. In that context, in 1997 gross domestic

product increased by 10 per cent and industrial output by

17 per cent, and the production of consumer goods also

rose. This all came about as a result of the efforts made

by the Belorussian people, as well as through the

promotion of subregional integration and cooperation with

other countries.

Belarus, like other CIS States, is painstakingly

striving to overcome the tremendous difficulties that

emerged in the country after the breakup of the Soviet

Union. Now that we are in a period of transition, my

country would be justified in expecting encouragement,

solidarity and support from the international community.

We would appreciate such support from all countries and

from every people of the world.

The Republic of Belarus is committed to the

conscientious fulfilment of all its international obligations

under the United Nations Charter in their integrity, and

we wish success to the family of nations in this work.