Belarus, 2001

The

delegation of Belarus would like to express its deepest

sympathy to the families of the victims of the plane

crash that occurred this morning in New York, as well

as to the Governments of the United States and the

Dominican Republic.

My delegation would also like to congratulate the

President of the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth

session on his election to that responsible post. His

election is undoubtedly clear recognition of the

Republic of Korea's role in international affairs. We

would also like to express our gratitude to the President

of the General Assembly at the previous session,

22

Mr. Harri Holkeri. His successful presidency of the

Millennium Summit and Assembly is a clear example

of his personal talent and leadership skills.

The United Nations is entering the new century

under the leadership of Mr. Kofi Annan. His

unanimous re-election by the General Assembly to a

second five-year term came as an unequivocal

acknowledgement of great appreciation for his work as

Secretary-General. We welcome the recent well-

founded decision by the International Nobel Committee

to grant the Nobel Peace Prize to the United Nations,

and to Mr. Kofi Annan personally.

The consequences of the terrorist attacks of 11

September 2001 against New York and Washington,

D.C., are as present and as painful as ever. In that

regard, our country does not consider this session of

the General Assembly just a regular event in the life of

the United Nations. For Belarus, the point is that, as

Member States, all of us must demonstrate collective

wisdom and display the collective will to make our

world less vulnerable in the face of acts of insanity that

push not only individual countries but the whole of

humanity to the very edge of a global catastrophe.

As a responsible member of the international

community, the Republic of Belarus cannot remain

indifferent to this threat. In his message to Secretary-

General Kofi Annan, the President of the Republic of

Belarus, Mr. Alyaksandr Lukashenka, clearly explained

the views of our country with regard to international

activities to combat terrorism:

In the present situation, the role of the United

Nations in consolidating the efforts of States in

the fight against terrorism is growing in stature.

We can achieve real success in this effort only

when the unique capabilities of the United

Nations are used, especially as regards

eradicating the root causes that generate and

support terrorism. We believe that the United

Nations should be at the centre of the efforts to

develop strategies and tactics for the measures to

be taken by the international community to

combat terrorism.

Having actively supported all the anti-terrorist

resolutions adopted by the Security Council and

General Assembly, and being party to the 12 United

Nations conventions on terrorism, Belarus welcomes

the measures aimed at defining and eradicating not

only terrorism itself but also its root causes. We firmly

support the work of the Committee established by the

Security Council under resolution 1373 (2001), and are

ready to cooperate closely with that body.

Last year, during the Millennium Summit and

Assembly, we called for the preservation of the United

Nations as a unique universal international institution

uniting all the countries of the world. When we talk

about establishing the conditions necessary for

effective implementation of the goals set out in the

Millennium Declaration we are talking about the future

of the Organization itself. We believe that the

implementation by the United Nations of the provisions

of the Millennium Declaration during the first year

after the holding of the Millennium Summit is cause

for a certain optimism. In that regard, I would like to

underscore that the Republic of Belarus has already

drafted a special governmental programme on

implementing the Millennium Declaration.

The important thing that we have come to realize

is that there is an organic link between development,

peace and security in the context of globalization. The

recent tragic events in the United States of America

reaffirmed that interdependence. Belarus welcomes the

intensive work undertaken at the United Nations in

2001 in preparation for the International Conference on

Financing for Development. We are convinced that this

forum must lay the foundation for a new international

consensus on global economic and financial issues.

Belarus believes that such a consensus should be built

while taking into consideration the specific interests

and needs of countries at different stages of social and

economic development. The overall success of the

forum will ultimately depend on the application of that

approach.

While addressing the most pressing social and

economic challenges of the modern world, we must not

weaken our focus on the area of international security

and disarmament. The statistics on military

expenditures, which have reached $800 billion per year

worldwide, are of particular concern in the present

alarming international situation. It should be noted that

our country has been pursuing a consistent policy in

the field of disarmament. We have made a significant

contribution to the consolidation and development of

international non-proliferation regimes for weapons of

mass destruction, including a reduction in the number

of such weapons and the elimination of existing

arsenals.

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Belarus has been consistently and

comprehensively fulfilling the provisions of all nuclear

disarmament treaties to which our country is a party.

The recent concluding inspection under the Treaty on

the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-

Range Missiles, which was carried out in Belarus in

February 2001, confirmed our country's strict

observance of all the conditions envisaged in that

document. As a nation that voluntary relinquished

possession of nuclear weapons and completely

withdrew them from its territory in 1996, Belarus is

determined to advocate the necessity of providing

legally binding guarantees to non-nuclear States,

including the elaboration of an appropriate

international convention to that end.

The Republic of Belarus is among the States that

consider the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to be a

critical component of maintaining strategic stability.

The outcome of decades of tense negotiations in the

search for a compromise that saved the world from a

growing nuclear threat must not be dismissed. Strategic

stability is a practical imperative for each and every

State without exception. Negotiations on such an

important issue should be conducted on a multilateral,

non-bloc basis with the participation of all interested

States and in strict conformity with the provisions of

the Charter.

We welcome the efforts undertaken for the

universal prohibition of chemical weapons and support

the destruction, as soon as possible, of existing arsenals

of weapons-grade poisons, as well as the efforts to

achieve the universality of the Convention on the

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. This summer

Belarus concluded its agreement with the Organization

for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on the

privileges and immunities of that organization.

We also pursue a similarly responsible and

consistent policy with regard to reducing conventional

weapons. In strict implementation of the Treaty on

Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, Belarus was

among the first of the parties to that Treaty to ratify the

agreement on the adaptation of the Treaty. Ratification

by the Republic of Belarus of the Treaty on Open Skies

in 2001 is proof of our consistent policy in this field.

One important dimension of our foreign policy is

to make practical contributions to the strengthening of

regional stability, based on the principle of

comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation

with neighbouring countries in all areas relevant to

security and disarmament. As part of this policy,

Belarus has concluded an agreement with Lithuania on

measures for strengthening confidence and

transparency, and we are making progress towards

signing similar agreements with Ukraine and Poland.

Conflict prevention remains among the most

important issues on the agenda of the United Nations.

The events of the past year have proved that the

initiatives undertaken by the United Nations, together

with the active personal involvement of the Secretary-

General and complemented by the work of regional

organizations and individual United Nations Member

States, have been an effective and very often the

only solution to the escalation of conflicts in various

regions of the world.

This is the appropriate point to mention the

situation in Afghanistan, which is of particular concern

to the international community. Developments in that

country and in the region as a whole run the risk of

spiraling out of control. Military force cannot resolve

complex problems that have been building up for years.

We are convinced that the complex tensions within

Afghan society can be defused only by means of a

balanced domestic dialogue based on strict compliance

with the standards of international law.

It is essential not to weaken the intensifying

political effort to give a new impetus to the peace

process in the Middle East. There is no alternative to

the peaceful establishment of an independent

Palestinian State through political negotiations, based

on the strict observance of Security Council resolutions

already adopted and the decisions of other relevant

international forums. It is regrettable that the Security

Council was unable to reach consensus on a United

Nations presence in the region at this crucial moment.

We consider it extremely important that we continue

our efforts to settle unresolved problems on the

Lebanese track, in tandem with the complete

withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Golan Heights.

We are also concerned about the situation in

Kosovo and Macedonia as the result of aggressive

separatism and international terrorism. Here, too, we

believe that political logic must prevail over the logic

of force. On the eve of the forthcoming general

election in Kosovo, Belarus confirms its adherence to

the principle of the territorial integrity of the Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia and supports the diplomatic

24

initiative by the Russian Federation legally to confirm

the existing national borders in the Balkans.

The situation in Africa continues to remain

unstable. We believe that the establishment of the

African Union and the further strengthening of other

African regional structures, with an effective United

Nations involvement, are important prerequisites for

the maintenance of peace and stability in that

continent. A comprehensive approach envisaging

integration of the political, economic and social

resources of the African States is of crucial importance.

Belarus supports the immediate implementation of all

the decisions taken at the Summit of the Organization

of African Unity held in Lusaka, Zambia, in July 2001.

It is important to maintain the momentum that has

been created in the political process leading to

statehood for East Timor and to its admission, as a

fully fledged member, into the world family of nations.

We must encourage the active efforts being

undertaken to continue dialogue, on the basis of

equality, between North and South Korea.

The Cyprus problem continues to be a pressing

issue. We call for the resumption of negotiations on

this question, in accordance with the provisions of the

relevant resolutions of the Security Council.

The Republic of Belarus has been increasing its

participation in major United Nations international

legal instruments in a number of strategically important

areas. These include the combat against organized

crime and drug trafficking. Belarus has signed the

United Nations Convention against Transnational

Organized Crime and its supplementary Protocol to

Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,

Especially Women and Children, as well as the

Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land,

Sea, and Air.

Beyond that, the Republic of Belarus has become

a party to the International Convention for the

Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, the International

Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of

Terrorism, the Convention on the Safety of United

Nations and Associated Personnel, the Convention

relating to the Status of Refugees, the Protocol

Amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

The current session of the General Assembly

represents an important stage in the process of

establishing a legal framework for Belarus to join the

United Nations system of peacekeeping operations. On

1 October 2001, the Republic of Belarus signed a

memorandum of understanding with the Secretariat

regarding its participation in the United Nations

Standby Arrangements System. We see the recent visit

of representatives of the Department of Peacekeeping

Operations to Belarus to test and select Belarusian

candidates for United Nations civilian police

contingents as an important initial step in the process

of implementing this memorandum.

Of major importance in the Millennium

Declaration is the promotion by Member States of the

principles of sustainable development. It remains clear,

however, that implementation of the paradigm of

sustainable development in many developing countries

and in countries with economies in transition continues

to be confronted with major difficulties.

In this regard, we attach particular importance to

preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable

Development, to be held in Johannesburg in 2002. We

consider the Rio + 10 Summit to be an appropriate

forum for defining new approaches to the solution of

global problems and for developing new and effective

financial, institutional and legal mechanisms for their

implementation.

The current session of the General Assembly is of

fundamental importance to my country, since it will

consider issues relating to the cleanup of the

consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear

power plant. The economic, social and humanitarian

ramifications of this problem cannot be overestimated.

Suffice it to mention here just one figure: over the past

decade, Belarus has spent $12.5 billion on the cleanup

of the Chernobyl disaster. However, the people living

in the contaminated areas have not yet been able to

return to their normal way of life. There is a need

further to rally international support for my country's

efforts to mitigate and minimize the aftermath of the

Chernobyl catastrophe.

In this context, we greatly appreciate the

initiatives proposed by the Under-Secretary-General

for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Kenzo Oshima, to

intensify international post-Chernobyl cooperation,

including shifting its focus towards assistance for

sustainable development of the contaminated areas and

enhancing the region's human potential. The findings

and outcome of the special United Nations assessment

mission to the three most affected States earlier this

25

year are expected significantly to contribute to the

understanding of what precisely should be done in the

near future. In the course of the current session of the

General Assembly, a draft resolution entitled

Strengthening of International Cooperation and

Coordination of Efforts to Study, Mitigate and

Minimize the Consequences of the Chernobyl Disaster

has jointly been submitted by the Governments of

Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. I call

upon all delegations to support it.

In his road map towards the implementation of

the United Nations Millennium Declaration, our

Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, observed quite

rightly that

The international community has just emerged

from an era of commitment. It must now enter an

era of implementation. (A/56/326, para. 11)

This means that the successful implementation of

the Organization's strategy in this era of globalization

depends on us, as United Nations Member States, and

us alone. This is not only our common privilege; it is

also our common responsibility.

Belarus is confident that the United Nations and

the international community are capable of mobilizing

political will and technological and intellectual

resources for the sake of building a stable and

prosperous world.

For the Republic of Belarus, the tenth anniversary

of its independence coincided with the second

presidential elections in the history of my country. The

support of the overwhelming majority of voters for

Mr. Alyaksandr Lukashenka confirmed the soundness

of the democratic foundations of the Belarusian

society.

Similarly, the foreign policy of our country will

remain consistent and constructive. It will be guided

exclusively by the basic principles of the United

Nations Charter and universally recognized norms of

international law, including the aspiration for the

establishment of a world order in which the interests of

all countries, big and small, developed and developing,

in both the North and the South, are equitably taken

into account. Cooperation with all United Nations

Member States on a mutually beneficial and

constructive basis will remain the central priority for

the Republic of Belarus.