Bhutan, 1994

I have the honour to

convey to you, Mr. President, and, through you, to all the

delegations here present the warm greetings and good

wishes of His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of

Bhutan, for the success of the forty-ninth session of the

General Assembly.

I should first like to congratulate you, Mr. President,

on your unanimous election, which is a testimony to the

high regard that the international community has for your

country and the confidence of this Assembly in your

personal leadership. Given your long association and

intimate knowledge of the United Nations, we are sure

you will provide the necessary direction on the many

important issues that we are about to take up during this

session.

I should also like to take this opportunity to place on

record our deep appreciation and gratitude to His

Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally for the excellent manner

in which he conducted the proceedings of our last session.

His innovative and vigorous pursuit of discussions on the

reform of the United Nations, the restructuring of the

Security Council and the hearings on development have

set the stage for the current discussions.

We should like to pay a tribute to our Secretary-

General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his distinguished

leadership. We appreciate his tireless efforts to steer the

United Nations in bold and new directions.

We had the opportunity to welcome President

Mandela and to hear his historic and enlightened address

in this Hall. We welcome the end of apartheid and South

Africa's return to the family of nations.

In the Middle East, the transition of the Gaza Strip

and Jericho to Palestinian self-government, the return of

President Yasser Arafat and the signing of the

Washington Declaration between Jordan and Israel clearly

demonstrate the increasing desire for peace in the region.

We applaud the parties for the brave decision to embark

16

on the difficult path to peace. It is our hope that all parties

will join the process towards peace and reconciliation,

based on the relevant Security Council resolutions. It is our

hope that the international community will support the

Palestinian people in bringing about economic development

in the self-rule areas.

The situation in the Gulf warrants our close attention.

The international community must reject any threat against

the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kuwait. We urge

all parties to abide by and fully implement the relevant

Security Council resolutions.

The problems in Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Haiti and many other parts of the world still demand the

careful and urgent attention of the United Nations. These

conflicts severely test the international community's

capacity and resolve to deal with humanitarian needs and

conflict resolution.

We welcome the continued reduction of nuclear

weapons and the turning-away of such weapons from their

previous targets. We support the extension of the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons beyond 1995 and

the proposal for the negotiation of a comprehensive test

ban. We urge the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

to continue negotiations in earnest and to comply with the

International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards

agreement; thereby avoiding suspicion and doubt.

My delegation supports the proposal for both the

reduction and the clearance of anti-personnel mines. The

manufacture of, trade in and deployment of such weapons,

which cause indiscriminate and mindless death and

maiming, are unconscionable. We urge all parties to

participate in the United Nations Register of Conventional

Arms. The scope of the exercise should be expanded to

include not only trade but also manufacture and stockpiling.

The arms trade should cease to provide an opportunity for

profiteering on the part of any State.

For several years now we have been talking about

restructuring the United Nations. The discussions continue,

but, so far, little, if any, substantive reform has taken place.

In our humble view, reform of the United Nations must

reflect the perceptions and expectations of all Members.

For many of the larger Member States, the United Nations

is a forum in which to project and promote national

policies. But in the case of the developing countries — in

particular, the smaller Member States — the United

Nations guarantees independence and sovereignty and

provides an opportunity to participate in international

dialogue. The United Nations also provides both the

intellectual and the material input required for social and

economic development in many developing countries.

It is clear that the General Assembly — the only

forum in which all Members of the United Nations are

represented — must be the main focus of our attention.

The relationship between the General Assembly and other

United Nations organs must be reviewed and put in

proper perspective. The General Assembly itself must be

able to appreciate and understand the work of the

specialized and other agencies of the United Nations and

to provide direction. It must also organize itself in such

a way that it can deal more effectively with its business.

Routine and symbolic resolutions must be dealt with

efficiently, allowing the Assembly to focus on new and

more important challenges.

The relationship between the General Assembly and

the Security Council is particularly intriguing. It is a

common mistake to think that these two bodies function

like the legislature and the executive of a government.

This myth has been perpetuated by decades of Security

Council paralysis and by the artificial prominence

achieved by the General Assembly through the passing of

ineffective but symbolically important resolutions. The

reality is that there is only one body of authority in the

United Nations — the Security Council. The Council's

decisions are binding on all Members. They carry the

sanction of international law. The Assembly is explicitly

forbidden to interfere in the work of the Council unless

requested to do so.

The case for reform of the Security Council is

overwhelming. The Council must be expanded to reflect

the new realities of international relations and to make it

a more representative body. It is also important that the

deeper structural flaw be redressed and the Council be

made more accountable.

The financial position of the United Nations

continues to be a matter of concern. The sudden and

quantum jump in expenditure on peace-keeping

operations — now more than three times greater than

expenditure on development — is becoming difficult to

sustain. There are large-scale arrears in contributions.

We do not object to peace-keeping operations, but it is

clear that the finances of the United Nations must be put

on a sound footing. Financial expenditures reflect the

17

direction and priorities of the United Nations, as well as the

commitment of its Members.

The Secretary-General, in his report entitled “An

Agenda for Development”, states:

“Development is a fundamental human right.

Development is the most secure basis for peace.”

(A/48/935, para. 3)

These statements provide, in brief form, the best rationale

for recommitment to development in the post-cold-war era.

Like peace, development is not a new issue before the

United Nations; the United Nations and its agencies have

been engaged in international development for decades.

What is alarming today is that the gap between the

standards of living of developed and of developing

countries — the rich and the poor — is growing. The

concern arises not because the well-to-do are doing better

but because the poor are doing worse. It is no longer just

poverty but the destitution of one fifth of the world's

population that must be addressed.

Poverty saps the human spirit. It replaces hope with

despair, creativity with dullness, admiration with envy, and

compassion with indifference. Poverty weakens the body,

making it susceptible to sickness and disease. Poverty

clouds the mind, making it difficult for people to

understand the circumstances of their deprivation, and

generating bitterness against those they perceive as the

cause of their misery. What is unfortunate is that in this

day and age, given the advances that mankind has made in

science and technology, commerce and industry and civil

and social thought, poverty need not exist.

Considerable efforts have been made to put into proper

perspective the major development issues of our time. The

World Summit for Children, the United Nations Conference

on Environment and Development, the Eighth United

Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD

VIII), the World Conference on Human Rights and the

recently concluded International Conference on Population

and Development not only generated a remarkable

convergence of views but also resulted in commitments to

redress global concerns in the participants' respective areas.

We have no doubt that the international community will

approach the World Summit for Social Development and

the Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held in

1995, with the same resolve and determination.

We have all committed ourselves to accepting the

conclusions of the major conferences, including the various

programmes of action and the prescribed targets. All

countries are working hard to translate the commitments

into action, but the resources available are insufficient for

effective and lasting intervention. It is a matter of great

concern that, in fact, the resources made available for

development are declining.

The future of global development clearly hinges on

the provision of additional resources — additional

resources in the shape of increased official development

assistance for both multilateral and bilateral programmes;

additional resources from international financial

institutions; additional resources through direct foreign

investment and trade; and additional resources generated

internally through the creation of financial markets and

the expansion of the revenue base.

While there seem to be many avenues for increasing

the transfer of resources, the reality is that they have

yielded little for most least-developed countries.

International banking and investments are highly selective

and, by their nature, will not be attracted to the least-

developed countries, many of which have a small

economy and a poor infrastructure. The creation of

internal financial markets and the expansion of revenue

are hampered by the low level of savings and the limited

cash flow in the economy. The capacity of the least-

developed countries to compete in international trade is

also limited. Clearly, without increased official

development assistance many least-developed countries

will fall further behind — and their situation is already

precarious.

It is ironic that resources for international

development should decline when the United Nations

agencies are embarking on a major thrust for poverty

alleviation and sustainable human development. We urge

the donor community to continue supporting the United

Nations funding agencies. Although the trend towards

bilateral cooperation is understandable, the donor

community should draw on the advantages of working

through the United Nations agencies, given their long

experience and commendable performance in many areas.

These agencies must regain the confidence of the donor

community through greater efficiency and better

coordination.

Credit is an essential form of input in any major

development effort. The crushing debt burden of many

developing countries and the manner in which future

credit requirements will have to be met must be clearly

dealt with in our dialogue on development. Our

18

discussions must include the role of the Bretton Woods

institutions, which must be made to work in harmony with

the efforts of United Nations agencies.

Bhutan long ago accepted that development must be

participatory and environmentally sustainable. To this end

Bhutan has committed itself to maintaining 60 per cent of

its land mass under forest cover, including 20 per cent as

national parks. All development activities have been built

around this approach. We have been fortunate to receive

the generous assistance of, among others, India,

Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria,

Norway, Kuwait, Germany, Australia and the United

Kingdom. Considerable support has also been made

available from the United Nations Development Programme

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

the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United

Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),

the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations

Volunteers (UNV), the Food and Agriculture Organization

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

Bank and the Asian Bank. We have never taken the

involvement of any of our development partners for

granted, and we take this opportunity to express the sincere

gratitude of the people and the Government of Bhutan to all

of them.

The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations is a time

for celebration. There is much that the United Nations has

achieved for which we should all be proud. Yet it is also

a time for reflection and self-assessment. The success of

the next 50 years of the United Nations will depend largely

on our ability to meet the challenges of global human

development.