Canada, 1994

Canada is very pleased, Sir, that you have been elected to

the presidency of the Assembly, and it is certain that you

will, with tact and efficiency, assume the responsibility of

guiding our work. You can count on our full cooperation.

The United Nations has always had a special place in

Canada’s foreign policy. As I address the Assembly for the

first time as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I am reminded of

something one of my illustrious predecessors, Lester B.

Pearson, said about the United Nations:

"We must cultivate international ideals, develop

international policies, strengthen international

institutions, above all the United Nations, so that

peace and progress can be made secure."

The Government that I represent shares his broad and

noble vision of the role and place of the United Nations.

In order to face the challenges that await it at the dawn of

the twenty-first century, the international community needs,

more than ever, a strong, credible multilateral institution

equipped with the tools needed to fulfil our expectations.

These challenges are the maintenance of peace and

international security, as well as development, justice,

democracy, human rights and the fight against inequalities.

At a time when we are preparing to celebrate the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations, there is no more

urgent task than the intensification of our efforts for

reform in order to give our Organization the second wind

it needs. Let us draw inspiration from the vision and

enthusiasm of the people who drafted the Charter of the

United Nations 50 years ago.

The extensive upheavals that have shaken our planet

since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold

war can be symbolized in a few images. I am thinking of

the moving image of President Nelson Mandela taking the

oath of office as democratically elected President of South

Africa and the historic handshake between Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestine Liberation Organization

leader, Yasser Arafat. For their people and those in

Cambodia, El Salvador - and soon, perhaps, Mozambique

and Angola - who have discovered the road to peace, with

the help of the United Nations, the future is filled with

hope.

There is also hope in Haiti, where a courageous

people has been subjected for too long to oppression and

abject poverty. We shall share their joy when they can

finally welcome to his native land President Aristide, a

living symbol of nascent democracy.

But there are also unbearable images of the victims

in the market in Sarajevo and the flood of humanity

fleeing the killings in Rwanda.

The international community cannot remain

indifferent to conflicts that threaten the lives of millions

of innocent people and expose them to the worst

violations of their most fundamental rights. Recent

experience has shown us that only a concerted and

determined effort on the part of the international

community can solve these problems.

It is no easy task. Faced with the problems in

Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda or even Haiti, some people will

be tempted to give up and wonder if the United Nations

is wrong in trying to resolve essentially internal conflicts

that have numerous complex causes.

Canada does not share this opinion. We think that,

despite these problems, the Security Council is on the

right track, even though the steps it has taken have not

always proved capable of solving all the problems.

Consistent with that belief, we have always made a

tangible contribution to United Nations operations, as far

as our circumstances permit.

9

The Canadian contribution to peace-keeping operations

in the territories of the former Yugoslavia totals more than

2,000 soldiers and civilian police. The Canadian

Government decided a few days ago to renew once more

the mandate of its troops for a six-month period. Canada

has always been convinced that there can be no military

solution to the Yugoslavian conflict. It is because we wish

to give peace another chance that we have chosen to

maintain our contribution to the United Nations Protection

Force.

We have also responded to the Secretary-General’s

appeal for help in the tragedy of Rwanda. For two months

ours was the only country providing an air bridge to Kigali.

There are 600 Canadian soldiers serving under the United

Nations flag, and many Canadian non-governmental

organizations have mobilized to provide help to those in

distress.

We will also be in Haiti, with 600 soldiers and 100

police officers when the time comes to deploy the United

Nations peace-keeping force. Our participation is a logical

sequel to our numerous efforts of the past three years to

restore the democratic process in this country, to which we

are attached by language, geographical proximity and the

many personal ties between our peoples. The Haitian

people can count on Canada’s lasting help as they rebuild

their economy.

We are also contributing to the Middle East peace

process. As the leader of the multilateral Working Group

on Refugees, we are tackling with determination that task

entrusted to us by the international community. Our

objective is to contribute to the construction of a renewed

region where, 10 years hence, no one will consider himself

or herself a refugee. We are also providing substantial

financial assistance to the Palestinian people’s

reconstruction projects. We would favourably consider

sending peace-keepers if the need should arise, thus

carrying on a lengthy tradition of Canadian participation in

peace-keeping operations in the region.

(spoke in English)

The economic and social problems facing the

international community often receive less headline

attention than the armed conflicts. However, they are every

bit as urgent. Hundreds of millions of people around the

world continue to be condemned to a life of poverty. For

whole sectors of humanity, such basic needs as a proper

diet, drinking water, education and medical care are more

of a dream than a reality.

Certain parts of the developing world are currently

experiencing remarkable progress, while others,

unfortunately - the African continent in particular - are

continuing to struggle.

It is estimated that there are an unprecedented 19

million refugees and displaced persons in the world. We

are witnessing a massive movement of people that none

of our societies is able to manage without the cooperation

of the entire international community.

The recent Cairo Conference revealed the urgent

need for effective measures to cope with the problems of

population and development, problems that cannot be

resolved without giving full recognition to the essential

roles of women.

Our ability to translate into reality the concept of

sustainable development will have a very direct impact on

the daily lives of our fellow citizens. The fishermen of

Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces of Canada are

all too familiar with this problem. Their livelihood has

disappeared, through the plundering of fish stocks in

international waters off our shores. This is why we

believe an agreement must be reached without delay on

fishing on the high seas.

We could easily add to the list of pressing problems

that I have just mentioned. And no one can challenge the

fact that all of these problems - from peace-keeping to

development, including the fight against AIDS, drug-

trafficking and the protection of human rights and the

environment - require a determined, coordinated effort on

the part of the international community.

A great deal has been done over the past few years

to help our multilateral institutions to effectively face

these numerous challenges. However, much more needs

to be done. Too often, the intervention of the United

Nations comes too late, is too slow and is carried out

under inadequate conditions.

The lack of political will on the part of Member

States cannot be blamed on the Secretary-General. On

the contrary, I would like to pay special tribute to the

Secretary-General and his staff. They have done more

and better than anyone should expect from an institution

deprived of the most elementary resources, lacking even

a solid financial foundation.

We must fully assume our responsibilities and give

the United Nations the tools required to fulfil its unique

10

mandate successfully. However, it seems that we are

unable to take a second look at the habits of the past.

We invest too much energy in activities of marginal

use and in unimportant quarrels when there is an

emergency right under our noses.

We waste valuable resources by allowing the

numerous institutions and agencies we have created over

the years to jealously protect their independence and resist

change when circumstances require a pooling of energies.

As a result of our extreme reticence to implement

administrative reforms, we are handicapping the only

institution on which we can depend, when modern and

flexible management methods would enable us to respond

much more effectively to the needs of the moment.

Canada believes that the reforms of the United Nations

system must be deepened and accelerated. We must do

more and better with the resources at our disposal.

Efforts should be concentrated on the following five

major priorities, which I would like to bring to your

attention.

Firstly, we must strengthen the United Nations

system’s capacity for preventive action. The United

Nations already has a number of tools for detecting

potential conflicts, and can use a variety of mechanisms to

try to eliminate problems before crises break out. Lack of

information is not the problem; what we need is the ability

to better analyse this information, to develop appropriate

strategies and above all to mobilize energy from all

components of the system.

In order to act rapidly, the United Nations must be

able to count on qualified human resources, available on

short notice, to complement its own personnel. This is why

Canada has prepared for the Secretary-General an inventory

of resource persons suited to missions of good offices or

specializing in elections, human rights, the administration

of justice and other such fields.

At its first summit in January 1992, the Security

Council recognized that non-military sources of instability

in the economic, social, humanitarian and ecological fields

have become threats to international peace and security.

Let us recognize once and for all the need to expand the

traditional concept of security, and to mobilize all

components of the United Nations system to attack conflict

at its very roots.

We also feel that the preventive capacity of the

United Nations system will be strengthened if we make

better use of the expertise of those who have direct

knowledge of the field. The United Nations Economic

and Social Council should periodically hold public

hearings, similar to those held last June on the Agenda

for Development, with a view to assisting the United

Nations to better anticipate problems and to develop

strategies for attacking the economic and social causes of

conflicts. The findings of its hearings could and should

be provided to the Security Council and the Secretary-

General so that they can develop appropriate preventive

measures.

Any strategy for preventing armed conflicts also

involves pursuing tangible disarmament objectives.

Canada has established two priority objectives for the

next few years: nuclear non-proliferation and the control

of conventional arms.

Nuclear arms control and disarmament are under

way: we are continuing negotiations on a comprehensive

test-ban treaty to ban nuclear testing for all time. Canada

is working in the Conference on Disarmament to secure

a mandate for negotiations on a convention to prohibit the

production of fissile material for weapons purposes.

Together, these treaties will have the effect of

constraining and preventing a future nuclear arms race.

In 1995 we will have to decide the fate of the

world’s nuclear non-proliferation regime; the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is very

important for Canada, and we believe that there is only

one option: that the NPT must be indefinitely extended.

I urge all Governments to support this option, which will

allow for the continuation of a crucial instrument in

preventing the spread of nuclear-weapon technology and

provide new impetus to reduce existing stocks.

We must also recognize that, although the threat of

nuclear weapons is of prime concern, the ongoing use of

conventional weapons is an equally dangerous and very

real threat to peace and security.

The task of controlling conventional weapons is the

responsibility of every Government. Huge sums are

being spent each year purchasing such weapons, often to

the detriment of services essential to the public, such as

education and health care. Those who are more

concerned about the size of their military arsenal than

about the welfare of their people should no longer expect

to receive unconditional international aid.

11

The recently established United Nations Register of

Conventional Arms is a start, and I urge Member States to

make information available to the Register as Canada has

done.

More can be done, however. For example, next year

we will be reviewing the Convention on certain

conventional weapons that deals with land-mines. The

abuse of land-mines is responsible for continued suffering

and death of civilians long after the fighting has stopped.

I welcome the proposal made by President Clinton on

Monday to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of anti-

personnel land mines. He can count on the support and

assistance of the Government of Canada on this useful idea.

We must strengthen the Convention by extending its scope

to cover internal as well as international conflicts and by

insisting on effective verification measures to ensure

compliance. We will create a task force in Canada to

consider other initiatives that might be taken in the coming

months, and I look forward to sharing ideas on this subject

with other ministers.

Secondly, we must conduct an in-depth review of the

United Nations economic and social activities. I think I

speak for most members of the Assembly when I express

serious concerns regarding what can best be described as

the drift of the United Nations in the economic and social

sectors. While the debate on the United Nations mandate

in the areas of peace and security is lively and productive,

it is unfortunately too often vague and directionless when

we tackle economic and social problems.

We are not saying that everything must be changed -

far from it. But certain reforms have already been

introduced; to mention but one, we welcome the decision

to make the United Nations Development Programme

Administrator responsible for system-wide coordination.

But at a time when large sectors of international economic

activities are beyond the control of States, and when the

resources devoted to development and international

cooperation are subject to all manner of constraint in all of

our countries, we must rethink the role and mandate of all

our multilateral institutions, including those of Bretton

Woods. These questions will be taken up at next year’s

Group of Seven summit, to be held in Halifax, and should

be debated as widely as possible within other relevant

institutions.

Canada is ready to proceed with a comprehensive re-

evaluation of its multilateral system as it applies to

economic and social issues. If necessary, the relevance of

certain institutions must be rethought, and a real solution

must be found to the problem of duplication.

We expect great things of the next chapter of the

Secretary-General’s Agenda for Development. We share

to a great extent his visions of development, which

encompass all facets of human activity, and particularly

its social dimensions. Although the full importance of

these dimensions has finally been grasped, they are still

poorly integrated in our development strategies. The time

has come to translate this vision into new operational

priorities and to adapt our institutions and structures to it.

The Secretary-General should not hesitate to recommend

radical reform if necessary. Together we can restore the

relevance and leadership of the United Nations system.

We must adapt it to the new realities of an ever-changing

world.

Thirdly, we must strengthen the rapid-intervention

capability of the United Nations. The implementation of

a number of the proposals advanced by the Secretary-

General in "An Agenda for Peace" has enabled the United

Nations to make great strides in the area of peace-

keeping. Last April the Government of Canada took the

initiative of inviting the major troop-contributing countries

to a meeting in Ottawa to discuss problems associated

with political direction, command and control and the

training of peace-keeping- operations personnel.

In this regard, I am pleased to announce that Canada

will soon open a centre for peace-keeping research and

training. The centre, to be located on the site of the

former military base in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, will be

named after Lester B. Pearson, Canadian recipient of the

Nobel Peace Prize. I invite Member States to come and

join us so they can share our experience and help fine-

tune our future approach.

The experience of the last few years leads us to

believe that we need to explore even more innovative

options than those considered to date. Recent peace-

keeping missions have demonstrated the limitations of the

traditional approach. As we now fully realize, rapid

deployment of intervention forces is essential.

In the light of the prevailing situation, the

Government of Canada has decided to conduct an in-

depth review of the short-, medium- and long-term

options available to us to strengthen the rapid-response

capability of the United Nations in times of crisis. From

among these options, we feel that the time has come to

study the possibility, over the long term, of creating a

12

permanent United Nations military force. We will ask the

world’s leading experts for their input and will inform all

Member States of the results of the study.

(spoke in French)

Fourthly, we must improve the functioning of United

Nations decision-making bodies.

The Security Council currently bears enormous

responsibilities. Its decisions are binding on all Member

States and have a determining influence on millions of

people. It is essential that the Council be able to reflect as

accurately as possible the wishes of the entire international

community. For this reason, it is imperative that the

composition of the Council be reviewed. By making the

Council more representative of today’s world, we can

enhance the legitimacy of its actions and facilitate their

implementation. Canada will continue to play an active

role in the negotiations launched during the last session of

the General Assembly, with a view to concluding an

agreement as soon as possible.

However, an expanded Council must not be seen as a

panacea. As we have said on a number of occasions, the

Council must make its working methods more transparent

and become more receptive to the viewpoints of non-

member States with special concerns. More specifically,

Canada has advocated closer dialogue between the Council

and troop-contributing countries. The informal practices

developed in recent years are a good start, but in our view

we must look for practical ways to institutionalize them.

We ask the members of the Council to keep an open mind

in this regard.

Finally, we must put the United Nations on a sound

financial footing.

It goes without saying that the United Nations can

fulfil the mandates we give it only to the extent that

Member States meet their financial obligations and

contribute generously to its voluntary funds. The sums in

question are no doubt modest when compared with those

invested elsewhere, but they represent none the less a

burden that is already significant and growing larger at a

time when many of our countries, Canada most definitely

included, are going through a difficult period of budgetary

adjustment.

Our taxpayers do not question the need to contribute

to the United Nations, but they are entitled to expect that

their contributions will be spent judiciously. That is why

we attach such great importance to the need for sound

management of the system’s resources. The recent

creation of the new position of inspector general should

help tighten controls and improve administrative practices.

There is also a need to review budgetary procedures in

order to make them more transparent and to simplify

those that govern peace-keeping operations.

Reviewing the scale of assessments is always a

perilous undertaking, but I believe the need to do so has

become urgent. The current system suffers from serious

distortions and no longer reflects properly Member States’

ability to pay. We hope the General Assembly will make

this a priority issue at the current session.

In the final analysis, the future of the United Nations

depends on the willingness of its Member States to lend

it political and practical support. This support depends in

turn on the degree of support the Organization receives

from our respective citizenries. It is not only Member

States’ credibility that is at stake, but, even more

important, that of the United Nations.

Governments must strive to work together and in

cooperation with private enterprise and non-governmental

organizations to define our new vision of the United

Nations for the next century. This is, in part, why the

Canadian Government has provided support to the

Canadian Committee for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the

United Nations. That Committee, which brings together

leaders from all sectors, has prepared a remarkable

programme of activities to commemorate the anniversary

everywhere in our country. The emphasis is being placed

on youth education and the main subjects of the United

Nations agenda.

Next year at this time, all eyes will be turned

towards the General Assembly. Let us make that

anniversary the beginning of a new era for the United

Nations.