Chile, 1998

Allow me to congratulate you, Sir, on behalf of the

Government of Chile and in my personal capacity, on

your election as President of the fifty-third session of the

General Assembly, which represents a deserved tribute to

your political skills and diplomatic career, as well as a

recognition of your country?s commitment to the work of

the United Nations. It gives us very special pleasure

because you are a national of Uruguay, a Latin American

country that is especially close to Chile, and with which,

in addition, we are cooperating closely in the Rio Group

and the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR).

We also congratulate the Secretary-General on the

leadership he has demonstrated since he took up his

duties. His vision of the necessary reform of this

Organization, as well as his dedication to the solution of

important international problems, gives us great

satisfaction. We encourage him to persevere in pursuit of

the goals he has set himself.

Globalization, interdependence and regional

integration are phenomena that characterize present-day

international realities. The experience of many countries,

Chile among them, shows that greater participation in the

world economy, if appropriately channelled, can constitute

a key element in the economic growth and prosperity of

countries. Nevertheless, these phenomena, whose logic

and dynamics are universal in scope, still offer ambivalent

and contradictory lessons and meanings, depending on

their magnitude and the effects they are causing in the

different parts of the world. It is obvious that this process

gives rise to legitimate uncertainties and concern in the

context of the financial upheavals that, having started in

the Asia/Pacific region, now affect the whole world. The

need for more effective and concerted action by the main

international economic Powers and the specialized

22

agencies to deal with these situations is becoming

increasingly apparent. The need to reshape the global

financial architecture is becoming ever more obvious.

It seems clear that there is a need for greater

coordination regarding the international community?s

institutional capabilities to deal with situations like the

present one. The world has experienced similar situations

before, but they now take place in a context of much

greater interdependence. This necessitates an in-depth

review of the current structures of the world financial

system in order to adapt them to the new challenges of

internationalization. Otherwise, we shall always be

vulnerable to upheavals like the present ones, and to

setbacks in those parts of the world that are affected.

Obviously, no agency of the multilateral system, on its

own and using only its own methods, is in a position to

bring certainty and stability to the current crisis. In the

search for solutions, we need to combine different

approaches and concerns: financial order, growth of

international trade, effective social security networks,

promotion of investment and growth, and respect for

workers, among others. We have a great opportunity to

grasp fully the integrated nature of these problems and

define genuinely coordinated policies in order to solve

them. This is a task in which the entire international

community must participate. The Latin American countries

have assumed their responsibilities for building sound

economies with increasingly low levels of inflation,

progressively decreasing their budget deficits and reducing

unemployment and indebtedness.

What Chile has done in this respect is recognized, and

has been frequently praised in recent years. In little over a

decade, Chile has doubled the size of its economy. This

year, 1998, will be our twelfth year of uninterrupted

growth. For eight years we have been constantly reducing

inflation and unemployment, with a financial surplus and

high domestic and external savings rates. All of this has

taken place in a context of great openness to the outside

world and a regional integration process conducted with a

view to promoting open regionalism. It has also taken place

in the context of an increasing expansion of social

investment, whose benefits for the most vulnerable sectors

of the population are apparent in the high indicators

achieved by Chile in this Organization?s latest Human

Development Report.

However, despite these significant achievements we

have also had to face in recent months problems that we

share with many countries in our region, stemming from the

global financial crisis and the difficulties created in some

of our main export markets. President Frei's Government

has adopted stringent adjustment measures in order to

reduce public and private expenditure, avoid an upsurge

of inflation, and, at the same time, maintain social

investment and protect Chileans? jobs.

This permits us — as the Heads of State and

Government of our region did when they met on 5

September at the Twelfth Rio Group Summit — to call

on all to discharge their responsibilities in this respect, as

we have discharged our own. Our Presidents are

concerned about the possibility that the crisis will become

more acute, and accordingly they urge the countries in

which it arose to take the necessary measures to correct

their imbalances; the countries of the Group of Seven to

take action to restore the stability of financial markets and

ensure the growth of the world economy; and the

international financial institutions to involve themselves

more rapidly and effectively in resolving the crisis.

There is also a need to prevent a mishandling of the

crisis or half-way measures leading to the reproduction or

even accentuation of the inequities that characterize the

current international system, which not only postpone

access to progress and encourage despair, but also pose a

serious and constant threat to international peace and

security.

The emergence of a new worldwide awareness, the

enlargement of the international agenda and the need to

deal collectively with the problems of interdependence

provide an impetus for the adoption of new international

regimes. Examples of the progress achieved in

cooperative multilateralism include the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Antarctic Treaty,

international humanitarian law, the Uruguay Round

agreements that led to the creation of the World Trade

Organization and the set of regimes relating to arms

control and disarmament in general.

Human rights have ceased to be an issue reserved

exclusively for the sovereignty of countries, and have

become a universal concern that no Government can

ignore. Protection of the environment has an undoubtedly

international dimension, in that issues as vital to our

future as climate change, pollution and over-exploitation

of the seas, depletion of the ozone layer and the advance

of desertification all call for global treatment.

The promotion and protection of human rights and

fundamental freedoms constitute an inescapable

23

responsibility of the United Nations. The fiftieth

anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

and the fifth anniversary of the World Conference on

Human Rights, held in Vienna, constitute opportunities to

renew our concern for and commitment to the values and

principles embodied in the Declaration and the agreements

adopted at the Conference.

For Chile, the universality of human rights means

assuming the intrinsic dignity of all inhabitants of the

planet, regardless of their culture, religion, social status,

ethnic origin, gender or traditions. Neither lack of

development nor cultural characteristics can be invoked to

justify limiting the human rights recognized in a

Declaration to which we have all subscribed. In this

context, the recently approved International Labour

Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and

Rights at Work and its Follow-up is an important step

forward in strengthening the basic rights of workers

throughout the world. This new international regime must

be promoted by the entire multilateral system.

A few days ago, I had the great honour of signing in

Rome, on behalf of my Government, the Statute of the

International Criminal Court. Chile has committed itself to

participate actively in the launching of the Court. This

institution has been a long-standing aspiration, and many

recent events have made it essential. It will contribute to

the strengthening of the international human rights regime,

the progressive development of international humanitarian

law, the prevention of mass violations and the fight against

impunity in cases of genocide or crimes against humanity.

The subject of disarmament also continues to be one

of the most vital issues on the international agenda. Recent

events in this field, such as the nuclear tests carried out in

South Asia, which my Government deeply deplores,

highlight the urgent need to enhance the validity and

universal application of instruments such as the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). We must

take responsibility for the danger of nuclear proliferation

and urge the parties concerned not to repeat such actions,

and we must renew our calls on all States to sign and ratify

the international instruments designed to eliminate the

nuclear threat. Accordingly, we welcome Brazil?s recent

accession to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

We must also make efforts to develop and improve

our instruments for regulating the manufacture, trade and

use of conventional weapons. In this context, we are

extremely pleased to know that the Treaty on the

elimination of anti-personnel landmines has entered into

force with the completion of the first 40 ratifications.

Chile hopes to complete its process of legislative approval

shortly in order to be able to ratify this important

instrument. For these same reasons, we adopted this

morning, together with other countries, a declaration

supporting the ad hoc group in its work to strengthen the

verification and monitoring mechanisms of the Biological

Weapons Convention.

Chile strongly favours the process of establishing

new international regimes, whether regional or global, to

confront these and other challenges. The United Nations

plays a vital role in this field.

The campaign against drug-trafficking and other

forms of organized crime can be truly effective only when

it takes place in a context of strong and genuine regional

and worldwide cooperation. Chile supports the

implementation of the decisions adopted at the twentieth

special session of the General Assembly, on the world

drug problem, decisions which can serve as a basis for a

common regulatory system and effective multilateral

cooperation.

The fight against international terrorism, which has

perpetrated such reprehensible acts this year, also requires

a much more effective international cooperation. Such

dramatic issues as the treatment of refugees and

combating hunger fall fully within the scope of

multilateral activity. My country attaches great importance

to this function of our Organization. We believe that it

must continue to be expanded and intensified in the years

to come. Of course, Chile is fully prepared to continue

participating in this task.

In the context of our participation in the United

Nations, I wish to express my gratitude to the Member

States, as well as to the employers? and workers? groups

of the International Labour Organization (ILO), for the

singular confidence placed in Chile and its Ambassador

to the United Nations, Mr. Juan Somav'a, by electing him

Director-General of the ILO, beginning in March 1999.

My Government wishes to express its profound

satisfaction at having been a part of the Security Council

during the biennium 1996-1997. In the exercise of the

responsibility entrusted to us by the international

community, my Government sought in every action it

took to contribute to the maintenance of international

peace and security and to fully assume the humanitarian

24

responsibility placed upon the Security Council in its

activities.

We have always believed that this responsibility

should be manifested in the protection of the humanitarian

workers in conflict zones, in the ongoing presence of the

United Nations and its specialized agencies subsequent to

the ending of hostilities so as to build peace effectively and

in the focused application of sanctions that are adopted so

that they will not affect innocent civilians.

Chile is convinced that the United Nations

peacekeeping forces can be identified as the Organization?s

most effective mechanism for preventing and resolving

international conflicts. We are aware that peacekeeping

operations designed to take action in crises and conflicts

between States have been faced with major challenges

during the present decade. Nevertheless, for all the well-

known limitations, the experience built up over the past

three years can be regarded as promising for the future.

Many more human lives could be saved through United

Nations peacekeeping operations, were we able to

strengthen them effectively. My Government wishes to

express its firm resolve to continue cooperating, actively

and frequently, in the activities of this important instrument

of the Organization.

Three years ago, when we celebrated the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations, Member States assumed

a commitment to unite our efforts to reform and

democratize the structures of the Organization, with a view

to the new and complex challenges we shall have to face in

an increasingly changing international scene. This session

of the General Assembly has the task of taking up

important pending aspects of that reform. The adoption of

resolution 52/12 constitutes an important first step down the

long road to reform.

We are also encouraged by the changes that are being

introduced in the Economic and Social Council. The

introduction of new methods and programmes and the

incorporation into its agenda of a segment on humanitarian

affairs will contribute to its renewal.

The summits and conferences on economic and social

issues that have been held within the framework of the

United Nations during the 1990s have reaffirmed our

Organization?s priority commitment to development.

Likewise, those events have provided conceptual tools and

ideas that are of great value for drawing up public policies

for achieving economically, socially and environmentally

sustainable development.

The eradication of poverty must continue to be a

central objective. The same is true of the promotion of

human rights, gender equality and protection of the

environment. It is essential that the General Assembly

conduct periodic reviews of the commitments made on

these issues at the summit meetings and conferences, as

is to happen in the case of the International Conference

on Population and Development, which is to be reviewed

next June, and the Fourth World Conference on Women,

the review of which will take place in the year 2000.

We also attach special importance to the special

session of the General Assembly to be convened in the

year 2000 for the purpose of reviewing compliance with

the commitments of the Social Summit. Chile has had the

honour of presiding over the preparatory committee for

that special session. It is our hope that that meeting will

be able to conclude with the adoption of new initiatives

at the national and international level that will allow

further progress to be made in the process of

implementing the agreements reached at the Summit.

The process of reforming and democratizing the

Security Council is one of the most important of the

many objectives we have set ourselves in the context of

the process of renewing the United Nations. The Council

must reflect the new international realities. It needs to be

enlarged to remedy, among other things, the unjustified

under-representation of the developing countries in that

body.

Nevertheless, the arduous process of reform in which

we are engaged calls for broad-based majority support. It

will be possible only with solid and substantive

consensus. Frankly, we would prefer to sacrifice some of

the urgency of such reforms rather than participate in a

decision-making process which, lacking the support of the

vast majority of members, could give rise to serious

divisions between us.

Furthermore, my Government believes that

enlargement of the Council, important though it may be

from the standpoint of enhancing its representativeness

and legitimacy, is not of itself sufficient to endow the

Council with the qualities required by its role as the

guarantor of international peace and security. At the same

time, measures must be adopted with regard to its

working methods, particularly in relation to transparency,

with which every one of its actions should be imbued and

which should not be challenged.

25

We must stress the negative impact of the veto

mechanism, which should be regulated and progressively

reduced with a view to its gradual elimination in the long

term. A first step in this direction might be to amend the

Charter so that the right of veto can be applied only to

actions taken by the Council under Chapter VII.

I should like to conclude by expressing our optimism

with regard to the future of the Organization. I hope that

the Millennium Assembly, to which we have lent our full

support, will be the expression of a renewed and much

stronger United Nations as we enter the new century.