Colombia, 1995

On behalf of my Government I congratulate

Mr. Freitas do Amaral of Portugal on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its fiftieth session,

a crucial time in the history of the Organization. I should

like at the outset to express our full readiness to make a

major contribution to the success of the deliberations under

his leadership.

I should also like to express our appreciation and

gratitude to Minister Amara Essy of Côte d’Ivoire for his

excellent performance as President of the General Assembly

at its forty-ninth session.

The peoples of the world believed that the end of the

cold war would bring peace and prosperity — and they are

still waiting. Indeed the changes that have taken place in

international relations have not been accompanied by

changes of a similar magnitude in the relations between the

industrialized North and the impoverished South. On the

contrary, the situation of developing countries, far from

having improved, is deteriorating further. The international

trade system does not meet the expectations that there

would be access to markets and transparency in the rules of

the game. Poverty has not been reduced, social

development is at a standstill, the scientific and

technological development of the South continues to lag

and the external debt problem is still a heavy burden on our

economies.

It is our duty now to realize the dream of those who

wrote the San Francisco Charter — something that has been

postponed for 50 years by a cold war and dozens of

regional conflicts and overshadowed by the grief of the

victims of armed conflicts.

The period of transition through which the

international system is passing should not lead us to accept

so-called unilateral solutions to problems that are global in

nature nor to permit the emergence of a new era of

intervention in matters that lie within the domestic

jurisdiction of States. There is an imperative need to

concert policies and coordinate strategies to face

international problems and to foster constructive links

between North and South.

The United Nations, which was a stage for the cold

war, must now cooperate in eradicating poverty, in

making sustainable human development viable, in

guaranteeing equality of rights between men and women

and in giving full effect to human rights — in other

words, it must work on behalf of human beings — all

human beings — without distinction of any kind

whatsoever. The United Nations has the responsibility to

strive to make the hopes and expectations that arose at the

end of the cold war a reality and not the source of new

frustrations.

The current situation requires a modern United

Nations attuned to the new times, a pluralistic and

democratic Organization that will be an instrument for the

promotion of a world order that can make the right to

development a reality and achieve peace. The building of

a new international system to replace the hegemonic,

weapons-based and unilateral practices of the past is a

goal towards which we must work from within this

Organization.

The international system we aspire to create is one

compatible with interdependence and autonomy, with the

strengthening of the international organization and with

full respect for the sovereign equality of States, one

compatible with economic development and devoted to

the significant improvement of the living conditions of the

poorest segments of the population.

It is indispensable to forge a new economic model

that can satisfy the needs of our people, one characterized

by social justice and equity, efficiency and

competitiveness. At the same time, we are convinced that

genuine and representative democracy, free from foreign

interference, must be the key element in preserving peace

and observing the basic principles of respect for the

fundamental rights of the human person and of economic

and social development.

For the preservation of peace, security and

international stability it is indispensable that the nuclear-

weapon States act responsibly and immediately

discontinue nuclear testing. In this regard, we deplore the

recent nuclear tests that have been carried out,

notwithstanding the opposition of the international

community to that practice.

Next month the Eleventh Summit Meeting of the

members of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries will

take place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. My country

looks forward to the attendance of leaders of developing

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nations and is prepared to shoulder the creative challenge

of presiding over the Movement for the next three years.

In recent decades, under the leadership of His

Excellency President Soeharto of Indonesia, the Non-

Aligned Movement adopted a new course, one in tune with

current reality, abandoning the confrontational context in

favour of cooperation as the central focus of its action. We

shall continue to pursue that task with enthusiasm.

With the same determination with which it succeeded

in its struggle against colonialism, the non-aligned countries

must now face the challenge of eradicating poverty and

closing the vast gap between rich and poor and between

developed and developing countries.

In the twenty-first century non-alignment will mean a

commitment to peace and to the well-being and progress of

our peoples, as well as action against poverty and

marginalization. It will also entail a commitment to

cooperation in dealing with global problems and a struggle

for participation and against unilateralism and imposition.

In facing the next century, non-alignment must

participate actively in the reform of international

institutions, including the United Nations and the Bretton

Woods institutions. Non-alignment must also promote the

needed changes in the structures of cooperation and the

dynamic modalities by which developed countries and

international institutions provide resources for the

implementation of projects and programmes of South-South

cooperation.

One of the global problems that calls for an effective

multilateral strategy headed by the United Nations is that of

illegal drugs. This is not an issue that can be dealt with by

a single country or small group of nations. This is a

transnational crime of vast proportions, overwhelming

dimensions and the greatest perils. It is a crime without

nationality.

We Colombians have suffered more than anyone from

the devastating effects of this problem. We have suffered

death and corruption as a consequence of the huge profits

to be derived from this illegal activity. We find it

surprising, therefore, to note that the international

community is not fully aware of the real nature and

dimensions of the problem of illicit drugs.

We are dealing with an illegal economic activity with

dimensions that have been compared with those of the oil

industry. It is seven or eight times greater than the gross

national product of a nation like Colombia; it operates in

dozens of countries and entails a number of linked

activities, including money laundering and the deviation

of chemical precursors. Such linked activities generally

take place in developed countries and are as important as

the growing of coca leaves or their transformation into

cocaine.

Many studies indicate an increase in the

consumption of illegal drugs in industrialized countries as

well as an increase in new markets throughout the world.

World statistics demonstrate that deaths from drug abuse

have trebled since 1988 and that an increase of 1000 per

cent has been observed in medical emergencies due to

cocaine overdose between 1978 and 1993.

My country has battled, with more success than any

other, against the producers of and traffickers in illegal

drugs. Colombia eradicated marihuana crops in the 1970s,

destroyed the Medellín Cartel in the 1980s and dismantled

the Cali Cartel in the 1990s.

Colombia is responsible for more than 50 per cent of

the poppy crops eradicated worldwide and for the

confiscation of more than a quarter of the total amount of

cocaine and cocaine base seized globally.

The eradication of illegal crops in Colombia must be

accompanied by similar efforts to bring about the

eradication of marihuana crops in other countries,

including in some industrialized countries in the North.

During the first year of President Ernesto Samper’s

Administration, the anti-drug cartel policy has produced

results that no prior administration in Colombia, or in any

other nation, has been able to achieve.

Thanks to Colombia’s success, the world now has a

historic opportunity to defeat drug trafficking once and

for all. Yet this opportunity could be missed if adequate

measures are not immediately adopted to combat money

laundering, the deviation of precursor chemicals and

permissive consumption.

My country has proposed creating a special unit of

the Economic and Social Council to oversee measures of

international cooperation, the adoption of an inter-

American convention against money laundering and the

convening in 1997 of an international conference to

evaluate the results of the Vienna Convention and to

make the necessary adjustments to it.

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There is still time for the international community to

face up to its responsibility to bring about the final defeat

of this international scourge.