Estonia, 1995

Allow me to begin by

congratulating the President on his election at this historic

fiftieth session of the General Assembly. On behalf of the

Estonian people, I wish him all the best this year.

Fifty years ago this body met for the first time in an

effort to unite the community of nations to avoid a

repetition of the carnage we saw in the Second World War.

For my country, that war finally ended just last year, with

the withdrawal of foreign troops from our territory. I am

happy to note that tomorrow the final remnant of

occupation, in the form of the former Soviet

nuclear-submarine training facility at Paldiski, will be

turned over to Estonian authorities by Russian civilian

dismantling specialists. I take this opportunity to

acknowledge Estonia’s satisfaction with the Russian

Federation’s having fulfilled its commitment in this

regard, as mandated by the agreement signed by Russia

and Estonia on 30 July 1994.

Turning to the work of the United Nations, the

declarations and decisions produced by recent

international conferences must be integrated into the work

of the United Nations as a whole. Estonia places

particular importance upon the implementation of Agenda

21 and the Vienna Declaration. We welcome the

extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons and look forward to a successful

conclusion of negotiations regarding a universal and

verifiable comprehensive test-ban treaty. The importance

of these and other recently concluded international

agreements must be underscored through implementation.

There are a number of ways through which the

United Nations can improve its performance. One of the

most extensive ways in which Member States relate to the

United Nations system is by way of the activities of

various United Nations agencies and programmes. For

this reason, reform of the Economic and Social Council

is crucial and should be addressed in earnest. Member

States should have greater opportunities to ensure that

United Nations resources are used in an effective and

efficient manner. I am referring not to a need for the

micromanagement of agencies, programmes and projects,

but, rather, to participation in agency, programme and

project activities.

I would like to single out and commend the work of

the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and other

regional commissions. The ECE has worked diligently to

provide practical and needed support for the integration of

countries with diverse histories into a cohesive regional

whole. As part of continuing United Nations reform,

Estonia once again urges greater cooperation between the

ECE and the United Nations Development Programme.

Any discussion of United Nations reform must

include the composition and functioning of the Security

Council. Estonia welcomes the report of the Open-ended

Working Group on Security Council reform, which,

among other practical suggestions, calls for developing

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greater transparency and the inclusion of more Member

States in decision making. Within the context of continuing

debate over Security Council reform, we reiterate our

support for an expanded and more effective Security

Council.

In the 40 years from 1948 to 1988, the United Nations

deployed 13 peace-keeping operations. In the seven years

from 1988 to the present, 16 operations were begun, of

which a significant number still continue. There are many

systemic reasons for such a dramatic increase in peace-

keeping operations, and the issues of both peace-keeping

and peacemaking call for further detailed examination.

Regional peace-keeping efforts that are conducted under the

auspices of the United Nations must remain under stringent

United Nations control.

The Security Council, in turn, must carefully define

and monitor any mandates granted to regional efforts and

must resist attempts by groups of States or individual

countries to wrest authority for such actions. Only in this

way can the United Nations ensure compliance with the

principles of multilateralism and impartiality in order to

conduct peace-keeping operations that are not only

effective, but also politically neutral.

Estonia is proud to be taking part in peace-keeping

efforts. Through generous support, especially that of the

Danish Government, Estonian peace-keepers, for the first

time ever, took part in United Nations peace-keeping

operations. Having participated in the United Nations

Protection Force (UNPROFOR), and now the United

Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia

(UNCRO), we look forward to expanding our role in

United Nations peace-keeping activities.

I am gratified to support the working arrangement

between the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO) in the former Yugoslavia. Estonia

regards the United Nations-mandated NATO air strikes in

recent weeks in Bosnia as an unfortunate but necessary

means of bringing about an end to the fighting which is still

taking place there. Recent cooperation between the United

Nations and NATO shows that despite the inherent

difficulties in supporting peace in the former Yugoslavia,

differences can be overcome and a joint approach to peace-

keeping can be agreed upon. We view this cooperation as

a harbinger of greater effectiveness in future United Nations

peace-keeping efforts.

An area to which Estonia attaches particular

importance is the work of the High Commissioner for

Human Rights, Mr. José Ayala Lasso, and the Centre for

Human Rights in Geneva. In keeping with its open-door

policy towards the work of human rights groups, Estonia

welcomes and supports the work done by the High

Commissioner for Human Rights and the Centre for

Human Rights. We believe that information about the

work of the Commissioner and the Centre should be made

available to a wider audience through more frequent

publication of the results of investigations. This would

help ensure that the efforts of partisan political concerns

that tend to rely on inaccurate information will be

countered by factual, impartial reporting of the sort that

Mr. Ayala Lasso and the Centre provide.

During this United Nations fiftieth anniversary year,

it is important for every Member State to affirm its

financial commitment to the United Nations. Estonia, for

its part, supports recent changes to the methodology used

to calculate assessments, changes which have led to

reduced distortions and affirmation of capacity to pay as

the primary, transparent and universally applied criteria

by which assessments are calculated. Agreed upon regular

budget assessments and peacekeeping dues are collective

responsibilities for the functioning of the United Nations,

and should be put ahead of individual partisan interests.

We face new challenges on this, the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations. I wish all of us the

best in meeting those challenges, so that the next 50 years

may be even more constructive than the last.