France, 1999

I would like

first of all to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the fifty-fourth session of the General

Assembly. It attests to the esteem in which the

international community holds you and your country. I

would like to include in this tribute the Secretary-

General, who bears the weighty responsibility of

promoting the universality of the Organization and the

effectiveness of its action. Lastly, I wish to congratulate

the three new Members of the United Nations. The great

and fine ideal that the United Nations embodies is very

much alive — of this I am firmly convinced.

The United Nations is undertaking a grand civilizing

endeavour, a task that is constantly being challenged but

ever necessary. To unite peoples to work together for

peace and development, to affirm a body of legal rules

framing relations among States and to achieve common

standards: that is the goal of the United Nations — a

civilizing goal.

That goal is achieved first of all through the peaceful

settlement of conflicts. The role of the Security Council

in this mission is more vital than ever, a pre-eminence it

derives from the Charter. France will recall this

fundamental rule as often as necessary. To be sure, there

have been circumstances when an urgent humanitarian

situation dictated we should act immediately, but such an

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approach must remain an exception. We must take care, as

in the case of Kosovo, to reintegrate this action into the

context of the Charter. Our fundamental rule is that it is for

the Security Council to resolve crisis situations. For that

reason, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s new

strategic concept recalls that the Washington Treaty

recognizes the primary responsibility of the Security

Council in the maintenance of peace.

Indeed, the universal nature of the Organization is

intangible. The United Nations must strive to respond to

crises, wherever they may occur. While we have not

hesitated to do precisely that in recent years and on several

continents, I would like to express regret at the relative

timidity of the Organization where Africa is concerned. The

extent of the tragedies on that continent requires us to take

more resolute action.

Universality is compatible with complementarity in

action. In the interests of efficiency, the United Nations

must encourage, in every part of the world, regional

arrangements among States capable of handling crises in

the first instance. Such is the spirit of Chapter VIII of the

Charter. Tasks should be realistically shared between the

regional organizations and the Security Council without

weakening the latter’s authority. For instance, my country

has, through the RECAMP programme, along with others,

strengthened African peacekeeping capabilities through

assistance provided under United Nations auspices in

cooperation with the Organization of African Unity.

International security also demands continued

disarmament in the context of multilateral and verifiable

agreements. This is an ongoing objective for France, which

hopes that the work of the Conference on Disarmament will

be relaunched in the months prior to the Review

Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. France would like to see

the prompt entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-

Test-Ban Treaty, the start of negotiations on banning the

production of fissile materials for nuclear-weapon use, and

the conclusion of a verification protocol to the Biological

Weapons Convention. We would not support any

development that might bring the Anti-Ballistic Missile

Treaty into question and upset strategic balances.

The United Nations mission is not limited to the

settlement of conflicts between States. With humankind’s

growing aspirations for greater freedom and responsibility,

this mission extends to the safeguarding of human dignity,

within each State and, when necessary — as the Charter

allows — against States. State-instigated violence has

spawned serious humanitarian crises over the past few

years. Civilians have been targeted, whole populations

have been forcibly displaced, and refugee camps are not

longer secure. This is unacceptable. Consequently, we

must uphold the principle of international intervention,

under United Nations auspices, to assist the victims.

Every crisis recalls the need for the founding

principle of working for peace and for respect for the law

and the human person. A case in point is the conflict in

Kosovo. Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), which

laid down the foundations of the settlement, illustrates

these principles and this resolve.

We have set ourselves ambitious objectives: ensuring

security for all, organizing reconstruction, ensuring

coexistence between communities, transferring authority

to local leaders, and promoting democracy and pluralism.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative and the

KFOR Commander have done remarkable work. Much,

however, remains to be done. The atrocities must be

stopped, the exodus stemmed and housing built before

winter. On the political front, preparations must be made

for the future, which will require establishing dialogue

between the communities. Elections will, I hope, be held

in the year 2000. France has made resolute efforts in this

respect, alongside its partners in the European Union,

which is providing half the international financing agreed

upon by the conference of donors for Kosovo.

In East Timor, another people is asking that its

rights be recognized. Overwhelmingly, it chose

independence through a referendum. Some have tried to

oppose that choice with violence. I therefore welcome the

adoption, on 15 September, of Security Council resolution

1264 (1999). It paves the way for the restoration of peace

and should enable the democratic process to be

successfully concluded. France is participating in the

international force established by decision of the Security

Council.

Our Organization therefore remains true to the

values we celebrated last year, on its fiftieth anniversary.

But much effort is still needed for these values to be

respected everywhere. To achieve this, it is essential to

strengthen international criminal law. France actively

supports the work of the international criminal tribunals

of The Hague and Arusha. The establishment of the

International Criminal Court will be a new and decisive

step in the progress of law. France hopes that it will be

set up quickly; to that end, it has already amended its

own Constitution.

27

To carry out its mission, the United Nations needs

assured means. In order to deal with financial difficulties

and prevent these from becoming a pretext for inaction, all

Member States must meet their financial obligations

vis-à-vis the Organization. France does so completely and

unreservedly. A responsible attitude on the part of

contributing States would advance the necessary reform of

the Organization, including that of its Security Council.

I should like to share with the Assembly my second

firm conviction: that the United Nations is admirably suited

to meeting the challenges of our new world. Indeed, its

mission is strengthened by globalization.

Initially, the idea of organizing relations between

States at the world level may have seemed utopian to some.

It was merely before its time. Indeed, I consider the United

Nations to be modern for the following reasons. Our global

and unstable world needs organization and the goal of the

United Nations has always been to seek a better

organization of the world. The United Nations is in step

with a networked world. It is itself a network, a rich and

unique panoply of specialized but independent and

coordinated agencies. In half a century, the United Nations

has made a tool for action which can be adapted to our

world. The United Nations has not aged; it has grown with

the world. It must allow us to face the new challenges

emerging in today’s world.

A contradictory state of affairs has replaced the

euphoric illusion which followed the end of the

confrontation between blocs 10 years ago. Globalization is

not monolithic. While it is unifying, it also divides. While

it generates remarkable progress, it also leads to

unacceptable inequalities. While it opens societies to one

another, it carries with it the threat of creating uniformity.

While it frees up energy, it also releases negative forces

that must be brought under control. The movement of

populations and the clash of cultures are therefore

accompanied by rising fears as to identity, by religious

intolerance and by xenophobia. France, which has a

presence on five continents and is itself a land of

immigration, has had experience of such confrontations in

its history. It knows the risks they entail and the wealth

they bring. We will give our full support to the world

conference on racism, to be held in 2001. Preventing the

emergence of prejudice, which too often has deadly

consequences, will prepare the way for peace for future

generations.

The fruits of globalization are not shared equally. The

opening of economies, the increase in trade and the

acceleration of technological progress all fuel growth. But

inequalities are growing between countries and within

each economy. Nearly one in four human beings lives in

great poverty. We cannot leave matters as they stand. The

rapid expansion of communications networks does not

benefit everyone. Yet the multiplication of sources of

information, the increased circulation of ideas and the

profusion of new inventions are full of promise. Lower

communications costs made possible by the Internet can

be an asset for businesses in countries in the South. But

inequalities in education hinder access to these

technologies. These impressive instruments for furthering

knowledge may become formidable factors in inequality.

Communication is also a right. It is essential that this

right not be threatened by the concentration in just a few

hands of sources of information and the means of

production and distribution. France will staunchly defend

cultural diversity.

Globalization must encourage all of us to take

account of the fragility of our world — our Earth and our

commonweal. Our environment is not a product, a simple

stock of raw materials on which we can draw without

giving thought to future generations. True development is

sustainable development. Since the Rio Summit in 1992

this realization has been behind the adoption of important

commitments with regard to the climate, biodiversity and

desertification. The Kyoto Protocol on climate change and

the current negotiations on a protocol on biosafety attest

to the importance of the achievements. But the uncertain

future of climates and the recurrence of natural

catastrophes urge us to make further efforts.

The Earth is fragile, but so, too, is the human

species. The spread of new epidemics endangers the

health of entire populations. Inequalities in development

exacerbate those scourges. Some 40 million people live

with the AIDS virus today, the majority of them in

developing countries. The spread of the pandemic in

Africa is a matter of major concern for us. I shall come

back to that issue.

Globalization is changing the nature of organized

crime, an area in which there has been a real explosion.

The much greater fluidity in movement allows criminal

networks to exploit the inconsistencies between one

national law and another and the weaknesses of some of

them so as to hide from justice. My country is ready to

make every effort to combat this scourge. The President

of the French Republic made that clear last year at the

special session of the General Assembly devoted to that

issue. The United Nations has long been engaged in the

28

fight against international drug-trafficking, building up

expertise, establishing specialized services and drafting a

body of doctrine and a legal framework. These must be

strengthened. But, above all, States must be more

committed to action. In January negotiations began in

Vienna on a convention against transnational organized

crime. We must bring this to a satisfactory conclusion in

the year 2000.

Faced with globalization, we have a choice to make.

We can either go along with the supposedly universal

economic laws, and in so doing abdicate our political

responsibilities, or we can seek to impose order on

globalization and thereby achieve control of our collective

future. For my part, I believe that global problems call for

global responses and that an unstable world needs to be

regulated, requiring what our Anglo-Saxon friends might

call “rules and regulations”. This world needs rules. It

needs the United Nations.

This choice is also a matter of sovereignty. As the

Secretary-General pointed out on 8 December last year in

Paris, the first words of our Charter, “We the Peoples of

the United Nations”, make it an expression of popular

sovereignty. But in order for the sovereignty of peoples to

be affirmed they must find the means to acquire the

mechanisms, the means of control and the benefits of

globalization. That is my third conviction. The more the

world becomes globalized, the more it needs rules. Faced

with the temptation of unilateralism, it is more necessary

than ever to base our action on multilateral rules respected

by all. First of all, these concern the economy. We must

define the rules of the game so that everyone can benefit

from globalization. We must define the rules of the game

between the industrial and developing countries and

between the major economic actors, small and medium-

sized business and the citizens of our countries who work

and produce.

In the financial sphere, we have to strengthen the

stability of the monetary and financial system by ensuring

the political legitimacy of the International Monetary Fund

(IMF), involving the developing countries more closely in

the adoption of common rules and making private financial

operators liable for the consequences of their decisions for

countries in crisis. Real progress has been made since the

crises of 1997 and 1998. France contributed to this by its

proposals, especially in regard to hedge funds and fiscal

havens. It will continue to work to this end, as much

remains to be done.

These rules of the game have to be based on better

coordination among international institutions. Since 1945,

international cooperation has respected the principle of

specialization of institutions. In the future, the task is to

make them more complementary. Economic and trade

rules cannot disregard the most elementary social and

environmental norms. Accordingly, France supported the

adoption by the International Labour Conference a year

ago of a declaration on the fundamental principles and

rights involved in labour. The International Labour

Organization (ILO) is an irreplaceable forum for dialogue

between government and social partners and for the

formulation of minimal standards. It is desirable that it

establish close relations with other organizations, such as

the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World

Bank.

For these rules of the game to be better respected,

appropriate cooperation has to be established with the

poorest countries. Their debt burden continues to be the

primary obstacle to development. At their meeting in

Cologne, the G-7 countries pledged to grant further debt

relief. France contributed to this. Three principles will be

applied: solidarity, which calls for us to grant the poorest

countries the most favourable debt treatment; fairness,

which requires the rich countries to share the financial

effort in a balanced way; and responsibility, whereby the

countries benefiting from this aid undertake policies

directed towards sustainable development and the fight

against poverty. For these countries, official development

assistance remains indispensable. France will continue to

advocate greater effort on the part of the richest countries.

Our action should be increasingly inspired by the

affirmation of common values and rules. Human rights

are central to this approach. I am referring in particular to

the weakest children. The ILO Convention which outlaws

the worst forms of child labour is a new case in point.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the

Child must be supplemented as soon as possible by the

two protocols now being negotiated, one against the

recruitment of children in armed conflicts, the other

against the sale of children and child prostitution and

pornography.

To affirm the rights of women is to recognize their

decisive role in education, in the production of wealth and

in development. But it is also to combat the

discrimination and violence which they suffer. France has

made equality between women and men one of the

cornerstones in the renewal of its public life. The

additional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination

29

of All Forms Discrimination against Women, submitted to

the General Assembly for approval, offers women the

possibility to assert their rights in an individual capacity.

That is a major step forward. The special session of the

General Assembly in June 2000 will highlight the progress

that has been achieved since the 1995 Conference in

Beijing.

Reaffirming the right of all human beings to health

means combating pandemics everywhere. In December

1997, in Abidjan, France proposed the establishment of a

“therapeutic solidarity fund” to mobilize the international

community to care for and treat AIDS sufferers. The

countries of the South and associations involved in

combating the disease welcomed the proposal warmly. But

the impact of AIDS on development remains dramatic. We

must intensify our efforts to reduce this plague. Only the

United Nations can give these efforts the necessary breadth.

The principle of precaution has to be the basis for our

action regarding the environment and health safety. The

Montreal Protocol for the protection of the ozone layer,

based on the principle of differentiated commitments

between the North and South, is an example of well-

conceived international action. These efforts must be

continued. We will do so by advocating, with our European

Union partners, a world convention on forests and by

redoubling efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the

atmosphere. Precaution must also be the guiding principle

in monitoring food safety. The combination of concern for

sustainable agriculture, the quality of products and the

preservation of food traditions in each country explain the

intensity of recent reactions. France therefore intends to see

these demands taken into account at the forthcoming WTO

negotiations.

In order to address and overcome the world’s

problems, to derive the best from globalization, we need

nations to be aware of their responsibilities, and we need

also to have “more” of the United Nations. Through an

Organization strengthened by a renewed sense of mission,

supported by sovereign States and regional organizations,

we will be able to further respect for human rights, promote

democracy, work for sustainable development and help all

to achieve their potential.