Ghana, 1998

Thank you very much, Sir. But I

prefer to be called “Flight-Lieutenant” and not “Mr.”

I join preceding speakers in congratulating the

President and the other members of the Bureau on your

election to direct the affairs of the fifty-third session of the

General Assembly. I am indeed very confident that under

your wise leadership the outcome of our deliberations will

constitute a great step forward in our efforts to build a new

world which meets the aspirations of our peoples in the

search for peace, justice and prosperity.

May I also avail myself of this opportunity to express

the deep appreciation of my delegation for the remarkable

achievements of Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, under whose

able guidance the Assembly at the preceding session took

very important decisions on United Nations reform

intended to prepare the Organization for the immense

challenges ahead as we move into the twenty-first

century.

In these laudable efforts, we also recognize the bold

initiatives and drive of our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, whose vision for the future of the United Nations,

corresponding so much with that of the general

membership and the peoples of the world, facilitated the

continuing process of reform. We in Ghana and indeed in

Africa are proud to have for a son a man of his stature

and drive.

The commemoration this year of the fiftieth

anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

affords us the opportunity to take stock of what has been

achieved over the years and map out well-defined

strategies to improve the quality of life of our peoples, by

effectively promoting and protecting their fundamental

rights, which the Declaration holds as a common standard

of achievement for all people and all nations.

Womenâs rights must be at the centre of that process

and we should remain focused on their worldwide

promotion and protection. It is their right. It is our

obligation. The work of the United Nations in

strengthening the equal status and the human rights of

women, from the World Conference on Human Rights to

the Fourth World Conference on Women, is indeed

commendable.

Almost fifty years after the adoption of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, 12 million children under

five years of age die every year from preventable

diseases, 200 million children under five years of age are

undernourished and 110 million are denied basic

education. Eight hundred million people have no access

to the most basic health services, and 1.3 billion human

beings live in abject poverty around the world. This state

of affairs persists because of the inequitable international

economic system which discriminates against a

developing world, particularly Africa.

The persistent critical economic situation in Africa

should be of great concern to the international community

and should prompt us all to take effective and urgent

measures to address its underlying causes. Many of our

countries, particularly the poorer ones, continue to suffer

from a heavy debt burden and crippling debt-servicing

4

obligations, which, by diverting resources away from

development, prevent us from providing adequate social

services to our populations in basic areas such as education

and health and therefore reduce our capacity to compete in

the global market.

In this regard, we stress the need for debt-relief

measures to be accompanied by concessional financial

assistance, particularly to the least developed countries, with

the aim of enhancing the implementation of economic

reforms and creating a stable environment that enables

countries to extricate themselves from the debt overhang.

The international reverberations of the recent financial

turmoil in Asia and elsewhere, I believe, point to the futility

of any notions that any nation can play outside the rules,

that any nation in this world can stand alone.

In my view, the present approach of certain

industrialized countries who require developing countries to

adhere to standards or policies which they themselves do

not observe, or seem unable to observe, will severely test

relations between the developed and the developing

countries in the next century.

We must stand together if we are not to jeopardize the

prosperity enjoyed by hundreds of millions today and the

hopes of billions more for a life of dignity and a healthy

measure of comfort — nothing more, nothing less.

The new times we live in require new ideas suitable

to the dynamics of today. Policy makers and opinion

leaders in the developed countries bear great responsibility

in this regard, as we all do, for providing very clear

leadership of integrity. Much is demanded of those

countries that share a great part of the blame for the present

state of the world, as they no doubt have the means to be

able to provide what it takes.

Even though it had been clear for some time that

sustainable development around the globe could not be

achieved without a measure of fairness in economic

relations between North and South, because of short-term

considerations of profit and advantage, the countries

benefiting from the unjust economic order chose to ignore

the serious impact of that situation on living standards in

most parts of the world as well as in limiting world

economic growth.

Instead, we received sermons on the truths, realities

and moralities of life, and countries and peoples were

victimized if they were shown not to have lived up to

expectations. That was the price, in other words, that we

had to pay. It was obvious, however, that whenever a

situation required moral leadership from the capitals of

those countries which preached morality in the first place,

that morality manifested itself as no more than national

interest.

No one questions the need for States to look out for

their national interests. However, it is the blindness to the

need for enlightened self-interest that has lain at the heart

of the divisions between our States for so long, and which

has finally shaken the economic confidence of people,

whether in the North or the South, in recent times.

The end of the cold war has unleashed new threats

to global and regional peace. Intra-State conflicts, rooted

in ethnic, racial and religious intolerance, pose a threat to

the security of many States and regions. The tardiness and

selectivity of the international community in dealing with

some of these conflict situations have been rather

disturbing, as they have undermined the concept of

collective security enshrined in our noble Charter. Article

24 of the Charter not only confers “primary

responsibility” for the maintenance of international peace

and security on the Security Council, but also calls for

“prompt and effective action” when a breach occurs.

However, in our part of the world, we often ask ourselves

where the “prompt and effective” action of the Council

was when Rwanda was on fire. Where was the Council

when Liberia was in turmoil? Where was the “prompt and

effective action” when the people of Sierra Leone

agonized under the yoke of a brutal dictatorship?

In the face of the selectivity of the Security Council

in dealing with issues of international peace and security,

and in spite of our regionâs meagre resources, we have

had to rely on our own efforts to respond to internal strife

in some of the countries in our neighbourhood. We call

on the Governments of those countries to remain steadfast

in making sacrifices and doing everything possible to

bring about national reconciliation, peace and stability.

The international situation continues to be poisoned

by unilateral economic, commercial and financial

sanctions, which in some cases even have extraterritorial

consequences.

We have seen such actions undermine the positive

socio-economic gains made by Cuba over the last few

decades, with the resultant deprivation of an entire

populationâs human rights and dignity. The world stands

to gain from a peaceful solution to the differences

between the United States and Cuba, and we call on the

5

United States to settle its differences with Cuba through

negotiations on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

We are equally concerned by the effect of the

imposition of sanctions by the Security Council against the

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. However, we are extremely

pleased with the recent developments concerning the

possible trial of the two suspects in the bombing of Pan

Am flight 103 over Lockerbie.

We call upon the United Kingdom, the United States

of America and the Netherlands to engage in discussions

with the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, directly or through the

Secretary-General of the United Nations, to arrive at trial

arrangements which will offer appropriate safety measures

for the two suspects.

On Western Sahara, we call on the Security Council

and the Secretary-General to continue their efforts for a

peaceful and just solution to the persistent outstanding

differences and for a free and fair referendum. We will not

have a neighbouring African country recolonized by another

African country.

Ghana shares the concerns and frustrations of the

international community on the deadlock over the Middle

East peace process. We believe that initiatives taken so far

in support of the process, including the Madrid and the

Oslo agreements, as well as the principle of land for peace,

are an adequate basis for a just and long-lasting settlement.

The international community is unanimous in its

determination to see a just peace in the Middle East, and

the Palestinian question no doubt holds the key.

My delegationâs condemnation of all forms and

manifestations of terrorism and mercenary practices is

rooted no doubt in their tragic consequences on the political

stability as well as the economic and social development of

States. Terrorist acts, in particular, are totally unacceptable

as a means of seeking redress for any grievance, achieving

political ends or supporting a cause. It is in this connection

that we have condemned the recent terrorist bomb attacks

in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam that claimed hundreds of

innocent lives, injured thousands of people and caused

massive destruction to property, as well as the persistent

threat to Americans around the world.

I am proud to say that since joining this Organization

on 8 March 1957, only two days after acceding to

independence, Ghana has remained true to its commitments

to contribute to the promotion of international peace and

security, the principal raison dâêtre of this Organization.

Only three years after independence, in 1960, my country,

Ghana, responded to the call of the Organization and

committed troops and resources to the United Nations

peacekeeping operation in what was then the Belgian

Congo, now the Democratic Peopleâs Republic of the

Congo.

We have since remained actively engaged,

consistently participating in the peace efforts of the

Organization, in all regions of the globe. As I speak,

Ghana is listed as one of the major contributors of troops

to United Nations peacekeeping efforts, with personnel

serving in eight United Nations missions in Africa,

Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The Government and people of Ghana are indeed

proud of our participation in these international peace

efforts, even though it has been at great expense to our

developing country. It is not a sacrifice in material

resources alone, but also in human terms, as Ghana, as

well as her neighbours, has lost her sons and daughters in

these operations.

We welcome the adoption last year of the

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,

Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on

Their Destruction. My country was among the large

number that signed the Convention in Ottawa last

December, and it is in the process of its early ratification.

We hope that conditions will, in the not-too-distant future,

permit the Conventionâs universal adoption, to enable us

to rid our planet of these inhumane weapons which

continue to kill and maim innocent civilians long after the

conflicts in which they were laid. We are sincerely of the

view that the international community should pay greater

attention to demining and rehabilitation, because of the

havoc that the presence of mines wreaks on the

economies of the affected countries as well as on the

contribution of millions of peasants towards the feeding

of their families.

The United Nations Diplomatic Conference of

Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International

Criminal Court, convened in Rome in June and July this

year, is a welcome development in our collective effort to

provide a legal and institutional framework to hold

perpetrators accountable for genocide, crimes against

humanity, war crimes and serious violations of

international humanitarian law. It is our sincere hope that

the spirit of compromise that led to the overwhelming

endorsement of the Rome treaty will similarly be brought

to bear on the work of the Preparatory Commission, to

ensure the early establishment of a fully functional and

effective court.

6

Once again Ghana has the unpleasant task of joining

others to express concern at the financial situation that

persists in the Organization, characterized by very little

cash and huge arrears. The persistent critical financial

situation places our Organization in jeopardy at this time of

reform. It is regrettable that a number of States are neither

paying their assessed contributions nor making full payment

of their arrears, while some persistently aggravate the

situation by attaching unreasonable as well as unacceptable

conditions or benchmarks to the discharge of their Charter

obligations. In this respect, let me admit that there are very

small but extremely rich countries among us who could

have helped without making a dent in their national wealth

and resources.

Support for the United Nations must be demonstrated

not in pious proclamations but in the willingness of all

Member States to meet Charter obligations to the

Organization, including payment of our contributions to

ensure that the Organization is put on a sound financial

footing to tackle its mandates and pressing commitments.

I wish to conclude by expressing once more my

delegationâs appreciation to the Secretary-General and to

the Assembly for the comprehensive reforms being

undertaken to restructure, revitalize and democratize the

United Nations. I congratulate most sincerely the Secretary-

General and the Assembly on their achievements so far.

And I assure you that my delegation, my country, will

continue to work with you in this reform process and in all

aspects of the Organizationâs work in order to ensure that

the Organization continues in the twenty-first century to

better serve the global community and generations yet to

come in the maintenance and enhancement of our collective

security and the promotion of international cooperation to

advance the economic and social well-being of all our

peoples.

That happens to be the vision of the founding fathers

of the United Nations. And this is our commitment.