Honduras, 1995

I wish to congratulate Mr. Diogo Freitas do

Amaral on his election to the presidency of the fiftieth

session of the General Assembly. His experience and

proven diplomatic skills will guarantee the success of this

important event. I wish also to congratulate his

predecessor, Mr. Amara Essy, for the brilliant way in

which he guided the work of the Assembly at its forty-

ninth session.

I take this special opportunity also to acknowledge

the extraordinary work of the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to promote peace,

development and understanding among peoples.

In conformity with the premises of the moral

revolution led by the President of the Republic,

Mr. Carlos Roberto Reina, today’s Honduras is making a

unique effort: to consolidate a State truly based on law;

to fight corruption at all levels; to encourage active

participation among all citizens in a framework of

national convergence that will define the guidelines for a

new country; to emphasize absolute respect for human

rights; and, in the context of a dynamic process of

modernizing the State, to adopt substantive institutional

legal measures and changes, with a view to strengthening

our democratic, pluralistic system of government.

Those changes include strengthening the judicial

branch; placing the national police under civilian

jurisdiction; transforming our compulsory military service

into voluntary, educational and humanistic service;

allocating 35 per cent of the national budget to health,

education and social welfare, which reflects the interest of

the State in combating poverty, overcoming social

problems and establishing a system of government

marked by justice, solidarity and participation; adopting

fiscal correction measures to decrease the negative impact

of serious long-standing macroeconomic imbalances;

beginning the privatization of State-owned enterprises;

undertaking financial reform; and taking the action needed

to attract direct foreign investment and encourage joint

investment.

Those are some of the most relevant actions taken

by the Government of Honduras; they show that, although

our democracy was painfully stricken by the Central

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American crisis of the 1980s, it has had the courage to face

up the unique challenges of today and of tomorrow.

Today, Central America is seeking true participation

in the new international economic order with an agenda of

integration firmly based on the Alliance for the Sustainable

Development of Central America. This endeavour is rooted

in history, tradition, solidarity and, above all, an awareness

of the common destiny of our Central American homeland.

In that connection, we were pleased that last year the

General Assembly recognized

“the importance of implemented, updated and pending

programmes, and, in view of the fact that the

resources assigned to the Special Plan of Economic

Cooperation for Central America have been used up,

request[ed] the agencies of the United Nations system,

in particular the United Nations Development

Programme, and international institutions to mobilize

the necessary resources to set in motion new national

and regional programmes in support of the content of

the Declaration of Guácimo, the Alliance for the

Sustainable Development of Central America

concluded at the Managua Summit, and the

Tegucigalpa Commitments on Peace and Development

adopted at the International Conference on Peace and

Development in Central America”. (resolution 49/137,

para. 23)

We were grateful for the adoption of that resolution, and

hope that its mandate will be renewed at this session of the

General Assembly.

In pursuance of our efforts at integration, my country

will host the next summit of Central American Presidents,

where the central topic will be the establishment of a

regulatory framework for the security of individuals and

their belongings, and the signing of a treaty on Central

American democratic security.

In our region we can no longer delay the creation of

short-term programmes of direct investment, industrial

revitalization, transformation of technology and foreign

trade, with the necessary support of developed countries.

That support can come through the alliance of States

friendly to the Alliance for the Sustainable Development of

Central America, as was the case initially with the Central

America-United States agreement (CONCAUSA).

Central America supports open regionalism; as set out

in the plan of action of the Summit for the Americas, we

believe that free trade is the most appropriate way to

establish the world’s most extensive free-trade area.

The Central American Integration System (SICA),

which resulted from our own efforts and from important

cooperation by the international community, hopes that

the General Assembly will grant it the status of

permanent observer in accordance with relevant

provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. That

status would facilitate and broaden cooperation between

the United Nations system and the Central American

Integration System; I am grateful for the support for the

draft resolution that Central American countries have

jointly submitted to the Assembly for consideration.

It is my country’s tradition always to try to solve its

international conflicts by peaceful, diplomatic means. I

am therefore pleased to announce that, in compliance with

the opinion of the International Court of Justice at The

Hague concerning the boundary dispute between

Honduras and El Salvador, a binational commission has

been established to resolve the humanitarian implications

of its implementation; its work is being carried out

parallel to that of boundary demarcation. It is the honest

wish of the people and the Government of Honduras to

conclude these priority tasks without delay.

Nor is Honduras indifferent to the problems of our

sister Republics, especially those of Guatemala. We wish

to acknowledge the achievements and commitments of the

Government of that country and of the Unidad

Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) towards

peace. We urge them to persist in a peaceful, negotiated

quest for a solution to their internal differences.

My country endorses all the principles set out in the

Secretary-General’s “An Agenda for Development”,

which recognizes that equitable development removes

many of the social and political conditions that result in

threats to peace. Most important, it stresses that the

human being is the ultimate beneficiary of all efforts

towards development and international cooperation.

Clearly, “An Agenda for Development” must

encourage the implementation of agreements reached in

the economic and social sphere. In that context, my

country has decided to endorse the principles and

implement the commitments set out in the Declaration

adopted by Heads of State or Government at the World

Summit for Social Development, held at Copenhagen,

Denmark, in March this year. We consider that

implementation of the Programme of Action is urgent,

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with a view to establishing a framework for economic

growth and sustainable development, and a national and

international climate favourable to social development, to

the elimination of poverty, to increasing productive

employment, to reducing unemployment and to fostering

social integration.

Only by attaining these goals can we achieve lasting

peace and security, economic progress and the social

emancipation of all mankind. We therefore appeal to the

international community, and especially to developed

countries and international organizations, to fulfil their

commitment to transfer significant economic and

technological resources to developing countries.

Similarly, the Government of Honduras gives high

priority to speedy compliance with commitments and

recommendations made at the United Nations Conference

on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro

in 1992. We note, however, the lack of adequate resources

to implement the programmes and projects adopted as part

of Agenda 21. We hope that developed countries will meet

their commitments, to enable developing countries to meet

their own.

Honduras reiterates its commitment to meet the goals

of the World Declaration and Plan of Action adopted at the

World Summit for Children. My country is a signatory of

the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and, as part of

its national programmes, has adopted policies aimed at

attaining the goals set in the Plan of Action. Our

Government considers that all boys and girls must enjoy

fundamental human rights such as access to education and

to health services. One of our priorities is to eliminate

family poverty, which is a principal cause of the

exploitation of children and infant mortality.

The Government of Honduras also participated in the

Fourth World Conference on Women, held at Beijing. We

are convinced that the Declaration and Plan of Action

adopted there will make a further contribution to women’s

participation in political, civil, economic, social and cultural

life and in sustainable development.

The recent conference on review and extension of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

came at important time in history: when the international

community is marking the end of the cold war, an event

which eased international tension and strengthened

confidence between States. My country reiterates its

commitment to the principles and objectives adopted at the

review Conference. We remain convinced that the ultimate

goal is the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and

the adoption of a treaty on general and complete

disarmament under strict, effective international control.

The Government of Honduras attaches great

importance to preventive diplomacy and to the peaceful

settlement of international disputes. We believe it is better

to prevent conflicts through early warning machinery and

good-offices diplomatic efforts than to use political and

military action to try to stop them once they have started.

We attach equal importance to the building and

maintenance of international peace and security, especially

through humanitarian activities that involve the urgent

solution of the tragedy of thousands of persons displaced

and uprooted from their homes and land. Hence, we

reiterate our support for the proposals and

recommendations made by the Secretary-General in “An

Agenda for Peace” and in the Supplement to “An Agenda

for Peace”.

The Government of Honduras considers that the

strengthening of peace, the fundamental objective of the

United Nations, can be achieved only through complete

respect for the provisions of the Charter. For peace-

keeping operations to be successful, they must be based

on the principles of international law: non-intervention in

the internal affairs of States, and the non-use of force

except in self-defence. Moreover, they should be

controlled by the United Nations; peace-keeping

operations and their mandates must be clearly defined.

They should be funded in a timely way and must above

all have the consent of the States involved, which in turn

must not raise obstacles and must cooperate fully with

these operations.

In the context of the peaceful solution of

international conflicts, it is vital to encourage greater

cooperation and coordination between the United Nations

and regional organizations. International crises can be

resolved effectively if we strengthen the various

mechanisms and procedures through which such

cooperation takes place.

We know that the United Nations continues to face

financial problems with a direct impact on peace-keeping

operations. Hence, the current machinery for financing

must be reformed, taking account of the capacity of States

to pay and ensuring that the availability of resources for

economic and social development is not endangered.

In January this year, with particular interest and in

a constructive spirit, we began participating for the first

29

time in the work of the Security Council. Our participation

is shaped by respect for sovereignty and for the principle of

the self-determination of peoples, and by our commitment

to the defence and promotion of human rights and peace.

Aware of its responsibilities and within its modest

means, Honduras has from the outset contributed to the

United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western

Sahara (MINURSO). We have also sent an infantry

contingent to help with the humanitarian activities of the

United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH). We are

determined to continue our participation in such missions in

support of peace, security and international humanitarian

law.

In the Security Council we have given our full support

to the Middle East peace process. We hope that the ongoing

negotiations will lead to the establishment of lasting peace

in the region.

We are deeply saddened by the situation in Bosnia and

Herzegovina in particular, and in neighbouring countries as

well. We condemn the attempts at “ethnic cleansing” and

genocide against the civilian population. We therefore hope

that recent peace efforts in the region will bear fruit,

especially following the agreement reached at Geneva on

basic principles for the peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Progress in Angola, Liberia and Rwanda makes us

optimistic about peacemaking in those countries. United

Nations participation has been vital in that progress, and we

therefore unreservedly support it. We hope that in the end

these countries will achieve the reconciliation that will

enable them to begin their tasks of national reconstruction

and development.

On 26 June 1945, 50 nations, including my own, with

high hopes, signed the Charter of the United Nations at San

Francisco. In 1995 we are full of joy at commemorating the

fiftieth anniversary of the founding of an Organization that

has unquestionably served the interests of universality

through its gradual expansion. This is also an apt occasion

to ponder why all the expectations and dreams of the

founders have not yet been met, and to define the mission

the United Nations must carry out on the threshold of a

new millennium.

To address the question of the efficiency and

effectiveness of the United Nations system with greater

dynamism and realism, the international community has

made unprecedented demands for redefinition of the tasks

of the system in the areas of international security and the

promotion of the economic and social development of

Members.

The end of the century approaches; a new

millennium awaits us. We must therefore assess all that

has come before; make an in-depth analysis of the

weaknesses and strengths, the successes and failures of

the Organization; and with realism and fairness set an

agenda for the future that will topple injustice,

exterminate poverty and throttle warlike tendencies and

that will bolster the foundations of a truly unified,

humanistic and fair world order.

It is painful to see the weakening of the high

expectations created by the collapse of bipolar relations.

There have been no substantive changes in the behaviour

of highly developed countries towards the less developed

areas of the planet. We note with concern a wish to

replace the old order with a new, ominous bipolar world:

a world of countries that enjoy plenty, and of countries

that are enmired in poverty and destitution. We must not

permit this fatal design to be carried out. Let us show that

we can still imagine and create a different, prosperous

world that will include us all.

Let us hope that the new millennium will see the

miracle of international coexistence based on peace,

brotherhood and universal well-being. Otherwise, there

will be no further chance to see the light of hope for a

better future; to use the words of the Honduran poet

Roberto Sosa, we will live forever in “a world divided for

all”.