Nepal, 2000

I join previous speakers in

congratulating the President on his well-deserved

election to preside over this Millennium Assembly. I

am confident that, with his wisdom and consummate

diplomatic skill, he will steer the Assembly to a

successful conclusion.

Let me also express our appreciation to Mr. Theo-

Ben Gurirab, Foreign Minister of Namibia, for his

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exemplary leadership as president of the General

Assembly at its fifty-fourth session, especially in the

run-up to the Summit. Secretary-General Kofi Annan

also deserves our unqualified tribute for his innovative

leadership to prepare the United Nations for greater

challenges ahead.

Nepal wholeheartedly welcomes Tuvalu as the

newest member of the United Nations family. We

congratulate the people and Government of that Pacific

island country on this happy occasion of joining the

world body as an independent nation.

Last week the heads of State and Government

assembled in this Hall of the people to ponder

measures to address the challenges of the twenty-first

century, and reaffirmed their faith in the United

Nations as the central instrument for promoting peace,

prosperity and justice. The vision given us by the

Summit's Millennium Declaration will be a guide for

the global community, and particularly for the United

Nations, in the days ahead. Nepal welcomes the

Declaration and pledges its commitment to implement

it with the utmost seriousness.

My Prime Minister, addressing the Summit,

expressed the view that the future will judge us by the

ability of our leadership to make a difference in

people's lives. We in Nepal expect the global

community to work in cooperation and solidarity, in a

true spirit of partnership, to change for the better the

destiny of every man, woman and child around the

world.

As we enter a new century and a new millennium,

the world is replete with paradoxes. It now has fewer

inter-State wars, but numerous civil wars. Science and

technology have made unprecedented advances, but

diseases like AIDS still defy treatment. More people

enjoy democracy and freedom, but terrorism still draws

youth. The walls of frontiers are crumbling in the

globalized economy, but the assertion of cultural

identity has increased. The United Nations has to work

in the midst of these paradoxes.

The United Nations has succeeded remarkably in

bringing peace in some situations and failed in others.

Its involvement has eased tensions in the Central

African Republic and Tajikistan. East Timor is heading

into independence in relative calm. Kosovo is engaged

in building democratic institutions. Israel has

withdrawn its forces from southern Lebanon, a

withdrawal which has vastly improved the prospects of

a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

Still durable peace remains as elusive as ever. In

essence, it entails a culture of peace founded on

disarmament and the peaceful resolution of conflicts,

as well as on measures that remove the root causes of

conflict — poverty and exclusion.

Lasting peace cannot be secured until nuclear

weapons, which constitute the major threat to global

security, are eliminated in a time-bound manner. Nor

can it be achieved without the complete eradication of

other weapons of mass destruction. We consider that

weapons delivery systems and the so-called national

missile defence systems threaten the peace as well.

Small arms and light weapons have killed more

people than all weapons of mass destruction combined.

We must turn our backs on the guns by controlling

small arms and light weapons. In this context, we

welcome the proposed conference on small arms to be

held in 2001.

Conflicts disturb Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin

America. The Middle East is yet to conclude the final

settlement and be at peace with itself. The Balkans are

still rife with dispute, though of a lesser extent now.

South Asia is in the perennial pain of low intensity war.

Terrorists are on the prowl in many places, exploiting

the fragility of States. As a result, thousands of

innocent lives have been lost. The action of the

Security Council, which is the world's sentry, has been

too little, too late in many situations; it has let

emerging disputes descend into full-blown conflicts.

Nepal urges the Security Council to act in a timely

manner, promptly, decisively and adequately to prevent

conflagrations.

Nepal has always been an active participant in

United Nations peace operations. Nepalese

peacekeepers have served with impeccable

professionalism and dedication and have earned a name

for themselves. Many valiant Nepalese Blue Helmets

have laid down their lives in the service of world

peace. The recent death of Private Devi Ram Jaishi, a

Nepalese peacekeeper, while defending peace in East

Timor, rekindles our commitment to abiding peace,

wherein no one needs to lose a father, husband or son

to violence.

As host to the United Nations Regional Centre for

Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, Nepal

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is strongly committed to enhancing the Centre's

contribution to peace and disarmament, and is fully

prepared to meet its obligation to house the Centre in

Kathmandu.

The report (A/55/305) of the panel on the United

Nations peace operations provides a wealth of ideas to

put peacekeeping on a sound footing and to improve

peace and security in the world. My delegation agrees

with the tenor of the report, and will be willing to

examine it in greater detail as it comes up for closer

scrutiny.

A survey of the present trouble spots on earth

would lead us to one unmistakable conclusion: most

conflicts have poverty and exclusion at their root. All

too often, we tend to treat the symptoms, not the cause.

Nepal strongly believes that a durable peace will

continue to elude us as long as we do not eliminate

dehumanizing poverty and deprivation. Prime Minister

Koirala aptly described at the Summit the vicious circle

of poverty and conflict, and asked the world

community to redouble its efforts to reduce poverty in

search of peace. That deserves serious consideration.

Today more than one fifth of humanity lives on

less than a dollar a day. Poverty, illiteracy and diseases

are rife in the poor countries. Unemployment among

youth is rampant. A growing population finds itself

scrambling over shrinking resources in a stagnant

economy, which has been the case in most developing

countries. The AIDS pandemic has become a major

scourge of the developing world, particularly in Africa.

Unscrupulous leaders, often for narrow political gains,

fish in the troubled waters and incite violence, which

shatters the fragile economy further, making the next

cycle of violence inevitable and even more deadly.

If we are ever to achieve lasting peace, we must

reduce poverty and build peace from there. We

subscribe to the targets, suggested by the Secretary-

General in his report (A/54/2000), and adopted by the

Summit, to reduce poverty and promote development

in the developing countries. World conferences, one

after another, have concluded that this is the only way

forward. A series of their mid-term reviews has

reaffirmed this conclusion; yet, sadly, nothing much

has changed.

In global forums, both North and South have

agreed to work together for accelerated growth and

development in the South, to open the markets in the

rich countries to the products of the poor countries and

to improve access of the developing countries to

technology in the advanced countries; to relieve the

poor countries of their debt obligations; and to promote

social development and human rights. The global

commitments are forgotten before the ink on them

dries. We must narrow the gap between what we say

and what we do.

Most advanced countries have, for instance,

sorely lagged in meeting their pledges of development

assistance. More aid now means no need for it later.

Nepal commends those rich countries that have met the

aid targets, and urges others to do so. It is disturbing

that the United Nations funds and programmes, which

are the main sources of unconditional assistance, have

been facing a decline in their resource base; we call on

the global community to replenish their fungible

resources.

Although global trade has increased several times

in the last few years, the developing countries —

especially, the least developed ones — are losing

ground as their share in world trade diminishes, due

mainly to the declining terms of trade for them.

Globalization has gained momentum as people, trade

and services move across borders at an exceptional

speed. And information technology has opened a whole

new vista of communication, including e-commerce.

Much as both of these phenomena have potential

benefits for all, they have benefited some more than

others, widening the disparity between the rich and the

poor. We believe that the wealthy countries, together

with the World Trade Organization, must work towards

more equitable and rule-based trade to narrow the

income gaps, promote equitable globalization and

bridge the digital divide.

Countries in the South are sinking under the

unbearable burden of foreign debt. While we appreciate

the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt (HIPC)

Initiative of the rich countries, we also urge them to

expedite its implementation and expand its scope to

cover all the least developed countries and other

countries in serious difficulties, not of their own

making.

Foreign direct investment has become a motor of

growth for a few, but the vast majority of developing

countries remain untouched by this new phenomenon.

Understandably, markets drive investors in their

investment decisions, yet Nepal believes that our

development partners can encourage investors, through

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a vigorous guarantee and incentive scheme, to invest in

those countries that have yet to see much foreign direct

investment.

The unsustainable patterns of production and

consumption in the rich countries, together with the

population pressure in the poor countries, have taken a

high toll of the environment, the common human

heritage. The global agreements to promote sustainable

development and to reduce greenhouse gases remain

largely unfulfilled. As for Nepal, we have taken

measures to preserve the environment through

establishing norms, reducing pollutants, extending the

forest coverage and building the green component into

development projects. We are also studying the Kyoto

Protocol with a view to becoming a party to it.

The least developed countries, particularly the

land-locked ones like Nepal, are confronted with the

most formidable challenges of development. Over the

years poverty in these countries has increased and their

share of world trade has sharply declined. In Nepal, for

instance, more than 50 per cent of the people are

illiterate and live below the poverty line. Lack of

access to the sea not only makes transportation difficult

for us, but also deprives us of sea-based resources.

These disadvantaged countries therefore need special

measures to overcome their development constraints,

including better transportation facilities for the land-

locked countries so that they can reduce poverty and

join the global economic mainstream. We believe that

the conference on the least developed countries to be

held in Brussels next year will open up a new vista of

cooperation for their development.

Nepal hopes that the high-level event on

financing for development next year will find reliable

means for funding development in the developing

world. It must energize both North-South and South-

South cooperation to fulfil shared objectives.

As a functioning democracy, Nepal is committed

to human rights and good governance. We have a

Government that is accountable to people and pledged

to serve them best. As democracy, development and

human rights reinforce each other, we strive to promote

them together so that people have the opportunity to

realize their full potential. Nepal is a party to most

human rights instruments, and we hold the view that

civil and political rights are as important as economic,

social and cultural rights — including the right to

development, for the healthy progress of society.

Therefore we oppose any selective use of human rights

values to suit vested political interests.

I also wish to report to the Assembly that Nepal

has recently freed the remaining few thousand bonded

labourers and established the National Human Rights

Commission. During the Summit we also signed the

optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of

the Child, protocols on the sale of children and on

children in armed conflicts.

Today more than 22 million people have taken

refuge outside the country of their origin, and millions

are displaced within — sometimes because of natural

calamities, but very often because of their

Governments or because of terrorists. Nepal itself has

nearly 100,000 refugees from Bhutan; their presence

has created economic, social and environmental

problems for us. Nepal believes that both State and

non-State actors must respect the human rights of the

weak and vulnerable, including those of women and

children.

The security of small States has remained a

perennial concern for us. During the cold war the fear

was of being trampled in the super-Power rivalry; in

the post-cold-war era the fear is that small States will

be economically, militarily or politically bullied if they

act in a manner that incurs the wrath of the stronger

States. It is saddening that even the United Nations is

forced frequently to acquiesce to the designs of the

powerful. We urge the international community to

uphold the rule of law and the rich and powerful

countries to respect the right of small States to

sovereign independence, something they zealously

guard themselves.

Whenever there are problems anywhere on the

length and breadth of the planet, the United Nations is

called on to inspire and act, without necessarily being

giving the requisite resources. Since there is no

alternative to the United Nations, we must revitalize

and reinforce it through comprehensive reforms so that

it can rise to the challenges of changing times. It is

imperative to restore the primacy of the General

Assembly, which is the closest thing to a world

parliament, so as to bring the will of the peoples to

bear on vital global policies.

The Security Council reform process has dragged

on for quite a while. Although there is no quick fix, nor

should one be pursued, it is time to give reforms shape

and make the Council more representative in

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composition, more transparent in function and more

capable of keeping peace. The Security Council, by

doing too little too late, has often proved part of the

problem, rather than of the solution. We must change

it.

Now that the recent Summit has recognized

poverty and social exclusion as the principal cause of

conflict, it is critical that we focus our attention on

reinforcing the Economic and Social Council on a par

with the Security Council on economic matters. We

must work towards making the Economic and Social

Council capable of coordinating the funds and

programmes within the United Nations and with the

Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade

Organization and other outside bodies.

Nepal applauds the Secretary-General for the

silent and continuous revolution at the United Nations

in search of economy and excellence. Indeed, there is a

constant need to regenerate and reinvent the world

body to attune it to the emerging challenges in a

changing world.

Sadly, the United Nations has to limp from one

year to the next as some of the key contributors fail to

live up to their treaty obligations. We believe that the

cardinal principle for apportioning financial obligation

should be the capacity to pay based on one's share of

world gross national product, with special

responsibility on the part of the permanent members of

the Security Council in peacekeeping budgets. It is

morally indefensible to make the poorer countries

subsidize the richer countries to keep the United

Nations and its peacekeeping activities going. We call

on all Member States to pay their dues in full, on time

and without conditions.

South Asia has one fifth of the world's people,

but lacks recognition and clout commensurate with its

size and potential. The only way for it to gain the place

it deserves is through regional cooperation. Yet we in

the region have not been able to work closely and

cohesively for the greater good of our peoples. The

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is

virtually at a standstill. Nepal urges all fellow South

Asian countries to work collectively for the shared

prosperity of our peoples. Time will not be kind to us if

we fail to seize the opportunity.