New Zealand, 1999

First let me

congratulate you, Sir, the Foreign Minister of Namibia, on

your election as President of the General Assembly this

session. I certainly recall my meetings with you and your

President in your country last year.

I also wish to welcome three new Members to the

United Nations — Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga — all very

close friends and neighbours of New Zealand. I trust that

the faith they have shown in the United Nations will be

fulfilled in the years ahead, and we certainly look forward

to working closely with them.

When addressing this Assembly, especially as a

representative of a smaller Member State, one is reminded

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that the United Nations must remain the fundamental point

of reference in international relations. Indeed, that is a truth

that all Member States have an obligation to acknowledge.

Furthermore, it is of course sound policy for all who need

and rely on the rule of international law in place of

lawlessness. And it is particularly important to restate it at

this time. The United Nations collective security

framework, which is one of the fundamental elements of

the Charter together with cooperation on economic and

social problems and promoting respect for human rights,

has perhaps never been more severely tested than in this

last year of the twentieth century.

Armed conflicts, many of them internal and ethnically

based, have continued to present a serious moral challenge

to the international community, and they are likely to do so

for the foreseeable future. The Security Council's response

to these problems does not always increase our confidence

in the Organization.

The Secretary-General's remarks in his statement at the

beginning of this debate about the need to reconcile

universal legitimacy with effectiveness in defence of human

rights were most timely. New Zealanders place a very good

deal of faith in the United Nations: when we see on our

television screens evidence of violence and inhumanity

against the vulnerable, and we are told that the Security

Council cannot reach an agreement on collective action, we

are left worried, and wondering whether our trust in the

Security Council is well placed. A Council which loses the

trust of the people is a Council which will become

irrelevant.

I want to talk to the Assembly about two extremely

serious challenges the Council faced this year: Kosovo and

East Timor. Both highlight the importance of the actions of

the Security Council.

In East Timor, following President Habibie's

courageous offer to the East Timorese people, prompt and

effective action was taken by the Security Council to set in

train the popular consultation process. The ballot —

undertaken in extremely difficult circumstances by highly

committed United Nations workers, international and local,

all of whom deserve acclaim — produced a resounding and

incontrovertible expression of the will of the East Timorese

people. This was the essential basis for the international

community's response since the ballot.

Post-ballot events were appallingly tragic and have

rightly provoked a strong reaction around the world. The

dispatch to Jakarta and Dili of the Security Council mission

led by Ambassador Andjaba of Namibia was a key step

in addressing this grievous situation. The efforts made by

representatives of all countries present at the time of the

meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Council

leaders in Auckland, joined by the British Foreign

Secretary representing the European Union, reinforced the

Secretary-General's urging that Indonesia accept the offer

of international help. The assistance could not have come

too early.

New Zealand is proud to be a contributor, alongside

the forces of other nations from the region and from

further afield, and under the leadership of Australia, to the

United-Nations-authorized multinational force that is now

operating in East Timor. Our soldiers from New Zealand

are on the ground in East Timor right now. We are

prepared also to take part in the United Nations

peacekeeping operation foreshadowed in Security Council

resolution 1264 (1999), and we urge the Council to take

prompt action — next week would not be too soon — to

establish this operation, which would be part of the

United Nations transitional administration in East Timor.

We are contributing to the efforts of humanitarian

agencies to provide support to the hundreds of thousands

of ordinary people who have been displaced in East

Timor; those currently in West Timor should be speedily

repatriated. New Zealand has added its voice to those who

believe that the people responsible for crimes against

humanity in East Timor should be brought to account.

The overriding objective must now be to ensure the

realization of the 30 August ballot outcome and East

Timor's transition to independence. It is clear that in

laying the basis for East Timor's future, the United

Nations will be the indispensable organization.

It is inevitable that comparison will be made

between East Timor and Kosovo. In Kosovo the world

saw a grave humanitarian crisis with the Security Council

unable to act. In New Zealand's view, collective action to

try to put a stop to a humanitarian disaster involving

genocide and the most serious crimes against humanity

should never be held hostage to the veto. When it is, the

Security Council loses its credibility and its relevance. I

need hardly reiterate New Zealand's continuing opposition

to the veto, voiced since San Francisco in 1945. While it

is understandable that national interests will influence

how members vote in the Security Council, we have

never accepted that some narrow interests of any one of

five countries should be able to override the will of a

clear majority of members.

The adoption by the Security Council of its resolution

1244 (1999) of 10 June, which provided the international

community's endorsement of a political solution to the

Kosovo conflict, was certainly greeted with much relief in

most quarters, including in New Zealand. The resolution

was proof, if any were needed, that the United Nations

remains, as in East Timor, the indispensable organization.

And as the Secretary-General observed at the time, it also

gave strong legal underpinning to the task ahead, a task

which, he noted, is daunting. The contribution of the

dedicated United Nations and specialized agency staff who

are now working with little fanfare in Kosovo certainly

deserves our recognition.

Both Kosovo and East Timor have put the Security

Council to the test. In their own ways they have challenged

this Organization's capacity to take effective action in the

face of severe difficulties. The world must never again

witness horrors such as those in Kosovo whilst the Security

Council remains impotent. The case of East Timor shows

that the Security Council can react swiftly and effectively

when the will exists. For this to be possible, the fullest

commitment to support those humanitarian ideals that are

the basis of the United Nations Charter remains essential.

The adoption of the Rome Statute of the International

Criminal Court shows such a commitment. The

international community must now deliver on its promise,

with signature and early ratification of that Statute.

As we know, the United Nations also has before it the

pressing demands of the various and sometimes interrelated

conflicts throughout Africa with, of course, their appalling

humanitarian consequences. Who can put out of their minds

the images of atrocities we have seen from Sierra Leone,

for instance? Yet the Council's response has until very

recently been low-level. Once again, the credibility of the

Security Council depends in large part on its being seen as

even-handed in its attention to crises, wherever they may

occur, and whether the Cable News Network (CNN) is

there or not.

For much of the past year we have seen the Council

virtually paralysed on the important question of

disarmaming Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. In the

meantime, this potentially very serious threat to the security

of the region remains unresolved. The reason again has

been the very sharp divisions among the permanent

members, which by virtue of the veto power can block any

action. This situation remains unacceptable.

New Zealand's awareness of the importance of the

role of collective action has also been heightened by

recent events in our own immediate region. Here, the

United Nations demonstrated its ability to respond to the

different demands of supporting the regionally inspired

peace process on the island of Bougainville, part of Papua

New Guinea, and of assessing the needs created by

disruptions to the population on Guadalcanal in the

Solomon Islands.

The United Nations must be capable of responding

effectively. Small and vulnerable nations in particular

need confidence in the United Nations, as it may be their

only hope in times of trouble. I am very concerned

therefore by the apparent trend away from financing new

peacekeeping operations by means of assessed

contributions and an increasing reliance instead on

voluntary funding. This, of course, poses a threat to the

collective responsibility that is at the heart of this

Organization. In practical terms it is likely to mean that

those regions which fail to attract donor support will not

receive the response they are entitled to as Members of

the United Nations. This trend must be urgently reversed;

all operations must be put on an equal financial footing

by means of assessed contributions.

In addition, as I noted here last year, the largest

contributor's arrears to the peacekeeping and regular

budgets continue to cast a long shadow over the

Organization. Outstanding dues and very slow payments

to troop contributors affect us all, and can severely

constrain the ability of countries to contribute to pressing

peacekeeping needs. We call again on those Member

States who are in dereliction of their obligations to make

payment on time, in full and, of course, without

conditions.

Reform of the Security Council remains one of the

most important items on our agenda. Further useful

progress has been made this year. While the issue of

enlargement continues to be complex, we believe there

has existed for some time wide agreement on the equally

important areas of reforming the Council's working

methods and the curtailing of the veto. The linkage

between the veto and enlargement was also explicitly

recognized in this year's report to the General Assembly

of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of

Equitable Representation on and Increase in the

Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters

Related to the Security Council.

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As for the task of providing more equitable

representation, I am not convinced that we will be able to

achieve this while the regional groups in the United Nations

continue to reflect the political geography of the 1960s.

Quite different and far more sensible arrangements have

been adopted in other multilateral forums, as, for example,

in the context of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty (CTBT). The present system here in New York

locks in very great disparities in representation. Small

countries that can make an excellent contribution are often

severely disadvantaged, especially where a political bloc

inside a regional group may coordinate closely on electoral

matters.

I would, therefore, wish to add my voice to those of

the Prime Ministers of Fiji and Samoa and the Foreign

Ministers of Papua New Guinea and Australia, who spoke

earlier in this debate on the need for reconfiguration.

Reconfiguration of the regional groups may well hold one

of the keys to an overall package on Security Council

reform.

New Zealand still looks forward to the day when we

can join a regional group here in New York which includes

our Asia-Pacific neighbours. In the meantime, we will

continue to build linkages in our region and developing the

many areas of our common understanding.

One of the great strengths of the General Assembly is

the equal status ascribed to each Member. All Members,

large or small, rich or poor, have a right to be heard here.

Each has a single vote. While we must all from time to

time temper our own national ambitions in the interests of

reaching a common understanding, we respect the point of

view of each individual member. The special session on

small island developing States over the last few days was

a very good opportunity to do just that. New Zealand is

firmly committed to assisting the small island developing

States SIDS in the spirit of common purpose and

partnership envisaged at Barbados five years ago. We are

very pleased that all participants in the special session have

reaffirmed their commitment to implement fully the

Barbados Programme of Action.

In April New Zealand, represented by my colleague,

the Honourable Simon Upton, had the privilege of chairing

the seventh session of the Commission on Sustainable

Development. We were pleased to be able to help

reinvigorate debate and build consensus around the need for

a more coordinated approach to stewardship of the world's

oceans and the need to recognise, in an ongoing way, the

special characteristics and needs of small island

developing States.

The Commission faces the great challenge of

pursuing the implementation of Agenda 21. Two other

great challenges we as a world face on the environmental

front are the threat of global climate change, caused at

least in part by human-induced emissions of greenhouse

gases, and the need to maintain an approach to

international trade and environmental issues which is

based on sound scientific analysis and agreed rules and

procedures. It is vitally important that we should continue

to act in concert to face these international challenges.

International cooperation in addressing economic,

social and humanitarian problems is, and always will be,

one of the cornerstones of the United Nations Charter.

The substantial decline in official development assistance

flows over the last decade is of great concern to many

Member States. In this connection, I am concerned to

note that the core resources of the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP) have been greatly

reduced over the past five years, to the point where its

universality is seriously threatened. I applaud the efforts

the new administrator is making to turn this situation

around and to put UNDP on a more secure footing, with

more clearly defined priorities.

Private capital flows to developing countries have

shown major increases. There is a tendency, however, for

such investment to be heavily concentrated on a few

countries where investment prospects seem brightest.

Many developing countries remain vulnerable and can be

all too easily marginalized. Official development

assistance continues to be an essential tool to help build

the capacity of countries in sectors such as education so

that they can benefit from the unstoppable phenomenon

of globalization. It is certainly a matter of particular pride

for me, as New Zealand's Foreign Minister, to have

overseen increases in New Zealand's official development

assistance funding effort — up by some 40 per cent since

the time of the Rio Summit in 1992.

I welcome, also, the positive steps that are being

taken on the financing for development and debt-relief

initiatives. It is vital that we continue the dialogue among

Member States and with the international financial

institutions to ensure a sounder basis for meeting the

challenges of international development.

Last year I referred to the important role the United

Nations has to play in shaping the moves towards

13

globalization and the opening up of opportunities for world

trade. Later this year, in Seattle, we expect to launch a new

round of multilateral trade negotiations. This will clearly

provide a forum in which to advance trade liberalization

and the rules-based trading system. The role of these

negotiations in promoting the development prospects of all

countries and in fostering the integration of least developed

countries into the global system will be a particular focus.

Deliberations in this Organization at many levels will help

to advance our people's understanding of the value and

purpose of the global trade agenda and their ability to

benefit from it. However, I would emphasise the

importance of major trading partners in continuing to play

a leadership role. The adoption of trade restrictions and

distortions by wealthy economies does much to erode their

moral authority in the broader debate.

New Zealand continues to attach the utmost

importance to seeing all countries work together to bring

about a world free of nuclear weapons. For this reason we

were a cosponsor last year of the so-called New Agenda

resolution, which called for faster progress towards the

elimination of nuclear weapons. The cosponsors will be

presenting this moderate resolution again this year, and we

urge all countries to look carefully at it.

The Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of

the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty will meet in

Vienna in a week's time. I would urge all those countries

which have not ratified the Treaty to do so, so that it can

enter into force without further delay.

Strengthening the United Nations remains an important

goal for New Zealand. I take this opportunity to commend

the forward-looking management reforms introduced by the

Secretary-General. They have greatly improved policy

coordination among senior management and have produced

positive, tangible effects throughout the Secretariat.

Improving the way the Organization plans its programmes

and expenditures is a critical next step, where work is

already under way. There must be a greater focus on results

when budgets are prepared in order to promote the best use

of the resources of the Organization, and in turn the best

return for Member States.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Geneva

Conventions, and last year we commemorated the fiftieth

anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Events over the past 12 months have shown that challenges

to the values and principles embodied in the Universal

Declaration remain as daunting as ever. In this

interdependent world in which we live, New Zealand

continues to see the United Nations as central to

international efforts to work together to protect and

promote, for all our people, those fundamental human

rights and freedoms to which we are committed under the

Universal Declaration.

Next year the United Nations will host the

millennium summit. This symbolic event will provide an

excellent opportunity for Member States to reaffirm their

commitment to the ideals of this great Organization.

Recognizing the frailties of our collective performance to

date, and the critical importance of finding workable

solutions for the future, I call on all Member States to

take the opportunities offered by the millennium summit

to enter into open and constructive dialogue and step into

the next millennium with an unequivocal recommitment

to the visionary principles enshrined in the Charter.

It is nine years since I first addressed this body in

1991 as the Foreign Minister of New Zealand. For the

United Nations, and particularly the Security Council, it

has been a tumultuous period. After the cold war the

number of problems multiplied; the world's expectations

of what the United Nations could deliver were raised

above the possible; and the solutions demanded required

determination, resolve, tact, understanding and

imagination. The demands on the United Nations will not

lessen, but each year must see a better performance than

in the past. However, as this may well be the last

statement I make to this body, I want to thank all United

Nations officials and peacekeepers everywhere: those I

have met here in New York; in Cambodia and in

Somalia; in Mozambique; in Bosnia, Croatia and Albania;

in Papua New Guinea and, of course, now in East Timor.

I thank them for their continuing, often unsung and heroic

efforts. They are much appreciated.