Nicaragua, 1995

It is a pleasure for me to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election to the presidency of the General Assembly on

this, the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. I also

wish to extend our recognition to the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and to the outgoing President,

Mr. Amara Essy.

We are convinced that one of the most important

items of this session must be support for the effective and

substantive reform of the United Nations.

The only way to approach the construction of a new

international order is by renewing our faith in

multilateralism and giving the United Nations its central,

indispensable role in the search for lasting solutions to the

complex problems that all our societies are experiencing.

Half a century has passed since the founding of the

United Nations. With its successes and setbacks, its

accomplishments and its problems, the United Nations has

shown that only organized international cooperation will

make it possible to prevent new conflicts. It is impossible

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to imagine today’s world without this universal institution.

The profound changes that have taken place since that era

and the demands of the future make it necessary for the

United Nations to be renewed, revitalized, reformed and

strengthened.

It is valid, then, for us to ask ourselves what the new

vision of our United Nations is in a changing, global and

interdependent world. The transformation of the United

Nations cannot be separated from the profound

transformations that democracy itself is undergoing

throughout the world. Our Organization must be reformed

on the basis of the new conception of democracy.

The concept of democracy in the world has changed.

Democracy is no longer a static concept, nor is it limited

only to the internal affairs of States. Democracy is a

patrimony of values that are common to all humankind.

Today’s democracy is dynamic, and in order for it to take

on a profound character, it should be understood as an

unfinished work that is always in transition.

Today I should like to emphasize various aspects of

this international democratic transition, which is closely

related to the transition that our Organization must undergo.

First, we are moving away from the political agenda

and moving towards the social agenda. The World Summit

for Social Development, held in Denmark, reminded us that

the ultimate objective of all our efforts is to improve the

living conditions and quality of life of our peoples. Our

Organization was born in the geopolitical era, marked by

East-West confrontation and bipolar division. Today we are

passing towards a world divided into economic blocs where

social policies are demanding their rightful place at centre

stage.

Our Organization has the duty to facilitate this

transition from a world divided between military Powers to

a world where democracy, economic efficiency and social

justice crown a new world order.

Secondly, democracy is passing from centralized

decision-making to broad participation by citizens in

society. In this way we are moving from formal democracy

to participative democracy, where power and choice are

somehow returned to communities. This transition means

more opportunity for dialogue and internal consensus within

our societies. As has been said on other occasions, the

concept of international peace gives way to the concept of

internal peace within our States. Last year the Secretary-

General himself said, at the luncheon he gave for Heads of

State, that wars are no longer waged between States but,

rather, within our nations. That is why it is so important

to promote reconciliation and negotiation in divided

societies.

Thirdly, we are moving from bureaucracy to good

government. This transition requires that special attention

be given to the reform and modernization of the State.

Efficiency and effectiveness should now be the new terms

for public administration.

Fourthly, we are passing from the unilateral

perspective that has characterized the world to a focus on

gender that opens the doors for the full, active

participation of women in the great tasks of our times.

Equality and equity between men and women is a basic

principle for achieving the true development of

international society. In this regard, the recent Conference

in Beijing opened up a new chapter for us, leading

towards this new goal.

Our Organization also has to assimilate the transition

from a partial concept of development to an integrated

concept of sustainable development. This new concept

requires us to combine the political dimension with the

social, cultural, economic, ecological and even ethnic

dimensions of development processes.

Central America, a region that emerged into

democracy from out of the ashes of war and conflict —

a region, as the President of El Salvador, Mr. Armando

Calderón Sol, said this afternoon, is going through a new

stage in its history — has also adopted a new model of

sustainable development that makes ours the first region

in the world to try, through the concrete fulfilment of

commitments in all areas, to make a reality of the

agreements of the Rio Conference on Environment and

Development.

We Central Americans are moving from the model

of military security centred on the cold-war poles of

power to the new model of democratic security. The

United Nations should therefore lead the way in this new

concept of security, which is not limited to the military

aspect. Rather, human security should be the new axis of

this new model of world security.

Today we Central Americans are discussing a treaty

on democratic security, developed by Nicaragua, that

enshrines this new concept of security, which is no longer

based on number and quality of weapons, but, rather, on

the quality of human life, the efficiency of democratic

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institutions, civil security, the fight against drug trafficking,

terrorism and arms trafficking and cooperation in all areas.

We Central Americans have concluded that democracy and

its improvement are the best way to strengthen regional

security.

We must be aware that we are also going through a

transition to what we call preventive democracy. By this we

mean that we should strive to anticipate conflicts and their

causes in order not to have to resolve them later with the

peace-keeping forces of this Organization. That is why we

have always said that the best peace-keeping operation is

the one that we can avoid, that we never have to carry out.

This also means rechannelling efforts into the area of

promoting human rights — no longer treating this subject

as a mere list of violations of fundamental rights and

freedoms devoting great efforts to the promotion of respect

for those rights and human freedoms.

In its reform process, our Organization should also

take into account that commerce and investment are ceasing

to be merely economic factors; they are becoming a

genuine element of support for those democratic processes

that demand to form part of economic development. The

battles waged before on the battlefield are now waged in

international markets. What we must understand is that

there, too, a battle for the sustainability, progress and

development of democracy is taking place.

We are also making the transition from a world

divided between opulence and poverty to one with a new

focus on establishing a real alliance for development

between the countries of the north and the countries of the

south. The era of confrontation should give way to a new

era of cooperation directed at reducing the inequalities

between a rich and prosperous north and a dispossessed and

poor south.

We need to make the transition from an era of

inequality of opportunities to an era of democratization of

development. By this I mean, at the internal level,

broadening the base of the benefits of progress for a

steadily growing number of small and medium-sized

businessmen. At the international level democratization of

development implies sharing the benefits of progress in a

more equitable manner between countries.

It is not possible to make a deep revision of the

structure of our Organization without looking at the

profound changes that have taken place in the world and

which are enriching and broadening many of our values,

concepts and goals while presenting new challenges.

For this reason it is very important to see that the

reform of the United Nations rests on this global renewal

of democracy, whose consolidation constitutes the

fundamental political priority for the new world order we

are all building.

I would like to emphasize here that the new and

restored democracies, which met in Managua in 1994,

have much to do with and much to say about the future

and the values of our Organization. The consolidation of

democracy in the societies that lived through the

totalitarian doctrines of this century is fundamental to

sustaining this new vision of the United Nations.

My country has always counted on the invaluable

cooperation of the United Nations to complete a transition

process characterized by its complexity. The United

Nations has accompanied us on our road from a

Nicaragua at war to a Nicaragua at peace; from a

Nicaragua divided and without democratic institutions to

a new Nicaragua that today enjoys complete freedom. The

same United Nations is accompanying us in the process

of strengthening the advances made, with the benefits of

economic development.

I would like to recall with special gratitude the

various resolutions of this General Assembly, requesting

Member States and international financial institutions to

continue to lend their support to Nicaragua in a wider and

more flexible manner, taking into consideration the

exceptional circumstances of our country.

Nicaragua now faces the challenge of successfully

ending the first stage of its transition process, giving

special attention to overcoming dire poverty, to the

modernization of its institutions and to the improvement

of its productive capacity. Nicaragua is preparing to hold

its next elections in 1996, thus taking a new step in the

consolidation of its democratic institutions. It is worth

recalling that six years ago this Organization, for the first

time in its history, participated in observing elections, and

that happened in Nicaragua. Today I want to invite the

United Nations to participate as an observer again, in

these new elections which will mark a transcendental

stage in our democratic process.

These challenges make indispensable our continuing

collaboration with the United Nations system and with

friendly countries in establishing once and for all strong

foundations for economic and social development and for

a lasting peace. The United Nations still has much to do

in Nicaragua.

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I would like to refer now to the subject of the reform

of this Organization. We need to move forward urgently in

the matter of the democratization of the United Nations and

all its main organs. In this endeavour Nicaragua fully

supports an increase in the number of members of the

Security Council, in order to ensure the equitable

representation of all regional groups, among the permanent

members as well as the non-permanent. In this context, we

support the entry of Germany and Japan, countries that we

are certain will make a significant contribution to the

effectiveness of the Security Council.

We must redouble our efforts to promote

administrative and budgetary reforms that will make our

Organization more efficient. We consider it necessary to

continue with the functional and organizational

strengthening of the Economic and Social Council, which

should maintain its role as the custodian of the economic,

social and cultural rights of Member States.

We cannot speak of reforms in the United Nations

without speaking of reforms in the General Assembly. The

Assembly must be revitalized, and it should coordinate its

activities more closely with the other United Nations

organs. The President of the Assembly should be given

more specific tasks, in accordance with the new

circumstances I have already mentioned.

There can be no reform of the United Nations without

a solution to the financial crisis through which the

Organization is passing. The continual budgetary problems

must be examined in an honest, pragmatic way, since the

credibility of the Organization is at stake.

We are convinced that the development programme

will be a strategy that is coherent, not only with the new

vision of world development, but also with the goals and

objectives of the new or restored democracies. It is

necessary to have a creative programme for development,

with universal validity, which will combine assistance for

development, trade, investments, the transfer of technology

and a reasonable solution to the problem of the debt and the

negative transfer of resources.

One of the fundamental pillars of Nicaragua’s foreign

policy is general and complete disarmament, nuclear as well

as conventional. Nicaragua is therefore concerned about the

recent nuclear tests in the Pacific.

Nicaragua is in solidarity with the 21 million

inhabitants of the Republic of China in Taiwan, and in this

context we call for resolution of the exceptional situation of

the Republic of China through peaceful means, in

accordance with the principles of the peaceful resolution

of disputes between States and within the framework of

the creation of an ad hoc committee of the General

Assembly.

Nicaragua takes the opportunity once more to salute

the courage and determination of the South African

people in the achievement of a new South Africa, united

and non-racist.

In Mozambique we hope that the process of

reconciliation will continue and that, finally, that patient

brother country will take the road to economic growth

and development.

Similarly, we hope that Angola will consolidate the

establishment of a strong and lasting peace, indispensable

for national reconciliation and reconstruction.

As regards the Palestinian question and the Middle

East, we are pleased with the positive and irreversible

evolution towards a just and lasting solution to the

conflict. We warmly welcome the recent agreements

between Israel and Palestine.

Our country continues to be alarmed by the situation

in Somalia, Liberia and Rwanda, and considers that

greater efforts are necessary on the part of the

international community, and principally of the United

Nations, to bring stability and peace to those countries.

In Europe, in relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina,

we are worried about the continuation of hostilities and

hope for a peaceful solution to the conflict. The

Nicaraguan Government greets with approval the Joint

Statement and Agreed Basic Principles, signed recently by

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia.

To end, I wish to say that today more than ever, on

the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United

Nations, Nicaragua and the majority of the peoples of the

world put our confidence in our Organization, since we

consider that the time has come for the United Nations to

assume fully its responsibilities under the Charter.

Nicaragua is ready, in its current conditions of peace and

harmony, to support this new vision of the United

Nations, also based on a new vision of democracy.