Norway, 1992

It is a great pleasure for me to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election to your high office at such an

important juncture in the history of the United Nations. I should also like

to greet the many new Members that have been admitted to our Organization in

recent months. We welcome them all and look forward to cooperating closely

with them in our efforts to strengthen the United Nations.

Many of us had hoped to see a new, more equitable world order emerge in

the wake of the profound changes we have experienced over recent years.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case. The tragic conflicts in Bosnia and

Herzegovina and Somalia illustrate the challenges we are up against. In many

ways they are similar. Underlying ethnic, religious, social and economic

problems were "frozen" during the cold war. They were suppressed rather than

dealt with in a constructive way. Democratic traditions were not allowed to

develop. Some leaders have exploited the absence of democratic traditions,

appealing to narrow ethnic and even clan interests. The disastrous

consequences are brought home to us daily on our television screens. In

Somalia the political crisis has been deepened by extreme poverty and by

environmental degradation.

We must strongly condemn the unspeakable cruelties being committed in

Bosnia and Herzegovina and other parts of the former Yugoslavia. We cannot

accept, and will not recognize, any attempts to change international borders

by force. The parties must understand that they cannot achieve their goals by

armed force. I urge the parties to the conflict to cease fighting at once.

The "ethnic cleansing" in the former Yugoslavia is an unacceptable violation of

international law and must be brought to a halt. An international tribunal

should be set up to punish all those responsible for the war crimes that are

now being committed. All prison and detention camps should be closed down

immediately, and the captives must be allowed to return freely to their homes

without any further harassment.

Strict observance of the sanctions introduced by the United Nations

Security Council is essential to exert maximum pressure on the parties

concerned. As the former Yugoslavia no longer exists, Serbia and Montenegro

must apply for membership of the United Nations, along with other new States.

We must all give our firm and unequivocal support to the London Agreement and

the Geneva process. All parties to the conflict must now honour their

commitments. The United Nations Protection Force, in which we are proud to

take part, is doing a tremendous job under exceedingly difficult

circumstances, particularly in Bosnia. We must all stand united behind the

United Nations and refrain from actions that will only prolong the conflict.

Our first priority must be to alleviate the sufferings of the civilian

population by providing humanitarian assistance. A great number of human

lives will depend upon how the United Nations manages to protect humanitarian

supplies and monitor heavy weaponry. I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks

on United Nations forces engaged in humanitarian supply operations around

Sarajevo. Those guilty of these crimes must be found and brought to trial.

It is now of the utmost importance to prevent the conflict in Bosnia and

Herzegovina from spreading throughout the Balkan area. We must consider all

available means, and support those measures which have already been applied.

The recent decision by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe to

send observer teams to Kosovo, Sandzak and Vojvodina is an important step.

While we are grieved by the tragic war, we must not lose hope. We must

assist the people of the former Yugoslavia to accept and respect each other

and to come to terms again, making peace through reconciliation. We must

encourage the forces of moderation and good will; we must ensure that all

parties take part in a peace-making process. We must act justly - and, if

need be, forcefully.

In Somalia the United Nations must give top priority to providing

sufficient food and medical supplies to the starving people. This will be an

important test of our collective ability to respond quickly and effectively in

the face of natural and man-made disasters. Somalia also needs assistance in

finding political solutions to its internal problems, and, equally

importantly, in building a more sustainable economy. Norway supports a United

Nations peace-keeping presence in this war-torn country, and we are willing to

participate in such an operation.

The time for peaceful change in South Africa is running out. We condemn

the recent killings of innocent people, and call on the South African

Government to restrain the police and the army throughout South Africa,

including the so-called homelands. We are confident that this can be

achieved, if it really wants to.

We urge the South African Government to meet the reasonable demands of

the African National Congress of South Africa so that negotiations can be

resumed in order to work out the framework for adopting a new constitution and

establishing an interim government. Norway is prepared to contribute at a

practical level by sending observers to monitor the violence and facilitate

the negotiation process in South Africa. We will maintain our economic

boycott until we see some real progress in the negotiations.

All these crises and conflicts demonstrate the need for more effective

international crisis-prevention and crisis-management mechanisms. The end of

the cold war has opened a window of opportunity for the United Nations to live

up to the great objectives of its Charter. We must seize that opportunity.

The Secretary-General's report "An Agenda for Peace" (A/47/277) is a

starting-point for a serious discussion on how this can be achieved.

We need to consider further the circumstances under which the United

Nations should resort to real enforcement, mindful of our obligations under

the Charter. Burden-sharing is essential with regard to peace-keeping. Every

country has a duty to participate, including those which so far, for various

reasons, have refrained from getting involved.

Some 35,000 Norwegian men and women have participated in a total of

16 United Nations peace-keeping operations. We are prepared to intensify our

efforts in this field. But our collective efforts must move beyond

traditional peace-keeping into such fields as refugee-repatriation, electoral

assistance and human rights monitoring. This concept proved successful in

Namibia and is now being put to a new test in Cambodia. As a means of

improving our capacity for such broader operations, we have proposed the

establishment of a special United Nations institute for education and training

in peace-keeping and related activities.

There can be no lasting peace in the world as long as a large part of

humanity lives in misery and despair. Maintaining international peace and

security is a prime responsibility of the United Nations, as is promoting

economic and social progress and respect for human rights.

We must adamantly oppose any tendency to ignore the fundamental

challenges of the continuing North-South divide. Otherwise the very future of

our planet is in danger.

In spite of remarkable economic and social progress in many developing

countries, the inequalities persist. According to the United Nations

Development Programme's latest human development report, the richest

20 per cent of the world's population receive 83 per cent of total world

income, whereas the poorest 20 per cent have only 1.4 per cent. We cannot

allow these inequalities to persist.

The African continent has been particularly hard hit by economic decline,

and a concerted international effort must be mounted to reverse this

unfortunate situation.

To break out of the development impasse, increased contributions from the

industrialized countries will be needed, in the form of better market access

for developing countries, more investment, increased development aid and debt

relief for the poorest countries.

But the slow rate of economic growth and high level of unemployment in

most countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

limit demands for products from developing countries. The outlook is

uncertain, and the unfinished business of the Uruguay Round adds to this

uncertainty. Capital needs are enormous; competition for capital is fierce.

Developing countries are the losers.

The current financial and monetary instability poses great risks to

countries and individuals. We need to impose stability and prevent

speculation from throwing national economies into peril. There is no

alternative to effective coordination of financial and monetary policies. But

that coordination can succeed only when coupled with social purpose, a fair

distribution and public efforts to create employment. In fact, most of the

economic problems that we are faced with are linked to lack of coordination,

to rivalry and to laissez-faire attitudes among industrialized countries.

The developing countries are, as always, the ultimate losers. Their best

line of defence is to undertake policy reforms to mobilize their people,

educate them and and diversify their economies. Development is not likely to

accelerate without good governance, democracy, respect for human rights,

reduced military spending and improved redistribution systems, with increased

emphasis on health and education.

Alleviating world poverty is necessary if we are to reduce the rapid

population increase in many parts of the world. At present rates, the world

population is doubling every 40 years, and could reach somewhere between

8 billion and 14 billion by the middle of the next century. Keeping to the

low end of that scale will make all the difference to life on Earth and

humanity.

We must deal with population growth through an integrated human rights

approach, including education and the enhancement of the status of women,

improved public health and family planning.

Confronted with these great challenges, we find it a sad paradox that

development aid flows continue to stagnate and remain at less than half of the

United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Norway's official development aid has exceeded 1 per cent of our GDP for more

than 10 years, which reflects our strong commitment to the fight against

poverty.

At the Rio Conference on Environment and Development it was made clear

that we are heading towards a crisis of uncontrollable dimensions unless we

change course. The North as well as the rich in the South will have to change

consumption and production patterns.

Developing nations came to the Rio Summit with open economic demands, and

understandably so: for them, the Conference was essentially about development

and justice.

At Rio, we achieved progress in many fields, but too little in most

fields and none at all in some fields. We opened two important conventions

for signature. It is imperative that we make them more effective. They will

not work unless all major countries sign, ratify and implement them.

Furthermore, Rio made it clear that the challenges of dealing with

environmental threats and poverty are cross-cutting, long term, predictable

and unavoidable unless we establish a world order of burden-sharing, common

perceptions and common responsibility.

Therefore, critical decisions remain to be taken. Traditional

international conferences run by consensus can advance only at the pace of the

most reluctant mover in each field. The future requires stronger

decision-making procedures. Nothing less will serve us. I welcome the

high-level Commission on Sustainable Development and expect it to become

effective under a revitalization of the economic and social responsibilities

of the United Nations. Norway proposed the establishment of such a Commission

and expects to take an active part in its work.

The challenge of economic and social development requires a more unified

approach and stronger direction within the United Nations system. Over the

years the number of agencies, programmes and councils has mushroomed, with too

little inter-agency cooperation. This cannot continue. We must streamline

our organization to avoid duplication and to improve effectiveness.

The Nordic countries have addressed these challenges through the Nordic

United Nations Project. Although we have made some headway, we need to

proceed during the present session of the General Assembly.

In view of the greater demands now being made on the United Nations, we

must stress the importance of sound and predictable financing. Being the

eighth largest contributor to the United Nations system in absolute terms, and

by far the largest in per capita terms, we find it exceedingly difficult to

understand why so many countries fail to honour their obligations.

It is disappointing, to say the least, to read in the Secretary-General's

report:

"Perennial shortages, the absence of reserves, and a debilitating

uncertainty over the immediate future, are the main characteristics of

the financial situation of the United Nations." (A/47/1, para. 46)

Immediately preceding this sentence the Secretary-General points out that some

$900 million in assessed contributions are unpaid, together with some

$844 million dollars towards peace-keeping operations.

Frankly, this is an unworthy situation. We must increase our financial

discipline. The permanent members of the Security Council have a special

responsibility in this respect. And the question must be raised whether

countries should be eligible at all for membership of the Security Council if

they have not paid their dues.

We must be willing to provide the Secretary-General and his staff with

the necessary means to promote peace and to wage war against environmental

degradation and underdevelopment.

Our daily diet of printed and electronic presents a picture of a

world in need of better governance and of more coordination. Our present

forms of cooperation, developed in a less interdependent world, are still too

weak and unlikely to stand the test of time. We should not pretend that they

can.