Panama, 1993

Please accept my warmest congratulations, Sir,

upon your election to preside over the General Assembly at

its forty-eighth session. I am certain that your election will

contribute to its success.

This session of the General Assembly takes place two

years before we are to celebrate the Organization’s fiftieth

anniversary. We long had to navigate through the stormy

waters of the cold war and ideological confrontation. It was

not an easy task. However, today’s world is different from

that of the signatories of the United Nations Charter. East-

West détente has given us renewed hopes, though we have

still not won the war against poverty and social

marginalization. Our main goal should be to make those

hopes a reality, if we wish to build a society where not only

a just peace but peaceful justice prevail.

Obviously, the reorganization of the Security Council

is not an easy task, and it becomes even more difficult if we

take into account the fact that, since the very moment the

San Francisco Charter was signed, the Council has been

made up of permanent and non-permanent members, and that

the right of veto extended to the permanent members has

given rise, among other things, to their being accused, with

some justification, of attacking the principle of the legal

equality of States.

The Republic of Panama is of the opinion that if the

Security Council is to be reorganized, the reorganization

must be carried out in such a way that the representation on

the Council of all United Nations Members is equitable.

Therefore, any reorganization must promote fair participation

for the developing States, as the situations that used to be

given as explanations for the way the Council was composed

and for the right of veto have disappeared now that there is

East-West détente.

Drug addiction has become the main scourge of

humanity. The Republic of Panama, like all States, therefore

has the duty to repress drug trafficking and the resulting

money-laundering activities on its territory, and to help

repress these illegal activities in all States. Panama, aware

of these responsibilities and of the fact that the effective

repression of drug-related crimes makes international

cooperation necessary, on 11 April 1991 Panama and the

United States of America signed a Treaty on Mutual

Assistance in Criminal Affairs, which was ratified by the

Panamanian Legislative Assembly on 11 July 1991. The

Treaty is currently awaiting the consent of the United States

Senate before the effects we expect from it can begin to be

felt.

On 1 March 1993, Panama and the United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed the Agreement on

Mutual Legal Cooperation on Drug Trafficking, which must

first be approved by the Panamanian Legislative Assembly

before it too can be ratified. In addition, and at Panama’s

Forty-eighth session - 5 October l993 5

request, the Central American countries have agreed to sign

a similar treaty, which will be opened to accession by all the

Latin American countries. Also, the Panamanian Executive

Branch has submitted the United Nations Convention against

Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

to the Panamanian Legislative Assembly for its

consideration; we are convinced that, once it is ratified, we

shall have at our disposal a valuable instrument in our

struggle against drug-related crime.

Human rights and fundamental freedoms do not come

as a generous concession from a State or its authorities.

They are inherent to the human person, regardless of

political, social, racial, religious or any other factor. Those

rights and freedoms are therefore inseparable, and must be

recognized and respected. The fact that those rights and

freedoms are inherent to the human person affords them a

universality and indivisibility that must be strengthened.

Violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms

do not only attack the person whose rights and fundamental

freedoms have been trampled on; they also attack

institutional stability, the constitutional order and the rule of

law. This is so because the person whose rights and

freedoms have been disregarded is inclined towards

insurrection or at least towards personal revenge, the private

vengeance of the eye-for-an-eye principle.

Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, or

violations of them, must therefore be examined not only as

a problem that affects individual interests but rather in a

much wider context, as a problem that affects society in

general. This is why most of the insurrections, rebellions

and fratricidal conflicts have their origins in violations of

human rights and fundamental freedoms to the detriment of

large swathes of the population. Such violations often stem

from a lack of democracy, from the absence of the rule of

law, from extreme poverty and from social marginalization.

While on the subject of lack of democracy, I wish to

state that, under the United Nations Charter, a purpose of

this Organization is

"To develop friendly relations among nations based

on respect for the principle of equal rights and

self-determination of peoples ...".

In conformity with the principle of self-determination, all

countries can adopt the form of government that best suits

them. However, by allowing dictatorial regimes to exist, the

international community takes away all the principle’s force.

The thing is that sovereignty - and the same can be said

of self-determination - can be harmed otherwise than by the

acts of outside States. They can also be violated by a

State’s own nationals, when they place themselves above the

popular will, as has often occurred; dictatorships have

disregarded just this principle of self-determination and have

so violated human rights. This is so because the only source

of public power is the people.

When a dictatorship disregards the principle of self-

determination or the peoples’ sovereignty - which occurs

every time a people is denied its inalienable right to adopt

the form of government that best suits its interests - it

violates sovereignty, and the principle of self-determination,

inasmuch as the State’s power to act does not have its

source in the people: it has its source in those who hold

public power with no more legitimacy - if it can be called

"legitimacy" - than the force of arms. In addition, when a

dictatorship disregards human rights, it deprives the

inhabitants of the State, the people, from whom sovereignty

and self-determination flow, of rights that every State must

accord its citizens simply because they are human persons.

I have allowed myself to briefly address the principle of

self-determination because I am convinced that a clear

understanding of this principle will contribute towards

strengthening its legal force, to the benefit of democracy and

the rule of law.

The situation Haiti is going through is worrying. The

Governors Island Agreement provides that, by the 30th of

this month, the constitutional President, Jean-Bertrand

Aristide, must once again occupy the presidential throne.

However, the de facto Government would appear to be more

intent on provoking violence than promoting the re-

establishment of the constitutional order. Since 3 July,

11 people have been given their quietus, including the pro-

democracy activist Antoine Izmeri, whose struggle merits

recognition throughout the Americas.

The Republic of Panama believes that the agreement

between the constitutional Government and the chief of the

Haitian Army must be fulfilled, and hopes that the

Organization, striving to live up to the principles that inspire

it, will ensure that it is.

Recognition of the State of Israel within secure and

recognized borders and the establishment of a Palestinian

State are acts of justice restored which international peace

and security make essential. Therefore, the Republic of

Panama cannot be indifferent to the Declaration of Principles

signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization

6 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

(PLO) on 13 September, or to the agreement on provisional

autonomy for the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

Since the formation of the State of Israel, Israelis and

Palestinians have been victims of all the damage that

incomprehension and intolerance can cause. The

confrontational relationship between these two peoples

blinded by hatred is summarized in the 45 years of tears,

pain and death. However, the wars and exoduses of 1948,

1956, 1967 and 1973, with their consequences of grief and

suffering, should now serve as evidence of the benefits of

peace. Therefore, a peace agreement between Israelis and

Palestinians should become a goal for the United Nations.

The atmosphere of détente to which I have already

referred should foster the universality of representation in

this multilateral Organization. Consequently I am gratified

to see that many States that have never traditionally had an

active international life, such as Andorra, Liechtenstein,

Monaco and San Marino - to mention only a few States

enclaved in the European continent - have felt the need to

join and support us in the important tasks we are resolved to

accomplish. It is in that spirit of universality that Panama

has supported and continues to support the initiative

designed to study now and in the future, with innovative

ideas and goodwill, the situation of the largest human group

that has no voice in this body: the 21 million inhabitants of

the island of Taiwan.

The Central American countries are striving to build a

peaceful, free, democratic and developing region. For that

reason, the efforts to bolster peace that have been initiated

require actions capable of solving our economic, social,

cultural and humanitarian problems in order to strengthen

our peoples’ faith in democracy.

The endeavours to achieve democracy, national

reconciliation and development in the region are obvious.

But in order to continue making these efforts we require the

cooperation of all States that believe in democracy, justice

and freedom. Therefore, associating myself with the

initiative presented by the Ibero-American Heads of State

and Government in Salvador, Brazil, I call on States and

international organizations to cooperate effectively with the

Central American Integration System (SICA) so that it can

promote and strengthen sustained subregional cooperation

and attain its fundamental goal.

The ability of we who inhabit the vast territories south

of the Rio Bravo to communicate with each other and with

Spain in the same language - a Nicaraguan poet once called

them the countries that love Christ and speak Spanish - has

created an Ibero-American community which today, in

meetings of Heads of State and Government, and together

with Brazil and Portugal, is determined to focus its strength

on the future, guided by the desire to take full advantage of

the similarities which bring us together to consolidate

opportunities for cooperation and solidarity.

This should be gratifying to the whole of the

Ibero-American community, since our faith in the future is

becoming increasingly obvious at each Summit. The first

Summit, in Guadalajara, created the forum of Heads of State

and Government; at the second and third Summits, in

Madrid and Salvador, respectively, we saw the initial results

of these commendable initiatives. It is also appropriate here

to note that the Final Document of the third Summit states:

"Without prejudice to the spheres of competence of

specialized international forums, the United Nations

General Assembly should focus its international

development cooperation policy on securing greater

access for developing countries to world markets,

adequate forms of finance and modern technology.

This will make it possible to overcome the obstacles to

development and, while benefiting the developing

countries, will also open up economic opportunities for

the industrialized countries, thereby easing the

migratory pressures exerted on them by those

legitimately seeking ways to improve their standard of

living." (A/48/291, para. 14)

I would feel most fortunate if the General Assembly

were to listen attentively to the demands of the

Ibero-American community, which feels that most of the

products of its member States have been repeatedly denied

increased access to markets which have been traditionally

accessible, as in the case of bananas in the European

Community, as well as access to financing and modern

technology. For our part, the Ibero-American States should

be resolved to put our financial situations in order and not

depend on the marketing of a few products, and we should

improve the quality of our educational systems, in order to

attain greater economic stability. The Ibero-American

countries should also resolve to turn the cooperation and

solidarity mentioned in the Final Document into sincere and

honest cooperation and solidarity, and not mere rhetoric, as

is so often the case. Only in that way will we be able to

profit to the full from the affinities that we share.

Panama will be the host country of the Summit of the

Ibero-American Heads of State and Government in the year

2000. This event will unquestionably have great significance

for my country. It will take place precisely at a time when

Forty-eighth session - 5 October l993 7

the Panamanian people have attained their most important

legal and political objective: recovering their rights over the

Panama Canal and freeing their territory from the

jurisdictional limitations imposed by the ill-fated Hay-Bunau

Varilla Treaty. That is so because the present Panama Canal

Treaty will expire on 31 December 1999. Consequently, the

Republic of Panama will then manage, operate and maintain

the Panama Canal. All the real estate, fixture improvements

and equipment that the United States of America will be

using until the end of the validity of the Treaty will revert

to Panama. One of the Panamanian people’s greatest wishes

will thus come true on 31 December 1999.

However, as important as achieving this legal and

political objective may be, it is the good or bad use we make

of the Canal and the areas that revert to us that will mark

our future in a positive or negative way. Thus, it is our duty

as a nation to manage the Canal wisely and to use in the

best possible way the areas that revert to us.

For that reason Law No. 5 of 1993 created the

Authority of the Panamanian Interoceanic Region, with the

objective of improving the use of the assets that are

reverting and will revert to Panama between now and the

year 2000. Similarly, on 6 September 1993 a draft bill for

constitutional reform was submitted to the Panamanian

Legislative Assembly; it is designed to add a new article to

Panama’s political Constitution which will create the Panama

Canal Authority, whose main function will be to manage and

operate the Canal. That will ensure that the Authority will

not be affected by any political shifts. Thus, the Republic

of Panama is preparing to manage, operate and maintain the

Panama Canal from 31 December 1999. This task will be

all the easier because the current Canal Administrator, and

87.7 per cent of the Panama Canal Commission employees

are Panamanians, not counting those with dual nationality.

On the basis of the Panama Canal Treaty, Panama and

the United States agreed in 1982 to create the Preparatory

Commission to prepare the points of reference for the

feasibility studies of a sea-level canal in Panama and other

alternatives to the Panama Canal. They also agreed to invite

Japan to be a full member of this Commission, an invitation

Japan accepted. These three States created the Commission

for the Study of Alternatives to the Panama Canal.

On 20 September last, this Commission presented its

final report, a Joint Statement of Commission Members,

which indicates that the "current Panama Canal with the

widening of the Gaillard Cut seems to be able to meet the

needs of international maritime trade until the end of the

second decade of the twenty-first century. However," the

statement continues, "before the year 2000 measures should

be taken to prepare the canal for the time when the current

Panama Canal will not be able to take care of the projected

traffic." Such measures include "future studies to firmly

establish the dates when improvements will become

necessary in order to start planning the required

environmental studies involved in the final engineering

design and the initiation of the construction".

According to the aforementioned report, the results of

the study indicate that the alternative of high-level locks,

with one lane of maritime traffic at the Gaillard Cut,

operating jointly with the current canal and capable of

handling ships of 200,000 dead-weight tonnage, is

marginally feasible.

In order to handle the projected traffic with the same

efficiency during the twenty-first century as it has been

handled since the opening of the Canal on 15 August 1914,

if not with even greater efficiency, the aforementioned

system of high-level locks will have to be built in time to

begin operating by the year 2020. As it does not have the

necessary resources to complete such a project, Panama

believes that the cooperation of the members of the

international community - primarily those who use the Canal

- is essential. We hope to receive that cooperation, for the

sake of the well-being of the Panama Canal users who so

urgently require it.

At the beginning of my statement I referred to the fact

that we are two years from the golden anniversary of this

Organization. We should prepare to celebrate that great

event by affirming, as its founders in San Francisco wished,

"faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth

of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women

and of nations large and small" and by promoting "social

progress" and "better standards of life in larger freedom".