Spain, 1992

Allow

me first of all to convey to you. Sir, my most sincere congratulations, on my

own behalf and that of my delegation, on your election to the presidency of

the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session. I wish you every success

in the execution of your tasks during the coming months. I also wish to pay a

tribute to your predecessor. Ambassador Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia.

I should like to give a warm welcome to all those countries that have

joined the Organization this year, and I hope that their active participation

in this forum will contribute to the efforts of the international community to

preserve peace and promote justice and progress among nations. With the

admissions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia,

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, San Marino, Slovenia,

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the Organization's goal of

universality has been promoted.

I should also like to convey to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali

the respect of the Spanish Government for his efforts and dedication in

carrying out the important responsibilities with which he is entrusted. You

may rest assured, Mr. Secretary-General, that you can count on the full

collaboration of the Spanish authorities.

During the general debate at the forty-sixth session, the common

denominator of many statements heard in the General Assembly was the

tremendous changes that had taken place in the world since the middle of the

previous decade. Far from abating, the pace of that trend to transformation

has significantly accelerate over the last 12 months.

At this stage of the process, it would be no exaggeration to say that we

have before us a new pattern of international relations. After the

disappearance of the East-West confrontation and its replacement by dialogue

and cooperation, decisive progress has been made in disarmament agreements and

arms control, at both world-wide and regional levels. Long-festering regional

conflicts have been settled or may well be on their way towards settlement.

To the progress made along the road to peace in Angola and Cambodia we must

add the process begun last year in Madrid with the opening of the Middle East

peace conference, which constituted an invaluable point of departure for the

solution of the Palestinian problem and for achieving the necessary and

definitive harmonious relations between Arabs and Israelis.

Likewise, the current peace plan for Western Sahara should culminate soon

in the holding of a referendum on self-determination under the auspices of the

United Nations.

I also wish to stress the progress made in the eradication of the policy

of apartheid in South Africa. We fully support the efforts of the

Secretary-General to put an end to violence and to encourage the resumption of

the internal negotiations that must lead to the total eradication of apartheid

and to the establishment of a truly democratic regime in South Africa.

Similarly, the Peace Agreement signed in Chapultepec, on 16 January of

this year, between the Government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Marti

National Liberation Front constitutes a milestone of paramount importance for

the peace process in Central America, a region that has been in a constant

state of conflict for the past decade. Spain, which has so many links to that

region, has been and is still actively collaborating in that process through

its participation in the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General for peace

in El Salvador..

In that connection, Spain welcomes the exemplary manner in which the

Governments of El Salvador and Honduras have settled their territorial,

insular and maritime disputes.

The map of Europe has undergone a profound transformation over the past

year. The unification of Germany now appears fully consolidated. Russia and

the formerly subjugated countries that recovered their independence and

freedom are struggling to consolidate their democracies and to overcome the

serious economic difficulties brought on by their transition to a market

economy. The European Community, on its way towards union, is acquiring a

greater political role, in accordance with its undoubted economic strength.

Democratic ideals and practices and the recognition of human rights have

reappeared vigorously not only in Eastern Europe but also in Latin America and

many African countries, despite the grave economic situation now prevailing on

that continent.

Those auspicious events should not lead us to forget that the collapse of

the former system has opened up a great void fraught with risks in which

disorder may find a natural home. In some extreme cases, we are witnessing

the exacerbation of previously repressed or latent nationalist forces which

are giving rise to such bloody conflicts as those at present dividing the new

Caucasian Republics and the new States that emerged after the dissolution of

the former Yugoslavia. Such situations reveal that the horrors of the past

can always be repeated if we do not keep looking to the future. This is

something that neither Europe nor the rest of the international community can

or should allow.

The seriousness of the conflict now taking place in the territory of the

former Yugoslavia is a good example of what I have just said. In the

Conference that started in London, the many efforts of the international

community converged in an attempt to put an end to that complex conflict by

helping the parties to resolve their differences through the negotiations

currently taking place in Geneva. Aggression, the use of force, and the

violation of human rights will only generate destruction and hatred and will

meet with the continued condemnation and determined action of the

international community to put an end to them.

Meanwhile, the gap between the developed and the developing countries

persists and, in many cases, has even widened. Old conflicts have intensified

and new ones have appeared. The tragedy presently afflicting Somalia is

palpable proof of the terrible effects that underdevelopment, poverty, natural

disasters and violence can have when they coincide in time and place. This

situation demands greater solidarity and a swift collective response such as

the one decided in the framework of the United Nations, which was aimed at

putting an end to such terrible suffering and making possible a peace process

that will lead to national reconciliation in that country.

For all these reasons, after the initial moments of surprise and

euphoria, of perplexity and optimism in the face of what seemed to be the

emergence of a new world order, we are now coping with the need to incorporate

these new changes, so as jointly to build a more just and secure international

society.

This is the great task confronting the United Nations today. The choice

is very clear: we cannot allow the Organization to trail behind events,

letting itself be moulded by them. On the other hand, we can make the United

Nations an active forum and the foremost centre in the transformations

affecting us all, capable of influencing and shaping these transformations.

This alternative, this leading role, which is the one desired by Spain for the

United Nations, is the choice that seems to have been made by the

Secretary-General when he drew up his excellent report entitled "An Agenda for

Peace" (A/47/277),' and when he reported to the General Assembly on the work of

the Organization.

I referred earlier to changes in the international climate that have made

it possible to defuse various deeply-rooted regional conflicts. The United

Nations has contributed to this objective to a large extent through the

peacemaking activities of the Secretary-General carried out in the framework

of the peace-keeping operations. The results obtained over recent years have

made it possible to speak, truly, of a process of revitalization of the

Organization.

However, the present momentum behind this process has proven

insufficient, as demonstrated by the persistence of some old conflicts and the

outburst of new forms of violence. From this perspective, the Spanish

Government believes that the set of suggestions put forward by Mr.

Boutros-Ghali represents a very useful basis for a systematic and effective

response by the Organization and the international community to any kind of

conflict, whatever the causes and outcome. It is essential, to this end, to

secure the cooperation of all Member States in the complex tasks ranging from

conflict-prevention to the consolidation of peace.

The increase and enhancement of peace-keeping operations requires a

growing effort on the part of us all. Spain is aware of this and, after

participating in a noteworthy manner in the United Nations Transition

Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia and in the United Nations Observer Group

in Central America (ONUCA), is contributing with a large number of army and

police officers to the work of the United Nations Operation in El Salvador

(ONUSAL). Moreover, Spain is participating actively in the United Nations

Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM II) and is collaborating with the United

Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Spain is also

prepared to participate with a military contingent in the task of the United

Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, Spain

provides aid - mainly humanitarian within the framework of other operations

established by the Security Council.

The peace-keeping operations have also undergone a qualitative change, as

new and different activities have been undertaken that go beyond their

traditional limits. These new dimensions require special training and a rapid

response that can hardly be obtained if we do not follow the

Secretary-General's suggestion of establishing special national units ready to

be rapidly deployed at the service of the Organization. Spain is prepared to

consider this proposal seriously after appropriate consultations with the

other Member States and with the Secretary-General.

Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that peace cannot be made and cannot

be consolidated with the use of military means alone. It is necessary,

whenever possible, to resolve conflicts before they degenerate into armed

hostilities, using all the means for peaceful settlement of disputes provided

for in the Charter. In this context, I would like to underline the

Secretary-General's statement that greater confidence on the part of States in

the International Court of Justice would contribute significantly to the

Organization's task of peace-seeking. Spain has already given proof of this

confidence by recently accepting the Court's compulsory jurisdiction and by

supporting the possibility of authorizing the Secretary-General to request

advisory opinions of the Court on legal questions arising within the scope of

his activities.

Spain has firmly supported the strengthening of the United Nations role

in the field of preventive diplomacy. That is why we decided to co-sponsor

the initiatives leading to the approval, in 1988, of the Declaration on

conflict-prevention and, in 1991, of the Declaration on Fact-finding by the

United Nations in the Field of the Maintenance of International Peace and

Security. These efforts should be enhanced, and in this connection, such

measures as fact-finding missions, an early-warning system and the

reinforcement of the role of regional organizations can be very useful in

preventing conflicts which, if allowed to start, might later require the

launching of a much more costly exercise for the reestablishment of peace.

In this sense, we also believe that all efforts that could contribute to

the consolidation of peace once it has been reached, should be promoted in

order to avoid the resurgence of new conflicts over the not yet extinguished

flames of a pre-existent conflict. In this regard, I would like to underline

here the considerable increase in the Organization's efforts in the field of

humanitarian assistance, as well as the tasks recently carried out in the

field of electoral assistance in countries where democracy and peaceful

cohabitation are threatened or insufficiently established. The role of the

Organization on behalf of refugees has also been of great importance for the

consolidation of peace, as has its work in the field of disarmament and the

promotion and defence of human rights.

The Member States of the Organization must be aware that the new tasks

that we are entrusting to the United Nations are increasing in number and

complexity day by day, and are without precedent in its history. In order for

the Organization to be prepared to meet these new demands for international

action, the unconditional financial backing of each of its Members is required.

This year, we have completed the drafting of the text of the Convention

on chemical weapons, which envisages the prohibition of the development,

stockpiling and use of these weapons, as well as their destruction. The

elimination of this type of weapon is a long-sought objective that should now

be attained. Spain decidedly supports the adoption of this Convention at this

session of the General Assembly, and hopes that it will soon enter into force.

We welcome the proposal of the Twelve, adopted by the General Assembly

last year, to create in the Secretariat a Register of Conventional Arms with

regard to the international transfer of such arms, which envisages the

transmission of information by all Member States. It is necessary for all of

us to cooperate, so that this Register may be established as the

clearing-house for the exchange of information on all flows of conventional

arms, and in the near future to include information on other types of weapons

and other data concerning the military capacity of States.

To the achievements of the Organization in the field of disarmament and

arms control must be added this year other important progress made at regional

and world-wide levels aimed at reinforcing the stability and security of our

planet and thus the purposes of the United Nations.

I am referring to the withdrawal of all tactical nuclear weapons, from

areas where they were deployed until very recently, to the territories of the

United States and the Russian Federation. We must underscore as well the

agreements reached recently by President Bush and President Yeltsin on a

drastic reduction of the nuclear arsenals in their respective countries. We

also welcome the initiatives taken by several nuclear Powers to declare

moratoriums on their nuclear tests, or to reduce them to a bare minimum.

In the European region, one must underscore the significance of the

Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and its complementary Act on

personnel strength, both already in force, as well as the conclusion of the

Open Skies Treaty and the adoption of a new series of confidence-building

measures.

Spain welcomes all these achievements and hopes that they will lead to

further progress in this field.

The ultimate beneficiary of the United Nations efforts to achieve a more

peaceful, just and secure world is undoubtedly mankind as a whole.

Thanks to a large extent to United Nations action we have made

significant advances in the defence and protection of human rights and

fundamental freedoms internationally. However, we are living in a period of

instability and uncertainty, in which not only economic inequalities but also

the resurgence of intolerance, xenophobia and exacerbated nationalism, among

other factors, are endangering personal freedom and security. That is why it

is necessary to intensify our efforts in this area, so as to encourage

understanding and respect for the rights of individual members of minorities

and for the needs of the most vulnerable groups of society. In this respect,

we consider particularly important that this Assembly approve by consensus, as

the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council have

recently done, the draft declaration on the rights of persons belonging to

national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities.

My country places great hopes on the World Conference on Human Rights

scheduled for next year in Vienna. This Conference should, on the basis of

existing universally accepted standards, draw the basic guidelines for our

future activity in this field, so that individuals and peoples may, through

democracy and development, fully enjoy the benefits of human rights and

fundamental freedoms.

The achievements of the United Nations in the field of international

peace and security contrast with the limited progress in the sphere of

economic and social development. The world gap between rich and poor has been

widening in an alarming way. The United Nations Development Programme's Human

Development Report for 1992 shows that the richest 20 per cent of the world

population receive 82.7 per cent of total world income, whereas the poorest

20 per cent receive only 1.4 per cent.

The international community cannot remain passive in the face of these

grave and growing disparities. The Organization, owing to its universal

membership and the breadth of its purposes and principles, must play a leading

role to guide and stimulate the establishment of guidelines for the United

Nations system as a whole, in order to find solutions to the important issues

related to the development and well-being of all peoples.

It is necessary in this respect to strengthen the Economic and Social

Council. Some progress has already been made in its restructuring, but it is

necessary that such restructuring be continued and deepened in order to

revitalize this principal organ of our Organization. It also seems necessary

to envisage the reform of the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) in order to adapt it to the new realities, as was

underscored at its eighth session, held in Cartagena de Indias last February.

We support the establishment by the Assembly during its current session

of a high-level Commission on Sustainable Development that was agreed to at

the Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro last

June, where the concept of sustainable development was identified as a central

element that should inspire the theory and practice of development policies in

the coming years.

We should look for new ways of dealing with the main task of attaining

sustainable development and assign greater financial resources to this task,

in particular by those countries that are in a position to do so. My country

is aware of the fact that it must make an effort in proportion to its economic

capacity. For this reason, the President of the Spanish Government at the

summit meeting at Rio de Janeiro, after recalling that Spain had tripled its

official aid over the past 10 years, made a commitment to triple its aid again

in the course of the coming decade. This is a difficult challenge that we

have taken upon ourselves but one that we are ready to fulfil.

The world population has more than doubled over the past 40 years, and

according to recent estimates it will double again in the next 30 years. This

astounding growth demands a serious analysis on the part of the international

community as well as a careful study of the consequences that it generates,

such as migratory flows, the problems of large urban concentrations and the

enormous demands it creates in the areas of food, housing, health care and

education. These are all issues that should be studied in depth at the

Conference on Population and Development, to be held in Cairo in 1994.

It is not surprising that social problems are gaining importance at the

present time, when many economies are undergoing tough processes of adjustment

and others are going through difficult transitions from a central planning

system to one of market economy. The summit conference on social development

to be held in 1995 is therefore a timely initiative. Proper preparation is

the best guarantee for its success. The basic guiding principle for its work

should be the concept of human development; it should examine the necessary

measures to provide greater opportunities for education, medical care and

employment to the world's inhabitants. It is becoming daily more obvious that

economic growth in itself does not automatically improve people's living

conditions, neither within nations nor internationally. Therefore, it is

essential to give a social dimension to the concept of economic development.

Allow me to refer now to two great threats to society today: drug

trafficking and terrorism.

The drug-trafficking business is so grim and complex and has so many

ramifications that efforts to combat it must be based on the strengthening of

national measures and on effective international coordination and cooperation.

The producer countries must receive the assistance needed to grow

alternative crops and to enable them to confront the powerful and well-armed

drug-trafficking organizations. Those countries producing substances likely

to be used in the manufacture of drugs should inspect and control the exports

of those substances. Consuming countries also responsible for the

drug-trafficking must strengthen programmes and measures aimed at decreasing

domestic demand. Moreover, perseverance is necessary in inspecting bank

accounts used by drug traffickers and in reporting money-laundering when

suspicions of its connection with this illegal activity exist. Concealing

information on the drug-trafficking business amounts to complicity in criminal

activity.

Terrorism, for its part, continues to pose a threat to human life and to

coexistence between nations. It is a threat of an international character and

as such requires international efforts for its eradication. General Assembly

resolution 46/51, adopted by consensus last year, was a further step in United

Nations work aimed at developing greater international cooperation for this

purpose.

Those two threats, especially that of terrorism, are interrelated with

illegal arms dealing, which must be combated just as firmly by the

international community.

There is one issue whose importance for Spain is well known: the

decolonization of Gibraltar. I wish to restate my Government's determination

to continue, with dedication and in a constructive spirit, the negotiating

process with the United Kingdom established by the Brussels Declaration of

27 November 1984, bearing in mind the doctrine of the General Assembly that

this is not a case of self-determination but a situation that affects the

territorial integrity of Spain. I trust that the negotiating efforts of both

Governments will soon lead to a definitive solution that, while taking into

account the legitimate interests of the people, will put an end to the

colonial status of Gibraltar a status that is clearly anachronistic and

inappropriate to the times in which we live, especially since the General

Assembly's proclamation of the International Decade for the Eradication of

Colonialism until the year 2000.

Last July, in Madrid, the Heads of State and Government participating in

the Second Ibero-American Summit adopted a document of conclusions reaffirming

their aspirations to a free, open and pluralistic society directed towards

progress and social justice, a society in which free rein is given to the full

exercise of individual freedoms and in which no one is excluded or

persecuted. I am certain that this is an ideal we all share.

The Ibero-American Summit declared itself in favour of reforming the

United Nations system and stressed the need to give it momentum so that it

could respond more efficiently to the will of all its Member States. The

celebration, in 1995, of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations will

be a good occasion for the attainment of this objective, which will enable the

General Assembly to undergo renewal and revitalization, following on that

already experienced by the Security Council. The Organization would then more

faithfully reflect the important changes that have taken place in

international society during the last 50 years.

We are all well aware that in today's world no nation can stand on its

own. The fate of each and every one of our countries is linked to the fate of

the others. I wish therefore to conclude my statement by expressing the firm

conviction that in the new global and integrated society that is emerging at

the end of this century no intelligent action can be taken that is not based

on the exercise of the most resolute solidarity.