Spain, 1995

I

should like at the outset to convey to you, Sir, my most

cordial and sincere congratulations on your election as

President of the Assembly. Both Spain, Portugal’s sister

country, and the European Union, on behalf of which I

have the honour to address the Assembly today, are

confident that your work will meet with the greatest

success. I am firmly convinced that your experience as an

eminent professor of international law and your thorough

knowledge of international relations will contribute

decisively to the Assembly’s achieving its ambitious goals.

I should like also to thank Minister Amara Essy of

Côte d’Ivoire for the excellent manner in which he

conducted our deliberations during the previous session of

the Assembly.

Likewise, I wish to express my appreciation to the

Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, together

with my congratulations on the work he has accomplished

throughout his mandate.

In order to speed up the work of the Assembly, I

intend to shorten my statement, the complete text of

which will be published in a separate document.

I am addressing this Assembly on behalf of the

European Union, whose membership has increased to 15

States since the beginning of this year, thereby reinforcing

its capacity to fulfil its commitment to the purposes and

principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The

European Union, fully aware of the complex challenges

faced by the international community, wishes to reiterate

its full support for our Organization as a universal forum

for realizing humankind’s aspirations to peace and

security and economic and social progress.

Against this background, the European Council, at

its meeting in Cannes on 26 and 27 June, paid tribute, in

a solemn declaration, to the work of our Organization and

to the half-century’s activities of the United Nations.

In a few weeks the Heads of State and Government

of the entire world will solemnly commemorate the

fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our Organization.

Although this occasion will give us an opportunity to

assess the work accomplished by the Organization over

the course of its already long history, we must above all

reflect on the best way of preparing the United Nations to

meet effectively the challenges facing us at the end of this

century. Let me recall, with regard to this moment in the

existence of the United Nations, a thought expressed by

Jean Monnet in respect of the European Community,

when the latter was taking its first steps:

“This is only a stage towards the forms of

organization of the world of tomorrow.”

Indeed, the disappearance of old rivalries has not

meant the end of conflicts. Today we are witnessing ethnic

and nationalistic conflicts and humanitarian crises of

frightening proportions; a worsening of economic

inequalities; contempt for human rights; the systematic

violation of the rules of international humanitarian law;

genocide; the risk of the proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction; and the alarming deterioration of the

environment. These are some of the most serious problems

we face today. They affect us all, and we must all make a

commitment to solve them.

Although, as usual, a number of issues of concern to

the European Union are dealt with in detail in the

memorandum distributed as an integral part of this

statement, I should like to highlight some questions that are

especially important to us: the situation in the former

Yugoslavia, developments in Africa and the peace process

in the Middle East.

The European Union continues to attach priority

importance to reaching a negotiated, just and lasting peace

in the conflict that is ravaging the territory of the former

Yugoslavia. In this regard, we express our full support for

the diplomatic process currently under way and our

satisfaction at its initial results at the meeting held in

Geneva on 8 September last.

We believe that the United Nations forces in the

territories of the former Yugoslavia have played, and

continue to play, a fundamental role. Member States of the

European Union are among the main troop contributors to

these forces. I wish here to pay tribute to the United

Nations forces and pay homage to the soldiers who have

fallen in the cause of peace, many of them citizens of the

European Union.

The European Union has contributed substantially to

alleviating the tremendous suffering that the war in the

former Yugoslavia, and particularly in Bosnia and

Herzegovina, has inflicted upon the population. I wish to

express our firm commitment to continue providing

humanitarian assistance, both bilaterally and through the

relevant United Nations organs and agencies.

After more than three years of bloody conflict, the

latest developments in the peace process allow us to look

ahead with more hope. In this process, which we hope is

near at hand, the European Union intends to play a role

commensurate to its commitments in all aspects of the

implementation of the peace process, and in particular

with regard to reconstruction efforts. Violence has

destroyed property, but above all it has taken human lives

and destroyed peaceful coexistence. Our main task will

thus be to restore hope and offer decent living conditions

to those who are still suffering the consequences of this

catastrophe.

The European Union is aware of the great challenges

facing Africa. Proof of our concern is that we are

working to find peaceful solutions to the conflict in

Rwanda and to the conflict in Burundi, beginning with the

priority problem of the return of refugees. We support the

urgent convening of a conference, under United Nations

auspices, aimed at peace and stability in the Great Lakes

region.

Likewise, we support the initiatives for social and

political reconstruction in countries such as Angola and

Mozambique, and we welcome the work accomplished by

our Organization in Angola, which, following the Lusaka

peace agreement, has allowed for the establishment of the

third United Nations Angola Verification Mission

UNAVEM III.

We also favour a more active role for the

Organization of African Unity in the prevention and

solution of conflicts in Africa, and we are considering

ways of supporting the establishment of effective

mechanisms for preventive diplomacy and peace-keeping.

The European Union is also following the spread of

and respect for human rights throughout the continent,

and we are very much aware of the dire need of some

African countries. Since the revision of the Fourth Lomé

Convention, the European Union has attached particular

relevance to humanitarian and food assistance, and we

have made an effort to update our various development

cooperation programmes.

The European Union has always strongly supported

the peace process in the Middle East, initiated at the 1991

Conference held in Madrid. We warmly welcome the

Interim Agreement reached recently by Israel and the

Palestinian National Authority, which represents a new

and important milestone in this process, and we look

forward to the signing of the Agreement this coming

Thursday. Likewise, we are confident that in the coming

months we will see significant progress in the Syrian and

Lebanese negotiating tracks, and that the whole region,

which has already suffered enormously, will finally enter

2

into the dynamics of a comprehensive, just, stable and long-

lasting peace.

The European Union attaches paramount importance

to the work carried out by our Organization in general, and

in particular by the Assembly, in favour of peace in the

Middle East. That is why one of our objectives in the

session now beginning is to ensure that the various

resolutions adopted by the Assembly on the situation in the

Middle East contribute directly to the peace process,

following the guidelines established in previous years.

I do not wish to conclude this first part of my

statement without a reference to the work of the United

Nations in Latin America. Its presence in Nicaragua

through the United Nations Observer Group in Central

America (ONUCA), the United Nations Observer Mission

for the Verification of Electoral Process in Nicaragua

(ONUVEN) and the International Commission for Support

and Verification allowed for national reconciliation and the

holding of elections.

The mediation between the parties and the work of the

United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador

(ONUSAL) led to the historic achievement of ending the

long and terrible civil conflict in El Salvador, which

culminated in the Chapultepec Agreements of January 1992.

Today the presence of the Mission, which has the support

of the European Union, contributes effectively to

overcoming the obstacles that still persist.

In Haiti, the multinational force and the United

Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) played a fundamental

role in the restoration of democracy and in the

reconstruction of the country.

In Guatemala, the United Nations role as moderator

and the work of the United Nations Mission for the

Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the

Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human

Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) have brought about

substantive agreements on such important issues as human

rights, displaced persons and indigenous populations, which

we are confident will lead to a speedy solution to the

conflict. The participation of international observers in the

coming elections in November, supported by the European

Union, seems to us an effective formula. All these

achievements have been realized with the invaluable help

of the various Groups of Friends and the support of the

international community.

Conscious of the universality of the challenges that

lie ahead for the Organization, the European Union

attaches fundamental importance to the adoption of

measures allowing for the success and proper functioning

of the United Nations in implementing the mandates

entrusted to it by the Member States.

In this respect, the Organization’s serious financial

crisis, unprecedented in its history, seriously endangers

the United Nations capacity for action and is a source of

great concern for the European Union. Our Organization

will become powerless if it does not receive the necessary

political support from its Member States and the resources

provided by them, particularly through the full, punctual

and unconditional payment of their financial contributions,

in accordance with the obligations established by the

Charter.

Therefore, resolving the Organization’s financial

crisis is a priority objective for the European Union,

which overall is the main contributor, both to the regular

budget and to the peace-keeping operations budgets.

This constructive attitude is what led to the

participation of the European Union in the work of the

High-level Open-ended Working Group on the Financial

Situation of the United Nations. Our objective is to reach

a consensus as soon as possible — preferably during this

session — on the adoption of specific measures to bring

about an improvement in the Organization’s financial

situation.

The European Union wishes to underline the

increasingly urgent need to adopt a global package of

measures to solve the United Nations grave financial

situation. These measures should contemplate, inter alia,

a possible review of the scale of assessments so that it

would reflect as accurately as possible the principle of the

capacity to pay, as well as the establishment of incentives

and disincentives to encourage all Member States to

comply with their financial obligations.

The Agenda for Development (A/48/935), submitted

last year by the Secretary-General, identified the five

dimensions of development: peace as the foundation, the

economy as the engine of progress, the environment as a

basis for sustainability, justice as a pillar of society and

democracy as good governance.

The European Union attaches the greatest importance

to the completion, before the end of the session that is

now beginning, of a substantial and innovative agenda for

3

development, in which it is made clear that peace cannot be

built without at the same time promoting the social and

economic progress of the poorest people. Through the

decisions taken by the European Council held in Cannes, to

which I have already referred, the European Union has

made clear its determination to contribute yet greater

financial resources for development aid, within the

framework of both the Lomé Convention — in the case of

the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries — and through

financial cooperation with our Mediterranean partners and

friends.

Throughout this session of the Assembly we shall pay

special attention to the results of the important cycle of

major conferences held over recent years under the aegis of

the United Nations for discussion of various subjects linked

to development and human progress.

We need the Economic and Social Council to play a

more vigorous and more central role within the system; we

must ensure that the work of the Assembly and of the

Council are complementary, avoiding all duplication.

During this session the results of the World Summit

for Social Development, held in Copenhagen, will be

submitted to the Assembly. The European Union firmly

intends actively to consider these results, with a view to

identifying appropriate measures to ensure the follow-up

and implementation of the commitments undertaken at

Copenhagen. We must not allow the platforms of action

adopted at United Nations conferences to remain

unimplemented.

The Fourth World Conference on Women ended in

Beijing only a few days ago. The Declaration and Platform

for Action adopted at the Conference are a step forward,

backed by the results of previous United Nations

conferences, on the road towards the achievement of

equality, development and peace. These objectives were set

out in the strategies for the advancement of women adopted

in Nairobi 10 years ago.

The European Union has worked actively to achieve

consolidation of the results of the Vienna Conference on

Human Rights, in the field of human rights and

fundamental liberties of women, and of the Cairo

Conference on Population and Development. The Platform

for Action adopted in Beijing as a result of such concern

includes important progress in human rights, notably the

right of women to control and decide freely and responsibly

on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and

reproductive health, without coercion, discrimination or

violence.

Only three years before the fiftieth anniversary of

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the

international community cannot yet be entirely satisfied

with the progress achieved. This session will provide us

once again with an opportunity to take stock of the

situation regarding human rights and fundamental

freedoms in the world, two years after the important

headway made at the Vienna World Conference.

It is increasingly evident that respect for human

rights and fundamental freedoms plays a critical role in

avoiding potential conflicts. We must therefore

acknowledge the value of human rights in preventive

diplomacy. Some of the serious conflicts which have

recently darkened the international scene are inflicting

great suffering on the civilian population, as illustrated by

the alarming number of displaced persons and refugees.

In this regard, the European Union wishes to reiterate its

support for the immense task being performed by the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR) in this field. At the same time, we

are conscious of the harmful effects of ethnic and

religious discrimination on the emergence and

development of such conflicts, and we reaffirm our

conviction with regard to the need to move further in the

adoption of measures to fight racism, racial discrimination

and xenophobia.

The level of resources assigned by the Organization

to the promotion and protection of human rights — today

a mere 1.7 per cent of its regular budget — continues to

be totally inadequate. A significant increase in those

resources would have a positive impact on related areas,

especially on activities designed to assist development. It

is increasingly clear that development, human rights and

democracy are interlinked, as was stated in the 1986

Declaration on the Right to Development.

Furthermore, the European Union attaches great

importance to the role and activities of the Office of the

High Commissioner for Human Rights and wishes once

again to draw the Assembly’s attention to the pressing

need to provide that Office with the human and financial

resources required for the proper accomplishment of its

tasks. We likewise support the Organization’s efforts to

enhance the role and functions of the Centre for Human

Rights in Geneva, under the supervision of the High

Commissioner.

4

The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of

Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International

Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the

Former Yugoslavia and the International Tribunal for

Rwanda are essential factors in the struggle against the

impunity of those who violate human rights. The experience

of these ad hoc tribunals will undoubtedly help the work of

a future international criminal court, for which a draft

statute was drawn up by the International Law Commission

and submitted to the Assembly’s Sixth Committee at its last

session.

Mankind is facing a growing number of humanitarian

emergencies that require an effective response from the

international community in order to alleviate the tragedy

being suffered daily by tens of thousands of human beings.

The establishment of the Department of Humanitarian

Affairs has been an outstanding contribution to the

international efforts for humanitarian assistance, a field in

which the often hazardous work of non-governmental

organizations is also of paramount importance. We deem it

essential to implement the decision taken this year by the

Economic and Social Council on the need to review and

reinforce the capacity of the United Nations system in the

area of humanitarian assistance.

There is a need to enhance cooperation between all

organizations and people, in such a way that their

respective contributions may be mutually complemented

and strengthened, duplication of work avoided, and a

humanitarian continuum ensured.

We have witnessed important events this year in the

field of the environment and in the implementation of the

Rio agreements of 1992. Special mention should be made

of the positive outcome of the Conferences of the parties to

the Convention on Biological Diversity and the framework

Convention on Climate Change, the opening for signature

of the Convention to Combat Desertification, and the

establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests

under the aegis of the Commission for Sustainable

Development. We welcome those developments and

reiterate our determination to continue working, within the

Organization, towards greater cooperation in the field of the

environment.

The United Nations Charter confers upon the

Organization the principal task of maintaining international

peace and security and entrusts that major responsibility to

the Security Council.

The Security Council must continue to be the decision-

making centre for issues that affect world security and

must constantly adapt to currently existing situations in

order to strengthen the mechanisms set forth in the

Charter itself.

The Open-ended Working Group on the Question of

Equitable Representation on and Increase in the

Membership of the Security Council continued its work

during previous sessions of the Assembly. The members

of the European Union participated actively in that work,

and will continue to do so in the future.

The European Union holds the view that peace-

keeping operations and missions of preventive diplomacy

are and should continue to be the focal point of the

Security Council’s action in favour of world peace and

security. We welcome the updating of the Agenda for

Peace submitted by the Secretary-General at the beginning

of this year.

I would remind the Assembly of the European

Union’s commitment to United Nations peace-keeping

operations, illustrated by the fact that the Union as a

whole is not only the main financial contributor to these

operations, providing 37 per cent of the total budget, but

also the main provider of personnel. The European Union

stands firmly behind this substantial commitment to the

Organization’s peace-keeping endeavours. We have all

suffered heavy casualties in these operations, and it is of

the utmost importance that every possible step be taken to

ensure the safety of United Nations personnel in peace-

keeping missions.

Cooperation between the United Nations and

regional organizations in peace-keeping endeavours

should continue to be explored to optimize the use of

material and human resources and to put the mandates

entrusted to those missions into practice in the quickest,

most efficient and successful way.As an example of the

activity of the regional organizations in this field, let me

mention that on our continent the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe has already

developed a mechanism, still at an embryonic stage, for

preventive diplomacy, the establishment of confidence-

building measures and the resolution of conflicts. Acting

on an initiative of the European Union, the Conference on

Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) decided at

the Budapest Summit last year to reinforce cooperation

with the United Nations and with the trans-Atlantic

organizations.

5

Furthermore, the European Union is studying with

interest the proposal for stand-by arrangements. To that

end, the Union supports the proposals for headquarters of

a permanent nature, as well as for the United Nations stand-

by forces system, and we are studying with interest other

proposals which aim at improving the rapid reaction

capability of the United Nations with a view to shortening

the period for establishing a peace operation and facilitating

its subsequent deployment.

The European Union welcomes the great step forward

recently taken within our Organization by the decision to

extend the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) indefinitely. This

is fundamental progress in the entire disarmament process

and the pursuit of nuclear non-proliferation. The decision

adopted and the strengthening of the inspection procedure

and the principles and objectives of disarmament and

nuclear non-proliferation constitute an enormous step in the

right direction. We also welcome the steady pace of the

negotiations for a comprehensive test-ban treaty, which the

European Union hopes and is confident will be concluded

in 1996 at the latest.

We must now focus our efforts on the universalization

of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The European Union

invites all States that have not yet done so to become

signatories of the NPT. Another European Union priority in

the field of nuclear disarmament is the finalization of a

treaty banning the production of fissile material for the

manufacture of nuclear weapons and explosives. The

European Union regrets that the Conference on

Disarmament has not yet been able to set up an ad hoc

committee to begin negotiations on this issue.

Once again, we appeal to all States that signed the

Convention of the Banning of the Development, Production,

Storage and Use of Chemical Weapons and their

Destruction to proceed to ratify it so that it may come into

force as soon as possible.

Furthermore, the control and limitation of the use of

certain conventional weapons is also cause for concern for

the European Union. Through its common action, the Union

aims to continue to encourage the activities of the United

Nations in its fight against the devastating effects of anti-

personnel mines in many territories around the world. Also

in the field of conventional disarmament, we will pay

special attention to the results of the Review Conference of

the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the

Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be

Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or To Have

Indiscriminate Effects, in order to render it more effective

and to widen its scope.

We believe in the United Nations. We believe in the

universality, binding character and supremacy of

international law, which is the result of the development

of relations among nations and consensus among peoples.

The European Union gives its unconditional support to

the Organization’s ideals and actions.

We are sure that these first 50 years are but the first

stage in an unprecedented task that presents no other

alternative, given that its chief goal — that of assuring

that we all live together in peace, as well as the

comprehensive development of human beings — can be

attained only through disinterested cooperation among

peoples.