Thailand, 1998

On behalf of the

Government and the people of the Kingdom of Thailand, I

should like to extend my warmest congratulations to His

Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti upon his unanimous election

to the presidency of the current session of the General

Assembly. I wish also to take this opportunity to pay tribute

to his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Hennadiy Y.

Udovenko of Ukraine, for his leadership and his tireless

dedication to the heavy responsibilities entrusted to him

during the past year. With his wisdom and experience, he

led us successfully through the fifty-second session, which

took place against a backdrop of political transition and

economic transformation in the world, as well as of the

reform of this Organization. Allow me also to warmly

welcome Ms. Louise Fréchette, who has brought creative

energy to her new post of Deputy Secretary-General since

the beginning of this year.

As we gather here to discuss United Nations reform

and other issues of vital importance to this world body, it

is imperative for us to be clear about what exactly we are

trying to achieve. To my mind, many vital questions beg

to be answered as the United Nations prepares to meet the

challenges of a new millennium.

One question that looms large above all others is:

What kind of global community do we wish to see in the

next century, and what role can the United Nations play

in such a community?

As Members of the United Nations, what are our

shared responsibilities, both individually and collectively,

in working towards a global community that fulfils the

vision of our founding fathers and reflects today?s

changing needs? By what means can we prevent the

current economic crisis from undermining the vast

progress achieved during the past decade in the social,

economic and political areas? In what ways can we

transform the challenges emanating from the crisis into

opportunities to strengthen the fabric of peace, prosperity

and stability around the world? When will we achieve our

common aspiration to a world in which democracy is

cherished, human rights are respected, sustainable

development is practised, economic freedom is exercised,

and people are given the opportunity to realize their full

potential?

I do not pretend to have the answers to all these

questions, but I am convinced that, together, we can assist

one another in addressing these crucial issues.

The United Nations should be exactly what its name

implies: a community of nations united in a common

vision and common purpose. For in this age of

globalization, our destinies are truly intertwined and

interdependent. One has to look no further than the

economic crisis to realize how necessary it is for us to

think and act as a global community possessed of a sense

of shared responsibility.

For, indeed, the United Nations can only be what we

make of it. The United Nations can only be an effective

and efficient instrument for peace and prosperity to the

extent that we, the Members of the United Nations,

demonstrate the will, the resolve and the commitment to

move the reform process forward.

I therefore wish to take this opportunity to commend

the Secretary-General for having so promptly responded

to the calls by the Member States to reform the

24

managerial structure and working methods of the Secretariat

and to strengthen cooperation among various United

Nations agencies. Now that the Secretary-General has done

what we have called upon him to do, we, the Members

States, must do our part to reform the intergovernmental

structure and processes of the United Nations, and we must

do so expeditiously.

What is plain is that the reforms will not be of any

meaningful consequence if we fail to deliver on our

support, politically and financially. It certainly serves no

purpose to talk about an enhanced role of the United

Nations if we fail in our responsibility to provide the

United Nations with the means and resources to carry out

its mission. For its part, Thailand has done its best to meet

its obligations despite the financial difficulties we are going

through. That is the least we can do to show our steadfast

support for the United Nations and the causes it represents.

But the reforms are not an end in themselves. They

are the means by which we can make the United Nations

relevant to the demands of the changing times. No one can

predict what new challenges the twenty-first century may

bring. Only one thing is certain, such challenges will be

more complex, more multifaceted and more demanding than

ever before. At the same time, many current issues promise

to play an increasingly significant role in the international

arena. These include globalization, human rights,

disarmament and illicit drugs. Allow me to touch briefly on

each of these issues.

The biggest and most complex challenge of our time

is globalization, which has emerged as an elemental force

of nature, not yet well understood but with the power to

build and the power to destroy. In the early part of this

decade, we saw mainly the positive side of globalization —

more open markets, greater material well-being, more

choice and more convenient dissemination of ideas and

information. As the end of a decade draws nearer, we are

also seeing that globalization is not without cost.

Economies are succumbing to volatility beyond their

borders. Seemingly isolated crises can send shock waves

rippling through the international system.

Over the past year, Thailand and a growing number of

countries have been penalized by the global financial

markets. We recognize that domestic institutional

shortcomings were partly to blame for the mismanagement

of the economy. Reforms are therefore being undertaken in

many of the affected economies, but they will likely take

many years to bear fruit. At this point it seems clear that

the severity of the crisis has been all out of proportion to

the severity of our mistakes. The crisis is no longer an

Asian crisis, but a global crisis and a systemic crisis.

The industrialized countries, insofar as they stand to

gain the most from globalization and lose the most from

a worldwide retreat from it, have an obligation to help

contain the spreading contagion. The perception that this

will stop at a certain point — at Thailand, at Indonesia,

at South Korea — has time and again been proven wrong.

Now, with the world teetering on the brink of global

recession, the G-7, by acting to check the financial crisis,

will not be performing an act of global charity but one of

self-preservation.

The destabilizing potential of unfettered global

financial flows, as demonstrated by the Asian crisis,

points to a glaring gap in our global economic

architecture. I wish to add my voice to the growing calls

for the international community — developing nations in

conjunction with developed nations — to come up with

a mechanism or framework entrusted with the global

monitoring and regulation of international financial flows.

The United Nations should propose a world conference on

the world financial system to be held in the very near

future. The proposal by the Committee for Development

Planning (CDP) of the United Nations for the creation of

such a body or mechanism also merits serious

consideration.

While such a mechanism is being worked out, we

must pay greater attention to the human and social costs

of the crisis. To cushion the impact, the Association of

South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue

partners will be discussing how to promote human

welfare and development within the framework of the

ASEAN Post-ministerial Conference caucus on social

safety nets proposed by Thailand.

In this age where ideas can be carried far and wide

by the currents of global media, such concepts as

democracy, human rights and sustainable development

have stirred the imagination of peoples in developing

nations everywhere. My delegation would like to

congratulate the Secretary-General for strengthening the

work of the United Nations on human rights, particularly

in bringing Geneva and New York together and

appointing Mary Robinson as the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights. Her grace, her

experiences, her devotion and her competency will

contribute to the protection and promotion of human

rights worldwide.

25

ln today?s global village, human rights have become

not a luxury but a necessity. Advancing the cause of human

rights makes sense not only from a philosophical

standpoint, but also from a pragmatic standpoint. Obstacles

to and violations of human rights lead to the displacement

of populations across borders, with a host of attendant

social and economic problems, posing an immense burden

on countries of first refuge, receiving third countries, and

the international community as a whole.

The primary responsibility for observing human rights

necessarily rests with the State. Respect for human rights

and civil liberties must begin at home. But progress can be

slow. Democratization is by definition driven by each

country?s own internal dynamics.

In South-East Asia the economic crisis has given

momentum to the struggle for democracy and human rights.

Governments are being challenged to reconcile rising public

expectations and demands with pre-existing norms and

institutional structures. It may well be that democracy and

human rights will gain ground as a result, but there is also

a lurking danger that Governments will respond harshly and

reverse any progress made.

In Cambodia, for example, a fragile democracy is

taking root, but the outcome is far from certain. Continuing

factionalism threatens to unravel the peace and stability

which took so many years to build. As a neighbour,

Thailand cannot but be concerned that should this latest

attempt at democracy fail, mission fatigue might set in.

After spending so much time, energy and money on

Cambodia, it is not unreasonable for the international

community to expect some compromise among the political

leadership, if only for the sake of the country?s long-

suffering people. It would be unfortunate indeed if the

international community were to give up on Cambodia and

turn its attention elsewhere. But Thailand recognizes as well

as any country that building democracy is not an overnight

process.

Thailand does not advocate human rights promotion

merely because it is fashionable to do so. Human rights and

democracy in Thailand were won the hard way — paid for

with blood, sweat and tears. Something that comes at so

high a price cannot but command great value.

Thailand therefore fully supports the United Nations

initiative to strengthen its human rights mechanisms and

believes that the global community should step up

international and regional cooperation to uphold and

promote fundamental human rights.

For Thailand?s part, the advancement of human

rights and democracy has become an integral part of our

national development policy. The most recent

manifestation of this effort is our new Constitution,

adopted in 1997. I am proud to say that this

Constitution — the most democratic in Thai history —

accords human rights in Thailand their most prominent

position to date and embodies practically all the important

elements of the international instruments on human rights.

Thailand also gives high priority to the advancement

of women and the protection of children?s rights, in

keeping with its obligations and commitments under the

framework of the international instruments, plans and

programmes of action. Moreover, as part of the

celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, apart from the organization

of a series of seminars, Thailand is making plans to

accede to the International Covenant on Economic, Social

and Cultural Rights.

Over the past decade, humanity has made great

strides towards global peace, but we have yet to fully

reap its dividends. Despite the end of the cold war,

nations continue to place greater value on armaments than

on meeting the basic needs of their people. One statistic

I saw in this year?s Human Development Report was at

once startling and disheartening. It indicated that just last

year the nations of the world spent a total of $6 billion on

basic education for their people, $9 billion dollars on

water and sanitation, $13 billion on basic health and

nutrition, and a staggering $780 billion on military

expenditures.

Of the potentially most devastating threats to

humanity, the proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction remains particularly worrisome. Thailand is

fully committed to the multilateral effort towards

disarmament. We welcome the establishment of the

Department for Disarmament Affairs, under the leadership

of Under-Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala, as part

of the Secretary-General?s reform measures approved by

the General Assembly last year. We will also continue to

support, financially and materially, the activities of the

United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and

Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, in spite of financial

difficulties at home.

Even as we continue our efforts to dismantle and

eliminate weapons of mass destruction, we must continue

to work towards reducing the conditions that would

prompt their use in the first place. Confidence-building

26

through closer dialogue and interaction must be a core

component of any effort to build lasting peace.

For nuclear weapons, the task of disarmament cannot

be left to only the nuclear Powers. The global community

must also bring pressure to bear to emphasize that nuclear

arms have no place in confidence-building efforts. Thailand

thus joined with nine other South-East Asian nations in

signing the South-East Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

Treaty, which has already come into force. We are hopeful

that the nuclear-weapon States will support our endeavours

in this regard by acceding to the Protocol of that Treaty.

Thailand also hopes for South-East Asia and the world

to be free of anti-personnel landmines. Multilateral attempts

to address the problem should not be confined merely to

the banning and destruction of landmines. The international

community must also tackle other equally important related

issues, including the provision of financial and technical

assistance on demining to mine-affected countries as well

as humanitarian assistance to victims of landmines. My

delegation has learned with great pleasure of the rapid

process of ratification by signatory States, which would

result in the Ottawa Convention entering into force less

than six months from now. As a signatory State, Thailand

looks forward to ratifying the Convention in the near future.

A more insidious but no less destructive threat to

humanity is the scourge of narcotics. We all know the

corrosive effects that drugs have on the fabric of society,

the lives and dreams they shatter on a daily basis. Yet for

all our efforts, the problem has never been completely

eradicated.

My Government has therefore made the fight against

narcotics a high national priority. On the occasion of the

twentieth special session of the General Assembly in June,

Thailand joined with other signatory countries of the 1993

memorandum of understanding on drug control to issue a

joint Declaration reaffirming our strong determination to

fight the narcotics problem. The following month, in July

1998, Thailand and its fellow ASEAN members issued a

joint declaration stating our intention to achieve a drug-free

ASEAN by the year 2020.

Thailand?s success in opium-supply reduction is a

matter of record. But effective drug control also requires

demand reduction, towards which the Thai Government is

also undertaking various national measures. Accordingly,

we welcome the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of

Drug Demand Reduction adopted at the special session

earlier this year.

As food for thought, I would like to reiterate my

delegation?s view that, for the next decade, international

drug-control efforts should focus on the problem of

amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) as well as on ways

and means to prevent the diversion of precursors used for

illicit drug production. This idea was recently agreed upon

by members of the Non-Aligned Movement at the summit

in South Africa. We urge all States to cooperate in

eliminating the supply of ATS and precursors, the illicit

market for which is now much larger than that for drugs

derived from narcotic crops, the natural sources.

As we approach the new century, it is becoming

clear that we are also entering a new epoch in human

history, unlike any that has gone before. As the forces of

technology, globalization and complex interdependence

exert ever greater influence on international relations, the

coming epoch will be one of great peril but also of great

promise.

The past year has shown us that our

accomplishments rest on fragile foundations. The world

now faces a crossroads. One path offers the choice of

working harder to forge ever stronger international

cooperation, spurred on by the prospect of continued

peace and prosperity. Or we can choose the other path

and remain apathetic and complacent, lulled by a sense of

our own infallibility.

The choice is clear enough. But the challenge will be

to translate all the good intentions into effective action.

Much uncertainty exists in the way international financial

markets work, in the appropriate measures and strategies

the international community will need to evolve in

response to new economic and political challenges, and,

of course, in the age-old problems of war and peace.

The United Nations, as always, will have a central

role to play in resolving the differences among nations

and regions, in ensuring the promotion of international

codes of conduct and norms, in strengthening preventive

diplomacy and peacekeeping, in bridging the gap between

the rich and poor nations, in fighting the scourge of

international crime, and in promoting and protecting

human rights.

The United Nations alone cannot achieve these

objectives. The fulfilment of our common hopes and

aspirations rests not only with the United Nations

Organization, but with the united nations of the world. It

is up to all of us to make the right choices, to make the

difference as humanity prepares to enter the new century

with resolve and hope for a better world.