Uruguay, 1995

In this changed world that came out of the

Second World War — more global and interdependent —

Uruguay wishes to reaffirm its confidence in the vital role

played by the United Nations in the preservation of peace

and in solving the main problems affecting the world, and

it wishes to confirm the validity of the enlightened

principles of the Charter, as sound today as they were 50

years ago.

During this period of time, Uruguay has brought the

message of its people and its Government to this

Assembly and to the peoples and the Governments of

brotherly countries throughout the world. The content of

that message has never varied: our conviction that

international peace can be achieved only through strict

observance of international law and resort to peaceful

means of resolving conflicts; our certainty that only a

democratic system and scrupulous respect for human

rights can ensure the full spiritual and material fulfilment

of the individual; and our unfailing trust in this

Organization, to whose creation Uruguay contributed half

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a century ago and to which we have given, and will

continue to give, its broadest support.

Through all these years Uruguay has consistently held

to those principles, contributing with its initiatives and its

votes to consolidating peace and ensuring that law and

justice take precedence over all else. We were the first to

accept without any conditions whatsoever the mandatory

jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. We are a

party to most instruments for the protection of human

rights. We have contributed to peace-keeping operations

since they first began, and Uruguay is the United Nations

Member contributing the greatest number of contingents

relative to its population and the size of its armed forces.

New realities and new international circumstances

mark the post-cold-war world, and the United Nations has

had to adapt its functions to the new demands, responding

to external circumstances through an imaginative

application of the Charter, which has kept the Organization

alive and valid throughout its history and has saved it from

obsolescence.

The international community today faces

unprecedented situations. Ethnic and religious

fundamentalism, international terrorism and drug trafficking

may not be new phenomena, but they have taken on fearful

dimensions by virtue of their access to powerful sources of

financing and the use of weapons of mass destruction. This

makes it necessary for the international community to

organize itself efficiently to combat them, even on the

battlefield of modern technology. In addition, these factors

are combined with new political phenomena, such as the

dismembering of multinational States, which has unleashed

age-old ethnic and religious rivalries. These facts, together

with the increase in the number of members of the

Organization, most of them developing countries, and the

lead roles played by certain States and regions, justify a

reform of certain institutional aspects of the Organization.

All Charter reform or constitutional development

resulting from established practice should tend to increase

the effectiveness of the Organization, avoiding at all costs

resorting to formulas which limit its response capacity or

which enshrine new inequalities among its Members.

On previous occasions, Uruguay has spoken in favour

of an expansion of the Security Council, seeking greater

democratization in that organ, which is vital for the

maintenance of balance and world peace. But the changes

made must ensure that while achieving greater transparency

and representativeness in that body, that do not have a

negative impact on its functioning and efficiency.

In any event, the need to carry out institutional

reforms should not lead us to blame the frustrations and

failures of the Organization on the fact that the

instruments for carrying out its tasks are not appropriate.

Whenever the political will of States was used to resolve

problems, the Organization was able to achieve its

objectives without there being any need to change its

structure or operation. Our efforts at reform,

consequently, should not lead us away from our

immediate duty, which is to face with our current means,

imperfect though they may be, the serious conflicts which

are affecting international peace.

We cannot but refer in the first instance to that

which affects the countries that emerged from the former

Yugoslavia. It has been hard for some of the parties to

understand that while a negotiated solution is difficult, a

military solution is impossible.

In the meantime, the civilian population continues to

suffer through the years — a population which has

become a permanent target of military action and the

victim of brutal manifestations of racial intolerance.

Behind this tragedy, and to a certain extent explaining it,

lies the sad realization that United Nations resolutions are

not being complied with by some of the parties. We

believe that the Organization should step up its action,

making maximum use of the political and legal

mechanisms available to it under the Charter, to prevail

upon Governments and authorities, directly or indirectly

involved in the conflict, to respect and abide by decisions

adopted.

There is no doubt that the road to peace may present

extraordinary difficulties but it is never blocked entirely,

as may be seen from the negotiations to put an end to the

long and exhausting crisis in the Middle East. We must

warmly congratulate those who have decided to replace

weapons with constructive dialogue, and express our

admiration for the intelligence with which these

negotiations are being conducted, especially the

persistence and inspiration with which the parties attempt

to overcome, not only the extreme complexity of the

problem, but also, above all, the violent opposition which

has tried to sabotage the peace process, resorting to the

most cowardly and inhumane of means. The results are

still far from satisfactory but they are also far from being

negligible. The international community is also duty-

bound to encourage these efforts. This General Assembly

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can contribute to this by avoiding including in its

resolutions on this item language which may have been

appropriate in the past, but which may be irritating at a

time when a genuine spirit of peace prevails among all the

authorities concerned.

The instruments for the second phase of the interim

agreement on Palestinian self-rule has been another

landmark in the peace process, which the parties in question

have been promoting with great resolve. With the signing

of this historic agreement in Washington, we can say that

we are closer to lasting peace in that tormented region.

There is a common thread which runs throughout these

conflict situations. It is an element which makes those

situations possible and which worsens them, and that is the

availability and sophistication of weapons. The international

community will not be able to prevent breaches of the

peace or avoid their far-reaching implications in terms of

the loss of human lives and destruction, unless concrete

measures are adopted with regard to regulation of the

manufacture and traffic in weapons. It is our duty to

revitalize the mechanisms which have been established to

this end, and to create new negotiating bodies, were that to

be necessary, to achieve concrete results.

Many developing countries, including Uruguay, a few

months ago decided on the indefinite extension of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a

way of consolidating the process of progressive

disarmament in this field. We did so in the conviction of

the good faith of the nuclear Powers, which argued in

favour of the extension. Unfortunately, after that,

underground nuclear tests have continued by some Powers,

which has led our countries to lose confidence in the

instruments we signed, and has left us with a feeling of

frustration and perplexity.

A few days ago in New York, concerned over the

seriousness of the situation with regard to those tests, the

countries signatories of the Treaty of Tlateloco in Latin

America and the Caribbean and the countries signatories of

the Treaty of Rarotonga in the South Pacific, which

established nuclear-weapon-free zones, condemned this

situation and reiterated the need to put an end to all types

of nuclear tests so as to create a favourable climate for the

conclusion of the comprehensive nuclear-test ban treaty,

which is being negotiated at the Conference on

Disarmament in Geneva.

While the end of the cold war has reduced political

tension and the risk of global confrontation, there are other

developments today that are more insidious but no less

threatening to the peace and well-being of nations, such

as drug-trafficking and terrorism, and a lethal combination

of the two. Uruguay, where fortunately we have not seen

the worst manifestations of this problem, has taken part

and intends to continue to participate intensively in the

cooperative efforts to prevent and punish such acts and

related crimes, in order to remedy their adverse effects

and to attack their social consequences. We support the

convening of an international conference on narcotic

drugs to focus on a comprehensive approach to the

problem, including the consumption, the production and

the trafficking of drugs, related crimes and the social and

economic aspects of the problem.

We are also undertaking maximum efforts to

promote concrete national actions to counteract and fight

against this problem, which could threaten our peaceful

existence and the stability of our institutions.

On another subject, for some time now the factors

which adversely affect the economic growth of

developing countries have been identified and decried.

Their nature and causes and effect have been examined,

and formulas have been discussed and proposed to solve

those problems, or at least to reduce the intolerable gaps

which exist in today’s economic world. After so many

years of discussion, the overall picture remains

unchanged, although mention could be made of some

isolated cases where dynamic centres of development

have emerged. The situation of the less advanced sectors

of mankind, where poverty and resulting hunger prevail,

where there is illness and illiteracy, this continues to be

an unacceptable idea.

The process of globalization of the world economy

and the economic opening that has been developing at the

global level in recent years have helped us to modernize

some of our production structures. Nevertheless, the

instability of the world’s financial markets poses a

permanent threat to our economies. The transfer of major

financial resources to and from our markets causes great

instability in capital flows in the world, leading to

concern and uncertainty, and threatens the accumulated

efforts of our peoples to establish a more just, more

orderly and more stable economic system.

Given this situation, we need to find new

mechanisms to create a more stable international financial

system and a way to predict potential financial crises that

do not impose regulations that hinder the capital flows

needed for growth and investment.

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The Group of Seven has pointed to the need to update

the way in which the Bretton Woods Institutions operate in

the financial sphere. Our countries are willing and entitled

to participate in alternative strategies to reform these

institutions that are vital to a world economy as globalized

as it is today.

The establishment of the World Trade Organization

marked the end of the longest and most complex

negotiations of recent years and a new stage of international

trade. If this new stage is going to lead to a more equitable

distribution of international trade, all States, particularly

those with the largest share in trade, must abide by the new

rules of the game. Uruguay hopes that these rules will be

respected, that protectionist policies and subsidies will

disappear and that barriers impeding international trade

liberalization and growth, especially trade in agricultural

products, will be broken down, as agreed in Marrakesh at

the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of the General

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

We recognize that as the international situation stands

our development will largely depend on our own efforts.

We attach great importance to international cooperation for

development, but are aware that our problems will not

disappear merely through external assistance. Today, the

major challenge before us is the need to increase know-how

and to apply it to development. Today, the only

comparative advantages are those derived from scientific

and technological progress, and a country’s relative

competitiveness will be directly linked to its ability to

generate, adapt and apply its know-how and to provide

permanent training for the population.

In this context, the countries of the Common Market

of the South, known as MERCOSUR, are aware that

according to the new world scheme integration processes

are a fundamental aspect of an ability to compete efficiently

with other economic blocs. We are promoting integration in

the context of a philosophy of open regionalism. We are

not trying to turn MERCOSUR into an ivory tower — quite

the contrary, because as we strengthen and expand it we are

trying to promote links with other countries of the region

and looking for common ground while respecting the

particular nature and modalities of each country.

We are also trying to strengthen ties with other areas

of the developing world, in particular with our fellow

countries of the South Atlantic region. In this context,

Uruguay reaffirms the importance of the Zone of Peace and

Cooperation of the South Atlantic that was solemnly

declared pursuant to resolution 41/11 of 27 October 1986.

In this framework, we fully share the aims of this

declaration and see the zone as an important instrument

for promoting cooperation in scientific, political, technical

and cultural areas.

We are convinced that security and development are

inseparable and interrelated, and that any progress in

terms of meeting the objectives of the zone will

strengthen cooperation between the States of Africa and

of the Southern Cone of America. This commitment is all

the more evident in the support given by the States of the

zone for the peace processes in Angola and Liberia and

the Bicesse and Abuja agreements respectively.

Unsolved global problems continue to weigh heavily

on our agendas. There is general solidarity with regard to

environmental protection, because we have clearly seen

what is at stake, namely our common destiny, and have

recognized that this is a task we must work at together.

Unfortunately, this solidarity has still not been translated

into concrete and effective action with a real ecological

impact. The physical deterioration of the planet continues

unabated.

Showing its concern for environmental matters and

its willingness to cooperate effectively and tangibly with

the joint efforts of the international community, the

Government of Uruguay has offered to host the second

meeting of the contracting parties of the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held

during the second half of 1996.

As a coastal country in the southern part of the

planet, Uruguay is particularly sensitive to certain forms

of environmental degradation such as the depletion of the

ozone layer, climate change and the contamination and

improper exploitation of the resources of the South

Atlantic.

Uruguay views the results of the Conference on

Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks

as highly auspicious. We hope that the draft convention

adopted will be approved in the near future and obtain the

ratifications needed to secure its entry into force, in

particular by the countries most heavily involved in

catching the fish covered by the convention. In this

context, Uruguay expresses the hope that the 1982 United

Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which our

country is a party, will be ratified as soon as possible by

the countries that have not yet done so. The general

application of the new law of the sea embodied in the

Convention can only be of benefit to all States. The

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system of protection and preservation of the marine

environment and conservation and exploitation of its

resources are just two of the many benefits to be expected

from its universal application.

In conclusion, Uruguay reiterates its opposition to the

unilateral application by one State of economic or trading

measures against another State and therefore urges that an

end be put to the economic, trade and financial blockade of

Cuba.

I wish to end by conveying the Government of

Uruguay’s pleasure to the President at his election to

preside over the work of the General Assembly in the

fiftieth anniversary year. We congratulate him on his

eloquent address on the assumption of his post and share

the views expressed therein. We are aware of the

Organization’s financial situation, but let us not make the

mistake of thinking that savings should be made by cutting

assistance and cooperation in the sphere of development,

taking development in the broadest sense of the word. For

every dollar we take away from this field, we shall have to

spend two on peace-keeping operations.

If we wish to speak in economic terms, it is cheaper

to prevent conflict than to have to resolve it later. Clearly,

the primary responsibility of the United Nations is to

resolve conflicts, but it is much more important to prevent

and avoid them. Can a price be put on human life?

I wish to reiterate that Uruguay, faithful to its peace-

loving and democratic tradition, will continue to participate

in the task of building a world free from violence, poverty

and intolerance — the world envisioned 50 years ago by

the founders of this Organization.