General Assembly Session 50 meeting 40

The President

I should like to draw the General Assembly's attention to document A/50/444/Add.6.

In a letter contained in that document, the Secretary-General informs me that, since the issuance of his communications dated 19 and 22 September and 2, 4 16 and 18 October 1995, Chad has made the necessary payment to reduce its arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the Charter.

May I take it that the General Assembly duly takes note of this information?

The President

This afternoon we hold the last meeting of the Special Commemorative Meeting of the General Assembly on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.

The President

The Assembly will first hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Sali Berisha, President of the Republic of Albania.

President Berisha (Albania)

I deem it a special pleasure to congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of the General Assembly for its fiftieth session, as well as the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his skilful leadership of the Organization.

Today, 50 years after the United Nations Charter entered into force, we have come here with the unflinching confidence that the purposes and principles enshrined in it have served and will serve mankind to attain its aspirations to peace and global security, the equality of peoples and their right to self-determination, international cooperation for development and progress, and respect for freedoms and human rights.

The Republic of Albania highly appreciates the contribution of the United Nations during this half-century to the prevention of a global conflict, the settlement of conflicts, the enhancement of international security, and the mitigation of the suffering of millions of people caught in the grip of conflicts or poverty, and its support for economic development in the world and for the democratic process.

The United Nations is commemorating its fiftieth anniversary at an important turning-point in the great achievements of mankind, among them the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the communist dictatorships, under which many countries, including Albania, suffered a great deal. The fall of the Iron Curtain -- and the United Nations also had a positive influence on that event -- averted the threat of a large-scale confrontation and ushered in a period of difficult transition for the countries of Eastern Europe, but not only for them. In this process, international institutions turned out to be not always interlocking, but sometimes interblocking.

The international community, heading into the twenty-first century, is growing ever more aware of the need to redirect its advance towards a more reliable international order for everyone. The United Nations and its agencies can render a new contribution to this trend, to the benefit of present history.

As a Balkan country, Albania is greatly concerned about the infringement of human values and the violation of the international conventions and agreements in the former Yugoslavia. We have condemned Serbian aggression -- the cause of the suffering of millions of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina -- and the creation of "ethnically cleansed" territories by force. We support the peace talks initiated by the United States, and we take the view that the involvement of troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is vital, not only to establish peace and a lasting settlement that does not rehabilitate the aggressor in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also to prevent a chain of conflicts in the Balkans and beyond -- something that the ultra-nationalist forces would like to instigate.

Besides, the Balkan crisis started in Kosova, and without a settlement of the Kosova issue, there can be no long-term peace in the former Yugoslavia or stability in the Balkans. It is indispensable that the questions of putting an end to the violation of the human and national rights of the Albanians in Kosova, restoring the democratic institutions there and commencing talks between the Belgrade authorities and the legitimate representatives of the Albanians of Kosova, in the presence of a third party -- talks including the question of resolving Kosova's future status in accordance with international agreements -- be included in the package of Contact Group negotiations on a solution to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. By insisting on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 49/204 of last December, which includes these demands, the United Nations would be doing a great service for peace and security in our region and continent.

Albania remains determined to oppose the changing of borders through violence and to establish relations of regional cooperation with its neighbours. In compliance with this policy, we consider as a real achievement the commitment -- an undertaking by the Presidents of Bulgaria, Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania in this very palace of the United Nations two days ago -- to build an integrating horizontal transport and telecommunications corridor to radiate to other States, within and outside the region. This corridor will bring greater closeness and unity between our countries themselves, between the Balkan countries and the European Union, and between East and West. The project has aroused the interest of the European Union and the United States. We would greatly appreciate the commitment of the World Bank and other financial institutions to its realization.

I think that the vertical corridor between Ljubljana and Athens could be the object of another integrating project in the Balkan peninsula.

Over the 50 years since the inception of the United Nations, Albania survived one of the most bitter dictatorial experiences of the continent. In flagrant violation of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which it had signed, more than 400,000 Albanians were jailed, interned, tortured or executed, and thousands of religious institutions in the country, many of them centuries old, were dynamited and demolished.

I am very pleased to declare today that the rule of law and the market economy have been established in Albania and that all the former communist laws have been replaced. Though, in the past, it was a country where freedoms and human rights were prohibited by law, in Albania today there are hundreds of private newspapers and magazines. From a country where religious beliefs were banned, it has turned into a centre of religious tolerance par excellence. A country that used to regard the Bretton Woods institutions as enslaving, it now cooperates very successfully with them, as it does with very many different United Nations agencies.

Although it was the last State to sign the Helsinki Final Act, Albania today meets the criteria of the Copenhagen Document on human and minority rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Though, in the past, a country of total collectivism, the Albania of today attributes 75 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to the private sector and boasts a two-digit economic-growth rate and a one-digit inflation rate, while the GDP-foreign debt ratio is less than 10 per cent.

All this testifies that freedom is working in Albania. From the most isolated and closed country of the planet, it has turned into a country which has resolutely committed itself to full integration into the international community -- at the regional level by becoming a member of the Council of Europe, and at the global level by actively participating in the activities of this Organization. Albania has attached due importance to fulfilment of its financial obligations to the United Nations and has expressed its willingness, and made preparations, to provide troops for United Nations peace-keeping operations.

The decision of the Albanian Government to declare the country a candidate for a non-permanent Security Council seat allocated to the Eastern European Group for the term 1996-1997 is an expression of the will and readiness of Albania for more active participation in the Organization. We think that the small countries too can make a valuable contribution to the United Nations, and we consider the lack of equitable representation an expression of discrimination against them that violates the very spirit of the Charter.

The Republic of Albania supports the proposal to increase the membership of the Security Council, as this would better conform to the new reality and would add to efficiency in the Council's work. The increase in the number of Members of the Organization -- more than threefold -- over the last 50 years calls for a reassessment of the role of the small States, which are very interested in having a powerful Organization and aspire to making an active contribution to its activity. We consider it important to create conditions in which these countries enjoy more equitable representation on the main organs.

With the adoption of the Declaration at the end of these special meetings, the Republic of Albania will commit itself to cooperation towards revitalizing the role of the United Nations in the fields of peace, progress, equality and justice, with a view to serving the present generation and guaranteeing a better world for future generations.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Albania for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Fidel Ramos, President of the Republic of the Philippines.

President Ramos (Philippines)

As a country that signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in 1945, and as the current Chairman of the Group of 77, the Philippines considers it an exciting privilege to take part in the work of the United Nations.

In five turbulent decades we have seen the decolonization of virtually the whole world, the rise of human rights to the forefront of world concerns, the engagement of our world community in reform for the welfare of children, women, minorities and the environment, and, most of all, the work of re-engineering development in the poor regions of the world. Now we must ensure that this Organization is adequate to meet the challenges of a new era.

Let us remember that the United Nations was created -- as the Charter says --

"to promote ... better standards of life in larger freedom"

all over the world.

Today, we know that poor countries -- given the right policies and just a little assistance -- can actually develop and raise their standards of living. Yet, sadly, we find in the developed countries, and even in some of the more advanced developing nations, a deplorable effort to turn back the tide by closing their markets to exports from other countries and raising false issues about the environment and labour standards.

We must therefore now press forward even more intensively the work of the United Nations to spread economic progress and social justice, the lack of which is the root cause of conflict. Let us with equal dispatch strengthen the United Nations agencies involved in promoting social justice and economic progress.

The fact remains that the gap between rich and poor nations endures, and in some cases is widening by dangerous proportions. Peace cannot grow in any society gripped by poverty and misery.

In the work of peacemaking, adjustments are clearly in order. While the threat to global peace from nuclear confrontation has greatly diminished, in its place have arisen many regional and ethnic conflicts that are as deadly and that constitute both a challenge and an affront to the collective conscience of mankind. Therefore, we should not neglect the chance to push the United Nations into a more forthright stand against all acts, methods and practices of terrorism, for terrorism is a dagger aimed at the very heart of each nation's security, and at global stability.

Moreover, we must condemn the grotesque obsession with nuclear weapons and other instruments of mass destruction and work concertedly for the conclusion next year of a comprehensive test-ban treaty that will put a stop to all nuclear testing for all time.

On behalf of the Group of 77, I also draw the Assembly's attention to the problems arising from the large-scale migration of workers. For the great majority of them, migration means deprivation of rights, double standards in the eyes of the law and, worse, exposure to violence and abuse. We urge the convening by the United Nations of an international conference specifically to address the plight of migrant workers. That the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families remains to be ratified by many countries is just one more reminder of the difficult road we still have to travel.

Finally, let us not allow this commemoration to pass without addressing the issue of reforming the United Nations, its organization, its processes and its finances. The most efficient organization in the world cannot effectively function without stable and predictable financing. We therefore call upon all Members to fulfil their financial obligations to the United Nations and to do so on time. We support reform of the Security Council itself. We believe that the membership should be enlarged and reapportioned to ensure equitable representation of all geographic regions and of the developing countries.

This is not to express impatience with an institution that has served our world with such dedication for half a century. This is rather to express the hope that our United Nations of the future will be even more caring and proactive and the bridge to the fulfilment of our peoples' aspirations.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of the Philippines for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe (Zimbabwe)

The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations is indeed an occasion to reflect on its past, present and future role and function. We join the chorus of well-deserved praise to the United Nations for its sterling role in the prevention of global conflict and for its support of the various struggles for decolonization and the achievement of self-determination.

For us in Africa, the contribution of the United Nations in the decolonization and democratization processes has been an outstanding and honourable one, with the result that today southern Africa, once described by a Portuguese seafarer as a "region of storms", has finally and truly become a region of good hope where the oppressive settler regimes once consolidated by the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, apartheid and other ruthless systems of governance have succumbed to the revolutionary will of the majority, paving the way to peace, stability and regional cooperation.

But the departure of colonial rule has not left us unscathed. The ethnic and tribal hostilities fomented by colonial regimes in their divide-and-rule power strategy have persisted in several of our countries, tearing some of our nations apart. The intensity and viciousness of ethnic wars are as manifest in Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia and Somalia, as they are in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and yet genocide taking place in Rwanda is accorded less significance by the world than genocide in Bosnia. Somalia is left burning while catastrophe stalks. Western United Nations forces withdraw from Somalia only to deploy under the cover of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Bosnia. Where, we ask, is the brotherhood of man? Where, we ask, is man's impartiality? Where, indeed, is the proof of his non-racialism? Is it a scourge to be black, we ask?

What has happened to our universally accepted concept of the global village? Do we need drug traffickers, merchants of terrorism and pandemic diseases to be persuaded that the concept is real enough? I fear that, if we today neglect the tragedy of the millions of the starving poor and refugees, we shall tomorrow surely reap the whirlwind of another "black death".

The many changes that have taken place in our international relations demand to be reflected in the structures of our international organizations. The need for the restructuring and transformation of the United Nations to reflect the realities of today's world and not those of 50 years ago is exceedingly urgent. The Security Council, as now constituted, empowers only a small minority of the victorious allies of a war of half a century ago to continue to wield sweeping powers that enable it to take or block decisions affecting the destiny of the majority of Member States sitting in the General Assembly. This despotism in the Security Council, especially the power of veto, defies logic and runs counter to the very democratic principles and values that are demanded of Member States in their domestic political practices. We have listened to the statements of the leaders of these historically privileged countries, and none of them made any reference at all to the need for democratizing this institution. I ask them all to answer the question of whether or not they accept the principle of democracy for the United Nations. Is it yes or no?

Membership in the Security Council must reflect a fair geographical representation of all the regions in the world. Indeed, the United Nations system as a whole needs to be reformed and revitalized in order to render it more transparent, accountable and democratic.

Our hope that the establishment of the World Trade Organization would herald a new framework for an equitable and fair international trading system is already proving forlorn. Current trade relations are still bedeviled by the old reflexes of protectionism and unilateralism. The Bretton Woods institutions remain unreformed and, as their structures continue to defy democracy, they continue to act as dictatorial taskmasters on behalf of the world's rich and powerful nations, their harsh and punitive measures thus wreaking havoc on our poor societies still struggling to wriggle out from under the colonial legacy of misery and developmental neglect.

It is no secret that the United Nations is now in the grip of a financial crisis. For the Organization to meet its growing responsibilities and challenges, Member States have to honour their Charter obligations. A car without fuel will not perform; neither can a United Nations without resources.

In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm my country's commitment to work for a better world, while reiterating the view that the challenge of today is for us to transform and strengthen our world body for the benefit of future generations. A democratic world needs democratic institutions at both the national and the international levels. The United Nations must therefore reflect that world.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, President of the Republic of Lithuania.

President Brazauskas (Lithuania)

All of us gathered here in the most important assembly hall of the planet are united by the hope and belief in a new world order, in a world based on the unity of nations in the pursuit of peace and prosperity on Earth. It is not solely for the purpose of marking this special occasion that we should reflect upon the experience of this unique Organization. We must enhance its effectiveness and establish new collective mechanisms to surmount the challenges of the present and those that lie ahead.

Since the collapse of the bipolar system, the world has been more acutely confronted with old and seemingly intractable problems in the fields of international migration, population and the environment. New concerns dealing with the development and consolidation of peace, social justice and democracy have emerged.

Lithuania considers the State responsibility for good governance and economic and social stability to be the means to guarantee human security and prosperity. At the same time, we are striving to build a civil society that can actively and responsibly participate in the resolution of international problems.

Today Lithuania takes pride in its good relations with all neighbouring States. These relations are based on law and the principles of good-neighbourliness. To achieve this, we had to transcend negative historical stereotypes, as well as to overcome re-emergent suspicion and mistrust. The world could achieve significant progress if the majority of States succeeded in maintaining such cooperative relations with their own neighbours.

Today, the role of the United Nations has increased significantly in the realm of international peace and security. Lithuania supports the leading role of the United Nations in peace-keeping operations and the recommendations laid out in "An Agenda for Peace".

Present-day realities confirm that the ideological confrontations of the cold-war era have been replaced by long-term localized conflicts. The importance of preventive diplomacy becomes even more evident in preventing the outbreak of armed conflicts and the humanitarian crises that often accompany them. For this reason, Lithuania greatly values the work of the Organization in this area as well as in post-conflict situation management. The new era demands more effective and complementary interaction with regional structures, such as the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Western European Union.

We are in favour of a more defined distribution of goals and tasks and increased coordination of the respective activities of United Nations peace-keeping operations and preventive diplomacy missions. Lithuania actively participates in these initiatives and is willing to increase its involvement in the maintenance of international security.

Lithuania is well aware of the fact there could be no other United Nations. At the same time, we understand the need for reform of this institution. The United Nations, like its Member States, has had its share of successes and failures. The Organization has not had the capacity to keep up with the ever-evolving challenges facing the international community. The United Nations has thus fallen into a deep crisis and a difficult financial situation. Regrettably, this also points to a clear lack of collective political will on the part of Member States.

Reform must begin with the strengthening of the United Nations system and the expansion of the Security Council. Lithuania supports the inclusion of Germany and Japan among the permanent members of the Security Council and seeks to ensure the adequate representation of the interests of small States in this body. The Organization must resolutely meet the ever-evolving challenges to humankind: transnational crime, drug trafficking, international terrorism and the spread of AIDS.

We do not question the priority accorded to international peace and security issues. But the security and peace-keeping functions of the United Nations should not be pursued at the expense of economic and social programmes. We will seek to have the economic and social policy needs and priorities of the countries in transition reflected in the "Agenda for Development", as we did earlier this year with respect to the work of the international conferences in Copenhagen and Beijing.

Fifty years of United Nations work have been crowned with tangible and laudable achievements. Most importantly, the number of democratic States has increased dramatically over those years. The global nuclear threat has decreased. Yet the thread of life remains vulnerable. We have no other choice but to live together, seeking to better understand one another and to cooperate more closely.

That is the basis of my optimism and faith in man as well as in the future.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Lithuania for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, President of the Republic of Finland.

President Ahtisaari (Finland)

The founding fathers of the United Nations had the vision of a global system of collective security. Mindful of the lessons of the 1930s, they wanted to ensure prompt action by the United Nations to keep watch on the state of peace and security, seek cooperative solutions, and deal effectively with aggression. The cold war ruined this vision. Now we have the historic opportunity to restore the United Nations as originally conceived. Yet our Organization is crippled by massive non-payment of properly assessed contributions, in breach of Charter obligations. I am deeply concerned about this tendency to run down the United Nations.

It is also customary to criticize the United Nations and its Secretariat. I have worked in the United Nations, and I know that there are a great many dedicated and competent men and women in this Organization, led by our Secretary-General.

Today the world needs the United Nations for global governance: to foster peace and enhance the rights of every human being through sustainable development. Our immediate task is to provide effective follow-up to the successful conferences held in Rio, Cairo, Copenhagen and Beijing.

More than ever, the Security Council is needed to ensure effective action for peace. A representative Security Council, reflecting the realities of today's world, is the best guarantee of effectiveness. Finland therefore supports an enlarged Security Council, including new permanent members from all regions.

The end of the cold war has provided the United Nations with new opportunities to strengthen international peace and security. It has helped the world to focus on threats to our common security which are not amenable to resolution by military means. This is already true in Europe, the principal theatre of the cold war, with the European Union as the main actor projecting stability and prosperity throughout the continent.

Two recent reports of the Secretary-General have focused global discussion. "An Agenda for Peace" and "An Agenda for Development" provide a wealth of ideas to meet the challenges of the post-cold-war world. It is our duty, as leaders, to turn ideas into practice.

I shall take up one proposal which the Secretary-General placed before us in his Agenda for Peace. He has suggested that the United Nations should have its own rapid reaction force when there is an emergency need for peace-keeping troops.

I find myself in profound sympathy with the Secretary-General's concerns. My own involvement with the United Nations has convinced me of the need for the international community to react in a rapid and concrete manner to emergencies. I am convinced that the United Nations should establish, as part of the reform, an effective, integrated, multinational crisis management capability to meet the challenge of future emergencies.

Discussion to date has shown that perhaps the most practical way to make progress in the short term is to further develop the existing stand-by forces arrangement. Stand-by arrangements are not enough to guarantee the availability of troops. Therefore we must think ahead. The Nordic experience in peace-keeping provides a solid foundation for innovation. The Nordic countries have already created two joint battalions that now operate successfully as part of the United Nations peace forces in the former Yugoslavia.

A well trained and lean force that could be quickly dispatched by the United Nations or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to perform demanding humanitarian or peace-keeping missions is a necessity for the future. The Government of Finland is at present preparing a Finnish stand-by force for this very purpose.

I propose that the Secretary-General entrust an eminent person, independent and well qualified in both the military and political practice of peace-keeping, to sift from the plethora of ideas a limited number of practical and politically feasible recommendations for action by the time of the next General Assembly.

For five decades, the United Nations has sought to provide security in the broadest sense of the word. The world Organization has been a source of inspiration and an obstacle to cynicism. We may not always recognize its efforts, and we may sometimes even resent them. But we cannot do without it.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Finland for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Levon Ter-Petrossian, President of the Republic of Armenia.

President Ter-Petrossian (Armenia)

Armenia, as a State, was not among the original signatories of the United Nations Charter. Nevertheless Armenia, as a nation, had sent to the battlefields of the Second World War some 600,000 of its sons and daughters, nearly half of whom never came home. It is in their memory that Armenia, as an independent State, is proud to take its rightful place in this Assembly to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

In view of the situation in 1945, it was only natural that the Charter of the United Nations should deal primarily with the maintenance of international peace and security. The United Nations played a pivotal role in the reconstruction that followed the devastation of the world war, and it has so far been able to prevent the world being plunged into global conflict. Even during the cold war, the very existence of an international forum in which countries might discuss global issues prevented the outbreak of many conflicts.

The United Nations continues to play a constructive role in containing regional conflicts, for instance in the negotiations aimed at settling the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In this respect, I should like to reaffirm the resolve of the Armenian side to comply with the longstanding cease-fire and to transform it, as soon as possible, into a lasting peace.

Safeguarding peace is but one of the objectives of the Organization. The United Nations, and the world, have made significant progress on many fronts since 1945. Thanks to the decolonization process, the elimination of apartheid, the collapse of the old order and the emergence of new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union, hundreds of millions of people have been assured the fundamental right of self-determination and their rightful voice in the community of nations.

Our Organization has also enabled nations the world over to express their views on a broad range of subjects, including strategies for economic and social development, human rights, environmental protection and the promotion of international law. At the same time, the work of United Nations specialized agencies has directly improved the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

Armenia would like the United Nations to be strengthened and to be accorded greater respect. We are grateful to the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros-Ghali, for the tireless efforts he has made to reform the United Nations system in this changing world. Under his guidance, substantial progress has been made in the management of the Organization. At his initiative, discussions have taken place in recent years on the proposals he made in "An Agenda for Peace", in "An Agenda for Development" and, more recently, in his "Supplement to An Agenda for Peace'".

Before concluding, I should like to salute all those who have served the United Nations over the past 50 years, and to pay special tribute to the men and women who have given their lives in the line of duty. We honour their memory, and we pledge to continue their mission.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Armenia for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President of the Republic of Haiti.

President Aristide (Haiti)

I am pleased to greet Your Excellencies on behalf of the Government and the people of Haiti. Today, both in our own country and in the diaspora -- or our "tenth province" -- 7 million Haitians chant in unison, "Continued peace, happiness and success for the great family of the United Nations".

Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations is especially meaningful for the world's first independent black republic. It gives us the opportunity also to celebrate the first anniversary of the return of democracy to Haiti. Our return to Haiti, on 15 October 1994, after three years of exile, and the peace achieved through this democratic process constitute a political miracle. I say humbly but unequivocally that this is the first time that such a miracle has taken place anywhere in the world. It came about thanks to the heroism and courage of the Haitian people, to the leadership of President Clinton, to you, Mr. Secretary-General, and to all of our dear United Nations friends. Gratitude is the heart's memory; let the beating of our hearts express our intense joy at having together achieved this miracle of the century.

Now that peace has been restored, domestic production has increased by 3 per cent, while in 1994 it had declined by 10 per cent. By December 1995, the rate of growth may rise to 4.5 per cent. Earnings are 85 per cent higher than those of the two years preceding our return. Today they amount to 2.231 billion gourdes, or 7.5 per cent of our gross national product. Moreover, our budget deficit has been reduced from 1.4 billion gourdes to 350 million gourdes. In three years' time, 85 per cent of our population will be not illiterate, but literate.

These figures give us new hope and are a sign of the light of peace that floods our hearts, dazzles our eyes and drives out the shadows of violence. Gunfire no longer crackles. Zam yo bèbè. The army has met with disaster; it no longer exists. Li kraze. In our Parliament, I hope we shall soon be observing its official funeral.

The establishment of a national police force and the enactment of judicial reform are breathing new life into our democracy. Justice safeguards social bonds; it nurtures reconciliation, dignity and respect for the rights of the individual. It is in that context that legislative elections have taken place as we await our presidential elections, which are certain to be free, honest and democratic.

Yes, today the blooming of these first flowers of democracy is emitting a sweet aroma of peace and hope; may the great United Nations family spread this delicious perfume throughout the world. May this peace bloom at last in Bosnia, in Georgia, in Rwanda, in Burundi.

By the year 2050 the world's population will have reached 10 billion. May our hearts be fired by enthusiasm to prepare a better world for these people and to light up the history of mankind as it approaches the end of the millennium. In that way the United Nations will be crowned with a halo of glory, pride and peace.

If we all stand together, this will be possible, for: alone we are weak; together we are strong; all together, we are lavalas.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Haiti for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will next hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Bakili Muluzi, President of the Republic of Malawi.

President Muluzi (Malawi)

The United Nations is 50 years old today, and this is cause for celebration. Where I come from, old age is traditionally associated with wisdom. The United Nations has learnt from its experience and has become wiser with time. This is one of the many reasons why we, the people of Malawi, believe that the United Nations deserves to be supported, and to be treated with even greater respect than ever before.

It would have been nice if the United Nations had performed miracles these past 50 years. It would have been nice if, for example, it had succeeded in preventing human beings from wantonly slaughtering each other on a regular basis. The United Nations has failed to perform this particular miracle: human beings all over the world continue to kill each other for political, tribal, religious and all sorts of other reasons. Despite our wishes, the world has yet to become one big, happy family. And this means that the United Nations still has a crucial role to play in bringing peace, stability, freedom and justice to the world.

Malawi applauds the role played by the United Nations in promoting social and economic development and in championing the causes of the world's poor. The "Agenda for Peace" recently devised by the United Nations firmly established the linkage between global peace and development. The simple fact is that we can never have peace until we have social justice, and we can never have social justice until we address the economic issues faced by most of our Member countries today.

We also wish to applaud the United Nations for its campaign to promote the rule of law among Member States, as shown by the Organization's uncompromising insistence on the observance of human rights.

With the cold war over and political ideology playing less and less of a role in international affairs, it is unfortunate that one great country, China, remains divided for ideological reasons. Malawi therefore wishes to register its support for efforts to reconcile the two sides and to resolve the issue of division with a view to eventual reunification. This would be within the spirit of democracy which the United Nations stands for.

Malawi wishes to join other Member States in endorsing the platforms of action agreed upon at the World Summit for Social Development, the International Conference on Population and Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women, as constituting a noble and viable agenda for the United Nations as it sets out on the journey into the next 50 years and beyond.

Once again, the people and the Government of Malawi congratulate you, Mr. Secretary-General, and you, Mr. President, on this most auspicious occasion. Long live the United Nations.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Malawi for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will next hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Ernesto Samper Pizano, President of the Republic of Colombia.

President Samper Pizano (Colombia)

The commemoration of the first 50 years of the United Nations is an excellent opportunity to look at the past and plan for the future.

A review of history teaches us lessons we cannot ignore. Genuine multilateralism, that is, decisions based on the will of majorities, has allowed humanity to rid itself of some of its worst problems, such as colonialism, apartheid and the nuclear arms race.

Last week, in Cartagena de Indias, the Non-Aligned Movement held its XI Conference of Heads of State or Government, and Colombia assumed the chairmanship of the Movement for the next three years. In Cartagena, the Non-Aligned countries reaffirmed the full validity of the Movement and its will to work actively for the benefit and in the interests of the countries of the South.

The significance of our action will depend upon our capacity to give appropriate answers to questions arising from the international situation of the 1990s and to prepare ourselves successfully to face the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Although it is true that the cold war has ended, as we all know, poverty persists; so do the environmental problems that are turning our earth into a desert. Greed to acquire armaments still hovers over the earth like a spectre.

Old ideological barriers have given way to new ones: new protectionist trade barriers that limit the access of our products to the markets of industrialized countries; technological barriers that isolate us from the knowledge we need to achieve development; and ethnic and religious barriers in whose name some continue to kill each other.

In Cartagena, we reaffirmed our will to continue the struggle against all those new barriers that impede our development, as was once the case with the wall that separated two seemingly irreconcilable political systems.

The problems that affect our people have an increasingly transnational nature and this fact, instead of leading us to accept a new era of intervention, must be faced with a firm will to cooperate with one another. The great challenge before us springs from the understanding that the problems that are bringing us together march at a much faster pace than the solutions we should already have agreed upon in order to resolve them.

International solidarity is not only the best answer: it is the only answer. We need each other because the solution to world problems can be obtained only through common actions. One such common action is that required to tackle the problem of drug trafficking.

Colombia has been the country most victimized by drug trafficking and the country which has combated it most successfully. The year 1995 will be known to history as the period of greatest achievements against the drug cartels. The Cali Cartel has been brought to justice, and the eradication of illegal crops has reached unprecedented levels. We have put 80 per cent of the cocaine market out of business. Coca paste prices are now 10 times less than they were, while consumer prices have risen significantly.

Whether these achievements will bring progress in this struggle or not will depend upon the responsibilities that the countries of the world assume. We cannot continue this unending debate over who is responsible, with each country blaming its neighbour for its own faults. We have to understand that a business which moves more than $500 billion per year cannot be combated by one country or one group of countries acting alone. We are all responsible. The moment is now or never.

President Bill Clinton was right when, in his statement last Sunday, he highlighted the fact that the blows we have inflicted upon drug traffickers have been the fruit of our common work. He is also right in pointing out the need to face squarely up to the problem of consumption and its relation to the increase in social criminality. Colombia associates itself with President Clinton's declaration of war against the laundering of money and assets flowing from the illicit drug market.

Colombia is convinced that the success of these actions will depends on the extent to which they are carried out at the multilateral level, and not only in our country. Money laundering, which is typically an international crime, involves actors and behaviours that must be prosecuted and punished in all countries, wherever they may arise. Let us punish financial systems that, wherever in the world they may be, whether by omission or commission, allow the pollution of their accounts with the profits flowing from drug trafficking.

Let us punish all industries worldwide that knowingly sell chemicals used as precursors for the industrial processing of drugs. Let us penalize all companies, wherever they may be, that facilitate the acquisition of durable or non-durable goods or that promote the smuggling of goods into producing countries to facilitate money laundering and to hide these infernal profits, as well as those real estate enterprises that serve the same despicable ends.

Let us thoroughly examine the actions of the gambling houses, casinos, and lotteries throughout the world that pander to the unholy marriage between gambling and drugs.

My country, which has paid such huge human and economic costs in this often lonely struggle, has been asking for the convening of a world conference against drugs that will combine together the unequivocal will of the producing, consuming and distributing countries in the common and firm resolve to mount an integrated attack on this scourge.

It is almost 10 years now since we subscribed to the Vienna Convention against Illegal Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in the hope that it would serve as an instrument for the implementation of a strategy of this kind. It was certainly a great step forward. But we cannot declare ourselves fully satisfied: the trafficking and consumption of drugs have increasingly expanded to more countries, poisoning more youngsters everyday.

Colombia would feel that the memory of the thousands of victims of this long and cruel war would be redeemed if the world agreed to make a sincere and precise analysis of the need for effective international cooperation to overcome the most important problem affecting mankind at the end of this century: the problem of drugs.

The creation of the United Nations 50 years ago sowed the seeds of hope for mankind: hope for peace and progress, faith in peaceful mechanisms for the settlement of conflicts, and belief in multilateralism as we confront the most wrenching issues before humankind.

Today we have to rethink what we are, in order to know what we want to become. The Bible teaches us that without vision, the people perish. The task of the new United Nations system must be to regain that vision, so that we may continue to prevail as a civilization, as a democracy and as rational human beings.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Colombia for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Milan Kucan, President of the Republic of Slovenia.

President Kucan (Slovenia)

I have the pleasure of adding the sincere congratulations and fresh hopes of the Republic of Slovenia to those already received by the United Nations on this occasion. We have the right to trust the United Nations and, at the same time, to expect much from it.

The United Nations has undoubtedly justified its establishment in its 50 years of existence. However, the goals defined in the Charter of the United Nations have not yet been realized. On the contrary, in the key area of its activity, the maintenance of international peace and security, the United Nations is burdened by an alarming lack of success. Let me mention only Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans, because this alone is example enough. Its lack of readiness or its inability to recognize the true aggressive nature of the war against this sovereign country, a Member of the United Nations, and its procrastination and inconsistency in dealing with the issue of succession in the former Yugoslavia were serious errors. These errors could not be redressed by later political, military, humanitarian and financial involvement, although this managed to mitigate to a commendable extent the consequences of violence against innocent civilian populations.

I wish to stress that the genuine effectiveness of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security is of crucial importance for the future of the Organization. It must continually demonstrate its relevance, credibility, and legitimacy: it must confirm its capability. For the United Nations, every moment is the moment of truth, the moment to face itself.

The Organization is in its worst political and financial crisis to date. This seems to be a contradiction, since mankind expects ever more from the United Nations and has placed upon it increasingly heavy burdens for the maintenance and restoration of peace. Yet it is logical: under the weight of events the United Nations has not been reformed either organizationally, financially or psychologically. There is much truth in the thought that there is nothing wrong with the United Nations, but rather with its Members. The widely held definition of the United Nations is that it is the sum of its Members. This is true, but the United Nations is more than just that. If it were only the sum of its Member States, it would be similar to any other intergovernmental organization. But the United Nations is more. Through the Security Council it has at its disposal the attributes of State powers such as resources and arms. It can and must be the highest moral authority in the judgement of violations of the basic rules of international life, coexistence and human rights. From this point of view, the United Nations cannot be neutral. One of the conditions for the revitalization of the United Nations is whether it aspires to lay down moral standards in political and legal relations among nations. Such a role does not allow detachment regarding the worst threats to peace and cooperation, but rather demands moral engagement and commitment.

The moral credibility of the United Nations, the indisputable impression that it stands behind its principles, is the basis of the next major task the world expects of the United Nations: the implementation of preventive diplomacy. There is no one more suitable to engage in preventive diplomacy than the Secretary-General of a world Organization which is more than the sum of its Member States and more than the sum of the major Powers.

To become reconciled with ineffectiveness would mean abandoning the goals on which this Organization was founded. It would mean the self-abrogation of the United Nations. We must openly confront this danger. With all gravity, we must weigh the relationship between free will as a basic principle of the United Nations and the need for responsible conduct according to the principles stated in its Charter, a precondition for its effectiveness as well as for its reputation, authority and credibility. No sovereign country has been forced to join the United Nations. Membership is based on free choice, which presupposes an acceptance of the obligations and measures imposed by the founding principles of the United Nations. Whoever fails to respect these principles or acts in contradiction to them acts against the very essence of the Organization and can have no place in it. The door to membership must be open wide for all to enter if they wish, but it must also be open for the departure of those who work against the mission of the United Nations. Everyone must choose his own fate and accept responsibility for it. The principle of free will precludes indifference to, and lack of solidarity with, the common will and effort.

I hope that the Member States of the United Nations which have the greatest responsibility for the Organization have heard the expressions of concern at this session, that they have heard that preventive diplomacy and a policy of engagement by the United Nations must become a reality before emerging conflicts grow into acute crises.

Of course, responsibility for the future of the United Nations rests with all of us together. Slovenia has already presented its concrete proposals for the reform of the United Nations. We are a part -- a small part -- of this Organization. In it we have placed all our hopes, and we are fully prepared to carry our share of responsibility for its success, credibility, and effectiveness.

President Kucan (Slovenia)

The people of Slovenia trust that the United Nations will live up to the challenges of our time and fulfil the hopes of the coming century.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Slovenia for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Islam A. Karimov, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

President Karimov (Uzbekistan)

I want to take this opportunity to dwell on a number of issues which, to our mind, are significant in the context of the problems being discussed at this Special Commemorative Meeting of the General Assembly.

One of these urgent contemporary issues is that of regional security and stability. The seminar on security and cooperation in Central Asia held in Tashkent in September this year with the direct support of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was attended by representatives of 31 States and 6 authoritative international organizations. It reaffirmed that global security can be achieved through regional security; in other words, that the path to globalism lies through regionalism.

Achieving understanding among States in specific areas and regions, and especially in areas now called "hot spots", requires that we achieve peace throughout the world. This is of special importance for the Central Asian region, which possesses huge natural, mineral, raw material and strategic resources and which, more and more, is being turned into an arena for rivalry of geopolitical and economic interests, as well as for what I must call the ambitions of many States.

The continuing war in Afghanistan has actually begun to threaten peace and stability not only in Central Asia, but in the whole world. This war has already been going on for 17 years; it has brought immeasurable suffering to the Afghan people. This war is becoming a source of international terrorism, drug trafficking, and the proliferation of armaments, and is aggravating the already tense situation in neighbouring Tajikistan. We believe that the conflict in Afghanistan could be settled, first of all, by eliminating the interference of external forces. Such interference is the basic reason for the continuing war today in Afghanistan. We appeal once again to the Security Council to impose an embargo on the supply of arms to Afghanistan, irrespective of its source.

Afghanistan should be not the object of hostilities, but the object of peace and stability. Uzbekistan, as well as the whole Central Asian region, would like to see the implementation of the promising projects supported by many international institutions and companies and connected with construction of rail and transport communications through the territory of Afghanistan so that access for Central Asia to the Indian Ocean ports can become a reality.

These projects will help to involve millions of the Afghans in peaceful activities to create new, shorter communications as well as trade and economic ties, and to change, in principle, geopolitical realities in this particularly tense region of the world.

I feel it necessary to refer from this lofty rostrum to the ecological disaster connected with the drying-up of the Aral sea. This problem is acquiring a global character, and has a negative impact on the biosphere, the living conditions, the health and even the heredity of tens of millions of people.

Today it is absolutely clear that this problem cannot be solved without the support and assistance of international financial institutions and developed countries, with the United Nations playing the organizing role.

With regard to the need to reform United Nations structures and to improve its performance, it is now essential; first, to expand the membership of the Security Council by including as permanent members such States as Germany and Japan which today play an important role in world politics; secondly, to strengthen the powers of the Secretary General of the United Nations in order to ensure the effective implementation of United Nations decisions; and, thirdly, it is becoming increasingly clear that cooperation between the United Nations and international and regional organizations needs to be revitalized and United Nations regional structures need to be developed further in order to prevent and solve crises. Today the growing scale and volume of arms sales, especially in our region, are a cause of great concern.

Many countries do not even make a secret of the fact that arms sales have become for them one of the main and basic sources of foreign currency, and they pay no attention whatsoever to the question of who these arms will be aimed at tomorrow and what purposes they will be used for.

The situation in which the same interests are pursued through projects for selling nuclear technologies, even though they are accompanied by declarations of peaceful intentions, is of even greater concern. Uzbekistan advocates providing appropriate international guarantees on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the earliest possible conclusion of the comprehensive test-ban treaty.

We cannot agree with the rhetoric now ringing out here and there which is designed to take us back to military and political confrontation and conflict between blocs. For us, isolation is very destructive. The only right path for us is integration into the world community, despite the fact that we see certain difficulties and shortcomings in this process.

Today the newly independent States on the post-Soviet space are in the process of laying the foundations of their national statehood and advancing towards democratic reform, for which they need the assistance and support of the world community to implement reforms and expedite their integration into international political, economic and financial structures. I mean not only material and financial assistance but also, and above all, the moral and political support we need for our sovereign and independent development. It is now of crucial importance for us to further maintain the consistency and irreversibility of reform, adherence to democratization and a free market economy, stability and sustainable development, and mutually beneficial and equal relations with all peace-loving states. This will enable us to secure the place we deserve in the world community.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will next hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Juan Carlos Wasmosy, President of the Republic of Paraguay.

President Wasmosy (Paraguay)

It is a privilege for me to represent my country, Paraguay, as President of the Republic, at this commemoration today of the fiftieth anniversary of the entry into force of the Charter of the United Nations. It is also a great honour for me to be part of this historic moment in the life of the United Nations, since Paraguay was one of the founders of the Organization.

Paraguay has the same fervour and conviction today about the United Nations as it had when it signed the Charter, and it continues to support the Organization with a view to its pursuing its two main aims: the preservation and maintenance of peace in the world, and the construction of peace on the basis of the harmonious and balanced development of the Member States. Our firm belief in the ideals of the United Nations and our support are not shaken or destroyed by some failures which the United Nations may have suffered. We restate our conviction that this Organization is absolutely necessary in our world to carry out the two fundamental tasks the peoples of the United Nations undertook to accomplish after the butchery of the Second World War.

Paraguay solemnly pledges to continue to support the principles enshrined in the Charter and, in so doing, we give our full support to and have every confidence in the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Mr. President, you can be certain that Paraguay has honoured and will continue to honour its commitments with regard to the United Nations. Together, we have travelled a long road for 50 years and today we see with great satisfaction that the objectives for which this world Organization was established are being reached, although perhaps not as quickly as we would like.

Our growing experience, the increasing resolve of States to preserve peace, and the increasingly ardent desire of each and every State to make progress, to develop and to seek higher living standards for their peoples spur us on to strengthen this Organization, which stands at the head of a system that covers every human activity.

All States are duty-bound to support and contribute to the financing of the United Nations. Failure to lend the support it needs to be able to work towards its aims is inconceivable. States, large and small, have the same obligation to make available to the United Nations the means it needs to reach its goals. Paraguay is up-to-date with its obligations.

The Republic of Paraguay has been an enthusiastic and devoted participant when called on to act in various organs of the United Nations. We have also received since 1951 considerable technical cooperation, which we deeply appreciate, and we hope that it will continue since it is an important factor in the development of our countries.

Our Organization has played and continues to play a primary role in the world as a guiding light in questions of great importance in the life of nations, such as the monumental task of ensuring adherence to the principles of the protection of human rights, decolonization, support for democracy and freedom, the legal equality of States, the codification of international law -- a shining example of which is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea -- and many other principles that are now accepted pursuant to multilateral treaties.

At this time, Paraguay enjoys full democracy, with total freedom and respect for human rights. This political situation emerged after a long period of obscurantism, which, fortunately, was cast aside following free elections that brought to the presidency after almost 50 years a civilian who is committed to consolidating this democracy and to the ideals and principles of the national Constitution in force.

Paraguay accepts international law as part of its national legislation and recognizes international justice as the highest instance for the peaceful solution of conflicts. Thus, Paraguay has acted as mediator in the settlement of disputes and has often had recourse to international tribunals in regard to international conflicts and received judgements in its favour.

Paraguay, at the invitation of the President of the fiftieth session of the United Nations General Assembly, Professor Diogo Freitas do Amaral, and in keeping with its steadfast devotion to peace, has decided to make another contribution to ending the scourge of war and to cooperate in the peaceful settlement of disputes.

For those reasons, and inspired by the lofty ideals of the United Nations, I have the honour to announce to the Assembly my Government's decision to recognize as compulsory, in relation to any other State accepting the same obligation, the jurisdiction of the Court in all legal disputes, as set forth in Article 36, paragraph 2, of the Court's Statute.

The relevant declaration will be formalized and deposited in accordance with the provisions of Article 36, paragraph 4, of the Statute of the Court, once the parliamentary steps required by my country's Constitution have been complied with.

In conclusion, let me say that this decision to recognize mankind's highest Court is the result of prior consultation and has the blessing of my country's principal political entities. Paraguay wishes to renew its faith in the law as a part of the new stage in human civilization.

Thus, armed with the Charter, we will overcome our problems and reaffirm our principles, and, with imagination and courage, we will finally achieve the more just international society that was conceived 50 years ago by men and women who believed it worth while to struggle to attain freedom.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Paraguay for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will next hear an address by His Highness Sheik Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait.

Sheik Al-Sabah (Kuwait)

I open my remarks by offering to you all heartfelt greetings, coupled with my sincere wishes for the prosperity of mankind.

On this solemn occasion marking the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, I feel that the peoples of the world, despite their different persuasions, have come to a virtual consensus that this world body does indeed represent a real sanctuary to which they have recourse to resolve their disputes and address their concerns. This is especially true when small nations fall prey to threats by larger dictatorial regimes bent on devouring them.

I wish to take this occasion, on behalf of the people of Kuwait, to put on record our acknowledgement of the vital role played by the United Nations in backing my country in the face of aggression. At this point in time, I hope that the United Nations support will continue until the relevant Security Council resolutions are implemented in full. In this context, I wish to highlight the human tragedy of Kuwaiti and third-country prisoners who remain held in Iraqi jails.

Global confidence in the United Nations system has been on the rise since it has become a beacon of hope for alleviating and redressing the human suffering caused by aggression and oppression in all their forms and manifestations. We trust that the Organization will become even more effective in confronting mankind's global problems in the coming century. Such a contribution would indeed consolidate the lofty human values of benevolence, cooperation and interdependence for the common benefit of all human beings who yearn for a peaceful and dignified life.

There is no doubt that the aspirations pinned on the United Nations will remain high. If anything, this is yet another testimony to the relevance of and confidence in this great institution. At the same time, we have to be realistic and recognize that the United Nations is not and cannot be a miracle worker. In order to appreciate the immense achievements of the United Nations and their wider implications, we have to make a fair and balanced review not only of its political performance but also of its delivery in the areas of development, culture, social affairs and health, to name but a few. Special mention should be made of the services and aid provided by the United Nations specialized agencies to the countries of the third world.

We value the input of all cultures in the evolution of the parameters of the world envisioned by the founders of the United Nations. Meanwhile, we do recognize our due share of the historical responsibility for fashioning a community in which the principles of tolerance, understanding and respect for the rule of law and international treaties reign supreme. This would lead to a state of human peace of mind free of the threats of hegemony, the insanity of bigotry and the fear generated by war and aggression.

I come here on behalf of Kuwait to express sentiments of gratitude, to extend congratulations to the United Nations and to reaffirm our commitment to the principles enshrined in its Charter.

We look forward to a future full of hope and peace, and we pray to Allah, the Almighty, to help mankind realize the human aspirations embodied by the United Nations.

The President

I thank the Amir of the State of Kuwait for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Joachim Alberto Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique.

President Chissano (Mozambique)

The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations is a landmark in the history of humanity. We celebrate, first and foremost, the success of the United Nations in saving generations from the scourge of war. We celebrate the accession to independence of the countries and peoples under colonial domination. We celebrate our faith in the principles and moral values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

As we celebrate this jubilee, we pay special tribute to the founding fathers of the United Nations. Our challenge for the next century is to strengthen the United Nations further in order to enable it to deal more efficiently and vigorously with issues related to the maintenance of international peace and security and to promote sustainable development, human rights and fundamental freedoms. Only these can ensure a better and safer world for all.

The reforms of the United Nations system are a logical consequence of the increase in the membership of the Organization and of the winds of democratization blowing across the world. The United Nations needs to update itself to meet this reality. This requires innovations, particularly in the composition and working methods of the Security Council to make it more representative and democratic, thus allowing greater participation on the part of developing countries in general, and of Africa in particular.

We are at the dawn of a new era. We have the responsibility of making it an era of peace, stability and sustainable development for humanity as a whole. Development is the twin sister of peace. There can be no sustainable development without lasting peace, nor can there be a lasting peace without sustainable development.

Development is a basic human right. Consequently, we have to adopt common policies towards people-centred development.

Those summits and conferences which we have convened over the past five years reflect our conscious and collective desire and determination to attain the most viable solutions to the problems facing humanity. It is our belief that the most important element in holding summits and conferences is the implementation of the decisions therefrom.

When looking at development as a global issue we have to bear in mind the specific conditions and needs of the developing countries and take into account the social and human dimension of development. Conditionalities of development aid and financing, particularly by the Bretton Woods institutions, must be based on this reality if we want to ensure progress in developing countries.

We in Mozambique have recently benefited from the assistance of the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the international community at large in putting an end to a devastating war. We highly appreciate the role played by the United Nations in supervising and monitoring the implementation of the General Peace Agreement for Mozambique, which culminated in the holding of the first multi-party general elections, in October 1994.

Peace in Mozambique was made possible by the following fundamental factors: first, the outstanding political will demonstrated by the parties; secondly, the positive role played by all segments of society; thirdly, the spirit of tolerance and mutual accommodation; and fourthly, the significant role played by the international community. Our country considered itself to be an integral part of the United Nations operation as a Member fulfilling its obligation to work for the success of the Organization.

Our own experience in Mozambique underlines the need for the United Nations to bear in mind that peace-keeping forces operate on the basis of consent by the parties concerned. Therefore they must always act with impartiality and in accordance with their mandate. Furthermore, they must respect and abide by the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference, with due regard for each country's specificities. National institutions must be respected and protected.

With peace today we look to the future with optimism and renewed hope. The unflinching will of the Mozambican people to consolidate peace and democracy must be complemented by the creation of adequate conditions for rebuilding the socio-economic fabric severely affected by 16 years of war. As a measure of post-conflict peace-building we would like to stress the vital role of the United Nations and the international community at large in assisting countries emerging from conflict situations, particularly in supporting programmes for the rehabilitation of their economies and social infrastructures.

In conclusion, I should like on behalf of the Mozambican people and Government to express our highest appreciation of the positive role played by the United Nations in international relations during the 50 years of its existence and to reiterate our firm commitment to the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Mozambique for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Republic of Maldives.

President Abdul Gayoom (Maldives)

On this historic occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, I convey to you, Mr. President, and all Member States of the United Nations sincere greetings from the people of the Maldives.

Given only five minutes to speak, one has to be brief and focus on only a few of the most crucial issues that have a direct bearing on one's own country. Therefore, what I have to say today may be at variance with what other speakers have said, or will say, on this occasion.

For the Maldives, a small island nation, our top priorities are our security, our independence and the basic needs of our people.

Fifty years ago, the United Nations was created to serve all peoples -- rich and poor alike; big and small on an equal footing -- based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members. My question is this: has the United Nations been successful in the even-handed application of this principle and, more particularly, has the United Nations succeeded in ensuring the protection and security of small States?

Just a few weeks ago, a band of foreign mercenaries invaded another island nation, the Comoros, and toppled its legitimate Government. I did not hear of any United Nations action. In November 1988 heavily armed foreign terrorists attacked my own country and tried to do the same. We received no assistance from the United Nations to repel the attack. Following that traumatic experience, the Maldives raised the issue of the vulnerability of small States to external threats and foreign intervention, which led to the adoption of the relevant United Nations resolutions.

We do acknowledge what the United Nations did in the Middle East in 1956 and 1967, and in Kuwait in 1991. We want the United Nations to react with the same urgency, commitment and effectiveness to the threats that we small States are frequently exposed to. The security and protection of small States must be accepted as an integral part of international security and peace.

The coming into force of the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries would contribute immensely to the strengthening of international security. Regrettably, however, though the Convention was adopted by the General Assembly in 1989, only nine Member States have so far ratified it. I therefore urge all Member States which have not done so to ratify the Convention as a matter of priority.

The latest scientific research indicates that the global temperature may increase by as much as 6° Fahrenheit by the year 2100 and that consequently the oceans may rise by as much as one metre or more during the next century. My people want to know what the United Nations will do to save the Maldives and other small island nations from being engulfed by the sea. Indeed, the small island nations are most susceptible to the dangers of environmental crises as well, especially those due to climate change and sea-level rise. Unless the industrialized countries drastically cut down the emission of greenhouse gases, with immediate effect, the small island States and other low-lying areas will face an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.

The achievements of the United Nations in the past 50 years have been many. Through its decolonization efforts, more than 100 independent nations have come into being. Apartheid has been dismantled. Human rights and good governance have acquired high priority. The rights of women have gained ascendancy worldwide. Measures relating to youth development and child welfare have become key components of national and international social programmes.

Despite these gains, the issues of the social and economic development of many countries have remained extremely critical. The evils of drug abuse and terrorism plague our lives. The unsustainable management of the world's natural resources and the rapid deterioration of the Earth's environment have become problems of global magnitude. It is imperative that the United Nations take timely action to save succeeding generations from the scourges not only of war, but of these new dangers as well.

We are about to enter a new millennium in circumstances vastly changed from those of the time when the United Nations was born. Today the world needs an Organization that will aim at a world of shared economic prosperity and national security and one in which communities can live in harmony with one another and with the environment.

The United Nations is here to stay. We owe it to the coming generations to keep the flame burning and light up humanity's path to a brighter future in a more equitable world.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Maldives for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will next hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Carlos Roberto Reina, President of the Republic of Honduras.

President Reina (Honduras)

The United Nations is completing 50 years of existence on the threshold of a new century and a new millennium, which means we have a twofold obligation: to think about both the work done by the Organization in that period and the challenges of the years ahead. Balancing the books and considering prospects are the obligatory tasks of this anniversary.

The world that emerged from the Second World War did not live up to the dreams of the victorious peoples, and it still has not done so. No sooner had the flames of combat been extinguished than that special sort of struggle known as the cold war began, dividing the planet into adversarial spheres of influence. The Organization was born between fear and hope. None the less, it was the best idea of modern times and the best option for the peace and prosperity of peoples.

The world body has continued to grow throughout these 50 long years. Today it is a great family of departments and agencies whose vast network of competences and activities covers mankind's most important focuses of concern. Its work in the field of development shows how gravely peace is affected by the separation between developed and developing countries and the persistent inequity in the distribution of wealth between the tightly knit circle of affluence and the large circle of marginalization and poverty.

The poor of the world have a right to expect this planetary forum to spectacularly light up the path to justice and well-being. At present, the way for States, particularly the poorest States, to follow that path is by making economic readjustments in order to find and perfect models selected for their correspondence with the material values of the industrialized societies. This paradigm is inadequate. No country in the world can speak of progress while the great majority of peoples suffer from hunger and thirst for justice, however different might be the abstract reality reflected by macroeconomic indicators.

We are urged to consider new propositions. But we are now searching for the human being in development, the spirit in the meshing of gears, a fellow man who stands here, now, and who cannot now or ever be represented by the gross national product or per capita income. What really matters is not the civilization of capital, but the culture that system can engender if it remembers that the tool is less important than the hand that moves it. This woman, this man and this child are the true centre of our concerns, and not a number lost in the vague dimension of surveys and averages.

The United Nations must help us find the humanism of our times. As if in a new Renaissance, we must erect a heretofore unseen concept of man on the shoulders of science and technology, a concept by which the importance of material things is found in their relationship with the higher levels of humanitarian conscience. This road begins by vanquishing poverty, defeating illegitimate power, breaking corruption and impunity and establishing a world order loved and sustained by all. There is no better definition of a future democracy.

In Central America we are working on a comprehensive agenda of development in which political, economical, social, cultural and environmental issues receive equal attention, given the multidimensional character of the human being. We started an alliance for sustained development, and we want the rest of the world to participate in order to exemplify a new understanding of the relations between the peoples of the United Nations.

My country, the Republic of Honduras, is pledged to carrying out a genuine moral revolution and a national convergence process leading to a Government by consensus. Thus, we shall enter the new century in a new way in order to bury for ever the vices and errors of the past. We are convinced that the United Nations, this alliance of the peoples of the world, will enter the second half of its first century with a renewed spirit of humanism, solidarity and full conviction that respect for the legitimate will of peoples is the sturdiest foundation for peace, that desideratum of the new United Nations.

The President

I thank the President of the Republic of Honduras for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic.

President Havel (Czech Republic)

Allow me a few words about my vision of the United Nations in the twenty-first century.

I am deeply convinced that the primeval foundations of the broad spectrum of cultures, spheres of civilization and worlds of religion which we represent here contain certain basic moral principles which are identical to them all and which offer a key to human coexistence on this Earth of ours. I am convinced that we all share certain most profound experiences with ourselves, with the miracle of our very existence and with the miracle of the universe of which we are a part. If the future of mankind is not to be jeopardized by conflicting spheres of civilization and culture, we have no alternative but to shift the ray of our attention from that which separates us to that which unites us. This is where I see the only possible source of a new spirit, of a new ethos of world cooperation, as well as of humanity's renewed responsibility for the world. This, too, is where I sense the only possible spiritual basis of any future meaningful existence of the United Nations.

So far, it seems to me, the United Nations has, above all, served States and their Governments in reaching various agreements, but also in their competing interests, rivalries and prestige. In my vision, the United Nations of the future would become more clearly an instrument serving all inhabitants of our planet, an instrument for pursuing their good life together. The point is not to expropriate any part of their internal identification with their own country, their people, their religious or cultural roots. The point is to forge a world in which everyone could be himself without being menaced by another, in which we would all feel that there are values which we all share and whose protection and nurturing are in the interest of us all. The form of a twenty-first century United Nations could be shaped precisely by this spirit, by this sense of responsibility.

I have a vision of the United Nations General Assembly one day resembling a parliament of the world.

I have a vision of the United Nations Security Council assuming additional tasks. One day, it might become the focal point for the operational decision-making of this world Organization on all basic issues that concern it. Its permanent members, their composition better balanced than now, should one day include the most populous and most influential countries of the world, representing different continents and spheres of civilization, indeed even certain integrated groups of States pursuing a joint foreign policy.

I have a vision of the United Nations one day establishing a permanent strike force capable of stopping aggressors, as well as a permanent peace-keeping force, with more of a policing role.

I have a vision of the United Nations of the twenty-first century dealing only with matters that no one else can deal with, and only with matters it can really affect. For quite a few of the issues it takes on today could probably be better dealt with by other global or regional organizations. All the more effectively and flexibly would the United Nations then deal with those issues that truly do pertain to it. This is connected with another major topic: streamlining the United Nations bureaucracy. I believe that the simpler its structure and the more independent and responsible its staff, the less it would actually cost us all. And, indeed, who should pay for it? Ideally, difficult though it is to imagine today, all citizens of this planet might one day contribute, as directly as possible, some minuscule portion of their income to make it quite obvious that this is an Organization humankind established for itself rather than strictly the domain of professional diplomats serving various Governments.

These few sentences should make it clear that my vision of the United Nations in the next century is not one of a monstrous superstate, a burden to all, but on the contrary, a vision of a flexible and workmanlike instrument of service to all, infused by a common will to benefit mankind as a whole.

Let me sum up. Mine is a vision of a United Nations consisting not, as happens so frequently today, of divided nations and in particular of divided States, but of united people belonging to a world in jeopardy which can be saved only by uniting all human forces.

The President

I thank the President of the Czech Republic for his statement.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Árpád Göncz, President of the Republic of Hungary.

President Göncz (Hungary)

It is an honour and privilege for me to participate in this Commemorative Meeting.

During the 50 years of its existence, the United Nations has upheld the noble ideals and values embodied in the Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other important United Nations instruments. These ideals and values are even now a major driving force behind the momentous changes in our contemporary world.

We should not forget that the strengths and weaknesses or the accomplishments and failures of the Organization are our common responsibility. In this respect, the vision of the founding fathers "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" remains to be pursued vigorously for all of us.

For so many in the world, the United Nations is a beacon of hope and help. We, ourselves, felt this when, in 1956, Hungarians in our revolution and national-freedom fight, including myself, took courage from the distant but clear voice of solidarity coming from this very Hall. We remain deeply grateful for that. The continued attention of the United Nations was instrumental in the improvement of our fate, including that of the prisoners of conscience.

President Göncz (Hungary)

Small countries, like Hungary, sought and found in the United Nations a forum where they could articulate and defend their interests and act in unison with all nations. Thus they could contribute to the shaping of a better future. We have learned -- maybe well before others -- that by upholding universal values, supporting the ideals set forth in the Charter 50 years ago and acting for their practical implementation, we not only do not lose our specific identity but also enrich the precious political heritage of mankind.

We live in a time of opportunities, and the United Nations is at a crossroads. Only a reformed United Nations can be a catalyst in our endeavours to create a safe and secure world, where freedom, democracy and respect for human rights flourish. We should redouble our efforts to revitalize the United Nations. To this effect, there can be no delay in restructuring and streamlining the costly bureaucracy of the United Nations system. We have to rationalize the work of the General Assembly. Enlargement of the Security Council, along with enhancement of its effectiveness, is more than necessary. Financial reform of the United Nations is a must.

The time has come for a revitalized multilateral mentality to meet effectively and firmly the challenge of the new global and interconnected threats of resurgent nationalism and ethnic strife, international terrorism, illicit drug-trafficking, the smuggling of nuclear materials, the deliberate degradation of the global environment and poverty.

By the same token, international protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms -- including minority rights -- sustained economic growth, sustainable development and the promotion of prosperity should be high priorities for us well into the next century.

It is in this connection that I should like to pay tribute in particular to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children's Fund and the International Atomic Energy Agency as shining examples of multilateral thinking at its best.

At this important juncture of history, our task is to develop and strengthen a genuinely worldwide constituency for the United Nations. We can do this only if we make every effort to involve the young generations, whose confidence must be won through a renewed philosophy of multilateral cooperation. I am confident that for generations to come the promotion and protection of multi-ethnicity, diversity, tolerance and respect for human dignity will be the major feature what is expected of the United Nations.

The next era of the United Nations is being shaped today by our ideas and actions. I am profoundly convinced that our common wisdom, courage and determination will make the United Nations indeed worthy of the heritage given to us by our forefathers, who laid the foundation of this truly unique Organization 50 years ago.

The Acting President

I thank the President of the Republic of Hungary for his statement.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, President of the Republic of Chile.

President Frei Ruiz-Tagle (Chile)

I am honoured to bring to the General Assembly a message from the Government and people of Chile on the occasion of this celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.

The preservation of humanity requires our gratitude, and today I reflect upon all those women and men who have contributed to the development of the United Nations. I also pay homage to all the anonymous heroes -- civilians and unknown solders -- who gave their lives for peace and development.

To respond to global changes the United Nations has truly had to explore a vast array of fields of knowledge and to resolve myriad controversies between nations and peoples. The United Nations has strengthened international law in a wide variety of areas. It has helped to prevent the spread of wars, it has contributed to the settlement of disputes between North and South, and it has played a key role in the process of decolonization in Asia and Africa.

It has also strengthened international cooperation. It has fostered the creation of an open framework for trade, investment, the transfer of technology and environmental protection and has created an opportunity for links between nations with regard to debt and the financing of development.

The United Nations has made an extraordinary contribution to the promotion and preservation of human rights and, thereby, to the theory and practice of democracy. This universal consolidation of the creed of human rights is truly humanity's greatest contribution to the twentieth century and its most precious gift to future generations.

Is it not perhaps time to suggest new tasks for the United Nations? I pose this as a question, with the unpretentiousness of a young, emerging nation.

In the area of peace, I believe that the Organization should strengthen its capabilities in preventive diplomacy, implement a complete ban on nuclear testing -- we are ready to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as we do not want continued nuclear testing, which is a danger to our countries and to people everywhere -- and it should foster cooperation as a means of bolstering global peace.

In international law, the United Nations can encourage progress by ensuring regulatory refinements in areas critical to social and economic progress: technology, transportation, information, humanitarian aid, human rights and peace-keeping operations.

In the area of development and the eradication of poverty in the world, the fact that one fifth of the world's population lives in dire poverty demands an urgent response at the national and global levels. The conditions faced by women, children, vulnerable sectors of the population and migrant workers; the new problems of environmental deterioration; drug trafficking and consumption; the high rates of mortality and pandemic diseases; the different forms of social ostracism and exclusion -- these things make it morally and politically imperative to establish new priorities for the agenda of the United Nations.

Up to now the United Nations has been the setting for intergovernmental agreement. It is now time to begin the long march towards the consolidation of ties between the peoples and groups of different societies. The exchange of cultural values in civil society can provide an important source of support for the elimination of apprehensions, racism and prejudice against human conditions of all types. Furthermore, contacts between people and the exchange of goods and services in certain areas of the world underpin different forms of political and economic integration spiritually and materially.

We believe that the future of the United Nations must be marked by emphasis on human development, preservation of the environment and the consolidation of peace. This will require adjustment of the process of reforming the Organization towards these objectives. Chile is fully prepared to contribute to the implementation of these worthy goals, in keeping with its tradition of democracy and solidarity.

The coming millennium should be a time for the emergence of a world which expresses its broadest diversity, with peoples living in peaceful unity and feeling at home. Will we be capable of making the world a true home for mankind? That is the noble task before us all, and it is up to us to achieve this goal in