General Assembly Session 53 meeting 46

The President

The Second report of the General Committee of the General Assembly, document A/53/250/Add.1, concerns a request by the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the inclusion in the agenda of an additional item entitled "Armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo", as well as a request by the Islamic Republic of Iran for the inclusion of an additional item entitled "Dialogue among civilizations".

In paragraph 1 of the report, the General Committee recommends that the General Assembly include in the agenda of the current session the item entitled "Armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo".

May I take it that the General Assembly decides to include this additional item in the agenda of the current session?

The President

In paragraph 2 of the report, the General Committee recommends that the General Assembly include in the agenda of the current session the item entitled "Dialogue among civilizations".

May I take it that the General Assembly decides to include this additional item in the agenda of the current session?

The President

The General Committee further decided to recommend to the General Assembly that this additional item be considered directly in plenary meeting.

May I take it that the General Assembly decides to consider this item directly in plenary meeting?

The President

I call on the representative of Spain to introduce draft resolution A/53/L.12.

Mr. Arias (Spain)

On behalf of the delegation of Spain, and on my own behalf, I wish to place on record our particular pleasure at addressing the plenary of the General Assembly under agenda item 28 in order to introduce the draft resolution contained in document A/53/L.12, concerning cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The original text of the draft resolution was prepared jointly by the delegations of the States members of the Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The Secretary-General, in his report to the General Assembly submitted on 5 October 1998, indicates that cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union has intensified throughout the past year, with the two organizations conducting a number of joint activities, thus strengthening each other. Mr. Kofi Annan gives a detailed account of these activities, which unquestionably represent a significant contribution on the part of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at a time -- as indicated in resolution 52/7 -- at which the United Nations is preparing itself to tackle the challenges of the twenty-first century.

This cooperation offered by the Inter-Parliamentary Union extends to the organizations of the United Nations system, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Furthermore, I wish also to mention that the opening in March 1998 of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York has facilitated and greatly contributed to the strengthening of its cooperation with our Organization.

In this respect, I take this opportunity to convey my warm thanks to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, and to the Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mr. Anders Johnsson, as well as to the staff of the secretariats of the two organizations, for their valuable assistance in support of the cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The positive picture that I have briefly outlined shows the potential of cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which also enjoys broad support among the States Members of our Organization. Indeed, as will be clearly seen, the draft resolution contained in document A/53/L.12 is sponsored by 94 States Members. In addition to those States, the following have become sponsors: Angola, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Viet Nam and Zambia, for a total of 114 sponsors.

In its preambular part, the draft resolution, having recalled resolution 52/7, takes note with appreciation of the resolutions adopted and activities carried out by the Inter-Parliamentary Union during the past year in support of United Nations actions in the fields of peace and security, economic and social development, international law and human rights, democracy, gender issues and governance. Furthermore, in its operative part, it welcomes the initiative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union of holding a conference of presiding officers of national parliaments at United Nations Headquarters, in conjunction with the Millennium Assembly in 2000 proposed by the Secretary-General.

In this regard, I would recall that the Inter-Parliamentary Council, at its Conference at Windhoek, Namibia, in April this year, endorsed the proposal for such a conference. Subsequently, in September, the Council, at a meeting held in Moscow, took note of the United Nations Secretary-General's support for that conference and set as its objectives, first, that its participants should enjoy the opportunity to express their views on ways in which national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union can work with the United Nations in the new millennium; and secondly, that it should offer an opportunity to adopt a solemn act rededicating the Inter-Parliamentary Union. At that Moscow Conference, it was also agreed to establish a preparatory committee for the conference.

Furthermore, in operative paragraph 3, the Secretary-General is requested to submit a report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session on various aspects of cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, including information made available by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on preparations for the proposed conference. Lastly, in operative paragraph 4, it is decided to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-fourth session the item entitled "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union".

In conclusion, and given that the draft resolution I have just introduced has no financial implications for the programme budget, I wish to propose, on behalf of all 114 sponsors, that it be adopted by consensus.

Mr. Kier (Austria)

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union -- Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- and the associated country Cyprus, as well as the European Free Trade Association country member of the European Economic Area, Iceland, align themselves with my statement.

It is with great pleasure that I address the General Assembly on the item before us, "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union". May I also mention that today, for the first time, all 15 member States of the European Union will sponsor this draft resolution. The European Union is confident that the General Assembly will adopt the draft resolution by consensus.

The draft resolution before us, which was introduced by the Permanent Representative of Spain, Ambassador Arias, strongly supports the further strengthening of the cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), especially in the fields of peace and security, economic and social development, international law and human rights, democracy, gender issues and governance.

The European Union welcomes these developments, as parliaments are called on to play an ever-increasing role in international cooperation. The Inter-Parliamentary Union is an ideal forum to connect both. The national parliaments representing their respective peoples have, inter alia, the responsibility of providing the necessary political and moral support for the manifold United Nations activities, as well as the funds for our world Organization, and are not least, therefore, in following its work with keen interest. For their part, the United Nations and, in particular, the General Assembly, while clearly intergovernmental, have to live up to the expectations of we, the peoples of the United Nations.

The task of facilitator taken by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, therefore, cannot be underestimated. It is the link between national parliaments and the General Assembly and thus contributes to making this natural partnership between the two, their mutual exchange of views and of information, even more valuable and effective. Therefore, the European Union strongly supports the efforts taken in a common attempt by the General Assembly and the Secretary-General to allow parliaments and civil society to play a greater role in the United Nations system.

I will briefly refer to the results achieved at both IPU Conferences held this year, which are, of course, of global relevance and therefore important for this General Assembly. At the Conference in Windhoek last April, the Inter-Parliamentary Union adopted numerous resolutions of topical interest, among which, to mention just a few, were resolutions on foreign debt as a factor limiting the integration of the third world countries into the process of globalization and on the situation in Kosovo and measures to ensure a lasting and peaceful solution to the crisis.

Of particular relevance in view of the forthcoming commemorative meeting is the resolution adopted without a vote by the 100th Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Moscow last September on the strong action by national parliaments in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights in the twenty-first century.

Let me also briefly refer to the very valuable activities the United Nations Secretariat is conducting, through its Electoral Assistance Division and Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in the field of the organization, preparation and administration of elections, including follow-up and monitoring in many Member States. This is, of course, an activity in which there is a vast opportunity for increased cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

As the results of past conferences have shown, the Inter-Parliamentary Union has been very actively involved in enriching the tasks carried out by the United Nations, adding the parliamentarian dimension, which will once again be confirmed at the conference of presiding officers of national parliaments at the United Nations in the year 2000. That conference will provide the participants with an opportunity to express their views on how national parliaments and several organizations, including the IPU, can work with the United Nations in the new millennium, and also provide an opportunity for the adoption of a solemn act of refounding the IPU.

In this context, I am very proud to mention on this solemn occasion that at the 100th Conference in Moscow, the Council adopted a report of the Executive Committee which included a proposal to constitute a Preparatory Committee for the Conference, composed of presiding officers of several national parliaments and several members of the Executive Committee. Two preparatory meetings are expected to take place in 1999: Austria will host the first one, which is to take place in Vienna from 22 to 23 February 1999; the second will be hosted by Morocco. The speakers of the Parliaments of Bangladesh and Romania have offered to host the third meeting of the Preparatory Committee in the early part of the year 2000.

I would like to conclude by reiterating full support for the action of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and its increased cooperation with the United Nations. Let us hope that the ideal of democracy will be the guiding principle of parliamentarian and political actions in the new millennium.

Ms. Belhaj (Tunisia)

In his report on the work of the Organization submitted to the General Assembly at its present session, Mr. Kofi Annan emphasizes that as part of the endeavour to invigorate the United Nations that he has undertaken with a view to providing a new impetus to the United Nations, he has made a particular effort to establish a mutually beneficial dialogue with the international business community. At the same time, the Secretary-General recalls that engagement with the business community parallels the long-standing and increasingly close working relationships the United Nations has with non-governmental organizations.

We particularly welcome the fact that that focus, which fits within the context of renewing the Organization in the post-war period, is accompanied by a policy aimed at consolidating the bonds of cooperation with regional organizations, or those with a global mission, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which currently brings together more than 130 national and regional parliaments.

The complementarity that the United Nations has developed through the links it has forged with specialized, regional and interregional organizations is aimed at providing reciprocal and mutually beneficial contributions. This positive exchange has been more fully crystallized in the cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. That is not surprising, given that parliaments are the direct expression of the popular will and the living expression of civil society, and represent one of the driving forces of the new dynamic that the Secretary-General wants to instil in the Organization at the dawn of the twenty-first century. In this regard, the nature of the objectives and the convergence of views between the universal Organization and the intergovernmental organization account for the accomplishment of such important work, through cooperation, in such a short time. The positive progress in the complementarity between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union is best illustrated by developments in three areas. Whether in the promotion of representative democracy, activities to promote peace and security or the contribution to sustainable development, the praiseworthy work accomplished since the fifty-second session allows us to anticipate broad and promising cooperation.

The first issue that I would like to raise in this respect is the promotion of representative democracy, an area in which the Inter-Parliamentary Union has great expertise. In 1997 the Inter-Parliamentary Union prepared a study on the principles and results of democracy, which culminated in a Universal Declaration on Democracy. The Declaration sets out the fundamental principles of democracy and elaborates on the elements and standards that govern the exercise of democratic government. It also deals with the international dimension of democracy. That standard-setting work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union has served as a foundation for the work of the General Assembly to promote and consolidate new and re-established democracies.

In the context of the promotion of representative democracy, the Inter-Parliamentary Union has supported the efforts of the United Nations in giving assistance and aid to the parliaments of developing countries and of the newly independent States of Central Asia. In this connection, I should like to recall the meeting held in April 1998 in Harare by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). That meeting, in which the presiding officers of African parliaments participated, was primarily devoted to the contribution of parliaments to democracy in Africa.

In the same context, one of the central themes of the Union's activity relates to the promotion of the participation of women in political life, particularly at the decision-making level. In addition to its action to promote the universal ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women at the national level, the Union is developing, in cooperation with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Division for the Advancement of Women, numerous activities for the effective implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

The attention being focused on promoting partnership between men and women is accompanied by continued support for the promotion and protection of all human rights. This was evident in, inter alia, the resolutions adopted by the Union in the context of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The participation of the Union in the work of the Diplomatic Conference on the establishment of an International Criminal Court also enabled it to support the setting up of that institution, an effective means of defending the State based on the rule of law.

The maintenance of peace and security is also a high-priority area for cooperation between the Union and the United Nations. The Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia attaches particular interest to that aspect of cooperation between the two organizations, particularly since in the post-cold-war period Africa has been beset by bloody conflicts and torn apart in unprecedented ways. In this respect, I should like to refer to the resolution adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in April 1998 in Windhoek, which expresses the support of the parliamentarians for the United Nations in strengthening the Organization's prevention and early warning mechanisms.

In addition to promoting democracy, the parliamentarians can demonstrate their boldness and imagination in supporting United Nations efforts to promote peace and security. In this connection, we recall the work taken up by the parliamentarians to support the efforts of the United Nations for a total ban on the use of anti-personnel mines. Also, in the Mediterranean region, to which my country belongs, we can refer to the measures undertaken by the Union to support the United Nations in its work of bringing about peace and intercommunal reconciliation in Cyprus. In the same spirit, the representatives of legislative power have institutionalized the inter-parliamentary Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean.

Still in the area of cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, I should also like to hail the Union's commitment to provide firm and specific support for major United Nations conferences, in particular in implementing measures on sustainable development.

Without a doubt, the Union's activities as a whole represent a valuable contribution to the culture of tolerance and to ensuring that values of peace and solidarity among nations take deep root. In this way the Inter-Parliamentary Union is contributing to the dissemination of universal values and principles.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union in this way has contributed to the construction of the bridge between the Dow Jones index and the human development index, as the Secretary-General put it in his report. In the year 2000 a conference of speakers of national parliaments will be held at the United Nations during the Millennium Assembly. That meeting will renew the Union's support of the universal Organization and will also, we are convinced, be able to respond to the Secretary-General's appeal by enriching thinking on the form the Organization will take in the twenty-first century.

Ms. Heptulla (India)

We compliment the Secretary-General for the concise but comprehensive document we have before us outlining the intensification and deepening of the cooperation between the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations. I consider it a great privilege to speak in support of this cooperation, having been closely associated with it ever since its inception in 1996. The ideals of development, democracy and peace, to which our Union is committed, are fully shared by the United Nations and provide a firm basis for strengthened and enhanced linkages and mutually beneficial cooperation. We need to pool our resources and our experiences to devise common plans of action so as to address the challenges facing the world.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union includes representatives of people untrammelled by their affiliations to a particular political ideology or belief. They come from both Governments and opposition, giving a unique flavour to our deliberations. The IPU thus represents, better than many other forums, the diverse will of the people and, in the true sense of the term, the plurality of humankind.

The possibilities of cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union are enormous. We have noted with great satisfaction the concrete examples of United Nations-IPU cooperation detailed in the Secretary General's report. Last year, speaking on this agenda item, my delegation had pointed out that promotion of democracy at all levels was a key area in which the experience of the IPU could be effectively utilized by the United Nations and its specialized agencies or funds and programmes. We are happy to note that the report mentions it as a field of particularly close cooperation between the two organizations. That the IPU has participated not only in normative work, promoting a better understanding of democracy, but has also been closely involved in several field-level institution-building projects, is a matter of some satisfaction. We would like especially to mention the support extended by the IPU, through the United Nations, in the provision of advisory services and technical assistance to parliaments, either as a part of international efforts for resolution of conflicts or at the direct request of the parliament concerned. The meeting jointly organized in Harare in April this year by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, to identify the contributions that parliaments can make to democracy in Africa and to the mechanisms for strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation on the continent, was an extremely important step. We look forward to the conclusion in the near future of a multi-year parliamentary support programme between the IPU and UNDP.

Full participation of women in all aspects of economic and social life of our peoples and their political empowerment is one of the guarantees of democracy which has also been recognized fully and supported by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. As a country committed to social uplift, India has enacted significant socially emancipating legislation, including the reservation of one third of seats in locally elected district, municipal and village-level bodies, the panchayats, through constitutional amendments. They have brought to the fore a critical body of women, more than a million strong, which is now taking charge not only of the welfare of their families but of entire communities. UNDP had the opportunity to recognize one of them, two weeks ago here in New York, through its poverty eradication award. We therefore strongly support the meeting of representatives of parliaments, Governments and international agencies that is planned to be held on the occasion of the special session of the General Assembly in June 2000. We also look forward to the event to be jointly convened in December 1999 by the IPU, the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, at which an equal number of women and men representatives of Governments, parliaments and various sectors of society will study women's input into and impact on the democratic process. We hope that these joint efforts will lend their weight to the achievement of a goal we all share: achieving equality of women and men in politics, in decision-making and in all other realms of human endeavour.

Since last year, the United Nations has embarked on an ambitious programme of reform and revitalization of its constituent parts. We welcome this, as a vibrant, effective, democratic and responsive United Nations that fully reflects the aspirations and desires of the vast majority of its membership would significantly enhance the content, scope and quality of cooperation between it and the IPU. However, as we have noted before, even a rejuvenated system will not succeed if the resources needed to fully implement its mandates are not made available. It is even more serious to note, from various other reports before this session of the General Assembly, that the financial situation continues to be grim and the Organization remains strapped for cash. Obviously, the bankruptcy or even chronic poverty of the United Nations will have an adverse impact on its activities, including cooperation with the IPU. In our view, the Inter-Parliamentary Union can play a role in redressing this situation by mobilizing the necessary political will to support the United Nations.

Similarly, the IPU can work to guarantee renewed political interest in promoting multilateral development cooperation through the United Nations. It is distressing to observe the steady decrease in the funding of operational activities of the United Nations. We, as parliamentarians, reflect the will of the people of the nations and can work together to ensure the required political will for placing the funding of the United Nations system's operational activities for development on a sound footing. After all, the role of the United Nations in the development of developing countries and its impact on the lives of our citizens constitute the only touchstone on which we will judge the efficiency of the Organization.

As we move inexorably towards the new millennium, we must consider the emerging dimensions and vistas of cooperation between the IPU and the United Nations. The conference of speakers of national parliaments to be organized at the United Nations during the Millennium Assembly is one such event. We must work towards ensuring its success. In our view, the IPU and United Nations should together ensure that the Millennium Assembly is well prepared and that it identifies effective goals for the Organization in the coming millennium while providing the means to achieve them. An obvious goal would be increasing the role of the United Nations in development, inter alia, through the promotion of South-South cooperation.

The United Nations and the IPU must also work simultaneously for the sharing of information and knowledge and for the transfer of technology from developed to developing countries so as to bridge the widening gap between them, and to reduce tension and pave the way for growth, peace and better understanding for all humankind.

Another issue of concern to the international community that must be dealt with in the context of the Millennium Assembly is that of weapons of mass destruction. By the twenty-first century, both the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction and the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects will hopefully have received universal or near-universal ratification. Those weapons of mass destruction have been outlawed, but very little progress has been made on the last remaining weapons of mass destruction: nuclear weapons. We should enter into negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention eliminating all nuclear weapons. Adoption of such a convention at the Millennium Assembly would be a crowning glory of the United Nations in the next millennium. We hope that the international community will rise to this challenge.

To conclude, may I once again express my delegation's happiness at the growing cooperation between the IPU and the United Nations. I trust that this cooperation will be further intensified and deepened in coming years. India will be willing to play its part in this process, in the belief that it is not only our endeavour and commitment, but also our duty, to create a better and more prosperous global society through strengthened international cooperation for development. It is with this faith that I commend to the Assembly for unanimous adoption draft resolution A/53/L.12, which has been sponsored by a large number of delegations, including that of India.

Mr. El Daly (Egypt)

It gives me pleasure, as the representative of the Egyptian parliamentary group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session. My congratulations go also to your friendly country, Uruguay. I am confident that you will guide the Assembly's work at this session with effectiveness and ability. I convey my congratulations also to your predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, President of the Assembly at its fifty-second session, on the fine way in which he guided the work of the Assembly.

I thank the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his report on cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The report outlines many aspects of the cooperation between the United Nations and the IPU, including conflict prevention, security and cooperation in the Mediterranean region, support for democracy and sustainable social and economic development, follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development, human rights issues and the increasingly important question of globalization.

Mr. El Daly (Egypt)

Here we should like to refer to the conclusions of the 161st session of the Inter-Parliamentary Council, held at Cairo on 16 September 1997, and to a number of Economic and Social Council documents of July 1998, which set out facets of the cooperation between the two organizations and highlighted the many endeavours of the IPU that in turn bolster United Nations efforts on important international issues.

The Egyptian parliamentary group wishes to reaffirm its full support for cooperation between the United Nations and the IPU. That support is reflected in my delegation's having supported the inclusion of this item in the agenda of the General Assembly, and in its having joined in sponsoring draft resolution A/53/L.12 on cooperation between the United Nations and the IPU.

In recent years, the United Nations has been the target of much criticism for the way in which it addresses numerous international issues because of the varying standards it applies. This has given rise to widespread accusations that the Organization applies a double standard. For parliaments and for peoples, this calls into question the credibility of the international Organization.

The Egyptian parliamentary group wishes to highlight a number of the challenges facing the international Organization -- for which we, as parliamentarians and government officials, must find appropriate ways to address. The first of these is nuclear proliferation. With regard to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the question of proliferation is at the forefront of the serious issues posing a threat to international peace and security. Hence the need for all States to abide by the provisions of the NPT and to accede to the Treaty with a view to achieving its universality and to strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

The position of the United Nations on this issue is marked by an obvious deficiency. In its resolution 687 (1991), by which it established the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to verify that Iraq possesses no weapons of mass destruction, the Security Council entrusted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the task of assisting UNSCOM in verification and in the inspection of the sites of such weapons. Paragraph 14 of that resolution indicates that the actions to be taken by Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction represent a step towards the goal of establishing in the Middle East a zone free from such weapons. Nonetheless, calls to use the provisions of that paragraph to subject Israeli nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards and to secure Israel's accession to the NPT have not met with enthusiasm either in the Security Council or in other relevant United Nations bodies. This diminishes the Organization's credibility in the eyes of Member States.

In this context, recent developments point up the deficiency of the nuclear non-proliferation regime; this highlights the urgent need to find serious ways of redressing the shortcomings of that regime and enhancing its effectiveness, while avoiding the policy of double standards in this important sphere.

Believing in the importance of the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear disarmament, Egypt has over the past 30 years called for the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. Then in 1990 it took another initiative calling for freeing the Middle East region from all weapons of mass destruction. We parliamentarians in Egypt emphasize and support this call, which has become a pressing popular quest.

Along with seven other Member States, Egypt also called for the elaboration of a new agenda to revive international commitment to bring about a world free from weapons of mass destruction. We hope that this agenda will command increasing international support to curb the risks posed by these weapons.

Secondly, the Middle East peace process has stagnated for about two years now due to the negative changes in the policies of Israel, represented by its refusal to comply with the principles underpinning the peace process agreed at Madrid and Oslo. Foremost among these principles is the principle of land for peace as a basis for settling the Arab-Israeli conflict. We hope that the agreement signed on 23 October in Washington will represent a positive turning point in the stance of the Israeli Government. We hope also that that Government will be serious about implementing the agreement so that the peace process can be restarted, including the two Lebanese and Syrian tracks, and so that a just, comprehensive and lasting peace can reign supreme in the Middle East region.

In this connection, the Egyptian Parliamentary Group would like to express its full support for the effective role to be played by the United Nations to achieve this lofty goal and to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, from which the Middle East region suffered previously.

Thirdly, the Egyptian Parliamentary Group supports the efforts of the United Nations to eradicate international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and the pursuit and punishment of its perpetrators. It also calls for enhancing the effectiveness of the relevant bodies of the Organization so they can combat terrorism and those who support it, and contain their sources of financing wherever they may be located. It is also important that States that shelter terrorists on many pretexts, including human rights and religious persecution -- matters to which Egypt, as a Government and as a people, attaches special attention and importance -- should desist from this practice and realize the gravity of this matter, which endangers all States of the world.

In this context, the Egyptian Parliamentary Group would like to emphasize the need to mobilize official international and popular support for the initiative taken by President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt, to hold an international conference to combat terrorism under the auspices of the United Nations in 1999.

Fourthly, many States are subjected to sanctions in accordance with Security Council resolutions. Those sanctions, which are the result of specific circumstances, are designed to achieve the commitment by those States that violate international legitimacy to return to the general framework established by the international community in order to preserve international peace and security. Hence it is natural that sanctions and embargoes must be lifted from certain States, such as Iraq and Libya, as soon as they abide by Security Council resolutions. It is also important to conduct a comprehensive review of the current sanctions regimes.

Fifthly, with regard to the Lockerbie question, which resulted in the imposition of sanctions on Libya, a positive move by the parties to the conflict to settle this problem has become a pressing matter dictated by requirements of security and stability. Hence we call on all concerned parties to demonstrate further flexibility and to start trying the suspects in accordance with the guarantees and conventions agreed to by the parties concerned in order to achieve the long-awaited solution to that problem.

Sixthly, the new international system has brought about many new phenomena that have affected developing countries. With respect to the phenomenon of globalization, despite the fact that some developing countries have achieved the requisite integration into the international economy through fostering their competitive abilities and trade openness to the world, it is regrettable that certain developed countries have placed tariff barriers to the basic exports of the developing countries. This greatly constrains the ability of the developing countries to access Western markets and reap the fruits of globalization, which must benefit all States without exception. The Egyptian Parliamentary Group calls for a more equitable universal trading system based on the scrupulous application of international conventions.

Having presented some of the challenges facing this international Organization and ideas to resolve some of the problems that give rise to tension and instability in the international community, I hope we can cooperate in reaching appropriate solutions to those problems as well as others so that they will not become chronic and intractable and thus further burden our international Organization. We hope that the United Nations will devote its full attention to international cooperation issues calling for the pooling of efforts, such as issues of development in all its aspects, the conservation of the environment and the quest for peace, stability and security, which we are all working to foster.

In order for the United Nations to achieve the noble aims I referred to earlier, we call on the Member States that are indebted to the Organization to pay their arrears as soon as possible. This will enable the Organization to implement the programmes and activities entrusted to it. The Member States should also pay their contributions to the budget of the Organization in full, on time and without conditions, and fulfil their legal obligations in accordance with Article 17 of the Charter.

Mr. Saliba (Malta)

As this is the first time that I am addressing the fifty-third session of the General Assembly, I should like to take the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Didier Opertti on his election and on the able manner in which he is conducting our work.

Having read the report of the Secretary-General on cooperation between this Organization and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), I note with satisfaction that much progress has been achieved. My country welcomes the practical measures already taken, such as the establishment of the Union's liaison office in New York earlier this year. Increasing cooperation between the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the various organizations of the United Nations system is another very important step forward, and we hope that this cooperation will be widened and strengthened in future.

We also look forward to the planned IPU conference of speakers of national parliaments in the year 2000 in the context of the Millennium Assembly.

The IPU has been very active in the promotion of democracy. The adoption of the Universal Declaration on Democracy, which we strongly support, is an important and significant Declaration. The consolidation of the democratic process, with all that it entails, is a major step forward towards the full realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

My delegation believes that that Declaration underscores the relevance of the initiatives that the IPU has taken on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In his address during the general debate, my Deputy Prime Minister stated in reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

"There is, however, a significant lack in this Declaration. It is an instrument with no judicial mechanisms or sanctions. Has the time arrived to learn from the experience of the regional human rights conventions, in particular the European Convention, which through its mechanisms instituted the European Court of Human Rights and through the right of individual petition further guarantees a judicial process aimed at ensuring effective enforcement?" (A/53/PV.19)

The cooperation between the IPU and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as other initiatives of the IPU in this field, would therefore be fulfilled if the IPU could study ways in which national parliaments can cooperate and work towards creating such a mechanism.

Within the IPU, Malta has consistently and insistently worked to raise awareness of the importance of security and cooperation in the Mediterranean. We note with satisfaction that this item is given the importance that it merits. We look forward to the third IPU conference on all issues covered by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean.

We also note the IPU's increasing interest in gender issues. Unfortunately, women have always been the ones that have benefited least from the exercise of individual human rights. Greater participation in national parliaments by women should certainly provide an important impetus for changing this state of affairs. Our last national elections, held in September of this year, resulted in an increased number of women in our Parliament. While the proportion is still low, these results show increasing participation by women in the decision-making processes in my country.

The establishment of local councils and the participation of women in these councils, we believe, has led to the increased representation of women in our Parliament.

May I conclude by thanking the Secretary-General of the IPU for his intervention. Malta's commitment to the IPU remains firm. We are proud to be among the large number of countries that have sponsored the draft resolution before the Assembly.

Mr. Aleskerov (Azerbaijan)

It is a great honour for me to address such a representative and eminent audience. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I would like to link the subject we are discussing today to the events that are taking place in our country.

Since restoring its independence, Azerbaijan has embarked on building a secular, democratic State based on the rule of law and with a market economy. In its foreign policy, Azerbaijan -- having ruled out the option of safeguarding its own interests at the expense of others -- is developing its relations with all countries on the basis of peaceful coexistence, the balance of interests, good neighbourliness, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in one another's internal affairs.

Since its independence, Azerbaijan has become a member of numerous international organizations, such as the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and a number of others. Participation in the work of these organizations is extremely useful for young States that are pursuing democratic reforms. We are studying other States' experiences and directing our efforts towards bringing our legislation in line with the international legal norms and standards. A vivid example of this policy is the abolition of the death penalty in Azerbaijan, an event without precedent throughout the East.

The democratization of political life has created a solid basis for the functioning of a free and multi-party system. Today there are more than 30 political parties active in Azerbaijan. The number of mass media organizations has greatly increased, and more than 500 of them are now registered in Azerbaijan.

The Government has created all the necessary conditions for the free development of the human rights movement. To strengthen the legal human rights instruments, on 22 February this year, the head of State, Mr. Heydar Aliyev, issued an edict on measures to ensure the freedoms and rights of citizens of the Azerbaijan Republic.

In terms of domestic policy, the Government is unequivocally seeking the democratization of the political system and the liberalization of the economy. The Constitution that was adopted in 1995 through a country-wide referendum fully guarantees citizens' political, economic, social, religious and cultural rights and freedoms. In 1995, for the first time in the history of Azerbaijan, democratic parliamentary elections were conducted on the basis of a multi-party system. The deputies in our Parliament represent nine political parties, of which four are opposition parties. In early October this year, presidential elections took place in Azerbaijan. There were six presidential candidates. As was expected, Mr. Heydar Aliyev won a resounding victory.

Last year, within the framework of the reform of the judiciary, the legislature of the country adopted two important laws: the act on courts and judges and the act on the constitutional court. Laws on local self-government, municipal-council elections, the bar, the prosecutor's office, the police and other matters are about to be adopted.

Definite success has also been achieved in building a free and socially oriented market economy. The inflow of foreign investments, growth of foreign trade, entering into oil contracts, successfully privatizing small enterprises and agrarian reform have revitalized the economy.

Returning to the subject of cooperation with international organizations, I would like to express our satisfaction at the fact that other former Republics of the Soviet Union, in particular the Republic of Armenia, have also become members of these organizations. It is my hope that the participation of our countries in the global and pan-European structures will help us find a way to settle our bilateral problems. In this connection, with an eye to our regional problems, I would like to mention in particular the importance of implementing the principles set forth in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act concerning the inviolability of borders and the territorial integrity of States.

It is also my conviction that cooperation between international organizations is necessary in order to solve a whole gamut of problems that arise during regional conflicts, above all those relating to the fight against terrorism and the prevention of illegal arms transfers, which directly affect our region.

Not wishing to tax the Assembly's patience, I will not dwell at length on our internal problems, the most important of them being the problem in the Nagorny Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Let me just say that despite the four United Nations resolutions -- the first of which was adopted as far back as 1993 -- demanding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and despite the decisions of the 1996 Lisbon summit, today 20 per cent of our territory still remains occupied by that neighbouring country, and out of the 7.5 million people of Azerbaijan, more than 1 million are refugees and internally displaced persons. Nevertheless, we are determined to continue to seek a peaceful settlement of the conflict, while firmly defending our territorial integrity. That is why the support of international organizations in this matter is extremely important to us. We must not allow the emergence in international relations of a precedent of the violation of the territorial integrity of States or of their dismemberment due to glaring failures to comply with international norms.

As for the item under discussion, Azerbaijan welcomes close cooperation between international organizations, in this case the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations. We believe that such cooperation will contribute to ensuring the broad participation of all States in strengthening peace and cooperation, in particular by supporting the goals of the United Nations.

Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union should be considered an imperative of the times, as reaffirmed by the ever-increasing interaction of these two organizations and reflected in the 1996 cooperation agreement between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union and in General Assembly resolution 52/7.

In recent years, cooperation between the two organizations has been significantly stepped up, with special focus on such areas as the strengthening of democracy, respect for human rights, ensuring peace and security, economic and social development and so forth.

We welcome the continuing development of links between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which should take concrete form for practical interaction at the conference of speakers of national parliaments to be held in the year 2000 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Mr. Minoves-Triquell (Andorra)

Today we will be adopting a draft resolution concerning cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which, among other things, welcomes the IPU's initiative to hold a meeting of speakers of national parliaments at United Nations Headquarters during the Millennium Assembly in the year 2000. My country, which has one of the oldest parliaments in Europe -- the General Council, founded in 1419 -- welcomes that happy event. At a time when media images are so important, the symbolism of the two branches of power -- the legislative and the executive -- coming together at the threshold of the third millennium to reaffirm their commitment to the Organization in which the hopes of the peoples of the world are vested will undoubtedly provide a powerful boost to the United Nations.

Mr. Minoves-Triquell (Andorra)

In a time when globalization is an unavoidable reality in every corner of the world; when economies miles apart suffer together the effects of a localized crisis; when the inhabitants of Ulan Bator can discuss current events via the Internet with those in Andorra la Vella, Buenos Aires or in Cape Town; and when the clothes we wear, the food we eat or the books we read are not from our neighbouring regions but from the global community that humanity is fast becoming -- in this time of acute complexity in international economic and political relations, Governments of sovereign States have had to absorb a profusion of new information and set up structures prepared to cope with the new global village. Parliaments are also following this path and are having to adapt their information-gathering methods as well as, sometimes, their traditional day-to-day relationship with the respective executive branches of government.

Mr. Minoves-Triquell (Andorra)

In expressing the will of the people who freely elect them, parliamentarians in representative democratic societies must, within the salutary separation of powers that keeps alive the philosophy of checks and balances, have at their disposal advanced tools and information to cope with the new, interdependent world in which we live. The Inter-Parliamentary Union definitely provides a way for parliaments of the world to know each other better and to interact and learn from each other's experiences. An increased presence and voice of the IPU at the United Nations will give our parliaments the necessary information to respond back home to the challenges this Organization faces, especially in this time of reform.

The United Nations, suffers from a lack of exposure. We sometimes appear too remote, in our daily work by the East River of New York, for a continuous evaluation of and response to our actions by parliaments under our national jurisdictions.

The yearly visit to United Nations Headquarters organized by the IPU is therefore an excellent initiative that we must encourage. Since the beginning of this auspicious cooperation between the United Nations and IPU, Andorran members of parliament, from all parties, have attended these meetings, thus asserting the commitment of our country to the enhanced transparency necessary for the future health of the Organization.

Mr. Minoves-Triquell (Andorra)

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