Uruguay

Allow me first, on behalf of my Government and myself, to congratulate Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Namibia, on his well-deserved election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. We wish him every success and assure him of my delegation's sincere cooperation in carrying out his work. I also wish to express a warm welcome to the new Members: the Republics of Kiribati and Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. A little more than a week ago, we had the opportunity to address this same body at the close the fifty-third session of the General Assembly. On that occasion, we expressed a general view of the Organization as a whole, as well as of some of the items or questions of greater relevance. That view cannot differ basically from the one I am now expressing as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay. In order to contribute to the debate of ideas, we did not silence then, nor will we now, certain views on the international community, on the changes it is experiencing and on the response capability of the United Nations to face the new situations or expectations of the Member States, especially the demands of regions or areas of the world experiencing diverse types of suffering. This suffering is at times basically economic in origin — call it underdevelopment or more simply, poverty and even extreme destitution — with all the attending consequences of marginalization and exclusion. In other cases, suffering stems from problems of civilization that tend to show alarming signs of deterioration. We must also emphasize that the turmoil and instability experienced by peoples are not in every case due to one and the same cause, whether of a material or economic nature or because of the lack of resources. We observe phenomena such as violence, dramatically present at the individual or collective level; terrorism of all kinds, blind and relentless; and, of course, the drug problem in its diverse stages, including the entrepreneurial business of its traffic and its perverse destabilizing effect, and drug consumption, which is destructive to the individual and is also related to family dissolution. There is also the absence of or weakness in educational standards that adequately prioritize the ethical dimension and human values as a great pedagogical goal. Perhaps none of us yet possesses the key to explain the real origin of these pathological phenomena, but what is very clear is that we cannot affect ignorance about them, as if they were foreign to us — Governments, States, peoples and organizations. Without prejudice to what was just said, we recognize first the central role the Organization must play in terms of international peacekeeping and security. On the other hand, it is necessary to give special attention to the dreadful consequences of nationalist excesses, to confront the exclusive and unfair fundamentalism of religions, to fight discrimination, whatever the basic claims or pretexts are, and to make tolerance a basic principle of relations among individuals and peoples. All are unavoidable duties of the United Nations. We must now establish and reaffirm our position as a Member State on those main items — some of which are planned, others under way and others still to come — regarding what is to be done. I refer first to the reform of the Organization and of the Charter, and in particular to the reform of the Security 22 Council. These are priorities that must continue at a pace imposed by the complexity of the matter, by the current state of international relations and, above all, by the expectation of world public opinion that moves momentarily from hope to anxiety. If it is true, as it is said, that time takes revenge on things done without prior consultation, it is just as true that medicine refined for a long time, as the Italian master Carnelutti reminds us, could arrive too late, when the patient is already dead. Reform requires a balance, a balance between sudden need and efficiency, between rigidity and flexibility and between unavoidable principles and the just appreciation of new realities. In favour of this balance, the General Assembly approved in November 1998 resolution 53/30, requiring at least a two-thirds majority for the approval of any reform relating to the membership of the Security Council. This dispelled concern about a reform being approved by non-representative majorities, opening up a new phase. This is contained in the report of the Open- ended Working Group on reform of the Security Council, established by consensus by the General Assembly by resolution 48/26, in the chapter entitled “Observations”. It will be your task, Mr. President, to give renewed momentum to this process on the basis of its progress and of other steps which, however modest and far from resolving the matter, advance in denoting certain basic points concerning which there is at least a common diagnosis. Although distant from final solutions, these points are always adjustable to the changes of the international community. The Government of Uruguay, my country — an active Member State of this Organization and of other world and regional organizations, both political and integration ones — has observed and continues to see well-constituted international institutions as the main guarantee for the observance a more just, foreseeable and fair international order. Therefore, when distinguishing the vital from the superficial and rhetorical speech from the true search for agreements, which can involve reciprocal concessions, the delegation of Uruguay will be in favour of change and against stagnation — but not just any change. It will favour change that restores to the United Nations a level of international recognition which, without sacrificing efficacy, would make the Member States and their regions feel that they are a tangible and active reality, that those subregions cannot be under-represented. There is no longer a place for an elitist international society that freezes obsolete historical periods in time, typical of a dialectic of confrontation measured in terms of the cold war. We must propose new formulas to avoid the effect of blockage that in many cases produces the conspicuous right to veto, granting the Security Council the procedural means to break it and even entrusting the General Assembly, under certain conditions, as proposed by my delegation, with new competencies so that it could be formally informed and its decision be required in situations which demand it, particularly when it concerns cases that could involve the legitimate use of force. The recent problem in Kosovo, which continues, could serve as a typical example of the aforementioned paralysing effect of the veto in the Security Council, without forgetting the disturbing consequences that effect would have in producing the marginalization of the United Nations system of peace and security, with the resulting questioning of the Organization itself and its real possibilities. This, naturally, requires the foresight of international law as the sole source of legitimacy, without ignoring the authentic and grave humanitarian situations that are imposed on us by the drama of the real facts at a time when they require a formal framework of timely, legitimate and efficient international action. We also attach special meaning to the improvement of the rules of procedure and the working methods of the Security Council, and we therefore trust that the proposals elaborated by the Open-ended Working Group will be adopted. An optimistic initiative of the Organization, encouraged by the Secretariat and the Member States, is undoubtedly the so-called millennium summit, which will take place at the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly. Regarding its agenda, there will be a certain tendency in favour of approving a main topic of common interest, capable of stirring the attention and participation of heads of State and Government. As this is the most important point now under debate here, and since I wished to contribute when I was President of the General Assembly, I now say quite simply that in our view the main theme should be “The United Nations: its future viability”. This would generate, like the organs of a single body, related fundamental issues, perhaps formulated as important questions, such as: Towards a new system of international security? Does globalization demand new strategies of the world Organization? What more concrete strategies can there be 23 for the elimination of poverty and underdevelopment? How can we review the system for the protection of human rights, with a view to strengthening and improving them, particularly in the fields of the family, children, education and international cooperation? Naturally, we are aware that for the millennium summit to be successful and give hope for the next century, its agenda must reflect the expectations of Member States, which still show marked differences. My Government will continue to participate in the preparation of the summit with interest and in a responsible manner. The initiative for dialogue between civilizations — 2001 is to be the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations — proposed by Iran and approved by consensus by the General Assembly at its fifty-third session — is the kind of topic that is at the heart of the United Nations role and should be studied in depth. We are convinced of the great importance of examining with extreme care the cultural diversity of Member States in order to know each other better, but at the same time understand the profound reasons why, despite our diversity, we are all Member States of a unique universal Organization: the United Nations. Support and respect for the San Francisco Charter is undoubtedly the starting point of any responsible dialogue. The Government of Uruguay will contribute its ideas and initiatives, joining in the efforts of all delegations to improve the international habitat through understanding and tolerance of peoples and ideas. Without prejudice to the important progress made towards the establishment of a normative system against the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, Uruguay considers it essential to take new steps in this direction through the universalization of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), whose norms must be recognized and accepted by all States. The abusive use of light weapons or small arms — a subject of great debate — whose uncontrolled proliferation is reaching unacceptable levels, with devastating effects, in some cases worse than those caused by weapons of massive destruction, is a field in which the United Nations must play a fundamental role, as already reflected in the convening of an international conference to deal with the illicit traffic in small arms, a conference which Uruguay firmly supports. My country strongly believes in the need to replace the “culture of conflict” with a “culture of peace”, so that, as wisely stated by the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, “As the twentieth century witnessed the creation of nuclear weapons, the twenty-first century will see their destruction”. The entry into force last March of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction is an auspicious sign. A most significant milestone in the endless search for effective international ways to protect human rights was the signing of the Statute of the International Criminal Court in Rome in July 1998, during the same year in which the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was celebrated. Uruguay is participating and will continue to participate seriously in the elaboration of complementary rules and procedural provisions to give the Court the basic elements to guarantee that it can work properly. When that process is completed the matter will come before our legislative bodies for consideration, in accordance with our Constitution. In conclusion, the topics that concern and will continue to concern the United Nations are multiple and diverse. At this very moment, for example, an instrument that has shown its effectiveness on various occasions is being employed again: the peacekeeping operation. I refer here to the one taking place in East Timor, with the prime goal of ensuring that the mandate of the Timorese people is implemented, and of preserving the lives and physical integrity of that people. Naturally, the environment, which is under attack, paradoxically as much by unregulated over-development as by poverty, will continue to be on the Organization's agenda, as well as the topic of population and development. But perhaps the essential need is to make the maximum effort to make the United Nations the point of reference for all States, the most powerful and the weakest — the former so that they yield to the international order and the latter so that they adjust to it, and find in the Organization their best shield. For all States it means access to a modernity that will develop them and make them part of the current technical innovation, which is supported by the information revolution through which all of us, in one way or another, will be introduced to the coming century. 24