Malawi

The President of the General Assembly has assumed the mantle of leadership at a critical time, as we are about to enter the new millennium. We are about to leave a century which has revealed positive and negative aspects of the human experience. On the negative side, the century has been characterized by colonialism, armed conflict, racism and racial discrimination, apartheid, dictatorship, the Holocaust, genocide, ethnic cleansing, religious intolerance and other forms of evil. In their wake many people, particularly women and children, have lost their lives and have been maimed, traumatized, dehumanized, displaced and forced to seek refuge. Poverty and underdevelopment have wreaked havoc. On the other hand, humankind has demonstrated a sense of magnanimity in overcoming suffering and despair. We have made very strong efforts to wipe out slavery, colonialism, racial discrimination and apartheid. We have striven, through multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, to promote the togetherness of humankind and improve the well-being of all. We realize, however, that there is a lot more that can and must be done. As this century comes to a close, Mr. Gurirab’s leadership as President of the General Assembly, and his country, Namibia, represent a beacon of hope for the future. His qualities as an outstanding diplomat, freedom fighter and consensus-builder are all well known to us. My delegation wishes him well as he discharges his heavy responsibilities and leads this esteemed Organization into the new millennium. In today’s globalized world, the challenges are many and the opportunities are manifold. With the same spirit that has enabled us to surmount hurdles in the past, together we can make the twenty-first century a century for the prosperity of all. The groundwork, the foundation for all this, exists. To give credit where it is due, despite many weaknesses, humankind has never been wanting in ideas. The standard-setting strides and intellectual innovations of this century, particularly since the formation of the United Nations, could have been more appreciated if only an extra effort had been exerted towards implementation. Indeed, the twenty-first century should focus on the implementation and concretization of the ideas that have made this century worthwhile. The consolidation of human rights, good governance and human development seems to my delegation a useful point of departure. The country that I represent was for a long time under a dictatorship. The people of Malawi suffered and know what it means to be deprived of freedom. They are well aware of the impact that denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms has on governance and development. To us the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms are not optional, but essential prerequisites for the well-being of humankind. Human rights are universal and indivisible. They are inalienable. When the people of Malawi went to the polls in June this year, in the second democratic elections, we confirmed our desire to strengthen further the democratization processes that we started in 1994. The entrenchment of democracy in Malawi has given our people an opportunity to foster unity and common understanding. We now have an environment conducive to exploiting our full potential and maximizing our contributions to the developmental efforts that the Government is pursuing. We wish for all people of the world, regardless of their origin, the same opportunity to enjoy the rights and freedoms that Malawians are proud to enjoy today. Unfortunately, the situation globally does not give cause for optimism, and there is no room for complacency. Inasmuch as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set forth the yardstick of common achievement and has given rise to numerous subject-specific binding instruments, every effort should be made to assure their effective implementation. The rights of women, children and the disadvantaged, especially, must be given their fullest practical meaning. As we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, we should reaffirm our commitment to take all practical measures to eliminate discrimination against women and review all practices that impede the mainstreaming of gender in all our developmental endeavours. Malawi welcomes and looks forward to the review conference of the Beijing Platform for Action next year. It is our belief that gender equality, development and peace in the twenty-first century are achievable. Almost 10 years ago, world leaders assembled in this very Hall for the World Summit for Children. They made groundbreaking commitments to reach certain goals by the year 2000. The State of the World’s Children 1999 report, however, indicates that the benchmarks set are far from being realized. Meeting the commitments of the 1990 Summit remains one of the challenges that we all face at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The continued recruitment and use of children as soldiers in most of today’s conflicts is a major source of worry. The use of children as child labourers and in prostitution is also cause for serious concern. We remain convinced that investing in children means a secure future for us all. Many other conferences have also taken place — particularly during this last decade — including those in Paris, Vienna, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Cairo and Copenhagen. In all these conferences, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms has been a recurrent and cross-cutting theme. Malawi fully supports the outcome of these conferences. The time has come to make good the pledges that we made: personal liberties for all, particularly women and children; social development, especially for the least developed countries; protection of the environment; provision of food and shelter; jobs and income; education for all; and secure health, including reproductive rights, remain the core of human security. Indeed, these conferences have brought to the fore the interlinkages between the protection of human rights and the questions of good governance and development. Quite often, they seem to give rise to conflicting interests; we aspire to a rights-based approach to development, yet the facts are stark: how can our countries, particularly those with fragile economies such as our own, ensure strong public policies aimed at promoting food security, for example, when the very interventions intended to provide incentives for local production and distribution are put into question by our efforts to spur economic growth? How do we give priority to public expenditures for basic social services such as education, health and water when these are the first to be cut in an effort to meet structural adjustment conditionalities and the demands of debt servicing? The challenge for us all is to minimize conflict and aim to strike an appropriate balance to ensure proper services that are human-rights compliant. Malawi supports the statement in the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 1999, to the effect that national and global governance must be reinvented with human development and equity at their core. With our concerted efforts, this is achievable. My delegation particularly welcomes the positive developments that are taking place in our beloved continent, Africa. As democracy blossoms, we are increasingly witnessing efforts to harness progress in human development: Africa’s renaissance is no longer a slogan, but a realistic achievement for the twenty-first century. In Malawi, we remain committed to strengthening good governance based on the principles of accountability and transparency. Attention is also given to addressing corruption and strengthening public sector administration, in particular enhancing local participation in decision- making processes. We will continue to carry out the necessary economic and fiscal reforms. Despite unpalatable structural adjustment conditionalities and the impact of debt servicing, the Government continues to give top priority to the provision of basic social services, particularly in education, health, water supply, community development and road infrastructure. The Poverty Alleviation Programme and the Malawi Social Action Fund seek to empower the populace so that they can contribute more positively to development. Free primary education for all was introduced by the Government to ensure that Malawian children, who hold the future of the country in their 12 hands, are given equal opportunities to grow into productive and responsible adults. In the health and water sectors, true to the slogan “healthy people make a healthy nation”, the Government is establishing more health centres in many parts of rural Malawi: the Bakili Muluzi health initiative, which aims to bring medical services right to the people, was introduced recently. We are also making remarkable progress in bringing clean and safe water to all rural areas. In order to respond fully to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country, the Government, in close cooperation with civil society, has embarked on highly publicized awareness campaigns which we hope will contribute to changing behavioural patterns. We appeal for more resources: additional funding for research is indeed imperative. Meanwhile, for those already afflicted, it is important for the drugs that are available now to be made more affordable for the majority of our poor. In agriculture, the mainstay of Malawi, the priority is to achieve food self-sufficiency. In this connection, we have embarked on irrigation programmes to supplement rain-fed agricultural production. The Malawian examples are typical of the important steps that Africa is taking, which are positive signs of renewal. Africa, however, needs the world in the same way that the world needs Africa. Africa needs a partnership, one that is shared and mutually beneficial — a genuine partnership. We realize that the primary responsibility for African development rests with African countries themselves. It is nevertheless important for African countries to be given meaningful assistance to enable them to embark on sound economic development. The Cairo Agenda for Action adopted by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1995 is an important blueprint for African economic development: it sets out the broad priority areas requiring specific attention. Numerous other initiatives have highlighted the need to help the development of Africa. The challenge as we approach the twenty-first century should and must be to harmonize these initiatives with a view to adopting action-oriented measures for urgent implementation. Whatever interventions are made, it has become increasingly clear that a meaningful transformation of African economies, even after introducing all the necessary domestic, economic and market reforms, cannot be sustained without complementary improvements in trade flows, improvements in financial resource flows — whether through increased official development assistance, debt relief or forgiveness, or foreign direct investment — and support for regional cooperation. All this must be done in a conducive, secure and predictable environment. Indeed, in the globalized economy of today what happens in one part of the globe has ripple effects and impacts developments elsewhere: the Asian financial crisis and the recent sale of gold are clear examples of this phenomenon. We must act now if we are to avert a human catastrophe in the near future. In particular, my delegation wishes to single out the imperative need for the international community to address the problem of debt. Although encouraged by the positive responses in recent months, we renew the appeal for debt forgiveness which we made in this Hall several years ago. The current ratio of external debt to gross national product, 89 per cent for my country, is causing enormous economic stress and hardship, particularly for women and children. The situation does not augur well for the future, and is having adverse effects on the Government’s poverty eradication policy; also, the gains we have made politically through democratization and good governance will become meaningless without economic development. Malawi is not alone in this predicament. Many other countries find themselves in similar conditions, where poverty is rampant and the disparities between the haves and the have-nots are widening. One of the major issues on which people look up to the United Nations is because of its concern for national identity. It is in this spirit that Malawi reiterates its conviction that the question of participation by the Republic of China on Taiwan in the activities of the United Nations deserves consideration on the basis of respect for the principle of universality and the sovereign equality of States. The Republic of China, a democratic country of over 21 million people, is a reality and cannot be ignored. It cannot be wished away. Malawi believes that readmission of the Republic of China to the United Nations and to all its specialized agencies would be an important factor for peace, stability and international cooperation. No progress towards improved human development can be sustained without peace and stability. As we commemorate the centennial of the first Peace Conference at The Hague, my delegation wishes to reiterate the importance that it attaches to the peaceful settlement of disputes and respect for international law, including 13 international humanitarian law. In this connection, Malawi also welcomes the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court last year. We have already signed the Statute, and steps are under way to assure ratification without delay. We are confident that as the next century nears, the early entry into force of the Rome Statute will fortify our resolve to bring an end to impunity. Much as the Rome Statute will go a long way in bringing to book those perpetrators of heinous crimes, it is incumbent upon us all to rid the earth of all weapons of mass destruction. The Review Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) next year affords us an opportunity to make greater strides in the area of nuclear disarmament. It is worth recalling the words of Albert Einstein: “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” Indeed, peace cannot be sustained by a threat of use of force. So long as the spectre of a nuclear war exists, the world will never be at peace with itself. We urge all countries to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and those countries that have nuclear weapons to destroy them in order to finally realize general and complete disarmament and a nuclear-weapon- free world. We also appeal to those countries that have not yet done so to become party to the Chemical Weapons Convention and the anti-personnel landmines Convention. We equally enjoin current efforts to address the proliferation of small arms. In our region, this problem has assumed frightening proportions, as robberies and thefts have become more and more violent. Urgent action needs to be taken to tackle this problem resolutely. In particular, Malawi supports a moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of small arms and light weapons. We must also look for ways of stopping their flow. This Organization should prevail upon the manufacturers of these weapons to stop the illegal export of their deadly merchandise to Africa. Let them stop manufacturing and exporting these weapons to Africa. That is the bottom line. There is no point in inviting us to conferences when, under cover of darkness, the manufacturers of those small arms continue exporting them to Africa. The biggest threat to international peace and security remains humankind. As events in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Somalia, Rwanda, Guinea-Bissau, the Middle East, the Korean peninsula and many other parts of the globe, including, most recently, East Timor, have shown, human beings continue to be the main centre of activity where armed conflict, tensions and the quest for power exist. As the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reminds us, “wars begin in the minds of men”. Only human beings can control their own destiny. Just as those who sat at The Hague Conference 100 years ago were, we are capable of renouncing violence and of resolving all disputes through peaceful means. In this regard, we would like to welcome the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit declaration that the year 2000 will be a year of peace, security and solidarity in Africa. We remain optimistic that the Israelis and the Palestinians; the people of Western Sahara and East Timor; our brothers and sisters in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Somalia; and many others whose rights and liberties remain unprotected will finally find peace. We can together provide a conducive atmosphere for the provision of all other basic needs that have an impact on peace and security. In the view of my delegation, the United Nations remains a singular Organization that is capable of consolidating peace and promoting sustainable human development. The relevance of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security has become even more pronounced in recent years. My delegation wishes to pay tribute to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for providing leadership and a renewed sense of mission to the Organization. Reform of the Organization systemwide and of its funds, programmes and specialized agencies has rekindled hopes for a secure world. Effective collaboration by all United Nations bodies, each focusing on areas of expertise, is a sure way of reaching our goals and realizing our aspirations. The task that remains is to make the United Nations more responsive to the responsibilities ahead — the challenges of the twenty-first century. For six years now we have been talking about reform of the Security Council, but without any breakthrough. It is imperative that the Security Council be made more democratic, transparent and accountable. Representation of developing countries in the permanent category is necessary in order to ensure the continued legitimacy of, and respect for, the Council’s decisions. The United Nations must be properly resourced in order for it to carry out adequately its noble activities. Similarly, the United Nations cannot remain aloof to the requirements of civil society. Increased cooperation 14 between the Organization and civil society, including the private sector, can only make the Organization stronger. The important role played in particular by non- governmental organizations in the adoption of the Rome Statute and the anti-personnel landmines Convention must be acknowledged and ways explored to enhance it. We believe that increased contacts between the Organization and civil society will ensure the continued relevance of the Organization in the twenty-first century. As the Organization prepares for the Millennium Assembly next year under your leadership, the role of civil society in the consolidation of human rights, good governance and human development might be a subject that should be given in-depth consideration within the context of the overall theme of the United Nations in the twenty- first century. Finally, Malawi would like to congratulate the three new Members of the United Nations: the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. We welcome them to the United Nations family.