The
Government of Mexico congratulates Mr. Stoyan Ganev on his election as
President to guide the work of the General Assembly. It also congratulates
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali on his decision to engage in active diplomacy, to
initiate the changes called for in the Secretariat and to devise new ways of
strengthening the Organization.
Mexico extends a most cordial welcome to the 13 new Member States.
The new conditions in the world, the long-standing aspirations of peoples
and the pressures of all kinds facing this forty-seventh session of the
General Assembly require us to chart a clear course. The disappearance of the
blocs has not led to the emergence of the peaceful world of which we dreamed.
Uncertainty prevails. In many societies, one political order has disappeared
and the order which has taken its place is in the midst of a difficult process
of shaping itself. World trends are extremely contradictory. Some countries'
efforts to integrate are in contrast to the disintegration of other
countries. It would appear that the potential for conflict, now free of
ideological bonds, has increased in various regions of the world.
Despite the fact that bipolarity has vanished, international peace and
security continue to be threatened by aggressive nationalisms, political and
religious fanaticism and, above all, the conditions of critical poverty and
inequality of opportunities that separate some peoples from others. As this
session of the General Assembly takes place, thousands of people are
continuing to die in the fratricidal wars in former Yugoslavia and other parts
of the world. In Africa, the life of whole populations is threatened by
hunger. The life of more than half of the world's population is dominated by
unemployment and the impossibility of attaining decent levels of health,
education, food and housing.
Decisive progress in economic, social and human development and
root-and-branch rectification of the structural imbalances in international
society are necessary conditions for genuine and lasting peace. One fifth of
the world's population, 1 billion people inhabiting the most industrialized
countries, consume 70 per cent of the planet's resources. In income terms.
the polarization of inequalities is even greater. The richest fifth of the
world's population accounts for 83 per cent of total income, while the poorest
fifth has to make do with 1.4 per cent. Future prospects are no less tragic:
the World Bank estimates that the income of the population with the fewest
resources will fall from $370 a year to only $225 by the year 2000.
Now that the cold war is over, there is no argument strong enough to
justify the persistence of these imbalances. Plenty and overabundance for a
few cannot coexist with poverty and deprivation for the majorities. We can
already see the global impact of these inequalities: The increase in
migrations to the more prosperous countries is unprecedented. Millions of
people throughout the world are forming legions of refugees and displaced
persons. It would be a dangerous illusion for the rich societies to believe
that their security is not in jeopardy from the intensification of these
imbalances.
It must be recognized that it will not be possible to cure
underdevelopment and the resulting poverty and marginalization in many
countries by the use of market forces alone. What is needed is a major
internal correction effort involving both the State and private individuals,
or involving mainly the State, when private individuals are unwilling, do not
know how or do not have the resources to act. A favourable international
environment is also required to more effectively encourage a comprehensive
solution to the serious problems of underdevelopment.
The Government of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari is promoting the
expansion of markets and the need for flows of goods and services to grow
without artificial barriers of a political or economic nature. We therefore
already have a free trade agreement with Chile, and we have just negotiated a
treaty to establish the North American free trade area, which will be the most
potent trading zone in the world. With an open trading system, without
discrimination and protectionist barriers, the developing countries could earn
around $44 billion more from exports. That would undoubtedly increase the
viability of the structural reforms these nations have undertaken, and would
reflect international solidarity with these countries.
Mexico has been active in promoting reform of the United Nations. It has
joined the consensus that there is a vital need to redistribute functions and
responsibilities among its organs, increase coordination and democratize its
procedures. Our Organization is overworked and underfinanced. Its renewal
must include the fulfilment by all Members of their financial commitments.
That there is an endemic financial crisis at the United Nations, in the face
of the extensive tasks the community is seeking to assign to it, is an
incongruency which must be resolved without delay.
Mexico recognizes the relevance of the Secretary-General's report
entitled "An Agenda for Peace", submitted for the consideration of Member
States. It is a rigorous document, and proposes the innovative measures that
are needed in order to enable our Organization to respond to the challenges of
a new era. The ideas that it puts before us for achieving a better balance
between the principal organs of the United Nations appear to us to be on the
right lines.
We need to give the General Assembly the primacy it should enjoy as the
Organization's universal and pluralistic organ par excellence. We have to
achieve better coordination between it and the Security Council, above all in
matters of international peace and security. We agree with the strengthening
of the Secretary-General's capacity for action. We consider that the
Secretary-General should be authorized to seek advisory opinions from the
International Court of Justice on condition, of course, that the States
concerned have requested his involvement.
Mexico has also indicated the need for a better balance in the treatment
of the items on the international agenda. We pay too much attention to the
so-called new global issues at the expense of development problems, combating
extreme poverty and strengthening international cooperation. The best
preventive diplomacy is one in which programmes in support of development are
an essential element. These are the best guarantees of stable and lasting
peace.
The economic and social sector of the Organization needs to be
revitalized. Now is the time to increase the efficiency of the organs on
which rests the main responsibility for economic and social activities: the
Economic and Social Council and the Second and Third Committees of the
Assembly.
My country has reiterated that the internal transformation of the United
Nations organs, as well as of relationships between them, needs to be
supplemented by the democratization of decision-making. This will entail
reviewing, in due course, the anachronistic veto system. We must dispel the
risk of the Security Council's becoming merely an instrument for lending the
appearance of joint action to the designs of a few powerful countries. The
deliberative and decision-making processes must be transparent. The tendency
for the taking of decisions by consensus to become more widespread must not
pose an obstacle to participation by Council members, nor must it impede
in-depth debate among them.
Some of the measures proposed in the Secretary-General's report need to
be studied thoroughly and carefully, as they might prove to be
counterproductive. Deployment of troops along the borders of a State that
feels threatened might aggravate the problem it was designed to forestall.
The proposal for the conduct of preventive deployment operations in
conditions of national crisis gives grounds for concern. A measure of this
kind could involve the Organization in issues that are strictly within the
internal jurisdiction of States.
Similarly, what is known as "support for the transformation of deficient
national structures and capabilities, and for the strengthening of new
democratic institutions" (A/47/277, para. 59). should be examined with great
care, since these matters fall within the exclusive sovereignty of States.
The report also echoes positions that Mexico has supported. We agree
that States should accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of
Justice. Honduras and El Salvador have set the world an example of their
desire for harmony and peace by submitting their territorial dispute to the
International Court for resolution.
Mexico welcomes the insistence of the Secretary-General that diplomatic
action should be exhausted before use is made of the coercive measures for the
maintenance of international peace and security referred to in Chapter VII of
the Charter.
Despite the disquieting signs in the international environment, obvious
advances have been made which enable us to look with hope to the potential of
the United Nations to work towards a more stable and a more secure world.
Long-drawn-out conflicts that had been deadlocked for years are today on the
way to resolution. The peace process in El Salvador is perhaps the most
successful of those in which the Organization has participated. It is up to
the parties and the Organization itself to do everything in their power to
ensure the implementation, within the time-frame scheduled, of the commitments
entered into. Mexico appeals to the international community to provide, as
soon as possible, the economic assistance promised for the cause of peace in
El Salvador.
In the realm of disarmament, definite progress has been achieved in the
quantitative reduction of nuclear arsenals but we are far from having
eliminated the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. There has been an increase in
the number of States that possess nuclear weapons, and the doctrine of nuclear
deterrence continues to serve as grounds for justifying the existence and
improvement of such weapons.
In the face of these dangers, we must put an end to nuclear testing. We
therefore express our gratitude to those countries that have decided to
institute moratoriums. Mexico will continue to work to see to it that at this
session we are able to make progress together towards the total elimination of
nuclear weapons from the planet.
Therefore, the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons deserves our full attention. We are
gratified at the progress in respect of the Treaty of Tlatelolco. We welcome
the ratification by France of Additional Protocol I and the process leading to
the full incorporation of Argentina, Brazil and Chile in the
nuclear-weapon-free zone in Latin America. We hope that Cuba will also soon
be incorporated into this regime, as well as Guyana and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Mention also needs to be made of the Convention on chemical weapons, the
outcome of 10 years' work by the Ad Hoc Committee of the Conference on
Disarmament. Although the Convention is undoubtedly subject to improvement,
Mexico hopes that it will lead to the elimination of one of the most
reprehensible means of mass destruction.
The Rio de Janeiro Conference, held last June, was a basic step towards
greater awareness at the world level of the relationship between the problems
of the environment and those of development. The General Assembly has the
responsibility of creating institutional machinery to follow up, promote and
perfect the implementation of "Agenda 21", approved at Rio. The establishment
of the Commission on Sustainable Development is a central item on our agenda.
In this regard, I should like to make three points: the first is that
this Commission should not confine itself to reviewing the progress made in
Rio, but should become a high-level forum for updating and introducing new
proposals designed to promote development and the protection of the
environment.
The second point relates to its mandate of supervising and broadening the
commitment with regard to financing. We shall achieve little in the struggle
for sustainable development of the planet if the countries that possess the
most and have contributed the most to pollution do not increase the resources
allocated to halting the destruction of the environment. The Commission to be
appointed by this General Assembly must ensure that it is the polluter who
pays.
Finally, following up on the Rio agreements calls for a competent
secretariat. We are expecting a small but high-level group with direct access
to the Secretary-General and a clear mandate to avoid duplication of functions
with other bodies.
We are living through a phase characterized by profound respect for human
rights and democracy as the foundations of peace, freedom and human dignity.
The defence of human rights has always been at the centre of our
Organization's attention.
Nevertheless, we are concerned at the desire to focus greater attention
on some aspects of human rights to the detriment of others. Only a
comprehensive view of human rights can ensure that their protection will not
be partial or motivated by veiled aspirations towards interference.
The Organization has the opportunity of becoming the cornerstone of a new
world order worthy of that name. It is our responsibility towards future
generations to bequeath to them a forum in which peace is guaranteed and in
which the conditions required for the development of all nations are created.
International cooperation for development cannot be approached from one
standpoint alone. We must not view it solely as a complement to actions to
resolve conflicts or to reduce it to technical assistance programmes, nor can
it be confined to general recommendations regarding the liberalization of
trade and internal and international competitiveness.
The priorities are clear: putting an end to extreme poverty and creating
the conditions in which all human beings will find real opportunities for
development. To this end, a tremendous and serious effort to coordinate
economic policies and the explicit will to make international law the
compulsory reference point governing relations among peoples are essential.
International- law is the binding force that will make it possible to
build a true international order at the end of this century. Our Organization
must assume with clear vision, dedication and courage world leadership in the
defence of international law. Respect for the internal jurisdiction of States
is the basis for our civilized and peaceful coexistence.
Mexico categorically rejects the claim of any State to have the right to
apply its laws beyond its own frontiers. Nor can acts that violate the
juridical order of another country on the pretext of ensuring respect for
one's law be legal. All States must conform in their actions to the rules
that have been accepted by the sovereign will of nations and agreements. This
is the only lasting foundation on which to base changes in a world order that
is in a state of transition.
Here in this universal forum, Mexico emphasizes its unswerving commitment
to the need to strengthen international law.