India

May I, at the outset, congratulate you. Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at this session. I should also like to express our appreciation for the stewardship of the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly by your predecessor. Ambassador Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia. This is the first session of the General Assembly since Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali assumed the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations, and I take this opportunity to pay tribute to his dynamism, diplomatic skills and zeal for reform. I should also like to welcome into our midst the new Members of the United Nations and wish them success in their multifarious efforts and tasks. There have been dramatic changes world wide since the Assembly last met, in 1991. Some of these changes augur well, while others present uncertain prospects. While the cold war and the East-West confrontation are now, happily, but aberrations of the past, the shadow of conflict and suffering looms large in Yugoslavia, in Somalia and, indeed, in many other parts of the world. We cannot, therefore, be complacent or euphoric. What should have made the world safer has at the same time unleashed tendencies ethnic, sectarian and other - that threaten to keep it unsafe. The efforts of developing countries to improve their socio-economic conditions remain hamstrung by the inequities of the present international economic order. Therefore, what we need to work for is a new international order free from war, poverty, illiteracy and injustice. In this great endeavour the United Nations has a central role to play. Some eight and a half months ago, in this very city of New York, at the summit of the Security Council, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao pointed out that "Lasting peace and security necessarily require comparable levels of human happiness across the globe. It is impossible to think of a United Nations functioning usefully or harmoniously while humankind continues to be riddled with ever-increasing disparities". (S/PV.3046. p. 96) That is the concern that animates and reinforces our commitment to a United Nations dedicated as much to peace and stability as to progress and prosperity. The international community's efforts in this direction are none the less haunted by the shadow of continuing violence and conflict around the world. India has been deeply concerned at the conflict in Yugoslavia. The tragedy of Bosnia and Herzegovina demands redress. Its people must be given the chance to lead their lives in peace. India believes that the good work the United Nations is doing in that region deserves all our support. We also trust that decisions taken here will not complicate either the search for peace or the functioning of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in a difficult and dangerous situation. Somalia's tragedy is equally heart-rending. The wretchedness of its people, caught in a seemingly endless cycle of violence and misery, cries out for redress. The United Nations has instituted a valiant and generous operation there to provide relief to those affected. India believes that all the Somalian parties should work together to bring the conflict to an end so that tranquillity can be restored and the people of Somalia can be given the chance to work out their own destinies in peace. After years of suffering, the people of Cambodia aspire to build a sovereign, independent, non-aligned nation for themselves. The United Nations cannot falter in Cambodia, and the parties concerned in that country have a responsibility to ensure the success of the United Nations efforts. India has consistently supported the sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-aligned status of Afghanistan. We hope that all the parties there will work to restore peace and harmony so that the people of Afghanistan can have the opportunity, free of violence and conflict, to work for their own well-being. A glimmer of hope is visible on the West Asian horizon, with Israel and its Arab neighbours settling down to a dialogue. The numerous resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the General Assembly provide the necessary goals for those negotiations. The occupation of Arab lands should be vacated and the restitution of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to establish an independent State, as well as the security of all States in the region, should be assured if a genuine settlement with lasting peace is to be achieved in that part of the world. What the United Nations was able to do in restoring to Kuwait its independence and sovereignty was a singular achievement. India has traditionally enjoyed the warmest of relations with Kuwait, and we trust that following the restoration of its sovereignty Kuwait will also be able to recover the prosperity that it formerly enjoyed. I should like to add here that India feels sympathy for the civilian population of Iraq, and we believe that its needs should be looked at with generosity. Iraq's sovereignty as a State and its territorial integrity should be respected. The recent unfortunate violence in South Africa and the setback to the negotiations there for the elimination of apartheid will, we hope, be temporary. It is encouraging that the parties concerned have welcomed the catalytic role of the United Nations, which is fully committed to the objective of establishing a democratic, non-racial and united South Africa. As the country that first brought the question of apartheid to the United Nations in 1946, India is hopeful that the presence of United Nations observers will help to end the violence there and to get the negotiating process going once again. India has noted the recent changes in Fiji. I hope that the Government of Fiji will eschew racial and ethnic discrimination and revert to democratic governance at an early date. The Secretary-General has been able to record some progress on the issue of Cyprus. The acceptance by the parties concerned of the Secretary-General's "set of ideas" is significant. We share the Secretary-General's hope that the next round of direct talks in October will be the conclusive one. At this session the Assembly will take up the matter of the recently negotiated chemical-weapons Convention. The Convention opens up possibilities for similar action in other areas of disarmament. In this context, India in 1988 proposed an action plan for nuclear disarmament within a specified time-frame. As an immediate step, the United Nations should envisage the following: a convention on the non-use of nuclear weapons, a verifiable freeze on the production of fissionable material for weapons purposes, a suspension of nuclear-weapon tests and negotiations on general and complete disarmament. Non-proliferation is a laudable objective, and India's commitment to it has been affirmed time and again. But there should be no distinction between nuclear-weapon States and non-nuclear-weapon States when it comes to rights and obligations. The geographical spread of nuclear arsenals has, as it were, nuclearized the globe. Therefore, the international community's efforts should be directed against that global menace. As part of them, regional non-proliferation should be considered only within the context of a properly specified region, taking into account the security concerns of the countries of the region, whose prior agreement should be obtained. Human rights have gained emphasis in recent times, and deservedly so. India welcomes the changes around the world that have strengthened human rights and fundamental freedoms. In line with our democratic traditions, independent judiciary and press and alert public, India has decided to set up a national human-rights commission further to safeguard and promote fundamental human rights in India. I should like to point out here that one of the most vicious forms of human-rights violations today is the violence unleashed by terrorists. And terrorism assumes a particularly pernicious character when it is aided, abetted and sponsored from abroad. Such sponsorship is against the principles of the United Nations Charter, and should be vigorously opposed by all. The United Nations recognizes its responsibilities for providing humanitarian assistance to Member States facing grave humanitarian crises. The newly created capacity of the United Nations to deal with such situations has performed creditably. It is important in this context that we mobilize the United Nations to address the root causes of many such disruptions: poverty, illiteracy and lack of development. It is equally important for the United Nations to be seen to be acting correctly and impartially in this field and at the request of the country concerned. The report of the Secretary-General entitled "An Agenda for Peace" (A/47/277) articulates the wealth of experience that the United Nations has gained in recent years in peacemaking and peace-keeping, and is an important and welcome input into our study of how the role of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security can be strengthened. India, given its traditional and long-standing contribution to United Nations peace-keeping forces, takes a special interest in the matter. I trust that we shall be able to respond positively and constructively, in keeping with the United Nations Charter, to the Secretary-General's ideas. It should be ensured that the measures envisaged do not lead to the abridgement of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States. They should also respect the cardinal tenet of non-interference in the internal affairs of States. Just as international activism should not violate accepted norms of international relations, the principle of self-determination has to be seen in the context of respect for national sovereignty. Self-determination can apply only to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation, and not to integral parts of sovereign nations. The implementation of the proposals made by the Secretary-General will mean a more vigorous Security Council. An enhanced mandate for the Council requires matching transparency and democracy in its functioning. This cannot be done without an expansion of the membership of the Council to reflect the increased membership of the United Nations over the past few years, as well as the realities of the many changes in the international situation. And here I would submit that along with economic criteria, other relevant criteria should be given due weight in this context. The expansion in membership that I referred to is all the more essential if the Council is to ensure its moral sanction and political effectiveness. As the Secretary-General points out in his report on the work of the Organization "Democracy within the family of nations means the application of its principles within the world Organization itself." (A/47/1, para. 169) Similarly, the General Assembly has to be made more effective so as to represent not only the changes in its membership, but also the significant character of its universal composition. An agenda for development is as important to the United Nations as an agenda for peace. Any effort to assign to the United Nations only a complementary role in the economic and social field is, in fact, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Charter. The United Nations should continue to have a central role in macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation, because this is the only forum for reaching an international consensus on development. Developing nations around the globe, including India, are engaged in major reforms of their internal economic policies and mechanisms with a view to integrating their economies with the global economy. These reforms will have very limited meaning unless the external economic environment becomes conducive to the growth and development of developing countries. The Secretary-General, in his report on the work of the Organization, makes it clear that "the Organization's responsibilities and commitments in the political and security area should not be carried out at the expense of its responsibilities in the development field ..." (A/47/1, para. 66) This underpins and reinforces the continuing commitment of the United Nations in the field of development, particularly of the developing countries. The world economy is integrating both globally and regionally. But in the process, the needs of the developing countries are not finding the attention and response that they deserve. Hence, it becomes imperative that certain international events succeed such as the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, whose early, successful and balanced outcome would inject growth impulses into the world economy as a whole. The North-South dialogue is languishing and deserves reactivation. There are various other inequities in global economic interaction - such as poor commodity prices, monetary imbalances and others that call for urgent redress. The developing countries look to the United Nations for correctives in these fields. Socio-economic progress in developing countries will, in turn - I have no doubt about it enrich the prosperity of the developed world itself. Here, may I mention a disquieting aspect in this field, namely the tendency to impose non-economic conditionalities in international development assistance. They should be avoided so that the effectiveness of development assistance may not be impaired. My delegation sees merit in a number of proposals in the area of the developmental activities of the United Nations put forward by various groups, particularly the Nordic countries. In our view, one of the principal objectives of the exercise should be to decentralize the operational activities of the United Nations system so that countries and regions with their special characteristics and levels of development may be able to implement programmes suitable to them. Also, adequate resources should be found to promote development in the developing countries. The process of the restructuring of the United Nations should take into account the additional responsibilities assigned to the United Nations by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) that was held this year. The concept of sustainable development has to be translated into workable strategies and policy measures. In the pursuit of sustainable development, developing countries need resources and, what is more, technical assistance, as well as environmentally sound technologies on preferential and concessional terms. I do hope that the establishment of a Commission on Sustainable Development in the course of the present session will lead to effective follow-up of UNCED. The creation of a Planet Protection Fund, which places on all countries, except the least developed, an obligation to acquire and develop environment-friendly technologies, will facilitate universal participation in the collective effort to attain sustainable development. The non-aligned countries, meeting at the level of Heads of State or Government in Jakarta earlier this month, issued the Jakarta message, which states: "A shift in focus of international relations to strengthen multilateral cooperation based on genuine interdependence, mutuality of interests and shared responsibility, has become indispensable." If we, in the international community and here at the United Nations, are to cooperate to combat global menaces and inequalities, we will need to forge a global partnership. And here, I am reminded of what the Prime Minister of India stated at the recent summit of non-aligned countries to which I have referred: "We are happy to note that the United Nations, at last, is coming into its own in the fifth decade of its existence. While even today there is a tendency to subordinate the global agenda to narrow national concerns, we are happy to note that the United Nations is more effective than ever before. The question now is to make it even more effective." Let us also hope that the Assembly as its present session will promote the effectiveness of the United Nations even further by shaping it as an instrument of international consensus and action and of common benefit in all matters of international concern.