Sweden

I should like to offer you hearty congratulations on your election to the presidency. Sir. I am confident that this session of the General Assembly is in good hands. I should also like to pay tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his leadership of the United Nations in an era of crucial change. It is a sign of the times that since last year no fewer than 13 new Member States have taken their seats in the General Assembly. I should like to extend a warm welcome to them all. The world is currently undergoing dramatic changes and facing great challenges. Let us not allow the optimism inspired by the revolution which brought freedom to Eastern Europe to turn into a new pessimism as a result of the problems we are facing today. The end of the cold war has definitely given us a unique opportunity to build a new world order founded on common values, as originally envisaged in the United Nations Charter. International consensus is emerging, based on the principles of democracy and a free economy as prerequisites for the prosperity of the peoples of the world. The President returned to the Chair. The first reason for my optimism is the end of the East-West conflict. The second reason is that experience has shown that no nation is condemned to a perpetual cycle of poverty, underdevelopment and political violence. Several developing countries have made remarkable progress from absolute poverty to relative prosperity in a very short time. In addition to traditional contributions from the industrial countries, we can observe a tendency for economically successful developing countries to share their know-how and experience with other countries which have not yet achieved the same level of growth. New forms of cooperation between nations at different stages of development are emerging. We are living in an era when the removal of the risk of a nuclear holocaust makes other threats to peace and security stand out all the more clearly. This applies to problems of economic development, to the growing threat to the environment, and to ethnic and religious conflicts which have become severely aggravated in certain areas. Even though security will continue to have a military dimension, these challenges can be met only by applying a broader security concept which takes all aspects into account. In the long term, problems and conflicts of this kind can be solved only in an environment where there is a greater focus on cooperation. This can be achieved through the free exchange of know-how and goods, through regional cooperation and through institution-building: the establishment and strengthening of international structures within and outside the United Nations system. In the future, the greatness of a nation will be measured not by its military potential but by its ability to create a civil society through peaceful cooperation. A world of open, civil societies must also be a world of open markets. In Western Europe, peace and prosperity have been consolidated and secured through the free flow of goods and services. In the same way, peace and prosperity in what is usually termed the third world can be achieved only by global free trade and more open frontiers. We in the West must do more than merely open up our markets. It is also our responsibility to support economic and social progress in the developing countries by giving generous assistance. Assistance is particularly important for the poorest countries which are not yet able to benefit fully from freer world trade. Sweden considers it essential that the Western industrial countries achieve the goal of allocating 0.7 per cent of their gross national income to development assistance. Development assistance must effectively promote respect for human rights, democracy and market-economy solutions. Unfortunately, increasing resources are needed also to help people who are suffering from famine, war and other disasters. Regional cooperation, which has been given new impetus following the end of East-West confrontation, will play an increasingly dynamic role in tomorrow's world. And, in its turn, regional cooperation can promote global cooperation. If opportunities for regional cooperation are utilized in the right manner, this cooperation will provide the bricks for building global integration. But if these opportunities are not handled properly, the result will be narrow-minded nationalism and economic protectionism. European integration and the reunification of Eastern and Western Europe on the basis of common values and aims have created new opportunities for pan-European cooperation. Future stability depends on the success of the transition in Eastern Europe and in the States of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which makes demands on European solidarity. A united and successful Europe can play an important and positive role at the international level. It is Sweden's firm intention to become a member of the European Community. As a member, Sweden will continue to work for a Europe which is open to the world, economically, culturally and politically. In our view, an introverted Europe is not a viable alternative. Environmental threats, natural disasters and terrorism will continue to present us with formidable challenges. Mass poverty and accelerating population growth still trouble many countries. Drug use and drug trafficking remain major concerns for the international community. We have seen that societies can break down both as a result of domestic problems and under external pressure. It is a fact that the massive flows of refugees which we see today are just as likely to be caused by human activities as by natural disasters. In Europe, we have been unable so far to stop the tragic developments in the former Yugoslavia. This is the most brutal conflict experienced in our region since the Second World War. Sweden is endeavouring to strengthen regional mechanisms and the international framework in order to deal with conflicts of the type we have seen in the Balkans, in Moldavia and in the Caucasus. In its own vicinity, Sweden has focused on the risk of conflict inherent in the unregulated stationing of former Soviet troops in the sovereign Baltic States. We welcome the recent agreement on troop withdrawal reached by Russia and Lithuania and expect that similar agreements will be concluded with Estonia and Latvia as well. Although the end of the cold war has encouraged steps towards peaceful solutions, regional conflicts, often of long standing, continue to claim victims in many parts of the world. In parts of Africa, regional conflicts are aggravated by protracted drought, which has contributed to a famine affecting millions of people. No one can be indifferent to the situation in Somalia, where the civilian population has been hit harder than anywhere else. In other parts of the Horn of Africa as well, the inhabitants are suffering the effects of war. Sweden is participating in the ongoing international humanitarian relief measures by contributing substantial resources. However, humanitarian assistance must be combined with political efforts to establish a lasting peace. The positive features of developments in South Africa, where important steps have been taken towards a negotiated settlement, are overshadowed by political violence which is tending to create a vicious circle. The Swedish Government supports the efforts of the Secretary-General in contributing to an end to the violence and to resumed negotiations leading to the speedy abolishment of apartheid and the establishment of a democratic South Africa. The historic opportunity to achieve peace which has now opened up in the Middle East must not be lost. However, if peace is to have real content, there must be a comprehensive settlement including all the aspects discussed by the multilateral working parties within the framework of the peace process. The Middle East could greatly benefit from regional cooperation in a number of areas. When the parties to a conflict sit down at the negotiating table, a dynamic process of confidence-building is often created. We hope that such dynamic effects will occur, both in the political process in South Africa and in the peace process in the Middle East. Recent developments in the disarmament area have been particularly hopeful. In the past year, the United States and the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States concerned agreed to cut back their strategic nuclear stockpiles by two thirds and to eliminate most of their tactical nuclear weapons. The draft convention on a comprehensive ban on chemical weapons represents a historic achievement in international efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We hope that growing international consensus will lead to further effective measures to deal with weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation. Sweden pays particular attention to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and to the strengthening and indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a result of the 1995 Review Conference. An important task for this session of the General Assembly is to follow up the decisions taken at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in June. Industrial and developing countries must work together in a spirit of cooperation and solidarity to deal with threats to our environment and to achieve environmentally sound development. A Swedish poet once wrote: "What force may create is uneasy and brief". This is also what history teaches. Lasting solutions to crises and conflicts caused by political and religious antagonisms must be based on the principles of democracy and international law. It is therefore in everyone's interest to safeguard the rule of international law, transcending national, ethnic, and religious frontiers. In Europe we have seen a welcome development of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). During the cold war the role of the CSCE was to build bridges. Its central task now is to support the Eastern European countries in their transition and to help these new States to find forms for peaceful coexistence. When Sweden assumes the chairmanship of the CSCE Council of Ministers in December, I intend to work for the further enhancement of the capacity of the CSCE to build peace and settle conflicts. Coordination between the United Nations and the CSCE was strengthened when the CSCE, in Helsinki, explicitly pronounced itself a regional organization as defined in the United Nations Charter. This is having a positive effect, for example on endeavours to solve the conflict in former Yugoslavia. Different forms of cooperative security between the United Nations and regional organizations are also being introduced in other conflict areas. However, the United Nations has the fundamental responsibility for the interpretation and application of international law. Enforcement measures remain the prerogative of the United Nations. But the United Nations must be strengthened in important respects if it is to be able to meet the demands of today and the expectations of tomorrow. Sweden wants to contribute to this process. In the first instance, the peace-making, peace-keeping and peace-building capacity of the United Nations must be reinforced. This applies to the Security Council, which bears the main responsibility for peace and security under the Charter. It also applies to the Secretary-General, who should be given greater possibilities for taking initiatives. Regarding the strengthening of the Security Council, I am primarily thinking of the Council's possibilities for dealing with threats to international peace and security at an early stage. However, caution should be exercised in changing the Council's composition and its decision-making procedures, since the Council is now at long last functioning as the Charter intended. At the same time, it is important that the decisions of the Security Council continue to enjoy wide support from Member States. This requires close cooperation between members of the Security Council and other Members of the United Nations. Sweden welcomes the Secretary-General's report "An Agenda for Peace". Several of the proposals presented in his report were discussed by the Nordic countries in. an earlier document entitled: "Shaping the Peace the United Nations in the 1990s". In this document we appealed for, among other things, strengthening the Security Council's and the Secretary-General's capacities to undertake preventive diplomacy. It is gratifying to note that this issue has now been given the highest priority. It is of the utmost importance that the United Nations be given concrete possibilities for anticipating and preventing conflicts. It should be possible to deploy peace-keeping forces for preventive purposes. The parties to a conflict should be urged to apply to the International Court of Justice for the peaceful settlement of their disputes. Violations of fundamental human rights can constitute a threat to international peace and security and hence be subject to measures by the Security Council. As regards the difficult question of the use of coercive measures to keep or build peace under Article 42 of the Charter, and the establishment of permanent United Nations forces on a national basis for this purpose, we have every reason carefully to follow and analyse these matters. Any change in United Nations practice must take place in the broadest possible agreement. The Secretary-General's report also contains proposals for financing traditional peace-keeping missions. The question of financing has become increasingly important as United Nations peace-keeping endeavours have been extended. Peace-keeping activities must not be based on the charity of Member countries, as has often been the case in the past. The Nordic countries have concluded that the establishment of a contingency fund for peace-keeping operations would constitute an important step towards solving the question of financing. But peace-keeping operations are only one aspect of the financing difficulties of the United Nations. If the United Nations is to be capable of fulfilling its role in the future, now that the political prerequisites exist, a long-term solution must be found for the Organization's financial crisis. Furthermore, all Member States must pay their assessed contributions in accordance with their obligations under the Charter. We are gratified to note that the broader security concept which Sweden advocates is included in "An Agenda for Peace". This view should be the basis for the reform of the whole United Nations system. In his report to this year's session of the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General has further developed his thoughts on this issue. His central message is that a distinction cannot and should not be made between United Nations tasks in the political sphere and those in the economic and social fields. Sweden supports this view. In this context, the proposal to hold a world summit for social development in 1995 takes on particular significance. In the Nordic United Nations project, several concrete proposals are presented for making the work of United Nations development assistance more effective for example, through a new governance structure and a new financing system. We welcome the first step taken by the General Assembly in strengthening the capacity of the United Nations to respond to humanitarian emergencies. Following the July session of the Economic and Social Council, we hope that it will be possible to proceed successfully with the reform measures in the economic and social fields during this session of the General Assembly. The protection of human rights is also included in the broader security concept. In preparation for next year's United Nations Conference on Human Rights, Sweden intends to work for measures and procedures which can increase respect for human rights throughout the world, both in developing countries and in industrial countries. Let me stress that the Swedish Government considers that there is a clear connection between respect for fundamental human rights and economic and social development. Consequently, the question of a country's development cannot be divorced from its implementation of respect for human rights. Sweden is presenting its candidature for a seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 1993-1994 period of office. We are doing so on the basis of the active role we have traditionally played in the United Nations system. In the election of non-permanent members of the Council, the Charter prescribes that due regard be paid to the contribution of Members to the maintenance of international peace and security and to the other purposes of the Organization. Many Swedes have served the United Nations, both in the Secretariat and in the field. Names such as Folke Bernadotte and Dag Hammarskjold are part of United Nations history. Sweden has participated in practically all United Nations peace-keeping operations. On the basis of our experience in this area, we and the other Nordic countries can offer advice and training to countries which are now preparing for peace-keeping missions. Sweden placed the problems of the environment on the agenda of the United Nations. It hosted the first United Nations Conference in this area. For many years, we have been in the vanguard of the United Nations work in the economic and social sphere, both as regards planning and financing. Sweden is a major donor to many of the United Nations development agencies and the fourth-largest contributor to the United Nations system as a whole. If Sweden wins support for its candidature for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, it will entail greater responsibility than was the case when we participated in the work of the Council sixteen years ago. We are prepared to shoulder this responsibility. In an international environment which presents new challenges and opportunities for cooperation, Sweden's United Nations policy can be summarized in the following three points. First, we want to contribute to the reinforcement of United Nations peacemaking, peace-keeping and peace-building ca£ability. This is a question of maintaining the Security Council's effectiveness, which also assumes that its decisions enjoy the wide support of Member States. The Secretary-General should be given greater possibilities to take initiatives. It is essential that the financing of peace-keeping operations be guaranteed. Sweden supports the proposal for the establishment of a special contingency fund. Secondly, we want to work for an extension of international structures for cooperation to enable us to meet the threats to peace, security and economic development in the 1990s. We attach great importance to the interaction between the United Nations and regional organizations. Thirdly, we want to promote the application of a broader security concept which contains not merely a military component but also human rights, democracy, economic freedom, social justice and environmental responsibility. We support the view that United Nations tasks in the political sphere and in the economic and social field must be considered in the same context. A comprehensive view of this nature, based on the United Nations Charter, should form the basis for reform of the United Nations system. The United Nations can establish genuine security in the world. It can do so only by tackling the roots of insecurity.