Peru

It is an honour for me to take part in this General Assembly as the representative of the people and Government of Peru, under the leadership of President Alberto Fujimori. I extend my congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your election to preside over this session and assure you of the fullest support by the delegation of Peru. We likewise congratulate Ambassador Razali Ismail, President of the previous session. Peru reaffirms its unfailing dedication to the purposes, principles and norms enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, without whose faithful application it is not possible to achieve peace and harmonious coexistence among States. We must all ensure respect for international law, especially scrupulous and good-faith compliance with treaties, and must contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security and participate in the promotion of economic and social development. Accordingly, effective observance of the Charter and respect for its principles are today more necessary than ever in order to endow multilateralism with renewed credibility and vigour. We live in a day of marked change in the organization of power and of globalizing trends in the international system which require, in keeping with the Charter, a scrupulous egalitarianism in relations between States and, accordingly, multilateral policies in keeping with the times as an appropriate means of conferring priority on the common goals of mankind in our era. Institutional reform of the United Nations system is imperative to make it more efficient, adapt it to the present needs of the international community and consolidate institutions that will be truly representative of the interests we all share. For four years now the General Assembly has been at work on the reform of the Security Council. National positions have already been made known and reiterated. We should now decide whether we shall embark on the negotiations proper or whether that should be deferred until better political conditions prevail, for the unproductive prolongation of this debate could affect the 8 prestige and authority of the Organization at a juncture when it is essential instead to strengthen it as the supreme world forum for dialogue, understanding and cooperation. We are aware of the difficulty of this process. To those who have a duty to exercise their power with self- restraint we address an invitation to be flexible. We also believe that pressures or haste would be ill advised, since they could hinder the achievement of a legitimate and vital goal. Peru believes it is necessary to make the Security Council representative, to enhance its legitimacy, to secure equitable geographical representation through its expansion, to give it greater transparency, and to take the first steps towards the abolition of the veto through strict limits on its use. Accordingly, Peru supports the increase of both categories of members. All of the foregoing should be achieved through a legitimate agreement that does not discriminate against developing countries. To keep pace with the momentum generated by global problems, a new institutional structure is needed, such as that proposed by the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in his “A Programme for Reform.” In order better to serve international peace and stability and the sustained growth of the world economy, renewed efforts are needed that will be in keeping with the diversity of Member States. We support the strengthening of the Secretariat, the emphasis on the promotion of development and the recommendation for rationalizing and optimizing the use of its financial resources, as well as the transfer of the resources thus released to development cooperation activities. The Human Development Report for 1977 reveals that the problem of internally displaced persons has taken on dramatic dimensions; the numbers increased fivefold during the decade 1984-1994. At the same time, we note in the report submitted by the representative of the Secretary- General to the Commission on Human Rights concerning institutional lacunae in this area of the United Nations that there is no institution with exclusive responsibility for such displaced persons. We propose that at this session of the General Assembly, which the Secretary General has called the reform Assembly, the question of institutional responsibility for the internally displaced be addressed. Peru favours the idea of unifying the country offices and operations of the agencies to facilitate the implementation of comprehensive programmes in which the United Nations system will be able to put its recognized capacities to full use. No reform can be successful without the necessary financial resources. The financial situation of the Organization is a subject of widespread concern. Peru is of the view that contributions to the regular budget are a legal obligation that should be fully and promptly discharged. The principle of capacity to pay should remain the fundamental criterion in the apportionment of assessments. Accordingly, if States in arrears do not take concrete measures to clear their indebtedness, certainly without setting conditions, it will not be possible in a timely manner to earmark resources for activities essential to the majority of our countries. Such is the case, for example, with the campaign against poverty. There are other key questions on our increasingly abundant international agenda. We must place increasing emphasis on economic and social issues, cooperation for development, environmental protection, humanitarian assistance, the advancement and defence of human rights and, of course, the fight against illegal drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption. Peru approaches the development of the international system on the basis of four criteria that guide its foreign policy: the pre-eminence of representative democracy and the rule of law; the promotion of the fundamental rights of the human person; consolidation of the market economy and development of regional economic integration agreements; and the search for peace and the advancement of cooperation for development. In the era of globalization, Peru views international peace and security as multidimensional tasks. If States are to assume them as real commitments and priorities, they must be associated with a higher purpose, namely, with improving the intolerable lot of some 60 per cent of the world's population. Problems such as poverty, acute poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, infant mortality, discrimination and marginalization in general constitute a picture of potential social violence that threatens the universal ideal of a peaceful and orderly life. The plight of poverty and the challenge of promoting human development have radically altered the direction and pace of international relations. 9 The international system is tending towards a gradual demilitarization. With the end of the cold war and the reduced risk of a global military confrontation, conditions have been created to give priority, on the basis of dialogue and cooperation, to the long-delayed task of advancing economic and social development. General and complete disarmament continues to be a key element in security and an abiding goal of the international community. Peru attaches special importance to non-proliferation in all its aspects, primarily nuclear non- proliferation and nuclear disarmament. My country participated actively in the arduous negotiations that culminated in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and signed it on the day it was opened for signature. We are gratified at the outcome of the Oslo Diplomatic Conference, in the context of the Ottawa process to prohibit the production, transfer and indiscriminate use of anti-personnel landmines, in which Peru has participated as a full member from the outset. We are preparing to sign the global agreement in December. The Rio Group has undertaken to make our region the first in the world to be free of these odious devices, which day after day continue to take their toll of thousands of innocent victims. Peru is a peace-loving country that works for peace and repudiates conflict. We want to strengthen political and economic cooperation with all countries and groups of countries in various regions on the basis of common interests and mutual benefit. We emphasize especially the forging of closer ties of friendship and cooperation with neighbouring countries and fostering mutual trust through specific processes, mechanisms and measures that we are vigorously pursuing. Without economic growth, there can be no creation of wealth or jobs, and without these there can be no development or prosperity. That is the great challenge of our time. We must act to create conditions of market transparency and social convergence in order to sustain the growth of the world economy, the opening and liberalization of trade, services and capital flows and the transfer of technology. Developed and developing countries must reach an understanding in order to avoid a return to that not-so-distant past when narrow forms of protectionism and conditionalities failed to overcome inequality and, indeed, aggravated it. Globalization must not lead to greater poverty and discrimination, for they are one of the principal obstacles to stability, and, on the eve of the twenty-first century, they also pose a moral challenge. We must adopt measures to incorporate disadvantaged societies into policies and processes that promote economic growth and social development. In Peru, the campaign for the gradual reduction of poverty until its eradication has taken a comprehensive approach. Its focal points are openness, modernization and liberalization of the economy, reform of the State and a legal framework that guarantees property and promotes investment. In addition, we are pursuing consistent sectoral policies, financed by 40 per cent of our national budget going to items in the social sphere, such as health, housing, education, population and justice. The results already achieved in economic and social growth are well known, and Peru is considered a stable, secure country with a bright future. Around the year 2000, the Peruvian Government hopes significantly to reduce acute poverty and poverty in general. The United Nations has primary responsibility for addressing three negatives trends of universal scope: illicit drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption. We are combating vigorously these criminal phenomena because they erode fundamental values and threaten the stability of democracies. The upcoming special session of the General Assembly on the question of drugs — a session that we fully support — calls for unity of purpose. The international community will have an excellent opportunity to tackle this problem in all of its dimensions. Peru has been achieving concrete results in all facets of this comprehensive campaign, not only in interdiction but also in crop eradication and alternative development. We hope to see a substantial increase in international cooperation that would help step up our anti-drug policy and would complement, even if only partially, the tremendous national efforts that we have been making. We hope that this enhanced cooperation will materialize, in view of the increased awareness and greater political will that have emerged worldwide regarding a problem for which all of us, without exception, share responsibility. The Eighth International Anti-Corruption Conference, which took place three weeks ago in the capital of Peru, brought together more than 600 representatives from 93 countries. I wish to highlight the set of recommendations that emerged for combating public and private corruption. These are contained in the Lima Declaration, the first global document of its kind. It establishes an evaluation and follow-up mechanism that 10 will bring these recommendations to the attention of Governments and international institutions. The goal henceforth in this endeavour, which concerns Governments and citizens equally, will be to identify specific problem areas, taking into account public opinion and with the effective participation of civil society. The United Nations, as the global framework for combating corruption in all its manifestations, must participate in these efforts, just as the inter-American system has been doing within its own geographical area. The phenomenon of terrorism has, at the cost of countless innocent human lives and huge material losses, today placed itself on the agenda of contemporary international relations. We have already unequivocally and at all levels condemned terrorist acts and the criminal groups that perpetrate them, and we have also agreed that terrorist acts represent human rights violations. It is now time to undertake a process of consultation that will enable the international community to avail itself of universal legal instruments with which to combat effectively terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, as we are striving to do on our continent. Five years after the adoption of the plan of action of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the lack of progress on Agenda 21 is discouraging. There has been an erosion of the political commitment entered into, especially with respect to the allocation of new and additional resources, as well as scant willingness to transfer technology to the developing countries. We reaffirm that only a comprehensive approach can lead to the achievement of sustainable development, because this requires a consolidation of the process of the opening and liberalization of trade, as well as commercial and environmental policies that are mutually supportive. An adequate transfer of financial resources and technologies to support national policies is also required. In this task, no State should shirk its individual responsibility. One of the challenges facing the international community is to ensure the effective promotion and full observance of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The advancement and protection of human rights are central concerns of the Peruvian Government. The concept of human development, which underlies the entire economic and social policy of our State, focuses on a revalorization of life and of the human being. The cooperation of the United Nations is essential, through a realistic approach that takes due account of regional and national characteristics and that is geared primarily to achieving a culture of human rights. Many countries, including Peru, are currently facing a cyclical, worldwide natural phenomenon known as El Niño, whose severe economic, environmental and social consequences are drastically changing the marine environment, which is a source of food and employment for broad sectors of humankind. The damage that these large-scale oceanic and atmospheric changes did in the past prompted my country some decades ago to promote the study of this phenomenon. Thus in 1974 a regional study of El Niño was carried out in the framework of the Permanent South Pacific Commission, a subregional organ of the South-East Pacific Action Plan, which has continued to address this problem with the valuable support of organizations such as the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the World Meteorological Organization. The knowledge acquired by Peru and other countries, as well as by international, regional, and world bodies, needs to be integrated and systematized. Accordingly, Peru proposes the establishment of a global programme of integrated cooperation on the El Niño phenomenon, which would enable our countries to mitigate its effects and the ensuing material damage. In order to lay the foundations of this program and set it in motion, we should consider holding an international meeting with the participation of the relevant agencies of the system, regional organs and the respective national programmes of the countries concerned. In this context, we propose that, as part of the reform of the United Nations system, its operational capacity in the area of the monitoring and the mobilization of assistance for natural disasters be maintained and strengthened. The development policy now being implemented in Peru is anchored in the universal concepts, values and principles propounded by the United Nations: democracy, economic freedom, respect for the fundamental rights of the human person, environmental conservation, the advancement of women and protection of the rights of indigenous populations. Responding to the dictates of its history and geography, Peruvian society has since ancient times embodied the ideal of unity within diversity. We Peruvians are laying the foundations of our own future. I shall not dwell on the policies that we have been pursuing for the last seven years, their impressive results or the 11 vicissitudes in this process that have tested our resolve and perseverance. But I feel that it is appropriate to repeat the principal characteristic of our development model, which is a harmonious and rational complementary relationship between economic and social policies, which for the first time in many years is enabling us to carry out a realistic strategy for sustainable human development. Accordingly, the modern and efficient functioning of the United Nations system of cooperation is now, more than ever, of strategic value to Peru. I should like in particular to express thanks for the cooperation that the United Nations system has been providing to the Peruvian people, which is stimulating and complementing our national effort. The United Nations is the best instrument available at a global level to consolidate international peace and security, respect for the sovereignty and independence of States and international law, and for the promotion of economic and social development. Accordingly, its operations, approaches and strategies should provide effective answers to the challenges of the contemporary world and the needs of our peoples, who continue to place their hopes in our Organization. Peru will always remain committed to that endeavour.