Philippines

I am pleased to extend to you, Sir, on behalf of my delegation, our most sincere felicitations on your election to the presidency of the fifty-second session of the United Nations General Assembly. 8 We also wish to congratulate His Excellency Tan Sri Razali Ismail, our colleague in the Assembly and our partner in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), for his strong leadership as the President of the fifty-first session. We take great pleasure in congratulating His Excellency Secretary-General Kofi Annan. We commit ourselves to working with him for the improvement of our Organization. Next year the Philippines will commemorate the centenary of its proclamation of independence. Next year also the Philippines is scheduled to conduct the most sacred exercise that democracy requires: electing national leaders through the popular will. As we mark our first century as the first Republic to arise in Asia, and as we prepare to choose those who will lead our country into the twenty-first century, we reflect on what we have achieved as a country and as a member of our community of nations. Today peace reigns in my country. Where there was strife, there is now national reconciliation. Where there was violent rebellion, there is now progress and hope. Last year, with the wisdom and guidance of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in particular the OIC’s Committee of Six, under the enlightened leadership of Indonesia and with the active support of Libya, the Philippine Government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) concluded a historic agreement that brought peace to Mindanao after more than a quarter century of open secessionist rebellion. The leader of the MNLF is now the elected Governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Chairman of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development. MNLF fighters are now being integrated into the armed forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. Indeed, there is much for us to celebrate as a nation and as a Republic. And this gives us even greater reason to reflect on the world and to ask ourselves fundamental questions about its present state and its emerging future. One such question that comes to mind is this: Is our world a safer place? The end of the cold war has in a sense made it so. But is the world safe enough when we continue to live under the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction? Fortunately, the conclusion of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty last year and the ongoing review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons give us some added security. We must not stop here. Let us pursue negotiations on the complete and total elimination of nuclear weapons by a certain time. This call is already supported by the International Court of Justice, which last year recognized that all States have an obligation to pursue such negotiations in good faith. On 27 March 1997 the South-East Asia Nuclear- Weapon-Free Zone Treaty entered into force. On that day, the world of nuclear weapons became much smaller. We now urge the nuclear-weapon States to support the Treaty by becoming parties to its Protocol. At this session we will once again consider the initiative of consolidating existing nuclear-weapon-free zones and of promoting cooperation among them with a view to the total elimination of such weapons. Global safety also demands control of the proliferation of conventional arms, particularly small arms and anti-personnel landmines, whether deployed or in national stockpiles. In Oslo earlier this month the Ottawa process produced, after less than a year, the text of a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. We will sign this treaty in December. We will also continue to support the noble efforts of the Organization, of individual Governments and of non-governmental organizations to clear minefields, to assist mine victims and to rehabilitate areas plagued by these infernal devices. At the dawn of the post-cold-war era, we must acknowledge that the potential for the most serious conflict has shifted almost entirely from the global to the regional level. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, in response to this new reality, has led in creating the ASEAN Regional Forum, a ministerial-level, multilateral forum for promoting regional-security dialogue and cooperation. Today in the Asia-Pacific region dialogue and cooperation are the pre- eminent modes for securing peace. However, the disputes in the South China Sea remain a source of tension for our region. In 1992, ASEAN issued, at Manila, a Declaration on the South China Sea, which called for the settlement of disputes exclusively by peaceful means and for the exercise of self-restraint by all of the claimants. Other States have endorsed this Declaration. We are determined to advance towards a settlement of these disputes in conformity with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, while avoiding all acts inimical to stability and a sense of security in the region. 9 Like many here, we were saddened by the recent events in the political life of Cambodia. We in ASEAN have initiated a dialogue to address the Cambodian issue, even as we look forward to the early admission of Cambodia into the ASEAN family. On the Korean peninsula, we hope that the current talks will lead not only to large dividends of peace but also to greater cooperation towards economic growth and progress for East Asia. In South Africa, following the collapse of apartheid, we are witnessing bold and sincere efforts towards deeper national reconciliation. In other parts of Africa we see active regional cooperation to promote peace and justice in the aftermath of terrible conflicts. In Liberia, in particular, we welcome the holding of free and fair elections with the support of the international community, led by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In the Middle East, peace is gravely imperilled by terrorism and political aggression. We call on all parties to renounce all forms of violence and intimidation to preserve the peace process that was begun only a few years ago to the applause of the whole world. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where much remains to be done, we regret the deterioration of civil order and condemn the violence directed against United Nations personnel. In Latin America, we welcome the honourable termination of the civil war that had raged in Guatemala for 36 years. Is the world a safer place for the world itself? The environment of our planet is under threat. Our response must be to accelerate implementation of Agenda 21 in line with the programme adopted last June. As a priority, we must address the lack of financial resources, technology, know-how and international cooperation that inhibits the promotion of worldwide sustainable development. This December we will meet again to discuss a legally binding instrument under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to control harmful emissions. We must agree now on emission reduction targets, particularly for those who have emitted too much for far too long. How safe, we should also ask, is the world for the individual human being? We can answer positively only when it becomes universally accepted that every human being has rights inherent in his or her person, and that all basic rights — political, civil, social and economic — must be in balanced harmony with one another. Thus, as long as human rights are violated, as long as the right to development is vitiated, as long as the rights of women are not fully respected, as long as people are traded like chattels, as long as migrant workers, especially women migrant workers, are abused and exploited, we cannot say that the world is a safer place for the individual human person. We must protect our women. We must act on the decisions we reached in Beijing, and we must do more to deepen and broaden respect for the rights of women through the use of existing human rights agreements and mechanisms. We must protect our children. We must effectively implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and we must append to this Convention a protocol that would organize global measures against child slavery, prostitution and pornography. In addition, we call for universal adherence to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The protection of human rights finds its most effective guarantees in democracy. Any threat to democracy also poses a direct and indirect threat to the rights of the human person. Today, in many countries, including my own, democracy is no longer endangered by the extreme political left or right. Rather, the threats to democracy are more base and more insidious. Among them are terrorism and the illicit traffic in narcotics. With the objective of creating a regional consensus on how best to address the issue of illicit drugs and other transnational crimes, the Philippines will next year host the regional ministerial meeting for Asia and the Pacific on organized transnational crime and corruption. For this meeting, we hope to take inspiration from and add to the consensus achieved in the regional meetings held in Africa and Latin America. Our efforts to make the world a safer place, and to safeguard the rights of the individual, would lose much of their meaning if we were unable to answer the basic question: have the opportunities for growth and economic progress improved? 10 The rising tide of globalization has brought unprecedented opportunities for the developed and developing worlds alike. The acceptance of market-oriented development and of free trade by an increasing number of developing nations has expanded their participation in the growth and commerce of the global economy. Yet the benefits of globalization remain unevenly distributed. Developing countries still suffer from the old problems of external debt and of protectionism in developed-country markets. The recent currency turbulence in East Asia, the region with the best long-term growth prospects in the world, is a sobering reminder that globalization can cause instability even where it has generated the greatest growth. The existence of unbridled international speculation and of other market ills that hinder rather than help development is a powerful rationale for strengthening the United Nations role in global development. Only in the United Nations can we work to share, among rich and poor nations alike, the burden of structural adjustment imposed by globalization. Only within the United Nations system can we mobilize concerted global action to support progress in the poor regions of the globe, particularly in Africa, whose needs call for special attention. The Bretton Woods system and the multilateral development banks also need reform. Global flows of multilateral development financing have to be increased, especially since bilateral official development assistance is declining. Countries that wish to reduce their share in the financing of the United Nations should be willing to do the same in international financial institutions, so that those that want to increase their contributions to these institutions are able to do so without hindrance. Another fundamental question we must ask is: are we ready, as an Organization of States, as nations united, to face the challenges of tomorrow? The short answer is “No”. For this reason, the Philippines strongly believes that we must immediately embark upon the reform of the United Nations. We need to enhance the capacity of the world body to meet the exigencies of modern times. A fundamental objective of reform should be to restore development to the centre of the United Nations agenda. The Philippines, therefore, endorses the recommendations of the Open-ended High Level Working Group on the Strengthening of the United Nations System. If properly implemented, they could render the General Assembly more effective in fulfilling its Charter responsibilities. Our Secretary-General has given us a report on his own reform proposals. These deserve the serious consideration of the General Assembly. We appreciate the emphasis placed by the Secretary-General on development. We also need to accelerate discussions on the reform of the Security Council. In this regard, we welcome the progress that has been made in clarifying and identifying the elements that must be negotiated if we are to move towards any expansion of the membership of the Council. The Philippines favours the enlargement of the membership of the Council in order to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness. Security Council membership should be more representative of the world’s developing regions and more reflective of modern global realities. New permanent members should enjoy the same rights as current permanent members. The use of the veto should be limited to actions under Chapter VII of the Charter. Talking of reform is good. But our talk will lead nowhere if our Organization does not have the resources required to improve and revitalize itself. We survived the balance of terror of the cold war. Let us now work on balancing our cheque-books in the post-cold-war era. There is much irony in this. The end of the cold war should also have meant an end to the astronomical finances spent on deterrence. It might have been reasonable to expect that a fraction of those finances could now be shared to help the United Nations promote world peace, progress and prosperity. Yet this is obviously not the case. The Secretary- General’s proposed revolving credit fund of $1 billion, to be financed though voluntary contributions or other means — if it materializes — may provide temporary relief. However, there is a real danger that this proposal will encourage those in arrears to delay further their payments to the Organization. The Philippines is in favour of reform. But reforming the United Nations should not be seen as an opportunity to hold our Organization to ransom. We are all in favour of reforming and strengthening the United 11 Nations. But setting benchmarks of reform should not be a precondition for a Member State to pay its assessed contributions. In the 100 years since my country declared its independence, war and occupation, dictatorship and partisan politics have at one time or another endangered our democracy. And in those eventful 100 years, we have cultivated certain insights that might prove relevant to us here today. We have learned, as a country, that we must cherish the ideals of democracy in all aspects of our national life, including in our dealings with other nations. After my people emerged victorious in our last major battle with forces opposed to democracy over a decade ago, we resolved to share our experience with the rest of the world. Thus, we organized in Manila the first meeting of the International Conference of New or Restored Democracies (ICNRD) in 1988. From the 13 nations that first met in Manila, ICNRD has grown to 76 countries today. I congratulate Romania for its successful hosting of ICNRD’s third meeting earlier this month. Given the diversity of the membership of our Organization, it is not surprising that we may have some differences even on such fundamental issues as international peace, global development and the protection of the individual. However, I submit that, if our Organization is to function properly and if Member States are to relate to each other in an effective manner, then we must all follow certain basic principles and ideals. These principles and ideals are those that democracy has taught us. Let us work together with all the creative energy at our command and with the ideals of democracy as our guiding light.