Willy Brandt

e the great fortune of living in a unified country today, in peace with our neighbours, friends and partners around the world. At the same time, what Willy Brandt stated here 50 years is all the more true today: “In a world in which we are all increasingly dependent on each other, a policy for peace must not st

ts and destroying agricultural enterprises. “Where hunger prevails, there can be no peace.” (A/PV2128, p.3). My predecessor, Nobel Peace Prize winner Willy Brandt, said that when he addressed this Assembly in 1973, as the first Federal Chancellor to do so. Today we are witnessing that that sentence also works t

s ago to the day, the report of the North-South Commission, which began its work in 1977. The Chairman of the Commission was former German Chancellor Willy Brandt. Humankind is still dealing with more or less the same structural difficulties today, but it seems to have become rather more difficult to change the

Our own history reminds us Germans that we must do everything we can to overcome the rifts in Europe. When Willy Brandt, then Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, spoke in the General Assembly on 26 September 1973, after the flags of the two parts of Germany

welcomed back into the heart of the international community. For that, we Germans are grateful, but we are also aware of our responsibility. When Mr. Willy Brandt became the Federal Chancellor of Germany in 1969, he said that we Germans want to be a people of good neighbours. At the time, Germany was still divi

loping countries and smaller economies. Thirty-two years ago, the Independent Commission on International Development Issues highlighted, in the 1980 Brandt report, the interdependence of developing and developed economies and the mutuality of their interests. The report explained how all nations would be

years ago, on 18 September 1973, the United Nations welcomed Germany back into the fold of the family of nations. My predecessor, Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt, paved the way for that move. His standing as an anti-fascist inspired confidence for Germany. His passionate commitment to internationalism went far

99, it is focusing its energies. Its global role will increase. It is about to begin further negotiations on accession with associated partners. What Willy Brandt said about Germany in 1989 applies today to the whole of Europe: "What belongs together is now growing together". The North Atlantic Treaty Organizat

Sadruddin Aga Khan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for many years; the late Olaf Palme, former Prime Minister of Sweden; the late Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; Mr.

ccess in your high office. At the same time, I extend a cordial welcome to the new Members of our Organization. Addressing the Assembly 20 years ago, Willy Brandt said that the Federal Republic of Germany’s purpose in joining the United Nations was to help serve the cause of world peace. That has always been, a

tant United Nations resolutions and documents that have been concerned with development issues more generally, such as the reports of the Pearson and Brandt Commissions, and "The Challenge to the South".

dvances in human rights and social development. As was already noted by that distinguished representative of the best tradition of European humanism, Willy Brandt, 12 years ago: "It can no longer be argued that protection of the environment is an obstacle to development. On the contrary, the care of the natural

this Organization will have to agree on an appropriate channel for our deliberations and decisions. A group led by the former Chancellor of Germany, Willy Brandt, has laid significant groundwork by forwarding suggestions and proposals on organizational reforms in the United Nations. The Government of Iceland s

peace. Eleven years ago the North-South Commission on the problems of international development, presided over by the former German Chancellor Hilly Brandt, strongly stressed in its report entitled North-South - a Programme for Survivals "Where hunger reigns peace cannot prevail. If we want to banish war

f the Helsinki Final Act. All this is a breakthrough for the vision of a Europe without borders, for the ideas of visionary leaders like Jean Monnet, Willy Brandt and Olof Palme. After confrontation and rearmament, we have dialogue and co-operation. The final victor on the European continent is democracy itself

uld like to record our commendation of the efforts of the super-Powers to reach an arms limitation agreement. However, we concur in the dictum of the Brandt Commission that arms limitation arrangements cannot replace disarmament. Barbados is a vigorous exponent of true and genuine non-alignment and a fait

een 20 million and 25 million children under the age of five from malnutrition and disease - deaths which could easily be prevented, according to the Brandt report. According to the latest statistics- those of 1986 - 14.1 million children aged five died from disease and malnutrition. Of these, 250,000 wer

Brandt, Palme, the Panel of Eminent Personalities, the Secretary-General*, these are among a long list of authorities who have described the contradiction b

Several proposals and recommendations from various sources - notably the Brandt Commission - have emphasized the positive role that the developed countries can play in creating a favorable international economic climate. Action o

omic and Social Council in its resolution 1986/56, which refers consideration of this distressing and untenable phenomenon to this Assembly. As Willi Brandt says in his recent book. Weapons and Hunger, this is a "blood transfusion from the sick to the healthy".

he world will have spent $US 1,000 billion for military purposes. As noted in the 1985 Third-World Lecture by the recipient of the Third-World Prize, Willy Brandt, "This amounts to a death sentence for millions of human beings." To the small islands States, with annual total national budgets which are far less

g, not even agreement on procedures, a time-frame, or even an agenda. Then in 1981, we had the Cancun meeting in Mexico, designed, in the wake of the Brandt Commission report, to search out a basis for negotiations. The Cancun meeting achieved nothing. And since then it has proved impossible even to get t

alized nations pledge a mere 1 per cent of their gross national product as economic assistance to the developing world. That plea was repeated in the Willy Brandt report. Many were the pledges, but few were honoured. In fact, the World Bank has reported a substantial decrease of concessionary aid flows in both

in these countries is essential in itself, but it also serves to promote recovery in the industrialized countries. We are not lacking ideas—both the Brandt and the Palme Commissions have presented guidelines for action. Sweden regrets that so far it has not been possible to start global negotiations with

ggeration to say that so far at least they have failed. The same could be said about the Cancun meeting,' which was guided by the lucid report of the Brandt Commission and the sixth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. In view of these frustrating facts, pessimism is rampant

ional economic relations. Furthermore, the least developed countries have suffered dramatic effects from the world economic crisis. 229. Recently the Brandt Commission, in its second report, has added its voice to the many publicizing the need for structural changes in North-South relations. 230. It is tr

problems. 77. The global economic dialogue is taking place at various levels and in different forums. In recent reports on North-South relations, the Brandt Commission and the Commonwealth experts have made interesting suggestions on ways to improve the handling of the dialogue. I think we owe it to them

policies which may well disable the developed world itself. 173. In these circumstances, the proposals for the new international economic order, the Brandt Commission report and the principles of the North-South dialogue should command more constructive and determined responses from the developed nations

es entirely in our own hands. 288. Let me first summarize the international debate as I believe it has evolved over that period. In February 1983 the Brandt Commission's second report proposed a major review of the world's trade and payments system." In March the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries endorsed

In 1980 the Brandt Commission report spoke of the urgent need for international action to avert the dangers of economic, social and political collapse in many of the th

The developing countries, and the Independent Commission on International Development Issues, under the chairmanship of Willy Brandt, which proposed it, had hoped that agreement would be reached at the Cancun meeting on the launching of the global round, thereby breaking the North-

constitutea threat to peace, perhaps even as great as the accumulation of weapons threatening human life. 118. When the then Federal Chancellor, Mr. Willy Brandt, addressed the General Assembly, at the twenty-eighth session, as the first representative of the Federal Republic of Germany he said we have come to

e way to finding a new way based on an approximate balance of military power and on mutual respect. Relations between the two German States improved. Willy Brandt's was a pioneer achievement. Contacts developed across the borders between individuals and peoples. The increase in economic exchange was of mutual b

nd; the annual rite of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and FAO; the proposal of the non-aligned countries on global negotiations; the Brandt report; the Cancun summit and the New Delhi and Oslo meetings. These comings and goings of officials, diplomats, economists and politicians have achi

at famous target of 0.7 per cent of the gross national product of the rich countries, or less than 5 per cent of annual arms expenditures. Indeed the Brandt Commission' noted ironically that the machinery of death was that which involved the greatest and most dynamic transfer of technology.

ce by the World Bank and the International Development Association to developing countries and efficiency in the disbursement of such assistance. The Brandt Commission's recommendations on this matter indicate that the present concentration of staff -95 per cent of whom work in Washington at the Bank's he

nisms for global management of the world economy and assist in its recovery. The mechanism for recovery was adequately analyzed and documented in the Brandt Report, and it should form the basis for urgent negotiations. The procedural objections being used as delaying devices should be beneath the contempl

for progress. This cannot be the task of a single nation. As die report of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues, chaired by Willy Brandt, has pointed out: "Above all, the achievement of economic growth in one country depends increasingly on the performance of others".4 176. It is on th

interest the set of concrete recommendations for a Program of action in several key areas of restructuring the international economy contained in the Brandt Commission report.14 The report is complementary to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Pearson report is sponsored by the

h more perhaps than some countries are now willing to acknowledge. This sense of global interdependence and mutual benefits was well expressed by the Brandt Commission in its report: "... all nations will benefit from a strengthened global economy, reduced inflation and an improved climate for growth and

uired. In that context we appreciate the proposal to convene the summit meeting at Cancun focused on the NorthSouth relationship, as presented in the Brandt Commission's report.17 Such an unprecedented meeting can, and we hope will, provide the necessary impetus to unblock the NorthSouth negotiating proce

ues. That is why we look towards the forthcoming International Meeting on Cooperation and Development, to be held at Cancun. An important idea of the Brandt Commission becomes a reality. The great opportunity afforded by this unprecedented Cancun meeting must be seized. We want it to generate a new resolv

e, even a source of hope. 44. The growing realization that to an increasing extent our economic futures are linked can spur us towards solutions. The Brandt Report9 has, I think, contributed in this regard. In particular, there has been an increased awareness of the contribution of the developing countrie

justice and interdependence. It seems from the stand of the advanced industrialized countries that they pay no heed to the conclusions reached by the Brandt Commission, which emphasized the common destiny of humanity as a whole. There are still many regions in the world threatened with famine and drought,

Mention must also be made of the tireless efforts of Mr. Brandt, Chairman of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues and a true world statesman in this search for global justice. In this reg

ders of 22 developed and developing countries at Cancun. The inspiration for the Cancun meeting came from the sobering report issued last year by the Brandt Commission.4 That report not only warned against the danger of mass starvation in the developing world unless a program for survival was adopted, but

hose attributable to prevailing economic conditions and to structural deficiencies in the world economy, in which the third world as reflected in the Brandt Report3—does not participate effectively in controlling its own development financing. 126. The major problems of social injustice, unemployment, inf

Such a confrontation will be in the final instance detrimental of the whole of humanity. 15. In this context we thought that the Brandt Commission would have come to the help of the world. We welcome the forthcoming meeting of the North-South dialog which fa due to be held at Cancun.

cular by vigorously supporting the implementation of the programs of FAO and especially the Plan of Action on World Food Security. Those parts of the Brandt report advocating an especially urgent aid program of $4 billion a year and longterm measures to help the poorest countries to break out of the cycle

oducts or a transfer of some special technology. But how often do you hear it acknowledged, as it has rightly been acknowledged by the members of the Brandt Commission, that the progress of the NorthSouth dialog is a prerequisite for world progress and perhaps even for world peace? 27. The South has becom