France

My country is especially pleased at the President’s election to lead the General Assembly. He represents a great country that plays an important role in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 and I am glad that he is to preside over our work during this crucial period for our Organization. 17 I should also like to endorse the remarks made by Ireland’s Foreign Minister in the name of the European Union. Last year, we celebrated the first half century of the United Nations existence, during which its energies were devoted, with a success universally acknowledged, to the organization of international society. A mammoth collective undertaking has been accomplished and the United Nations has become the keystone of an international system founded on law and the peaceful settlement of conflicts. This collective undertaking owes much to the determined action of successive Secretaries-General, and I should like to pay a special and warm tribute here to Mr. Boutros-Ghali, whose determination, vision of the future and firmness have given our Organization a presence and vitality rarely achieved. He deserves our confidence. Today, as the century reaches its turning point, the Organization is confronted with another major challenge: globalization. In every sphere, the ideas and realities to which we were accustomed are changing at a pace unequalled in human history. The movement of people, of ideas and images, and of goods is accelerating as distances shrink. At the same time, the standardization of cultural practices — and the legitimate reactions this provokes — the general spread of low-cost high technologies and intensified competition bring into question the positions that have been achieved and the functioning, if not the very foundation, of international society. At the same time, the production of wealth is increasing tenfold and scientific progress is growing rapidly, while unexpected opportunities for development are being given to new nations. But these benefits have adverse effects. The control fragile States have over their development is being eroded, national legislation is becoming inapplicable and the notion of territorial integrity is changing in meaning. In short, national authorities are too often reduced to powerlessness by transnational phenomena over which they have only scant control. If we are not careful, we are going to be living in a world without criteria, without values, without references, in which some — the strongest and the richest — will be in a position to decide alone on the future of the planet. It should come as no surprise that, in these circumstances, the United Nations has many detractors. Our Organization is in effect a privileged forum in which the framework of a genuine international society can be built, a framework that frees the forces of creativity and development and represses the forces of violence and oppression. It is up to all of us present here to enable the United Nations to play that role and to ensure peace, security and progress in these new circumstances and in keeping with its mandate. Rest assured that France, a founding Member of the Organization and permanent member of the Security Council, will devote all its energies to this task and will be in the front ranks of this new fight. Our world is confronted today with terrible problems that know no borders and, sadly, spare no population: terrorism, crime and drugs. The fight against these scourges is foremost in our concerns and high on the international agenda. Accordingly, an uncompromising fight against terrorism, whatever its forms, perpetrators and motives, constitutes our priority. This is why I convened a conference on terrorism in Paris last July that brought together the G-7 countries and Russia. We adopted 25 practical, specific recommendations. They will be implemented by each State and will strengthen international cooperation against terrorism. Therefore, today I make a solemn call on the entire international community to join wholeheartedly in this fight. We must also react without weakness to the challenge of organized crime, in the knowledge that it knows how to make the fullest use of the possibilities that have been opened up by the liberalization of trade. For it is the very foundation of our societies and institutions that it endangers today. International cooperation is indispensable to stem this phenomenon. France, pursuing the path mapped out by the Canadian presidency, has drafted a corpus of legal and operational recommendations with its G-7 partners and Russia to improve the effectiveness of the fight against this scourge. These should guide in particular the action of the States most affected by transnational organized crime. France recently strengthened its financial legislation against money-laundering. All States should pay particular attention to this phenomenon, which is one of the hardest forms of organized crime to counter. One of the most loathsome aspects of organized crime is that which targets our children. A world summit on combating the sexual exploitation of children was recently held in Stockholm. That is good, but it is still not enough. Everyone must now make a commitment to implementing effective measures for immediate application. I urge all States represented here to act quickly and with determination in this area which, more than any other, affects our future. The Assembly may rest assured of France’s political resolve. 18 Drugs are a formidable threat today because of the ravages they inflict on young people. International cooperation must be solid. The producer and consumer countries must recognize their shared responsibility. The international community must therefore continue to pursue convergent policies to reduce the supply of illegal substances and the demand for them. The European Union has chosen such a global policy and has launched large- scale actions in close coordination with international institutions, in particular the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. France strongly supports the proposal to convene a special session of the General Assembly devoted to drugs in 1998. These new perils do not supplant the traditional challenges, which our Organization must address with sustained vigilance and unwavering firmness. Peace-keeping remains the central function of our Organization under the terms of the founding Charter. The mission of the United Nations to soothe tensions, separate combatants and resolve conflicts remains fundamental. The panoply of available instruments is becoming more diversified. Recent additions to conventional peace- keeping missions include activities to consolidate peace, preventive diplomacy measures and even regional conferences — such as I hope will soon take place with regard to the situation in the Great Lakes region. Sanctions constitute one of these instruments. They are a useful weapon, but they penalize populations and must therefore be used with prudence and moderation, follow strict criteria and — I stress this — always be limited in time. Only under those conditions can sanctions, which are sometimes necessary to prevent something worse, continue to be used by our Organization with the required legitimacy. Of course, we cannot refer to the traditional challenges to peace without speaking about current regional conflicts. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where my country has paid a heavy tribute, France is pleased that elections could be held, imperfect though they were. That represents an essential stage in the return to peace provided for by the agreements signed in Paris in 1995. But peace still has to be consolidated, devastated territories be reconstructed, refugees encouraged to return and a civilian society rebuilt. To that end, France has proposed a plan of consolidated action by the international community with a time-frame of two years. With this goal in mind, we will very shortly be hosting an international conference in Paris to examine, and I hope adopt, this proposal. Similarly, the peace process in the Middle East seems to be at a crucial stage. I wish here to express my anxiety about it. I certainly believe the process to be irreversible, but I am also aware of the precariousness of the gains and the urgency of the need for long-term solutions. We are half-way there. I say “we”, because this process concerns not just Arabs and Israelis but all of us here. For France, peace in the Middle East is built upon dialogue between equal partners, respect for the identity of each and the right of peoples to the free determination of their destiny, the affirmation of their independence, and security. That is why — and I wish to emphasize this point — France believes that there will be no lasting peace in the region, based on an exchange of land for peace, unless the right of the Palestinian people to self- determination is respected, together with their legitimate aspirations for a State. We believe that a just and balanced agreement between Israelis and Palestinians cannot avoid the issues of Jerusalem, refugees and the settlements in the Palestinian territories. Finally, a lasting peace presupposes that Israel is assured of its existence within secure and recognized borders. France believes that complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for total peace constitutes the basis of an agreement between Syria and Israel, and that Lebanon must regain full and complete sovereignty over the whole of its territory. Based on these principles, France intends to have a greater and more active presence than ever in the Middle East, with which it has close and long-standing relations. It will pursue this policy in close consultation with its European partners. Furthermore, Europe must have a place, alongside the two sponsors of the peace process, commensurate with the major contribution it is making to the region’s development. While we are endeavouring to build peace in areas in crisis, our efforts are no less ambitious for the entire European continent. In building step by step what we call an “architecture of security“, we are really offering the international community a pillar of peace. France is making an important contribution to the establishment on 19 the European continent a system of global security that leaves no one out on the edge. The construction of peace in Europe began with the construction of European institutions. It is being continued by deepening the Union. The intergovernmental Conference represents a decisive stage in this process, the forerunner of expansion, which is vital to the stability and prosperity of the continent. France wishes to see the Union go still further by giving substance to the European identity in security and defence matters. To that end, we would like to see a strengthening of the Western European Union and its gradual rapprochement with the European Union. The European identity is also based on the reform of the Atlantic Alliance. France, after taking a decisive step, is now working actively with its allies on the adaptation of structures. This should allow the emergence of a genuine European security and defence identity within the Alliance and make it possible in practice for the Western European Union, and therefore the European Union, to use the assets of the Alliance for military action that Europeans decide to undertake themselves. This reform is also the key to the process of expanding the Alliance, with which France is ready to assist. That expansion must naturally go hand-in- hand with in-depth dialogue and cooperation with Russia. The third and last aspect of the structure is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is the sole forum for security in which all the European States are represented on an equal footing. That is why France believes that it is necessary to strengthen the organization. We hope that the Lisbon summit will provide the occasion to move towards the drafting of a charter or treaty linking all the States of the continent. Important events therefore await us on the path that we have mapped out, including the OSCE summit in December and the NATO summit next year. The latter should bring together all the European States for a “pan-Europe day”, demonstrating the community of security interests of all the countries on the continent, including Russia and our North American allies whose role in European security remains decisive. That is our ambition for a Europe of security that leaves no one out and is safer and more stable for the entire international community. In this changing world, it is for the United Nations to bring out the common values that will be the foundations of civilization in the twenty-first century. It is thanks to its actions that we hope to build a safer, less harsh world for its inhabitants. First, we hope it will be a world in which the spectre of nuclear war has faded. For many years, public opinion called for a complete ban on nuclear tests. It was a hope and a plan that was certainly worthy, but remained blocked by the reality of East-West confrontation. France welcomes the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which I had the honour to sign yesterday. This Treaty marks a major turning-point in the world’s strategic balances. It puts an end to the possibility of the nuclear- weapon States’ developing new types of nuclear weapons, and it makes a decisive contribution to the fight against nuclear-weapon proliferation. The Treaty thus opens the way to a more stable, safer world which will cease to be haunted by the twin dangers of the nuclear-arms race and the proliferation of these weapons. There is another development which I find remarkable: the endorsement of human rights as a major principle of international relations. And the United Nations is at the centre of this development. I should like in this regard to pay tribute to the remarkable work done by the Commission on Human Rights. In often difficult circumstances, it has pursued with pragmatism and tenacity its patient efforts to awaken consciences, to galvanize energies and to promote the rule of law in concrete ways. Our aim must not be to pronounce excommunications or establish a blacklist, generally to no effect. Rather, it must be to promote the protection of individuals and the progress of law with due respect for differences. I should also like to reaffirm France’s determination to see crimes against humanity punished. The condemnation they warrant cannot brook any exception. Together with others, France took the initiative of proposing the establishment of the international criminal Tribunal and the international Tribunal for Rwanda. I wish to reaffirm France’s unqualified support for their founding work, and its backing in order that the tribunals might carry out their work in full. 20 Lastly, France is pleased that the foundations that have thus been laid have helped to speed up the debates on the establishment of an international criminal court, which we earnestly desire and to which we attach a high priority. There are other important areas which we have begun to consider. At this time when workers, money, factories and commerce operate at a heightened pace, it is essential to develop dialogue among the partners of economic life. This is really the only solid basis on which to build social protection that preserves the interests of all without harming the growth of economies. The fiftieth anniversary of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) provided the opportunity to recall the essential role of this organization in defining these minimal norms, without which the economic world is but a vast jungle. Universality, however, must not lead to uniformity. The definition of common values, accepted by all, is based on respect for the identities that underpin the cultures of the world. Our values will thus command all the more respect for being expressed in all our respective languages. Accordingly, we welcome the fact that the General Assembly last year adopted a resolution on multilingualism by a very large majority. Our civilizations, languages and cultures, inherited from an often turbulent history, but of irreplaceable richness, are a precious legacy for humankind. The importance that my country ascribes to the French-speaking community reflects its determination to maintain the specificity and richness of the profoundly original world view of several hundreds of millions of people. We will not give this up. The search for a new world ethic is not limited to human rights but extends to the whole of international life. Since 1945, international trade has been a powerful growth factor, contributing to a large extent to the expansion of the industrialized economies and to the success of the so-called emerging countries. But here too we must have rules of the game, acknowledged at the world level, so as to develop and regulate trade, ensure that it is fair and prevent unilateral conduct. I should like to mention here the dangers of unilateralism. Unilateralism: behind this technocratic word lurks the temptation to impose the law of the strongest at the expense of dialogue and negotiation. France and Europe cannot accept that one country, even if it is the most powerful, attempt to regulate world trade by itself by means of decisions that have extra- territorial scope. The World Trade Organization does not allow it, and no one should doubt the firmness of French and European reactions were such measures actually to be implemented. The globalization of the economy and the liberalization of trade and investments have opened up unprecedented prospects. However, we must take care not to allow the gap to widen between the nations that trade, invest and derive profit from this new factor and those that remain on the sidelines of this new prosperity. Each nation is responsible for itself and must create, through rigorous public management and compliance with its legislative rulings, optimum conditions for freeing private initiative, a factor in economic and commercial progress. But I do not believe that one can leave to market forces alone the care of ensuring the development of the poorest nations. Here, too, the United Nations has an important role to play. By its side, the wealthiest States must affirm their solidarity in a tangible way: actively and effectively, this solidarity must assist the developing countries without becoming a substitute for them. On the threshold of a new century, poverty and exclusion cannot constitute the sole prospects for two-thirds of humankind. France, for its part, will not accept this. This commitment concerns Africa in particular, where real prospects for progress are beginning to emerge. Africa has embarked with courage and perseverance on the path to readjustment and recovery, which will enable it to find its place again in the great flows of world trade. For the first time in a long time, Africa’s growth rate has been on the order of 5 per cent these past two years, higher than its demographic expansion, very high though it is. This is a reassuring sign, attributable to the efforts made by the African States themselves. They have been able to cut public deficits, establish realistic monetary parities, open up their markets and move towards regional integration and democratization. Such 21 achievements, which are the result of structural reforms, seem to us to justify our confidence. France believes in Africa’s future. Still, official development assistance must be maintained and strengthened, but this assistance must be the subject of many initiatives. France has taken such initiatives within the European Union, the African Development Bank, the International Development Association and the International Monetary Fund. Recently, at the summit of industrialized countries held in Lyons, my country reaffirmed the need to increase aid to the poorest countries, asking for more generous treatment of debt for them, and for a new global partnership to be defined between the developing countries and the multilateral institutions. In this new world context, we have to consider the progress that the United Nations needs to make to be able to meet its responsibilities for the next century. France approves of the current discussions on improving the representative character of the Security Council, in particular with respect to Germany, Japan and the States of the South. Similarly, under the decisive impetus of the Secretary- General, the Organization has embarked on a vast effort for structural reform, the first results of which are beginning to show. It is not a matter of changing everything but of seeing that every institution is in a position to make a useful contribution to the collective work in its own sphere. That is why the members of the G-7 have proposed putting the savings realized through reforms into development projects. France would like to see the reform of the United Nations economic and social sector concluded quickly so as to strengthen the overall coherence of the Organization. To that end, the roles and mandates of the specialized agencies and commissions in particular should be better defined, and waste and duplication eliminated. These proposals are dictated solely by the wish to help the United Nations better fulfil its mission of fighting poverty and exclusion on a global scale. In the case of the United Nations budget, many of us are worried about the financial crisis that threatens to paralyse the United Nations. The European Union has put forward concrete proposals for overcoming this crisis. It is now up to all States that have let their arrears accumulate to assume their responsibilities. Whatever some may say, the United Nations is still one of our best chances for building a better world. Let us not spoil it.