Belgium

Allow me first of all to congratulate you warmly. Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly. Through your person, an entire region of the world affirms in this forum its political renewal. The body of Members of our Organization is growing continually. Over the last year, 21 new States have come to join our ranks and have subscribed to the commitments of the Charter. We bid them welcome. Belgium has always held the view that our Organization should be open to all States. Equally strong, however, is our conviction that expansion should not come to mean shattering and dispersal. National aspirations must remain subordinate to the essential prerequisites of multilateral cooperation, which is becoming more necessary every day. In this respect, the confidence Belgium placed in the new Secretary-General even before his election has turned out to be fully justified. As proof of this, I would refer to his actions in the former Yugoslavia and in Somalia. I have also in mind his analyses at the Rio Conference, his report on preventive diplomacy and his report to the General Assembly. My colleague, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, has already spoken on behalf of the member States of the European Community. This allows me to concentrate my statement on a few issues of particular concern to us. The end of the cold war made strengthened international cooperation both possible and necessary. For combined reasons of history, size and geographical location, Belgium has always been predisposed to cooperation. Without a credible international order, we will all sooner or later be faced with an upsurge of unilateral demands containing the seeds of inevitable threats to peace. Our membership of the Security Council has enabled us to witness this first hand. A United Nations which functions effectively constitutes the best guarantee against such dangers. The end of the cold war has produced a variety of results. A wall has fallen but new trenches have been dug. The elimination of global ideological confrontation has led to the easing of regional conflicts that were fuelled by that confrontation. But it has also released frustrations, which have often degenerated into parodies of the right to self-determination and into new conflicts. We must react to this. Fortunately, the United Nations is no longer paralysed by the automatic ideological antagonisms of the past. The Security Council in particular has regained its means of action and its authority, which is now broadly recognized. Failure to comply with its decisions now equals isolation from the international community. But precisely because our Organization is experiencing something of a revival, we have to ensure that it does not fall victim to its own success. The summit meeting of the Security Council members, held last January, recognized the extent of this challenge. The Heads of State or Government requested the Secretary-General to develop concrete proposals to respond to it. The Secretary General's report, "An Agenda for Peace", has given us ample food for thought on the future role of the Organization. The report confirms that our central objective should be peace first and foremost, for without peace, neither normal society nor faith in the future of individuals is possible. The General Assembly will debate preventive diplomacy in depth. We hold this concept to be based on the following elements: full use of the powers vested in the Secretary-General; a United Nations presence in the initial stages of a potential conflict; the specific role of regional organizations; commissions of inquiry and temporary observer missions; an enlarged role for United Nations staff already present in potential conflict zones; and disarmament and non-proliferation. Disarmament and non-proliferation continue to merit special attention in their own right. The end of the cold war has made the control and monitoring of conventional weapons more difficult. The nightmare of global nuclear confrontation has given way to the threat of the unchecked proliferation and dissemination of nuclear arms and technology. During the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly, the 12 countries of the European Community, together with Japan, took an initiative which has led to the creation of a register for multilateral control of the transfer of conventional weapons. That, however, is but a first step. The case of Iraq has demonstrated the extent of the problems caused by a lack of transparency in commercial transactions involving both conventional and nuclear weaponry. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should therefore continue to improve its system of safeguards, preventive detection and monitoring of the transfer of dual-use items. I would like to pay a tribute here to the steadfast efforts of the Conference on Disarmament. Belgium currently chairs that Conference and will present to the General Assembly the draft Convention on a ban on chemical-weapons. On behalf of a country victimized by these weapons during the First World War, I want to launch a solemn appeal in favour of the universal acceptance of the draft Convention, resulting in the final elimination of these particularly barbaric weapons from all arsenals.* A more systematic use of preventive diplomacy would, no doubt, enable us to limit at least the human cost of conflicts. However, it is clear that when prevention reaches its limits, the Organization must be able to resort to other peace-keeping measures. In response to the appeals of the Secretary-General, Belgium, for its part, has dispatched a battalion to Croatia and units to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is preparing a battalion for deployment in Somalia. The financial difficulties of our Organization have led us recently to seek alternative financing systems. However, I must take this opportunity to recall the obligation of solidarity that applies to all Member States. All Members must fulfil their budgetary obligations. The system for financing peace-keeping operations should be uniform and predictable, and should resolve the problems of financing the initial phases of urgent operations. The United Nations would obviously lose both operational capacity and credibility if the Organization were denied the budgetary resources corresponding to its responsibilities. However, all the combined tools of preventive diplomacy, disarmament, non-proliferation and peace-keeping operations are not sufficient to ensure real peace. Most conflicts are more deeply rooted. I wholeheartedly agree with the Secretary-General's broad interpretation of the elements which contribute to ensuring peace. Like him, I believe that the role of the Organization extends to the prevention of tensions of any kind, be they economic disparities, infringements of human rights, the absence of democracy or environmental degradation. For the first generations of the post-colonial era, the term "North-South dialogue" kept alive the hope of attaining a more equitable distribution of wealth and opportunities. The situation today is far from meeting those expectations. This is the combined result of the cold war and military expenditure, of a degree of selfishness in the North, of corruption and bad governance, and of a wrong choice of priorities both in the South and the North. For these reasons, major bilateral and multilateral aid efforts have sometimes failed and have also maintained a culture of dependency which now demands a process of emancipation. The contrasts between North and South demand our attention more than ever. We are witnessing, on the one hand, a race to satisfy material cravings, and on the other, abject poverty. This is the greatest challenge facing us. We not only have to maintain important resource and technology transfers, but we also need to make a frank analysis of past errors and to identify the real priorities. In this context two factors have, in my view, become of key importance: first, the concept of global interdependence and, secondly, the growing emphasis on the close links between population, environment and development. Useful lessons may be drawn from past disappointments concerning donor-recipient relationships. The Assembly will also discuss the triennial policy review of the operational activities of the United Nations system. We hope that this will be a thorough debate leading to a genuine reassessment of multilateral aid mechanisms. For our part, we have launched a number of innovations in our bilateral aid during recent years. These include, in particular, the creation of joint management systems for our development projects, designed to reinforce the decision-making capacity of our partners. Nevertheless, a real economic take-off will be possible only if investments follow government efforts. We note with satisfaction that a number of developing countries have taken steps to offer greater legal security to foreign investors with respect to freedom of enterprise, fiscal matters and mobility of capital and profits. Such measures contribute to the creation of a better investment climate. We have to concern ourselves now more than ever with the social aspects of development. Profit is not a goal in itself. Income redistribution must allow for the full personal development of every individual within a society based on solidarity. This solidarity must extend to future generations. The rights of workers, as well as their families, their cultural heritage and their environment, must therefore be protected. The World Conference on Social Development, to be held in 1995, will provide us an opportunity to give these goals and principles the high priority they deserve. International economic cooperation can flourish only on the basis of political will and effective mechanisms. This explains the vital importance of several international negotiating processes, either in progress or already being finalized, being brought to a successful conclusion. I should like to stress Belgium's attachment to the liberalization of world trade as a driving force for economic growth and development. The success of the Uruguay Round is the essential precondition for this. Finally, the Rio de Janeiro Conference was a milestone in the process of increasing collective awareness of the future of our planet, and Belgium will attach the greatest importance to its follow-up. One of the crucial aspects here concerns the financial mechanisms. We earnestly wish for a strengthening of the structure of the global environment facility to adapt it better to the various needs. This should also contribute to a greater convergence between the international financial institutions of the Bretton Woods system and the operational mechanisms of the United Nations family. I could not possibly close this part of my statement without mentioning the economic problems of a region to which we feel particularly close, namely Africa. Current events are continually giving us cause for concern. Belgium, however, refuses to give in to visions of catastrophe or what a fashionable phrase defines as "Afro-pessimism". In recent years Belgium has redefined its attitude and its commitments towards Africa, first in areas where we could have to assume special responsibilities. We warmly welcome the fact that the link between democracy, human rights and development is now widely recognized and applied. We hope that democratization will be understood at its true value, namely, for the benefit of the people. The spirit which inspires us is not that of a new paternalism: we wish to enter into cooperation as equal partners. In order to support political renewal in Africa, my Government has just created a fund to assist in the financing of democratic elections, the main beneficiary of which will be the African continent. Furthermore, Belgium is actively using its influence with its partners and in relevant international institutions to ensure that the dawning of democracy is accompanied by an upturn in economic activity. In the meantime, we have intensified our emergency aid in several areas affected by conflict or natural disasters. My Government also welcomes the fact that, as regards aid to Africa, it has established a fruitful working relationship with Belgian and international non-governmental organizations. Failure to respect the rights of the individual is another source of tension and violence, as well as an impediment to economic and social progress. We must clearly reaffirm the principle of the universality of basic rights and freedoms which are inherent in human dignity. These rights cannot be subject to various interpretations. Respect for and the protection of human rights require stronger monitoring mechanisms. An extraordinary session of the Human Rights Commission took place last month in Geneva. The Commission strongly condemned the serious and intolerable human rights abuses taking places in the former Yugoslavia. Belgium warmly welcomes this rapid reaction and would like to see it serve as an example in the future. Belgium would also like to see the coming World Conference on Human Rights lead to a reaffirmation of the international commitments by States and a strengthening of cooperation in the world community. We appeal to all countries to strive in a constructive spirit for the success of this Conference. We are already in favour of a role for the Security Council in certain cases of particularly flagrant or large-scale violations of human rights. This is why Belgium insisted on having the Council hear Mr. van der Stoel on the human rights situation in Iraq. This is a delicate subject, as we are well aware. But international law is evolving, and since information has virtually lost its borders, frontiers are fading for injustice as well. Ultimately, States simply have to respect the international commitments they have undertaken as sovereign Powers. The unbreakable link between democracy and respect for human rights is also put in concrete terms in the United Nations system through the question of electoral assistance. Numerous requests for such assistance are currently being addressed to the Secretariat. In order to give an adequate response, precise standards must be established. The existing mechanisms which allow for some forms of electoral assistance must be fully used. This session of the General Assembly should enable us to clarify matters where necessary. The growing number of ethnic conflicts poses a special problem, half-way between the traditional questions of human rights and the exercise of the right to self-determination. Consequently, the protection of ethnic minorities deserves special attention at this time. In Europe, we continue to believe, in spite of recent disappointments, that the rules developed by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) remain valid. The right to self-determination must in no case be put forward to justify excesses and cruelties committed in its name. Besides, the protection of minorities should not necessarily or indeed exclusively be placed under the banner of self-determination. I wish to repeat what I said in the early part of my statement - for this seems to me to be a fundamental truth: excessive invocation of the principle of self-determination leads straight to a caricature of national sovereignty. It is necessary therefore to explore viable alternatives: real administrative decentralization, cultural autonomy, federal or confederate systems. The claims of minorities are above all the collective expression of a specific dignity and of human rights which cannot be trodden underfoot or ignored. Once this truth has been admitted, approaches more conciliatory than blind nationalism become possible. This is my hope for the future of the minorities issue. The current world situation has prompted me to concentrate my reflections around the role of the United Nations in maintaining international peace and security, in the fight against underdevelopment and in the protection of human rights. In none of these fields can we hope to achieve lasting improvements without strengthened regional cooperation. As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter, in a world very different from the one its authors knew, the need for complementarity between the regional and global spheres has become obvious. We must work to define its modalities. At a time when Belgium is close to the end of its term of membership in the Security Council, I am pleased to note that this debate is taking place above all as regards the establishment and maintenance of peace.