On behalf of the Government and
people of Papua New Guinea, I should like to congratulate you. Sir, on your
election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-seventh
session. Your personal presence in this Hall, and your unanimous election to
preside over our proceedings, are symbolic not only of the stirring changes
which have been occurring in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but
of the manner in which they have been welcomed around the world. In offering
you my delegation's greetings, cooperation and support, I should also like to
pay tribute to the efficient manner in which your predecessor.
Ambassador Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia, performed his duties.
Just as your election. Sir, is symbolic of wider changes in the world, so
is the presence here for the first time of delegations from States which for a
period were incorporated in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. My
delegation takes very great pleasure in welcoming the membership of, and
participation in the United Nations by, the nine States which were once part
of the Soviet Union and the three States which were once part of Yugoslavia
whose representatives have just joined us. Their presence provides eloquent
testimony to the power of ordinary people to resist - and eventually to
overcome - both the ideology and the technology that are used in order to
oppress them.
With the addition of San Marino, the goal of universal membership - and
of global coverage - of the United Nations is now in sight.
Coming from a region where membership of the United Nations is less
widespread than it is in other parts of the world, I pledge my Government's
cooperation in the efforts to strengthen links between other South Pacific
island States and the United Nations.
Previous statements in this debate have made it quite clear that we have,
in the words of the Secretary-General in "An Agenda for Peace",
"entered a time of global transition." (A/47/277, para. 11)
The Jakarta Message issued by the Tenth Summit Conference of Heads of
State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, of which my Government has
just become a full member, describes the present as "a time of profound change
and rapid transition." But transition to what? And will the effects be the
same around the globe?
Even as we welcome the end of the cold war, we would do well to bear in
mind the observation made in "An Agenda for Peace", that
"the issues between States north and south grow more acute." (A/47/277.
para. 8)
It is, again in the words of the Jakarta Message:
"a time of great promise as well as grave challenge, a time of
opportunity amidst pervasive uncertainty."
It is no accident that the preamble to the Charter contains not only
political, but economic and social objectives, or that the Charter provides
for both a Security Council and an Economic and Social Council. Security has
never been simply a military or a political question; it has always had
economic and social aspects. For people in developing countries in particular
the economic and social aspects of security are inseparable from and often
of great immediate importance than the military and political aspects.
If the transition on which so many previous speakers believe we have
embarked is to be towards global peace, then we need to pay greater attention
to the economic and social issues which divide North and South. Thus my
Government supports the proposal to convene, looks forward to taking part in.
and hopes for a positive outcome from, the world summit for social development
proposed to be held in 1995.
Disappointed though my Government is in the level of agreement reached at
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in
Rio de Janeiro in June this year, we shall continue to support the UNCED
effort in particular and similar efforts by the United Nations generally. We
have therefore offered to host a regional post-Rio seminar to follow up on
UNCED in Port Moresby in November.
My Government welcomes the changes which have allowed people in Central
and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia to participate directly in
national political and economic life again. We welcome them and their
Governments to greater participation in international political and economic
affairs, too.
We welcome no less the changes which have led to the replacement of
dictatorships in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. But in doing so I would
not be honest unless I added that we are concerned about ensuring that the
change is both comprehensive and enduring.
My Government is profoundly disturbed by the savage violence and terrible
suffering being experienced by the victims of "ethnic cleansing" in the former
Yugoslavia and of interracial, religious and ethnic conflicts there and
elsewhere.
We sympathize with the concerns expressed by the members of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, and support the efforts being made by
the United Nations and the European Economic Community to reduce these
conflicts and to provide aid.
But, as the Secretary-General has so pointedly reminded the world, there
are terrible conflicts and suffering no less worthy of attention in other
parts of the world, including Somalia.
It seems distressingly significant that evert after the end of the cold
war, and during the global transition which the Secretary-General has so
eloquently analysed, part of the world where most humans live and where needs
are greatest is still referred to and treated as a very poor third.
I ask you. Sir, to cast your mind back to the 1960s, when foreign
domination came to an end in many parts of the world, a record number of new
Members was admitted to the United Nations and the prospects for democracy and
development seemed, by common consent, to be quite bright. Then think of the
economic difficulties which often followed, and the dictatorships which all
too frequently lasted until the present transition. And then ask why,
whatever our hopes might be, we should expect that the future will be
different.
The world has learned or, at least, should have learned - from the
past. But have we all drawn the right conclusions? And what have we done to
act on even the most obvious of our conclusions?
It is one thing to welcome the holding of free elections. It is quite
another to be certain either that they make a difference, or that they will
continue to be held in an orderly, constitutional and fair way.
Politicians characteristically promise results. Their ability to be
re-elected depends on results. So, too, does democracy itself. In other
words, democracy, like security, is more than a matter of politics; it also
has economic and social roots.
In developing countries or, more precisely, countries where development
is a far-distant aim rather than a near-reality democracy depends not only
on opportunities for political participation, but on opportunities for
economic and social participation as well. As one who has played a modest
part in constitution-making in Papua New Guinea, I am proud that the National
Goals and Directive Principles contained in our national Constitution
explicitly recognize that point.
I can recall a time, before Papua New Guinea became independent, when not
only free elections but free markets were widely regarded as characteristic
or, at least, attainable - goals of many developing countries. I can also
recall the pain and anger felt by ordinary village people when they discovered
that free elections and free markets did not necessarily benefit them.
I am, in fact, spokesman for a movement which mobilized tens of thousands
of people to ensure that political and economic development would serve their
interests, and which paved the way to Papua New Guinea's independence. It is
precisely because of the lessons I learned from, and with, my people that I
have chosen to make opportunity and participation the main theme of the policy
I shall follow as my Government's Minister for Foreign Affairs. Those lessons
are also among the reasons why my Government will be seeking support for an
initiative designed to help identify, create, maintain, diversify and enlarge
opportunities for economic participation, with particular reference to
developing countries.
"An Agenda for Peace" is a most constructive contribution to thinking
about conflict-avoidance, conflict-management and conflict-reduction after the
end of the cold war. The initiative on self-determination being pursued by the
Government of Liechtenstein should provide support for, and assist in, the
development of ideas contained in the report. Ongoing discussions concerning
options for reform of the United Nations, including the High-Level Working
Group set up by the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as many statements made in
the current debate, are clearly intended to contribute to the same end. It is
surely among the most promising signs of the times that we can talk of a
global agenda at all - and that the global agenda should be for peace.
The initiative which my Government proposes is intended to be, in effect,
the economic counterpart to "An Agenda for Peace". Our aim is not to engage
again in a general debate on development issues - although we have an obvious
interest in continuing discussion of the nature, direction, pace and
international environment for developmental change but to stimulate the
exchange of practical ideas and experiences relevant to enhancing and
increasing opportunities for economic participation for the benefit of people
in developing countries.
In short, the proposal is to seek support for the appointment of a panel
of distinguished, expert and experienced persons to prepare a practical report
based on experience in diverse countries and on a close, critical analysis of
possible options for presentation to the United Nations.
My Government's plan is to seek the support of fellow members of the
South Pacific Forum and other regional groups to which we belong or with
which, like the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), we have close
and cordial relations, to raise the proposal for consideration by members of
the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, and to discuss it on a bilateral
basis as widely as we can with a view to submitting a resolution to the
Assembly at its forty-eighth session. We would hope to see a panel appointed
in time to present a report during the forty-ninth session of the General
Assembly, and to have it debated in 1995.
Like many other countries represented in this Assembly, Papua New Guinea
inherited many of its economic, legal and other arrangements from abroad. Many
of the practices, policies and laws followed in the monetary sector of our
national economy were originally devised in different conditions, by different
people and to serve different objectives.
We believe that we have not exhausted - or even considered all
practical policy or legal options for facilitating economic participation by
our citizens in either national or international affairs. We have not had
ready and systematic access to experiences elsewhere.
We do not believe that market forces on their own will necessarily allow
our people adequate opportunities to participate in and benefit from economic
development without further change.
Further options need to be identified and further changes will have to be
made if people seeking to participate in economic development from the
baseline at which most people in developing countries start are to be able to
identify, utilize and benefit from the opportunities which are more often in
theory than in practice available to them. We want to learn what the
options are.
My Government will, therefore, be looking to other Members of the United
Nations for support and ideas to advance our proposal. The result will, we
hope, be an important, practical guide to options for creating, maintaining,
diversifying and/or enlarging opportunities for economic participation, with
particular reference to developing countries.
My Government has recently found itself being criticized, for the first
time, before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and the
Joint Assembly of the African, Caribbean and Pacific signatories of the Lome
Convention and the European Economic Community over human rights abuses in the
North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea.
It gives me no pleasure to say, even though it is true, that most of the
abuses, for which parties on all sides of the conflict must accept some
responsibility, occurred while a previous Government was in office, and that
my colleagues and I opposed them at the time. As members of the present
Government, we are now responsible for resolving the situation, whatever its
causes. We must accept responsibility for what we decide or condone from now
on. But the situation which gave rise to the criticism to which I have
referred owes much to economic practices, policies and laws which were devised
with little or no regard for popular participation, and with even less regard
for the particular characteristics of the societies in which most of the
people in the area continue to live.
It also highlights the need to recognize that processes which might help
alleviate tensions and reduce conflicts in some parts of the world might not
have the same effects in others. They might, in fact, only make matters worse.
For Papua New Guinea, as for many other developing countries which have
become independent since the Second World War, nation-building remains a
difficult problem and a pressing concern. The issue for us is not, as it is
elsewhere, to find ways of managing ethnic and other tensions now that the
ideological and technological weight of the cold war has been lifted from
previously subject peoples, but rather to reconcile differences within and
harness them to a common, national cause.
Furthermore, my Government has taken the view that dealing with human
rights on their own is often not to the point. It can, in fact, be irrelevant
and can even actively contribute to further suffering.
My Government has, therefore, admitted that wrongs have been committed by
participants on all sides of the conflict in Papua New Guinea's North Solomons
Province. It has taken steps to ensure that they cease and are not repeated
and has invited other Governments and international organizations to help
redress them by contributing, for example, to the costs of assessing needs,
planning rehabilitation and restoring services to people who have suffered
without them.
My Government believes that Papua New Guineans are best placed to resolve
the conflict; but we look to others for help in rehabilitating people,
repairing damage and restoring services.
My Government intends to be among the concerned participants in the
second world conference on human rights, scheduled for June 1993. As was done
at the tenth Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, we reaffirm the
universality of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, which are
embodied in the Papua New Guinea Constitution. But, like other members of the
Non-Aligned Movement, we believe that economic and social progress facilitates
the achievement of such rights and freedoms, which is why I have emphasized
economic opportunity and participation. For similar reasons we welcome the
broad scope proposed for the world conference on women in 1995, which focuses
on action in the context of equality, development and peace.
As an active participant in the work of the Fourth Committee of the
General Assembly and the Committee of 24, my Government is a strong supporter
of the International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (1990-2000).
We therefore look forward to hosting a Pacific regional seminar on
decolonization in Port Moresby in 1993 in order to help further the plan of
action for the Decade.
In our immediate region, we continue to support United Nations
involvement in the decolonization of New Caledonia and trust that the outcome
of the forthcoming mid-term review of the implementation of the Matignon
Accords will lead to further progress towards safeguarding the legitimate
rights of the Kanaks.
As far as other developments in the South Pacific are concerned, we
welcome the French Government's decision to suspend its nuclear-weapon-testing
programme in French Polynesia. We urge that it be ended for good.
We look to the Government of the United States of America to honour
President Bush's promise to limit the use of Johnston Atoll for disposing of
weapons which were never directed at us while they were active but which now
threaten our safety, health and economic welfare.
We seek assurances that the Pacific Ocean will not be used to transport
plutonium or other hazardous nuclear, chemical or biological materials which
might pollute the seas on which we rely. Promises that every precaution will
be taken are simply not enough.
Like the Governments of other South Pacific island countries, we are
sympathetic to the aspirations of those who favour increased regional economic
cooperation in Europe and North America. We support efforts to assist former
communist States in the immense task of economic and social reconstruction
which lies ahead. But, like the Governments of other developing countries, we
in the South Pacific are concerned that regional integration and efforts to
meet needs in other parts of the world should not proceed at the expense of
the needs of our people.
We are also concerned that the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT) be brought to an early conclusion, with due regard
for the need to secure and expand opportunities for the economic participation
of developing countries in the international economy. It is, in fact,
precisely because we believe that opportunities for economic participation
should be greater and more equitably distributed than they have been that my
Government has proposed the initiative I have previously outlined.
My Government supports the active role being taken by the United Nations,
in difficult circumstances, to ensure peace and to bring about a return to
normalcy in Cambodia. We also support efforts to secure peace in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and to facilitate relief efforts in Somalia. We are heartened by
what we have heard from the Governments of Israel and neighbouring States
concerning the prospects for a negotiated settlement of outstanding sources of
conflict in the Middle East.
We are cautiously hopeful about the prospects for a democratic,
non-racial South Africa. But, as the situation now stands, my Government
believes that it should maintain existing bans on all dealings with South
Africa, continue to monitor developments there closely and consider relaxing
those bans only as further progress occurs in the desired direction and in
close consultation with African States.
Like our predecessors, my Government supports efforts to limit the
production and sale of arms. We believe that unwanted foreign military forces
should be removed from countries which do not pose a threat to their
neighbours or to international law.
However, coming as I do from a developing country, I feel it important to
repeat that we need to acknowledge the reality, recognized also in the report
"An Agenda for Peace", that there are non-military threats to peace which are
perhaps becoming more obvious than ever before. My Government agrees with the
observation made in the report that there is a need to strengthen arrangements
to identify, monitor, synthesize information about and act collectively to
avert, reduce and limit such threats, with sensitivity to local circumstances,
including the interests of well-intentioned States, and with full regard for
international law.
I cannot help noticing not only how the membership and the agenda of the
General Assembly have changed in recent years but also how the content, tone
and frankness with regard to domestic difficulties, and even the length of
contributions to the general debate, have changed, and generally for the
better.
As head of my country's delegation, I have had the privilege of listening
to delegations from newly admitted Member States make use of the opportunity
to participate in the General Assembly on their own account for the first
time. I trust that other Governments will see fit to support my proposal for
a United Nations-sponsored initiative to prepare and discuss a detailed report
on how best to go about the task complementary to securing increased
opportunities for political participation of securing increased
opportunities for economic participation, with particular reference to needs
in and of developing countries. Opportunity and participation are the keys to
political development, security and peace. They are also the keys to economic
development and justice, including equity between, and within, the northern
and southern parts of the globe.