Australia

I should like to extend warm congratulations to Mr. Razali on his election as President of the General Assembly. As a close neighbour of Malaysia, Australia will confidently rely on his experience and sound judgement as he presides over this important session of the Assembly. I feel greatly honoured to be leading for the first time the Australian delegation to a session of the General Assembly. A year ago, when the Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations, it made an important promise: to give to the twenty-first century a United Nations that would serve effectively the peoples in whose name it was established. We must keep that promise, but to do so we 8 will need a clear view of contemporary circumstances and of those which we can see unfolding into the twenty-first century. The landscape that was revealed at the end of the cold war, just a little over five years ago, has many new features, some of which are still not clear. What is clear, however, is that we face new challenges and that we have new opportunities that few of us would have imagined five years ago. The most compelling of these opportunities is to take future steps in nuclear-arms control and disarmament. The possibility of taking such steps is surely a principal outcome of the end of the cold war. This was firmly underlined last Tuesday when, in a single day, 67 countries signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. That number, only a week later, is now nearly 100. But beyond this achievement lies another major opportunity, which is to turn our national and international attention to enhancing human security in all its aspects. Our dynamic times have presented us with new problems. Such problems include the major non-military threats to security: the clandestine arms trade, the narcotics trade, HIV/AIDS, the need to stabilize the rate of growth of the world’s population and major threats to the environment. The elemental characteristics of such non-military threats to security are that they cannot be defeated by weapons. They cross state boundaries and they can affect whole populations. These characteristics lead to one central conclusion, that is, action on these problems must be the subject of international cooperation. Multilateral cooperation can, does and must take many forms. But the role of the United Nations is unique because of its universality and because of the rules we find in the Charter of the United Nations. It is for these reasons — the nature of the opportunities we have before us, the problems we face and the unique role and capability of the United Nations — that we must keep last year’s promise of a United Nations fit for the challenges of the twenty-first century. Australia’s particular commitment to the United Nations is founded on the belief, articulated as far back as the 1950s by the then Foreign Minister, Richard Casey, that the United Nations represents the practical effort of the Governments and peoples of the world to attain the high goals to which they are pledged through the United Nations Charter: international peace and security and the economic and social advancement of all peoples. Australia has contributed readily to achieving those goals. Whether by paying its financial contributions in full and on time, by providing personnel to peacekeeping operations or through its contributions to development programmes, Australia has been determined to see the United Nations succeed. I commit Australia today to continuing such involvement in the work of the United Nations. At present, a window of opportunity in arms control and disarmament is open to us. If we do not take it soon, it will close. Large and sophisticated nuclear and conventional arsenals continue to exist. In a number of regions, suspicions remain close to the surface. The risks of the spread of weapons of mass destruction have, in certain respects, increased. In Australia’s view, two tasks are fundamental: first, building and strengthening international institutions and instruments; and secondly, developing new thinking in arms control and disarmament so as to push the international agenda forward in constructive and realistic ways. To achieve progress with institutions and instruments, Members of the United Nations need to work together on at least six priorities. These priorities for international cooperation are to make the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its enhanced review process operate more effectively; to strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards; to achieve an early start for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; to reach early agreement on effective verification machinery for the Biological Weapons Convention; to pursue the goal of a global ban on anti-personnel landmines in conjunction with a global approach to the problem of demining; and to achieve a ban on the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. As we pursue these priorities in the multilateral system, we should keep firmly in mind that progress in regional security, particularly in regions of weapons- proliferation concern, will make a crucial contribution. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is of course the immediate priority. Its adoption by the General Assembly and its opening for signature on 24 September 9 were major milestones for the international community. The Treaty is a product of our times. It flows from a long and commonly held global concern. Its death was something the international community simply could not allow. Australia was therefore prepared to take the lead in bringing the Treaty to the General Assembly. The overwhelming support for the resolution demonstrated the strength of international feeling against nuclear testing. This Treaty was wanted and needed, but it has also helped change the international climate. We can now reasonably hope and expect that nuclear testing will not be part of the future to be faced by succeeding generations. In a world with a mixed history on controlling the development and spread of destructive weaponry, that is something of which we can all be proud. The Treaty must become universal. We urge all those countries that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Treaty as soon as possible so that it can be fully implemented as quickly as possible. There is no merit in the argument that says that, because there is more to be done in nuclear-arms control and disarmament, we should in some way scorn or reject a Treaty that bans all nuclear explosions forever. This ban has intrinsic value. We must now keep up the positive momentum generated by the adoption of the Treaty. This brings me to the second task: developing new ideas. Because building institutions and strengthening international instruments will not be enough, the international community must also develop imaginative new ways of guiding the world into the next century. The Australian Government established the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons to address the questions of whether a nuclear-weapon-free world is feasible and, if so, the measures which could be taken to attain that objective. I am delighted to confirm that the Commission has more than met Australia’s expectations. Its report will make a major contribution to international thinking and discussion on nuclear disarmament. The Australian Government will take it forward by circulating it today in this Hall, will present it to the Secretary-General tomorrow and introduce it to the Conference on Disarmament in January. The Canberra Commission report recommends a political commitment by the nuclear-weapon States to the elimination of nuclear weapons. That is the first and central requirement. The report then sets out six immediate steps: taking nuclear forces off alert; removal of warheads from delivery vehicles; ending the deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons; ending nuclear testing; initiating negotiations further to reduce United States and Russian nuclear arsenals; and an agreement among the nuclear- weapon States on reciprocal no-first-use undertakings and of a non-use undertaking by them in relation to the non-nuclear-weapon States. The Commission also recommends three reinforcing steps: action to prevent further horizontal proliferation; developing verification arrangements for a nuclear- weapon-free world; and the cessation of the production of fissile material for nuclear-explosive purposes. The Commission placed particular emphasis on the importance of effective verification in the achievement and maintenance of a nuclear-weapons-free world. Having at last, after 33 years, met the challenge of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the international community must now push on with further practical and realistic measures on nuclear-arms control and disarmament. As already indicated, one such measure is the negotiation of a convention under which it would be agreed that there will be no further manufacturing of weapons-grade fissile material. This convention should be sought now. Any discussion of arms control and disarmament in today’s world that failed to address the question of landmines would be sadly incomplete. These hideous and diabolically inexpensive weapons must be banned. Australia will support efforts that will be made at this session of the Assembly to take the next step towards the negotiation of an international convention to that effect. But in the meantime, there are in excess of 100 million of these maiming weapons distributed in the soil of too many countries. Demining must proceed at a far faster rate than has been the case in the past. There have been technological barriers to increasing that rate and Australia has therefore proposed that a technology working group be established among interested and capable countries with the purpose of designing the equipment required for demining on a far larger and quicker scale. If there is any doubt about the need for this action, I would place on record here that, if the current rate of demining in Cambodia were to be maintained, that country, which has struggled so hard to repair itself, 10 would not be free of these mines for a further 130 years. This must be unacceptable to all. That is why the Australian Government recently committed $12 million to practical demining initiatives in the war-ravaged fields within our own region. Security Council reform is another vitally important item on the peace-and-security agenda. The three key issues to be tackled are expansion, transparency and the effectiveness of sanctions regimes. There is now a general acceptance that the Security Council must be expanded and modernized if it is to manage international peace and security more effectively. Although Australia wants to avoid making the Council too unwieldy, there can be little doubt that its membership needs to reflect better current geopolitical and economic circumstances. Expanding the membership is an important element in achieving this and Australia believes that an expansion up to a total Council membership of 25 States would be reasonable. This brings me to the more contentious point of permanent as against non-permanent membership. Australia has made clear that it supports the claims of Japan and Germany to permanent membership. This is the very least the United Nations can do to acknowledge their major- Power status and the financial contribution they are making to the Organization. Australia also advocates permanent seats on the Council for underrepresented regions. As to how that is to be achieved, we remain flexible. Whether those seats are filled by a single member or rotate among leading Member States agreed on by regional groupings needs to be discussed further, primarily by those regions concerned. We also see scope for an increase in the number of non-permanent members of the Council, again in the interests of ensuring greater balance in representation. I turn now to the need for greater transparency in Security Council processes. Consultative mechanisms have improved in recent times, notably between the Secretariat and troop-contributing countries, but more needs to be done. Australia is committed to trying to improve the way in which the Security Council interacts with non-members so that the Council’s activities become more responsive to the United Nations as a whole. More needs to be done, too, to build the Council’s relationship with regional organizations. Good progress has been recorded to date, but United Nations and regional organizations should meet regularly in order to develop further the appropriate division of responsibilities. The Council also has an important role to play in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and enhancing the effectiveness of the non-proliferation regime. Australia wants to see improvements in the effectiveness of United Nations sanctions because we recognize that the Security Council’s use of collective sanctions continues to be an important and, at times, contentious enforcement measure. The effectiveness of sanctions regimes could be improved in three ways: clearer drafting of Security Council resolutions; providing specific objectives and realistic time-frames; and through relevant sanctions committees providing clear interpretative guidance on implementation. These are changes that are essential for the Security Council’s dynamism. We need to press ahead with them to ensure that the Council reflects modern-day circumstances and realities. Our contemporary circumstances have opened up new needs and prospects for peacekeeping and preventive diplomacy. Initial post-cold-war hopes about the capabilities of the Security Council have been tempered. It has become clear that many conflicts are intractable. Experience has taught us that it is difficult to reach agreement on suitable approaches and to find enough resources, particularly in the area of peacekeeping. The Security Council must be realistic in the implementation of its Charter responsibilities. It must resist pressure to embark on missions before it has completed adequate preparations, developed a focused sense of the mission’s goals and agreed on a clearly articulated mandate. At this very moment, the United Nations is confronted with major challenges in such diverse situations as those in Cyprus, Burundi and Liberia. Australia has been contributing personnel to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, for example, for over 20 years and has been saddened by the recent incidents of violence there. The time has come to resolve that situation, which requires the assistance of all parties. One very important area of reform for United Nations peacekeeping is to establish an enhanced rapid- reaction capability. There have been many proposals on this issue, but the Australian Government believes that the 11 Canadian study, Towards a Rapid Reaction Capability for the United Nations, contains some commendable recommendations, including the development of a deployable, operational-level headquarters to strengthen planning for operations. Australia welcomes recent moves by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to begin implementing measures aimed at improving United Nations rapid-reaction capability, but in taking these measures forward, the United Nations should consult adequately with all Member States. Australia is also keen to see the United Nations develop the preventive-diplomacy agenda and it welcomes the greater resources the Secretariat now devotes to such activity. The Security Council, the General Assembly and the good offices of the Secretary-General, as well as regional arrangements and agencies, have important roles to play in preventive diplomacy. Australia supports greater use of Chapter VI of the Charter on the pacific settlement of disputes. Article 33 is particularly important. The Security Council can use it to undertake a leadership role by calling on disputing parties to seek a solution using negotiation, mediation and other peaceful means. As I indicated at the beginning of this statement, one of the chief results of the end of the cold war must surely be an increase in our ability to turn away from military concerns and to give a greater degree of attention to threats to the security of individuals, as distinct from those threats to the security of States that have dominated our thinking in the past, important and basic though they have been and remain. In today’s world and in the world we see unfolding into the twenty-first century, the security of far too many people is threatened in ways no less immediate than the threat of the gun. I have in mind narcotics, HIV/AIDS and major threats to the environment. These threats cannot be dealt with effectively by States acting alone. Sometimes they require new international law, but more specifically they require political will to defeat them and to foster cooperation among nations to ensure maximum effectiveness of action. The United Nations is the ideal environment in which to develop such cooperation. It is here that the world is represented. We have here a tradition of debate, of discussion, of identification of problems and of consensus. We have the ability to make law when it is necessary. Above all, we have pledged ourselves to defending and providing a decent standard of living to the peoples we represent. There is also a regional role and, in that context, Australia was pleased to have promoted the concept of a regional HIV/AIDS ministers’ meeting at the Post- Ministerial Conference of this year’s session of the Association of South-East Asian Nations. As we move towards the twenty-first century, it will be crucial to the execution of that responsibility to ensure that we have a healthy United Nations that is devoted to international cooperation aimed at defeating the major non-military threats to the security of the human family. These threats are tragically evident to us today. They will only become larger if we do not agree, now, to begin cooperative action to defeat them. History will surely judge our generation harshly if, having identified the problems of human security, we fail for lack of will to address their solutions. Another great requirement of our times is the economic needs of people and the promotion of development. Much has been done through the United Nations and its agencies to advance the development cause. They have been pivotal to the emergence of a multilateral approach in which institutions with special competencies such as the specialized agencies, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, together with policy deliberative bodies such as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, have complementary roles to play. Development is about more than just economic growth, however. There is also the need for internal stability, sound environmental management, a vigorous civil society and a lively democracy. The United Nations is uniquely placed to build consensus on how to advance these various elements of the development agenda. In this context, Australia welcomes the constructive outcomes achieved at the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held in Midrand, South Africa, earlier this year. The decisions taken there should help developing countries benefit from the opportunities of economic globalization. We also underline the importance of encouraging investment and technology transfers and providing trade opportunities to stimulate economic development. Such 1 development is the only enduring foundation for independence and economic and social well-being. It is in Africa that these development challenges are most stark. Rich in promise yet wearied by emergencies, Africa stands today at a decisive juncture in its history. African leaders seized the moment with the Organization of African Unity’s 1995 Cairo Agenda for Action, in which they called for immediate action to implement the development strategies for which an international consensus now exists. The United Nations responded this year with the launch of a 10-year, $25 billion United Nations System-wide Special Initiative for Africa. The Australian Government welcomes the Special Initiative as a concrete demonstration of the international community’s concern with Africa. The international community cannot allow disease, poverty, war and underdevelopment to become entrenched in the 53 nations — almost one-third of United Nations Member States — that make up the African continent. The world must continue to seek ways to break the poverty cycle in Africa so that its potential for economic development is realized. Sustainable economic development is essential to overcome poverty, disease and conflict. The United Nations system needs to give greater focus and impetus to the development effort in Africa. I now turn to the issue of human rights. Human rights are important in international relations for two main reasons: first, political instability and major conflict can result where human rights are breached or are under threat; and secondly, the freedom and dignity of individuals is, in itself, of fundamental value to the world community. The Australian Government aims for practical outcomes that will improve the lives of individual men, women and children. We recognize the importance of dialogue and cooperation, based on mutual respect. In addition to public and private diplomacy, Australia’s approach to the improvement of human rights also encompasses development cooperation. Australia strongly supports the development of strong and independent national human rights institutions. For example, Australia provided financial support for a workshop of Asia-Pacific national human rights institutions, which agreed to establish an informal forum to work for the strengthening and further development of such institutions in the region. Australia has also provided financial support to the United Nations for the creation of a position of special adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on national human rights institutions. Finally, it is important to address the issue of reform of the United Nations. Much work still needs to be done to bring about greater efficiency and effectiveness in the United Nations and its specialized agencies. While Australia applauds the dedication and hard work of the General Assembly Working Groups that were set up in 1995, Member States must not lose sight of the fact that to achieve real change, the Groups have to come up with realistic and achievable recommendations. Those recommendations must in turn lead to practical and measurable outcomes. It is important that the work of the groups be focused and that their momentum be restored so that early and positive outcomes can be achieved. We must all commit ourselves to this end and to bringing about structured change within the United Nations. It is also crucial that the financial situation of the United Nations be repaired. Australia believes that all Members should pay their contributions in full and on time. We therefore welcome recent moves by some countries to pay their arrears. It is time to establish a revised scale of assessed contributions that more fairly reflects what Governments can pay. The current minimum payment is too high for many small-economy countries, and Australia would like to see it reduced or even removed. These are the reforms that Australia believes are necessary to equip the United Nations for its role in the twenty-first century. It is in this overall context that Australia is deeply committed to contributing to the United Nations goal of maintaining international peace and security in an active way. Serving a term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council during 1997-1998 would enable Australia to make a substantive contribution to that goal and to work for a more effective, modernized and transparent Council. That is why we have asked for the support of Member States at the elections to be held a few weeks from now. 13 Let me conclude by summing up what I have said today. The United Nations is unique and needed, but it must pursue, and work on the basis of, a relevant Agenda. This is the central point. The United Nations must be put to work on the agenda of the twenty-first century. Much work needs to be done to tackle the key challenges that face the United Nations. Only a sustained, cooperative effort among all Member States will bring success. Australia will make that effort.