Thailand

On behalf of the Government and people of Thailand, I should like to extend my warmest congratulations to Your Excellency upon your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-first session, which marks the beginning of the next half-century for the United Nations. I am confident that, with your leadership and guidance, this session will mark a successful beginning for the work of the United Nations in the next 50 years and in the new century. From what we have seen so far, you are already off to a good start. By insisting on beginning our meetings on time over the past three weeks and not succumbing to the traditional half-hour delay before starting the meetings, you have, in effect, prevented the wastage of both time and money for the United Nations and its Member States. This act is truly an admirable display of leadership. My delegation looks forward to seeing more such constructive initiatives in the future. As a close neighbour of Malaysia and a fellow member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, Thailand is particularly pleased to see you in this important office. You can count on my delegation’s fullest cooperation in all your endeavours at this session. My delegation also wishes to take this opportunity to express its sincere appreciation to Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal, the President of the historic fiftieth session of the General Assembly, for his most commendable efforts in making the fiftieth session and the fiftieth anniversary year of the United Nations truly monumental and fruitful. My delegation is especially grateful to Mr. Freitas do Amaral for his role in facilitating the work of the General Assembly’s working groups on the reform of the United Nations, particularly the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Security Council. Under his stewardship, that Working Group was able to adopt, for the first time, a substantive and comprehensive report which was acceptable to all. As we enter the next half-century of the United Nations and the closing years of the twentieth century, it is becoming increasingly clear that we, our children and grandchildren will soon be living in a new era that is very different from today’s. The last decades of this century have set the stage for a major shift in global paradigms that will forever change the way in which we live and work. In recent years, events such as the population explosion, the ebbing of the ideological tide and the technological and communications revolution have brought to the fore such issues as the management of food and resources, preservation of the environment, the need to improve income distribution, education and health care, and the promotion of civil rights and equalities, democracy and good governance. In the United Nations and elsewhere, there is a clear indication that the prominence of such issues will continue into the next century and beyond. If we are to be able to address these issues, deal with them in an efficient manner, go through the transition and adjust ourselves to the paradigm shift, we need a concerted and comprehensive approach. This approach should be proactive rather than reactive and should be able to provide a new course of action for future generations. The development and implementation of such an approach require leadership at the global level. As the only international body that deals with a vast array of global issues on a daily basis, the United Nations is in a unique position to provide that leadership. Thailand is convinced that, in order to be able to assume a leadership role, it is imperative that the United 3 Nations first be reformed and revitalized at all three levels — intergovernmental, organizational and managerial. It is for these reasons that Thailand attaches great importance to the work of the General Assembly’s five working groups on United Nations reform. Thailand believes that, if given the necessary political will and cooperation from Member States, each of these working groups will soon be able to make specific recommendations to the General Assembly that would serve as salient elements of a single comprehensive reform package. It is unfortunate, however, that, in spite of the fact that most of these working groups have been in existence for two to three years, a compromise on crucial issues is nowhere in sight. Furthermore, should this trend continue, it is unlikely that we will see any substantial achievement from these working groups in the near future. This desolate scenario is certainly detrimental to the future of the United Nations, especially when we are merely a few steps away from the next century. It is the belief of my delegation that, if we are to make any progress in the work of the working groups, the time is now. The more we hesitate and bicker, the less chance there will be of any meaningful reform of the United Nations. Due to the lack of progress in the work of some of the working groups, some Member States have begun to suggest that deadlines be imposed on their work. Thailand does not believe that such deadlines are necessary. In fact, Thailand believes that, within a year or two, if no serious compromise is to be found, the momentum for reform efforts will simply wither away. At that point, we will no longer have to worry about deadlines or the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations in managing itself and in dealing with twenty-first-century issues. Without the necessary reforms, the fate of the United Nations is sealed. My delegation therefore wishes to call upon all fellow Member States to redouble their efforts, in the spirit of cooperation and compromise and for the benefit of the greater whole, to help facilitate the work of the working groups in the hope that, in the very near future, they will be able to come up with practical recommendations to the General Assembly and that, eventually, a comprehensive reform package can be formulated. What is indispensable for the twenty-first century is a more capable, more representative, more accountable and better managed United Nations. Year after year, we speak about the need to reform the United Nations. Year after year, we come back to the same problem: the willingness or, to be more precise, the lack of willingness of Member States to see the United Nations become what they themselves said the United Nations should become. The United Nations cannot be reformed simply by lip-service. No meaningful reform of the United Nations can take place without the political, material and financial support of its Members. The failure of Member States to meet their financial obligations to the United Nations, in particular, not only undermines the United Nations ability to reform but, more importantly, in actuality is the root cause of some of the United Nations current inefficiencies. It is for this reason that my delegation finds it politically and legally unacceptable for Member States intentionally to withhold their assessed contributions to the United Nations on any grounds whatsoever. When my delegation speaks about United Nations leadership, we are referring specifically to two sources of leadership. The first is the General Assembly, as it is the most universal and, undeniably, the most important organ of the United Nations. The other is the Secretary-General as the chief administrative officer of the Organization. As far as the General Assembly is concerned, my delegation believes that it is essential that the pre-eminence of the General Assembly vis-à-vis other principal organs of the United Nations continue to be emphasized. This pre-eminence should be not only in words, but also in reality. The General Assembly must be the ultimate decision-making body on all important questions, as specified in the Charter, and not simply a rubber stamp for decisions or agreements concocted elsewhere. The General Assembly must truly be the voice of and moral compass for the international community. As for the Secretary-General, my delegation is of the view that the twenty-first century demands that the chief executive officer of the United Nations be someone with exemplary courage and vision. That person must have the courage to take bold initiatives, to stand up for what he or she believes is right as well as to promote and defend the interest of the greater whole. He or she must have the vision and the managerial adeptness to turn the United Nations into one of the most efficient and purposeful international institutions of our time. Due to the increasingly demanding responsibilities of the Secretary- General, Thailand is inclined to support the idea that the posts of Deputy Secretary-General be created and that these deputies be empowered to act on behalf of the Secretary-General in certain areas of his or her overwhelming responsibilities. Moreover, in order to be able to perform his or her functions with full efficiency 4 and without the interference of undue external pressures, a United Nations Secretary-General should serve only one term in office, be it of five or seven years. Through close coordination and cooperation between the General Assembly and the Secretary-General, a comprehensive approach for the future can be developed and implemented with efficiency. The development and implementation of this new approach should be guided by the main purposes of the United Nations, namely, the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of global economic and social development. These dual responsibilities are the raisons d’étre of the United Nations. They have come to symbolize the efforts towards global cooperation and my delegation believes that their goals should continue to be pursued with vigour and the fullest cooperation from United Nations Member States. In this connection, my delegation wishes to commend Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary-General, for his initiatives on “An Agenda for Peace” and “An Agenda for Development”. By having the foresight to come up with these very important documents in the early years of this decade, the Secretary-General has provided us with blueprints for the future upon which we can plan and visualize a new direction for a new United Nations. As I pointed out earlier, there is a clear trend that the main issues that will confront us in the future are those of economic and social development. The key concepts for the twenty-first century are sustainable economic growth and sustainable human and social development. For this reason, my delegation believes that now is the time for greater attention to be given to these issues. This belief does not stem from the fact that Thailand herself is a developing country, but rather from the realization that a solid economic and social foundation is an indispensable prerequisite for sustainable peace and prosperity. At the international level in particular, functional cooperation in these areas could create a network of interdependence based on goodwill and mutual interests, which could help eliminate conflicts and misunderstandings. It is with this belief that Thailand has consistently been a strong advocate of United Nations activities in the field of economic and social development, as well as humanitarian activities, and has been an active participant in the efforts to reform the mechanisms of the United Nations in these areas. A good example of Thailand’s commitment to the United Nations development effort is her agreement to host the tenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the year 2000. In the meantime, we are pleased that the five major international summits organized by the United Nations, ranging from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to Habitat II in Istanbul earlier this year, have proved to be useful in enabling Member States to focus on the various aspects of development and to cultivate a common vision and a comprehensive strategy for cooperation among themselves. We hope that the outcome of such conferences will help convince Member States of the need to render all necessary assistance and cooperation to the United Nations for its efforts in these areas. But while we believe that international cooperation could stimulate and promote development, we also believe that development efforts should, first and foremost, begin at home. As a developing country, Thailand has always attached high importance to both economic growth and social development and has aspired to achieve an equilibrium between the two. This is evident in all of Thailand’s national development plans. Currently Thailand is entering its eighth five-year national economic and social development plan. We are particularly proud of this plan, since, for the first time, the main focus is on human development: it is a human-centred national development plan. It is not by chance that the focus of this plan coincides with recent efforts of the United Nations and with the United Nations development strategy spelt out in the Secretary-General’s “An Agenda for Development” (A/48/935). In fact, the plan has been drawn up so as to complement and respond to development efforts at all levels: local, national, regional and global. As a country of 60 million people, Thailand sees that human and social development are the keys to national development, since without any doubt a nation’s most precious resource is its citizens. For this reason, through the years the Thai Government, often under the direct royal guidance of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been implementing hundreds of royal national development projects, ranging from environmental protection to education, from agriculture to public health care. Some of these projects, such as narcotic suppression through the introduction of crop substitution, are internationally recognized and are being implemented in close cooperation with the United Nations and other international agencies. As this is the year that the Thai nation celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of His Majesty’s ascension to the throne, we are more determined than ever to continue on this path and to rededicate ourselves to advancing the cause which is so close to the heart of 5 our beloved monarch. Therefore, in the years ahead Thailand will continue to work hard and to cooperate closely with the international community in order to realize the goals of sustainable economic, human and social development. An important instrument through which States can realize their economic and social development goals is international trade. It is therefore essential that all States be treated with fairness and be given the same opportunities in the international marketplace. This is the basic principle behind the establishment of the World Trade Organization. However, what we see now is a disturbing tendency on the part of some States to use non-trade issues, such as human rights and labour standards, as leverage in trade negotiations. Even more alarmingly, we are seeing an effort by some to exercise extraterritorial powers through domestic legislation, impinging upon the freedom of other States to pursue independent foreign policies and trading practices. My delegation cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of keeping trade separate from other issues. Trade must remain free and open and not be held hostage to dissolute motives. Non-trade issues must not be brought in to be used as a smokescreen disguising neo-protectionist policies and practices. To allow such a phenomenon to continue would only undo the gains that we have made over the past half century. As mentioned above, Thailand believes in the time- proven notion that the benefits of functional cooperation in the field of economic and social development could have a positive spillover effect on efforts for the maintenance of international peace and security. However, this does not mean that Thailand is idly waiting for such an effect to materialize. On the contrary, as in the past, Thailand has continued to be active in the field of international peace and security and follows with vigilance the political and security developments in various parts of the world. We are keeping a watchful eye on, among other things, the peace process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fragile peace efforts in the Middle East and the unfolding situations in such diverse places as Angola, Haiti and Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium. In particular, as a member of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations and the coordinator of the Non-Aligned Movement for this issue, Thailand is very much in support of the idea that the United Nations overall policy on peacekeeping should be re-examined. We believe that there should be clear guidelines and principles with regard to the scope, depth, objectives and mandates of United Nations peacekeeping activities in order to ensure that United Nations involvement in conflict situations will be practical, meaningful and cost-effective. At a time when the United Nations is facing a financial crisis, Thailand also supports the notion that there should be clear time-frames for United Nations peacekeeping operations. Of the existing 16 United Nations peacekeeping operations, two date back to the 1940s, one to the 1960s and two to the 1970s. These five peacekeeping operations, which have been running for decades, have thus far cost the United Nations and its Member States almost $240 million and, more importantly, the lives of 461 peacekeepers. Looking at these figures, one cannot but wonder whether it is the United Nations that is not keeping the peace, or the parties involved that are not willing to have peace. Whatever the answer is, the international community is paying a high price for these operations, without any end in sight. As international and internal conflicts rage on, the armaments business continues to prosper. My delegation is gratified that the Disarmament Commission, at its 1996 session, was able to adopt the guidelines for international arms transfers. Despite their lack of legal force, the guidelines are an important step towards eliminating illegal armaments, especially small arms, which in our lifetime have caused too many losses and too much suffering to peoples in all corners of the world. My delegation believes that, parallel to this effort to regulate the flow of arms, there should also be methods of bringing to justice the perpetrators of crimes and violence against humanity. It is in this belief that my delegation welcomes the Economic and Social Council’s United Nations Declaration on crime and public security as well as the efforts to establish an international criminal court. Even though these mechanisms will not make our lives more secure, they nevertheless give us hope that from now on there will be punishment to suit the crime. 6 As far as human destruction is concerned, nothing is more terrifying than the threat of a nuclear holocaust. For this reason, my delegation is pleased that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has now been adopted by the General Assembly and is currently open for signature by interested States. Once in its operational phase, the Treaty will be an important complement to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which was extended indefinitely in 1995. However, neither the CTBT nor the NPT are adequate guarantees against the threat of a nuclear holocaust. My delegation believes that the only practical way to safeguard the world against a nuclear catastrophe is to eliminate all nuclear weapons. This can be done on a step-by-step basis within a definite time-frame. As a starter, in the spirit of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice earlier this year, we could deny the legality of the use or the threat of use of nuclear weapons. Eventually, we can make the total elimination of all nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, as well as of other weapons of mass destruction, a top priority for the twenty-first century. Last year, our Heads of State and Government gathered here to pay tribute to the United Nations for its 50 years of service to humankind and to renew their pledge to continue to work with the United Nations to realize the hopes and dreams of the framers of the United Nations Charter. Through the Declaration adopted on that occasion, our leaders also promised to “give to the twenty-first century a United Nations equipped, financed and structured to serve effectively the peoples in whose name it was established”. (resolution 50/6, fifth preambular paragraph) Today, I am here to reaffirm that pledge and to propose further that the United Nations assume the leadership role that would help guide us into the next century. In providing this leadership, the United Nations need not depart from what it has been doing for the past 50 years. The United Nations should continue to do what it does best in areas such as the maintenance of international peace and security; economic, human and social development; humanitarian emergencies; promotion of democracy and human rights; environmental protection; and technical cooperation. The only differences are that in future the United Nations will have to do these things much better and in a more effective and efficient manner. And, more importantly, the Organization will have to project a clearer sense of purpose and direction, which will help Member States and their peoples formulate a universal and comprehensive approach to cope with the emerging paradigms of the twenty-first century. We are about to cross the threshold into a new and challenging era. Through the leadership of the United Nations, we can turn the challenges into rewards and opportunities.