Yemen

On behalf of the delegation of the Republic of Yemen, I have great pleasure in expressing to Mr. Opertti 38 our heartfelt congratulations on his election as President of the present session of the General Assembly. We are confident that his competence and experience will enable him to guide the sessionâs deliberations and achieve its objectives. At the same time, I should like to express our recognition of the good offices of Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the Organization, and of his great success in serving peace within the framework of preventive diplomacy in order to defuse international crises before they flare up and to protect innocent victims. I also have great pleasure in noting the intellectual and organizational efforts that are being made to revitalize United Nations activities in order to keep abreast of developments at the end of the present century and meet the demands of the next. We wish Mr. Annan every success in carrying out his future tasks. The Republic of Yemen, its Government and people, has made consistent endeavours to strengthen democratic practices based on political pluralism, freedom of the press, guarantees of public freedom and the protection of human rights. The Republic of Yemen has realized the vital importance of carrying out political, economic, financial and administrative reforms, together with a programme of stabilization and restructuring. When the due historical process brought about the unity of the country, Yemen inherited two political and economic systems based on different organizational, cultural and ideological structures. The Republic of Yemen, which represents the united Yemen, has therefore launched a process of radical political and institutional reform intended to bring about national, social and political integration, making democratic practices more deeply entrenched and increasing societyâs participation in the political decision-making process. This includes increasing the social role of Yemeni women, liberating them from all constraints on their participation and encouraging their integration in development. Naturally, bringing about economic and administrative reforms based on an open and liberal economy, free trade and the increased participation of the private sector requires new legal and administrative mechanisms which may have a negative impact on segments of society with limited income and on the unemployed. Undoubtedly, this provides an incentive for the provision of assistance for all the countries engaged in this experience, including Yemen, in order to achieve the concrete economic and financial results that can alleviate the negative impact of such changes on the social sectors that are unable to respond to the process of economic and financial adjustment and appropriate restructuring in a natural and appropriate way. That is why it is imperative for the economic reform process to be accompanied by a social safety net to ensure social and economic equilibrium and alleviate the impact of change affecting the poor, unemployed and limited- income groups, with regard to their simple lives and subsistence existence. This is a task which makes it incumbent upon the international financial institutions to recognize their responsibilities in those areas and to intensify their development programmes with social, demographic and environmental dimensions. The flow of investments and assistance from rich countries to the less developed countries have to be increased in order to bridge the structural gap and enable our society to integrate and increase its positive partnership in sustainable development. The world today is based on integration and complementarity. It aspires to globalization based on free trade, free exchange and open markets. However, these can only be achieved by regional cooperation of government and private sectors of the countries of each region. Thus our transition to globalization can be achieved through the bridges of regional cooperation, enabling us to make gains and achieve the common interests of our peoples without disregarding specificities or neglecting elements of harmony and regional integration. This approach would undoubtedly help in making concrete the spirit of fraternity, interdependence and integration, and would provide an opportunity to ensure that the fundamental factors for peace and acceptable coexistence exist, with respect to all regional parties, which will assist in ensuring a balanced and comprehensive world peace. In this context, we demand that help and assistance be provided to the developing countries and the least developed countries, in order to enable them to minimize the negative impact of the globalization of the world economy on their national economies and to achieve levels enabling them to participate with the developed countries through competitiveness in producing high quality commodities at competitive prices. This could be accomplished once they have made reasonable progress in the context of regional integration. Democracy, social justice, human rights, economic and political reforms and serious regional cooperation can 39 only be achieved when there is peace, stability and full security. Today, given the unstable nature of peace in our region, we are again apprehensive lest the situation explode. This is due to Israeli intransigence and continuous disregard of the resolutions of international legitimacy. It is also due not only to the Netanyahu Administrationâs continued rejection of international resolutions obliging Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian occupied territories, the occupied Golan Heights and South Lebanon, but also of the undertakings of the previous Administration of the late Yitzhak Rabin at the Madrid Conference and in the Oslo accords. The current construction of new settlements; the changing of the historical heritage of East Jerusalem, including the attempts to obliterate its Arab identity; the changing of historical realities and demography: all this testifies to the present Israel Governmentâs flagrant obstinacy and arrogance. We therefore demand that these practices, which present further obstacles to the peace process, be halted forthwith. In order to prevent the region being plunged back into the cycle of conflict, tension and bloodshed, we appeal to the international community to take the necessary measures to compel Israel to honour its international obligations, pursuant to the resolutions of international legitimacy and all other relevant obligations and agreements. It has become clear that the policy of starvation, deprivation and economic sanctions imposed on States, whether individually or collectively, is of no avail as an effective means to the realization of certain political goals, especially in an era in which freedom, democracy, and enhanced respect for human rights and the right to self- determination are reaffirmed. Consequently, the victims of this policy are the most vulnerable sectors of the targeted States. That is why we must reconsider the policy of imposing sanctions, and must reassess their impact, reaffirming the importance of humanitarian values and ensuring that the real interests of peoples are not arbitrarily violated or threatened for reasons of which these peoples are innocent. As we have already said, sanctions are no longer a useful tool for the realization of political objectives. We must engage in peaceful dialogue, and define a time framework and agreed criteria for the sanctions before they are imposed and put into effect. We must also ensure that the people and the poorest social sectors are not the first and direct victims, as is currently the case in Iraq and Libya. While reaffirming respect for international resolutions, we reiterate the need to lift the sanctions from Iraq and Libya. These have caused serious damage and severe human suffering in these fraternal countries. Children, old people and women have been particularly affected. Terrorism has become an international phenomenon, and its effects and repercussions are not confined to any one country, people or ideology. It concerns all nations and peoples, and there is a pressing need for the international community to respond immediately to the demand to establish a political, intellectual and institutional system at the international and regional levels in order to combat it and eradicate the causes of this uncivilized and inhuman phenomenon, and to deal with its negative consequences. In this regard, the Republic of Yemen has absolutely rejected all forms of terrorism. Yemen shares the feelings of every member of the international community: fear and concern at the continuation and increase of this anti- civilizational phenomenon which goes counter to all human values. We therefore call for genuine cooperation to combat this phenomenon collectively and responsibly. My country pays particular attention to developments in fraternal Somalia. We hope that the international community will help to resolve the conflict between the various warring factions and political groupings. But at the same time we would like to remind our brothers in Somalia that there can be no solution without the cooperation of the Somalis themselves primarily with regard to the solutions offered to them from abroad. Our concern for the situation in Somalia is a result of our feelings of fraternal responsibility, in addition to being a duty dictated by neighbourliness, especially since we are the only country in the region that has received waves of refugees from Somalia and other countries fleeing either national conflicts or purely economic circumstances. The Republic of Yemen has paid a high price and has sustained heavy suffering for its proximity to the Horn of Africa. Our modest potentialities are not adequate to deal with this human influx into our country. We already have difficulty meeting the needs of our own population. The refugees have exacerbated our difficulties, and represent an intolerable economic and social burden. The provisions made by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are insufficient to meet the 40 needs of the refugees in our country. We therefore request the international community to provide us forthwith with assistance in carrying out our humanitarian responsibilities towards our refugee brothers. We further call upon all parties in the Horn of Africa and the concerned Arab parties to cooperate in reaching realistic solutions to this protracted crisis. Many years have elapsed since the issue of reforming the United Nations was first raised, especially with regard to equitable geographical representation on the Security Council and the formulation of criteria to limit the coercive use of the veto. We fully support the call for the application of democratic norms in and universal representation on the Council in order to reflect the growth of the membership of the General Assembly since the 1950s and the major developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the cold war and the expansion of the horizons of globalization — all of which make it imperative to reform the Security Council. It is a pressing need that must be answered if justice and democracy in international relations are to be achieved, in conformity with the increased contacts and improved relations between peoples. We therefore support the Open-ended Working Group set up for this purpose. We appreciate what has been achieved within the framework of its mandate, pursuant to the resolution of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly in 1993. We also appreciate the cooperation demonstrated by this Working Group. We call for the continuation of its work in order to fulfil its mandate at an early date. It is incumbent upon us to cooperate in creating an appropriate atmosphere for the establishment of a new international order based on justice, freedom of choice and tolerance. It is our responsibility to work together for humanity and its prosperity, and to draw ever closer to our objective to live as neighbours on the planet.