Thailand

On behalf of the Government and the people of the Kingdom of Thailand, I should like to extend my warmest congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti upon his unanimous election to the presidency of the current session of the General Assembly. I wish also to take this opportunity to pay tribute to his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Hennadiy Y. Udovenko of Ukraine, for his leadership and his tireless dedication to the heavy responsibilities entrusted to him during the past year. With his wisdom and experience, he led us successfully through the fifty-second session, which took place against a backdrop of political transition and economic transformation in the world, as well as of the reform of this Organization. Allow me also to warmly welcome Ms. Louise Fréchette, who has brought creative energy to her new post of Deputy Secretary-General since the beginning of this year. As we gather here to discuss United Nations reform and other issues of vital importance to this world body, it is imperative for us to be clear about what exactly we are trying to achieve. To my mind, many vital questions beg to be answered as the United Nations prepares to meet the challenges of a new millennium. One question that looms large above all others is: What kind of global community do we wish to see in the next century, and what role can the United Nations play in such a community? As Members of the United Nations, what are our shared responsibilities, both individually and collectively, in working towards a global community that fulfils the vision of our founding fathers and reflects today?s changing needs? By what means can we prevent the current economic crisis from undermining the vast progress achieved during the past decade in the social, economic and political areas? In what ways can we transform the challenges emanating from the crisis into opportunities to strengthen the fabric of peace, prosperity and stability around the world? When will we achieve our common aspiration to a world in which democracy is cherished, human rights are respected, sustainable development is practised, economic freedom is exercised, and people are given the opportunity to realize their full potential? I do not pretend to have the answers to all these questions, but I am convinced that, together, we can assist one another in addressing these crucial issues. The United Nations should be exactly what its name implies: a community of nations united in a common vision and common purpose. For in this age of globalization, our destinies are truly intertwined and interdependent. One has to look no further than the economic crisis to realize how necessary it is for us to think and act as a global community possessed of a sense of shared responsibility. For, indeed, the United Nations can only be what we make of it. The United Nations can only be an effective and efficient instrument for peace and prosperity to the extent that we, the Members of the United Nations, demonstrate the will, the resolve and the commitment to move the reform process forward. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to commend the Secretary-General for having so promptly responded to the calls by the Member States to reform the 24 managerial structure and working methods of the Secretariat and to strengthen cooperation among various United Nations agencies. Now that the Secretary-General has done what we have called upon him to do, we, the Members States, must do our part to reform the intergovernmental structure and processes of the United Nations, and we must do so expeditiously. What is plain is that the reforms will not be of any meaningful consequence if we fail to deliver on our support, politically and financially. It certainly serves no purpose to talk about an enhanced role of the United Nations if we fail in our responsibility to provide the United Nations with the means and resources to carry out its mission. For its part, Thailand has done its best to meet its obligations despite the financial difficulties we are going through. That is the least we can do to show our steadfast support for the United Nations and the causes it represents. But the reforms are not an end in themselves. They are the means by which we can make the United Nations relevant to the demands of the changing times. No one can predict what new challenges the twenty-first century may bring. Only one thing is certain, such challenges will be more complex, more multifaceted and more demanding than ever before. At the same time, many current issues promise to play an increasingly significant role in the international arena. These include globalization, human rights, disarmament and illicit drugs. Allow me to touch briefly on each of these issues. The biggest and most complex challenge of our time is globalization, which has emerged as an elemental force of nature, not yet well understood but with the power to build and the power to destroy. In the early part of this decade, we saw mainly the positive side of globalization — more open markets, greater material well-being, more choice and more convenient dissemination of ideas and information. As the end of a decade draws nearer, we are also seeing that globalization is not without cost. Economies are succumbing to volatility beyond their borders. Seemingly isolated crises can send shock waves rippling through the international system. Over the past year, Thailand and a growing number of countries have been penalized by the global financial markets. We recognize that domestic institutional shortcomings were partly to blame for the mismanagement of the economy. Reforms are therefore being undertaken in many of the affected economies, but they will likely take many years to bear fruit. At this point it seems clear that the severity of the crisis has been all out of proportion to the severity of our mistakes. The crisis is no longer an Asian crisis, but a global crisis and a systemic crisis. The industrialized countries, insofar as they stand to gain the most from globalization and lose the most from a worldwide retreat from it, have an obligation to help contain the spreading contagion. The perception that this will stop at a certain point — at Thailand, at Indonesia, at South Korea — has time and again been proven wrong. Now, with the world teetering on the brink of global recession, the G-7, by acting to check the financial crisis, will not be performing an act of global charity but one of self-preservation. The destabilizing potential of unfettered global financial flows, as demonstrated by the Asian crisis, points to a glaring gap in our global economic architecture. I wish to add my voice to the growing calls for the international community — developing nations in conjunction with developed nations — to come up with a mechanism or framework entrusted with the global monitoring and regulation of international financial flows. The United Nations should propose a world conference on the world financial system to be held in the very near future. The proposal by the Committee for Development Planning (CDP) of the United Nations for the creation of such a body or mechanism also merits serious consideration. While such a mechanism is being worked out, we must pay greater attention to the human and social costs of the crisis. To cushion the impact, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners will be discussing how to promote human welfare and development within the framework of the ASEAN Post-ministerial Conference caucus on social safety nets proposed by Thailand. In this age where ideas can be carried far and wide by the currents of global media, such concepts as democracy, human rights and sustainable development have stirred the imagination of peoples in developing nations everywhere. My delegation would like to congratulate the Secretary-General for strengthening the work of the United Nations on human rights, particularly in bringing Geneva and New York together and appointing Mary Robinson as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her grace, her experiences, her devotion and her competency will contribute to the protection and promotion of human rights worldwide. 25 ln today?s global village, human rights have become not a luxury but a necessity. Advancing the cause of human rights makes sense not only from a philosophical standpoint, but also from a pragmatic standpoint. Obstacles to and violations of human rights lead to the displacement of populations across borders, with a host of attendant social and economic problems, posing an immense burden on countries of first refuge, receiving third countries, and the international community as a whole. The primary responsibility for observing human rights necessarily rests with the State. Respect for human rights and civil liberties must begin at home. But progress can be slow. Democratization is by definition driven by each country?s own internal dynamics. In South-East Asia the economic crisis has given momentum to the struggle for democracy and human rights. Governments are being challenged to reconcile rising public expectations and demands with pre-existing norms and institutional structures. It may well be that democracy and human rights will gain ground as a result, but there is also a lurking danger that Governments will respond harshly and reverse any progress made. In Cambodia, for example, a fragile democracy is taking root, but the outcome is far from certain. Continuing factionalism threatens to unravel the peace and stability which took so many years to build. As a neighbour, Thailand cannot but be concerned that should this latest attempt at democracy fail, mission fatigue might set in. After spending so much time, energy and money on Cambodia, it is not unreasonable for the international community to expect some compromise among the political leadership, if only for the sake of the country?s long- suffering people. It would be unfortunate indeed if the international community were to give up on Cambodia and turn its attention elsewhere. But Thailand recognizes as well as any country that building democracy is not an overnight process. Thailand does not advocate human rights promotion merely because it is fashionable to do so. Human rights and democracy in Thailand were won the hard way — paid for with blood, sweat and tears. Something that comes at so high a price cannot but command great value. Thailand therefore fully supports the United Nations initiative to strengthen its human rights mechanisms and believes that the global community should step up international and regional cooperation to uphold and promote fundamental human rights. For Thailand?s part, the advancement of human rights and democracy has become an integral part of our national development policy. The most recent manifestation of this effort is our new Constitution, adopted in 1997. I am proud to say that this Constitution — the most democratic in Thai history — accords human rights in Thailand their most prominent position to date and embodies practically all the important elements of the international instruments on human rights. Thailand also gives high priority to the advancement of women and the protection of children?s rights, in keeping with its obligations and commitments under the framework of the international instruments, plans and programmes of action. Moreover, as part of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, apart from the organization of a series of seminars, Thailand is making plans to accede to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Over the past decade, humanity has made great strides towards global peace, but we have yet to fully reap its dividends. Despite the end of the cold war, nations continue to place greater value on armaments than on meeting the basic needs of their people. One statistic I saw in this year?s Human Development Report was at once startling and disheartening. It indicated that just last year the nations of the world spent a total of $6 billion on basic education for their people, $9 billion dollars on water and sanitation, $13 billion on basic health and nutrition, and a staggering $780 billion on military expenditures. Of the potentially most devastating threats to humanity, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction remains particularly worrisome. Thailand is fully committed to the multilateral effort towards disarmament. We welcome the establishment of the Department for Disarmament Affairs, under the leadership of Under-Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala, as part of the Secretary-General?s reform measures approved by the General Assembly last year. We will also continue to support, financially and materially, the activities of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, in spite of financial difficulties at home. Even as we continue our efforts to dismantle and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, we must continue to work towards reducing the conditions that would prompt their use in the first place. Confidence-building 26 through closer dialogue and interaction must be a core component of any effort to build lasting peace. For nuclear weapons, the task of disarmament cannot be left to only the nuclear Powers. The global community must also bring pressure to bear to emphasize that nuclear arms have no place in confidence-building efforts. Thailand thus joined with nine other South-East Asian nations in signing the South-East Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, which has already come into force. We are hopeful that the nuclear-weapon States will support our endeavours in this regard by acceding to the Protocol of that Treaty. Thailand also hopes for South-East Asia and the world to be free of anti-personnel landmines. Multilateral attempts to address the problem should not be confined merely to the banning and destruction of landmines. The international community must also tackle other equally important related issues, including the provision of financial and technical assistance on demining to mine-affected countries as well as humanitarian assistance to victims of landmines. My delegation has learned with great pleasure of the rapid process of ratification by signatory States, which would result in the Ottawa Convention entering into force less than six months from now. As a signatory State, Thailand looks forward to ratifying the Convention in the near future. A more insidious but no less destructive threat to humanity is the scourge of narcotics. We all know the corrosive effects that drugs have on the fabric of society, the lives and dreams they shatter on a daily basis. Yet for all our efforts, the problem has never been completely eradicated. My Government has therefore made the fight against narcotics a high national priority. On the occasion of the twentieth special session of the General Assembly in June, Thailand joined with other signatory countries of the 1993 memorandum of understanding on drug control to issue a joint Declaration reaffirming our strong determination to fight the narcotics problem. The following month, in July 1998, Thailand and its fellow ASEAN members issued a joint declaration stating our intention to achieve a drug-free ASEAN by the year 2020. Thailand?s success in opium-supply reduction is a matter of record. But effective drug control also requires demand reduction, towards which the Thai Government is also undertaking various national measures. Accordingly, we welcome the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction adopted at the special session earlier this year. As food for thought, I would like to reiterate my delegation?s view that, for the next decade, international drug-control efforts should focus on the problem of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) as well as on ways and means to prevent the diversion of precursors used for illicit drug production. This idea was recently agreed upon by members of the Non-Aligned Movement at the summit in South Africa. We urge all States to cooperate in eliminating the supply of ATS and precursors, the illicit market for which is now much larger than that for drugs derived from narcotic crops, the natural sources. As we approach the new century, it is becoming clear that we are also entering a new epoch in human history, unlike any that has gone before. As the forces of technology, globalization and complex interdependence exert ever greater influence on international relations, the coming epoch will be one of great peril but also of great promise. The past year has shown us that our accomplishments rest on fragile foundations. The world now faces a crossroads. One path offers the choice of working harder to forge ever stronger international cooperation, spurred on by the prospect of continued peace and prosperity. Or we can choose the other path and remain apathetic and complacent, lulled by a sense of our own infallibility. The choice is clear enough. But the challenge will be to translate all the good intentions into effective action. Much uncertainty exists in the way international financial markets work, in the appropriate measures and strategies the international community will need to evolve in response to new economic and political challenges, and, of course, in the age-old problems of war and peace. The United Nations, as always, will have a central role to play in resolving the differences among nations and regions, in ensuring the promotion of international codes of conduct and norms, in strengthening preventive diplomacy and peacekeeping, in bridging the gap between the rich and poor nations, in fighting the scourge of international crime, and in promoting and protecting human rights. The United Nations alone cannot achieve these objectives. The fulfilment of our common hopes and aspirations rests not only with the United Nations Organization, but with the united nations of the world. It is up to all of us to make the right choices, to make the difference as humanity prepares to enter the new century with resolve and hope for a better world.