Germany

I congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election. I wish you good fortune and all of us a successful session. I should also like to thank Ambassador Udovenko for the dedicated way he conducted the business of the fifty- second session. He advanced the reform process at the United Nations and kept it on the agenda. We can and must follow up these efforts. This session of the General Assembly has a special significance for my country. It was 25 years ago, almost to the day, on 19 September 1973, that Walter Scheel became the first Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany to address the United Nations. When he described our perception of the United Nations, he said that it meant more than the mere security of States, more than the mere regulation of their diplomatic relations. He said that what it is all about is the beginning and the objective of any rational policy — people. That description of our role in the United Nations remains valid. United Germany too feels committed to a world free from fear and want, protected by the rule of law, a world in which every individual has his opportunity and which preserves the integrity of Creation for future generations. It is the vision enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights. We have come a lot closer to that vision over the past 25 years. The division of Germany, Europe and the world has been healed. The world is developing ever more into the "one world" on the foundations of democracy and human rights. But it is also becoming increasingly clear that the human race has never been so bound up together in its common destiny, united by common challenges, as it is today. The crises in Russia and Asia have shaken the world economy. The global scourges of drugs, organized crime and terrorism spread their tentacles around the globe. The year 1998 is the year of climate disasters. Two thirds of Bangladesh is under water and the Yangtze floods in China have claimed thousands of lives. No State, whether super-Power or small island State, can master these global challenges alone. And no one can escape them, least of all the suffering people: the homeless in Bangladesh, the drug addict in Europe, the victim of civil war in Africa. We can shape our future only through joint efforts. We therefore need global action and global management for the global challenges of the twenty-first century; not tomorrow or the day after, but today. This is a test not only for Governments but also for the other global players: the non-governmental organizations and the multinational corporations. Never were the non-governmental organizations so important as they are today. Without them the Ottawa Convention banning landmines could not have been signed in December 1997. And, let us not forget, 51 of the world's hundred largest economic entities are now companies, and only 49 of them States. All this shows that the time has come for new alliances for peace, freedom and prosperity throughout the world. The age of globalization is the age of the United Nations. Only here do all nations of the world come together. Only here can we find joint solutions to the global challenges of today and tomorrow. This is why we Germans want to help get the United Nations in shape for the twenty-first century. We are facing up to this responsibility - as the second largest export nation and the third largest economy in the world, and as the country with the largest population in the European Union. We owe Secretary-General Kofi Annan our gratitude and support for his reform proposals. Now it is up to the Member States. The Security Council still mirrors the world as it was at the end of the Second World War, but not the enhanced status of Asia, Africa and Latin America with the Caribbean. The same is true of the greater weight of Japan and united Germany. I wish to thank all Member States that advocate a permanent seat for Germany on the Security Council. Security Council reform cannot be delayed any longer; otherwise, the momentum will be lost and that would be bad indeed. Since the ending of the cold war the United Nations has had more burdens to shoulder than ever. It therefore needs effective institutions, and for this reason it has a right to expect members to pay their dues on time. All, and especially the big members, must help according to their ability to ensure that the world Organization can accomplish its tasks. Germany, the third largest contributor, will continue to meet its obligations. We know from recent experience that we should not add to but rather ease the burden of the United Nations. This is a task especially for regional organizations like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). If they succeed in settling conflicts locally, the Security Council will not need to deal with them. I think that would be very well-advised, because it would free capacities for all of us. New avenues of joint action are therefore called for. To pretend globalization is not happening would be absurd. Only those who face up to the challenge can exploit the opportunities and cushion the risks. The impact of the crises in Russia and Asia shows that the world economy needs a reliable framework. That is not to say we need a global financial authority or fixed exchange rates, least of all a new wave of protectionism. But we do need better early-warning mechanisms, more transparency and more efficient banking systems, especially in the newly emerging economies. This is not a task for Governments alone. What is needed now is a global public-private partnership between Governments, international financial organizations and corporations. We therefore support the American initiative for a dialogue between the G-8 and the newly emerging economies on a new international financial architecture. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank should not always have to serve as the stopgap when the opportunity for structural reforms has been missed. Managing globalization also means weaving a network of partnerships between the big regional groupings and the big countries. The regional groupings are the components of a new global order under the roof of the United Nations. The European Union's partnerships with regional organizations like the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) prove we are on the right course: We want an open, not a confrontational, kind of regionalism. I am confident that the European Union will be an anchor of stability in the twenty-first century. By introducing a single currency on 1 January 1999, it is focusing its energies. Its global role will increase. It is about to begin further negotiations on accession with associated partners. What Willy Brandt said about Germany in 1989 applies today to the whole of Europe: "What belongs together is now growing together". The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) too is also gradually opening its doors to the new democracies. In the year of its fiftieth anniversary it will admit Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Together with Russia, Ukraine and the other Commonwealth of Independent States members, we are developing a comprehensive security partnership. True, the Russians are having a rough time at present, but the world needs a democratic and stable Russia, a Russia which will play the role commensurate with its size, its status and its potential. Russia faces a Herculean task of consolidating the economy and maintaining social stability. All those responsible must face up to the challenge: the President, the Government, the parties and business. Of course, the regions too are called upon. I know from my talks with Prime Minister Primakov last week in Moscow that Russia intends neither to change course nor to go into reverse. The crisis in Russia affects us all. We will not abandon Russia. It can count on us. The Kosovo conflict remains a thorn in Europeâs side. A humanitarian disaster in the true sense of the word is looming. The situation of the refugees, more than 250,000 of them, is desperate. International organizations, the European Union, the United States and Russia are coordinating their efforts to enable those who have been driven out to return to their villages. Time is getting short; winter is just around the corner. Most of the responsibility for this drama lies with Belgrade, with President Milosevic. He must realize that the international community will react with military force if necessary. We still seek a political solution for Kosovo — self-administration within the Yugoslav Federation. However, this cannot be achieved without Belgrade and Pristina. So the weapons must now be silenced. We condemn the use of force by the Yugoslav security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army. The recent reports we have received from Kosovo are very disappointing, troubling and worrisome. I hope they are not true. NATO is prepared to provide the backing for a political solution. Yugoslavia and Kosovo are a part of Europe. Their future can only be a European one. The history of Europe in this century shows that we can overcome hatred and mistrust. But we have to have the willingness to do so. In Bosnia, too, we have seen animosity slowly being replaced by trust and cooperation. Recently I paid my twelfth visit to Sarajevo. That tormented city is slowly beginning to blossom again, and the country's reconstruction is progressing. Nonetheless, the peace process must continue to be buttressed by NATO and the Stabilization Force (SFOR), for the process is not self-sustaining. Regardless of the result of the elections, the international community will not tolerate any reversal of the implementation of the peace agreement. Furthermore, genuine peace will not return until the presumed war criminals and enemies of peace - Mr. Karadzic and his lot- have been brought to trial in The Hague. Only when those guilty of crimes against humanity, torturers and terrorists all over the world, have been brought to justice will we all be able to sleep peacefully. Thus, the establishment of the International Criminal Court on 17 July as a major step towards a world order in which the force of law, not the law of force, prevails. Germany was the driving force. I appeal to all countries to sign and ratify the Court's Statute. No one stands more at the mercy of those who wield power than refugees. At present more than 20 million people worldwide are in flight: despairing elderly people, women, children; people who are sick, homeless and destitute and have absolutely no idea what is going to happen to them. Over the last several years I have been to many refugee camps, in Albania, Africa and the Middle East. Every refugee's case is a story of immeasurable human suffering. Germany is now the country with the second largest number of refugees. From Kosovo alone, 150,000 refugees have found refuge in Germany. The suffering of the refugees is a humanitarian and political challenge to the international community as a whole. What is now needed, therefore, is a global refugee policy. The United Nations, too, has to do something about it. Specifically, this means, first, a more equitable distribution of the refugees, as I recommended here in the General Assembly in 1993. We cannot leave the poorest countries to their own devices in trying to cope with the refugee problem. Secondly, greater efforts will have to be made to remove the causes of flight and expulsion. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has declared the twenty-first century a century of prevention, and with good reason. To wait until a situation gets so bad that people have to take flight is to make oneself partly responsible. Trouble must therefore be nipped in the bud. This is the task of preventive diplomacy, of human rights observers and peacekeeping forces. Striking at the root of mass flight and migration also means eliminating the economic, ecological and social causes. The gap between rich and poor grows wider. The wealthiest 20 per cent of the world population consume 86 per cent of all goods, the poorest 20 per cent only 1.3 per cent. This equity gap must be closed. Every individual has a right to live in dignity, free from hunger and want. All nations must be given a fair chance in global competition, the poorest ones in particular. Hence, it is up to the rich countries to help the poor make the most of their opportunities for development. Our aim is a social world market economy. This is why in 1997 Germany spent 10.25 billion deutsche marks on bilateral and multilateral assistance measures as an investment in peace and stability. Africa shows what can be achieved when the international community and the countries concerned pull together. Today, democratic elections are held in more than half of the African countries. In 20 African countries economic growth is between 4 and 6 per cent, and in 11 it is higher still. We want the Africans to know that we will not abandon that vast continent and its 800 million people, despite the heavy burdens it still has to bear. Poverty and refugee problems are also exacerbating the situation in the Middle East. The people in Israel and in the Palestinian territories long for peace more than anything else on earth. The peace process requires fresh impetus. The Israelis and Palestinians must move towards each other again and rediscover the lost mutual trust. We Europeans will continue to support this process with our American friends. We back Israel's legitimate claim to security for its State and citizens. The Palestinians have recognized that claim; now words must be followed by deeds. They must see to it that terrorism has no chance. But Israel, too, must show compromise as regards a further partial withdrawal. Neither side should put any new obstacles in the way of a deal — and that includes allowing new settlements in the occupied territories. Particularly in the Middle East, we have time and again seen that terrorism leads to a dead end, destruction and suffering. We must pit all our strength against the cynics who advocate violence, the fanatics and ideologues; the dead of Omagh, Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam serve as a warning. Those who plant bombs and murder people must be brought to justice. Drying up the sources of terrorism — poverty, ethnic conflict and fundamentalism — is our common responsibility. But to fight terrorism is not to fight Islam. Islam is one of the great world religions. Nothing could be further from the truth than the cliche that Islam is synonymous with fundamentalism and violations of human rights. We want a dialogue of cultures and religions, especially with Islam. There exists an ethic of humanity that unites us all. This ethic is based on the inalienable dignity of every individual, as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the human rights covenants of the United Nations. These are the benchmarks for our joint action in the twenty-first century. Violations of human rights are no longer an internal matter of States. They concern us all. Any group which, like the regime in Kabul, denies women their basic human rights places itself outside the international community of common values. The world of tomorrow will be judged by how we treat our children today. They are our most valuable asset. Yet the rights of many children are still being trampled underfoot. Millions of children have no chance to live a life in dignity. Millions of children are forced to work. Particularly appalling is the fact that every year some two million children all over the world are sexually abused. Only through joint action can we stop child prostitution, traffic in children and child pornography, including that proliferated via the Internet. I therefore propose that the United Nations set up a contact point to coordinate worldwide efforts to eradicate sexual abuse of children. The optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child designed to afford better protection against sexual exploitation should be quickly adopted and quickly put into effect. Children are small people who need big rights. Protection for children during armed conflicts must be improved, including by outlawing their use as soldiers. We all hoped that with the ending of the East-West confrontation the danger of a nuclear conflagration would be gone forever. This has proved to be an illusion. The threat of proliferation of means of mass destruction hovers over the human race. We can safeguard world peace in the twenty-first century only if we keep such terrible weapons under control. In Geneva, India and Pakistan have agreed to negotiations on a cut-off. That's a good sign, but not nearly enough. It must be followed by their accession to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. And all nations should now sign the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. This also applies to the conventions banning chemical and biological weapons. The adoption of a verification protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention is now urgent. Next March the Ottawa Convention imposing a worldwide ban on anti-personnel landmines enters into force — a great success. Only if all countries now sign the Convention will these diabolical devices soon be wiped from the face of the earth. It is our common task to get rid of the 100 million mines still remaining, using state-of-the-art technology. We must also radically rethink our attitude to nature. The victims of the floods in China and Bangladesh are a warning. We must swing the wheel round now. This we owe to our children and grandchildren. We can save our blue planet and its ecosystem together or not at all. Take the world climate. The Kyoto Protocol launched a global effort to protect it. That was a big step forward. But time is getting short. We have just had the warmest half year this century. At the fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, scheduled for Buenos Aires in November, we shall have to agree on the instruments with which to achieve the objectives of Kyoto. Take water. Water is irreplaceable. Water is more important than oil. Yet in more than 80 countries it is in short supply. Two billion people have insufficient access or none at all to clean drinking water. Finding joint solutions for the peaceful use and conservation of water, the source of life, is one of the great tasks of the twenty-first century. The pursuit of this scarce commodity must not be allowed to spark fresh conflicts. Germany intends to remain in the vanguard of the international campaign to protect the environment. I am gratified to note that our commitment has been acknowledged by the appointment of Klaus Töpfer as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. But we are not going to rest on our laurels. A few days ago I opened an international conference in Potsdam on early-warning mechanisms for natural disasters. The conference has shown that progress can be achieved if we want it. Specifically, it is now a question of establishing effective global early-warning systems for environmental crises and natural disasters, and developing emergency management arrangements for the coordination of international relief measures. We must now get down to this task, and the United Nations is the right place to do so. Four hundred and sixty three days from now the twentieth century comes to an end — a century of unprecedented violence and destruction. The coming century must be a century with a humane countenance. What a wonderful vision. But talking about it is not enough. Only if we act together will we survive together. The United Nations is indispensable to this task. Strengthening it to secure a peaceful and more equitable world — that is our responsibility. This we owe to coming generations. My country will devote every possible effort to this task.