Poland

At the outset, I should like to express warm congratulations to the President of the General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, a distinguished statesman and eminent jurist from friendly Portugal. We also follow with particular appreciation the actions of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros- Ghali, whose dedication to the cause of peace and economic and social development meets with universal approval. Three months ago, the celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of our Organization were inaugurated at a meeting of Nobel Prize winners in San Francisco. Fifty years have passed since the end of the Second World War, which began with the aggression of the forces of the Third Reich against Poland in the early hours of 1 September 1939. As a historian and also an eyewitness to those days, I have a moral right to recall from this rostrum that it was Poland that put a stop to appeasement, a policy that was futile then and is futile today, a policy which, in the long run at any rate, never pays, anywhere. For Poland, the first victim of the Second World War, that war lasted the longest: five years, eight months and eight days. It ended in victory, but a victory which did not bring the Polish people complete freedom. It was only 45 years later that we achieved the goal for which Polish patriots had fought with dedication: a free and sovereign State in a new, democratic Europe. 5 Already during that most terrible of wars to date, thought was being given to peace and ways of making it endure. Mindful of their tragic wartime experiences, peoples and States sought to rid the world once and for ever of wars and the sufferings they inflict. That is how the United Nations was born. From the very start, Poland, a founding Member, has played an active part in the activities of the Organization, whose principal purposes were to preserve and consolidate international peace and security, ensure peaceful social and economic development and the right to a decent existence and promote respect for human rights. The cold war and East-West bipolarity swiftly dashed the newborn hopes for the relaxation of tensions and peace untroubled by political or ideological disputes. Although, happily, a global nuclear cataclysm has not come to pass, for which much of the credit is undeniably due to the United Nations, post-war history abounds with tensions, and humanity has, more than once, found itself on the brink of total war. Instead of providing for recovery from the ravages of war and for human well-being, increasing resources were spent on maintaining a singular balance — the balance of terror through the arms race. The world was divided at Yalta into two hostile camps. Many States, in Central Europe for instance, ended up in the Eastern bloc against the will of their people. If I refer to Yalta, it is not meant as a reproach for a pact that was so heinous for Poland: it is as a warning against future Yaltas, wherever they might be concluded or whomever they might threaten. We want a Europe without political or other divisions, for their consequences would be the same. Following the geopolitical transformations that originated in Poland in the 1980s and proved unstoppable in the face of the aspirations to freedom of the peoples of that part of Europe and of Asia, the world has become infinitely safer. East-West confrontation has disappeared, for ever, it is hoped, and the terms “East” and “West” have regained their old, purely geographical connotations. Yet the world, though no longer bipolar, has not been freed from conflicts. Hitherto dormant or suppressed, tides of nationalism have surfaced with renewed vigour, often fuelled by intolerance, ethnic and religious strife or outright racism. Six years after the commencement in 1989 of great changes in the world political map, the anticipated new international order has failed to materialize. The United Nations and all its Members are still actively looking for effective and equitable answers to the new problems that have emerged since the end of the cold war. These political changes present a unique opportunity to build a new system of peaceful cooperation, not of mere coexistence. Our desire is to seek a new world order, one that will ensure full security to all States and provide conditions for their swift social and economic development, while at the same time giving all individuals the opportunity to exercise fully their human rights, to which they are entitled. Of course, there would not be room for any kind of intolerance, manifestations of ethnic, religious or racial hatred, including shameful anti-Semitism. Poland is aware of, and acknowledges, the momentous role which the United Nations plays in the realization of these goals. An Organization founded by 51 States has grown to become a universal structure embracing almost all the countries of the globe. It is, however, not only the number of Members that has changed: its tasks have also kept growing steadily. While originally the political military question and decolonization predominated, in time the scope of United Nations interests widened, and today it would be hard to identify a single domain where the United Nations system is not involved. Expectations of the United Nations have grown likewise, often excessively, since they were not backed by sufficient political will to provide the Organization with appropriate instruments, which are indispensable if it is to live up to these expectations. I have in mind one of the basic fields of United Nations activities — conflict prevention and settlement. Here the United Nations lends itself relatively easily to attack. One overlooks, however, how much the character of conflicts now confronting the international community has changed. Conventional conflicts between States are now increasingly giving way to internal conflicts, as in Rwanda, in Somalia and, up to a point, in the former Yugoslavia. The traditional mediation role of the United Nations peace-keeping forces, discharged with the consent of the parties to a conflict, has frequently become impossible in present-day conditions. In many cases, United Nations peace-keeping missions come up against the dilemma of having to depart from the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of a State torn apart by civil war. Should one remain indifferent and ignore human suffering in such a situation? It is we, the States Members of the United Nations, which are often called upon to answer this question unequivocally, and we are not always able to do so. Inevitably, this adversely affects the success of the mission, the blame for which is all too often and all too easily placed on the United Nations. One tends to forget that we are the United Nations. 6 Poland takes the view that when a direct threat is posed to international peace and security, the United Nations — if it is to be an efficient instrument of collective security in accordance with the Charter — must be equipped to do its job. We can draw up a long list of conflicts and wars which were brought to an end thanks to United Nations efforts. Millions of human lives have been saved, owing to humanitarian relief action organized by the United Nations — but an equally long list can be produced of undertakings which ended in failure. The fiftieth anniversary should, no doubt, prompt critical reflection on the subject. Defeats and mistakes must not lead to the abdication of efforts. They should encourage the taking of steps to reform and remodel what must be changed, and thus make the United Nations a truly modern Organization, adapted to new circumstances and measuring up to the requirements of the period and its challenges. In today’s interconnected and interdependent world, even the most powerful nations cannot cope alone with such global issues as, for example, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the spread of drugs, hunger and poverty, the pollution of the environment, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and increasingly rampant terrorism — in short, all the ills that are appearing as we approach the end of the century. Consequently, we need to bolster the trend towards enhancement of multilateral institutions, including the United Nations and its system. It was in this spirit that the President of Poland, Lech Walesa, spoke at San Francisco last June when he referred to the Organization’s shortcomings in critical terms. Poland is not only playing its full role in this process: the creation of a new international order is the focal point of its foreign policy at the subregional, regional and global levels. Fully sovereign and independent, today’s Poland is one of the largest and most populous countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It strives actively to contribute to ensuring the stability of a region of importance to Europe — a region that forms a natural geographical, cultural and economic bridge between Europe’s historically evolved parts. Hence, the basic task of the foreign policy of the Republic of Poland is active participation in, and a creative contribution to, the building of a new Europe — one without divisions and conflicts, ensuring well-being and security to all its inhabitants. In practice, this policy is manifested in unremitting efforts to integrate Poland into European and Atlantic structures, in acknowledgement of their role as guarantors of the security, stability, democracy and economic development of our continent. The priority of our foreign policy agenda is entry into the European Union. The Union had its origins in the days of the Marshall Plan, to which Poland declared its accessibility; this was subsequently withdrawn under pressure from outside. Because of the systemic differences and the delay in economic and social development that ensued in the intervening years, the process of adaptation is bound to be difficult, costly and protracted. We are, however, convinced that this is not too high a price to pay for joining a regional organization which, more than any other in history, has been able to ensure its members — apart from political integration — prosperity, a high level of social security and the highest standards of protection of individual rights and freedoms. Expansion eastwards by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union is synonymous with the consolidation of the zone of stability in this once conflict-prone region. In a foreign policy statement in the Polish Parliament four months ago, I said that Poland was not pursuing, and would not pursue, two different foreign policies: one Western and the other Eastern. In other words, while seeking to join Western European structures, we attach great importance to cultivating friendly relations and all-round cooperation both with our immediate and with our more distant neighbours. We are pursuing cooperation with these States within the framework of the existing subregional organizations and are working for its expansion. We are bound to our neighbours by treaties of good-neighbourly relations, friendship and cooperation. We will spare no effort to eradicate as soon as possible all vestiges of mutual prejudice and any grievances still harboured by our societies. Poland attaches major importance to the consolidation and expansion of such all-European organizations as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). We support the OSCE role in resolving armed conflicts in our part of the world, in cooperation with the United Nations. We therefore welcome with satisfaction the Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunal established by the OSCE last May. Our active participation in the work of the Council of Europe results from our strong belief that it is of enormous importance in the process of dissemination, reinforcement and development of 7 democratic institutions and mechanisms for the protection of human rights on our continent. Finally, reference must be made to Poland’s contribution to the work of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Thanks to its long experience in efforts to overcome the economic divisions that Europe inherited from the recent past, the ECE has a role to play in the process of the economic integration of Europe. At the same time, I wish to declare Poland’s strong support for the useful activities of the regional commissions in general. They should be responsible for coordinating, in each region, the local projects of the United Nations system, especially its specialized agencies, and become regional focal points for the promotion of sustainable growth and human development. The same applies to such subregional initiatives as the Central European Initiative, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and the Central European Free Trade Association. While concentrating, understandably enough, on problems connected with the transformation of our political and economic systems, Poland is paying due attention to development processes and trends in the world at large. We are systematically expanding our economic and political contacts with nations on other continents. We are increasingly concerned at the scale of the economic problems looming in North-South relations. The development disparities and contrasts in this area call for an urgent intensification of the efforts of the whole world, and the more advanced countries in particular. We are not always in a position to provide developing countries with aid matching their expectations, but we shall provide it to the extent we can. We note with satisfaction the vitality of the Non- Aligned Movement, which has been cooperating with the United Nations for many years and which, despite so many changes, remains unfailingly active on the international stage. This Movement played a paramount role in bringing the era of colonialism to an end, has successfully assisted young nations to secure their rightful place in the world and is now laying the foundations for a new era of post-cold- war relations between States, free of global confrontation. Over the last three years, under the presidency of Indonesia, the Non-Aligned Movement has ably redirected its priorities in order to focus its attention on economic development. It embarked on this task on the basis of fruitful dialogue with the developed countries and has greatly contributed to narrowing the gap between the latter and the nations it represents. We take note in particular of the spectacular progress made by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in terms of development, and we acknowledge its efforts to extinguish old conflicts and prevent new ones, to build confidence and to search for new security formulas. Poland is interested in political dialogue and economic cooperation with this group of States, both bilaterally and within a broader Europe-Asia formula. Central Europe also has many characteristics and interests in common with the States of Latin America and their groupings. At the last session of the Economic and Social Council we gave forceful expression to our solidarity with Africa. We believe that cooperation with, and the provision of assistance to, the African continent is in the best interests of the international community. For its part, Poland is fully conscious of its obligations to the world community, as manifested by its active participation in the work of the United Nations — an organization where States, large, small and medium- sized, like Poland, participate democratically, as far as they can, in a mutual effort to transform the world. We are prepared to assume additional obligations in regard to international peace and security. That is why we have put forward our candidacy for non-permanent membership of the Security Council in the elections to be held during the current session of the General Assembly. Consistent with the obligations embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, the maintenance of international peace and security is central to Poland’s foreign policy. Proof of our commitment to this goal has been the participation, since the 1950s, of soldiers and officers of the Polish army in United Nations peace- keeping operations, and more recently in those launched under the auspices of the OSCE. For many years now, Poland has traditionally been among the 10 States fielding the largest contingents in United Nations peace-keeping operations, despite its mounting financial problems due to the growing delays in the reimbursement of the expenses incurred. Poland is gravely concerned at the increasingly frequent instances of disregard for the status of peace-keeping personnel, such as Blue Helmets being attacked or taken hostage for use as human shields, a practice of which United Nations military observers from Poland have also been the victims. It is for this reason that the entry into force of the relevant Convention and its rigorous observance are extremely urgent. It is also essential to streamline the functioning of peace-keeping operations. We note with satisfaction the 8 progress already made in this field. However, recent events in the former Yugoslavia demonstrate the need for further steps to be taken to ensure the effectiveness of action, especially in emergency situations. This issue is particularly topical in view of the multiplication of extremely bloody and dangerous internal armed conflicts. The evident impotence of the international community in such situations is due to the fact that, as numerous examples in the last few years bear out, international organizations, by their very nature, are not prepared for active intervention in internal conflicts. These examples also demonstrate that the only possible basis for the resolution of an internal conflict is an accord between the warring parties. We therefore believe that the primary task of the United Nations is to strive unflaggingly, as it has often done so effectively in the past, to bring the parties to a conflict to the negotiating table, to broker an agreement between them and to supervise its implementation. The relevance of preventive diplomacy to both intra-State and international conflicts, and the United Nations role in that respect, were rightly recalled by my Australian colleague, Senator Gareth Evans. Another key facet of international security is the issue of disarmament. In this area we welcomed, with joy and relief, the indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, arrived at last May by consensus. We pay tribute to the wisdom and farsightedness displayed by all participants, without exception, at the Review and Extension Conference in New York. The road that has brought the world to an unbelievable build-up of nuclear arsenals was long and costly. Today we realize that embarking on this same road in the opposite direction, towards disarmament, will be equally long, costly and complicated. The indefinite extension of the NPT was an act of enormous significance. The next task — no less difficult and just as momentous — will be the conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty, which should take place no later than in 1996. Special importance, in our view, should also be attached to the entry into force and practical implementation of the Convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons, an instrument which Poland ratified last July. In all these matters, Polish diplomacy has played, and will continue to play, an active role. Poland believes that progress in disarmament in the field of weapons of mass destruction should be paralleled by a simultaneous and equally tangible effort in the field of conventional weapons, a category of arms that over the last half-century has inflicted tens of millions of casualties in countless regional and internal conflicts. The inescapable conclusion is that the United Nations needs to go beyond the limited aims of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms and that the problems of conventional arms control and disarmament have to be put on the agenda of the Conference on Disarmament. This is important not only because of the specific nature of the contemporary conflicts the United Nations has to deal with, but also because of the need to put an end to the mounting wave of internal and international terrorism in an increasing number of countries. There can be no doubt that terrorism and organized crime in general, as well as illegal traffic in radioactive materials and drugs, represent today a serious threat to security. Determined action is therefore needed. Its success will depend on broad international cooperation within the United Nations system — I refer to the Vienna institutions — as well as outside the United Nations system. Economic development is an extremely important and, in recent years, increasingly significant sphere of activity of the organs of the United Nations system. Economic development problems, together with social issues, have been the subject of a number of major international conferences. The agendas of conferences already held and those of the ones to be convened in the next two years address virtually all development-related problems. What is now indispensable is to concentrate efforts on the conscientious and coordinated implementation of their decisions, a matter of which account should also be taken in the planned reform of the United Nations system. We appreciate the incipient changes that are appearing in the attitude of the Bretton Woods institutions with regard to the question of the social dimension of development processes, especially the elimination of poverty and unemployment. These issues clearly stood out at the Copenhagen social summit and at the session of the Economic and Social Council held in Geneva earlier this year. This bolsters the hope that the efforts of the poorer countries to cope with the contingencies of socio- economic development will obtain external financial support. We do not share the view that developing countries or, for that matter, nations that, like Poland, are in the throes of transformation, are contributing to unemployment in the more developed parts of the world. We do not accept the argument that trade with low-wage countries might threaten the economic stability of such developed countries. According to the findings of the latest studies by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the less-developed 9 countries represent, first and foremost, new markets that are of interest to multinational corporations. Let me note in this connection that Poland has been recently classified as one of the world’s 10 biggest emerging markets. Specific opportunities have also been created by the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the establishment of the World Trade Organization. In the short term, however, the liberalization of world trade could be too great a challenge to the weakest partners, especially in Africa. We are in favour of safety-net arrangements for countries in this category. We also perceive a development paradox of our times: cut-backs in agricultural production in some parts of the world because of excessive stocks of food and for purposes of checking falling prices are paralleled by the existence of endemic famine areas in other parts of the world. In an interdependent world such as ours, there is something baffling in this situation. The United Nations should be the forum in which to address this difficult and conscience- troubling problem. The solution is not simply one of redistribution. The crux of the matter lies in helping these countries to help themselves by stimulating their capacity for self-reliance instead of perpetuating their dependence. Lastly, the third area crucial to the well-being of future generations, to which Poland attaches particular importance, is the question of human rights. Today, six years into the process of democratic change, Poland can pride itself on having a legal system which meets the most rigorous international standards in the field of respect for and comprehensive protection of human rights. Poland has not confined itself to taking care of internal problems in that regard. In the past few years it has been pursuing wide-ranging activities in the United Nations organs concerned with human rights and the development of international mechanisms for their protection. Undoubtedly, in this field the Vienna Human Rights Conference of 1993 was a landmark event. Polish diplomacy was extremely active both at the preparatory stage and in the course of the Conference. From the outset we strongly endorsed the establishment of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, which was one of the principal achievements of the Vienna Conference. Since the appointment of Ambassador Ayala Lasso to this important post we have given him our full cooperation and support. Of its very nature, the United Nations does not have the means to force either States or armed groupings to respect the rights of citizens and to comply with international obligations in this field. Violations of humanitarian law and the laws of war are rife. The timid response to the systematic reports by the Human Rights Commission’s Special Rapporteur, the former Polish Prime Minister, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, of drastic violations of human rights in the former Yugoslavia resulted in his resignation from his mission. We note with satisfaction statements from this rostrum recognizing the significance of his endeavours. The upgrading of the status of human rights within the structure of United Nations organs, the General Assembly included, is essential. The basic tasks of our Organization in this field should be the promotion of permanent international dialogue on the protection of human rights, the development of mechanisms for overseeing compliance with international obligations and the increase of technical assistance by rich and experienced nations to countries which lack the necessary resources. Appropriate funds for this purpose should be made available to the High Commissioner and the Centre for Human Rights in Geneva. Ever since the foundation of the United Nations 50 years ago the tasks facing the Organization have grown in number and complexity. The political and economic environment in which these tasks have to be coped with also keeps changing, as demonstrated by the decisions of the latest major Conferences — in Cairo, Copenhagen and Beijing. That calls for the continuous adaptation of the organizational structures and procedures to new tasks and changing circumstances. It is imperative to enhance the methods of cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Equally important is the effort further to develop the system of international law so that it can regulate more adequately and with greater precision the rights and obligations of its subjects in the ever growing number of areas of their mutual relations. The importance of these problems, United Nations reform included, has not escaped the attention of our distinguished Secretary- General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The reform of the United Nations is therefore a pressing task. It is necessary in respect of the principal organs, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council in the first place, and the countless subsidiary bodies. Poland appreciates the results of efforts made so 10 far to enhance the work of the Security Council. As a result, we have a Council which is both more efficient and more than ever responsive to the need for greater transparency in its proceedings. Poland wishes to express its support for the acceleration of steps aimed at an appropriate expansion of the Council’s composition, to render it more representative without detriment to its effectiveness. The reform of the Organization must aim at upgrading its efficiency and remedying its financial situation, while keeping intact the basic principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members. However, the most important issue is efficiency, without forgetting that, as an intergovernmental Organization, the basic task of the United Nations is to cement partner-like cooperation between its Members, and recalling that it can act only on their authority. The ultimate success of the reform will be the best contribution we can make to the observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the Organization. Let me add the voice of Poland to all those statements which, on the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, conveyed from this rostrum unequivocal assurances of confidence in the future of our Organization and in its ability to cope with the challenges that face us on the threshold of the twenty-first century. For its part, Poland is ready to participate in these efforts for the sake of future generations so that, in contrast to my own, they will never experience war, be it hot or cold, and so that they can live in a world founded on principles of cooperation, good- neighbourly relations and mutual trust.