Canada

Mr. President, may I first associate myself with the congratulations extended to you on your election as President of the General Assembly. 92. I am very pleased to have the honour once again of addressing the General Assembly after an interval of seven years. In an international perspective, seven years is not a long time. Yet in that interval, profound changes have imposed themselves on the world community—changes that have distanced us from the relatively optimistic days of the mid-1970s. 93. Simply stated, the world at present is facing acute economic and political crises. World economic conditions have deteriorated sharply, with devastating consequences on the aspirations of all nations, rich and poor alike. Political upheaval has driven the interna¬tional community towards recurrent instability. And these forces are closely linked. Political crises generate economic consequences and economic dislocations breed political instability. 94. How can we chart a course for our institutions that will bring us through this period of grave economic dislocation and dangerous political tension and serve the interests of all members of the General Assembly? 93. When our present institutions, such as the United Nations, IMF, the World Bank and GATT, first took shape, there was hope of maintaining a network of relationships which would match the complexity of post-war interdependence and help us to stabilize it. Today, the need to manage interdependence is even more pressing. But in the present crisis there is a disturbing tendency to discount and discredit multi¬lateral institutions. Because the maze of international problems has become more resistant to conventional solutions, attacks are being made on the institutions through which solutions are being approached. The United Nations, in particular, has been the object of much criticism. 96. We cannot fail to realize that interdependence is a reality that we must accept, for better or for worse, and that no nation can hope to resolve its problems on its own. Multilateralism, whatever its specific form, is our primary hope for counteracting on a world scale political and economic aggression which can only too easily result from a long period of uncertainty and fear. 97. However, let us have no illusions: the credibility and the effectiveness of the multilateral institutions depend on the political will of nations and of their leaders, and on the will to find a collective response to serious national and international problems. 98. Most countries, developed and developing, are now grappling with high rates of inflation. Slow or stagnant growth and international payments imbal¬ances compound already serious debt problems. Record high unemployment in many countries threatens the social and political fabric of our societies and feeds protectionist sentiment. At the international level, the economic crisis is having a devastating effect on growth prospects and on development assistance. Debt-servicing problems have reached proportions that impose considerable strain on the international financial system. 99. The consequence has been an increasing ten¬dency towards economic parochialism. Pressures for short-term relief put at risk the multilateral system and narrow the longer-term prospects for all of us. These pressures must be resisted. 100. The collective response to the current economic situation was extensively discussed at the annual meeting of IMF and the World Bank held recently in Toronto. I was encouraged by the determination of participants at that meeting to treat economic problems as matters of common concern requiring common action. 101. I should like to underline two important themes. First, the magnitude of the financial difficulties many of our countries face makes it imperative that IMF should have adequate resources to ensure that it can continue to play its vital role in promoting adjustment in member countries. That is why Canada supports a substantial increase in quotas during the Eighth General Review. 102. Secondly, the current economic situation has meant that development assistance has become even more essential for a number of developing countries and it is important that bilateral and multilateral flows continue. We welcomed the agreement reached at Toronto to ensure an adequate level of funding through the life of the Sixth Replenishment of the International Development Association (IDAVI). 103. The tendency to turn inward economically is also exerting strain on the multilateral trading system. Protectionist sentiment arising from economic disloca¬tion is difficult for all Governments to deal with, my own included. But it is absolutely essential that we manage these pressures collectively to avoid under¬mining GATT. That organization has been enormously beneficial in promoting world economic growth in developed and developing countries. Any serious weakening of GATT through beggar-thy-neighbour policies would have the ultimate effect of making beggars of us all. GATT can and should be strengthened. 104. Canada will chair the 1982 annual session of the GATT Contracting Parties, which will be held at the ministerial level in November. We regard this session as a significant test of our collective determination to manage an interdependent system. 105. Intense preoccupation with domestic economic concerns also confounds our attempts to persevere with development assistance programmes. What should be our response to the inescapability of shrinking resources? How do we face the difficulties in generating increased development assistance flows? 106. We should all—national donors and multilateral agencies alike—rationalize deployment of available resources for maximum possible effect. The best results can be obtained from this process of com¬pulsory selectivity only if donors focus on areas of special national expertise and resources. Canada has chosen to concentrate its efforts in three particular areas which draw upon considerable national experience. These are the food and agricultural area, energy, specifically petroleum exploration, and human resources. 107. Another response to shrinking resources should be to make full and timely use of every opportunity for enhanced co operation. In this connection, I am disappointed with the lack of progress made on global negotiations since the Versailles Economic Summit in June. Canada believes that the text of a compromise resolution worked out at Versailles represented a significant step in the effort to find a formula for launching global negotiations. I regret that it has not been possible to find a basis for real negotiations. 108. Economic problems are all the more vexing and potentially dangerous because they are bound up with serious political instability. Political instability pro¬duces consequences extending far beyond the imme¬diate region in which conflict has erupted. In a shrinking world local vulnerabilities and tragedies become the common concern of us all. 109. We have witnessed the long agony of Lebanon and, but 10 days ago, the horror of the massacre of Palestinians. These terrible events show us in stark fashion the price that must be paid when one strives to resolve political problems by military means, when disputes among nations and peoples and political factions replace negotiations, when one misuses or disregards the instruments that the international com¬munity has established to settle disputes and prevent human suffering. 110. I should like to stress that Canada staunchly supports the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Lebanon, and that it endorses the Security Council resolutions which call for Israel's withdrawal from west Beirut and the whole of Lebanon. No foreign force should remain in that country without the full consent of the Lebanese Government; otherwise that ravaged country will never know stability again. 111. Equally important, efforts must be intensified now to grapple with the problems at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. More than ever the tragic events of the last few months illustrate the need for a just and permanent solution which assures the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to a homeland in the West Bank and Gaza, and the right of Israel to exist in security and peace. Important proposals for such a solution have recently been made. The United States proposals of 1 Sep¬tember in particular offer opportunities for progress which should vigorously be pursued. 112. Other arenas of conflict continue to contribute to the generally high level of international tension. Events in Poland remain an object of our particular attention, not only because of concern for the basic rights and freedoms of the Polish people but also because of serious implications for stability in the heart of Europe. 113. In Afghanistan and Cambodia we witness agonizing, protracted and deplorable military occupa¬tions which are in sharp contradiction with the aims and ideals of the Organization and the Charter. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia continue to violate the sovereignty of their victims and to ignore resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. Once again this year draft resolutions are before the Assembly on Afghanistan and Cambodia. I urge all Member States to support these draft resolutions. 114. The Korean peninsula has long been an area of tension and concern. We are encouraged however by the proposals made in January this year by the President of the Republic of Korea seeking dialogue and reconciliation, without conditions, and we hope for the greater integration of the peninsula into the inter¬national community. 115. The extent to which local or regional conflicts draw their energy from mutually antagonistic ideo¬logical systems is also cause for considerable concern. In recent years the breakdown of detente and an increasing anxiety over the unpredictability of events have fuelled public fears of nuclear war. Our peoples fear that everything is at risk: the economic and technological systems which sustain us, the political and social systems which underpin them and the very biosphere which permits the existence of life itself. 116. The world had high hopes for the second special session of the General Assembly on disarmament. When the session ended and no final agreement on a comprehensive programme of disarmament had been reached, there was much disappointment and frustra¬tion. However, a disservice is done to the special session and to the United Nations as an institution if it is simply dismissed as a failure. Of course the results were disappointing, but then the expectations of many were probably unrealistically high given the prevailing international climate. Moreover, in this climate it is essential that the campaign for nuclear disarmament be waged at the negotiating table. My country strongly supports the present negotiations in Geneva to limit and reduce the level of nuclear arms. 117. Canada has chosen to contribute to the arms control and disarmament process by concentrating on the vital issue of verification. We are doing this through participating in the international seismic data exchange and by substantially increasing research in verification. I would appeal to other Member States to consider how their particular circumstances and resources might be drawn upon to contribute to the arms control process. It is basically the same question as with development: given the need for selectivity, what can you contribute? 118. I have evoked today a set of perplexing and interrelated economic and political problems. What is the United Nations capacity to respond to these? The question is an urgent one, because the United Nations and the specialized agencies address virtually the entire range of human concerns. 119. Within the United Nations, crisis management capacity has been called seriously into question by divisions within the Security Council, by erosion of the constitutional division of authority between the Security Council and the General Assembly and by a cycle of ineffectual resolutions. We have seen an increasing tendency to introduce extraneous polemical issues in the specialized agencies, with adiminution of their effectiveness and credibility. Official spokes¬men of key States Members of the United Nations have expressed scepticism regarding the Organization. To counter attacks on the United Nations from within and without we must more closely bind our policies and our behaviour to the principles expressed in the Charter. We must also vigorously reaffirm the singular contribution that the United Nations has made to the development of international law. As the Secretary-General explained at length and with eloquence in a statement delivered last month in Montreal, the United Nations plays a unique and absolutely essential role in the promotion of the rule of law. It is only the United Nations, with its virtually global scope, which has the capacity to play that role. 120. This year the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea succeeded in producing a profound achievement: a comprehensive constitution for the oceans of the world. The Conference could not have produced such a comprehensive convention without the active support and participation of all nations during the long years of negotiation. We deeply regret that the Conference was not able to adopt the text of the Convention by consensus. No State can remain aloof from the regime, and we must not be swayed by any attempt to undermine it. 121. The United Nations has succeeded in making human rights violations a legitimate subject of interna¬tional scrutiny and it is significant that the Secretary- General has identified human rights promotion as a priority area. Canada will support the Secretary- General in these efforts. Effective procedures must be worked out to deal with flagrant violations of human rights. 122. A role of critical importance for the United Nations is the peaceful resolution of disputes. How¬ever maligned the Organization may be concerning its efforts to resolve disputes, it can achieve notable successes. In Namibia, the United Nations has worked cut a balanced settlement plan which should bring Namibia to independence peacefully, and has obtained for that plan general acceptance. The substantial progress that has been made must be attributed in part to the dedication and constructive approach of the front-line States and the South West Africa People's Organization [SW/1PO]. We hope that remaining problems will be quickly resolved. 123. The appointment of a new Secretary-General has come at a time when the United Nations is facing unprecedented problems and when the need for insti¬tutional reform has become obvious. In his first report on the work of the Organization, the Secretary- General has addressed this need in direct and specific terms. He has put forward several innovative sugges¬tions, in particular directed at a more effective Security Council. He has himself undertaken to play a more direct role in bringing urgent matters before the Council. These specific proposals and the Secre¬tary-General's commitment to administrative stream¬lining are very welcome and should be encouraged. Pragmatic reforms must be made or the United Nations will lose its validity as a forum for interna¬tional negotiations, not only for the promotion of peace and security but also for the shaping of our, economic future. 124. The aims of the institutions we have invented are under considerable and potentially crippling strain. We must rededicate these institutions and the driving force of our determination must be a sense of shared vulnerability. 125. The present crisis demands intelligence and will. Intelligence must lead us to a more profound Understanding of political and economic forces; our will must reside in commitment to those national con¬cessions dictated by our mutual dependency. We cannot, must not, allow mutual antagonisms or self- absorption to divert our attention from the full range of difficulties which we face, and which we must face together.