Sweden

I sincerely congratulate the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly, a most crucial task which I trust he will execute in a most productive and creative manner. Let me also record my admiration and praise for the way in which his predecessor, Ambassador Razali Ismail, performed his demanding mission during the whole of the fifty-first session of the General Assembly. He laid a unique foundation on the basis of which we must now make advances towards a better United Nations. I refer to the statement made yesterday by the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg on behalf of all 20 members of the European Union; my Government fully subscribes to that statement. On the threshold of the new millennium, profound changes are affecting the lives of nations and individuals. Many are benefitting from open international relations. Others feel marginalized politically and economically. And all too many countries are still threatened by persistent poverty, social injustice and domestic strife. We need a strong United Nations to counter these forces, which separate nations and tear them apart. We need a renewed United Nations to focus on the tasks for which it was established, and to meet the new challenges of today and of tomorrow. This is why we need fundamental United Nations reform: not piecemeal improvements, but major change. This is why Sweden wholeheartedly endorses the reform proposals presented by the Secretary-General. We give our support as an active participant in all spheres of United Nations activity and as a major contributor to its development funds and programmes. United Nations reform is not a cost-cutting exercise. Its aim must be to make the Organization strong, effective and efficient, focusing on its core activities and ready to meet its future challenges. The Swedish Government supports the proposal that efficiency savings should be used for development. The United Nations cannot be reformed under the threat of political and financial crisis. It is simply not acceptable that Member States should set conditions for fulfilling Charter obligations. The Swedish Government urges all debtors — including the main debtor, the United States — to settle their accounts before the end of this year and to pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without conditions. Securing a sound and viable financial basis must be an integral part of reform efforts. The idea of establishing a revolving credit fund could be considered as an emergency step. We should also enact measures to reverse the current trend of late payment. Article 19 of the Charter should be applied more strictly. It is also time to agree on a new scale of assessments based on capacity to pay. A realistic proposal has been presented by the European Union. We, the Member States, should provide political direction for the reform process. We should take an overall view of United Nations reform, and avoid getting trapped in details. We are fully aware that there will be further steps: reform is a process, not a one-time event. Today, I will emphasize the need to strengthen and reform the United Nations in four key areas: peace and security, sustainable development, human rights, and disarmament. First, the United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to effectively prevent and settle armed conflicts. This is the purpose for which the Organization was established. This is where success or failure will ultimately be determined. Long-term prevention should address the root causes of conflict: poverty, social injustice, oppression and violations of human rights. The United Nations world conferences have established the close relationship between security and development. The United Nations must continue to build on this political platform. Conflict prevention is a task which requires coordinated action by the United Nations system as a whole, including the international financial organizations, and also by non-governmental organizations. Cooperation at the regional and subregional levels is increasingly important for building a security environment based on common values and norms. It is equally urgent to strengthen the ability of the United Nations to act on the threat of an erupting conflict. The whole range of United Nations instruments, including those mentioned in Article 33 of the Charter, should be developed and used to their full potential. Sweden wishes to cooperate with other Member States to enhance the United Nations capacity for early warning and early action. The new generation of peacekeeping operations must combine political, military, humanitarian and civilian United Nations action, and strike the right balance between various forms of response. The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator plays a key role in fostering a response to humanitarian crises. This should lay the groundwork for post-conflict reconstruction and long-term recovery of war-torn nations. The Swedish Government supports efforts to set up a rapidly deployable mission headquarters within the United Nations. Together with Austria, Canada, Denmark and Norway, we are creating the multinational Stand-by Forces High-Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) to enhance the United Nations capacity for rapid deployment. In many situations United Nations civilian police can help prevent conflict and restore ravaged societies. I therefore 21 appreciated the opportunity I had, during Sweden’s presidency of the Security Council in July, to deliver a presidential statement on civilian police in peacekeeping operations. It calls on Member States to make qualified police quickly available to the United Nations through better and standardized training. We need a global security architecture: a web of organizations capable of dealing quickly with a wide range of threats and potential conflicts. Regional organizations will further gain in importance. But the primary and overall responsibility remains with the United Nations. Conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peace-building and humanitarian action to protect the victims of conflicts have to be at the core of United Nations reform efforts. But the decisive factor will not be the instruments with which we equip the Organization, but rather our willingness to use them, to pay for them and to accept the authority of the United Nations. My second theme is that the United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to combat poverty and promote sustainable development. Fighting poverty, supporting sustainable development and promoting economic integration are part of the Organization’s mandate as set out in the Charter. Sweden sees this crucial task as being in its own best interest. Our own development has benefited much from the multilateralism of this century. The Swedish Government wholeheartedly supports the proposals of the Secretary-General to reform the United Nations in the economic and social fields. We want an empowered and capable United Nations. We want a unified United Nations presence in the field so that the United Nations system can be a reliable and flexible partner for developing countries. We want long-term commitments from donors and more equitable burden-sharing for financing development. Sweden is one of the four countries fulfilling the United Nations aid target. Over a three-year period, by the year 2000, we undertake to further increase our aid budget, challenging the international trend. In spite of a few difficult years, we have kept up our voluntary contributions to the multilateral system. In the coming years we foresee increases. To support debt relief for the poorest countries the Swedish Government will contribute 295 million Swedish Krona to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative. One of the greatest challenges facing the international community in the coming years will be to achieve global sustainable development. The industrialized countries must take the lead and learn how to do more with less input of resources and energy. Our goal should be to use energy and raw materials 10 times more efficiently. In our efforts to combat climate change, the developed countries should, this December in Kyoto, agree to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. My third theme is that the United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to protect and promote human rights. Sweden applauds the Secretary-General’s steps to integrate human rights into all United Nations activities. We welcome the appointment of the distinguished Mrs Mary Robinson as High Commissioner for Human Rights. Next year the United Nations will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This historic document establishes the individual as a subject in international relations, with her or his own rights and aspirations. Violations of human rights are a legitimate concern for the international community. The Human Rights Year 1998 will be an opportunity for celebration, but also for critical assessment. We should reform human rights machinery and strengthen assistance in this field. The implementation of international human rights standards must be improved. Public information and fact-finding on human rights violations are crucial. It is particularly important to expose any attempt by Governments to silence those who bravely stand up in defence of human rights and basic humanitarian principles in their own countries. Sweden will continue to work hard to combat torture. We will stand firm in our rejection of the death penalty, wherever practised. It is an abhorrent practice, unworthy of our times. Cooperation must be enhanced to eradicate sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking in children and women. Governments need to take firm action against discrimination based on gender, ethnic origin or religious belief. Next year’s diplomatic conference will be a milestone in the decades-long endeavour to establish an international criminal court. The court will play a crucial role in closing the gap of impunity for those who commit genocide, serious war crimes and systematic or large-scale human rights violations. My fourth and last theme is that the United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to build security 22 through disarmament. Disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control are central features of any policy aimed at preventing conflict, promoting peace and fostering economic and social development. They must become fully integrated elements in a coordinated policy for peace- building. The 1990s have seen impressive progress towards disarmament, but much work lies ahead. The international political and security climate now offers a historic opportunity. It must be fully translated into concrete actions. It is imperative that the quest for a nuclear-weapon- free world continue. Sweden urges the Russian Federation to ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks II (START II), enabling the conclusion of START III. This should pave the way for further reductions, on the part of all nuclear- weapon States, with a view to the total elimination of nuclear arsenals, in accordance with Article VI of the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons has proposed a series of measures to achieve a world free from nuclear weapons. Its report merits in-depth consideration in international disarmament forums. Let me focus on two timely aspects. The Commission proposes that nuclear forces should be taken off alert and that warheads be removed from their delivery vehicles. I urge the United States and Russia to apply these measures without delay to all strategic weapons covered by START II, and subsequently by START III. Nuclear-weapon-free States have a legitimate right to assurances that they will not be attacked or threatened by nuclear weapons. The time has come to elaborate a legally binding instrument under the NPT, giving such assurances to non-nuclear-weapon States Parties. Conventional arms — especially light weaponry — are at the heart of today’s conflicts. They aggravate tensions, provoke and prolong wars and inflict human suffering — sometimes long after ceasefires and peace settlements. The flow of conventional arms to areas of tension and conflict must be stemmed. I welcome the high priority given to such objectives in the Secretary-General’s reform programme. There is a need for export control of conventional arms as well as of dual-use products. International cooperation in this field and the demand for an international code of conduct for arms transfers are matters of high priority for the Swedish Government. From a humanitarian point of view, anti-personnel landmines are in a category of their own: indiscriminate by nature, crippling innocent children, women, men and nations. I am proud to say that Sweden was the first State to propose a total ban on this terrible type of weapon. I warmly welcome the Oslo agreement on a convention on such a ban. I urge all States to accede to it. We must now make every effort to achieve universal adherence to this ban. Reform is necessary to build a stronger and more relevant United Nations. I have outlined some major aspects from Sweden’s point of view. As I have emphasized, but must not look at United Nations reform in isolation, we must consider why we need the Organization and what it can do for all of us through all of us. Today’s international environment is rife with contradictions. We have a globalized economy, but we also have a periphery unable to benefit, and left further and further behind. We have ever closer international cooperation, but we also have aggressive nationalism and xenophobia. We have growing support for democracy and human rights, but we also have atrocities and blatant disregard for international law. In this situation, the purpose of the United Nations should be precisely what is spelled out in its name and its Charter: to unite nations and people.