India

India congratulates Mr. Harri Holkeri on his election as President of the first General Assembly of this millennium. We are encouraged that he intends to take the Millennium Declaration as the mandate for the work of the Organization during his presidency. I take this opportunity to sincerely compliment and to place on record our high appreciation of Foreign Minister Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia for his guidance of the General Assembly in the past year, which included three special sessions and, of course, meticulous preparations for and a successful conclusion to the Millennium Summit. I join India's voice to those of other delegations in noting with appreciation the dedication with which Secretary-General Kofi Annan has served the United Nations at a critical point. I am delighted on this occasion to warmly welcome Tuvalu as the newest Member of the United Nations. Just 10 days ago, almost 150 heads of State and Government assembled here for the Millennium Summit. Their assembly in such large numbers was as unique as was the occasion itself. The Millennium Declaration that was then adopted encapsulates a shared vision that the international community work together in constructive cooperation to meet collective challenges, within the framework of the United Nations. It was in this spirit that my Prime Minister spoke, as did many others, of the need for the United Nations to truly reflect the world of the twenty-first century, to make it an effective instrument to translate 17 our vision into reality. The United Nations is the house that we all share. We must strengthen it and ensure that it is equal to our collective expectations and our joint aspirations. Peace, collective security and development inspire the spirit of the United Nations. We enter the twenty-first century with extraordinary collective intellectual and technical capabilities. These are our global tools for overcoming the challenges before us. Peace and security for all is not just possible but is well within our grasp. Stability and development are the essential building blocks for the maintenance of peace and security. Threats to peace can and do arise from different sources. It is not just weapons of mass destruction or an arms race that endanger peace, but also dehumanizing poverty and lack of development. We must act as confident nation States committed to collective action and international cooperation, for these are our means to provide wider effects of peace and progress. We must reaffirm the principle of respect for State sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of countries. Thus, self-evidently, we must abjure unilateral action. Whenever circumstances warrant action by the Security Council, that action must be firmly rooted in Charter provisions. The Brahimi Panel's report contains a number of proposals. We recommend that the General Assembly examine this important report carefully and take appropriate decisions to strengthen this vital United Nations function of peacekeeping. We support the Middle East peace process and find the trend encouraging. The historic summit between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, too, augurs well for peace in the Korean peninsula. Disarmament — global nuclear disarmament in particular — is essential to engender a greater sense of security among Member States. India has been and will continue to be in the forefront of efforts towards global nuclear disarmament and genuine non-proliferation. We welcome the recommendation of the Secretary- General in his report to the Millennium Summit to convene an international conference on eliminating nuclear danger. We urge commencement of negotiations on a nuclear-weapons convention to bring about a nuclear-weapon-free world. India remains ready to participate in agreed and irreversible steps, such as de-alerting of nuclear forces, thus lowering nuclear danger, through accidental use or otherwise, as well as a global agreement on no-first-use and on non- use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States. The situation with regard to the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the lack of progress on a programme of work at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva show the importance of building a consensus, both within and amongst nations, on issues that affect national and international security. We are conscious that 155 countries are at present signatories of the CTBT. We reiterate to them our continuing commitment that India does not wish to stand in the way of entry into force of the CTBT. India volunteered to observe, and continues to observe, a moratorium on further explosive nuclear testing. This meets the basic obligations of the CTBT. India also remains ready to engage in meaningful negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament, including on a global treaty to ban the future production of fissile material for weapons purposes. The illicit transfer, manufacture and circulation of small arms, particularly by States to non-State actors and to terrorist groups, and their intrinsic linkage with terrorism and narco-trafficking are matters of very deep concern to the world community. When they are combined with religious fanaticism and military adventurism, a threat is posed to the global civilized norms to which we strive to adhere. The international community can no longer afford to permit these purveyors of death, outrage and destruction to continue to inflict untold suffering upon innocents. We look forward to a successful outcome of the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, to be held next year. Terrorism is the global menace of our age. For some, it tends to replace ideology and policy. India has been the object of State-sponsored, cross-border terrorism in its most inhuman manifestations for more than a decade. Even as the international community works together to curb, control and stamp out the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, we need to continually focus our attention on the users of such weapons — the terrorists. Terrorism is an assault on human decency, a violation of the basic precepts of democracy and the very antithesis of what the United Nations represents and stands for. Because its principal 18 targets are the innocent, it is indeed the most flagrant violation of basic human rights. It constitutes a crime against humanity. It is also a threat to international peace and security, especially when terrorists are armed, financed and backed by Governments or their agencies. I urge all Members to work to strengthen the international consensus and legal regimes against terrorism. We have proposed the draft of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism. I urge all Members of the United Nations to give their total support to this initiative. Let me now dwell briefly on the instrument of our choice to accomplish our global agenda: the United Nations. There is but one United Nations; none replicate it, nor can any replace it. The membership of the United Nations has increased manifold in the last half century, and today stands at 189. Yet the Security Council continues to have the same basic structure as in the colonized world of 1945. The need for expansion of the membership of the Security Council in both permanent and non- permanent categories is self-evident. The impact of actions of the Security Council is felt, with near total exclusivity, by the developing countries. Yet they have little influence in its decision-making. We have a global consensus that the form taken by the Security Council in the aftermath of the Second World War is outmoded and that it must reflect the logic of an enlarged membership. At the Millennium Summit more than 150 States, at the highest level, endorsed the need for a Council reformed in its representation. An unrepresentative Security Council will lack the range and depth of sensitivity, perceptiveness and understanding of the realities that it will have to deal with or the moral authority to take decisions. I reaffirm India's willingness to take on the responsibilities of permanent membership. The General Assembly is the most important organ of the United Nations. It is here that all States, irrespective of considerations of strength, economy or size, sit together as equals, embodying the democratic principle of sovereign equality. There is a growing feeling among Member States that the functioning and role of the General Assembly has to be made more effective. As the revolutions of the digital age reduce distance to the click of a mouse, bringing us together into a new global neighbourhood as never before in history, and as forces of globalization inexorably lead us to increasing interdependence, our canvas of international cooperation and collective action has rapidly expanded. It has also become vastly more complex. The General Assembly has therefore to be central in accepting this new responsibility, this new challenge. Even as we week to strengthen democratic principles and practices in the United Nations, and even as the spreading sweep of democracy casts aside dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, we have unfortunately witnessed some instances of regression as well. Such acts move against the currents of our times. The international community should oppose these assaults on the spirit of our times and uncompromisingly support and strengthen democratic impulses, practices and norms. It should show its solidarity with the people of such countries. The Organization of African Unity and the Commonwealth deserve our commendation for the steps they have taken in this regard. Developments in Fiji since 19 May this year have caused us deep concern. We appreciate the action taken by the Commonwealth after the overthrow of the constitutionally elected democratic Government there. We hope that Fiji will return immediately to the constitutional base of 1997 and restore the rule by law at the earliest opportunity by putting an end to racial discrimination. This is in Fiji's own long-term interest. We hope that the international community will exercise its collective authority and influence to bring Fiji back to the road of democracy and the rule of law. It appears, sadly, that the world has forgotten Afghanistan. The fratricidal conflict in that country continues on account of the Taliban's pursuit of the mirage of military success. It also continues because of outside support, military and financial, to the Taliban. This conflict and the Taliban's mediaeval obscurantist ideologies continue to cause untold suffering to the Afghan people. This adversely affects the peace and security of the entire neighbourhood, from West to Central Asia to South Asia. The negatives that emanate from the Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan, in the shape of terrorism, drug trafficking and the flow of arms, cause justifiable concern all over the world. The Taliban and their mentor must heed the world's demands and abandon the path of conflict. We stand for a comprehensive settlement in Afghanistan that 19 restores peace at the earliest and ensures the interests and aspirations of all sections of that society. We have consistently called upon the United Nations to increase its development orientation and engagement, which is a core responsibility. We welcome and support the declaration of the Secretary- General last week to the United Nations Development Programme's ministerial meeting that deficit in development will put in jeopardy all other goals of the United Nations. To address the root causes of poverty meaningfully, we need firm international commitments to re-order and reshape international relations, in consequence providing for equitable opportunities to developing countries for resource earnings. Our call is even more relevant in today's fast integrating world. Developing countries and their people cannot thrive on a diet of advice and goodwill alone. We therefore hope that the forthcoming conference on financing for development would endorse concrete initiatives for mobilization of the required external resources for development, whether from trade or concessional flows, and treat this as a shared global goal. In this context, it would be useful to establish the difference that would be made if there was universal adherence to the agreed official development assistance(ODA) target of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Product(GNP), within a specified time frame. Nowhere is this more important than in the continent of Africa. Africa's efforts need to be adequately supported by the international community. We believe that issues relating to the development of African countries must remain at the forefront of the work of the General Assembly. The process of globalization, with revolutionary leaps in communications and the great advance in information technology and increased mobility of capital, trade and technology, has produced new potential for sustained economic growth. The benefits of globalization have, however, not percolated to the vast sections who live mired in poverty, without shelter, in hunger and in deprivation. Globalization has often been accompanied by enhanced poverty, unemployment and consequent social disintegration. This poses a major challenge. We have to determine an inclusive concept of growth and development. We have to strive for the uplifting of people in the largest sense, and not simply in terms of sectoral advances. While GDP growth rates and selective indicators may point to growth in an economy, the elimination of poverty and enhancement of the quality of life and creation of real choices must be integral to the process of assessing the success of development efforts. In India, we have formulated development strategies on the premise that economic and social policies must subserve the primacy of the human being, and in particular the poorest. Market forces and growth alone are not the answer. Intervention to guarantee social justice is crucial. Development based on uneven rewards will not be supported by those who are not its beneficiaries. It places great stress on the social fabric. The fullest possible participation of the people in the development process is the best guarantee for the success of any growth strategy. Many challenges lie ahead of us. Impediments to sustained economic growth for developing countries abound. Protectionist tendencies in developed countries, a lack of political will to implement commitments undertaken regarding development finance and tardy alleviation of the debt burden of developing countries aggravate the situation. Special and differential treatment for developing countries guaranteed under World Trade Organization (WTO) provisions must be translated into operational reality. Developed countries should not seek to restrict market access to goods and services and free movement of natural persons, especially at a time when developing countries are being asked to open up their economies and compete in the international economic domain. Another challenge relates to reconciling the needs of economic and industrial growth with the need for preservation and protection of the environment. A safe and healthy environment for our peoples is an imperative. At the same time, all development cannot be sacrificed at the absolutist altar of environmental preservation. Sustainability of growth strategy and environmental conservation cannot and should not imply maintenance of poverty. Developing countries have done commendable work in the implementation of Agenda 21, in the context of an exceptionally difficult global environment. The promised resources from developed countries have failed to materialize. The transfer of technologies on preferential and concessional terms has not been forthcoming. Indeed, impediments are placed on technology transfer even on commercial terms. The special session of the United Nations General 20 Assembly on the review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21 in 2002 should concentrate on finding solutions in addressing such unfulfilled commitments and providing reality and operational content to the declaration that “eradication of poverty is the over-riding priority of developing countries”. Children and issues relating to them are a priority. We hope that the special session of the General Assembly next year will concentrate on the implementation of the Declaration of the World Summit on Children. Advancement of the democratic spirit and overcoming challenges to it, growth with equity, economic development with social justice and, as the prize that we seek, the creation of a world where injustice and deprivation give way to fulfilment and welfare for all are among the goals that we should set for ourselves at the dawn of this new century. The challenge is nothing less than collective enlightened global ownership. The General Assembly once again faces a heavy and challenging agenda on this long road before us. Let us wish ourselves success in our endeavours.