Bhutan

I have the honour to convey to you, Mr. President, and, through you, to all the delegations here present the warm greetings and good wishes of His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of Bhutan, for the success of the forty-ninth session of the General Assembly. I should first like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your unanimous election, which is a testimony to the high regard that the international community has for your country and the confidence of this Assembly in your personal leadership. Given your long association and intimate knowledge of the United Nations, we are sure you will provide the necessary direction on the many important issues that we are about to take up during this session. I should also like to take this opportunity to place on record our deep appreciation and gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally for the excellent manner in which he conducted the proceedings of our last session. His innovative and vigorous pursuit of discussions on the reform of the United Nations, the restructuring of the Security Council and the hearings on development have set the stage for the current discussions. We should like to pay a tribute to our Secretary- General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his distinguished leadership. We appreciate his tireless efforts to steer the United Nations in bold and new directions. We had the opportunity to welcome President Mandela and to hear his historic and enlightened address in this Hall. We welcome the end of apartheid and South Africa's return to the family of nations. In the Middle East, the transition of the Gaza Strip and Jericho to Palestinian self-government, the return of President Yasser Arafat and the signing of the Washington Declaration between Jordan and Israel clearly demonstrate the increasing desire for peace in the region. We applaud the parties for the brave decision to embark 16 on the difficult path to peace. It is our hope that all parties will join the process towards peace and reconciliation, based on the relevant Security Council resolutions. It is our hope that the international community will support the Palestinian people in bringing about economic development in the self-rule areas. The situation in the Gulf warrants our close attention. The international community must reject any threat against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kuwait. We urge all parties to abide by and fully implement the relevant Security Council resolutions. The problems in Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haiti and many other parts of the world still demand the careful and urgent attention of the United Nations. These conflicts severely test the international community's capacity and resolve to deal with humanitarian needs and conflict resolution. We welcome the continued reduction of nuclear weapons and the turning-away of such weapons from their previous targets. We support the extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons beyond 1995 and the proposal for the negotiation of a comprehensive test ban. We urge the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to continue negotiations in earnest and to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards agreement; thereby avoiding suspicion and doubt. My delegation supports the proposal for both the reduction and the clearance of anti-personnel mines. The manufacture of, trade in and deployment of such weapons, which cause indiscriminate and mindless death and maiming, are unconscionable. We urge all parties to participate in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. The scope of the exercise should be expanded to include not only trade but also manufacture and stockpiling. The arms trade should cease to provide an opportunity for profiteering on the part of any State. For several years now we have been talking about restructuring the United Nations. The discussions continue, but, so far, little, if any, substantive reform has taken place. In our humble view, reform of the United Nations must reflect the perceptions and expectations of all Members. For many of the larger Member States, the United Nations is a forum in which to project and promote national policies. But in the case of the developing countries — in particular, the smaller Member States — the United Nations guarantees independence and sovereignty and provides an opportunity to participate in international dialogue. The United Nations also provides both the intellectual and the material input required for social and economic development in many developing countries. It is clear that the General Assembly — the only forum in which all Members of the United Nations are represented — must be the main focus of our attention. The relationship between the General Assembly and other United Nations organs must be reviewed and put in proper perspective. The General Assembly itself must be able to appreciate and understand the work of the specialized and other agencies of the United Nations and to provide direction. It must also organize itself in such a way that it can deal more effectively with its business. Routine and symbolic resolutions must be dealt with efficiently, allowing the Assembly to focus on new and more important challenges. The relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council is particularly intriguing. It is a common mistake to think that these two bodies function like the legislature and the executive of a government. This myth has been perpetuated by decades of Security Council paralysis and by the artificial prominence achieved by the General Assembly through the passing of ineffective but symbolically important resolutions. The reality is that there is only one body of authority in the United Nations — the Security Council. The Council's decisions are binding on all Members. They carry the sanction of international law. The Assembly is explicitly forbidden to interfere in the work of the Council unless requested to do so. The case for reform of the Security Council is overwhelming. The Council must be expanded to reflect the new realities of international relations and to make it a more representative body. It is also important that the deeper structural flaw be redressed and the Council be made more accountable. The financial position of the United Nations continues to be a matter of concern. The sudden and quantum jump in expenditure on peace-keeping operations — now more than three times greater than expenditure on development — is becoming difficult to sustain. There are large-scale arrears in contributions. We do not object to peace-keeping operations, but it is clear that the finances of the United Nations must be put on a sound footing. Financial expenditures reflect the 17 direction and priorities of the United Nations, as well as the commitment of its Members. The Secretary-General, in his report entitled “An Agenda for Development”, states: “Development is a fundamental human right. Development is the most secure basis for peace.” (A/48/935, para. 3) These statements provide, in brief form, the best rationale for recommitment to development in the post-cold-war era. Like peace, development is not a new issue before the United Nations; the United Nations and its agencies have been engaged in international development for decades. What is alarming today is that the gap between the standards of living of developed and of developing countries — the rich and the poor — is growing. The concern arises not because the well-to-do are doing better but because the poor are doing worse. It is no longer just poverty but the destitution of one fifth of the world's population that must be addressed. Poverty saps the human spirit. It replaces hope with despair, creativity with dullness, admiration with envy, and compassion with indifference. Poverty weakens the body, making it susceptible to sickness and disease. Poverty clouds the mind, making it difficult for people to understand the circumstances of their deprivation, and generating bitterness against those they perceive as the cause of their misery. What is unfortunate is that in this day and age, given the advances that mankind has made in science and technology, commerce and industry and civil and social thought, poverty need not exist. Considerable efforts have been made to put into proper perspective the major development issues of our time. The World Summit for Children, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Eighth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD VIII), the World Conference on Human Rights and the recently concluded International Conference on Population and Development not only generated a remarkable convergence of views but also resulted in commitments to redress global concerns in the participants' respective areas. We have no doubt that the international community will approach the World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held in 1995, with the same resolve and determination. We have all committed ourselves to accepting the conclusions of the major conferences, including the various programmes of action and the prescribed targets. All countries are working hard to translate the commitments into action, but the resources available are insufficient for effective and lasting intervention. It is a matter of great concern that, in fact, the resources made available for development are declining. The future of global development clearly hinges on the provision of additional resources — additional resources in the shape of increased official development assistance for both multilateral and bilateral programmes; additional resources from international financial institutions; additional resources through direct foreign investment and trade; and additional resources generated internally through the creation of financial markets and the expansion of the revenue base. While there seem to be many avenues for increasing the transfer of resources, the reality is that they have yielded little for most least-developed countries. International banking and investments are highly selective and, by their nature, will not be attracted to the least- developed countries, many of which have a small economy and a poor infrastructure. The creation of internal financial markets and the expansion of revenue are hampered by the low level of savings and the limited cash flow in the economy. The capacity of the least- developed countries to compete in international trade is also limited. Clearly, without increased official development assistance many least-developed countries will fall further behind — and their situation is already precarious. It is ironic that resources for international development should decline when the United Nations agencies are embarking on a major thrust for poverty alleviation and sustainable human development. We urge the donor community to continue supporting the United Nations funding agencies. Although the trend towards bilateral cooperation is understandable, the donor community should draw on the advantages of working through the United Nations agencies, given their long experience and commendable performance in many areas. These agencies must regain the confidence of the donor community through greater efficiency and better coordination. Credit is an essential form of input in any major development effort. The crushing debt burden of many developing countries and the manner in which future credit requirements will have to be met must be clearly dealt with in our dialogue on development. Our 18 discussions must include the role of the Bretton Woods institutions, which must be made to work in harmony with the efforts of United Nations agencies. Bhutan long ago accepted that development must be participatory and environmentally sustainable. To this end Bhutan has committed itself to maintaining 60 per cent of its land mass under forest cover, including 20 per cent as national parks. All development activities have been built around this approach. We have been fortunate to receive the generous assistance of, among others, India, Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Kuwait, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom. Considerable support has also been made available from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Volunteers (UNV), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the Asian Bank. We have never taken the involvement of any of our development partners for granted, and we take this opportunity to express the sincere gratitude of the people and the Government of Bhutan to all of them. The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations is a time for celebration. There is much that the United Nations has achieved for which we should all be proud. Yet it is also a time for reflection and self-assessment. The success of the next 50 years of the United Nations will depend largely on our ability to meet the challenges of global human development.