47th Session
13th Plenary Meeting, 25th September, 1992

Speech by Mr. Eduardo Faleiro

May I, at the outset, congratulate you, sir, on you assumption of the presidency of the General
Assembly at this session. I should also like to express our appreciation for the stewardship of
the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly by your predecessor, Ambassador Samir
Shihabi of Saudi Arabia.

This is the first session of the General Assembly since Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali assumed the
office of Secretary-General of the United Nations, and I take this opportunity to pay tribute to
his dynamism, diplomatic skills and zeal for reform.

I should also like to welcome into our midst the new Members of the United Nations and wish
them success in their multifarious efforts and tasks.

There have been dramatic changes world wide since the Assembly last met, in 1991. Some of
these changes augur well, while others present uncertain prospectus. While the cold war and
the East-West confrontation are now, happily, but aberration of the past, the shadow of conflict
and suffering looms large in Yugoslavia, in Somalia and, indeed, in many other parts of the
world.

We cannot, therefore, be complacent or euphoric. What should have made the world safer has
at the same time unleashed tendencies-ethnic, sectarian and other- that threaten to keep it
unsafe. The efforts of developing countries to improve their socio-economic conditions remain
hamstrung by the inequities of the present international economic order.

Therefore, what we need to work for is a new international order free from war, poverty,
illiteracy and injustice. In this great endeavour the United Nations has a central role to play.
Some eight and a half months ago, in this very city of New York, at the summit of the Security
Council, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao pointed out that:

"Lasting peace and security necessarily require comparable levels of human happiness across
the globe. It is impossible to think of a United Nations functioning usefully or harmoniously
while humankind continues to be riddled with ever-increasing disparities". (S/PV. 3046, p.
96)

That is the concern that animates and reinforces our commitment to a United Nations dedicated
as much to peace and stability as to progress and prosperity.

The international community's efforts in this direction are none the less haunted by the shadow
of continuing violence and conflict around the world. India has been deeply concerned at the
conflict in Yugoslavia. The tragedy of Bosnia and Herzegovina demands redress. Its people
must be given the chance to lead their lives in peace. India believes that the good work the
United Nations is doing in that I region deserves all our support. We also trust that decisions
taken here will not complicate either the search for peace or the functioning of the United
Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in a difficult and dangerous situation.

Somalia's tragedy is equally heart-rending. The wretchedness of its people, caught in a
seemingly endless cycle of violence and misery, cries out for redress. The United Nations has
instituted a valiant and generous operation there to provide relief to those affected. India
believes that all the Somalian parties should work together to bring the conflict to an end so
that tranquillity can be restored and the people of Somalia can be given the chance to work out
their own destinies in peace.

After years of suffering, the people of Cambodia aspire to build a sovereign, independent,
non-aligned nation for themselves. The United Nations cannot falter in Cambodia, and the
parties concerned in that country have a responsibility to ensure the success of the United
Nations efforts.

India has consistently supported the sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-aligned status of
Afghanistan. We hope that all the parties there will work to restore peace and harmony so that
the people of Afghanistan can have the opportunity, free of violence and conflict, to work for
their own well-being.

A glimmer of hope is visible on the West Asian horizon, with Israel and its Arab neighbours
settling down to a dialogue. The numerous resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the
General Assembly provide the necessary goals for those negotiations. The occupation of Arab
lands should be vacated and the restitution of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,
including their right to establish an independent State, as well as the security of all States in
the region, should be assured if a genuine settlement with lasting peace is to be achieved in
that part of the world.

What the United Nations was able to do in restoring to Kuwait its independence and
sovereignty was a singular achievement. India has traditionally enjoyed the warmest of
relations with Kuwait, and we trust that following the restoration of its sovereignty Kuwait
will also be able to recover the prosperity that it formerly enjoyed.

I should like to add here that India feels sympathy for the civilian population of Iraq, and
believe that its needs should be looked at with generosity. Iraq's sovereignty as a State and its
territorial integrity should be respected.

The recent unfortunate violence in South Africa and the setback to the negotiations there for the
elimination of apartheid will, we hope, be temporary. It is encouraging that the parties
concerned have welcomed the catalytic role of the United Nations, which is fully committed to
the objective of establishing a democratic, non-racial and united South Africa. As the country
that first brought the question of apartheid to the United Nations in 1946, India is hopeful that
the presence of United Nations observers will help to end the violence there and to get the
negotiating process going once again.

India has noted the recent changes in Fiji. I hope that the Government of Fiji will eschew
racial and ethnic discrimination and revert to democratic governance at an early date.

The Secretary-General has been able to record some progress on the issue of Cyprus. The
acceptance by the parties concerned of the Secretary-General's "set of ideas" is significant.
We share the Secretary-General's hope that the next round of-direct talks in October will be
the conclusive one.

At this session the Assembly will take up the matter of the recently negotiated
chemical-weapons Convention. The Convention opens up possibilities for similar action in
other areas of disarmament. In this context, India in 1988 proposed an action plan for nuclear
disarmament within a specified time-frame. As an immediate step, the United Nations should
envisage the following: a convention on the non-use of nuclear weapons, a verifiable freeze on
the production of fissionable material for weapons purpose, a suspension of nuclear-weapon
tests and negotiations on general and complete disarmament.

Non-proliferation is a laudable objective, and India's commitment to it has been affirmed time
and again. But there-should be no distinction between nuclear-weapon States and
non-nuclear-weapons States when it comes to rights and obligations. The geographical spread
of nuclear arsenals has, as it were, nuclearized the globe. Therefore, the international
community's efforts should be directed against that global menace. As part of them, regional
non-proliferation should be considered only within the context of a properly specified region,
taking into account the security concerns of the countries of the region, whose prior agreement
should be obtained.

Human rights have gained emphasis in recent times, and deservedly so. India welcomes the
changes around the world that have strengthened human rights and fundamental freedoms. In
line with our democratic traditions, independent judiciary and press and alert public, India has
decided to set up a national human-rights commission further to safeguard and promote
fundamental human rights in India.

I should like to point out here that one of most vicious forms of human-rights violations today
is the violence unleashed by terrorists. And terrorism assumes a particularly pernicious
character when it is aided, abetted and sponsored from abroad. Such sponsorship is against the
principles of the United Nations Charter, and should be vigorously opposed by all.

The United Nations recognizes its responsibilities for providing humanitarian assistance to
Member States facing grave humanitarian crises. The newly created capacity of the United
Nations to deal with such situations has performed creditably. It is important in this context
that we mobilize the United Nations to address the root causes of many such disruptions:
poverty, illiteracy and lack of development. It is equally important for the United Nations to be
seen to be acting correctly and impartially in this field and at the request of the country
concerned.

The report of the Secretary-General entitled "An Agenda for Peace" (A/47/277) articulates the
wealth of experience that the United Nations has gained in recent years in peacemaking and
peace-keeping, and is an important and welcome input into our study of how the role of the
United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security can be strengthened.
India, given its traditional and long-standing contribution to United Nations peace-keeping
forces, takes a special interest in the matter. I trust that we shall be able to respond positively
and constructively, in keeping with the United Nations Charter, to the Secretary-General's
ideas. It should be ensured that the measures envisaged do not lead to the abridgement of the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of States.

They should also respect the cardinal tenet of non-interference in the internal affairs of States.
Just as international activism should not violate accepted norms of international relations, the
principle of self-determination has to be seen in the context of respect for national sovereignty.
Self-determination can apply only to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign
occupations, and not to integral parts of sovereign nations.

The implementation of the proposals made by the Secretary-General will mean a more
vigorous Security Council. An enhanced mandate for the Council requires matching
transparency and democracy in its functioning. This cannot be done without an expansion of
the membership of the Council to reflect the increased membership of the United Nations over
the past few years, as well as the realities of the many changes in the international situation.
And here I would submit that along with economic criteria, other relevant criteria should be
given due weight in this context.

The expansion in membership that I referred to is all the more essential if the Council is to
ensure its moral sanction and political effectiveness. As the Secretary-General points out in
his report on the work of the Organization:

"Democracy within the family of nations means the application of its principles within the
world Organization itself." (A/47/1, para. 169)

Similarly, the General Assembly has to be made more effective so as to represent not only the
changes in its membership, but also the significant character of its universal composition.

An agenda for development is as important to the United Nations as an agenda for peace. Any
efforts to assign to the United Nations only a complementary role in the economic and social
field is, in fact, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Charter. The United Nations should
continue to have a central role in macro-economic policy formulation and implementation,
because this is the only forum for reaching an international consensus on development.
Developing nations around the globe, including India, are engaged in major reforms of their
internal economic policies and mechanisms with a view to integrating their economies with
the global economy. These reforms will have very limited meaning unless the external
economic environment becomes conducive to the growth and development of developing
countries.

The Secretary-General, in his report on the work of the Organization, makes it clear that:

"the Organization's responsibilities and commitments in the political and security area should
not be carried out at the expense of its responsibilities in the .............development field "
(A/47/1. para. 66)

This underpins and reinforces the continuing commitment of the United Nations in the field of
development, particularly of the developing countries.

The world economy is integrating both globally and regionally. But in the process, the needs of
the developing countries are not finding the attention and response that they deserve. Hence, it
become imperative that certain international events succeed- such as the Uruguay Round of
Multilateral Trade Negotiations, whose early, successful and balanced outcome would inject
growth impulses into the world economy as a whole. The North-South dialogue is languishing
and deserves reactivation. There are various other inequities in global economic
interaction-such as poor commodity prices, monetary imbalances and others-that call for
urgent redress. The developing countries look to the United Nations for correctives in these
fields. Socio-economic progress in developing countries will, in turn-I have no doubt about
it-enrich the prosperity of the developed world itself.

Here, may I mention a disquieting aspect in this field, namely the tendency to impose
non-economic conditionalities in international development assistance. They should be
avoided so that the effectiveness of development assistance may not be impaired.

My delegation sees merit in a number of proposals in the area of the developmental activities
of the United Nations put forward by various groups, particularly the Nordic countries. In our
view, one of the principal objectives of the exercise should be to decentralise the operational
activities of the United Nations system so that countries and regions with their special
characteristics and levels of development may be able to implement programmes suitable to
them. Also, adequate resources should be found to promote development in the developing
countries.

The process of the restructuring of the United Nations should take into account the additional
responsibilities assigned to the United Nations by the United Nation Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) that was held this year. The concept of sustainable
development has to be translated into workable strategies and policy measures. In the pursuit
of sustainable development, developing countries need resources and, what is more, technical
assistance as well as environmentally sound technologies on preferential and concessional
terms. I do hope that the establishment of a Commission on Sustainable Development in the
course of the present session will lead to effective follow-up of UNCED. The creation of a
Planet Protection Fund, which places on all countries, except the least developed, an
obligation to acquire and develop environment-friendly technologies, will facilitate universal
participation in the collective effort to attain sustainable development.

The non-aligned countries, meeting at the level of Heads of State or Government in Jakarta
earlier this month, issued the Jakarta message, which states:

"A shift in focus of international relations to strengthen multilateral cooperation based on
genuine interdependence, mutuality of interests and shared responsibility, has become
indispensable."

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