UNGA
56th session
Plenary.
Agenda item: 35
STATEMENT BY
AMB. J.ENKHSAIKHAN
11 December 2001
Mr. President,
At
the outset I wish to join the preceding speakers in expressing Mongolia’s
appreciation to the Secretary-General for the preparation of the report on the
current agenda item “Support by the United Nations system of the efforts of
Governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies”. Taking
this opportunity I wish also to express our gratitude to the delegation of Benin
for the preparation of the draft resolution on this item. Mongolia supports and
co-sponsors the draft resolution contained in document A/56/L.46.
Mr. President,
My
delegation fully agrees with the Secretary-General, who has underlined yesterday
in his Nobel lecture that one of the priorities of the United Nations in this
century, besides eradicating poverty and preventing conflicts, would be
promoting democracy. Today, as the General Assembly considers the issue of new
and restored democracies, many of us recall the importance of the international
conferences of new and restored democracies. Since the first international
conference held in Manila back in 1988, democracy has emerged as a major
international trend. A growing number of states has joined this trend as they
embarked upon a process of democratization or restored their democratic roots.
The international conference of new and restored democracies, as an open forum
with an active participation of Governments, international organizations,
academia and NGOs, represents a fitting assembly to share experiences and
lessons learned, as well as to explore innovative approaches in meeting the
existing and emerging challenges to democracy.
The fourth
international conference held in Cotonou, Benin, last December, was attended by
governmental delegations from 111 Member States, representatives of 20
international organizations and 51 NGOs. It has enriched further our
understanding of democracy, its linkage with peace, security, development, of
the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, of ways and means to
better address the challenges of democracy. The general debate in Cotonou on
national experiences in democracy, peace, security and development, and the
parallel thematic debates on such issues as democracy, good governance and
development, participation of youth and women, democracy and the prevention,
management and settlement of conflicts have proved to be very useful, focusing
on different aspects of multi-dimensional notion and phenomena of democracy. My
delegation finds para.11 of the report, dealing with the obstacles to the
consolidation of democracy, quite useful, because it focused both on internal
and international factors, such as poverty and its causes, unequal access to
vital resources, restrictions on democratic rights, inequality of the markets in
goods and capital, and burden of foreign debt.
Many
valuable recommendations have been adopted in the Cotonou Declaration. Among the
22 recommendations, the one related to the establishment of the follow-up
mechanism to the Conference deserves, in our view, special attention. My
delegation also finds recommendations to help new and restored democracies in
establishing indicators analyzing the progress made in the democratization
process as very useful and practical. Furthermore, the call made by the
participants in the Cotonou Declaration for designating a focal point in the
United Nations system to support the efforts of Member States should be given
due consideration. My delegation wishes to join the others in expressing our
deep appreciation to the Government of Benin for the efforts made in successful
organization of this Conference, and the people of Benin for their hospitality.
With the
establishment and strengthening of the institutions of representative democracy,
Mongolia has passed the stage of transition to democracy and is in the stage of
democratic consolidation. Like in many other similar cases, the biggest
challenges to democratic consolidation are of not political but rather of
socio-economic nature, the main ones being poverty and slow economic development
connected with the difficulties of transition to market-oriented economy.
Bearing
in mind the indissoluble links between human rights and consolidation of
democracy, an independent Human Rights Commission has been established in
Mongolia.
The delegation of Mongolia commends the manifold assistance provided by
the United Nations system to new and restored democracies, including Mongolia,
ranging from support for promoting a culture of democracy through electoral
assistance to institution and capacity building for democratization. In this
connection, I would like to express our hope that the recently launched national
program on “Good Governance for Human Security”, aimed at implementing
further the democratic reforms through facilitating policy focus, coherence and
sustainability of the overall development strategy, will also find support and
assistance of the United Nations system.
Mr. President,
The Government of Mongolia invited the next Fifth International
Conference of New and Restored Democracies to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia,
in 2003. Taking this opportunity I
wish to express, on behalf of the Government of Mongolia, our gratitude to all
Member States for accepting our invitation. The Government of Mongolia offers to
host it not only because it would be the turn of the Asian region, but also
because it is committed to democracy, strongly believes in democratic rules and
has a decade of experience that
could be useful for others. Mongolia has undergone significant democratic
changes during the decade, including establishment of a multiparty system and of
democratic institutions, adoption of the new democratic Constitution, holding of
free and fair elections, promotion of free and vigorous mass media, etc. We wish
to invite all Member States, the United Nations system and other international
organizations to closely collaborate with it in preparing for and holding of
this important forum.
Thank you.