Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I join the previous speakers to congratulate you, Mr. President, at your
well-deserved election to
preside over this Millennium Assembly. I am confident that,
with your wisdom and consummate diplomatic
skills, you will steer the Assembly to a successful conclusion.
Let me also express our appreciation to His Excellency, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab,
Foreign Minister
of Namibia, for his exemplary leadership as president of the
54th General Assembly, more so in the run up
to the Summit.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan also deserves our unqualified tribute for
his
innovative leadership to
prepare the United Nations for greater challenges ahead
.
Nepal wholeheartedly welcomes Tuvalu as the newest member of the United
Nations family. We
congratulate the people and government of that Pacific Island
country on this happy occasion of joining the
world body as an independent nation.
Mr. President,
Last week the heads of state and government assembled in this hall of peoples
to
ponder measures
to address the challenges of the 21st century, and reaffirmed
their faiths in the United Nations as the central
instrument for promoting peace, prosperity and justice. The
vision the summit declaration sets will be a
guide for the global community, and particularly for the United
Nations, in the days ahead. Nepal welcomes
the summit declaration, and pledges its commitment to implement
it with utmost seriousness.
My Prime Minister, addressing the Summit, has expressed that the future
will judge
us by our
leadership to make a difference in people's lives. We in Nepal
expect the global community to work in
cooperation and solidarity, in a true spirit of partnership,
to change for the better the destiny of every man,
woman and child around the world.
Mr. President,
As we enter a new century, and a new millennium, the world is replete
with paradoxes. It has now
fewer interstate but numerous civil wars; science and technology
have made unprecedented advances but
diseases like AIDS still defy treatment; more people enjoy democracy
and freedom but terrorism' still draws
youths; the walls of frontiers are crumbling in a globalized
economy but the assertion of cultural identity has
increased. The United Nations has to work in the midst of these
paradoxes
.
The United Nations has remarkably succeeded in bringing peace in some situations
and
spectacularly failed in others. Its involvement has eased tension
in the Central African Republic and
Tajikistan; East Timor is heading into independence in relative
calm; and Kosovo is engaged in building
democratic institutions. Israel has withdrawn its forces from
southern Lebanon, which has vastly improved
the prospects of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
Still, durable peace remains as elusive as ever. In essence, it entails
a culture of peace founded on
disarmament and resolution of conflicts peacefully; as well
as on measures that remove the root causes of
conflict -- poverty and exclusion.
Lasting peace cannot be secured until
nuclear weapons, which constitute the major threat to global security,
are eliminated in a time-bound manner. Nor can it be achieved without the
complete
eradication of other weapons of mass destruction. We view that weapons
delivery systems and the so-called national missiles defence threaten the
peace as well.
Small arms and light weapons have killed
more people than all weapons of mass destruction combined. We must turn
our backs on the guns by controlling small arms and light weapons. In this
context, we welcome the proposed conference on small arms to be held
in 2001.
Conflicts clutter up Africa, Asia, Europe
and Latin America. The Middle East is yet to conclude the final settlement
and be at peace with itself. The Balkans is still rife with disputes, though
of
lesser extent now, South Asia is in perennial pain of low intensity
war. Terrorists are on the prowl in many places, exploiting fragility of
states. As a -result of all these, thousands of innocent lives have
been lost. The Security Council, which is the world's sentry, has acted
too little too late in many situations, and let emerging disputes descend
into fully blown conflicts. Nepal urges the Security Council to
act timely, promptly, decisively, and adequately to prevent conflagration.
Nepal has always been an active participant
in United Nations peace operations. Nepalese peacekeepers have served with
impeccable professionalism and dedication, and have earned a name for
them. Many valiant Nepalese blue helmets have laid down their lives
in the service of world peace. The recent death of Private Devi Ram Jaishi,
a Nepalese peacekeeper, while defending peace in East
Timor, rekindles our commitment to abiding peace, wherein no one needs
to lose their father, husband or son to violence.
As host to the United Nations Regional
Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, Nepal is strongly
committed to enhance the Centre's contribution to peace and disarmament,
and
is fully prepared to meet its obligation to house the Centre in Kathmandu.
The report of the panel on United Nations
peace operations provides a wealth of ideas to put peacekeeping on a sound
footing and to improve peace and security in the world. My delegation
agrees with the tenor of the report, and will be willing to examine
it in greater detail as it comes for closer scrutiny.
Mr. President,
A survey of the present trouble spots
on earth would lead us to one unmistakable conclusion: most conflicts have
poverty and exclusion at their root. All too often, we tend to treat the
symptoms,
not the cause. Nepal strongly believes a durable peace will continue
to elude us as long as we do not eliminate dehumanising poverty and deprivatjon.
Prime Minister Koirala has aptly described, at the
Summit, the vicious circle between poverty and conflict, and asked
the world community to redouble its efforts to reduce poverty in search
of peace. That deserves serious consideration.
Today, more than one-fifth of humanity
lives on less than a dollar a day. Poverty, illiteracy, and diseases are
rife in the poor countries. Unemployment among youths is rampant. A growing
population finds itself scrambling over shrinking resources in a stagnant
economy, which has been the case in most developing countries. The pandemic
of AIDS has become a major scourge of the
developing world, particularly in Africa. Unscrupulous leaders, often
for narrow political gains, fish in the troubled waters; and incite violence,
which shatters the fragile economy further, making the next
cycle of violence inevitable and even more deadly.
If we are ever to achieve a lasting
peace, we must reduce poverty and build up peace from there. We subscribe
to the targets, suggested by the Secretary-General in his report and adopted
by the
Summit, to reduce poverty and promote development in the developing
countries. The world conferences, one after the other, have concluded that
it is the only way forward. A series of their midterm
reviews has reaffirmed the same conclusion; yet sadly nothing much
has changed.
In global forums, both North and South
have agreed to work together for accelerated growth and
development in the South, to open the markets in the rich countries
to the products of the poor countries, to improve access of the developing
countries to technology in the advanced countries; to relieve
the poor countries of their debt obligations; and to promote social
development and human rights. The global commitments are forgotten before
the ink on them dries. We must narrow the gap between what
we say and what we do.
Most advanced countries have, for instance,
sorely lagged in meeting their pledge of development assistance. More aid
now means no need for it later. Nepal commends those rich countries that
have met the aid targets, and urges others to do so. It is disturbing
that the United Nations funds and programs, which are the main sources
of unconditional assistance, have been facing a decline in their
resource base; we call on the global community to replenish their fungible
resources.
Although global trade has increased
several times in the last few years, the developing countries -especially,
the least developed ones -- are losing the ground as their .share in world
trade
diminishes, due mainly to the declining terms of trade for them. Globalisation
has caught momentum as people, trade, and services move across borders
at an exceptional speed. And information technology
has opened a whole new vista of communication, including e-commerce.
Much as both have potential benefits for all, they have benefited some
more than the others, widening the disparity between the rich
and poor. We believe the wealthy countries, together with the World
Trade Organization, must work toward more equitable and rule-based trade
to: narrow down the income gaps, promote equitable
globalisation, and bridge the digital divide.
Countries in the South are sinking under
the unbearable burden of foreign debt. While we appreciate the HIPC initiative
of the rich countries, we also urge them to expedite its implementation
as
well as expand its scope to cover all the least developed countries,
and other countries in serious difficulties, indeed, not of their own making.
Foreign direct investment has become
a motor of growth for a few, but the vast majority of developing countries
remain untouched by this new phenomenon. Understandably, markets drive
investors in their investment decisions; yet Nepal believes our development
partners can encourage investors, through a vigorous guarantee and incentive
scheme, to go and invest in those countries that are
yet to see much of it.
The unsustainable patterns of production
and consumption in the rich countries, together with the population pressure
in the poor countries, have taken a high toll of the environment,
the-common human heritage. The global agreements to promote sustainable
development and to cut down green house gases remain largely unfulfilled.
As for Nepal, we have taken measures to preserve the
environment through: establishing norms, reducing pollutants, extending
the forest coverage, and building the green component into development
projects. We are also studying the Kyoto Protocol to become
a party to it.
The least developed countries, particularly
the land-locked ones like Nepal, are confronted with the most formidable
challenges of development. Over the years, poverty in these countries has
increased and their share in world trade has sharply declined. In Nepal,
for instance, more than 50 percent people are illiterate and live below
the poverty line. Lack of access to the sea not only makes our
transit difficult,-but also deprives us of sea-based resources. These
disadvantaged countries thus need special measures to overcome their development
constraints, and the land-locked countries better
transit facilities as well, so they can reduce poverty and join the
global economic mainstream. We believe that the conference on the least
developed countries in Brussels next year will open up a new vista
of cooperation for their development.
Nepal hopes the high-level event on
Financing for Development next year will find reliable means and methods
of development funding in the developing world. It must energize both North-South
and South-South cooperation to fulfil shared objectives.
Mr. President,
As a functioning democracy, Nepal is
committed to human rights and good governance. We have a government that
is accountable to people, and pledged to serve them best. For democracy,
development and human rights reinforce each other, we strive to promote
them together so people have the space to realize their full potential.
Nepal is a party to most human rights instruments. And we hold
the view that civil and political rights are as important as are the
economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development,
for the healthy progress of society. It is therefore that we oppose any
selective use of human rights values to suit vested political interests.
I also wish to report to you that Nepal
has recently freed the remaining few thousand bonded labour, and established
the National Human Rights Commission. We have also signed the optional
protocols, to the Convention on Right of the Child, on the sale of
children and on children in armed conflicts during the Summit.
Today, over 22 million people have taken
refuge outside the country of their origin, and millions are displaced
within: sometimes because of natural calamities, but very often because
of their
governments or of terrorists. Nepal itself has nearly one hundred thousand
refugees from Bhutan; their presence has created economic, social and environmental
problems for us. Nepal believes that both state
and non-state actors must respect the human rights of the weak and
vulnerable, including that of women and children.
Mr. President,
Security of small states has remained
a perennial concern for us. During the cold war, it was the fear of being
trampled in super power rivalry; in the post-cold war era it is the fear
of being
economically, militarily or politically bullied if they act in a manner
that incurs the wrath of the stronger. It is saddening that even the United
Nations is forced frequently to acquiesce in the design of the
powerful. We urge the international community to uphold the rule of
law; and the rich and powerful countries to respect the rights of small
states to sovereign independence, something they zealously guard
themselves.
Mr. President,
Whenever there are problems on the length
and breadth of the planet, the United Nations is called on to inspire and
act, without necessarily giving it the requisite resources. Since there
is no
alternative to the United Nations, we must revitalize and reinforce
it through comprehensive reforms so it can rise up to the challenges of
changing times. It is imperative to restore the primacy of the General
Assembly, which is the closest thing to a world parliament, to bring
to bear the will of the peoples on vital global policies.
Security Council reforms have dragged
on for quite long. While there is no quick fix, neither should one be pursued,
yet it is time to give them a shape to make the Council more representative
in
composition, transparent in function, and capable in keeping peace.
Many a time, the Security Council, by doing too little too late, has proved
part of the problem, rather than of the solution. We must change it.
Now that the recent Summit has recognized
poverty and social exclusion as the principal causes of conflict, it is
critical that we focus our attention on reinforcing the Economic and Social
Council at
par with the Security Council on economic matters. We must work towards
making ECOSOC capable of coordinating the funds and programs within the
United Nations and with the Bretton Woods
institutions, the World Trade Organization, and other bodies outside.
Nepal applauds the Secretary-General
for the silent and continuous revolution at the United Nations in search
of economy and excellence. Indeed, there is a constant need of regenerating
and
reinventing the world body to attune it to the emerging challenges
in a changing world.
Sadly, the United Nations has to limp
from one year to next as some of the key contributors fail to live up to
their treaty obligation. We believe that the cardinal principle to apportion
the financial
obligation should be the capacity to pay based on one's share of world
GNP, with the special responsibility of permanent members of the Security
Council in peacekeeping budgets. It is morally indefensible
to make the poorer countries subsidize the richer countries to keep
the United Nations and its peacekeeping activities going. We call on all
Member States to pay their dues in full, on time and without
conditions.
Mr. President,
South Asia has one fifth of humanity,
but lacks recognition and clout commensurate to its size and potential.
The only way to gain the place it deserves is through regional cooperation.
Yet, we in
the region have not been able to work closely and cohesively for the
greater good of our peoples. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) is virtually at a standstill. Nepal urges all
fellow South Asian countries to work collectively for shared prosperity
of our peoples. Time will not be kind to us if we fail to seize it.
Thank you, Mr. President.