(Draft) Secretary Albright's Speech
UN General Assembly
September 12, 2000
Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, distinguished
colleagues and special guests, good morning. I am honored to address this Assembly
on behalf of the United States and to reinforce the eloquent message President
Clinton conveyed during last week's Millennium Summit.
Because my father worked here when I was young,
I have always considered myself a child of the UN. And because I had the privilege
to serve here as America’s Permanent Representative, I feel at home and so will
speak plainly.
The members of this body reflect virtually every
culture, ethnical and geographical region. We are city and country, inland and
island, tropical and temperate, developing sand industrialized. We are as diverse
as humanity.
And yet, in responding to tire daunting demands
of this new era, we are bound together by the interests we share and the ideals
to which we aspire.
We all have a stake in building peace and relieving
poverty, championing development and curbing disease case .
We all want to see we dangers posed by weapons
of mass destruction reduced, refugees cared for, children nourished, the environment
protected, and the status of women advanced.
We all believe the benefits of globalization
must be allocated more broadly within and among societies. Because if the new
technologies are to ease old problem, they must help the many who today lack
access and skills; so that every village becomes a home to opportunity and every
school a. midwife to hope.
AS the Millennium Summit reflected, we have no
shortage of worthy goals we are right to aim high and take on the mightiest
tasks
But as the Secretary General has said,
progress depends on working together. We need "all hands on deck," pulling in
the same direction. For each of us, that responsibility begins at home. Because
the international community cannot help any nation that is not striving to help
itself.
Each government has an obligation to observe
international norms on human rights, uphold the rule of law, fight corruption
and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.
But in the 21st Century, no nation can protect
and serve its people simply by going it alone. That's why we will all benefit
from strengthening regional bodies such as the OAS and OAU, ASEAN and the OSCE.
Because of their unique expertise and regional
legitimacy, they can be instruments for solving some of the hardest challenges
we face. But they will succeed only if we raise our expectations of these organizations,
call upon them to act boldly and back them when they do.
Regional bodies can contribute much to the purposes
outlined in the UN Charter, and the goals established during the Millennium
Summit. But here again, they cannot do it all.
The role of the United Nations is also vital,
because no other institution combines a comprehensive mandate with near universal
representation and global reach.
We all have an interest in the UN's success.
That is its greatest strength, and also its burden--because 189 nations have
to work very hard if they are to agree.
I remember when I came to New York in 1993, I
was told by cynics that the UN was too bureaucratic to change, and too big ever
to achieve consensus on measures to improve its governance.
Those cynics were wrong. With support from many
countries, we have made impressive progress.
Compared to seven years ago, the UN accomplishes
more and wastes less. Accountability has increased and duplication diminished.
The inspector general's office--which did not
exist in 1993--has grown steadily more rigorous and is responsible for tens
of millions of dollars in savings. A culture of transparency and results is
slowly but surely taking hold.
Moreover, both UN Headquarters and the
entire UN System are better led than they have ever been.
UN leaders and members can take pride in the gains made, but we all
know there is much more work to be done.
That's why we must back the Secretary General's
efforts to further improve UN management, recognizing that every dollar wasted
is a dollar lost to the fight against poverty and the UN's other urgent goals.
We must also move ahead rapidly to strengthen
peacekeeping, because it is the most visible and vital yardstick of UN success,
and for people in strife-torn regions, often the difference between a normal
life and no life at all.
There is no magic formula for curing the ills
that have plagued UN peace operations in the past. But the report just prepared
by Ambassador Brahimi's team is a solid place to start.
As President Clinton said last week, "we need
to ensure that UN peacekeepers can be deployed with the right training and equipment,"
and the right rules of engagement so they can achieve, not merely attempt, their
missions.
This will require a larger peacekeeping staff, on permanent assignment,
comprised of the best talent and experience we can find.
It will require
military planners the world over to recognize that training for peace operations
is a legitimate part of every nation's security strategy.
It will require the ability to deploy
rapidly not only UN military forces, but also civilian police and experts
in law enforcement and judicial reform.
It will demand improved coordination between
military peacekeepers and civilian builders of peace, so that missions begun
are completed and recovery bred by reconciliation can take hold.
Arid it will require additional resources from
my government and from each or yours. And by "additional", I mean resources
that should not come at the expense of other core UN goals.
The. United States will heed the Secretary
General's request that we work together to consider and implement the best
recommendations of the Brahimi report.
Whether for peacekeeping or programs, the UN
also needs a sustainable and equitable system of financing. We do not have that
today- Member states, including my own, must do a better job of making payments
can time. But we must also look afresh at the method used to allocate responsibility
for UN costs.
Last week, the Security Council called for adjustments
in the scales of assessments. This plea has been echoed by dozens of other countries
and should be acted upon by the General Assembly this fall.
A more equitable system should provide a much
stronger foundation for UN programs and missions. It should preserve the special
responsibility for peacekeeping of the Security Council's permanent members.
It should retain a heavily discounted rate for the poorest countries.
And it should reduce the UN's over-.reliance
on payments from the United States, while at the same time enabling my government
to write a check to the UN for nearly $600 million in prior obligations.
Clearly, adjustments are long overdue. The UN
needs a firm arid reliable financial base. In the weeks ahead, the United Studies
will be pleased to work with you to accomplish this landmark goal.
Further improvements in management and
peacekeeping and a sounder financial base are a vital step toward a stronger
and more effective United Nations.
But we must also stand up to the campaign
launched by Baghdad against the UN's authority and international law.
Security Council Resolution 1284 provides
an effective plan for protecting world security through resumed weapons inspection
and monitoring inside Iraq.
It has expanded the Oil-for-Food program that
has delivered $8 billion in humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians, with $6
billion more on the way. And it would enable Iraq--through compliance with the
Resolution's terms--to achieve an early suspension of sanctions.
Thus far, Baghdad has flatly refused to accept
the Resolution. The regime's strategy is to ignore its UN Charter obligations,
and seek to preserve at all costs its capacity to produce the deadliest weapons
humanity has ever known.
We must continue to do all we can to
ease the hardships faced by Iraq's people. But we must also defend the
integrity of this institution, our security and international law.
The Millennium Summit illustrated the UN's longstanding
role as a forum for articulating consensus goals. But achieving these objectives
will require action at all levels--from local to global.
It will also require a willingness to
move well beyond the limits and habits of the past.
Today, the UN is taking on a wide array
of new issues, what I call "people issues," because they so directly affect
the lives of cur citizens.
They include the challenge of protecting
our planet by limiting greenhouse gas emissions; securing safe water supplies;
halting desertification; and putting a stop to trafficking
in human beings. These and similar challenges are sure to be important
components of 21st Century diplomacy, and because !-,hey are global in
scope, require a global response.
The UN is also playing an increased
role in areas where Cold War divisions once held it back. Over the pasty
decade, UN entities have contributed much by prosecuting war
criminals, promoting democracy, supporting human rights and aiding
the fight against illegal drugs.
These issues require d willingness to
take a stand, as the UN has done in holding accountable the perpetrators
of ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and the Balkans: striving to end
rebel outrages in Sierra Leone; and expressing opposition to the longstanding
and ongoing violation of basic human rights in Burma.
And let me say this morning that when
the Burmese government tries to blame the victims for the crime, and say
that Aung San Suu Kyi and her party are responsible for their
own repression, z can only reply that much the samc was once said about
Gandhi. and Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel. The world
is not fooled. And we must not
be silent.
Some argue that speaking out in defense
of human rights constitutes interference in internal affairs. I believe
it helps to Ful fill the purposes of the UN Charter.
Because when international norms are
assaulted, the UN must do more than simply observe injustice, or report
upon it, or sympathize with the victims. We must do all we can,
where we can, to stop the perpetrators.
This requires the active backing and
participation of UN members, so that respect for international law becomes
steadily more universal, and the incentives for observing global
standards progress=ively more clear.
The result, if we arc united and determined
enough, will be a world of greater security, justice and peace. Realistically,
this is essential, if we are to achieve the ambitious social
goals we have set.
But there is one other essential element,
as well, and that is democracy. This past summer. in Poland, for the first
time, more than. 100 nations came together to reaffirm
democratic principles and ensure that the democratic tide remains a
rising tide around the world.
We did this nut because democracy always
produces good governments, for it does not. But we are convinced by the
evidence of the old century that the hopes we share for
the new will more readily be accomplished if people are able to live
and work in freedom.
Democracy is the one road we can all
walk down together and the best system yet devised for sowing and growing
the seeds of economic opportunity.
In promoting democracy, we are not attempting
to impose our values on anyone else. In fact, this is not possible. Because
democracy, by definition, enables citizens within a
country to shape their own destinies in accordance with their own convictions
and ideals.
Make no mistake. In any country, at
any time, dictatorship is an imposition. Democracy is a choice.
As we have learned during the last 55
years, the UN provides no guarantee of global peace or prosperity. But
it can play a vital role as catalyst and coordinator, and as a bridge
connecting the contributions of one to another.
To those who would judge it harshly,
I would respond not by pointing first to the deliberations of diplomats
such as myself, in surroundings such as this.
Instead, I would point to the day-to-day
efforts of UN workers caring for refugees, feeding children, providing
shelter, and preventing disease.
I would point to the men and women on
the frontline from Port-au-Prince to Freetown, and from Kosovo to Kisangani,
doing some of the world's hardest work--and as we were
reminded by the recent slayings of UNHCR employees in East Timor--also the most
dangerous.
It is their. efforts and sacrifice--in
partnership with so many indigenous and other nongovernmental organizations-that
truly remind us of the UN's purpose and of our kinship
with one another.
This is, I expect, my last official
speech to a UN audience. And as I stand before you, I am deeply conscious
not only of our many accomplishments, but also of the tasks not yet
completed.
I am grieved by the conflicts that still
rage, and the basic rights and freedoms sti11 denied.
I am frustrated by the gaps that still exist
between our ideals and actions, and alarmed by the deepening material divide
that ultimately threatens every nation,
rich and poor alike.
There are those who say it is naive
to think that the future can be made better than the past
I am reminded that this institution
was founded by men and women who were as realistic as any human beings
could be--for they were the survivors of the worst conflict our
world has known--and determined that succeeding generations should
be saved from Holocaust and war.
They had faith. Surely we must, as well:
that by working together within and outside this organization, we can move
together, step by step toward the lofty goals we have set.
And thereby bring about a world more peaceful, prosperous and free
than it has ever been.
Since 1993, it has been my privilege
to work with so many of you, from every part of the globe, in support of
the interests we have in common and the dreams our people share.
This morning, I want to thank you for
your friendship; pledge my cooperation in the months immediately ahead;
and ask respectfully, in turn, for yours. and promise, as well, to
serve the cause of international progress and individual liberty not only for
as long as I am in office, but for as long as I am alive.
Thank you all very much