Madame la Présidente,
Monsieur le Président,
Monsieur le Secrétaire
général,
Excellences,
A I'aube du 3e
Millénaire, ce Sommet nous incite ?la réflexion sur notre avenir et sur le rôle que
I'ONU doit continuer ?jouer pour améliorer la condition humaine ?travers le monde.
Je tiens ?
féliciter M. Kofi Annan pour les nombreuses initiatives fort louables qu'il a pu
introduire et appuyer en tant que Secrétaire général. Sans m'attarder sur celles-ci, je
passe aux domaines importants qui présentent des défis qui demeurent encore ?relever.
Mr. President,
Your Excellencies,
Globalisation presents a major challenge to the United
Nations, involving as it does, all nations almost by definition. The continuing spread of
technological and other improvements is providing new opportunities to advance human
societies and to create higher living standards across the planet. However, in many
countries, poverty and want show little sign of decreasing, and may even, be worsened by
some aspects of globalisation, Not surprisingly, this has created widespread disaffection
against the very process.
The United Nations,
as 2 global and international organisation, can play
a major role in ensuring a more equitable distribution of the resources generated through
globalisation It can draw on the unique strengths of its universality and neutrality. and
on its established, onthe-ground presence in numerous countries. These strengths allow the
UN to make objective assessments of the difficulties in each particular country, and to
prescribe remedial courses of action, in partnership with the governments concerned.
However, the
plethora of UN bodies with differing mandates has become unwieldy, difficult to manage,
and confusing. In some cases, the configuration of the UN's presence does not match the
requirements of a particular country. The UN must therefore strengthen its coordinating
role and streamline its institutions. It must focus on results and on impact. It must
develop assistance programmes without competition, overlap, and waste.
Mr. President,
The UN must reassess
its resource allocation policies, which in some cases have proven most wasteful and
ineffective. It is one thing to oppose conditionality. But there should be no objections
to stricter accountability and tighter follow-up requirements, thus ensuring that any aid
received is well and truly spent on the purposes it had been destined for.
The UN must also
reassess its military peacekeeping operations, not all of which have been successful.
Recently, 500 UN soldiers were captured and then released by rebel forces in Sierra Leone.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeeping efforts have not attained their
objectives. In Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Rwanda, UN peacekeepers became passive witnesses
to wide-scale slaughter and atrocities.
There is little
purpose in passing peacekeeping resolutions that cannot be implemented. Perhaps we should
prepare for worst-case scenarios and arm the UN forces for more muscular peace
enforcement, rather than send in lightly armed troops who cannot intervene in serious
armed conflict. The Report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations contains constructive
recommendations that are well worth considering. This is one major issue that will have to
be addressed by the Security Council.
Regarding the reform of the Security Council
itself. Latvia agrees that such reforms are urgently needed in order to
make this important body better reflect existing realities.
Mr. President,
It is my pleasure to announce, that within
Latvia's modest possibilities, my country has donated a beautiful and fully renovated
building in the Old Town of Riga, the capital city, for the use of the UN's organisations
in Latvia. As a donor country, Latvia is also increasing its contributions to the United
Nations Development Programme, and covering the UNDP's local office costs. In addition,
Latvia is once again making a voluntary contribution to the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights.
Latvia believes that
at the turn of the Millennium, the United Nations' member Governments must work - Prime seriously to render this
Organisation more efficient and effective in the common fight against poverty, corruption,
lawlessness, torture and in the promotion of human rights. We must concentrate our efforts
on transforming the LIN into an efficient, problem-solving and development- oriented
Organisation that people can truly trust and rely upon.
In conclusion, I
wish us all a very useful and productive session.
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