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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MINISTER AXWORTHYSTATEMENT TO THE 54TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONSGENERAL ASSEMBLY</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 99/48 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE 54th SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY UNITED NATIONS, New York September 23, 1999 (12:20 p.m. EDT) Mr. President: Allow me to congratulate you on your election as President of the General Assembly. Canadians are proud to have accompanied you and your people on their journey to join the community of nations. On behalf of Canada, allow me also to welcome Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga as new members of the United Nations. Mr. President, your wisdom and your dedication to the goals of the United Nations have been recognized. Now, in turn, I am certain that you will guide us well in carrying out the work that we are gathered to do on behalf of all of the world's people. Indeed, it is we the peoples for whom the UN was founded and its purposes forged. We the peoples -- not we the nation states, the ministers, the ambassadors, the secretariat. Recall these lines from the UN Charter: "We the peoples determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war... to reaffirm faith in human rights...to establish the conditions under which justice can be maintained and...to promote social progress and a better standard of life in larger freedom...have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish those ends..." Noble words, compelling goals. But do they still ring true -- or is there need for new meaning and renewed commitment? How would we the peoples assess the handiwork of the UN to date and judge the world scene today: <ul> <li>when we have seen in the last year alone the brutal ethnic cleansing of Kosovo; the slaughter and maiming of innocents in Sierra Leone, Angola, both Congos and Sudan; the cruel suppression of the independence agreement in East Timor; </li> <li>when we see kidnapping and terrorism plaguing virtually every region; the growing, powerful influence of the drug traffickers and criminals; the return of the slave merchants and the emergence of modern warlords who brutalize and exploit communities for economic gain; </li> <li>when we are all subject to the darker side of globalization, where global commerce brings new but poorly distributed wealth; where helpless children are recruited into armies or sold on the Internet for exploitative purposes; where environmental degradation inflicts a large cost on the smallest countries who can least afford it? </li> </ul> Our world on the eve of the millennium is increasingly shaped by these and a variety of other direct threats to people. If we the peoples were to have the chance to rethink this preamble, we might well say that we are determined to save existing generations from the grave new risks to their personal and family security. Yet there is another perspective -- one that gives a glimmer of hope. We could point with some satisfaction to the fact that, through the combined efforts of people working together across borders, there is an emerging sense of accomplishment in responding to these new threats to human security. As of today, 86 nations have ratified the Convention on anti-personnel mines, ushering in a legal regime and a plan of action that will save the lives of millions. Working together last year, 120 nations voted in favour of an International Criminal Court (ICC) that will establish individual accountability for crimes against humanity. In the field of conflict, the UN is now attempting to rebuild the broken fields of Kosovo after an unprecedented humanitarian intervention. And in East Timor, peacekeepers are bringing order to that long-troubled land. So, we the peoples have not given up in the face of the confusion, turmoil and misery which beset our world, and we still search through the corridors of this building for words of co-operation and acts of consensus. Yet, it comes hard because too many forget that it is we the peoples -- all the world's peoples -- whom we are here to serve, not just their specific national interests. Too many protect their prerogatives, engage in exclusive power politics, or refuse to pay their bills, thereby paralysing the institution and rendering it incapable of meeting the challenges to our collective well-being. Nor are we well-served by those opposed, on the basis of outmoded reasons of state sovereignty, to an agenda for the security of people. The sovereignty of states remains a fundamental tenet and key measure of peace and security. But it is neither absolute nor is it a shield behind which the most egregious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms can be protected. It is time, therefore, for we the peoples, represented in this Assembly, to reassess our influence and raise our voices. There is a new road map to lead the way. Last week, the Secretary-General tabled a report on The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, in which he captures many of today's challenges and sets out 40 recommendations for action. The heaviest burden falls on the Security Council. The search for global peace increasingly turns on issues of personal safety. Modern conflict takes a hugely disproportionate toll on civilians. In this world, the protection of people must be central to the Council's work. It must provide the sub-text to our future collective action and the impetus behind our efforts to prevent conflict, keep the peace, enforce sanctions and support the collective will of the United Nations. The way ahead is not without obstacles. There are legitimate questions about the purposes, limits and standards for Council engagement for humanitarian ends, which also raise difficult contradictions with regard to the principle of non-interference. Clear and consistent criteria are needed against which the necessity, or not, of humanitarian intervention -- including enforcement -- can be judged and applied. These tests must be very demanding, based on fundamental breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law. The human dimension makes it imperative that the Council adapt the blunt instrument of sanctions into a targeted tool so they hurt where they are supposed to hurt. The Council also needs to show the resolve to implement sanctions once they are in place. This is Canada's objective as Chair of the Council's Angola Sanctions Committee -- to develop tougher measures to constrain the trade in arms and diamonds, thereby making it more difficult for UNITA to wage war. It is time to tackle the new war economy, where a direct relationship exists between certain businesses, mercenaries and warlords, that perpetuates misery, conflict and the victimization of innocent people. A human security agenda highlights the urgent need to face clearly the Council's representation and its decision-making processes -- especially the inappropriate use and persistent threat of the veto -- where it can compromise, complicate and slow-down determined, urgent international action to protect people. The Council needs to come to grips with these challenges if it is to maintain its credibility in the eyes of the people it serves. Membership on the Council is a trust -- and Council members need to demonstrate their capacity to maintain this trust. The issues raised by the Secretary-General in his report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict are ones that plague all of our peoples. His proposals go beyond the purview of the Security Council. The onus for action is a responsibility of all member states. For that reason, I would strongly urge that the General Assembly become seized with this Report and move quickly to establish mechanisms to give effect to its recommendations, including a system of reporting to review implementation. Toward this end, Canada looks forward to working with Secretary-General Annan and fellow members to establish a "Friends of Civilians in Armed Conflict" group to help guide these efforts. In efforts to protect civilians in armed conflict, the Assembly has the means to enable the UN to act more quickly, the moral authority to establish universal standards that hold us all accountable, and the legitimacy to direct efforts into new areas of global endeavour. The ability to respond rapidly when the security of civilians is threatened is essential. Giving the UN a rapid response capability, particularly through the creation of a rapidly deployable UN headquarters, would be an important step. How much more effective could the UN have been in East Timor or in Kosovo, if this were so. The civilian side of peace operations -- police, judges, civil servants and human rights experts -- is also of growing importance. But insufficient capacity for rapid deployment is a problem here too. Clearly, the white helmets are as critical to building peace as are the blue helmets -- they deserve no less of our attention. Those of us who are able might start by improving our respective national capacity to make contributions -- something my government has begun and is working to improve -- to be put at the service of the United Nations. Globally binding humanitarian and human rights standards for behaviour, and concrete mechanisms to implement them, would also advance the security of people subjected to the horrors of armed conflict. The adoption of the International Criminal Court Statute was a qualitative step forward. It will help to end the culture of impunity and protect all people against the most egregious violations of humanitarian law. The Assembly's priority now is to bring the Court to life. This means continued co-operation by all of us in building the technical underpinnings of this Court. It also means ensuring prompt and widespread ratification of the ICC Statute. Strengthened standards and strategies are needed elsewhere. For example, the negotiation of the strongest possible Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, accompanied by a comprehensive action plan, will help to confront one of the most heinous aspects of modern conflict. We also agree with the Secretary-General that more must be done to protect humanitarian workers who risk their lives to help the victims of war. That is why Canada will be seeking an additional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel, to provide legal protection to all personnel working in situations of armed conflict, including a broader range of NGOs and locally employed personnel. Finally, the Assembly can direct its efforts toward making the safety of people the emphasis in a wider range of global endeavour. The greatest threat to human safety remains the possibility of nuclear annihilation and the hazards posed by other weapons of mass destruction. Yet the non-proliferation regime that we have painstakingly built over the past 50 years remains fragile. We should rededicate our efforts toward implementing the obligations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), toward an effective Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and toward diminishing the risks that these weapon systems pose to our collective security. A focus on the human costs is also the impetus behind efforts to address the proliferation of other weapons, including the challenges posed by small arms and light military weapons. Their misuse, in conflict zones or on neighbourhood streets, exacts an alarming human price. The dimensions of the threat require us to act globally. A proposal for a Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons is on the table at this Assembly. We should agree to convene this Conference and give it a broad and comprehensive agenda. Transnational crime, including the illicit drug trade, terrorism and human smuggling, is a closely related challenge. It has a direct impact on the safety of all of our people. The conclusion of an effective UN Transnational Organized Crime Convention and its Protocols would be a start. Taken together, these efforts would be a strong beginning in orienting the Assembly to meet the real security needs of people today. Improvements in human security is a necessary precondition for success in the other important actions that we take to advance human, economic, aid and trade development. Farmers cannot work fields strewn with landmines. Children cannot learn when they are abused and brutalized by war. Investors will not send money to regions racked by conflict. Societies cannot flourish when resources are pillaged to fuel violence and people are victimized by terror. Ultimately, freedom from fear is intimately connected to the freedom from want. It is freedom from fear for all of our peoples -- at the heart of the Secretary-General's report and his recommendations -- that provides the UN with a clear defining role at the century's close. Our collective efforts to that end will give concrete expression to the hopes and dreams of the generation that first made "we the peoples" the basis for this Organization. Next year's Millennium Assembly and Summit offer an opportunity to articulate a vision of the UN that places the safety of people at the centre of its agenda. The United Nations cannot do it all. The challenges to advancing human safety are complex. Regional organizations play an important role. Practical co-operation between countries can address specific problems. The participation of members of civil society and non-governmental organizations is also imperative. Security for all of us begins and ends with a strong, effective United Nations focussed on this goal. We the peoples should resolve to work together to achieve this end. Thank you. </body> </html>

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