Mr. President,
On the threshold of the new millennium, profound changes are affecting the lives of nations and individuals.
Many are benefiting from open international relations. Others feel marginalized politically and economically. And all too many countries are still threatened by persistent poverty, social injustice and domestic strife.
We need a strong United Nations to counter these forces that separate and tear nations apart. We need a renewed United Nations to focus on the tasks for which it was once established, and to meet the new challenges of today and tomorrow.
In a globalized world we all depend on each other for our material needs, for our future security, for our cultural growth, for our personal development. No community can fully flourish if some of its members are oppressed, marginalized or excluded.
At the national level, development must go hand in hand with participation, democracy and respect for human rights. At the international level, political cooperation must develop together with global markets and communications. This is the essence of multilateralism.
This is why we need fundamental UN reform — not piecemeal improvements, but major change.
This is why Sweden whole-heartedly endorses the reform proposals presented by the Secretary-General.
We give our support as an active participant in all spheres of UN activity and as a major contributor to its development funds and programmes.
UN reform is not a cost-cutting exercise. Its aim must be to make the Organization strong, effective and efficient — focusing on its core activities - and ready to meet its future challenges.
The Swedish Government supports the proposal that efficiency savings should be used for development.
We agree that the introduction of a modern management culture, administration and budgeting is overdue. We share the Secretary-General's views on the need for strong leadership and the establishment of a post as Deputy Secretary-General.
The UN cannot be reformed under the threat of political and financial crisis. It is simply not acceptable that Member States set conditions for fulfilling Charter obligations. The Swedish Government urges all debtors - including the main debtor, the United States - to settle their accounts before the end of this year and to pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without conditions.
Securing a sound and viable financial basis must be an integral part of reform efforts. The idea of establishing a revolving credit fund could be considered as an emergency step. We should also enact measures to reverse the current trend of late payment. Article 19 should be applied more strictly.
It is time to agree on a new scale of assessment based on capacity to pay. A realistic proposal has been presented by the European Union.
We, the Member States, should provide political direction for the reform process. The Secretary-General has assumed his responsibility. We should give him our firm backing when he now implements those measures which fall under his authority.
We must now assume our responsibility and reach urgent agreement on those which fall under our authority. This can and should be done before the end of the year.
We should take an overall view of UN reform, and avoid getting trapped in details. We are all fully aware that there will be further steps: reform is a process, not a one-time event.
Some aspects of the reform process, such as Security Council reform, are for good reasons not covered in the Secretary-General's proposal. There is a broad understanding among Member States that the Council must be made more representative and effective.
We must speed up negotiations in order to find a broadly acceptable formula. This is, however, an issue which must not be allowed to set the pace for much needed reform in other areas.
Today, I will emphasize the need to strengthen and reform the United Nations in four key areas: peace and security, sustainable development, human rights, and disarmament.
The United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to effectively prevent and settle armed conflicts.
This is the purpose for which the Organization was established. This is where success or failure will ultimately be determined.
The 1990's have been a period of advances for democracy and human rights, security and stability in many parts of the world. But this decade has also been a period of horrendous wars, atrocities and humanitarian disasters. In one tragic respect, the historical trend has been reinforced rather than broken: today's war victim is an innocent child, not a soldier in combat.
The prevention of armed conflicts is a moral, economic and political imperative. Here the United Nations has a key role. It has the instruments for both long-term, structural policy for prevention and for urgent action in the face of an impending conflict.
Long-term prevention should address the root causes of conflict - poverty, social injustice, oppression, alienation and violations of human rights. The UN World Conferences have established the close inter-relationship between security and development. The UN must continue to build on this political platform.
Conflict prevention is a task which requires coordinated action by the UN system as a whole, including the international financial organizations and also by Non-Governmental Organizations. Cooperation at regional and subregional levels is increasingly important for building a security environment based on common values and norms.
It is equally urgent to strengthen the ability of the UN to act at the threat of an erupting conflict. The whole range of UN instruments, including those mentioned in Article 33 of the Charter, should be developed and used to their full potential. Sweden wishes to cooperate with other Member States to enhance the UN capacity for early warning and early action.
The new generation of peacekeeping operations must combine political, military, humanitarian and civilian UN action — and strike the right balance between various forms of response. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator plays a key role in fostering a response to humanitarian crises, in the interest of both prevention and resolution of problems which put people's lives and whole societies in danger. Humanitarian response should lay the groundwork for post-conflict reconstruction and long term recovery of war-torn nations.
The Swedish Government supports efforts to set up a rapidly deployable mission headquarters within the United Nations. Together with Austria, Canada, Denmark and Norway we are creating SHIRBRIG, a multinational stand-by high readiness brigade to enhance UN capacity for rapid deployment.
In many situations UN civilian police can help prevent conflict and restore ravaged societies. I therefore appreciated the opportunity I had, while chairing the Security Council in July, to deliver a Presidential Statement on civilian police in peacekeeping operations, initiated by Sweden. It calls on Member States to make qualified police quickly available to the United Nations through better and standardized training.
In the Security Council, Sweden is also giving particular attention to openness and broad consultations, with troop contributors as a case in point. Troop contributors must make use of the opportunities available for a real and substantive dialogue.
We need a global security architecture — a web of organizations capable of dealing quickly with a wide range of threats and potential conflicts. Regional organizations will further gain in importance. But the primary and overall responsibility remains with the United Nations.
Conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peace-building and humanitarian action to protect the victims of conflicts have to be at the core of UN reform efforts. But the decisive factor will not only be the instruments with which we equip the Organization, but rather our willingness to use them, to pay for them and to accept the authority of the United Nations.
The United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to combat poverty and promote sustainable development.
Fighting poverty, supporting sustainable development and promoting economic integration are part of the Organization's mandate as set out in the Charter. Sweden sees this crucial task as being in her own best interest. Our own development has much benefited from the multilateralism of this century.
The Swedish Government whole-heartedly supports the proposals of the Secretary-General to reform the UN in the economic and social fields. We want an empowered and capable UN. We want a unified UN presence in the field, so that the UN system can be a reliable and flexible partner for developing countries. We want long-term commitments from donors and more equitable burden-sharing for financing development.
This is why the Swedish Government insists on UN reform. We must not miss this chance. Developing countries stand to lose most from a UN that is not relevant in the fight against poverty. In the long run, we will all suffer if we lose that fight.
This is why Sweden will again increase its development assistance. Sweden is one of the four countries fulfilling the UN aid target. Over a three year period, by the year 2000, we undertake to further increase our aid budget, challenging the international trend. In spite of a few difficult years, we have kept up our voluntary contributions to the multilateral system. In the coming years we foresee increases.
To support debt relief for the poorest countries the Swedish Government will contribute 295 million Swedish Crowns to the IMF and World Bank initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries.
One of the greatest challenges facing the international community in the coming years will be to achieve global sustainable development. This was made clear at the follow-up meeting to the Rio Conference here in New York in June. Environment must be an integral part of development.
The industrialized countries must take the lead and learn how to do more with less input of resources and energy. Our goal should be to use energy and raw materials ten times more efficiently. In our efforts to combat climate change, the developed countries should this December, in Kyoto, agree to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
The United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to protect and promote human rights.
Sweden applauds the Secretary-General's steps to integrate human rights into all activities of the United Nations. We welcome the appointment of the distinguished Mrs Mary Robinson as High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Next year the UN will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This historic document establishes the individual as a subject in international relations, with her or his own rights and aspirations. Violations of human rights are a legitimate concern for the international community.
The Human Rights Year 1998 will be an opportunity for celebration, but also for critical assessment. We should reform the human rights machinery and strengthen assistance in this field. The implementation of international human rights standards must be improved.
Public information and fact-finding on human rights violations are crucial. It is particularly important to expose any attempt by Governments to silence those who bravely stand up in defence of human rights and basic humanitarian principles in their own countries.
Sweden will continue to work hard to combat torture. We will stand firm in our categorical rejection of the death penalty, wherever practised. It is an abhorrent practice, unworthy of our times.
Cooperation must be enhanced to eradicate sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking in children and women. Governments need to take firm action against discrimination based on gender, ethnic origin or religious belief.
Next year's diplomatic conference will be a milestone in the decades-long endeavour to establish an International Criminal Court. The court will play a crucial role in closing the gap of impunity for perpetrators of genocide, serious war crimes and systematic or large-scale human rights violations.
The United Nations must be strengthened and reformed to build security through disarmament.
Disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control are central features of any policy aimed at preventing conflict, promoting peace and fostering economic and social development. They must become fully integrated elements in a coordinated policy for peace-building.
The 1990's have seen impressive progress towards disarmament. But much work lies ahead. The international political and security climate offers an historic opportunity. It must be fully translated into concrete action.
It is imperative that the quest for a nuclear weapon-free world continues. Sweden urges the Russian Federation to ratify START II, enabling the conclusion of START III. This should pave the way for further reductions, on the part of all nuclear-weapon States, with a view to the total elimination of nuclear arsenals, in accordance with Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Canberra Commission has proposed a series of measures to achieve a world free from nuclear weapons. Its report merits in-depth consideration in international disarmament fora. Let me focus on two timely aspects:
The Commission proposes that nuclear forces should be taken off alert and warheads removed from their delivery vehicles. I urge the United States and Russia to apply these measures without delay to all strategic weapons covered by START II, and subsequently by START III.
Nuclear-weapon-free States have a legitimate right to assurances that they will not be attacked or threatened by nuclear weapons. The time has come to elaborate a legally binding instrument under the Non-Proliferation Treaty giving such assurances to non-nuclear-weapon States Parties.
Conventional arms - especially light weaponry - are at the heart of today's conflicts. They aggravate tension, provoke and prolong wars and inflict human suffering — sometimes long after cease-fires and peace settlements.
The flow of conventional arms to areas of tension and conflict must be stemmed. I welcome the high priority given to such objectives in the Secretary-General's reform programme.
There is a need for export control of conventional arms as well as dual-use products. International cooperation in this field and the claim for an international code of conduct for arms transfers are matters of high priority for the Swedish Government.
From a humanitarian point of view, anti-personnel land mines are in a category of their own — indiscriminate by nature, crippling innocent children, women, men and nations. I am proud to say that Sweden was the first State to propose a total ban on this atrocious type of weapon. I warmly welcome the Oslo agreement on a convention on such a ban. I urge all States to accede to it. We must now make every effort to achieve universal adherence to this ban.
Reform is necessary to build a stronger and more relevant United Nations. I have outlined some major aspects from Sweden's point of view.
As I have emphasized, we must not look at UN reform in isolation but consider why we need the Organization and what it can do for all of us, through all of us.
Today's international environment is rife with contradictions. Some people have said that history is accelerating. Yet we are often forced to retrace our steps and consider pre-World War I or pre-colonial issues.
We have a globalized economy, but also a periphery unable to benefit and left further and further behind.
We have ever closer international cooperation, but also aggressive nationalism and xenophobia.
We have growing support for democracy and human rights, but also atrocities and blatant disregard for international law.
In this situation, the purpose of the United Nations should be precisely what is spelled out in its name and its Charter: to unite nations and people.
The United Nations should stand for solidarity in the midst of destruction and division. It should stand for peace and security, sustainable development and social justice.
And, it should stand for a life in dignity for all.
Thank you, Mr. President.