GA/8964

ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SUPPORT AND REFORM OF UNITED NATIONS, AT FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY MEETING

It is my privilege to thank each one of you for coming from all parts of the world to the Headquarters of the United Nations in order to participate in the special commemorative session of its fiftieth anniversary and, by doing so, to give public testimony of your praise for the achievements of the last 50 years and of your strong commitment to preserve and reform this commendable Organization.

This is your home and the future of the United Nations will be what you, Excellencies, decide it to be. The destiny of the United Nations is in your hands.

But what is to be done? Is this an Organization worth preserving in view of its past? And what shall we do with it in view of its future?

Pendant les premiers cinquante ans de son histoire, l'Organisation des Nations Unies n'a pas pu r�aliser tous les id�aux de ses p�res fondateurs, mais elle n'a pas �t� non plus cet instrument st�rile, inefficace, voire nocif, que ses d�tracteurs l'accusent d'�tre.

Reconnaissons humblement les erreurs, les omissions, les fautes. Mais n'oublions pas les succ�s, les victoires, les bienfaits dont a profit� toute l'Humanit�.

Devons-nous nous repentir d'avoir fond� une organisation universelle pour essayer de maintenir la paix entre les nations et pour affirmer la primaut� du Droit et de la Justice comme valeurs fondamentales de l'ordre international?

Consid�rons-nous une erreur le fait d'avoir approuv� la "D�claration Universelle des Droits de l'Homme", de mener une action constante pour les d�fendre et les faire respecter partout, et de contribuer � la d�mocratisation d'un nombre croissant de pays?

- 2 - Press Release GA/8964 22 October 1995

Renions-nous le principe de l'autod�termination des peuples, et nous consid�rons- nous coupables d'avoir promu la d�colonisation et la fin de l'apartheid?

Ne reconnaissons-nous pas le caract�re indispensable de l'aide au d�veloppement des pays les plus pauvres de la plan�te, ainsi que l'action m�ritoire men�e par nos agences sp�cialis�es en faveur de la sant�, des enfants, des travailleurs, de la femme et des r�fugi�s?

Admettons-nous nous �tre tromp�s sur la plus r�cente priorit� de la protection de la nature et de l'environnement?

No, no nos hemos equivocado, ni en 1945, ni durante los �ltimos cincuenta a�os. Nuestros principios, nuestros valores, nuestros ideales eran, y siguen siendo, politicamente v�lidos, eticamente dignos y humanamente justos, y por ello debemos sentirnos orgullosos.

Significa esto que todo est� perfecto en la ONU? Evidentemente, no.

Pero no nos dejemos enga�ar por las cr�ticas: hay motivos, ciertamente, para corregir muchas cosas, pero ser�a un grave error para la Humanidad dejar morir las Naciones Unidas.

Si los objetivos y los prop�sitos de la ONU son positivos y deseados, y si ella sigue siendo capaz de llevarlos a cabo, aunque con limitaciones y defectos, no debemos avergonzarnos por nuestro apoyo a la ONU, sino simplemente debemos reformarla.

Our duty is then to support and reform the United Nations.

Supporting the United Nations -- that should be our collective pledge in this special session.

Reforming the United Nations -- that should be our political commitment during these three days.

We must not allow this Organization to die at the hands of its critics, nor to perish for lack of commitment of its supporters.

Therefore I ask you:

-- Please tell the world that freedom, justice, development and human solidarity are magnificent values worth living and working for;

-- Please tell your people that we must all help each other for the survival and benefit of humanity;

- 3 - Press Release GA/8964 22 October 1995

-- Please tell your governments and parliaments that, with the necessary reforms and changes, the United Nations needs money to function, support from national governments to function well, and wisdom and generosity from us all to save and help those human beings most in need.

At the very beginning of this unique and historic session, may I share with you these three main wishes:

-- Let us praise the United Nations and its "founding fathers"!

-- Let us fight the destructive critics of the Organization and not allow them to be the United Nations "liquidating fathers"!

-- Let us take upon ourselves the noble and necessary task of becoming, from today, the "reforming fathers" of the United Nations!

If we do so, we will deserve the respect of future generations, especially when they celebrate, surely in this same hall, the 100th anniversary of the United Nations.

* *** *
United Nations