Excerpts from a Statement by the Swedish Foreign Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallén in the General Debate of the 52nd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
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. . .
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.
