SECRETARY-GENERAL CITES NEED FOR GLOBAL ANSWERS TO GLOBAL QUESTIONS IN ADDRESS TO NON-ALIGNED SUMMIT, STRESSES ROLE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE, RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

SG/SM/6688
2 September 1998



Following is the text of an address given today by Secretary-General Kofi
Annan to the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), meeting at Durban:

Every one of us must feel a special pleasure at the fact that the
NonAligned Summit is being held in South Africa. For so many years, we had
to think of this country as the enemy, because of its apartheid regime.

For so many years, we reiterated our support for our oppressed brothers
and sisters here, hardly daring to hope that within this century, we would
see them free, taking their rightful place in this Movement.

But that is what has happened. It is with deep emotion, Mr. Chairman,
that I salute and congratulate you on the transformation that has been
achieved in this country, without large-scale bloodshed or destruction, in
no small measure thanks to your own historic role.

We all feel a profound sadness, I am sure, at the thought that this is
the last Non-Aligned Summit you will attend as head of State. But in
paying tribute to your extraordinary career, let me also say how much I
admire your sagacity in carefully preparing a constitutional transfer of
power. I count on your friendship and advice for many years to come.

I also thank you and your country for hosting this Conference and for
assuming the responsibility of leading this Movement into the new
millennium. It could not be in better hands.

As I said at the NAM Conference last year, both my country, Ghana, and I
myself grew up with the Non-Aligned Movement. Its ideals have always been
precious to me as an individual. And as Secretary-General of the United
Nations, I rely heavily on it.

Your support for the United Nations and your ability to coordinate the
views of such a wide group of Member States are among your greatest
strengths.

Mr. Chairman, we meet at an extraordinary time in human history. In many ways
it is a time of hope and excitement.

New technologies have brought us all closer together, allowing us a free
and unfettered flow of information and ideas.

The cold war is over, and the major Powers are at peace with each other.

New international agreements have banned or limited the use and
production of some of the most lethal and inhuman weapons.

And as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, those rights are more universally recognized than ever
before. Indeed, a historic step forward was taken in July with the
adoption of the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court.

Increasingly, it is understood that human rights are not simply a matter
of civil and political freedom. Genuine freedom of choice requires
economic, social and cultural emancipation too.

Yet we are also meeting in a time of turmoil and uncertainty.

Globalization has raised living standards for many, but its volatility
has made life more difficult for many others, whose lives have been
dislocated by change. Moreover, it threatens to leave a large part of the
world behind.

This continent of Africa, especially, has more than its share of the
world's problems, from AIDS, through poverty and famine, to ethnic conflict
and even genocide.

In April, at the request of the Security Council, I submitted a report on
the causes of conflict in Africa. I recommended actions to reduce conflict
and urged both Africans and non-Africans to summon the political will to
rise to the challenges involved.

I wish I could say now that things have begun to improve.

Unhappily, in many parts of the continent the reverse is true.

We have not only seen conflict continue in countries such as Burundi,
Sierra Leone and Sudan.

We have also seen a new inter-State war, the first this decade, between
Eritrea and Ethiopia; a new intra-State conflict, in Guinea-Bissau, causing
yet another mass displacement of people from their homes; the peace process
in Angola hanging by a thread, and perhaps most worrying of all, the
Democratic Republic of Congo once again engulfed in civil war, with forces
from neighbouring States engaged on opposite sides.

My brother African leaders, I appeal to you once again. We Africans must
summon the will to resolve our problems by political, not military, means.
For every day that we fail to do so, the innocent people of this continent
pay a terrible price.

As if that were not enough, in the past five weeks, three of Africa's
major cities -- in Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania and here in South
Africa -- have been subjected to the scourge of terrorism. Over 200 people
have been killed and many more injured in acts of senseless violence,
related to a quarrel in which the victims and their countries had no part.

Let us be very clear: such methods cannot be justified by any ideology,
any grievance or any faith. We all have a duty to combat terrorism
wherever and whenever it rears its head.

Some have suggested a world conference on terrorism. This should at
least be seriously considered. In any case, the international community
must come together to find ways of combating this truly universal menace.

But, of course, conflict and terrorism are far from being the only global
threats we face. Over the last year, the Asian financial crisis has caused
even some of the great success stories of economic development to falter.
It has plunged economies which were the fastest growing in the world into
severe recession.

Millions of people have seen their expectations shattered, their
employers bankrupted, their families rendered destitute. Unemployment has
soared. Wages have fallen. Standards of living have plummeted.

And in at least one country, Indonesia, a country with a very special
place in the history of this Movement, economic crisis has led to social
strife, violence and widespread destruction.

Not surprisingly, some people blame this crisis on globalization. Siren
voices are telling us it was wrong to open up national economies and
societies to global influences.

There is a temptation to retreat into our shells, to go back to the old
economies of centralized State planning and protectionism to the old
politics of emphasizing regional differences rather than recognizing
universal values.

But do those voices have a real alternative to offer?
I suggest that, for better or worse, there is no such choice. We cannot
hold back the tide of technological and social change.

Whether we like it or not, we live in a world where images and ideas
travel thousands of miles in a few seconds, and where investment flows,
whether domestic or foreign, are available only to those with something to
sell in the global marketplace.

I know these global economic and social forces often seem to make the
task of governing a nation State, especially a developing one, almost
impossible.

And it is true that the time is past when people could look only to the
State to satisfy their needs, or when States on their own could credibly
aspire to control all aspects of social life.

We have learned that many tasks are better performed by individuals, by
private companies, or by informal voluntary groups, many of which cannot be
contained within State borders.

We are seeing the birth of global civil society. Non-governmental groups
from all part of the world come together to work for global causes, from
the ban on land mines or the punishment of war criminals, to the
eradication of poverty and the promotion of sustainable development.

But these groups cannot replace the State. Nor do they aspire to. On
the contrary, most of their activities are directed at the State -- that
is, at influencing State policies towards their view of the common good.

The idea that globalization makes the State unnecessary or irrelevant is
utterly wrong.

For while the processes of global change cannot be fought, they can and
must be managed.

The groups and individuals who stand to lose from change need
protection -- not against competition, but against its social consequences.

Even those with most to gain need regulation, to ensure that competition
is fair and governed by clear rules.

Society as a whole needs infrastructure in the form of roads and bridges
and telephone lines, but also, even more important, of schools and
universities. And it needs the rule of law. Without those public goods,
whole nations lose the chance to compete in the global market and find
themselves condemned to endemic poverty.

The saddest countries in the world today are those where the State has
failed and civil society is left at the mercy of warring factions; where
children are recruited into militias instead of being sent to school; where
whole populations have to flee their homes.

In those countries, we at the United Nations often find ourselves called
on to try and supplement, sometimes even to substitute for the State
through humanitarian action, and to help rebuild it, through peacemaking
and postconflict peace-building.

It is a task we would much rather not have to do. We therefore have
every interest in helping the States do their job, so that the point of
failure is never reached.

A strong and successful State is by far the best recipe for conflict
prevention. But what makes a State strong and successful?

Above all, I suggest, the confidence and support of its own people. All
too often, people nowadays see the State not as a source of solutions but
as part of their problem -- not as a friend but as an adversary.

How can a State win its people's trust and respect?

If a State wants popular support it must be honest, approachable,
transparent, above all, effective. In other words, it has to provide good
governance. Which means that it must attract the best people into its
service. And of course, it has to respect human rights.

I know some non-aligned Governments are tired of hearing about good
governance and human rights. So often these virtues are preached by rich
and powerful States, whose own policies seem to take little account of the
rights or interests of people in the developing world.

But it would be a terrible mistake to ignore these issues, simply because
we suspect the motives of those who raise them. For in truth, human rights
and good governance should be our agenda, adopted in our own interests as
well as those of all humankind.

It is when people have the chance to express themselves freely, to choose
their leaders democratically, to live in peace and contribute fully to the
life of their nation, that the State is best equipped to cope with all the
pressures bearing down upon it.

And even then, no one State on its own, not even the largest, can handle
all the problems that globalization brings. The only answer is for States
to work together, making use of the multilateral institutions they have
built up over the decades, including this very Movement.

But in the end, these efforts must come together at the global level,
which means at the United Nations.

We need global answers to global questions. Our response to global
economics must be global politics.

It would be foolhardy of me to try and spell out all the global answers
here and now. The search for them is going on all the time, and will go on
a long time yet.

But meanwhile, there are a few points all of us here can agree on.

One is the need for much faster and more resolute action to relieve the
unsustainable debt burden currently borne by many developing countries,
especially the poorest.

A second is that it is high time to reverse the decline in flows of
official development assistance (ODA).

And thirdly, the very least we can ask is that globalization and
liberalization should not be a one-way street. Industrialized countries
must open their markets to goods from the developing world.

A chance to make progress on these and other issues will come in two
weeks' time, when the General Assembly holds a high-level dialogue on the
social and economic impact of globalization. Your deliberations here can
make an important contribution.

The United Nations remains the unique, indispensable forum where such
global issues can be discussed.

It is the place where the connection can be made -- which is so often
neglected elsewhere -- between economic and social development on the one
hand, and international peace and security on the other. It is an
institution in which the whole world has a stake.

Of course, the United Nations is far from perfect. I am grateful to the
non-aligned countries for the support they have already given to my reform
proposals, and look forward to working with you to push the process further
forward in the coming General Assembly session.

The United Nations belongs to you. It is in your interest to see it work
efficiently and effectively. Working together in the years ahead we can achieve great progress for all humankind, and especially for those who need it most:
the peoples whom your Movement represents.

I am deeply grateful for your support. I thank you.