'The world has lived for too long on a diet of empty promises on nuclear disarmament'

What Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday:

We are celebrating in India the fiftieth anniversary of our emergence as a free nation. The constitutional moorings and democratic forms, which the new nation-state has accepted and adopted, rest on the vast foundation of civilisational experience and ethos.

This explains the stability, coherence and creative unity of the vast Indian society, that is a world in itself.

The experience has wrought in us the deep conviction that, while there are universally shared values and striving, there can be no rigid prescriptions. We see the United Nations in this image, as a crucible in which we melt together our individual contributions to a world civilisation, yet in recognition of the variety of historical and cultural experience we bring to it.

The cold war cast an early shadow on the organisation, creating a situation of ideological polarisation. The Non-Aligned Movement rejected this imposition of rigidity, representing an independent and responsible alternative world view.

This still remains so, and NAM retains its validity and relevance, even after the disappearance of block rivalries. Non-alignment was not a by-product of the cold war.

Then, it expressed the overwhelming need of previously colonised and dis-empowered nations to a voice a perspective and an agenda in a politically and economically unequal and iniquitous world. Today, it remains a voice of reason and constructive engagement for the times ahead, which demand common purpose and contribution from all sides towards a convergence of intent on vital, even fateful, global concerns.

We must insistently ask ourselves what we can decisively do at the United Nations to make the dreams of the hundreds of millions come true. How can we make the United Nations a more vibrant organisation for the world community as a whole at a time when we need it more than we ever did?

As an organisation, the United Nations must also evolve and adapt itself to a rapidly changing environment.

As a country which has real faith in the UN's capacity to contribute to international peace and security, and to development, India has a vital interest in a UN that continually makes itself more responsive to the needs of its member states, and prepares itself to serve them better. This, we believe, is the objective of reform.

We judge the agenda for reform by the measure I have described. We are supportive of all proposals that, in our view, will carry forward, or improve, the UN's ability to respond to the international community's mandates.

The crisis that confronts the UN manifests itself in many ways. A financial crisis has resulted from the inability of some to fulfil their charter commitments, and from the laying down of preconditions to meet them.

The UN does not have the means to execute programmes that respond to the needs and priorities of its membership, precisely at a time when these are sorely needed. As a result, the UN is in danger of being marginalised as the global forum. The solution lies not in piecemeal reform, but in building trust between nations, and an acceptance that in international relations democratic principles should be the norm, as much as they are increasingly accepted in national governance.

In our view, international peace and security and development are inextricably linked. Over the last six or seven years, there has been a growing emphasis on the political aspects of the tasks of development, such as democracy and human rights.

Unless the underlying causes of underdevelopment -- poverty and social alienation -- are effectively addressed and removed, this emphasis will remain unrealised. Therefore, the single most important target that the United Nations should set itself is the promotion of sustained economic growth in developing countries that will lead to the eradication of poverty, and erase the tensions and pressures that have led to the collapse of governance and social order in several states. International peace and stability will be enhanced only when all countries enjoy a minimum standard of economic self-sufficiency and well-being.

Therefore, we believe that the thrust of any reform proposals in the UN should make the promotion of sustained economic development the principal cross-sectoral issue.

Next year, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the universal declaration on human rights, we will reflect whether the ideals enshrined in the declaration have become a reality for people in all parts of the world.

India's approach to the observance and promotion of human rights is inspired by the declaration's holistic vision and the Indian Constitution, which were drafted close to each other.

Equally, if not more important, are the assault on poverty and underdevelopment, promotion of awareness of rights and a policy of affirmative action for the uplift of socially and economically vulnerable sections of society. This is a complex task especially in a country of India's diversity, and many times, when the state has faltered, civil society has stepped in in India, as elsewhere.

In recent times, the most moving example is that of a frail saree-clad woman -- Mother Teresa -- whose fathomless compassion and soothing touch would be missed by millions in India. I would like to pay tribute to this apostle of mercy who rendered service to millions of poor and suffering people not only in India but all over the world and brought them hope.

As for the weapons of mass destruction capable of total annihilation of human civilisation, the global community has lived for too long on a diet of empty promises. The pretexts for clinging to nuclear arsenals, which were questionable at any time, have now vanished.

Mere non-proliferation treaties, promoted as disarmament measures, only serve to entrench nuclear monopoly. No credible steps towards striving to realise a nuclear weapons-free world have been contemplated.

The world community's patience is starting to wear thin. Nuclear weapons powers owe an explanation to the world as to why they need these weapons.

We appeal to nuclear weapon states to align their policies to what the world wants. We see the United Nations as a forum in which the international community must continue to demand universal nuclear disarmament.

Under the UN charter, the Security Council was constituted as a body for maintaining international peace and security.

In recent years, the Security Council has been able to play a more active role in discharging its responsibilities. However, there is often a perception that the Council's actions have not always reflected the sentiments of the general membership.

It is imperative, therefore, that the Security Council takes on, as permanent members, developing countries equipped to make an important contribution with their world views, historical experiences and civilisational values. Otherwise, the Council's actions will be seen as progressively less representative, precisely at a time when it is being called upon to act far more frequently than before on behalf of the world community.

India has let it be known from 1994, in this General Assembly, that it is prepared to accept the responsibilities of permanent membership. We are the largest democracy in the world, with ancient civilisational values and attainments, and a world view based on a universalist inspiration, participative governance, respect for diversity and pluralism, as well as readiness for constructive engagement in the world's affairs.

These strengths, we believe, would be an asset to an expanded Security Council. India's standing as one of the leading economies in the world will be progressively strengthened, and we are prepared to bear in full the responsibilities of permanent membership.

At the core of our foreign policy is our keenness to pursue close ties, and build confidence and co-operation with our neighbours, recognising fully that we are the largest country in the region, not only in terms of size and population but also economic capabilities. We extend our hand of friendship not in a spirit of mere reciprocity but in a good faith.

We seek to advance cohesion, synergy and mutual goodwill in our neighbourhood so that together we fully participate in and derive benefits from the dynamic changes the world is currently witnessing. Our approach has contributed to the setting in motion a trend towards co-operation in our region.

As a large and diverse economy, we are developing new partnerships that go beyond the region and revitalise the old cultural and commercial links. Politically, it is expressed in the active interest that we have taken in supporting the Middle East peace process.

In our larger neighbourhood with which we have a shared history, we have enhanced our engagement with the Association of South East Asian Nations as a full dialogue partner.

While maintaining our traditional relationships with the United States, Russia, the European Union and Japan, we have also been strengthening global trends in regional cooperation by actively promoting cooperation among countries of the Indian Ocean rim.

A global menace that threatens international peace, and to which open democracies are particularly vulnerable, is terrorism. It takes innocent live indiscriminately, brings fear into the lives of others, and shatters the peaceful existence and the normal growth of entire communities....

And even though very few societies are free from its clutches, we still have not developed a global strategy to defeat this evil. The resolve is absent. It is important that we find the resolve as terrorism is quickly building links with the other global menace of drugs. We (in South Asia) see just how deadly a poison this mix of terrorism and drugs is. The United Nations should take the lead to root out these scourges.

Protection and preservation of the environment is an area to which all of us attach the highest importance. The commitment for global partnership for preventing further degradation of the environment, made at the Rio summit in 1992, was reiterated and the need for effective implementation of Agenda 21 reaffirmed, during the special session of the General Assembly in June this year.

All the elements of Agenda 21 have to be implemented in full and we need to accelerate the process of such implementation. Any partial or non-comprehensive implementation will be detrimental not only to international co-operation in this area, but also to the threatened stability of the earth's fragile environment.

What has been touched upon, represents huge challenges, beyond the capacity of any country to face on its own. This is why it is so vital for the United Nations, now more than ever before, to be a forum where we can pool creative ideas and lessons from our experience, and to assist us in understanding and coping with these challenges. This is the ultimate rationale of reform.

Addressing the 15th regular session of the General Assembly, India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru said in October 1960, "The main purpose of the United Nations is to build up a world without war, a world based on the co-operation of nations and peoples. It is not merely a world where war is kept in check for a balancing of armed forces. It is much deeper than that -- it is a world from which the major causes of war have been removed and social structures built up which further peaceful co-operation within a nation as well as between nations."

It is in this spirit that we should approach the tasks before us.

UNI

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