FOR THE RECORD: Udovenko address at the United Nations (10/06/96)

FOR THE RECORD: Udovenko address at the United Nations

Following are excerpts of the statement by Hennadi Udovenko, minister for foreign affairs of Ukraine, delivered on September 26 in the general debate of the 51st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Today, we can assert that the United Nations has been and still remains the key mechanism for maintaining and strengthening peace and security. And there are many proofs of that ...

Tomorrow, on September 27, I will be honored to sign on behalf of Ukraine the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty (CTBT) as adopted by historic resolution A/50/245 of the General Assembly. This important instrument is called to reaffirm de jure the end of the nuclear arms race era. By signing this treaty, Ukraine will make yet another step towards disarmament - a matter whose importance cannot be overstated.

In this context, I cannot but recall another historic event: the final withdrawal of strategic nuclear warheads from the territory of Ukraine. Having eliminated the work's third largest nuclear arsenal, one which we had inherited, Ukraine has become a nuclear-weapon-free state since June 1 of this year. We believe that by having done this, Ukraine has made an unprecedented contribution, which has not yet received adequate recognition by the international community, to diminishing the global nuclear threat, and thus demonstrated to the whole world its peaceful, consistent and predictable policy. Accordingly, we expect that nuclear states will strictly adhere to their commitments relating to the security assurances given to Ukraine by the U.S.A., Russia, the United Kingdom, China and France in December 1994.

Ukraine's important role in the new European security architecture has been recognized recently in several international documents. For us this means a special responsibility for the maintenance of stability in the whole of Europe. Therefore, we believe that the process of nuclear disarmament should become more dynamic. In this context, the initiative put forward by President Leonid Kuchma with regard to the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central and Eastern Europe between the Baltic and the Black Sea is the next logical step, an important move in the right direction. I would like to emphasize that the possible deployment of nuclear weapons on the territories of our neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe is a matter of great concern to us. We believe that support of the idea of a non-nuclear Central Europe would promote an atmosphere of confidence between and among the states of the region and would prevent the emergence of new dividing lines on the European continent. Creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the center of Europe - in addition to existing zones in the regions of Antarctica, the South Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the nuclear-weapon-free zones in Southern and Eastern Asia and Africa - will create the "critical mass" which would foster the process of global nuclear disarmament.

In our opinion, the Conference on Disarmament, including Ukraine as a new full member, should immediately start developing the program of complete nuclear disarmament with a view to approaching the date when Ukraine's appeal for "The 21st Century - World Without Nuclear Weapons" comes true.

Among other important international achievements of the past year I would like to mention the beginning of the real peace settlement in the former Yugoslavia. ...

We hope that the peace process initiated in Dayton has become irreversible. This is proved by successful implementation of the military aspects of the peace agreement by the IFOR and the recent elections held in Bosnia under the auspices of the OSCE.

In general, we think that recent international efforts in the former Yugoslavia have been a success not only for a peace settlement itself. In my opinion, during that period we have witnessed the appearance of a potential machinery for effective cooperation between different international structures in crisis management. I mean a particularly important experience of the IFOR operation carried out, under the mandate of the U.N. Security Council, by NATO, its partners, including Ukraine, and other countries. At the same time, the ultimate success of the peace process would be impossible without the active and action-oriented involvement of the OSCE in the implementation of civil aspects of the agreement. The concerted efforts by the U.N., NATO and OSCE to settle one of the most tragic conflicts of our times prove that political will and a clear division of functions between the respective structures make it possible to transform the idea of "mutually reinforcing institutions" into reality. In the meantime, the international community may have acquired a reliable mechanism for the solution of its acute problems.

I believe that the experience of the peace settlement in the former Yugoslavia could serve as a shining example for the common elaboration of the future global security architecture by all members of this world organization. Such architecture should also contain a comprehensive concept of peacekeeping, the elaboration of which, within the framework of the U.N. General Assembly, has to be accelerated. An essential element in this work could consist in the eventual re-orientation of the peacekeeping towards preventive diplomacy. ...

The inability of a number of member-states to meet their financial obligations is a direct consequence of the overassessment of their contribution rates. It is impossible for the U.N. to avert financial crisis unless existing irregularities in the scale of apportionment of its expenses are eliminated. And we expect that the current session will find a proper solution to this problem.

Against its will, Ukraine has been made one of the U.N. debtors. This has occurred due to the fact that the decision on the relocation of my country to Group C in the scale for the financing of the peacekeeping operations has been delayed for several years. The accumulation of a substantial debt is a direct result of the General Assembly's unfair decision 47/456, whose sponsors were perfectly well aware that the decision would lead to the current financial crisis. They refused to increase the contribution of those nations which could afford to pay and, contrary to the rules, placed larger contributions on the shoulders of the countries which were unable to pay such amounts.

Ukraine has always been aware of the need to secure the U.N. with adequate financial resources. Upon the instructions of my government, I would like to inform the distinguished delegates that Ukraine will start paying off its debt to the U.N. As early as this year, its amount will be reduced by $20 million (U.S.). In the coming years, the real payments of this country to the organization's budget will be increased.

The reform of the Security Council should become another important component of transformation within the United Nations. Supporting the desire of Germany and Japan to acquire the status of the permanent members of the Security Council, we, at the same time, stand for the increase of the number of non-permanent members in this body on the basis of equitable geographical representation, which would also take into account the interests of the Eastern European regional group. I hope that the "2+8" formula which was proposed by Ukraine and which, in principle, coincides with the Italian approach and that of other countries, will be conducive to the achievement of a mutually acceptable solution to this problem within the framework of the relevant working group of the General Assembly.

One of the essential features of general peace and security in the next millennium should become a qualitatively new international economic cooperation, the globalization of production and trade, the development of science and technology, and the broadening of the flows of finances and services.

We believe that the attention of the world community should focus today on more than the political and military aspects of security. It must also encompass the economic, social and ecological dimension of the peace and sustainable development. For Ukraine, this is not just an abstract idea without a fixed deadline for its implementation. Chornobyl turned the ecological dimension of our national security into a priority for Ukrainian domestic and foreign policy. ...

We are encouraged by the secretary-general's report on the work of the organization (A/51/1) stating that the United Nations remains deeply concerned by the consequences of Chornobyl, and is committed to pursuing measures aimed at their alleviation. We hope that the international community will continue to create conditions, including material and financial ones, which would allow Ukraine to meet its obligation and to decommission the Chornobyl nuclear power plant by the year 2000. ...

I would like to draw your attention to the initiative concerning the creation of the Council on Economic Security put forward by the president of Ukraine at the special commemorative meeting of the U.N. General Assembly last year. In our view, it is high time to concentrate the efforts of the U.N. member-states on the formation of a legal basis which would allow us to implement this important initiative as one of the steps towards increasing the level of international economic security, securing the global coordination of the activities of international, regional and national economic institutions, and preventing economic coercion and discrimination.

Of special concern have become the issues of international terrorism, organized crime, illicit trafficking of drugs and money laundering. Ukraine has always played an active role in international efforts, particularly within the framework of the U.N., aimed at eliminating these scourges of the present, which not only threaten the security and the health of people but have a negative impact on the social, economic and political situation in many countries. We believe that special attention should be paid to the elaboration of specific actions to be taken against transitional organized crime. ...

I would like to emphasize that integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures is the strategic goal of Ukraine. At the same time my country is still committed to the non-bloc status. Having become yesterday an observer in the Non-Aligned Movement, Ukraine once again proved that.

No less important for us remain relations with the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, notably with the Russian Federation, to whom we are linked by common historical experience. ...

Our society is in the process of formation. We realize that ours is a long and difficult path. There are a number of important objectives which we have to achieve. It will require the gradual revival and introduction of democratic standards into the fabric of the Ukrainian society which had been scarred by the totalitarian policies of the last decades.

While advancing along this road Ukraine will continue to count on the support of the international community. At the same time, I would like to reaffirm that Ukraine will continue to be committed to the support of the United Nations which is, as is my own country, experiencing difficult but vital times of transformation. This is the imperative of our times, and we have to meet this challenge.