Ukraine mentions the ICC at the GA

September 22, 1999

Important lessons to be learned from difficult year for United Nations, Assembly told

BORYS TARASYUK Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that the role of the United Nations had grown immensely during the unprecedented ideological clashes and tumultuous periods of transition that had marked

much of the twentieth century. He called the United Nations a "firm anchor in these troubled waters", but placed special emphasis on the fact that, while the United Nations Charter had remained the most ambitious and realistic code of world order for over 50 years, mankind was still far from achieving the Charter's purposes. Two years ago, he said, Member States welcomed the programme of institutional reforms designed to adapt the United Nations to modern requirements and ensure its ability to respond promptly to the challenges of the time. What began as promise slowed down, he said, and

the programme of reforms remained largely unrealized.

This criticism was also pertinent, he said, when it came to reform of the Security Council. As the principal United Nations organ entrusted with the responsibility to maintain world peace and security, the Council should be replenished with new energy and fresh ideas, he said. The United Nations should have adequate tools to protect the basic values outlined in its Charter, he said. Those values must enjoy full support by means of legal, political and military enforcement. Member States should strive to create a world order where it would not be one's self-interest to wage war, oppress national minorities or exert economic pressure on other nations. Broad regional and subregional cooperation could serve that purpose.

Ukraine believed that the establishment of the International Criminal Court would serve the future system of international security and it would sign the Statute of the Court during the current session. He also said it was Ukraine's ambition to be elected a non-permanent member of the Security Council. MOHAMED BENAISSA, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco, said the Security Council's working methods and composition must be reconsidered in order to enhance its credibility, promote its ability to preserve international peace and security and ensure that it was balanced on the basis of equitable geographical representation.

He said his country had been calling for the implementation of an initiative by the late King Hassan II aimed at setting up a joint Moroccan-Spanish reflection cell to reach a final settlement on the status of the cities of Sebta and Mellilia and the neighbouring islands in a way that ensured Morocco's sovereignty over them while guaranteeing Spain's economic interest. Morocco hoped that the sanctions imposed on Libya would be completely and definitively lifted as soon as possible, he said.

Similarly, it called for the pooling of international efforts to lift the embargo imposed on Iraq and find

a peaceful settlement to the issue within the framework of international legality and in compliance with Security Council resolutions.

He called on the international community, especially the developed countries, to devise a new approach to their relations with Africa in order to provide the resources needed for the continent to achieve socio-economic development. Morocco devoted 95 per cent of its annual international assistance appropriations to African countries.

Regarding the question of the Western Sahara referendum, he reiterated Morocco's full support for United Nations efforts to complete the process as soon as possible and in the best conditions of transparency and justice.

Morocco had endeavoured from the start to inform the Organization of any deviations affecting the legitimate rights of potential participants in the referendum. On the Middle East, he said that while the Arab community was committed to pursuing the peace process as an irreversible and strategic option, international legality mandated that Israel make a decisive, serious and clear-cut commitment to withdraw from all occupied Arab territories, including Jerusalem/Al-Quds, the Syrian Golan and south Lebanon. The current Israeli Government should adopt a new approach to its interaction with the Palestinian side and with the various tracks of the

peace process.