MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS

OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO

TO THE 54th SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

[...]Surely, we consider a positive step forward the recent adoption by the Sub-Commission for the Prevention and Protection of Human Rights of a resolution that condemns capital punishment applied to minors, as well as the fact that such an instrument of vindictive justice has not been contemplated among the sanctions in the Statute of the International Criminal Court all this is yet not sufficient to guaranty the desired global abolition.[...]

New York

Wednesday, September, 22, 1999

REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO

STATEMENT

BY

H.E GABRIELE GATTI

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS

OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO

TO THE 54th SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Mr President,

Mr. Secretary General,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of San Marino I wish to congratulate you for your election to the presidency of the 54th Session of the General Assembly.

Mr. President,

You represent a geographical region, the African Continent, which can significantly contribute to identify the major causes of world problems and help to evaluate their effects. You can lead this Organization towards desirable and concrete results.

A particular acknowledgement goes to President Didier Oppertti. San Marino had the opportunity and the privilege to work in close cooperation with him and to ascertain his undeniable and extraordinary skills and the remarkable accomplishments reached during his mandate

Finally, I would like to congratulate the three new States which have recently joined the big family of the United Nations. I am deeply convinced that Countries never involved in wars possess an inestimable

richness and can transmit to the whole world their history of peace and tolerance, helping in reaching the goals set forth in the Charter preambular paragraphs.

The Republic of San Marino believes that the United Nations Organization is, and has to remain, the Forum for international negotiations best suiting the Nations expectations. We reiterate the central role of the UN in the prevention and in the management of international crisis, particularly in the field of peace and Security, through the necessary updating process of its main operative organs, and, in the first place, the Security Council.

The Republic of San Marino is againnst any intervention aimed at delegitimizing the Security Council, one of the decision-making organs of the UN. Its reform, in the context of a larger reform of the UN System, is a fundamental step in the construction of the new international structure. The reform originated from the need to update the composition and the modus operandi of the most important organ of the UN to a deeply changed international environment.

We are particularly thankful to the Secretary General for

courageously proposing - and partly already accomplished a complete wide range program of reforms to strengthen the UN. This program is to progress because only an organization in constant evolution will be able to prevent, in some cases, and to tackle in others, the challenges of the next millennium.

Mr. President,

San Marino feels internationally responsible and it feels the need to mobilize all its strengths to find solidary solutions to the serious problem of the external debt of developing Countries.

In front of 3 billion people who still live with less than $2 - a day, in front of 130 million children without access to education, and in front of 1.5 billion people without drinking water, it is necessary to support

an action aimed at creating a durable development and healthy economic policies.

The unbalance between rich and poor must not become irreversible with tragical consequences for the whole human kind.

San Marino shares and supports the series of programs and plans announced and applied by creditor countries and by the world main financial institutions to tackle this serious emergency. Till now, programs and plans have shown to be yet insufficient to tackle the problem of debt in a definite way.

We hope that the UN will intensify the debate aiming at an equitable and durable solution of the problem and, in particular, we hope that the GA and ECOSOC will represent the best laboratory of ideas for its definition. San

Marino shares the "ethical" approach to the situation, through a canal of solidarity and of development. We believe such a canal will give more hope to the people affected by this heavy burden.

Aware of the small size of its resources, the Republic of San Marino is constantly trying to increase and improve its presence in international institutions and to further activatee its participation to United Nations initiatives and to strengthen, through its adhesion or ratification, juridical instruments it deems particularly relevant.

In the past year, the Republic has been one of the first

Countries to ratify the Statute of the International Criminal Court, convinced that such an institution is indispensable for the future world order. In the

international society, it represents not only a political advancement but a moral one, too.

The Republic of San Marino has recently established a Permanent Court of Arbitration trusting it will become a trustworthy and impartial international instrument for the solution of national and international disputes

We are certain that such an instrument will be duly evaluated by all Member States of the United Nations and that they will shortly be able to subscribe a proper Convention. We furthermore believe this initiative could

represent a significant contribution of our Country to the international community.

Mr.President,

at the outset of the third millennium, it is still disconcerting the co-existence of a large consolidated corpus of humanitarian laws and human rights and the spread of atrocities beyond all limits, affecting almost

exclusively civil populations and mainly women and children.

The international community can rightly state of having reached goals in the field of humanitarian law and human rights that were unimaginable 50 years ago. These considerable goals have been reached though only where there is the simultaneous application of established rules.

We appreciate, in this regard, the inexhaustible work of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in armed conflicts.

That work has been aimed at filling the deep gap existing between legality and praxis and at underlining the absolute need of the community of States for the full application and respect of international law.

It is notorious to all, and for this reason appalling and unacceptable, the level reached by the impact of armed conflicts on children.

Millions of children live in dire straits. Now more than ever it is necessary to adopt urgent and effective measures to improve the protection of the most vulnerable category of society: children.

San Marino has great expectations for the future world Summit on Children.

It hopes it will effectively inaugurate the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and non-violence for the children of the world and conclude a decisively obscure chapter of the history of humanity. 17 centuries of peace

surely offer to the Republic of San Marino a very solid basis to build on and elaborate this fundamental concept of the Culture of peace

San Marino believes it is urgent that this world decisively disassociates itself from a culture of war and violence - unfortunately still present everywhere - and starts a path towards transformation, inspired by GA

resolution, entitled "Declaration and Program of the Culture of Peace".

In every Country and in every culture there are messages of peace, often forgotten, neglected or ignored. It is the responsibility of the United Nations, its specialized Agencies, and of us all to rehabilitate those messages through the awakening of our conscience and the application of an universal culture of peace. This will happen if we are able to courageously identify and defeat the seeds of violence.

We have to decide now what culture we want to defend: a culture where violence is considered an inevitable evil from which we can only protect ourselves, or a culture where violence can and must be eradicated

The introduction to the Constitution of UNESCO - I quote "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed" - remains, till today, in our opinion, the right perspective because peace-building, through dialogue, education and acceptance of differences is the best warranty for the survival of humanity.

It Is known to all that there are 45 armed conflicts going on in this very moment all over the world. Sadly, the spilling of stains of hate and violence constantly breaks the hope that humanity will soon prepare to use

the so-called "peace dividend", resulting from the end of the balance of terror between super powers, for positive goals

We are now more than ever convinced that wars bring no results but the increase of innocent victims We are positive that the force of reasoning, dialogue, diplomacy should always arid anyway prevail upon the use of instruments of war.

The Republic of San Marino deeply appreciates the recent

resolution of the Security Council expeditiously establishing a multinational force of peace, created to change the situation in the East Timor crisis what the

UN is starting is a risky mission, but it will contribute, at least this is the wish of the San Marino Government, to increase the role and the dignity of the

United Nations, underlining its force as an impartial and neutral institution, deploying itself as a bulwark against prevarication to defend the life and the dignity of human kind

It is with great satisfaction that the Government of San Marino acknowledges to this regard the renewed impetus and the momentum of the negotiations of the arab-israeli peace process; a slow process San Marino constantly offered its support to, in the awareness that it is

necessary - now more than ever before - to support, encourage and monitor this long and hard path to peace.

With the same satisfaction, San Marino' looks at the present search for political solutions at the end of the Balkans conflict, activating a channel of concrete solidarity towards Kosovarian populations

Mr President,

San Marino people sadly regrets to see that the important and topical question of death penalty has not been included in the agenda of the General Assembly. In fact, San Marino abolished the death penalty in 1854, after

centuries of disuse.

San Marino is concerned about the consensual silence fallen on that subject, and it intends to continue to voice its protest against capital punishment, firmly convinced that the same abhorrent instrument of death

consciously and legally inflicted by a human being on another human being cannot be considered neither a valid and effective answer to defend society nor a deterrent against the spreading of criminality

Surely, we consider a positive step forward the recent adoption by the Sub-Commission for the Prevention and Protection of Human Rights of a resolution that condemns capital punishment applied to minors, as well as the fact that such an instrument of vindictive justice has not been contemplated among the sanctions in the Statute of the International Criminal Court all this is yet not sufficient to guaranty the desired global abolition.

Mr. President,

on behalf of the Government of San Mario I wish to acknowledge once more the focal role of the United Nations with respect to the major challenges of this end of the millennium and the momentum that the greatest International Organization can provide for a new century where the supremacy of a culture of peace over a culture of war, of a culture of life over a culture of death, of the full realization of human dignity over its systematic violation will prevail.

It is with this spirit that I wish to you, Mr. President, and to you all, a good work and thank you for your attention.