Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

Secretary-General Javier Perez

The following excerptsfrom statements by Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, made between 1 January and 31 March 1987, reflect the variety of activities he undertakes in pursuit of the goals of the Organization.

From a message to mark the inauguration of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless, 1 January 1987:

Shelter is a basic human right and necessity. The conditions in which people live determine to a great extent their health, well-being and ability to engage in gainful occupation, to pursue self-improvement through education and recreation and, in consequence, to attain a better standard of living. As an estimated one in five of the inhabitants of our world lack decent shelter, and several million of our fellow human beings lack shelter of any kind, it has been a timely decision to devote 1987 to the aim of providing shelter for the homeless. This is an important undertaking in the larger process of bettering the condition of humanity to which the United Nations has dedicated itself.

At his first press conference for 1987, UN Headquarters, 13 January:

As I said to the General Assembly, 1987 will be a year of transition. To implement the reforms asked for by the Assembly, common sense and fairness will be essential, as well as the co-operation and understanding of Member States. We all know that deep political differences are at the origin of the difficulties which we have experienced in the United Nations. I believe that the reforms which are being introduced can and must mitigate the effects of those differences on the functioning of the Organization. In the interest of peace, however, these differences must be reconciled and the conflicts that reflect and encourage them resolved. On the political role of the United Nations, I wish to say that peace cannot be imposed unilaterally, nor can the problems of our interdependent world be successfully handled through unilateral or bilateral actions. The United Nations should not be made a scapegoat for the mistakes, frustrations and failures of one or other of its Members. If all Member States recognize their own limitations and agree to work together with one another, not in confrontation but in co-operation, you will then see that the United Nations will become as effective as its founders had expected.

From a statement to the first meeting in 1987 of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, 12 January:

Although now in 1987, the question of Palestine has been before the United Nations for 40 years, and despite the continuing efforts of the international community to find a peaceful, just and lasting solution, that objective has not been attained and the fate of the Palestinian people continues to cause great concern throughout the world. Unfortunately, renewed violence has aggravated tensions and created new obstacles to peace. Despite these setbacks, we are all aware that even greater efforts must be made to find a just solution to the question of Palestine--one which will guarantee lasting peace in the Middle East. The international community, determined to see justice prevail, is continuing to seek a way out of the impasse. It is essential to put an end to periodic outbursts of violence, and to the ever-present threat that the conflict will widen, by enabling the Palestinian people to exercise its rights and by guaranteeing peace and security for all States of the region.

At the presentation of a bust of Trygve Lie, first Secretary-General of the United Nations, on 14 January, by his daughter Mrs. Lie Zeckendorf:

Trygve Lie was keenly aware of the unique nature of thenovel undertaking begun with the United Nations. It was an experiment without precedent. His office--this office--had no previous example, no accumulated experience to guide it. The political role of the Secretary-General, he said, was something new for the world. Trygve Lie was also conscious of the special moral responsibility of his position. There is no other figure in the international community who can speak for the rights and interests of all, with no distinction as to sex, race, religion or ideology. The concept of a spokesman for the interests of the world community, he declared, is a notion that belongs to the future rather than the present. But it was a role he himself fulfilled. Perhaps every Secretary-General has to live a little in the future as well as the present. He must deal with today's political reality, while urging an era of greater vision, a time of broader co-operation among nations for the sake of the Charter's "succeeding generations'.

At the first meeting of the 1987 session of the United Nations Council for Namibia, 9 January:

Namibia is a matter of very special importance to the United Nations and one in which the commitment of the international community is total and unequivocal. Even though two decades have passed since the United Nations terminated South Africa's mandate over the Territory, South Africa must be made to realize that the just and legitimate aspirations of the people of the Territory cannot continue to be thwarted without serious detriment to South Africa's own long-term interests and, of course, to the peace and stability of the region as a whole.

From an address in Kuwait to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, 26 January:

We have all to join together in the great tasks of alleviating pain and suffering, curbing violence, combating the forces of prejudice and hate, strengthening human solidarity and eliminating war. Different ideologies or systems of belief may rule our minds but dedication to the aims of human advance and betterment is the great common denominator of them all. Whatever else may be tragic in the conditions of our age, it is one of the happier aspects of human evolution that this common denominator is more apparent now than it was in any previous era of civilization. Its denial amounts to a repudiation of every one of the faiths or ideologies we profess. If we respond to this positive and humanising character of our age, I am sure that we will overcome our present doubts, divisions and perplexities.

We will then see peace andjustice prevail--for ourselves and for the coming generations all over the world.

To the Annual Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations, sponsored by the United Nations Department of Public Information:

Even as we survey the enormous needs and acute dangers of the present, the human race and the community of nations can do much in these last decades of the twentieth century to determine the nature of the next millenium. It can be a time never reached because of nuclear catastrophe or a time of unparalleled well-being because of wise utilization of the human and natural and institutional resources with which this world--perhaps I should say this universe--has been endowed. The United Nations and non-governmental organizations both have critical roles to play in assuring that the latter alternative prevails.

A sense of solidarity and of our common humanity must lead us to see the human condition in its entirety. We have to look beyond the confines of our own groups and our own societies. We must not forget that there are millions of families throughout the world living in abject poverty and underdevelopment. We must eradicate the hunger and malnutrition that remain today a source of such deep concern. Without the accomplishments of the various United Nations agencies and organs, the situation would be a great deal worse.

From a message to the opening 1987 meeting of the Conference onDisarmament, 3 February:

Today, more than ever before, the tasks before the Conference on Disarmament engage the anxious interest of all, in East or West, North or South, who are cognizant of the deadly dangers created by an unrestrained arms race in this nuclear age. The whole community of nations will keenly watch the Conference's work and hope for auguries of success in the vast endeavour of lessening these dangers. Concrete disarmament agreements still elude us and the gap between words and deeds has not narrowed. The same year [1986] that encouraged some hope also furnished vivid and alarming reminders of how even seemingly reliable technology can go wrong and of how war continues to take its high toll in human life and the assets of nations . . . The goal of curbing the arms race, particularly the nuclear arms race, and moving towards substantial disarmament agreements leading to the final elimination of nuclear weapons, needs to be vigorously pursued.

From a message to the annual Consultative Conference of the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC), held in Gaborone, Botswana, 5-6 February:

The continent is emerging from the throes of a devastating drought-related emergency, which had reached catastrophic proportions in many African countries, including some member States of SADCC. While the drought has ended in most countries, it has thrown into sharp relief serious structural deficiencies in their economies and the urgent need to strengthen their capacity to withstand any similar crisis which may occur in the future. Unfortunately, the recent emergency aggravated the already existing economic and social problems facing the African countries. The United Nations system remains fully committed to fulfilling its responsibilities in the future by assisting the development programmes of the member States of SADCC.

From a message to the opening meeting of the Donors Conference of the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development, 16 March:

The challenges which the countries of this region face are indeed formidable ones. All of them, to varying degrees, are unfortunately drought-prone countries where the seasonal and ecological balance is always a precarious one. The devastating drought that occurred in Africa three years ago has had unprecedented social and economic consequences. Governments have to cope with a multitude of problems arising from the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom were forced to cross international boundaries for survival. Countless people were killed by disease, particularly the vulnerable groups of the population, and many of those who survived will suffer health disabilities for the rest of their lives. The damage caused to the economy of the region, as well as to the environment, and the adverse impact which it has had on the development prospects, is so extensive and of such magnitude that it will take several years of unrelenting effort to regain what has been lost and to restore the region's potential. Imaginative policies of recovery will be needed to provide alternative sources of livelihood for those who have been rendered destitute. Optimum use of resources is required for the recovery process to be put in motion.

From the beginning of the drought-related crisis in Africa, it hasbeen apparent that many of its facets were the result of fundamental economic deficiencies. Increased efforts to resolve the underlying basic economic problems in African countries are, therefore essential not only to bring about speedy recovery and rehabilitation, but also to ensure a sound and balanced longer term economic and social development. The commitment of the international community to assist African countries to achieve these objectives is expressed in the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development adopted by the General Assembly in May 1986.

It is my sincere hope that your development partners will support your national and sub-regional efforts as generously as possible. Everything possible should be done to preserve the most valuable of your resources--the lives of your people--and to protect their livelihood by ensuring that your economies are able to withstand whatever negative effects natural phenomena might bring about.

From a message to the opening meeting of the United Nations Conference for the Promotion of International Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, 23 March:

The founding of the United Nations just as the nuclear age was beginning had special significance for humanity. The splitting of the atom opened access to a new and important source of energy--energy which could bring unprecedented advances in beneficial science and technology and unprecedented destruction. The United Nations, in the four decades of its existence, has helped to assure that the world would not fall victim to the force of the atom and to encourage, in many ways, its peaceful utilization. New opportunities for co-operation amongst nations with different cultures, different values, different beliefs and different social and economic systems have been opened so that the benefits of modern science and technology could be available to all, serving the cause of much needed economic and social development throughout the world.

Photo: The Secretary-General with Mrs. Zeckendorf.