The Secretary-General: excerpts from statements by United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

To the Rio Branco Institute, Brasilia, Brazil, 29 February:

The cause of democracy has found a home in the United Nations. A new international consensus has been created. Broad support has been mobilized. Advocates of democracy have used the high political visibility of the United Nations to gain commitments and win wider support. The impact has been felt on the ground, not just in theory.

In January 1992, shortly after I became Secretary-General, the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division was established. To date, the United Nations has provided electoral assistance to over 60 countries worldwide. Starting with education about elections, the United Nations role has also included logistics, observations and verification of elections. In some countries the entire organization and operation of the elections has been a United Nations responsibility.

But holding elections is often only the beginning of democratization. In the past, countries willing to support elections were reluctant to go further. But the United Nations has served as a forum for consensus on the need to create a culture of democracy. Today, the United Nations supports democratization through drafting constitutions, strengthening human rights laws, enhancing judicial structures, and helping armed opposition movements transform themselves into political parties.

To the French Institute of International Relations, Paris, 21 March

I know that it is not customary to speak about oneself in public. But I am none the less going to make a confession to you: it is not always easy to be Secretary-General of the United Nations. For the Charter of San Francisco has created a very singular post for its occupant.

If you are too cautious, the Member States begin to whisper and to ask each other whether they have made a wise choice. Conversely, if you engage in a diplomacy that is too active, they are quick to remind you that you are merely the humble servant of an organization consisting of sovereign States.

The States want you to be both self-effacing yet enterprising, quiet yet dynamic, disciplined yet to have imagination. As you see, that is quite a challenge for anyone to attempt to deal on a continuing basis with such contradictions. Particularly since there are, in addition, the contradictions of the present-day world and those of the world Organization.

Upon receiving a doctorate honoris causa from the University of Bordeaux, France, 22 March

States are today well aware that the major problems facing mankind are essentially transnational problems.

Environmental protection, population control, AIDS, regulation of international migration, combating transnational crime, the human settlements of tomorrow; it is today quite obvious that these are global issues and individual nation States have only a very limited influence on them.

The globalization of the economy should therefore be accompanied by a movement for the globalization of democracy.

The United Nations now wishes to become part of this new stage of democratization by encouraging the new international actors to participate in bringing about a global democratic society.

Today, commercial enterprises and financial institutions wield a great deal of power at the global level. It is therefore essential to include transnational enterprises in the development of the law of global society, so that they appear not as predators seeking to take advantage of gaps in the international social order, but as agents of development and important factors for social integration.

To the United Nations Association of China, Beijing, 26 March

In the United Nations, Member States have a unique set of mechanisms for preventing conflict. Preventive diplomacy, conducted early in a dispute, can ease tensions and resolve problems before they erupt in war. Its techniques--from confidence-building measures to fact-finding, from early warning to preventive deployment--were analyzed in "An Agenda for Peace", my 1992 report written at the request of the first-ever meeting of the Security Council at the level of heads of State. Since then, preventive diplomacy has increasingly been recognized as a distinctive and essential field of endeavour.

The United Nations can be most effective in the quiet practice of preventive diplomacy. As an impartial body, with a global mandate, and without the need to publicize its role, the United Nations can achieve a great deal behind the scenes. The United Nations can help parties settle their differences before their confrontation becomes public. Resolving an issue early and privately can be the key to preventing bloodshed.

Upon receiving an honorary doctorate from Koryo University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, I April

Today, we stand at a turning point. Progress is not inevitable. Nations must decide. The world can return to balance-of-power politics and repeated confrontation--or it can choose to carry on with the great modern project of international cooperative interaction.

The correct choice should be clear. Without international cooperation, the world will become a more dangerous place. A world of arms races, of unilateral interventions. Of security barriers between peoples, raising suspicions and tensions. A world marked by terror and threat.

So yes, the choice is--or should be--clear. The United Nations can be the focus of international cooperation for peace and security. But the United Nations is the instrument of its Member States. To the extent that Member States cooperate in making the United Nations an instrument of international conciliation and international security, the world will be a far more stable and secure place.

At a luncheon given by the United Nations Association of Japan, Tokyo, 4 April:

With the fiftieth anniversary year, United Nations efforts have gained new momentum. But there is a danger that this momentum will be lost. A financial crisis has set the United Nations on the brink of bankruptcy. Unpaid assessments now exceed $3 billion.

Serious reform efforts are under way. The Organization has cut expenses. We have streamlined operations and eliminated posts. We are working to reduce waste, duplication and overlap. But as long as the crisis persists, other efforts to reform, cut back and restructure cannot succeed, and the future of the Organization itself is in danger.

This is my number one priority. I am doing all that I can to help resolve the question of payment of arrears so that the United Nations can survive in the short term. In the meantime, I appeal to you as friends of the United Nations, as public-minded citizens, to assist me in this effort. I ask you to speak out in support of settling arrears, and of paying future contributions on time, and in full.

From a lecture on the occasion of the inauguration of the Ralph Bunche Center at Howard University, Washington, D.C., 11 April

The ancient Romans said that a statesman should be suaviter in modo;fortiter in re: soft in manner; strong in action. Ralph Bunche had these qualifies, but, in addition, he had other essential qualities needed by a peacemaker. He was completely honest and straightforward. He totally mastered the details of the problem. He firelessly endeavoured to find a solution. And he relentlessly followed up to solidify what he had achieved. Few statesmen ever worked harder than Ralph Bunche.