Tools for settling disputes - before they become conflicts.

In a speech of peace-keeping during his four-day official visit to Canada in March, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar outlined a number of "techniques and tools" to handle potential crises at an early stage.

Speaking at Carleton University in Ottawa on 8 March, he said that in seeking settlement of an international dispute, a number of inter-related techniques can be used: achieving a "cooling-off" period; fact-finding; third-party intervention for mediation, adjudication or provision of good offices; application of pressure through resolutions, sanctions and mobilization of public opinion.

When parties are unwilling to find the means for a peaceful settlement, and one or both sides will not seek objective mediation, the United Nations or the appropriate regional organization has "the clear responsibility ... to carry out the duties of the peacemaker".

The Security Council, he said, should become engaged at an early stage in such disputes. It could dispatch fact-finding missions to areas of tension; hold direct consultations with parties at an early stage of a dispute; or seek the agreement of the States to deploy peace-keeping forces or military observers in the area to discourage any incident involving armed exchanged before it happens.

The unique capacity of the United Nations "to provide an acceptable means of communication, and to assist parties, with complect objectivity, in finding common ground is an absolutely essential element in the peace-making process," he said.

Mr. Perez de Cuellar's address at Carleton University was one of four formal speeches made during the Canadian trip (6-9 March.)

On 6 March in Toronto, his first stop, he met with Robert Welch, Deputy Premier of Ontario and participated in a United Nations Association of Canada seminar, before addressing the Association on the critical economic and social situation in Africa.

Priority must be given to immediate action to save human lives, he said. It was also important to undertake parallel measures to deal with the causes of the situation as well as to help restore the basic conditions for development. Action must be undertaken immediately to restore soil fertility to drought-stricken areas.

The roots of the crisis in Africa lay also in weak economic structures and the negative impact of the international economic environment since 1980. Since the exact mix of problems varied from country to country, the underlying principle for action should be a country-level approach, although there were common elements, such as the debt-servicing problem.

On arriving in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, on 7 March, Mr. Perez de Cuellar was greeted by a 21-gun salute and inspected a guard of honour. In various meetings, he discussed Canada's role in the United Nations with prime Minister Brian Mulroney, particulary its contribution in the area of peace-keeping, where Canadian forces participated in almost all United Nations operations. The functioning of specialized agencies was reviewed, and, in that context, the present situation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The Secretary-General reaffirmed his belief in the universality of international organizations. The situation in southern Africa was also discussed.

At a meeting with Canadian Governor-General Jeanne Sauve, Mr. Perez de Cuellar reviewed international problems of concern to the United Nations.

With Joseph Clark, Secretary of State for External Affairs, the Secretary-General discussed Central America, United Nations efforts to help drought-affected African countries, East-West relations, disarmament matters, the situations relating to Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq conflict and the public perception of the United Nations.

Address to Parliament

Also on 7 March, in addressing a joint session of the Canadian Parliament, Mr. Perez de Cuellar called on "influential States like Canada to use the opportunities afforded by the United Nations for giving a fresh impulse to encouraging the comprehensive and durable settlement of regional conflicts".

He suggested that Canada could "play a most useful role in the promotion of the North-South dialogue". There was no primordial or inherent conflict between the interests of the developing and industrialized countries; all would benefit from a more efficient, less unbalanced and less crisis-prone global economy "If the positions respectively formulated by the two sides seem irreconcilable, a more imaginative approach can help to bridge the gulf. What is important is that the dialogue should be free from the tone of confrontation."

On 8 March, the Secretary-General received the keys of the city from Mayor Marion Dewar at the Ottawa Town Hall. Before being presented an honourary degree of Doctor of Laws from Carleton University, he met with students from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.

Later that day he flew to Quebec City, where he met with Rene Levesque, Premier of Quebec, and a number of provincial officials.

He also spoke at the third Annual Colloquy on Constitutional Law organized by Laval University, on the subject "Internationalism and human rights". He said the advances made in the promotion and protection of human rights during this century--particularly since the establishment of the United Nations--had been "unprecedented in mankind's history".

The legitimacy of international concern for human rights as registered in contemporary international law, and many norms for the protection of the individual and for safeguarding human rights had "entered the very structure of the international community" and attained the status of imperative normsn of international law--norms of jus cogens.

Norms which had been universally adopted must now be applied everywhere in the world and the human rights and fundamental freedoms of every individual must be respected, he said. The development of technical assistance in the field of human rights must become a United Nations priority objective.

On 9 March, before leaving for New York, Mr. Perez de Cuellar toured the old cit of Quebec and visited its museum. He also attended a luncheon given by Bernard Landry, Minister for International Relations and foreign Trade of Quebec.