Australia's Hopes for the United Nations in the Twenty-First Century

Speech

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer

Melbourne, 3 July 2000

Australia's Hopes for the United Nations in the Twenty-First Century

Speech by The Hon Alexander Downer, MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs,to the 2000 National Youth Conference of the United Nations Youth Association,Melbourne, 3 July 2000.

Introduction

I am very pleased to be addressing this Conference today. It is very important for Australians to take notice of what is going on in the world around them and I often think they don't do enough of that. That may be partly because I'm the Foreign Minister, but there is no doubt that what is happening in the world does affect our daily lives. Changing trade patterns influence how our exporters go about their business, armed conflicts may threaten our national security interests, and environmental changes on a global scale have the capacity to affect our climate.

Issues of this kind are not new to the United Nations Youth Association, which for more than 35 years has done wonderful work in raising the awareness of young people about the United Nations and international issues in general. In doing so, the Association has involved young people in the debate on issues that are of fundamental importance to all of us. I am enthusiastic about this work, not only because people like you represent our future, but also because the involvement of youth in the issues of today is important for its own sake.

Your participation in this Youth Conference gives each and every one of you an opportunity to gain some valuable insights into the functioning of the United Nations, and into the issues it addresses. There may even be someone here today who will one day be doing my job and, as I have done, making appearances on behalf of Australia before the UN General Assembly. I never went to a Conference quite like this one when I was defined as a ``youth'', so you will be better prepared than I was!

Today, I want to say something about Australia's hopes for the United Nations in the twenty-first century. I will speak a bit about the role played by the United Nations in the attainment of Australia's foreign policy objectives, and then go on to look at some of the areas where we think the UN system could benefit from reform.

The role of the United Nations and of multilateral diplomacy

At the beginning of the 21st century, we need to ask ourselves whether the United Nations of the year 2000 is well equipped for meeting the challenges of the decades that lie ahead. Governments, the media, UN associations, academics and NGOs can all play a role in ensuring that the UN remains a central player in its important work in the pursuit of peace, economic and social development and human rights.
Each the 188 member states, as well as the other players who also have a stake in its future, may have its own vision for the future of the United Nations. Today, I would like to share with you an Australian perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the United Nations system and their meaning for us.

By way of introduction, I want to describe the role of multilateral diplomacy in the overall pursuit of Australia's foreign policy objectives, as the Government sees it.

You may be aware of the White Paper on Foreign and Trade Policy - the first of its kind - that our Government released in 1997. The Government makes it clear in this document that it regards our bilateral relationships - the direct links Australia has with other individual nations - as the basic building blocks for developing regional as well as global strategies. It is important, in working towards our foreign policy goals, that bilateral, regional and global efforts be pursued in an integrated and mutually supportive way.

We consider that our efforts in multilateral forums, including the United Nations, must concentrate on those areas where our national interests are most directly engaged. Quite often by investing in multilateral diplomacy, we are able to use our "multilateral smarts" in order to supplement and advance our national interests. Indeed, the most effective means of advancing Australia's interests on some issues are through the United Nations.

Australia's interests and the United Nations

An example which will still be fresh in people's minds of how the Australian Government works towards its objectives at all levels in an integrated approach is the strong support we received from the highest levels of the United Nations over the case of the two CARE Australia workers - Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace - who were imprisoned in Yugoslavia. Not only did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan raise the case directly with the Yugoslav Government, he also sought to keep the case on the agenda of the United Nations until its resolution when considering UN involvement in providing humanitarian assistance and reconstruction aid to Yugoslavia.

The United Nations was one of the first organisations to recognise that the CARE workers' case had major implications for the security of international humanitarian agencies and their workers operating in conflict situations. Put simply, if this could happen to the CARE workers, it could happen to any humanitarian workers. This remains a very significant issue for the United Nations, which has many of its agencies on the ground in Yugoslavia and around the world, including the High Commission for Refugees, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. All these bodies lent their support to appeals for the release of Mr Pratt and Mr Wallace.

East Timor is is the most recent, and perhaps most dramatic, example of Australia working with the United Nations. As most of you know on 5 May 1999, after 16 years of United Nations-sponsored negotiations, the governments of Indonesia and Portugal, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, signed an historic three part agreement providing for a United Nations-organised consultation process for the East Timorese people.

Australia played a key role in supporting the establishment of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), the body which was mandated under UN Security Resolution 1246 to conduct the popular consultation. Australian Government efforts included: ongoing consultation with UN officials in New York and Dili on progress in establishing UNAMET; representations to the Indonesian Government on UNAMET activities; ongoing encouragement for members of the international community to support UNAMET, including through contributions to the UNAMET Civilian Police (CIVPOL) and Military Liaison Officer (MLO) contingents and through donations to the Trust Fund; and working to ensure passage of the funding resolution.

Australia's total financial contribution (direct and in-kind) was the largest individual contribution to UNAMET. The Australian Government contributed A$10m to the UNAMET Trust Fund and more than $A10 million in in-kind contributions, provided through Australia's aid program, to UNAMET. These contributions were additional to Australia's assessed contributions to UNAMET. These financial contributions were supplemented by human resource assistance: former Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Alan Mills was appointed head of CIVPOL; 50 AFP officers were deployed as CIVPOL; and the Australian Defence Force contributed 6 of the 50 UN MLOs. In addition, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) assisted with electoral planning, conducting the ballot for the East Timorese diaspora in Australia, and providing voter registration equipment kits and ballot papers. The AEC also helped with the development of registration, polling and counting procedures and the training of UNAMET electoral staff.

The popular consultation ballot in East Timor was successfully held on 30 August 1999 with a voter turnout of 98.6 percent. The result of the vote was announced on 4 September: 78.5 per cent of voters had rejected the proposal for special autonomy within Indonesia.

The announcement of the result was followed by widespread violence, attacks on UNAMET and population displacement, with pro-integration militias and elements of the Indonesian military and police appearing responsible for the violence. The international community, led by the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General, condemned this violence and called on Indonesia to fulfil its responsibility under the Agreement for maintaining security in East Timor.

Against the backdrop of Indonesia's loss of control of the situation on the ground in East Timor, and a looming humanitarian crisis, Australia assumed responsibility for mobilising an international response to the crisis and helped to secure Jakarta's agreement to the insertion of a multinational force into East Timor. Australia worked hard to build a firm consensus on the need for an international force to restore order, resulting in UN Security Council Resolution 1264. With the looming humanitarian crisis, speed was of the essence. The groundwork for the resolution was laid in previous Security Council resolutions, which clearly reaffirmed Indonesia's responsibility for the maintenance of security.

The results of the mobilisation effort were remarkable. On 12 September, President Habibie announced Indonesia's preparedness to accept such an international peacekeeping force through the auspices of the United Nations. On 15 September the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1264 authorising the establishment of a multinational force (MNF) under a unified command structure. The MNF, named the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET), was authorised by the Resolution to pursue a three-fold mandate: to restore peace and security; to protect and support UNAMET in carrying out its tasks; and, within force capabilities, to facilitate humanitarian assistance.

On 20 September INTERFET successfully deployed to East Timor. Australia led the force, as leader of the "coalition of the willing", through INTERFET Commander Major-General Peter Cosgrove, while Thailand provided the Deputy Commander position. At its peak, INTERFET consisted of around 9,900 troops on the ground from 22 nations.

As you will all be aware, INTERFET complied meticulously with its mandate and succeeded in restoring peace and order to the chaos engulfing the territory.

The deployment of a Multi-National Force in East Timor served the purpose of providing a rapid response to an immediate humanitarian crisis, while simultaneously allowing the UN time to assemble a `blue beret' peacekeeping force and develop longer term strategies.
INTERFET benefited from a clear UN mandate and operational end state. Security Council Resolution 1272, establishing the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), gave INTERFET a clear end state and identified the pre-conditions necessary to transfer military responsibility to UNTAET.

These examples indicate Australia has worked with and through the United Nations to achieve our own specific foreign policy objectives. But now I would like to discuss an aspect of the United Nations' work which is not only of great importance to Australia but to the international community as a whole.

One of the areas in which the United Nations has proven it can function effectively is as a forum and catalyst for international arms control and disarmament efforts. This is a point I have made before but it bears repeating. Remarkable progress has been made in these areas in recent times. Developments such as the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty are good examples of that progress. These negotiations have led to results which in fact make the world a much safer place.

Nevertheless, there are still many significant problems to address in our world, and it will be up to the United Nations collectively and to its members acting individually to meet those challenges. Today, I will mention just two examples - the immediate commencement and early conclusion of negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty, which will ban the production of the fissile material that is used in the production of nuclear weapons, and the completion of international efforts to ensure the effective elimination of landmines as a weapon of war.
Adapting the UN to the challenges of the twenty-first century

The United Nations can point to many notable achievements over the years. However, there are many detractors around the world who criticise the United Nations, and it must be acknowledged that some of that criticism is justified. For the United Nations to survive as an effective body into the 21st century and beyond, it must ensure that these criticisms, where valid, are addressed.

The United Nations has to be realistic about what it can achieve if it is to be effective. At a time when the organisation's resources are diminishing, while competing priorities always seem to be increasing, this point is particularly important. It does not mean stepping back from the ideals enshrined in the United Nations Charter, but it does mean keeping the organisation's priorities under constant and careful review. It means focusing the UN's efforts on activities it does effectively, and diverting resources away from those areas of activity where it has not shown itself to be effective.

The United Nations needs to modernise and streamline the way in which its various components - treaty bodies, Specialised agencies, other United Nations bodies and mechanisms - interact and cooperate. It must do the same for the way in which it delivers its services. Reforms such as these will not only allow the United Nations to work better, but will also provide savings that can be used in programs which benefit all member states.

While this process has already commenced, more needs to be done. Australia has welcomed the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General over the last few years to rationalise and refine procedures in the United Nations . We are also pleased to see concrete steps being taken by some Specialised Agencies to reform their administrative and budgetary procedures.

As it moves into the 21st century, the United Nations will have to modernise its structures, like the Security Council and the United Nations's electoral group system. We all know that the international environment has changed radically since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. Developments such as widespread decolonisation, the diversification of economic and political power, the end of the Cold War, and accelerated regionalisation and globalisation have transformed the international community. But change in the United Nation's structures has not kept pace with these fundamental changes in the world at large.

Australia remains committed to bringing about these reforms. We have been actively working towards this end. The important thing about reform is that it will be a means of ensuring the United Nations remains credible in the eyes of its members and is able to exert genuine authority. We do not want reform for its own sake. We believe that the forthcoming 55th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which has officially been designated the Millennium Assembly, presents an important opportunity to move the reform process forward and to address what kind of United Nations we expect and want in the decades to come.

I would like to talk now, in particular, about one of the Government?s main priorities in the context of UN reform - how to ensure the effective operation of the UN human rights treaty body system, which should be a key component in UN efforts to promote and protect human rights. Many governments, including Australia's, have long had concerns about the sustainability of this system under which states report to expert bodies on their implementation of obligations under the main UN human rights treaties.

There are serious systemic problems in this reporting process and the resources needed for them to play their role effectively are not allocated to the treaty bodies. As a result, the outcomes of the system are not always fair and accurate assessments of states' performances. This was the case for Australia recently in relation to our implementation of the Convention against Racial Discrimination and led to a decision by the Government to conduct a whole-of-Government review on the operation of the UN treaty committee system as it affects Australia.

This Review is not about walking away from our international obligations nor disengaging from the UN system, but to look at how to make it work better. In this context, we will be able to build on work that Australia has been doing with other states on reform of the committee system for some years.

The way in which services are delivered needs to addressed. The human rights treaty bodies all need to look more closely at ways of improving their working methods and procedures to ensure the highest levels of professionalism and efficiency. Part of this will be a continuing commitment to strengthening linkages and improving coordination between the treaty bodies and with other United Nations bodies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, please let me make one thing clear: the United Nations is without doubt a unique organisation and an essential element of the international landscape, but it also needs to make real progress on reform if it is going to enjoy the continuing confidence of the international community in the organisation's ability to add real value to the conduct of international relations.

The UN's member states must play their part in this process. Reform will only be effective if member states work together in a sustained and cooperative way to maximise the contribution which the UN system can make to addressing international problems. Reform will only be sustainable if member states agree to put the organisation on a sounder financial footing by paying their contributions on time and in full.

We said in our White Paper: "International organisations can only accomplish what their member states are prepared to enable them to accomplish". And this statement is just as true today as it was in 1997.

As a final point, I'd like to emphasise the significant role that other players have in ensuring the United Nations remains a credible force into the 21st century. And by "other players" I mean people like you - journalists, the United Nations youth associations, academics and members of NGOs. Conferences such as this one should foster greater understanding and appreciation of the UN system, and contribute to the wider debate on how the United Nations can and should be fulfilling its mandates.

I wish you well in your coming debates. I look forward to hearing about some of your conclusions when the Conference's Youth Motion is forwarded to my Department. Perhaps, some years from now, I'll have the pleasure of seeing some of you on the floor of the General Assembly, continuing Australia's commitment to the United Nations system and its reform. And I won't be too surprised if it really does happen.