YouSaid · the spoken record

EVANS

lines on the record: 273
first: 1988-09-24
most recent: 1995-09-24
sittings or episodes: 7
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, of course, were there before us. They are, in fact, celebrating at this time not their bicentenary, but their bicentennial bicentenary - some 40,000 years of habitation on Australian soil. All too many of the 200 years of European settlement have been, for our original Australians, years of discrimination, cruelty and oppression, Australians today cannot reverse that history, but not are today's Australians responsible for it. Our duty today is to acknowledge the truth of our history and to redress it. In the past 20 years significant progress has been made. Aboriginal and Islander Australians have the same legal and civil rights as other Australians. We are taking special measures to accelerate access to services and to provide a basis for further economic, social and legal advancement.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“In the absence of such mandatory United Nations sanctions we have worked within the Commonwealth to develop an effective pattern of economic sanctions aiming particularly the banking and financial system, as well as strategies to meet South African propaganda and to strengthen the economic security of the front-line States in meeting destabilization by South Africa. Australia also recognizes that all countries must be answerable to the nations of the world on these issues, and we are willing ourselves to answer to the nations of the world for Australian policies and actions. Every year sees an anniversary of one kind or another, but 1988 is, as I have already said, a special one for my country. Two hundred years ago Europeans arrived to establish permanent settlement in Australia.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“While the founders of the Organization saw immediate issues of peace and security as the pre-eminent role of the United Nations, they also understood clearly that the roots of many of the world's conflicts lay in poverty, suffering and abuses of human rights. Australia insists that human rights know no boundaries. Human rights must always be high on the Organization's agenda. The repulsive and contemptible system of apartheid in South Africa is the most serious instance of institutionalized abuse of human rights facing us today, and we continue to urge the United Nations Security Council to adopt comprehensive mandatory economic sanctions as an effective means of bringing apartheid to a peaceful end.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The quest for greater security through higher and higher levels of conventional arms is only too well known too us all. The International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development provided ample evidence. It is a simple proposition that more arms do not equal greater security. They feed the apathy of instability and the offers of those who choose to supply arms at levels that are well beyond those needed for self-defence. The only way that peace and security will ultimately be guaranteed is by universal acceptance of the principles of common security so well articulated by the Palme Commission in 1982, the thrust of whose conclusions is that no country can guarantee its own security by threatening others and that real security is achieved, not against other countries, but with them.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Ito give effect to that proposed we roust seek to ensure that the international conference is open to participation by all States, is convened as soon as possible this year and is attended at a very high level. The conference must have a clearly defined central purpose: a declaration that chemical weapons roust never be used and a commitment to bring into existence а universal chemical-weapons convention, as currently being negotiated in Geneva, which would rid the world of chemical weapons for all time. One of the clear messages to come from the third special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament in June was that we all have a responsibility for disarmament. We cannot lay the blame for the state o£ the world only at the door of whose who possess nuclear arsenals.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The Secretary-General, after careful investigation, has found repeated use of chemical weapons in the Gulf region. We condemn such use without qualification or equivocation. We are convinced that the only solution to the increasing use and spread of these abhorrent weapons lies in the early conclusion by the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva of a comprehensive chemical-weapons convention. Australia actively supports all practical measures to advance the negotiations for a convention and to prevent the further erosion of international norms against the use of chemical weapons. In this context the proposal for an international conference on chemical weapons use, made last week in the Assembly by President Reagan, has the support of the Australian Government and, we hope, of all Member States of the United Nations.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“And, remembering - as we always must - the terms of the compact that lies behind the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in which the nuclear-weapon States undertook to negotiate nuclear disarmament in good faith and at an early date, we appeal once again to those existing nuclear-weapon States to accelerate the progress they have been making towards the elimination of those weapons. The urgent conclusion of a comprehensive test-ban treaty to prohibit all nuclear tests by all States in all environments for all time would be a major barrier to the further refinement of nuclear weapons, and it would be an additional obstacle to prospective proliferation. I hope the Assembly will once more resoundingly call upon the Conference on Disarmament to resume work on its nuclear-testing item. The most immediate threat is posed by chemical weapons.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“We understand and have shared the frustrations many countries feel at the glacial pace of progress towards nuclear disarmament, but we do not believe that frustration is well served by bringing into question the Non-Proliferation Treaty itself. Does any nation really believe that its security or the safety of the world would be served by a world in which yet more States had nuclear weapons? Further nuclear proliferation would bring about an even more desperately dangerous world than the one we now inhabit. So we appeal once more to those countries that have not yet become parties to the Treaty to do so without delay.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The peoples of the world will be devastated. As the potential victims of nuclear catastrophe, the peoples of all nations have the right to demand real progress and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. They have the right to demand that the nuclear-arms race not take new forms, including its spread into outer space. One of the few things that has given the people of the world some confidence that nuclear catastrophe will not occur is that almost all the nations of the world have undertaken not to acquire nuclear weapons. Australia considers the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which embraces that commitment, to be perhaps the single most important arms-control agreement in existence. We consider its preservation to be of paramount importance to peace and security.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The conclusion by the United States and the Soviet Union of the Treaty on the Elimination of intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, the first arms-control agreement eliminating an entire class of nuclear weapons, is a truly significant development, as is the acceptance under that agreement of highly intrusive provisions for verification, which, in turn, make further agreements possible. Great progress has been made towards concluding an agreement to cut by SO per cent strategic nuclear arsenals and for all those developments Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev deserve the gratitude of us all. But nuclear disarmament and arms control are not matters exclusively for those great Powers that currently possess nuclear weapons. For if there is nuclear conflict, it is not just the peoples of the nuclear-weapon States who will suffer.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The United Nations needs the great Powers, but the great Powers also need the United Nations. There is a wide and growing agenda of issues that cannot be resolved by the great Powers acting unilaterally or bilaterally. The great Powers, alone or together, can hamstring the United Nations; but, alone or together, they cannot by themselves make it work. An effective United Nations requires the collective will and commitment of the whole international community. It is only when this is fully accepted by everyone that the recovery of the United Nations, with all its potential, will become permanent. There can be few areas where this is better exemplified than disarmament and arms control.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“In Burma we have witnessed tragic loss of life as the Burmese people have struggled for their political and economic rights. The Burmese people have our deepest sympathy, and I offer to them Australia's support in the period of reconstruction and reconciliation which must follow the resolution of the current crisis. While there is much still to be done, recent events do hold out prospects for peace that only a few years ago would have been thought of as naive fantasy. Who among us two years ago - even one year ago - would have envisaged, for example, that President Reagan would be able to stand before us at this time and say that in many regional conflicts the Soviet Union had shown a "spirit of constructive realism"? The United Nations itself has been a crucial contributor to the improved East-West atmosphere.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Israel's friends can only view with concern the continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Recent events there put at stake its reputation and future as a liberal democratic State and risk increasing isolation from traditional friends and supporters, like ourselves, who place priority on respect for democratic ideals and fundamental human rights. It is also time for the Palestinians to take historic decisions regarding their relations with Israel. The Palestine Liberation Organization must reject, unequivocally, the use of terror, accept the process of negotiation and be prepared, clearly and without equivocation, to recognize Israel; To be durable, any negotiated settlement must take account of the legitimate interests also of the Syrian Arab Republic, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries of the region.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“There remain, regrettably, a number of regional conflicts and tensions where there has been less progress. Australia is especially concerned about the seemingly intractable nature of the Arab-Israeli dispute. Australia's commitment to the State of Israel is firm; it may be traced back to Mr. Evatt's time and it has not wavered since. The right of Israel to exist within secure and recognized boundaries is and must remain an indispensable condition of peace. It is from this firm basis of commitment and friendship to Israel that we say that peace and justice for Israel will be found only when there is also peace and justice for the Palestinians. The right of self-determination for the Palestinian people, including, if they so choose, the possibility of an independent Palestinian State, must be recognized.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Australia finds encouraging the recent willingness by both South and North Korea to consider resuming dialogue. We believe there is now a real opportunity to bring to an end 35 years of confrontation. There have also been important recent developments relating to the conflict in Cambodia. Talks are taking place among the concerned parties. The Jakarta Informal Meeting, ably presided over by Indonesian Foreign Minister Alatas, realistically noted that a solution would require not only the withdrawal of Vietnamese military forces but also the prevention of the return of the genocidal policies and practices of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) draft resolution this year makes that point, and we welcome that statement.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The process to which the Rocard Government and all the major groups in New Caledonia have committed themselves has Australia's support and that of the South Pacific Forum. We in the South Pacific share with France a determination to assist the peaceful evolution of New Caledonia to self-determination in a way which ensures that the legitimate interests of all the people of New Caledonia, including its indigenous Melanesian population, are fully protected, and their aspirations are given a chance to be realized. Once again, after many years, Korea is on the agenda of the General Assembly - but for the first time as a single item. Australia heartily endorses the common goal of this new item peace, reconciliation and dialogue in the Korean peninsula.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“As a traditional supporter of the United Nations peace-keeping activities, Australia reconfirms its willingness to participate in the United Nations Transition Assistance Group for Namibia, Australia also fully supports the efforts of the Secretary-General towards resolving the conflict in Western Sahara. In recent weeks, the most promising meetings in many years have occurred between the President of Cyprus and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, again under the auspices of the Secretary-General, There have also been encouraging signs in my own region. My visit to New Caledonia three weeks ago and my discussions there with all major parties confirm that the process set in train by the Matignon and Oudinot accords not only is workable but has generated a whole new spirit of reconciliation and optimism.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The international community has a responsibility, through the United Nations, to assist in the reconstruction of that land devastated by invasion and war and to help provide for the millions of refugees it has created. We have all greeted with immense relief the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq, another extraordinary achievement of the United Nations. But we are deeply concerned that, although the fighting has stopped, there has been little apparent progress in talks between Iran and Iraq under the auspices of the Secretary-General. Australia urges both countries to bring about an enduring peace, in accordance with Security Council resolution 598 (1987), In southern Africa there is a distinct prospect that independence for Namibia is at hand but it is still only a prospect.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The Secretary-General and the United Nations peace-keeping forces thoroughly deserve their award of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The Prize is a very timely, recognition of the commitment that this Organization must continue to assert: that deep-seated and genuine differences must be resolved without blood and agony for ordinary men and women caught up in conflicts not of their own making. In Afghanistan, despite many problems, the Geneva Agreements are holding. The Soviet Union has met the target for the withdraw of 50 per cent of its forces, and we urge that it maintain the agreed target of the complete withdrawal. Withdrawal will provide the conditions for the essential next step of allowing the people of Afghanistan to decide for themselves the form of government.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Violence has been father to suffering poverty and homelessness, on a scale that indicts us all. The United Nations has performed indispensable work in dealing with the tragic consequences of these conflicts but the sad reality is that for most of the past four decades it has largely been blocked from performing the task for which it was pre-eminently created, the peaceful resolution of conflict itself. So it is with a profound sense of hope for the future that we look back over the past 18 months. From southern Africa to the Western Sahara, through the Middle East, the Mediterranean, across to Afghanistan and Cambodia, we see the United Nations, led by its Secretary-General, at last bringing to bear the collective will and commitment of the nations of the world.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“In the First World War both his brothers were killed. He had seen the League of Nations collapse into impotence and irrelevance. In the Second World War he had been Foreign Minister when Australia was in grave peril. To him, therefore# the introduction to the Charter - "We, the people of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" - was not just a resounding piece of rhetoric but a commitment born of despair and necessity. Fortunately, we have all been spared a third world war since then but this period has seen, tragedy and suffering wrought on our fellow human beings by a continuous epidemic of conflicts - both regional and internal - which have blotted the world's landscape. We have seen the return of chemical weapons. War has filled the refugee camps of the world.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Not entirely coincidentally, it is also the fortieth anniversary of the presidency of this Assembly of one of the founding fathers of the United Nations, and one of its strongest voices on behalf of the small and middle Powers, Herbert Vere Evatt, then Foreign Minister of Australia, who worked strenuously for, and announced during his presidency, the adoption by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In preparing to address this Assembly for the first time, I turned for a little encouragement to the wisdom and writing of my distinguished Labour Government predecessor, and I was not disappointed. A very great deal that Mr. Evatt did and thought, and that was important to him, stands the test of those 40 years. Twice in his lifetime Mr. Evatt had seen the world tear itself apart.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“I warmly congratulate Mr. Caputo of Argentina on his election to the important post of President of this General Assembly. Our two countries share important objectives in relation to Antarctica and the liberalization of trade in agricultural products. I also acknowledge the courageous role he personally has played in the consolidation of constitutional democracy in Argentina. It is a great pleasure, therefore, to see him presiding over our deliberations at this particularly auspicious time for the United Nations. This year of 1988 is not only a special one for Australia, marking our bicentenary, but also for the United Nations, marking as it does the fortieth anniversary of the? Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a landmark in the struggle of the international community to guarantee individual rights for all people.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)