YouSaid · the spoken record

Atal Behari Vajpayee

lines on the record

64

first

1998-09-24

most recent

2003-09-24

sittings or episodes

4

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

1. “We made explicit our objection that, despite our stand having been made clear, the Treaty text made India?s signature and ratification a precondition for its entry into force. Mindful of its deteriorating security environment, which obliged us to stand apart from the CTBT in 1996, India undertook a limited series of five underground tests, conducted on 11 and 13 May 1998. These tests were essential for ensuring a credible nuclear deterrent for India?s national security in the foreseeable future. These tests do not signal a dilution of India?s commitment to the pursuit of global nuclear disarmament. Accordingly, after concluding this limited testing programme, India announced a voluntary moratorium on further underground nuclear test explosions. We conveyed our willingness to move towards a de jure formalization of that obligation.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

2. “The negotiations on a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty (CTBT) began in 1993 with a mandate that such a treaty would contribute effectively to the non- proliferation of nuclear weapons in all aspects, to the process of nuclear disarmament and, therefore, to the enhancement of international peace and security. India participated actively and constructively in the negotiations, and sought to place the Treaty in a disarmament framework by proposing its linkage with a time-bound programme for the universal elimination of all nuclear weapons. It is a matter of history that India?s proposals were not accepted. The Treaty, as it emerged, was not accepted by India on grounds of national security.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

3. “We must ensure that the legacy of this weapon of mass destruction is not carried into the next century. For the last half-century, India has consistently pursued the objectives of international peace, along with equal and legitimate security for all through global disarmament. These concepts are among the basic tenets of our national security. India has, over the years, sought to enhance its national security by promoting global nuclear disarmament, convinced that a world free of nuclear weapons would enhance both global security and India?s national security.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

4. “Other institutions in our country — the National Human Rights Commission, a free media and an independent judiciary — all serve to ensure that the rights set out in international human rights statutes are enjoyed by all citizens. We also remain convinced that unless progress is made on economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, the world will continue to witness international conflict leading to migrations, displacement of people and human rights abuses. In the closing years of the twentieth century, the challenge of nuclear disarmament is another of the priorities facing the international community. We have successfully prohibited chemical and biological weapons in recent decades. The present century has witnessed the development and the tragic use of nuclear weapons.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

5. “Analyses carried out in recent years by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees amply reflect the vicious cycle of how violations of economic, social and cultural rights inevitably lead to violations of civil and political rights. In defining its index, the Human Development Report gives a higher weighting to economic criteria for developing countries; this weighting is reduced for developed countries, highlighting the importance of the right to development for developing societies. It is therefore a matter of concern that the absolutism that some are seeking to advocate in the promotion of human rights is often at the cost of the right to development. India has ratified both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

6. “It should be the primary task of all open and pluralist societies to develop collective means for tackling this menace. At its summit meeting in Durban, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries called for an international conference in 1999 to develop such a collective response. We earnestly recommend that the 1999 conference launch the process of negotiations on an international convention to provide for collective action 17 against States and organizations which initiate or aid and abet terrorism. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there is a growing realization that economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights form a seamless web.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

7. “It is the most vicious among international crimes, and the most pervasive, pernicious and ruthless threat to the lives of men and women in open societies, and to international peace and security. In India, we have had to cope with terrorism aided and abetted by a neighbouring country for nearly two decades. We have borne this with patience, but none should doubt the strength of our resolve to crush this challenge. Its tentacles have spread around the world. Today, it has links with illicit trade in drugs and arms and with money-laundering. In short, terrorism has gone global and it can only be defeated by organized international action. Let us make up our minds once and for all: terrorism is a crime against humanity. Unilateral steps can hardly stand scrutiny in an open society, let alone in the eyes of the international community.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

8. “The challenge before countries like mine and other democracies is to maintain our openness, safeguard individual rights, and at the same time give no quarter to terrorists. Several speakers before me have recounted the terrible toll that terrorists have exacted worldwide, taking advantage of the trust that characterizes open societies. I recall that the Group of Seven summit almost two decades back identified terrorism as one of the most serious threats to civilized societies. Events since then, including the blowing up of the Air India Kanishka aircraft and the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, and the recent bombings in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, have only established the correctness of that judgement. Terrorism is one threat that affects us all equally. Terrorism takes a daily toll around the world.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

9. “Only this will make the Council an effective instrument for the international community in dealing with current and future challenges. The new permanent members must of course have the ability to discharge the responsibilities that come with permanent membership. India believes it has that ability, and, as we have said before from this rostrum, we are prepared to accept the responsibilities of permanent membership, and believe we are qualified for it. It will be a great day when democracy becomes the universal norm, and when the United Nations reflects that democracy in its institutions and functioning. However, open democratic societies have one scourge to contend with: terrorism.”

   1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

10. “The presence of some developing countries as permanent members is inescapable if the responsibilities of the Security Council are to be effectively discharged, particularly when we see that the Council acts almost exclusively in the developing world. It is only natural that on decisions affecting the developing world, these countries should have a say, on equal terms. Along with other measures, the Security Council too must be reformed, expanding its non-permanent membership so that more developing countries can serve on it. But that alone is not enough, because as long as effective power in the Council rests with the permanent membership, the interests of the developing world will not be promoted or protected unless developing countries are made permanent members on a par with the present permanent members.”

    1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

11. “Following the end of the cold war, it acquired the freedom to act, but experience shows that the Council has acted only when it was convenient for its permanent members. The experience of Somalia does not do credit to the Security Council — and there are other examples too. Peacekeeping operations cannot be a reflection of ulterior political priorities and perceptions. There is only one cure: to bring in new blood. The Security Council must be made representative of the membership of the United Nations. Developing countries must be made permanent members. This is a right to which the developing world is entitled.”

    1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

12. “The shackling constraints of the cold war are gone. The distinguishing feature of the last two decades has been the spread of democracy worldwide. By force of example, we have been one of the authors of the triumph of democracy. From this flows our desire to see the democratization of the United Nations itself. An international body that does not reflect, and change with, changing international realities will inevitably face a credibility deficit. We therefore support a revitalized and more effective United Nations, one that is more responsive to the concerns of the vast majority of its Member States and is better equipped to meet the challenges that are ahead of us in the twenty-first century. The Security Council does not represent contemporary reality; it does not represent democracy in international relations.”

    1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

13. “The Janata Government was a coalition of many factions, which united in the restoration of our people?s faith in democracy. Since then we have had many changes of Government, but the people?s political awareness and their faith in the institutions which uphold our constitutional system has been unwavering. Today, when I come to this rostrum as Prime Minister, I come on behalf of another coalition. India has demonstrated that democracy can take root in a developing country. I am confident that the Indian experience will prove that democracy can also provide the basis for stable, long-term economic growth in developing societies. That is the path that the people of India have chosen, and I stand before the Assembly today as the symbol of this new resurgent India. 16 The world of the 1970s has receded into history.”

    1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)

14. “I congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session. We wish you well in our shared endeavours in the United Nations and offer you our full cooperation. We would like to thank your predecessor for his commitment and contribution, and to commend him for his work throughout the last year. I first addressed the Assembly as Foreign Minister in 1977. Since then I have for many years had the privilege to attend General Assembly sessions, but without ministerial responsibility. I acknowledge with gratitude the confidence of successive Prime Ministers. To me, this also signifies the consensus on the national interests and the foreign policy of India. When I addressed the General Assembly in 1977, it was in many ways a turning point in the history of India.”

    1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)