YouSaid · the spoken record

Lamberto Dini

lines on the record: 90
first: 1996-09-24
most recent: 2000-09-24
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“Almost 40 years ago he said, “Now the trumpet summons us again ... to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle ... against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself. “Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can ensure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?” (Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961) That is what he said, and this is the wish that I should like to make here: that the United Nations, through its indispensable role, may strengthen its contribution to creating a better and more just world with the unflagging support of its membership.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Yet while they provide praiseworthy services, their sectorial nature means that they cannot have the kind of overall vision that only effective coordination can guarantee. A solidarity pact, therefore, is needed to find the best and most effective way of balancing the supply of and demand for labour, while fully respecting the diversity of the people concerned. The greatest challenge in the age of globalization is to design new forms of cooperation between Governments that will enable each to see that its interests are reflected in international policy decisions. The United Nations continues to be the most natural forum for adopting such decisions and ensuring their implementation. I want to conclude my message today by recalling the words of a great American President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Such efforts should also aim to prevent the spread of pockets of illegality and organized crime by promoting greater stability, moral authority and control in fledgling democracies. This would be invaluable to securing the support of public opinion in industrialized countries for cooperation policies. Thirdly, we need to manage migration so that it is a source of stability and wealth, to the benefit of all. For this to happen, migration must take place legally. If everyone complies with the law, immigrants will be welcomed in their host countries and become fully integrated into society. These three guidelines must be set within a global framework. There are plenty of organizations that deal with migration at the international level.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“First is assistance to the developing countries; assistance in preventing and quelling the tensions that, at least in part, give rise to migration flows, as well as assistance in easing the integration of their economies with those of the more advanced countries. As we all know, this is a priority that the United Nations is pursuing through various committees and through the enhanced role of the United Nations Development Programme. We must strive to improve the instruments already available to us, responding to the visionary proposals of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Secondly, as a deterrent to illegal entry, we need stricter and more consistent law enforcement. Success depends on effective cooperation between the countries of origin, the countries of transit and the countries of arrival.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“As a land of both emigration and immigration, Italy is well situated to address in a constructive manner global migration today. Italian domestic law is based on the principle of “soft integration”, designed to provide permanent residents with an opportunity that does not force them to renounce the rich heritage of their native cultures. It is on these grounds that, here before the General Assembly, I urge the United Nations to raise the awareness of the community of States and introduce appropriate instruments. Three instruments, in my view. deserve to be coordinated and integrated.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“The European Union has made cooperation between national Governments a priority since the European Council meeting of October 1999. But recent experience points to the need for an approach in which only the United Nations can confer the indispensable character of universality. Italy has much to share in this regard. Until a few decades ago, large sections of our population were forced to seek work in distant lands with different languages and traditions. Their lives were often marked by hardship, want and family separation. This chapter of social history had points of light and of darkness, but on the whole it was a source of great moral and spiritual wealth. Starting in the early 1970s, Italy became a land of immigration, although it could not yet provide full employment for all its people.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“In many cases, illegal immigrants find it hard to gain access to the rule-of- law society, and end up being treated as commodities. 10 As we know, immigration has various causes: poverty, ethnic and religious strife, the repression of totalitarian regimes, and the demands of more affluent economies. Today, as never before, immigration is driven by broadcast images that often distort honest hopes for a better life. Moreover, it has reached unprecedented proportions. In fact, since the early eighties the number of countries that receive immigrants has risen from 39 to 67, while the number of countries of emigration has risen from 29 to 55. We would be fooling ourselves to think that a phenomenon of such proportions could be brought under control solely through bilateral agreements.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Then, there is the tragic, heinous trafficking in human beings. As the United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stated in this Assembly, we must put a stop to this trafficking, a stop to boats being cast into the sea, filled with sadness and desperation, driven by hopes in a promised land. The pictures of these illegal crossings have become unbearable. They epitomize a state of affairs governed by the black market, where there is an over-abundance of illegal labour. This new form of piracy would be impossible if those involved knew that they could not count on collusion, safe havens and, all too often, impunity. For example, the Mediterranean Sea, around which great civilizations have prospered, is being crossed by people who pay ruthless exploiters and sometimes become their victims.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Any effort to overcome such negative stereotyping should be applauded, such as the Conference against Racism, scheduled for 2001 in Pretoria. The European Union has a great capacity to take in people, and already has large immigrant communities. But only now is it developing a common approach to immigration. The European Union's strategy relies on cooperation with other countries, since the issue cannot be addressed solely through border patrols and tougher repression of illegal immigration, regardless of the cost. For many years Europe did not have to worry about the long-term consequences of immigration. But today, with a declining birth rate and an ageing population, Europe needs a strategy that embraces the complex process of integrating people from different regions of the world.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“It should be coupled with sound government policies in the beneficiary countries, as part of an integrated strategy underlying a new international social contract. In other words, we must promote a package that combines responsible political, economic and social reforms with an opening-up of international markets. The 2001 high- level intergovernmental meeting on financing for development will provide us with a close opportunity to finalize a strategy. The fears that immigration sometimes generates should not lead industrialized countries to build new walls and fences. Such fears reject contact with diversity and make some feel as if they were strangers in their own country. A Europe built on fear, for example, would ultimately cast immigrants as the imaginary enemy, as a race apart.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Generous remission of the poorest countries' debt is not just an option: I feel it is a must. This is why the Italian Parliament recently approved a law to reduce foreign debt owed to Italy by a total of $6 billion over the next three years. Italy will also play a pro-active role in urging the leading actors in the field of development assistance to show determination in preparing the conference on less-developed countries scheduled to take place in Brussels next May. Moreover, my country confirms its support for the needs and aspirations of the small- island States and the landlocked countries, as it has emphasized in the Economic and Social Council and other forums. But debt reduction is not enough.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“It will take a strong, determined commitment from all of us to draft rules that, if applied, can have a positive impact on international migration flows, to the benefit of both home and host countries. Improving millions of human lives is the fundamental challenge of development: we need a clear, explicit and effective commitment to eradicate poverty. We must realize that in a globalized world, migration can gradually impoverish areas that are already economically and socially disadvantaged. Development assistance initiatives from industrialized countries and non-governmental organizations alike cannot defeat misery and poverty, unless they are accompanied by an awareness that foreign debt is a huge burden for Governments, families and individuals.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Hence the need for mutual tolerance, to safeguard our respective customs and traditions. 9 The growing dimensions of migration have widened the gap between individual government's management capabilities and the individual person's ability to move, which is heavily influenced by progress in communications. All too often this gap is filled by organized crime, by ruthless criminals who, in some cases, traffic in human beings, in what amounts to a modern form of slavery. We need to ask how we can safeguard freedom while impeding slavery; how we can prevent global economic development from sparking social tensions; how we can ensure that the growing contact between different civilizations will produce dialogue rather than intolerance.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Any solution to the problems connected with migration must come to terms with the globalization process. Globalization has reduced distance and time. To an unprecedented degree it has linked countries at opposite ends of the earth. There are even those who speak, perhaps not wrongly, of “the end of geography”. The paradox facing us stems from the real difficulties of globalization extending not only to the economy, finance and information but also to the movements of peoples. Most of these difficulties can be ascribed to the complex transition of many advanced countries to multi-ethnic and multicultural societies. Human beings are not commodities. When individuals move, they preserve their roots, their specificity and their experience, even when they come into permanent contact with societies different from their own.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“To ensure that these contacts and this bond do not mutate into tensions and strife, the community of States must try to understand and manage migratory phenomena. We must work together to prevent migration flows from plunging into chaos, a chaos for which the human person ultimately has to pay the highest price. Migration needs to be governed by fixed, transparent rules. The source, the rationale of these rules is the United Nations, to which the San Francisco Charter in Article I, paragraph 3, entrusts the fundamental role: “To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character.” I submit to you that today migration between or within continents has become an international problem with an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“The year 2001 will be the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. By unanimously adopting the relevant resolution in its fifty-third session, the General Assembly demonstrated its great sensitivity and attention to the profound structural changes under way in our national societies. It thereby sent a strong signal on a number of themes that the Secretary-General has put forth in his report on the role of the Organization in the twenty-first century. These themes cannot fail to include the new face of international migration, whose gravest aspects include illegal immigration and the trampling of human dignity. Dialogue among civilizations should not be addressed in the abstract, academically. It demands real contact and a bond between individuals and peoples.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“I wish to congratulate the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Namibia, Theo-Ben Gurirab, on his wise leadership of the fifty-fourth General Assembly and his able preparation of the Millennium Summit. I would also like to offer the incoming President, Harri Holkeri, my best wishes upon your assumption of this high office. Your commitment and experience will be invaluable in ensuring the success of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly. Italy fully supports the statement made on behalf of the European Union by the current President, French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine, and will make a decided contribution to the objectives he has indicated. Allow me to add that it is also in order to step up our commitment to achieving common goals that Italy is presenting its candidature for the Security Council for the next biennium.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Today’s world is economically more united, but politically more divided. The watchword of the economy is deregulation. But politics requires rules if we do not want anarchy to prevail. Unlike the market, in politics no invisible hand can generate peace and prosperity. What we need is a visible hand that enacts rules and regulations, and obliges States to respect them, both beyond their borders and in the treatment of their citizens. Let us make the United Nations the visible hand of peace and prosperity. This may be the greatest challenge awaiting us. We must face it together, here in this forum, and place it at the centre of the upcoming debate on the role of the United Nations in the twenty- first century.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Of course, States will continue to have different perceptions of national interests, and there will be a continued need to reconcile them peacefully. But for the United Nations to meet the challenges of the new century, our codes of conduct must be placed within a more solid institutional framework. The United Nations Security Council should be made more representative and democratic in composition, in line with proposals of a number of Member States. All the citizens of the world should be able to identify themselves with the United Nations and feel a part of its decision-making and law- making processes; this for the sake of universal sovereignty, which is not the prerogative of a few, but the right of all. The cold war represented an international order dominated by two super-Powers and held in check by nuclear weapons.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“It demands the reformulation of the principle of non-interference, which has sometimes allowed States to neglect their duties towards their citizens. Although the United Nations is an organization of States, the rights and the ideals it protects are those of individuals. I have listed some rules that will help redefine coexistence among peoples through the work of the United Nations. We live in a world in which threats against one group immediately affect every other group and impel them to take responsibility, a world in which the concept of non-interference can no longer be invoked to obstruct action in the face of serious violations of fundamental rights. We must ask ourselves how to address all these changes, for the sake of closer and more equitable international cooperation.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Unless we have a strong institutional network, every peacekeeping operation could end up looking as if we were taking the law into our own hands. Everyone would feel as if he should look out only for his own security, leading to a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, let us resume the disarmament talks, as President Clinton proposed in his statement yesterday, and place our common security on more solid foundations. There is one lesson to be learned from these years of turmoil: actions to prevent and repress the most serious violations of human rights may take precedence over respect for national sovereignty. No Government can hide behind the shield of its own borders. Legitimacy demands the redefinition of relations between States and the international community.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“But stalemates and the paralysis of intersecting vetoes must be avoided by anchoring even the strongest States to a system of rules and principles, balancing their power against the effectiveness and strength of the international institutions. Fifthly, we should strengthen the institutions. The aftermath of the cold war has proved that large political and economic groupings can more easily guarantee ethnic coexistence, religious tolerance and economic advancement. This should be kept in mind whenever pressure builds to release the genie of self-determination from the bottle of State sovereignty. Only the great institutions, whether regional — such as the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance — or universal — such as the United Nations — can close the gap between democratic codification of laws and their effective enforcement.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“This is what makes the ultimate sanction of the United Nations so indispensable, since an international legal standard cannot — except in exceptional temporary situations — be the prerogative of any single group of States. 20 When we defend the rights of others, we cannot pretend that the lives of our own people are not also at risk. By the same token, it would be inconsistent not to place the same value on other human lives as we do on our own. Every culture and tradition must be involved in the defence of liberties and freedom. We cannot ignore the regional dimension of human rights, whose inviolable universal character can be enriched by the varieties of historic experiences.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The second is that, in doubtful cases, particularly where the national councils may be warped by some strong passion or momentary interests, the presumed or known opinion of the impartial world may be the best guides that can be followed.” Today's world has acquired a new sensitivity. It will no longer tolerate the oppression of the weak. This implies a rethinking of the principles of national sovereignty and non-interference that have governed the community of nations for over three centuries, beginning in Europe. But we must avoid double standards, applying one yardstick to friendly countries and another to those that are not.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Otherwise we shall be racing towards fragmentation, seeking forms of independence that are not economically viable and that are vulnerable to others' desire for hegemony. Fourthly, we must learn to appreciate the judgement of others. I would like to quote, in this respect, one of the founding fathers of American democracy, James Madison. He said: “An attention to the judgement of other nations is important to every government for two reasons. The first one is that, independently of the merits of any particular plan or measure, it is desirable, on various accounts, that it should appear to other nations as the offspring of a wise and honourable policy.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“This is why every country must make it a priority to ratify the international instruments for safeguarding human rights. I am thinking in particular of the International Criminal Court, which was instituted in Rome in June of last year. These instruments should be reflected in our national legislation and practice. Finally, we should encourage the involvement of our own institutions. It is in this spirit that we have invited the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, to address the Italian Parliament. Until human rights are firmly institutionalized, doubts will remain over the relationship between legitimacy and effectiveness. The gradual construction of universal citizenship is a learning process to which we all should contribute.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“But our response must be dictated by respect for universal principles rather than by a balance of power. We must beware of conjuring up the spectre of international law as the law of the strongest. We must beware of making some countries more equal than others. To do so would run counter to our best political and cultural traditions, in which the law is meant to protect the weak. The Western world and the Euro-Atlantic institutions are no threat to anyone's integrity, prosperity and freedom. But we must perfect the instruments that uphold the international rule of law. We must spell out the duties of States. We must create a fully fledged corpus of case law on universal human rights. We must work out rules and procedures that will justify the erosion of sovereignty in the name of global responsibility.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The decisions to intervene were made after repeated demands that the culprits end a state of illegality; after an exhaustive and fruitless search for a diplomatic solution; and by a group of States rather than by a single Power. We are living in an age of unfinished wars. In Iraq as in Serbia, authoritarian rulers have been seriously weakened, but they are still in power. How and how much can sanctions be used to replace or complement the use of force? Perhaps we need clearer international strategies and rules that pay heed to the most vulnerable members of society, to the political opposition and to the risk of strengthening despots through sanctions. Our focus should be more on incentives than on sanctions. Thirdly, we need to define rules. No one knows the size or shape of the next challenge.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“We know what these causes of conflict are: the huge gap between the living standards and incomes of different classes and nations; the exponential increase in mass migration from poor to rich countries; cultural difference and the conflicts and fanaticism it triggers; criminal acts for the sake of glorifying or even creating a nation. These are the four horsemen of the contemporary Apocalypse. Secondly, we should use force only as a last resort. Arms should be used to stop criminal behaviour only when economic and political instruments are inapplicable or have failed. Ten years ago, these same instruments brought down totalitarian communism, which was a more formidable enemy than today's tyrants. In the Balkans and in East Timor, peacekeeping operations were launched to address serious, massive and systematic violations of human rights.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“But it would also be wrong to ignore the new demands for certainty and the rule of law: the greatest challenge is how to relate authority to law and lay down codes of conduct and political discipline that reconcile power with legitimacy. Allow me to articulate a set of principles that could guide our action in the new century. First, we should enhance crisis prevention rather than conflict suppression. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has rightly observed that 19 we must eradicate the cultural and economic causes of conflicts and that a culture of conflict prevention must prevail over the culture of conflict suppression.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Does this mean that dividing the world in two was the only way to grant common citizenship to peoples and religious groups that have never learned the art of peaceful coexistence? The international community now takes military action to deal with tragedies that only a few years ago would have left us indifferent, and yet we are still influenced by military assessments, strategic interests, regional solidarity, public opinion and the magnitude of any human rights violations. How can we act according to more precise rules, based primarily on the duty of States to protect the rights of individuals? The crises that have broken out in recent years have raised agonizing dilemmas and difficult questions that demand answers. It would be wrong to use the imperfections of the international system as an excuse for inaction.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The end of the nuclear nightmare has coincided with a rampant proliferation of local conflicts, terrorist acts and traumatic economic and financial crises. Can the end of communism have given peace to former cold-war enemies and conflict to the rest of the world? The cold war brought a precarious, imperfect peace. Was that preferable to the tragic series of conflicts that have embroiled humanity over the past 10 years? The division of Europe helped neutralize tensions throughout the planet. Does this mean that nuclear weapons brought about a period of unprecedented stability, and — as some have suggested, paradoxically — that we should award the Nobel Peace Prize to the bomb? The breakdown of the former international order has created a plethora of new States.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“I congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of the General Assembly; it is a sure guarantee of success for the fifty-fourth session. I also wish to thank your predecessor, Didier Opertti, the Foreign Minister of Uruguay, for his exemplary management of the Assembly's work during the past year. On the many issues facing the General Assembly in the year to come, Italy shares and supports the statement made yesterday by the Foreign Minister of Finland speaking on behalf of the European Union. The last few years of this century have disproved the notion that people and human freedoms take second place to State sovereignty. In Kosovo and East Timor a coalition of States resorted to the use of force, but not for self-seeking national interests, not to defend their borders, not to impose new hegemonies.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“These are some of our suggestions for the “quiet revolution” of the United Nations, to which Secretary- General Kofi Annan has dedicated such passion. We are grateful to him for his efforts. 21 The century that is about to end has taught that there are no definitive and total solutions. Although the institutions are imperfect, they are flexible instruments. It is our high duty to improve them so that they can become the visible hand of stability, together with the invisible hand of the market. Institutions are the only truly indispensable power.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Given the current stalemate over increasing the number of permanent members, we wonder whether it would not make more sense to concentrate for the time being only on an increase in non-permanent seats. The solution of increasing the number of elective seats for every regional group would make it easier for all Member States to have access to the Security Council. After all, this is the same solution that was adopted in 1963, when the only previous enlargement of the Council took place. As to the method we should follow to get there, we believe that on a matter of such crucial importance it is essential that any decision with Charter amendment implications should be adopted by a majority of two thirds of all Member States, as prescribed by Article 108 of the Charter.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The Italian Government will be willing to support any reasonable formula, provided that it does not prejudice the eventual establishment of a common European seat on the Council, distance Italy from the other principal industrial countries or increase the number of countries that are “more equal” than others, transforming the majority of Member States from protagonists into mere spectators. The essential problem is one of principles and criteria. Italy has made and will continue to make an active contribution to this question that is of fundamental importance to international peace and stability. It will continue to fight for a more democratic, efficient and geographically representative Security Council. No one should feel excluded. Every country, no matter how large or small, has a contribution to make, an experience to share.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Significant progress has been made in recent months in identifying measures aimed at improving the transparency and the working methods of the Security Council: greater openness of informal consultations; more involvement of countries that contribute troops to peacekeeping operations and multilateral forces; more prompt and detailed briefings on the Council’s activities by the President-in-office; and ready availability of texts and documents being examined by the Council. But the stalemate continues on the issue of enlarging the Council.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Therefore, I urge those countries that have not yet done so — and they are the majority — to sign the Statute and to start to move towards prompt ratification. The core of every reform touches on the Security Council. It is not enough to strengthen institutions: we must make them more democratic and representative. And it is on the concepts of democracy and representation that the debate over the future of the Security Council pivots.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The international community, and all of us individually, must deepen our commitment to safeguard these rights. The measure of our civilization is the protection we afford to the weakest and most vulnerable social groups. I am thinking first of children who are victims of atrocities whose true dimensions the media is only now beginning to expose. The Rome Statute to establish the International Criminal Court represents what is probably the greatest institutional advancement since the San Francisco Charter. In this field, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, it confers certainty and universality on the Charter’s system of values. But here, too, we must complete our journey.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“We must aim instead to complete the non-proliferation regime and make it more effective and more universal. Security is jeopardized by a breed of terrorism that has become more and more irrational, threatening fragile peace processes, privatizing terror and directing its hatred mostly, but not exclusively, against the Western world and the values it represents. We must therefore redouble our common efforts to fight this scourge. Individual rights are the third component of institutional strengthening, along with prosperity and security. The market and fundamental freedoms, as we increasingly discover, are two sides of the same coin. But human rights are likely to remain abstract or illusory if the United Nations cannot enforce them to the benefit of all individuals and, if necessary, also against their Governments.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“It is looking to the United Nations for additional legitimacy to broaden the scope of its mission. This is another crucial aspect of the system of institutions that can guarantee peace and stability and on which we must build our future. 20 Peace is also jeopardized by resurgent temptations to brandish nuclear weapons in an effort to restore regional balances, enhance national prestige and consolidate national unity. While such goals can be in themselves legitimate, they become totally illusory if entrusted to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, instruments that threaten the very right to life. In the framework of institutional strengthening, we must, as a matter of priority, root out senseless ambitions that rely on lethal weapons.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Renewed institutions will also have to manage the second pillar of stability: security. Here, too, the United Nations must play a central role. I refer not only to its traditional role of direct involvement in peacekeeping operations. Italy, I would underline, continues to provide a strong logistic base, as well as men and resources, for such missions and has long proposed ways to make these operations more efficient and effective. I refer also to the novelty of the future: growing relations with other institutions, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to which the transatlantic community entrusts its defence. The Atlantic Alliance is redefining its strategies, missions and membership, but it is also rethinking its relations with the United Nations in a new spirit.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The time has come to further enhance the rules that have allowed us to unite the continent, banishing war within our borders. To the South, Europe is facing massive waves of immigration. Europe is well aware of the needs that drive to its shores so many people trying to escape from suffocating demographic trends. Europe knows that the only solution is an ambitious policy of solidarity and development. Otherwise, like King Canute, it would be trying to hold back the sea with a wave of its hand. Our cooperation policies must be revitalized to help close the gap between North and South. The Economic and Social Council, whose presidency will be assumed by Italy at the start of the coming year, can be instrumental in eradicating poverty and harmonizing the differences between and the needs of the two hemispheres.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“It will allow the Union to project abroad standards that it would not otherwise be able to preserve, such as stability, competition and social solidarity. The European Union has no intention of hiding behind the shield of its currency. It has no illusions of being an oasis of prosperity sheltered from the tempests of the world. The politicians of Europe are the first to have rethought the limits of national sovereignty. Today, the European Union, in the wake of the single currency, is about to become a political subject, and to participate as such in world leadership, to correct the fragility of the complex systems that govern the world. It is not enough to have strong national powers. For the European Union, too, the time has come to be a “leading nation”.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The market’s supporters should not turn into the standard bearers for a new fundamentalism. The international financial institutions must know how to couple theory and practice, how to avoid strategies that damage society and destabilize the political system for the sake of defending the market. They must initiate policies and reforms that minimize moral hazards in their rescue operations. They must look at society as a whole and not just at its financial dimensions. Otherwise, some will rebel against or flee the market. The United Nations and the international community can rely on the new cohesiveness of the European Union. The European currency, the Euro, demands new responsibilities at the international level as a repository of value and as an investment and reserve currency.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“They conduct constant but instant referendums. The stock market does not always move at the same pace as the economy and society. Relentless technological progress can lead to the exclusion of many from the world of employment. Recent major economic and financial crises show that the market does not always grow when the State shrinks. Rather than enhancing freedom, sometimes it only increases the power of the strongest. It is a dangerous illusion to think the economic sphere can be unhinged from the political system, the social context and the history of nations. There can be no healthy economy without a strong State, without the rule of law, without social cohesiveness and protections — in other words, without respect for peoples or awareness of their history.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“19 While these rules are imperfect and not always respected, we must assert the conviction that it is important and appropriate to observe them. This is the secret of their success. It is up to the economically stronger countries to guarantee continuity in the development of the market. They must be buyers, lenders and the final guarantors if we are to instil confidence and forestall the threat of a global recession. The forces that drive the global economy are the same as those that uphold the fundamental freedoms: the circulation of information and ideas; open borders and societies; the rule of law and individual rights. The challenges facing the economy are the same as those facing freedom. At times, the markets are driven by a short-term logic that privileges the earnings of today over the growth of tomorrow.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The United Nations must be the driving force behind a review of the network of interdependence. Like industrialization in its early days, globalization produces both great progress and dangerous imbalances. Thus, it requires governance. No one country can govern it, however great its political, economic and military power. Our century is drawing to a close with a revitalization of institutions upon which we can build the three pillars of stability: prosperity, security and respect for fundamental freedoms. The first pillar of stability is governance of the economy to prevent crises from degenerating into catastrophes. The time has come to perfect the rules of conduct that guide the development of the global market.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Technology, communications and the market are progressing at a much faster pace than politics and institutions, thus creating a widening gap. In the final years of this century, our challenge is to strengthen institutions and their capacity to coordinate the action of Governments. Globalization has impacts on ideologies and behaviour, societies and institutions. The opening of markets to competition must be accompanied by reaffirmed cooperation among the largest possible number of States. The burden of responsibility falls on the shoulders of the stronger nations, particularly those of the G-7. They have a duty to show solidarity, transforming their privileges into benefits for all humanity. The system of international institutions has the United Nations as its paramount and most authoritative benchmark.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“They have forced the national political classes to set public finances in order and to promote economic efficiency. But a global market requires some measure of global government built on the knowledge that the wealth of single States cannot be separated from the welfare of the international community, a government whose strength rests on the democracy of institutions. As Secretary-General Kofi Annan underlined in his speech, globalization requires good government. This is why we urgently need to strengthen international leadership. The institutions are still not strong enough to provide such leadership, restore confidence, introduce change, stabilize the global economy, guarantee growth and protect the most vulnerable of us in the race towards development.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)