YouSaid · the spoken record

Shamuyarira

lines on the record: 70
first: 1992-01-31
most recent: 1993-07-15
sittings or episodes: 4
sources: un-security-council

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

“One region is clearly overrepresented on the Council, while Africa and Latin America are not represented at all among the permament members. Zimbabwe believes that the decisions of an expanded and more representative Council would carry more weight. We support the proposal of the Organization of African Unity that matters of restructuring the organs of the United Nations should be discussed in the General Assembly so that members there can express their views and contribute to the new world order which we are discussing. On the question of human rights, Zimbabwe is fully committed to the promotion of the full enjoyment of all basic human rights by all citizens in any State that is a Member of the United Nations.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“The increase in the total membership of the United Nations alone is sufficient to warrant expansion of the membership of the Council. The Prime Minister of India gave us some figures to indicate the rapid increase that has taken place in the membership of the United Nations itself. The Security Council takes decisions of major importance on behalf of the entire membership of the United Nations. Those decisions should be made representative of the will of the general membership. In 1945, the Council represented 20 per cent of the United Nations membership; but now, with United Nations membership having risen to 166, the Council represents less than 10 per cent. Clearly, the Council has become less representative than it was before, and the question of equitable geographical representation also has to be addressed.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“In the new climate resulting from the ending of ideological confrontations, a reexamination of the conclusions of the International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development, held here in New York in 1987, might help us to go forward. A proposal to expand the membership of the Security Council and to ensure equitable representation in this body has been before the General Assembly since 1979, alongside the other items which I mentioned earlier, which have also been before this body for some time. The Council. cannot afford to shield itself from change at a time when all the other major organs of the United Nations are going through a process of reform and when new international circumstances call for readjustments.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“'But the route we should take in the area of disarmament is to demilitarize consistently both the domestic and the international situations. 'The manufacturers as well as the recipients and users of dangerous weapons should be stopped from trading in death. We should demilitarize our societies in the new world order. In Africa, many Governments are rightly linking disarmament to development. They visualize a situation where more funds will now be made available for debt relief and various forms of aid. The vast sums of money being spent on armaments would go a long way towards ameliorating the plight of millions of people in developing countries who are in dire need of resources to raise their standards of living.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“In addition to unilateral reductions of nuclear arsenals, those who hold nuclear weapons should demonstrate their commitment to making the post-cold war world a safer place by subscribing to the conversion of the present partial test-ban Treaty of 1962 into a comprehensive test-ban treaty. Having ourselves recently acceded to the non-proliferation Treaty - and we are happy to note that some members at this table are in the process of acceding to that Treaty ~ we hope that at the next review of the Treaty our oft-voiced concerns will be adequately addressed. In particular, we hope that the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspections of the nuclear facilities of recent adherents to the non-proliferation Treaty will be thorough and detailed. We should avoid taking action when it is too late.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“In tandem with the Arms Transfer Register, we believe that multilateral disarmament could further be boosted by the use of the provisions of Article 26 and of paragraph 1 of Article 47 of the Charter, which empower the Security Council, with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee, to put in place a system for the regulation of armaments. These provisions, which have been dormant since the founding of the Organization, would have rendered unnecessary the ad hoc creation by resolution 687 (1991) of the Special Commission currently dealing with the disarmament measures imposed on Iraq. It is our view that an opportunity still exists to utilize them in implementing the disarmament measures for the wider Middle East region provided for in resolution 687 (1991).”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“In the face of the growing menace from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which has been referred to, we hope that by addressing the issue of disarmament in resolution 687 (1991) and in the draft declaration before us, the Security Council has now come to recognize this principle as well. We also believe that the Security Council should ensure that the initiators of the Arms Transfer Register established by the General Assembly only last month, and to which Zimbabwe lent its support, will follow through on their assurances to us that, in time, it will develop into a comprehensive and non-discriminatory register that also covers nuclear-weapon stockpiles, domestic production and the transfer of dual-purpose items.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“We welcome and encourage this trend, and hold out the hope that the veto may eventually be abolished or will fall away because of disuse. While in the aftermath of the Second World War the victorious Powers had special privileges, now in the post-cold war era we believe that we are all victors and that there should be no losers. Consequently, no one deserves any special privileges. Zimbabwe and other non-aligned States have always subscribed to the principle that general and complete disarmament, can only be achieved in the multilateral forum of this body of the United Nations.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“Undoubtedly, this was one of the considerations at San Francisco, but has that issue not now been overtaken by events? In this regard, consideration could be given to extending paragraph 3 of Article 27, which provides that in decisions relating to peaceful settlements of disputes under Chapter VI, a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting. Our view is that this should also apply to Chapter VII, so that those who wield the veto power may not block the imposition of sanctions or any other collective enforcement action where they are party to a conflict. A very positive development in the emerging new world order is the increasing reluctance we see on the part of the permanent members to use their own veto. They now prefer to reach decisions by consensus.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“However, if we are to give such an important role to the Military Staff Committee, its membership cannot remain limited to only a few. Non~permanent members should also participate in all the work of the Committee. This would ensure that collective enforcement actions are not dominated by a single group of countries. Collective enforcement arrangements of the United Nations should also ensure uniformity. In the event of aggression, combined international enforcement action should be taken irrespective of who the aggressor is or who the victim. Zimbabwe believes that a collective security system liable to a veto by one or a few States is not reliable. It means that the Security Council cannot take any action in a conflict in which one of the permanent members has a direct interest.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“We shall certainly cooperate in looking at those issues in much greater depth. A related issue that may need to be looked at again is the effect economic sanctions may have on innocent civiliams living in a State whose Government they cannot change. Such people lack the political means to reverse the very policies that give rise to the offence that is the object of sanctions. In order to avoid the many misgivings expressed by some regarding the prosecution of the Guif War, future collective enforcement operations must be fully accountable to the Security Council and should be truly representative. This can be achieved by strengthening Article 46 of the Charter, which gives a role to the Military Staff Committee.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“Although Article 50 was designed to give some protection to such States, the experience of the Gulf war revealed that some gaps need to be closed. The application of sanctions against Iraq brought hardship to many countries in the region and beyond. The fact that representations continue to come to the sanctions Committee from the most affected States even today demonstrates the inadequacy of Article 50. What is required are clear criteria for determining who deserves assistance and standing United Nations arrangements for the mobilization of the resources needed to assist the affected States. We hope that when the Secretary-General presents his recommendations to us before July, as we shall request him to do at today's meeting, he will have had time to reflect on some of the issues that we are only mentioning now.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“Obviously, I will not deal at length with these provisions; my task has been made lighter by some of the references already made by earlier speakers such as the President of Venezuela, the President of France and the Prime Minister of Japan to the need to look again at the Charter. In the emerging international situation we would like to see increasing use of Article 41, Chapter VII, of the Charter, relating to effective collective measures that can be taken, but not involving the use of armed force. That means more use of measures such as economic sanctions to ensure compliance with Security Council resolutions. But the problem with economic sanctions is the adverse effect they may have on third countries, or what are called victim States.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“Certainly, the Organization of African Unity would like to see greater assistance from the United Nations in areas of strife in Africa that need some international external intervention. But, as I said, this was not specifically provided for in the Charter; we have been operating under arrangements we made in the early 1960s as the problems arose. It is in this context that I wish to comment on some aspects of the Charter and to share with colleagues some preliminary suggestions regarding how we can bring some missing pieces into the Charter, how we can reinforce those of its provisions that have served us well in the past, how we can revive some of its potentially valuable provisions that have been dormant, and how we can update the provisions we feel have been rendered obsolete by the changed international situation.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“Perez de Cuellar's report of 1991 rightly observed, the costs and capabilities demanded by modern warfare inevitably led to major modifications in the application of Article 42, Chapter VII, with respect to carrying out combined international enforcement action during the Gulf crisis. Also, we have developed and pursued peace-keeping and peace-making operations which are not provided for anywhere in the Charter. Yet these are among the most effective and successful activities of the United Nations. In the presentations made this morning and this afternoon, much stress has been placed on the importance of the peace-keeping role of the United Nations in the world. We strongly support that view.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“As the principles of the United Nations Charter must govern the global order we wish to construct, and since our efforts should result in a United Nations that is stronger and more effective, Zimbabwe holds the view that the process must begin with a reexamination of the Charter itself in the context of the changing international circumstances. That is also the expressed view of the Organization of African Unity. A new world order can best be constructed by reexamining the Charter, rectifying the flaws and closing the gaps that have been revealed by recent developments, and updating those of its provisions that have been rendered obsolete by the new international circumstances. The fact that we have had to resort to improvisation in certain cases is in itself clear evidence of the need to revise the Charter. For instance, as Mr.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“To make matters worse, as business booms in the international arms bazaar, the weak economies of the South remain in the grip of deepening crisis, while growing poverty - a tragically potent source of instability - is becoming a menace to recent gains in democracy. The responsibility lies squarely with the United Nations and in particular with this Council to rescue us from this unpredictable and dangerous situation. The Organization of African Unity looks to this body to democratize the international system so that all nations big and small can participate fully in peace-making and. peace-keeping.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“We have heard many references to those situations in the speeches made this morning and this afternoon in this distinguished gathering. The bold strides in disarmament that had been made by the United States of America and the then Soviet Union had given us enormous comfort and hope that we were at last safe from the threat of nuclear annihilation. But instead of entering a post-nuclear age we are now witnessing the possible beginning of an age of dangerous and uncontrolled proliferation and civil strife in several areas. As was said by another speaker earlier, some of those areas of civil strife spill over into regional and international threats to peace and security.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“We are greatly indebted also to his predecessor, Mr, Javier Perez de Cuellar, a dignified arbiter who, during his terms of office, turned around the fortunes of this Organization and tirelessly worked for peace, even to the very last minute of his tour of duty. We are grateful to him and we wish him good health and many successes in his retirement. As we meet today we are witnessing ominous developments that threaten to suffocate the fragile positive trends we had begun to see recently. Signs abound that we have entered a world situation almost as unpredictable and dangerous as that which prevailed in the cold-war era. Conflicts and tensions of a new nature are erupting in regions that had been spared instability in the post-Second World War era.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source
“Mr, SHAMUYARTRA (Zimbabwe): May I say how very pleased I am to see you, Prime Minister Major, presiding over our deliberations today. I congratulate you and I thank you for the very timely initiative you have taken in convening this historic gathering. I also take this opportunity to welcome our new Secretary~General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and to convey to him Zimbabwe's congratulations on his election. Those of us who come from Africa have known him as one of our eminent intellectuals and as an unflinching defender of peace. We are appreciative of the enormous wealth of experience and skill he brings to the helm of this world body.”
1992-01-31 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3046 (1992) · source