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Malta Statement at UN: "Report Of The Secretary-General On The Work Of The Organisation"
PR1649
15/10/1996
15/10/1996
| The Humanitarian Imperative had transformed the UN into a | symbol of hope for those who lived the daily agony of extreme poverty and exclusion, said Ambassador Joseph Cassar when he addressed the General Assembly on the "Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organisation". The Malta Statement outlined how emerging political, social and economic situations continued to challenge the UN and pose institutional challenges which required adaptation. The inability of most societies to contain or address certain issues purely within their national boundaries, gave the UN renewed impetus. |
| Malta's Permanent Representative to the UN, Dr. Joseph Cassar, | recalled Prime Minister Dr. Edward Fenech Adami's appeal during the World Summit for Social Development to heed, "the cry of millions of infants world-wide whose life is threatened by hunger. Our commitment is a debt owed to future generations." |
| Promotion and protection of human rights was another key aspect of | this humanitarian imperative. The focus on human rights "has been instrumental in demolishing those walls behind which authoritarian regimes which trampled upon human dignity sought to hide. It has inspired and enabled us to combat the violation of human rights and to restore social justice, freedom and progress". |
| The follow-up to recent UN World Conferences was central to | the undertakings of the UN to address population and development, women's rights, shelter. Reform of the United Nations such an expanded Security Council and a revitalized General Assembly, remain institutional priorities. The principle of sovereign equality of States was fundamental to the Organisation and particularly for the role of the General Assembly. |
| The proposal launched by the Deputy Prime Minister, Prof. Guido de | Marco, as President of the 45th Session of the General Assembly, to allocate the coordination of the areas constituting the Common Heritage of Mankind was outlined as part of the institutional reforms being discussed by Member States. |
| Dr. Cassar stated that the will and persistence for co-ordination | and cooperation "should remain with us as we address and map out co-operation in other complex areas which range from transboundary pollution to drug trafficking, from overfishing to money laundering". In this regard enhanced codification of international law was a tool by which States exercised restraint and found recourse to mechanisms of peaceful settlement of dispute. |
| Concluding, Ambassador Cassar stated that notwithstanding the | critical manner in which the UN was at times viewed, the need for a continued commitment to the principles which gave the United Nations birth, had never been called into question. "These principles remain at the core of our daily effort. The spirit of solidarity which bonds human being and societies has helped us overcome obstacles and challenges to peace. It is this same spirit which continued to unite our nations". |
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