U.N. - REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON
THE WORK OF THE ORGANIZATION - 1998

I. Achieving peace and security

17. The world has been mercifully free from large-scale regional conflict over the past 12 months. Many local wars have continued, however, and new ones have broken out, including, for the first time in this decade, a war over territory between two neighbouring States, Eritrea and Ethiopia. While there have been some important successes for the international community, including the restoration of the democratically elected Government in Sierra Leone, peace in many parts of the world remains precarious. Moreover peace processes in several regions, including some to which the United Nations has devoted extensive resources over a long period, show a distressing tendency to unravel.

18. Of particular concern is the lack of progress in the Middle East peace process; the turmoil in Afghanistan; the escalation of violence in Kosovo (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia); the ongoing civil war in the Sudan; the continuing instability and violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rest of the Great Lakes region; and the return to civil war in Angola. Our efforts in Angola were dealt a severe blow when my Special Representative, Alioune Blondin Beye, was tragically killed in a plane crash on 26 June, together with seven others. The rising tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and other issues is also a major cause of concern, as is the stalemated peace process in Cyprus.

19. The adoption, late in 1997, of the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction was an unprecedented achievement. By 31 July 1998, the Convention had been signed by 128 countries and ratified by 30. It is expected to enter into force early next year. Several important States still feel unable to sign it, however, and combatants in several wars continue to use these barbaric weapons. Even where they have ceased doing so, millions of mines planted in earlier years remain in place. They will continue to kill and maim innocent men, women and children for decades.

20. Similarly, the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court at Rome in July, an historic development in the age-long struggle to punish and deter war crimes, has yet to win universal acceptance. Even on the most optimistic assumption it will be some years before the Court begins to discharge its functions. Meanwhile, deplorable acts of brutality continue to be reported from many parts of the world, and all too often the culprits go unpunished.

21. Nor is the human race yet delivered from the threat of nuclear annihilation. In fact we are at a critical moment in the history of efforts to reduce this danger. The successes of previous years, the indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, have been called into question this year by the decision of two non-signatories, India and Pakistan, to conduct underground nuclear tests. This has increased the tensions between those two countries and given the world a sombre reminder that non-proliferation cannot be taken for granted.

22. Hardly less alarming is the threat posed by chemical and biological weapons. Here, I am glad to report that in the past year more States have renounced the development and use of the former, while the Convention banning the latter is being gradually strengthened through efforts to elaborate a verification protocol. The fact that some States may be stocking or developing such weapons clandestinely remains a serious threat to world peace, however.

23. The world lived through a period of high tension in February when Iraq seemed set on refusing to comply with its disarmament obligations, and some Member States prepared for military action to enforce compliance. War was averted only by the timely collective action of the international community.

24. The Memorandum of Understanding, which I and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz signed on 23 February, was an effective demonstration of preventive diplomacy. If fully implemented it would set a valuable precedent, proving that by united action the world can indeed prevent conflict, as the founders of the Organization intended. Unfortunately, the situation in Iraq still appears to be far from resolution.

Prevention

25. Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations calls for effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace. Conflict prevention, therefore, should be one of the Organization's deepest commitments, yet there is still too little emphasis on preventive action. Instead, vast resources are spent on efforts to "cure" conflicts, when for many of the victims it is already too late.

26. Preventing potential conflicts from crossing the threshold of violence requires early warning of situations with the potential for crisis, proper analysis, an integrated preventive strategy, and the political will and resources to implement such a strategy.

27. In some cases effective prevention is actually impeded by the traditional focus on external threats to a State's security. Today we recognize that many other threats to human security, such as natural disasters, ethnic tension and human rights violations, may also be sources of conflict. The intimate relationship between social justice, material well-being and peace must also be taken into account if action is to be pursued far enough to prevent local conflicts from escalating and spilling over into the international arena.

28. In its work at the field level, the United Nations has already started to embrace a new holistic concept of security. Its efforts to reduce poverty and promote development and democratization - including electoral assistance and civic education - have gradually become more comprehensive and more integrated. All of these efforts may be described as preventive peace-building, since they attack the root causes of many conflicts.

29. If then the determinants of human security include the economic, social and humanitarian prerequisites of human well-being and stability, should not the role of the Security Council also be broadened? Can the Council seriously aspire to making prevention the norm rather than the exception unless it engages with the economic and social developments that influence peace and security with the same energy and seriousness with which it tackles the political ones? Such an approach would imply new forms of cooperation between the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, as well as between all the organs of the United Nations and the Member States.

30. Under the Charter, there is a dormant provision that the Economic and Social Council may furnish information and assistance to the Security Council upon a request from the latter (Article 65). As the Security Council is increasingly required to address economic, social and humanitarian crises that threaten global security, it may wish to consider invoking this mechanism. This could help to achieve better communication and coordination between organs of the United Nations whose primary focus is on economic, social and humanitarian affairs.

Diplomacy

31. The role of diplomacy is so central to virtually all United Nations activities that its specific contribution is sometimes overlooked. That is especially true of successful preventive diplomacy. A former Under-Secretary-General once remarked to a television producer who asked where he could make a film about conflict prevention, "If you can film it, it probably is not working!" Indeed, the light of publicity is often turned on only when conflict has become entrenched; and that in itself it often makes compromise more difficult, since leaders fear that concessions made in public will be interpreted as weakness by opponents, or as betrayal by supporters. One does not always have the choice, however. My journey to Baghdad in February was undoubtedly an exercise in preventive diplomacy, but I could not possibly have accomplished it unnoticed.

32. During the past year, often in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions, the United Nations has been engaged in the sensitive diplomacy of peacemaking, where success in preventing conflict often goes unremarked. I have appointed prominent and skilled diplomats, from the international community as well as the United Nations, to serve as my personal representatives in situations of actual or potential conflict. Their tasks have ranged from information-gathering to mediation.

33. While United Nations missions have achieved notable successes, there are some conflicts where hostility is so intense and distrust so pervasive that no amount of skilful diplomacy will achieve a breakthrough. That has been the case in Afghanistan during the past year. Despite the meetings held in New York by the group of eight concerned countries, and the best efforts of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan, the warring Afghan parties have continued to pursue the military option at great humanitarian cost. They have also refused to participate in any meaningful dialogue. In this, they have been regrettably aided and encouraged by outside Powers.

34. Many of the most sensitive and difficult diplomatic initiatives of the United Nations during the year have been undertaken in Africa's trouble spots. In May, in view of continuing violence in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, I urged the leaders of Burundi and Rwanda to redouble their efforts to build stable peace, national unity and respect for human rights.

35. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I was compelled to withdraw the United Nations investigative team earlier this year because of persistent non-cooperation and harassment from the authorities. I subsequently called on regional Governments to acknowledge the team's findings, which, among other things, raised the possibility that some of the reported violations of human rights could have constituted genocide. I also drew attention to the need for substantial international assistance to help achieve stability in the region.

36. Throughout the year, the United Nations has been assisting the mediator for Burundi, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, while the establishment of the Office of my Representative in Nairobi will enhance the Organization's capacity for preventive action in the subregion as a whole.

37. On the contentious issue of East Timor real progress has been made during the year: an important breakthrough was achieved at the meeting I convened in New York in August between the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal. For the first time since 1975 the prospects for an agreed resolution of the conflict between the East Timorese and Indonesia are hopeful.

38. Earlier this year a new United Nations Political Office was established in Bougainville, the first United Nations political mission to the South Pacific. The quiet diplomacy of peacemaking has also been pursued during the past year in the Middle East, South Asia, Angola, Cambodia, Cyprus, Somalia and Western Sahara.

39. Perhaps the most delicate kind of preventive diplomacy is that which seeks to bring about reconciliation between antagonistic political forces within a country, in the hope of preventing or resolving conflicts which, if left to escalate, might in time become a direct threat to international peace and security. This was the purpose of my mission to Nigeria at the end of June. In such cases, an invitation from the Government of the Member State concerned is an essential prerequisite for involvement.

40. Another sensitive mission was the information-gathering panel of eminent personalities that visited Algeria at my request in July and August. It was made possible by an invitation from the Government of Algeria.

41. Since the causes of conflict are usually regional or local, I believe that regional organizations are particularly well suited to play an important role in early warning and preventive diplomacy. Therefore I am seeking, in the spirit of Chapter VIII of the Charter, to create a real partnership, with a more rational and cost-effective division of labour, between those organizations and the United Nations. This year I established a United Nations liaison office at the headquarters of the Organization of African Unity in Addis Ababa. We also continued to consolidate our links with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In July I invited the heads of regional organizations to a meeting in New York to discuss concrete steps we can take to improve our cooperation in preventing conflict.

42. The collaboration of the United Nations with regional and subregional organizations also illustrates the close relationship between peace-building, development and disarmament. The Organization has helped members of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa in their efforts to build peace and security in that subregion. The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific has provided a valuable forum for meetings on regional confidence- and security-building measures. I trust that the recent decision to strengthen the regional centres in Lomé and Lima will lead to similar activity throughout Africa and Latin America.

Preventive deployment

43. Peacekeeping can be a valuable tool for conflict prevention. Peacekeeping forces are generally deployed only after, or during, a conflict, usually under the terms of a ceasefire agreement, their main task being to prevent violence from flaring up again. From there, intellectually, it is only a small step to the deployment of forces to prevent violence from breaking out in the first place, in situations where there is an obvious danger of that happening. Unfortunately, preventive deployment confronts many political obstacles. In general, only the spectacle of actual violence, with all its tragic consequences, convinces the parties to the conflict, potential troop-contributing countries and the Security Council of the utility or necessity of deploying a peacekeeping force.

44. Late in 1992, the Security Council did, however, take the unprecedented decision to establish a presence of the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as a preventive measure. The force deployed, the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP), remains the sole example of a purely preventive United Nations force. The experiment must be counted as a success, inasmuch as war has so far been avoided in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia despite considerable tensions both between it and its neighbours and between different ethnic groups within the Republic. While no one can guarantee that this relatively favourable state of affairs will continue, the presence of UNPREDEP has undoubtedly had a positive effect, helping to defuse tensions both within the country and in the wider region. This year's crisis in Kosovo underlined the vital role of UNPREDEP in preserving stability. I am consequently glad to report that on 21 July 1998 the Security Council decided, on my recommendation, to authorize an increase in the troop strength of UNPREDEP and to extend its current mandate for a period of six months, until 28 February 1999.

Disarmament

45. My vision of the Organization places disarmament near the centre of its mission of peace and development. I am therefore delighted that the General Assembly supported my decision to re-establish the Department for Disarmament Affairs with an Under-Secretary-General as its head. The Assembly also acted on my recommendation that it review the work of the Disarmament Commission and the First Committee with a view to updating, revitalizing and streamlining their work. Once that task is completed, the reform proposals for the disarmament sector of the Organization will have been fully implemented.

46. The essential role of the United Nations in this area is one of norm-setting and of strengthening and consolidating multilateral principles for disarmament. When we consider how such principles, norms and procedures have fared over the past year, we see a mixed picture, however.

47. We are at a critical moment in the history of efforts to reduce the danger posed by nuclear weapons. Any increase in the number of nuclear-weapon States will have serious implications for peace and security. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, together with the objectives agreed to at the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, become universally accepted. Positive developments this year include the issuance of the eight-nation joint declaration on creating a nuclear-weapon-free world, and the establishment of two ad hoc committees in the Conference on Disarmament. One committee will negotiate with a view to reaching agreement on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; the other will negotiate a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear explosive devices.

48. The new review process of the Non-Proliferation Treaty is now in place, and two nuclear-weapon States have ratified the Test-Ban Treaty. In the past year, efforts were also made to consolidate existing nuclear-weapon-free zones, notably those in Africa and in South-East Asia, and to move towards the establishment of another such zone in Central Asia.

49. In the light of the expectation that the international community would take concrete steps towards the further reduction of nuclear weapons, the underground nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan were a highly disturbing development. I have urged those States to refrain from any further nuclear testing, to adhere immediately to the Test-Ban Treaty, to refrain from deploying nuclear weapons, and to freeze their weapons development programmes, as well as the development of missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

50. In the struggle for sustainable peace and development, especially in subregions where state structures are fragile, steps need to be taken to curb the flow of small arms circulating in civil society. It is estimated that 90 per cent of those killed or wounded by light military weapons are civilians and, most shockingly, that 80 per cent of those are women and children.

51. One approach to this problem would be to seek to build a global consensus on monitoring and controlling illicit arms transfers and their links with trafficking in other contraband goods. The holding of a United Nations conference on all aspects of the illicit arms trade in the near future would be an important step in that direction. In 1997, the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials was signed, establishing an essential mechanism in the area of arms regulation. I also welcome the initiative taken by the Economic Community of West African States in preparing for a moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of small arms.

52. In pursuing our goal of disarmament, efforts to reduce the supply of weapons are not enough; reduction in the demand for them is equally, if not more, important.

53. The amended Protocol II to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons - a partial ban on landmines - will enter into force in December 1998, and the Ottawa Convention - a comprehensive ban - is expected to enter into force early in 1999. It is crucial to ensure adherence to one or both of these instruments by as many States as possible, and to support the negotiation of a ban on exports in the Conference on Disarmament.

54. The Department for Disarmament Affairs also plays a critical role in post-conflict peace-building, notably in the collection, disposal and destruction of weapons and in the reintegration of former combatants into civil society. Our efforts must always be set in the context of the broader work of the Organization aimed at preventing and resolving conflicts, and at building cultures which reject violence.

55. Finally, wider commitment to greater openness and transparency in military matters would make a valuable contribution to confidence-building and creating security at lower levels of armaments. There are already two instruments for this purpose: the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms and the system for standardized reporting of military expenditures. I look to Member States to increase and improve their participation in both of these, and I am committed to giving them whatever assistance I can.

Peacekeeping

56. Over the past year, I am pleased to note that the international community has begun to overcome its reluctance to make use of the Organization's peacekeeping capacity. The Security Council has authorized two new operations: the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA) and the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL).

57. United Nations peacekeeping clearly offers certain unique advantages not to be found elsewhere, including the universality of its mandate and the breadth of its experience. If the Security Council is known to be ready to authorize new peacekeeping operations whenever, and for as long as, they may be needed, this will not only strengthen the United Nations conflict-prevention efforts but also assist its wider peacemaking and post-conflict peace-building endeavours.

58. Fifty years after the establishment of the first United Nations peacekeeping operation, there are today some 14,500 military and police personnel deployed in missions around the globe under the United Nations flag. Peacekeeping continues to be adapted to changing needs and cooperation with regional organizations is now an important aspect. Although caution and judgement are required before deciding on joint operations, such cooperation can bring together the motivation and knowledge of local actors with the legitimacy, expertise and resources of the world Organization.

59. At Headquarters, the Department for Peacekeeping Operations has continued its efforts to strengthen the Organization's capacity to respond swiftly. This past year has seen some progress in the development of the United Nations standby arrangements system, which now includes 74 Member States, with over 100,000 personnel pledged in the framework of the system. I welcome in particular the increased interest in these developments shown by African States. The Department continues to work with Member States on the enhancement of Africa's peacekeeping capacity.

60. Within the context of the standby arrangements system, I was pleased to attend the inauguration of the headquarters of the United Nations Standby Forces High Readiness Brigade in Copenhagen in September 1997. I have also requested, but not yet received, funding for posts necessary to create a rapidly deployable mission headquarters.

61. The total number of peacekeepers in the field has declined since the early 1990s, as a consequence of the winding down of several major United Nations operations, but the actual number of United Nations peacekeeping operations has in fact risen from 15 to 17 in the past year. Six of these are in Europe, four in the Middle East, four in Africa, two in Asia and one in the Americas. Under the auspices of the Department of Political Affairs, the United Nations also maintains a human rights and judicial reform mission in Guatemala.

Sanctions

62. I have in the past underlined the need for a mechanism that renders sanctions a less blunt and more effective instrument. Therefore, I welcome the fact that the concept of "smart sanctions", which seek to pressure regimes rather than peoples and thus reduce humanitarian costs, has been gaining support among Member States. The increasing interest in more targeted sanctions was evident in the recent measures applied by the Security Council against the military junta in Sierra Leone and against UNITA in Angola.

63. Resolutions covering mandatory measures should also address humanitarian exemptions and third-State issues. Although sanctions regimes established by the Security Council normally do include humanitarian exemptions, some human rights treaty-monitoring bodies have stressed the need for such regimes to include specific measures protecting the human rights of vulnerable groups. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has argued that such considerations must be fully taken into account when a sanctions regime is being designed; that effective monitoring must be undertaken throughout the period when sanctions are in force; and that the party or parties responsible for the imposition, maintenance or implementation of sanctions should take steps to prevent any disproportionate suffering being experienced by vulnerable groups within the targeted country. The Committee on the Rights of the Child took a similar approach, pointing out that, in certain conditions, sanctions can act as an obstacle to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

64. The international community should be under no illusion: these humanitarian and human rights policy goals cannot easily be reconciled with those of a sanctions regime. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that sanctions are a tool of enforcement and, like other methods of enforcement, they will do harm. This should be borne in mind when the decision to impose them is taken, and when the results are subsequently evaluated.

Post-conflict peace-building

65. Post-conflict peace-building involves integrated and coordinated actions aimed at addressing the root causes of violence, whether political, legal, institutional, military, humanitarian, human rights-related, environmental, economic and social, cultural or demographic, and laying the foundations for a durable peace. Post-conflict peace-building may be seen as a long-term conflict prevention strategy. Because the causes of conflicts differ, United Nations actions must be tailored to specific situations to strengthen the peace process and make it irreversible. There is no standard post-conflict peace-building model.

66. The largest and arguably most important United Nations peace-building operation is in Guatemala, but the Organization is also involved in peace-building activities in other countries, notably Sierra Leone, where it is monitoring human rights violations and helping the Government to implement its disarmament and demobilization tasks, and Liberia, where the United Nations has established its first peace-building support office.

67. To ensure that the complex challenges of post-conflict peace-building are effectively addressed by the United Nations system and its partners, I designated the Department of Political Affairs, as convener of the Executive Committee on Peace and Security, to act as the United Nations focal point for this vital activity. I hope that the First Committee will soon rationalize its work along similar lines.

68. A significant development over the past year has been the increase in civilian police operations, following the withdrawal of military personnel. Such operations have been conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Haiti and could prove very useful in other post-conflict situations, such as that in Angola. This development reflects a growing interest in the role that peacekeeping operations can play in helping to build human rights, law-enforcement and other institutions, and thus to strengthen the foundations of lasting peace.

69. There has been growing recognition of the need to link all aspects of external support for countries afflicted by conflict, whether political, humanitarian, developmental or human rights. The participation of donor Governments, host Governments and non-governmental organizations to meet this need is essential. The Administrative Committee on Coordination has been developing more coherent strategies for peace-building through the development of the new strategic framework concept. The framework defines the principles, goals and institutional arrangements needed to create a coherent, effective and integrated political strategy and assistance programme. It provides a common tool for identifying, analysing and prioritizing key issues and activities on the basis of shared principles and objectives. The framework embraces the entire range of core United Nations activities - political, human rights, humanitarian and development - in a given country.

Complementary strategies

70. While the categories of prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and post-conflict peace-building remain useful, it is now widely recognized that most operations combine activities in more than one category. In some operations, for example, in Cyprus and Georgia, the United Nations is actively involved in both peacekeeping and peacemaking. In others, for example, in Sierra Leone and Tajikistan, planning for peace-building started during peacekeeping operations. These varied combinations are to be welcomed. They reflect an understanding of the complexities of particular situations and the need to coordinate a diverse range of security-enhancing activities.

71. In the context of conflict prevention, the Department of Political Affairs plays a key role in early warning, preventive diplomacy and peacemaking. Both peacekeeping and disarmament can contribute to conflict prevention. For organizational purposes, the work of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations is primarily logistical and operational, while that of the Department for Disarmament Affairs focuses on the diplomatic, legal and technical aspects of weapons and arms limitation. For example, the Department for Disarmament Affairs provides support for negotiations on international instruments to restrict or prohibit landmines; the Department of Peacekeeping Operations is in charge of action to deal with landmines in actual theatres of conflict. Both, however, have to operate within the framework of an overarching political strategy.

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