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Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the special pleasure to see you guide the United Nations General Assembly during this session over the junction of centuries and millennia. We will lend total support to your endeavour, including through the Permanent Representative of Lithuania, who is also one of your vice-chairmen.

Another landmark of this session is the fact that we have grown. We welcome Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga amidst us to this house of nations where all – big or small – are equal.

I would also like to pay deep respects from the Lithuanian Government to the United Nations Secretary General who, as always, has been a brilliant servant of peace around the globe.

Mr. President,

Speakers before me have referred to the symbolism of this UNGA session. It may be just a simple turn of our calendars' leaf or we can make it a stepping stone to a better world. "Better" means "less" or "more" of something: less violence among human beings; more food for the hungry; less death and suffering deliberately caused by humans; more care for the helpless; more shelter for the homeless; more effort from states, individuals and organisations to shape a better world.

This century has taught us many lessons. Have we fully learned them? How long will it take to understand the root causes of conflicts, for instance? We seem to know the cure: poverty eradication, arms control, protection of human rights and good governance, and yet, as Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom R. Cook said here the other day: "We have averted world war. But we have not avoided a world with too much war."

Mr. President,

The nature of the crisis has changed: most of today's conflicts take place within and not between states. We should devise ways and means to prevent humanitarian catastrophes and alleviate profound human suffering. Member states should be able to find common ground in upholding principles of the Charter and acting in defence of humanity.

Just this preceding year Angola and Kosovo, Sierra Leone and East Timor have posed new challenges to the UN and have made us re-evaluate our – the nations of the world who make up the United Nations – actions in conflict prevention, the role of the United Nations Security Council and its interaction with regional organisations, SC credibility, the capacity of peacekeeping deployment speed, the role of civil police and civilian administration as well as the problem of impunity of perpetrators. When evidence on the murder of helpless people bled through international borders, the dilemma emerging before the international community became a moral one: between the sanctity of human lives and strict international standards. Nobody should have been confronted with this dilemma in the first place. But once it happened, the reasoning of the subsequently proactive choice was like this: improvement of the international system, however urgent, could wait, while threatened lives could not.

Precisely for those reasons the UN system is undergoing changes. A number of administrative measures have been taken, especially those that are within the Secretary-General's powers. One of the most necessary is the reform of the Security Council. For too often the Council has had the finger pointed at it for failures in the maintenance of international peace and security in the specific cases I have mentioned before. The efficiency of the Security Council's actions can be enhanced by improving the representativity, legitimacy, credibility and, therefore, wider acceptance of its decisions. This is possible primarily through enlargement of the Council's membership. Such an enlargement is overdue although discussions have been going on since 1993. I reiterate the appeal voiced before me by many distinguished representatives, Namibian and Nigerian in particular, to expand and democratise the Security Council without further delay.

Mr. President,

In recent years we have seen the development of the UN response from peacekeeping to striving towards a proactive role in conflict prevention as well as increased efforts in civilian crisis management: internal crisis often leads to complete destruction of societies and their structures; repair and rehabilitation is needed from the international community.

The United Nations needs the means and co-operation of all to fulfil its mandate in the primary responsibility of maintenance of international peace and security. Lithuania, in this regard, in early 1998, signed the Stand-by Agreement, as well as provided a detailed description of its contribution. The substantial part of our contribution was formed from well-trained civilian policemen, who are now fulfilling their duty by serving in Kosovo.

A comprehensive set of political measures will have to be elaborated before and adopted at the Millennium Summit, which should be a breath of fresh air for the organisation. We take it very seriously and are ready to assist in designing a meaningful future for the United Nations.

Mr. President,

Situations around the world that deteriorate into conflicts are ignited by a variety of causes, usually a combination of them. The situation does not even have to develop into bloodshed to threaten international stability. The wave of economic downfalls that swept through Asia, Latin America, some European countries has had a global impact. The quick recovery of many economies may have raised the sceptics’ eyebrows. Yet the lesson from this is not new but invaluable: it showed that democracies with free market economies have the strongest immunity against macroeconomic illnesses. Market and democracies allow for the fairest distribution of resources within societies that otherwise feud over economic injustices.

Similarly, the concern about potential or actual violence, more often inside than between states, is almost always relevant in places with poor human rights records. Today, no one is surprised to hear about violence sparked by various rebel groups that feel marginalised in the states where they live. They resort to criminal action in order improve their livelihood and are blamed for various crimes, including war crimes. There is no justification for such violence but there is always an explanation about why it occurs. The roots usually lead to abuse and neglect of human rights by those who have made commitments to respect those rights.

There has to be means to uphold impunity. Many instruments are yet to be designed. Establishment of the International Criminal Court, but one fruit of a new development of international relations which are increasingly based on something else, more human, more reasonable and more progressive than the divinity of the principle of state sovereignty. We are committed to the early entry into force of the Rome Statute and an effective International Criminal Court.

Mr. President,

Weaponry and armament can be reduced by common actions, regardless of borders. There is a literal consensus of all nations that weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated. But in reality, nuclear disarmament is unacceptably unstable: we see reduction of warheads in one place and development of nuclear weapons in another. Save that, biological and chemical weapons produced by states have become available to non-state terrorist entities that feel almost no accountability for using them. God forbid that they be used in a conflict – the only winner in such a war would be death. I don’t see any other way to a safer world than by reducing, eliminating and very strictly prohibiting weapons of mass destruction and the means of their delivery – soon, once and for all, and for everybody.

Conventional arms and weapons are, as a matter of fact, also weapons of mass destruction of life. Half a million lives in Rwanda were wiped out not by satellite warfare with laser-guided rockets, but by took clubs and machetes which can barely be considered weapons. Lives are lost to firearms and mines all over the world – even in places, which hardly qualify as battle grounds. Elimination of landmines is underway; now it is small arms' turn. It is nowhere else but here that we must begin effective conventional disarmament, to be carried on further under the responsibility of all states.

Mr. President,

After regaining independence less than a decade ago, my country – Lithuania – had to re-establish the state. It required enormous efforts in every possible field, including defence capabilities. But we have never opted for satisfaction of exaggerated security needs. Rather, we have seen that our security can be attained in wiser and less coercive ways than plain armament. We believe in collective security and made membership in effective alliances of democratic and peace-loving nations – the EU and NATO – our priority. The collective security that we have chosen is the most efficient means of meeting our legitimate needs. Europe is blessed with good regional security instruments, the birth of which, nevertheless, was inspired by the deaths of millions in senseless wars.

The European Security Charter, whose ideas are currently under discussion in the OSCE, will further build the ideals of democracy, peace and unity of the Paris Charter on the basis of the Helsinki Final Act for the new Europe. The implementation of OSCE principles, including a country's right to choose its own security arrangements, is fundamental to ensuring peace and security. Finally, regional, sub-regional and bilateral practical co-operative efforts do enhance broader European endeavours and processes, including complementing, not undercutting, the work of other Euro-Atlantic institutions. Lithuania on its part, works actively in the Baltic region creating security and stability based on co-operation and wise neighbourly relations. I hope that it is also due to our efforts that the Baltic Sea region is becoming one of the more stable and dynamically developing and promising regions in this part of the world.

Mr. President,

Conflicts are but one challenge for us. There so many inhabitants on Earth who need our help but sometimes cannot even ask for it. Children deserve our strongest love and yet helplessly suffer in many parts of the world. They don’t realise that the adult world will soon celebrate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified or acceded to by 191 countries – more than the number of UN member states. It is the most universal human rights treaty, the violation of which must be inconceivable and punishable. The newly adopted Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour should also become universal in support and compliance.

This is also the twentieth year since the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It is symbolic and crucial that the Convention has been strengthened by the Optional Protocol. Lithuania supports Austria’s proposal, after adoption by the UN General Assembly, to have this new human rights instrument opened for signature on December 10 – Human Rights Day 1999. States have to give women the chance to address their grievances to the CEDAW Committee as soon as possible , perhaps even by the Special Session "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century" to be held in June 2000.

Mr. President,

Nine days ago, Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke from this very place about a progressing supremacy of collective needs over individual needs. His speech was a testimony of brave and modern thought. It deserves a place in the textbooks for politicians and diplomats. I cannot say anything about this new philosophy of international relations better than he did and cannot agree more with what the Secretary General said.

Ideals advocated in the beginning of this century by Woodrow Wilson are celebrating a rebirth at the very end of the century. Interstate relations between states with rigid frontiers based on power politics, real politics, balance of power and blocks are transforming into more human relations in all meanings: relations between humans and attention to humans matter more than ever. I am convinced that after some ups and downs, the evolution of humankind is finally taking the straight and right course.