Disastrous effects of globalization

New York, September 7th (Tanjug) - The government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia today sent a message to the Millennium Summit of the United Nations, underscoring a strong appeal for joint efforts to strengthen the role of the United Nations and protect its prestige and authority from the onslaught of force, arrogance and uniformity of thought.

The message reads as follows (official translation): The Millennium Summit of the United Nations is one of the most representative political gatherings in the history of international relations. It provides a unique opportunity to reaffirm all that has proved itself good and successful in the activity of the world organization so far, as well as to identify the new challenges facing mankind at the threshold of the new millennium. The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia considers that only by joint efforts of all member-States it is possible to ensure that the 21st century be stable, prosperous and just for all peoples of the world.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a founding State of the United Nations, will continue to render its contribution to a faster and more efficient realization of these noble goals and for that purpose, is ready to cooperate openly and equitably with all States and peoples sharing this approach to the future of the world.

The expectations with which mankind looks at the change of the two millennia are conditioned not only by the rarity of the event, but also by a profound feeling that the preceding epoch as a whole has resulted in the triumph of human mind and skills, which contributed to overall progress. Great hopes and expectations, however, have been blurred by a singular paradox in which the world suddenly found itself.

The epochal technological progress and the realization of the undreamed-of possibilities of development have not been followed by appropriate transformations in the political and social superstructure. On the one hand, we have been witness to an unstoppable current of the process of integration, accelerated by new technologies and the improvement of the means of communication. On the other, sovereign countries are being broken up, precisely those countries that, by their multiethnic and multi-cultural being constitute the most natural basis for broader integrations.

Following the end of the so-called Cold War, international relations have not developed in the direction of progress and democratization, but of the suppression of equality and the strengthening of tendencies of hegemonism and unipolarity.

The balance of fear has not been replaced by equitable cooperation and development, but by a doctrine of interventionism, limited sovereignty, which brought about the weakening of the influence and the erosion of the reputation of the world organization. Instead of developing itself according to the criteria of tested values and principles, the civilization is overshadowed by the threat of the use of force-military and economic-financial.

This has, in essence, resulted in having the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. Neo-colonialism is being advanced under the aegis of the so-called globalization and the control of the richest over the strategic sources of energy, raw materials and the market spread.

This development has caused disastrous consequences. The first casualty have been the unassailable principles of international law, such as sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of States, sovereign equality of States and the right of free and unhindered development.

The aggression of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia last year outside and against the will of the Security Council is the greatest threat to the future of the United Nations and international law in general and constitutes a crime against peace and humanity.

Although committed against a small country, the NATO aggression had global goals: to set a precedent and legalize military interventions contrary to the Charter of the United Nations; to have NATO, as a typical regional organization, impose itself upon the United Nations and to have might impose itself upon the right; to demonstrate the domination of the United States of America in Europe and ensure its role of world policeman; to threaten peace and stability in Europe. The NATO aggression caused directly thousands of civilian lives and material destruction in excess of US$100 billion, which the perpetrators must make up for.

In this way NATO has discredited and presented itself as a danger for Europe, Asia and the world.

The same factors that spearheaded the aggression are continuing it now by other means: economic sanctions, support for separatism in Kosovo and Metohija and the Republic of Montenegro, spreading disinformation through their media and engaging in subversive activities against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

This discredits them further as enemies of peace and stability and allies of separatism and terrorism from Taiwan to Gibraltar, from Tierra del Fuego to Cape of Good Hope.

Illegal military interventions and collective punishments of nations through the imposition of one-sided illegal economic and political sanctions have become also a typical instrument in the drive to bring about blind servility to one center of power. Sanctions constitute the most massive form of violation of human rights today. More than one half of mankind, primarily the poorer one, is under various forms of sanctions imposed illegally by the richest countries.

Yugoslavia is, no doubt, a victim of hegemonism, interventionism and the neocolonialist concept of NATO, spearheaded by the United States of America.

By incitement to separatism, the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was broken up by force. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the country that continued its international legal personality, was the first to have sanctions imposed, its people were made to suffer and the incitement to separatism and terrorism in its territory was continued.

It was blackmailed by the so-called "Rambouillet Agreement" and finally, in 1999, NATO committed an armed aggression. Rambouillet was a classic case of ultimatum, the acceptance of which would have meant the occupation of the country and the hand-over of the fate of the people and the country to the foreigner, to NATO in this particular case. It is quite clear now that what the United States administration had prepared behind the back of its partners would not be acceptable to any sovereign country in the world. The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is duty-bound to warn also on this occasion that the problems in the province of Kosovo and Metohija have been created through a systematic violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, cooperation of UNMIK and KFOR with Albanian separatists and terrorists, the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and through the ethnic cleansing of Serbs, Montenegrins, Muslims, Roma, Goranci, Turks and Egyptians.

This threatens not only the vital interests of Yugoslavia, but also of the entire region of the Balkans and Europe.

Under the auspices of international forces (KFOR and UNMIK) over 5 000 terrorist attacks have been committed in the 14 months, primarily against the Serbs, over 1 100 persons were killed, about 1 000 abducted and over 360 000 non-Albanians were expelled.

UNMIK and KFOR have thus brought grist to the mill to the concept of "Great Albania", which threatens peace and stability in the entire Balkans and amounts to attempts to dangerously involve the world Organization in a policy diametrically opposed to the goals of the United Nations.

The government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has therefore requested the United Nations Security Council to terminate the mandate of UNMIK and KFOR, directly responsible for the violation of Resolution 1244, expansion of terrorism, international organized crime, massive destruction of cultural monuments, violation of basic human rights, for chaos and general lawlessness.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has carried out all its obligations from Security Council Resolution 1244. It has prepared a contingent of military and police personnel for highly-professional engagement and insists on its immediate deployment in the Province in accordance with the said Security Council resolution.

The solution in Kosovo and Metohija - an autonomy with equality of all residents and ethnic communities within Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - is possible to reach only through dialogue between representatives of all national communities and States. All this indicates that certain powers and groups devise technology for provoking the so-called "controlled" destabilizations, even regional conflicts.

Overt incitement to separatism and terrorism, therefore, by protagonists of the doctrine of a unipolar world in order to destabilize sovereign States constitutes one of the greatest threats to peace and stability on our planet.

The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia pledges its support to building a system of international peace and security on the basis of democratic principles and equality of all countries and peoples. In that system, there must be no domineering centers of power and decision-making, either one or many.

It should be based on unity of diversity, on equitable and free use of all possibilities for achieving progress, on mutual cooperation and comprehending the world as a whole in which equal rights of all are respected. Yugoslavia is for a world of the equal, for the United Nations which is a true guarantor of international peace and security, for a world of democracy and equality of all, for the freedom of choice.

This vision calls for the following: - clear and strong affirmation and respect of the basic principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law; - reform of the United Nations, with an emphasis on the crucial role of the Security Council and its primary responsibility for peace and security; - opposition to all attempts to establish exclusive groups and clubs, the activity of which diminishes the role and influence of the world Organization; - respect for the right to a free choice of the road of one's own, without pressure and interference in internal affairs, as well as full sovereignty over economic and other interests of every country; - disarmament and equal security for all, as well as opposition to the one-sided strengthening of military potentials of individual States.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is firm in its openness and equitable cooperation with all countries that are in favour of peace, stability and the honouring of the Charter of the United Nations and for respect for vital interests of all countries and peoples.

Affirming itself in a large number of countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, as a reliable partner with rich experience, technology and first-class professionals in various fields of human activity, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is ready to intensify its efforts, in cooperation with the United Nations, other specialized international organizations and the Government of those countries, to bring about general progress.

The defence of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from NATO has been a universal achievement of the freedom-loving world and an encouragement to all countries and peoples aspiring to freedom, equality and progress.

In order to safeguard and enrich the achievement, to transpose it into the world of freedom and progress for all and not only for a privileged minority, it is necessary that, by joint efforts, we strengthen the United Nations and protect its prestige and authority from the onslaught of might, arrogance and the uniformity of thought.