Page 465 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

foundations of society - both national and international - are built on sand.”
Free and fair elections should be viewed as part of broader efforts to strengthen
governance institutions. Elections will be successfully held only in an environ-
ment in which a population recovering from war comes to accept the ballot nor
the bullet as an appropriate and credible mechanism through which their views
on Government are represented. At the same time the elections are not the end
in itself. It is only good starting platform for democracy-building.

There is a link between ensuring conflict prevention and disarmament
measures. As the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, I
would also like to highlight that we must be more rigorous in our pursuit of
arms regulation and disarmament in all directions, on the basis of constructive
parallelism. Member States need to recommit themselves both to reducing
existing nuclear weapons and reinforcing the non-proliferation regime. But, in
the daily lives of many inhabitants of the conflict areas of the globe, it is small
arms and landmines that are the serious issue, in fact the two biggest killers in
modem warfare. Measures to prevent the misuse and illicit transfers of small
arms and to address the root causes of the demand for small arms would greatly
contribute to the prevention of conflict. This year in July the UN has a Special
Conference on small arms.

The disarmament norm setting is a continuous process, as missile
development and small arms. Disarmament treaties and conventions
contribute to the prevention of armed conflict through the promotion of the
rule of international law. Exchange of information and other forms of
transparency in an armament and on military matters in general can help
minimize the risk of misunderstanding or miscalculation and can thereby
contribute to greater trust and more stable relation among States.

In other words, the UN has all the necessary potential to translate the
rhetoric of conflict prevention into concrete actions. The time has come for
practical deeds at all levels to make preventive actions a key part of global
reality system in 21st century.

Your visit to the UN Office in Geneva today, will provide a unique
opportunity to view the international community from the inside. For more
than a century Geneva has been associated with international cooperation. It
has remained a focal point of multilateral diplomacy since it was designated as
the headquarters of the world's first international organization, the League of
Nations in 1919. Today, it is the seat of the UN Office at Geneva, the five UN

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