Speeches
Search in Speeches:
 
printer friendly document

Address by Mr. Lennart Meri, President of the Republic of Estonia at the Special Commemorative Meeting of the General Assembly On the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations 22 October 1995, New York
22.10.1995

Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our fathers, who fought in the First World War and in the wars of freedom from colonialism that followed, which in turn inspired U.S. President Wilson's Fourteen Points on the Rights of Self-Determination, created the League of Nations.
That body embodied much idealism and little realism.
That body was not able to halt the game of division played by Hitler and Stalin, it was not able to stop the agonised agitation of colonial dinosaurs or to break the chain of anti-colonial wars that followed and cost between 60 to 100 million in human lives.
President Roosevelt hoped to secure stability in the world by a combination of realism and idealism.
In this way, the United Nations was born.
Idealism reigned in this world parliament, where each state, whether one million or one-hundred million strong, was equal to the others. Realism, on the other hand, was the dominant force in the Security Council, in which the four victorious allies of the Second World War and China exercised the right of veto.
This is how, fifty years ago, the United Nations was called into life.
Let us consider for a moment the numbers. When the United Nations was conceived, there were fifty member states. Today, there are one-hundred and eighty five.
The Republic of Estonia has followed this development with great attention, for three reasons.
First, the occupation of the independent Republic of Estonia by the Red Army pushed us for fifty years into the ranks of colonised peoples. We are sympathetic to their concerns, because we value the Right of Self-Determination, independence and democracy. At the same time, we are an old democracy, we are a state that was born out of the decomposition of an empire, just as did Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and many other states.
This is a unique state of affairs: at the same time, we belong to the First and Third Worlds. We hold the same values, principles and goals as the First World, and experience the same disappointments and concerns of the Third World.
Second, one result of the end of colonial empires was the birth of new states, whereas most of those states called "new democracies" are comparable with Estonia from a standpoint of population and land mass. Today, and in this hall, this is less a geographic than a political attribute. Small states are, by definition, more easily wounded, which means that in a security vacuum, small states are more sensitive to barometric changes than large ones. Besides common ideals, we also have common concerns.
Third, as I noted, those states that have risen from the end of colonialism and neocolonialism form a majority in our world community. Unfortunately, this is a Silent Majority. Its voice is weak and ineffectual in this global forum; its voice is not present in the Security Council.
I speak of this here and now, because hope springs eternal.
For this reason, I have two proposals: first, we should consider the idea of a rotating member in the Security Council chosen from among the world's small states. Second, I call upon the small states of the world to gather in my capital city, Tallinn, to draft a declaration, the Tallinn Declaration of Small States.
I make these proposals based on the hope that lies in the Silent Majority of this world organisation.
We are easily wounded, thus we are more sensitive.
Because we are more sensitive, we are able to react more quickly.
Because we are able to react more quickly, we are consequently more idealistic.
Small states are more idealistic, so it follows that a more active hope and a desire to remain true to our principles lives in our midst. It was this hope, it was this dedication to principles upon which, under other circumstances, this organisation was founded fifty years ago.
By next December, you, all the member states of the United Nations, will receive a draft of the Tallinn Declaration on Small States. This allows us enough time to consider it and, next September in Tallinn, to gather together in order to work out a mechanism that will turn this Silent Majority into a Constructive Majority, whose decisions will help us to fulfill, in a constructive manner, the aims and principles upon which this organisation is based.
Be well aware of the protocol of this historic meeting. I await your reactions here and now to my proposals, and I look forward to seeing you next September in Tallinn.

 

back | archive of speeches | main page

© 2001 Office of the President of the Republic
Phone: +372 631 6202 | Fax: +372 631 6250 | sekretar@vpk.ee
Reden Kõned Speeches Statements Interviews