Millennium Summit of the United Nations
September 2000
On 17 December 1998 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by which it decided to designate the 55th Session of the General Assembly as the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations, and to open this Assembly by convening a Millennium Summit.
The preparatory process for the Millennium Summit placed emphasis on eliciting the views of a wide range of sectors of civil society, with regional hearings held last summer in five regions--Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Western Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
1. Date
The Millennium Summit was held from 6 September to 8 September 2000 at the beginning of the UN Millennium Assembly, which commenced on the afternoon of 5 September 2000.
2. Theme
(1) The overall theme for the Millennium Summit was "The Role of the United Nations in the Twenty-first Century."
(2) Furthermore, the UN Secretary-General's report "We the Peoples" published on 3 April identified poverty and development, conflict, environmental issues and strengthening of the United Nations as agenda items for the Millennium Summit.
3. Format
The Millennium Summit comprised plenary meetings, in which delegations each delivered a five-minute speech, held in concurrence with interactive round-table sessions, in which discussions were held among delegations. In the round-table sessions, UN members were divided into four groups, with each engaging in discussion of the common theme, "The Role of the United Nations in the Twenty-first Century."
4. Chairs
(1) The country of the President of the 54th Session (Namibia) and the country of the President of the 55th Session (Finland) of the General Assembly jointly presided over the Summit.
(2) The following countries presided over the four round-table sessions: Singapore (6 September, afternoon), Poland (7 September, morning), Venezuela (7 September, afternoon) and Algeria (8 September, afternoon).
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Japan's Position on the Millennium Summit and Millennium Assembly (55th Session of the General Assembly)
August 2000
1. Strengthening the United Nations Through Reform
The strengthening of UN functions through reform is urgently required in order to ensure that the United Nations is able to more effectively address the multitude of issues that the international community will face in the 21st century. It is essential that the Millennium Summit and the 55th Session of the General Assembly articulate a clear vision of UN reform so as to maintain and enhance the credibility of the United Nations within the international community.
(1) The international community has been harboring growing expectations for the United Nations in the area of international peace and security. As elaborated in the UN Secretary-General's report "We the Peoples," the reform of the UN Security Council to enhance its legitimacy and effectiveness is an urgent task for meeting such expectations. There is a particular need to aim for a convergence of positions among countries on specific issues, such as the expansion of permanent and non-permanent seats on the Security Council, so as not to turn back on reform trends.
(2) Japan will work to promote financial reforms. Countries in arrears should make efforts to clear them away. The upcoming General Assembly must undertake a review to allow for a balanced UN scale of assessments that reflects both the economic strength of Member States, and their status and responsibilities in the United Nations.
(3) In the area of development, Japan will enhance the mutual coordination among UN institutions at the UN Headquarters and in the field, and will further strengthen cooperation between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions. Japan will exert further efforts toward reform in the socioeconomic area in future, centered around the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
2. Arms Reduction and Non-Proliferation
(1) Japan will continue to elaborate specific, realistic measures in regard to nuclear arms reduction and nuclear non-proliferation with the view to realizing as early as possible " a world free of nuclear weapons."
(a) Japan will further boost diplomatic efforts to implement the measures included in the final document adopted at this year's Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. As part of such efforts, Japan will exercise proactive leadership, including by submitting a new draft resolution on nuclear arms reduction to the UN Millennium Assembly this autumn.
(b) Japan will call on the United States, Russia and other nuclear states to take further measures to reduce their nuclear weapons, for example by calling for the early entry into force of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) II and launching of negotiations on START III by the United States and Russia.
(c) Japan will continue to call for the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by dispatching missions to countries yet to sign or ratify the CTBT and through other efforts. With regard to the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, Japan will work toward the prompt establishment of a special committee for treaty negotiations at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament.
(d) Centering around the Missile Control Technology Regime (MCTR), Japan will strengthen its efforts to curb the proliferation of missiles--the delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction.
(2)
(a) With regard to the small arms issue, Japan will advance preparations toward ensuring the success of the United Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects to be held in 2001.
(b) On landmines, Japan will make active efforts to achieve "zero victims" through a comprehensive approach focused upon two axes--the universal and effective prohibition and removal of landmines; and the enhancement of support for victims.
(c) Japan will continue its efforts to ensure the firm establishment and development of the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
(d) Japan will continue to actively participate in the negotiations on biological weapons in order to complete negotiations on the creation of a verification protocol for strengthening the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention by the Review Conference to be held in 2001, the target time limit for settlement of negotiations.
3. Conflict Resolution and Prevention
(1) To prevent conflict, a "comprehensive approach" must be taken to foster a "culture of prevention" within the international community as a whole and to address conflict prevention using a wide range of policy measures in all stages of conflict, from peacetime to post-conflict recurrence. Today, as we bear witness to the emergence of a diversification of actors in conflict prevention, the importance of the United Nations as a body coordinating the efforts of such diverse actors is further increasing, and as such requires the enhancement of the United Nations' own peacekeeping operation capacities.
(2) While Japan recognizes the importance of complex UN peacekeeping operations, such as those in East Timor and Kosovo, traditional peacekeeping operations will also continue to play a key role throughout the world. Japan will evaluate the Secretary-General's initiative to establish a deliberative panel on UN peacekeeping operations to review all aspects of operations.
(3) Ensuring the safety of personnel is of paramount importance in implementing peacekeeping operations. Japan will further make efforts to enhance the security of UN personnel and associated personnel of humanitarian aid organizations and other actors, and will continue to urge countries that have not concluded the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel to do so.
4. Development
(1) It is essential to promote wide-ranging examination of development capital allocation, including mobilization of private-sector investment and developing countries' domestic capital, and comprehensive examination of development policies including trade, investment and human resources, and to advance a streamlined, results-oriented approach. Japan will promote partnerships with recipient countries, international organizations, donors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the basis of ownership on the part of developing countries. Japan will also work to enhance South-South cooperation.
(2) Japan believes that it is vital to incorporate a people-centered focus into development. Based on discussions at the 24th special session on the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and further initiatives held in June, and the International Symposium on Human Security held in Tokyo in July, Japan will continue to take initiative to address development, and humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance from the perspective of "human security."
(3) With regard to African development, as follow-up to the Tokyo Agenda for Action adopted at the Second Tokyo Conference on African Development (TICAD II) held in October 1998, Japan will make use of South-South cooperation, as typified by Asia-Africa cooperation, as well as regional cooperation and private-sector cooperation to continue to implement specific measures in such areas as IT, infectious diseases and agriculture with the view to ensuring poverty reduction and growth to that end, integrating Africa into the world economy and building the foundations for development (good governance, conflict prevention and post-conflict development).
(4) In the context of IT and development, while attention has tended to focus on the "digital divide"--a negative aspect--it is also vital to introduce the perspective of offering "digital opportunities" that maximize the potential for further development through the application of IT. Prior to the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, Japan put together a comprehensive cooperation package to provide US$15 billion over the next five years to bridge the international information divide. Japan will further advance its cooperation in this area in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other international organizations.
5. Humanitarian Assistance and Human Rights
(1) Japan places emphasis on the humanitarian response to emergency situations and the smooth transition from emergency post-conflict humanitarian assistance to reconstruction and development assistance. Furthermore, from the perspective of human security Japan will continue to actively support the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other international organizations, particularly UN institutions, to address such issues as refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide.
(2) Japan will continue to support UN efforts centering around the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR). In order to promote the democratic development of developing countries and to protect and promote human rights, Japan has been providing assistance for enhancing legal, judiciary and administrative systems in developing countries, as well as for democratic elections (Partnership for Democratic Development). Furthermore, Japan will make active efforts toward the empowerment of women through its traditional contribution to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women, and based on the results of the Women 2000 Conference held in June. Taking the opportunity of the UN Special Session on Children to be held in September 2001 as a follow-up to the World Summit for Children, Japan will continue to contribute to improving the state of children's health worldwide and the dissemination of education. In December 2001, Japan will host the Second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Yokohama in order to strengthen the protection of children from commercial sexual exploitation.
6. Global Issues
(1) With respect to climate change, recognizing the importance of reaching a decision on the key issues of the Kyoto Protocol at the Sixth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP6) in November in order to enable countries to ratify the Protocol with the view to its early entry into force, Japan will continue to contribute toward advancing negotiations.
(2) In regard to infectious diseases, which cause a hindrance to the development of developing countries, Japan will undertake cooperation providing around US$3 billion over the next five years for measures to combat infectious diseases, in accordance with Japan's Initiative in the Fight Against Infectious and Parasitic Diseases announced on the occasion of the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit.
(3) With respect to drugs, Japan will continue to contribute to the United Nations Drugs Control Program (UNDCP) and undertake bilateral cooperation. In January this year Japan and the UNDCP co-hosted the Anti-Drug Conferences, Tokyo 2000, working to promote international information exchange.
(4) It is vital that Rio+10, to be held in 2002, a decade after the Rio Earth Summit, affirm the international will to address global environmental issues, given the advance of technological innovation and globalization since the UN Conference on Environment and Development. While relevant treaties provide the individual rules for many areas that pertain to one another, more effective and efficient implementation of relevant environmental treaties is essential.
(5) As enshrined in the G8 Communique Okinawa 2000, Japan reaffirms its support for the adoption of the United Nations Transnational Organized Crime Convention, and will work together with countries with the view to adopting the Convention's related protocols during 2000.
7. Education and Culture
Japan will continue to support the reform efforts and activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in particular activities to achieve education for all and to promote cultural diversity.
In light of 2001 being designated as the United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations, Japan will strive to promote the philosophy of "dialogue among civilizations" through cooperation in the holding of international symposia.
8. Japanese Personnel in the United Nations
Given the low level of Japanese nationals active in the United Nations at present, Japan and the United Nations must continue to call for an increase in the number of Japanese personnel.
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