Japan's Position toward the UN Millennium Summit and the Millennium Assembly
(55th Session of the General Assembly)

August, 2000

1. Strengthening the UN through Reform

In order to ensure that the UN will effectively address issues facing the international community in the 21st century, strengthening the UN through reform is strongly demanded. At the Millennium Summit and 55th Session of the General Assembly, a clear-cut vision of reform needs to be presented, so that the international community's trust in the UN can be maintained and enhanced.

(i) In the area of international peace and security, the international community's expectations toward the UN have become higher than ever. To live up to these expectations, the Security Council needs to be urgently reformed to enhance its legitimacy and efficiency, as is stated in the Secretary-General's report "We the Peoples." Specifically, to prevent the discussion over reform from receding, Japan believes that it is necessary to aim for the convergence of the positions of Member States, on substantive points, such as the expansion of both the permanent and non-permanent membership.

(ii) Japan will endeavor to promote financial reform. To ensure a stable financial base of the UN, all Member States with arrears should make every effort to liquidate them. Particularly in the coming General Assembly, it is necessary to review the formula deciding the scale of assessments for the UN budget, and achieve a well-balanced scale which reflects the economic power of each Member State, and its position and responsibility within the UN.

(iii) As for reforms in the area of development, it is important to further strengthen the coordination among the UN agencies both at the Headquarters and in the field, as well as coordination between the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions. Japan will make a further effort, centered upon Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), to promote reforms in the social and economic areas.

2. Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

(i) Aiming for a "world free of nuclear weapons" in the nearest future, Japan will take progressive and practical steps in the area of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

* Japan will redouble its diplomatic efforts to facilitate the implementation of measures agreed upon in the final document adopted at the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). As a part of such efforts, Japan will take initiatives including submission to the Millennium Assembly of a new draft resolution on elimination of nuclear weapons.

* Japan will call upon the Nuclear-Weapon States, including the United States and Russia, to make further efforts to reduce their nuclear weapons, such as the early entry-into-force of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II (START II), as well as the early commencement of the START III negotiations, and further continuation of the START process.

* For the purpose of facilitating the early entry-into-force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Japan will continue to dispatch missions to the countries which have not signed or ratified the CTBT, and also strive, in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, to promptly establish an ad-hoc committee with a mandate to negotiate the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.

* Japan will enhance its efforts to curb the proliferation of missiles, which serve as delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction, with the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) as a central pillar of these efforts.

(ii)

* Japan will promote the preparatory process for a successful outcome of the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects in 2001.

* On the issue of anti-personnel landmines, Japan will work actively to achieve the goal of "zero victims," through a comprehensive approach consisting of the universal and effective ban and elimination of anti-personnel mines, as well as enhanced assistance to landmine victims.

* Japan will continue its efforts for the operation and further development of the UN Register of Conventional Arms.

* Concerning biological weapons, Japan will continue to actively participate in negotiations on the creation of a verification protocol to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in order to conclude these negotiations before the Review Conference of the Parties to the BWC scheduled in 2001, the year of the target deadline.

3. Resolution and Prevention of Conflict

(i) A "culture of prevention" needs to be nourished throughout the international community to successfully prevent conflicts. Concurrently, a "comprehensive approach" for conflict prevention is necessary, which employs a wide range of policy measures at various stages of conflict, from peacetime to the post-conflict stage, to prevent its recurrence. The diversification of actors involved in conflict prevention is remarkable today. Thus the UN, as the coordinating body of the efforts by these various actors, is gaining further importance. Enhancing of the peace operation capacity of the UN itself is also required.

(ii) Concerning UN peace operations, Japan recognizes the importance of complex operations such as those in East Timor and Kosovo, while traditional peacekeeping operations will also continue to play a vital role in various parts of the world. Japan appreciates the initiative of the Secretary-General for the establishment of the Panel on UN Peace Operations in order to review all aspects of peace operations.

(iii) In implementing peace operations, it is important to ensure the safety of personnel deployed in such operations. Japan will make further efforts to improve the safety of personnel of the UN and relevant humanitarian assistance agencies deployed in various parts of the world and continues to invite, in this respect, other Member States who have not yet done so to become party to the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel, which entered into force last year.

4. Development

(i) It is necessary to further advance: wide-ranging consideration of financing for development, including private investment and domestic resource-mobilization in developing countries; comprehensive planning of development policies including trade, investment and human resource development; and effectiveness and output-oriented approaches to development. Based on the ownership of developing countries of their development, Japan will make efforts to promote partnership among recipient countries, international organizations, donors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Japan will also support the strengthening of South-South cooperation.

(ii) Japan considers it important to introduce a human-centered approach to development. Based upon the discussions in the Special Session of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and Further Initiatives held in June 2000, and the International Symposium on Human Security held in Tokyo in July 2000, Japan will continue to take initiatives in promoting development as well as humanitarian and reconstruction assistance from the perspective of "human security."

(iii) On African development, as a follow-up to the "Tokyo Agenda for Action" which was adopted at the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II) held in October 1998, Japan will continue to implement specific programs in such areas as information technology, infectious diseases, and agriculture, in order to realize poverty reduction and growth needed for it, integration of Africa into the global economy, and the basic foundation for development (good governance, conflict prevention and post-conflict development), through utilizing South-South cooperation, particularly between Asian and African countries, and cooperation in the private sector.

(iv) On the issue of information and communications technology (IT) and development, the negative aspect of IT, namely the international digital divide, has drawn much attention. However, it is also important to recognize the digital opportunities provided by IT, which enable further development. Japan announced a "Comprehensive Cooperation Package to Address the International Digital Divide," in the run-up to the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, amounting to US$15 billion in the coming 5 years. Japan will implement this package in coordination with the UN Development Program (UNDP) and other international organizations.

5. Humanitarian Assistance and Human Rights

(i) Japan attaches importance to such tasks as responding to humanitarian emergencies and securing a smooth transition from post-conflict emergency humanitarian assistance to reconstruction and development assistance. Japan intends to continue its active support, from the standpoint of human security, for the activities of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other UN organizations to protect and assist the refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.

(ii)

* Japan will continue to actively support the activities of the UN in the field of human rights, especially those of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR). Japan is assisting the improvement of legal, judicial and administrative systems and democratic elections in developing countries, in order to advance democracy, as well as to protect and promote human rights in these countries (the initiative of "Partnership for Democratic Development").

* Japan intends to actively work for the further advancement of women, through our continued financial contributions to the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and to the UNIFEM Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women, and taking into account the outcome of the Special Session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century," held in June 2000.

* Using the Special Session of the General Assembly for Follow-up to the World Summit for Children, which will be held in September 2001, Japan will continue to contribute to the improvement of the health conditions, school enrollment and attendance of children. Moreover, the Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children will be held in Yokohama in December 2001 to strengthen the protection of children from commercial sexual exploitation.

6. Global Issues

(i) On climate change, it is important to work toward the success of the Sixth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP6) to be held this November, to make the Kyoto Protocol ratifiable and thus to realize the early entry-into-force of the Protocol. Japan will continue to contribute to keep up the momentum of negotiations.

(ii) Concerning infectious and parasitic diseases, which pose a serious impediment to socio-economic progress in developing countries, Japan will extend cooperation with a target of allocating US$ 3 billion over the next 5 years in line with the Okinawa Infectious Diseases (ID) Initiative, which was announced on the occasion of the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit.

(iii) Concerning international efforts combating drugs, Japan will continue to support the activities of the UN International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) through donations, as well as extend bilateral cooperation. By co-organizing the Anti-Drug Conferences, Tokyo 2000 in January 2000 with the UNDCP, Japan has made efforts to enhance a worldwide exchange of information on the issue.

(iv) At the Rio+10 meeting which will be convened in 2002, ten years after the Earth Summit in Rio, it is important to take into account such progress as technical advances and globalization after the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and to confirm our common will to cope with global environmental issues.

(v) Various international frameworks have been constructed to respectively address various environmental problems, which are intertwined with each other. Henceforth, an even more effective and efficient implementation of various treaties on the environment is important.

(vi) Japan welcomes the conclusion of the draft of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and will make efforts in concert with other countries for the adoption of the protocols thereto by the end of 2000, as called for in the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit Communique.

7. Education and Culture

(i) Japan continues to support the reforms of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its various activities, among others, those for education for all and promotion of cultural diversity.

(ii) Next year is the UN Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. Japan will consequently endeavor for a wider recognition of the importance of the concept of "dialogue among civilizations," for example through cooperation in international symposia.

8. Number of Japanese Staff in the UN

The number of Japanese staff in the UN is extremely modest and further efforts by both the UN and Japan will be needed to increase the number of Japanese staff.