The 38th floor.

• Author: Perez de Cuellar, Javier

Excerpts from statements by UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar made between 1 April and 30 June 1991

The heart and core of international law is the precept that nation-states must learn to live in peace with one another according to established rules if the human community is to lead an orderly existence. The present-day world of growing interdependence has given new meaning to this precept and vastly amplified its scope.

The code of conduct that international law prescribes should not be regarded as simply a system of prohibitions and restraints. On the contrary, it is positive and functional, furnishing a basic tool of progress and co-operation. . . .

We can thus see the emergence of some of the basic requirements for international law to become more effective in governing international relations. First, it must not stagnate but must keep pace with change in the conditions of international life. Second, it must evoke a shared understanding and it must be seen to derive from the morality of international behaviour. Third, it must not be applied selectively.

At the University of Bordaux

France, 22 April

A time of hope ...

We are at a time which offers us, suddenly and remarkably, the hope and opportunity of great progress towards the kind of world the Charter describes. We must seize the moment before the forces and energy released by old rigidities can harden into new ones.

Concluding the White House visit,

Washington, D.C, 9 May

To benefit all ...

The environment, in all its beauty and complexity, is a global resource that must be managed effectively for the benefit of all peoples, present and future. . . . I therefore attach great importance to the ongoing negotiation of a framework convention on climate change, and look forward to wide agreement on an effective international instrument in time for the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.

In observance of World Environment Day,

New York, 5 June

A unique compact ...

Later this year the General Assembly will be carrying out a review of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development. When it was adopted in 1986, the Programme raised great expectations since it was the first time that the African countries themselves had developed a comprehensive programme of priorities for the economic development and progress of the continent as a part of a unique compact between Africa and the international community to support...