The nations speak: general debate, 1987.

The Nations Speak General Debate, 1987

A record number of 152 speakers came to the podium of the blue and gilt General Assembly Hall during the Assembly's 1987 "general debate" -- a three-week period at the beginning of each Assembly session that gives Member States a chance to reflect on events of the preceding year and express their views on the full range of issues on the global agenda. The highest number of speakers previously had been 150 -- in both 1983 and 1984.

Twenty-three Heads of State and Government, 108 Foreign Ministers, one other minister and 20 representatives spoke from 21 September to 9 October.

Assembly President Peter Florin of the German Democratic Republic remarked at the conclusion of the exercise that it had "demonstrated the desire of peoples for the preservation and strengthening of international peace and security, the overcoming of underdevelopment and poverty, a peaceful settlement of the tragic conflicts that claim so many victims, and new solutions to economic, ecological, social and humanitarian problems".

Although the vast majority of speakers enthusiastically welcomed the projected signing of the Soviet-United States intermediate nuclear force (INF) agreement as a precursor of further international arms control measures, debate participants also underlined the urgent need for resolving a number of the world's other pressing problems -- the worsening economic situation of developing third world countries, especially those located in Africa; the festering Middle East dispute; the seven-year-old bloody Iran-Iraq conflict; the ongoing search for peace in Central America; the decades-old tyranny of the universally-condemned apartheid system; and the bringing to independence of Namibia.

Other problems often cited were the situations in Afghanistan and Kampuchea, the scorges of terrorism and drug abuse and illicit trafficking, the continuing financial crisis of the United Nations, and the growing degradation of the world's environment.

Views differed on the current world situation. Some maintained that it was "explosive" because of an increase in hotbeds of tension; others perceived an improved international climate engendered by super-Power dialogue on global and regional issues. Said Finland: "Finally, after years of fear and frustration, a positive change appears to be on the way in big-Power relations." Added Byelorussian SSR: "International relations are beginning to move towards a qualitatively new...