A turning point in UN history: towards a search for common ground.

• Position: 44th General Assembly - Includes related articles

The General Assembly a sensitive barometer Of the world's political climate-was swept at its forty-fourth session by an irresistible movement away from ideological confrontation and towards a search for a common ground, even on some of the thorniest international issues.

A "constructive and co-operative spirit" characterized debates for the most part, Assembly President Joseph N. Garba told the press on 18 December. And in an end-ofthe-year message, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar called 1989 "a historic and epoch-making year".

As the world body adjourned its deliberations on 29 December, after a 15-week session which began on 19 September, many delegates were already hailing the forty-fourth Assembly as a turning point in United Nations history-the moment when a true global consciousness was finally emerging.

An intense awareness of the need for consensus, negotiation and political settlement as tools for human survival seemed to permeate the Assembly as it took ground-breaking action on the environment, human rights, and the fight against drugs.

Other crucial issues related to peace and security, disarmament, economic and social matters, decolonization and international law.

Two landmark Conventions were adopted by consensus-on the rights of the child, and on curbing the activities of mercenaries. A historic Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences in Southern Africa was agreed upon at the sixteenth special session, devoted to that issue (12-14 December).

In a major breakthrough, the Assembly launched negotiations on a convention to protect the Earth's climate, for adoption in 1992 at a world conference on environment and development, to be held in Brazil. It also agreed on a moratorium, by 1992, on ecologically destructive driftnet fishing.

Other achievements:

A special Assembly session in February 1990 will consider urgent action against the drug menace. The feasibility of a UN anti-drug strike force and of an international criminal court able to prosecute drug traffickers will be studied.

A protocol committing countries to the abolition of the death penalty was adopted and opened for signature.

Sixty-five per cent of the 331 Assembly resolutions were adopted by consensus. A record 161 agenda items were considered.

The Assembly decided not to discuss the successful but delicate Namibian independence process. Cyprus and Iran-Iraq were among issues deferred to the next session.

Cold war ending

In a powerful symbol of the end of the cold war, the Soviet Union and the United States, for the first time in history, jointly proposed a political resolution to the Assembly.

The General Assembly, in adopting without a vote on 15 November resolution 44/23, sought to strengthen the UN role in maintaining international peace and security. In what amounted to a vote of confidence in the future of the Organization, it encouraged all States to use the UN framework to consult and co-operate on those matters and urged them to abide by the UN Charter.

The thaw between the superPowers had a positive impact on the Assembly, as did the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, although these were not on the agenda of the forty-fourth session. But the changing climate in the heart of Europe certainly made the atmosphere at the Assembly "more conducive to achieving positive results", Assembly President Garba said.

"The events of recent months have vividly demonstrated the dynamism that popular aspirations give to international affairs", Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar stated.

And he added: "There is little doubt that these developments have unfrozen the old fears and animosities which dominated the world for decades. They hold tangible promise of ending the incessant arms race. They strengthen respect for the principles of human rights and the self-determination of peoples. They have thus phenomenally advanced the interests of global peace."

However, he warned that the new year should be approached "with a renewed sense of purpose and hope, not with a sense of euphoria or passivity", since there were still pending in the world a number of old stubborn problems, unrelated to the cold war". Regional conflicts still raged, grave economic disparities prevailed and destitution was...