Mongolia & United Nations

MONGOLIA : FOUR DECADES AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Immediately following World War II , Mongolia sought to play an active part in building the post-war world order. In 1946 it applied for membership of the United Nations, which had just emerged as the chief mechanism for building that new order. However, because of the clash of two differing ideologies and obstruction by some countries, Mongolia could not fulfill its desire to be an active player in the international arena. It had to work hard for 15 years before finally being admitted to the United Nations. On October 27 1961 Mongolia became a fully-fledged member of the international community, a turning point in the country's contemporary history.

The significance of Mongolia's membership of the United Nations

Mongolia 's membership of the United Nations brought it out of isolation and into the international community of sovereign States with equal rights. It had several invaluable consequences for Mongolia 's place and role in the world.

Guarantor of Mongolia 's Independence

Mongolia 's membership of the United Nations has been the most viable guarantee of its independence and sovereignty. The use or threat of force against Mongolia and its territorial integrity has become impossible with the United Nations standing behind us. Mongolia in turn has reaffirmed its peaceful policy by acceding to the UN Charter and solemnly undertaking to adhere to the ideals enshrined in this most powerful international legal instrument.

Recognition of Independence

At the time of its admission to the United Nations Mongolia had diplomatic relations with only 19 socialist and developing countries. Once it had UN membership, Mongolia was given de facto recognition by 100 countries at once, and this immeasurably strengthened its independence and sovereignty.

Formal recognitions of Mongolia multiplied, and diplomatic relations were established at a great pace. The country now has diplomatic ties with over 140 others.

The opening up of Mongolia

Mongolia now became relatively open to the outside world. Once forgotten, it was finally in a position to become known to the international community, and to familiarize itself with the rest of the world.

Mongolia 's membership of the United Nations and of many UN system organizations, its active participation in the work of the Organization and its substantial contribution to implementing its ideals, helped to expose the country to the world, and vice versa. This later contributed to planting the seeds of democracy and a market economy in Mongolian society.

Learning to be an Active Player

Although ideologically handicapped, Mongolia had the opportunity to be part of the international community and was able to learn how to participate in debates on issues of universal interest. It also acquired enough experience to promote its own interests through the machinery of international organizations.

Receiving Assistance

As a fully-fledged member of the international community, Mongolia now had the right to United Nations development assistance. Though modest in scale, UN development assistance helped Mongolia gain access to the most advanced technologies which the non-socialist countries could offer at that time.

Expansion of Mongolia 's International Acceptance

Once the international community had accepted Mongolia as an equal partner, the door was open to the other UN organizations and to international treaties. Since 1961 Mongolia has become a full member of 33 multilateral intergovernmental institutions, and almost 20 regional or inter-agency bodies. There is no major international organization which Mongolia has not joined, apart from certain regional groupings.

In addition, many Mongolian non-governmental organizations have joined international associations. For example, the United Nations Association of Mongolia (UNA-Mongolia) was formed in 1957 and served as a window to the UN before Mongolia 's admission to the Organization. It is an active member of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, and plays a leading role in promoting the ideals of the international community among the Mongolian public.

Mongolia has ratified or acceded to over 140 international treaties and conventions, an important sign of its place and role in the world.

Mongolia fulfils with dignity its obligations to the international organizations and conventions to which it is a party, through its various financial contributions and by reporting on its performance of its obligations.

Mongolia has opened 31 diplomatic missions abroad and more than 20 embassies and offices of international organizations are established in Ulaanbaatar .

Mongolia as an Active Player at the United Nations

During the 40 years of its membership, Mongolia has transformed itself from a passive to an active player in the various United Nations organs. It has sponsored over 50 resolutions on social and economic issues adopted by the United Nations and its various organizations. It has also co-sponsored about 500 resolutions. It has paid special attention to issues such as peace and disarmament, the right of peoples to peaceful co-existence, the principles of international negotiation, far-reaching social and economic reforms, universal literacy, the public sector and cooperatives, national personnel and rural women, land-locked countries, etc.

It is at the initiative of Mongolia that the international community observes Disarmament Week from 24 to 30 October every year. This important initiative has proved to the international public that Mongolia is an ardent promoter of peace and disarmament.

In 1984 the United Nations adopted, at the initiative of Mongolia , the "Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace", which was well received by the international community at that period of the cold war.

Mongolia 's active participation and significant role in the United Nations is widely recognized by other member States. Its representatives have been unanimously elected to important posts in the UN General Assembly such as Vice-President (on 6 occasions), Chairman of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the Sixth Committee (Legal), and the Commission on Disarmament, as well as Vice-Chairman and Rapporteur of several committees. Mongolia was also elected Chairperson of the annual session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in 1989 and 1999 respectively.

Mongolia was a member of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1973-1976, and has now submitted its candidature for 2003-2005. It is an active member of the ECOSOC Commission on the Status of Women (1999-2002) and the Commission on Sustainable Development (2001-2003).

Since 1999, the country has started to prepare for its participation in the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Organization. Mongolia 's military and humanitarian personnel are now trained to take part in field operations.

Mongolia has been active in the work of UN global conferences such as the World Summit for Children (New York, 1990), the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993), the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995), the World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), and the World Food Summit (Rome, 1996).

Mongolia took the lead in organizing the "One World" conference series, as a follow-up to these UN global conferences. The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, has initiated an extensive and far-reaching set of reforms intended to achieve greater unity of purpose, coherence of effort and flexibility of response within the United Nations system. This reform is designed to be a continuing process rather than a single event. It is intended to foster a new United Nations for the new century. A key rallying point for implementing the Secretary-General's desire for cohesive programming is the follow-up to summits and conferences sponsored by the United Nations. To this end, Mongolia has launched a series of national youth conferences on these international forums. These youth assemblies, known as the "One World" United Nations Conference Series, were intended to empower Mongolia 's youth, its citizens and ultimately its leaders to take action on issues of global importance in the development of their own community. The series did this by revisiting five key world conferences of the 1990s.

The participation of the President of Mongolia in the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 was another strong indication of Mongolia 's commitment to the ideals of the United Nations. As its President observed, Mongolia viewed this unprecedented gathering of world leaders "as an event of historic importance that offers us a unique opportunity to reaffirm our faith in the United Nations…"

Mongolia 's Vision of the United Nations in the 21st Century

Mongolia sees the United Nations as a powerful partner in its development and progress. It respects the Organization as "the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development."

It will continue actively promoting the United Nations, especially its reform measures. For a small State like Mongolia , the United Nations is of special value in terms of safeguarding its interests, lending it a voice on global issues and promoting its development. Mongolia is therefore strongly in favor of further enhancing the role and credibility of the UN and democratizing its work.

Mongolia holds the view that "if the United Nations is to adequately respond to the challenges of today's increasingly interdependent and rapidly changing world, a great deal will depend on its ability to adapt itself to an environment that is markedly different from the one in which it was conceived by its founders…"

Our vision of the future of the Organization has been elaborated in the Memorandum of the Government of Mongolia on enhancing the role of the United Nations in promoting the security interests of small States, which was circulated at the United Nations in 2000 as document A/55/310.

We expect that the reformed and reinvigorated Organization can help Mongolia more in its endeavor to benefit equally from the globalization process.

The Government of Mongolia is of the view that development and progress will never be achieved unless we deal with the huge aftermath of the social crisis which has come about in the process of transition to a market economy. With this in mind, we will continue actively cooperating with the United Nations to find optimal solutions to issues such as the drastic reduction of poverty and the improvement of health care, education and living standards.

Mongolia is grateful to the United Nations for its assistance in relief efforts during the natural disasters which have afflicted the country as a result of global climate change. It will actively cooperate with the United Nations in strengthening mechanisms and institutional capacity for disaster preparedness and effective mitigation.

Information technology is a powerful means of facilitating a dynamic response to every problem of a socio-economic nature, including the participation of individuals at every level in governance, the enhancement of their knowledge, closing gaps between urban and rural development and improving people's business and earning skills, as well as effective monetary policies. We will therefore pay maximum attention to this sector as the main engine of development in the 21st century. Mongolia hopes that the United Nations will continue assisting us in the establishment of an information and communications network tailored to Mongolia 's particular needs, reflected in a large land area with a sparse population.

Mongolia has developed a national policy for regional development. Through its technical assistance, the United Nations could make a major contribution to building up the regional economic development strategy, and in creating an enabling legal environment and strengthening development capacity at the local level.

There is no doubt that the United Nations will extend effective cooperation as in the past towards the achievement of our goal of nurturing a civil society that secures equality, active participation and freedom for everyone in this country.

Democracy, the promotion of human rights, and transparent and accountable governments are indispensable elements of security and development. The International Conference on Human Security, organized by the Government of Mongolia in cooperation with the UNDP in May 2000 in Ulaanbaatar, highlighted the role of an informed and mature civil society in the country as the central building block for human and national security, emphasizing that empowered and pro-active citizens have the capacity and capability to reinforce their own well-being and individual security, and accordingly their national security. The "Good Governance for Human Security" Program, initiated by the Government of Mongolia and supported by UNDP, was launched in early 2001 with a view to achieving person-centered development in each and of its aspects. Mongolia will step up its cooperation with the United Nations in this area.