Address by the President of the Republic of Finland

to the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa

in Cape Town on 13.5.1997

FINLAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA ON THE ROAD OF RECONSTRUCTION

It was around this date three years ago that the new South Africa began its journey. I had the opportunity to be present to witness the transfer of power. Your joyful and unanimous commitment to democracy and democratic values left an indelible impression on me. Rarely in the history of the world has such a peaceful transfer of power been seen between two parties that had been in a virtual state of war.

Your commitment to democracy has often been spoken of as a "miracle". However, the peaceful miracle of South Africa was not a coincidence, but rather the culmination of a long and patient process. Great thanks for that are due to the leaders who showed courage and far-sightedness during the difficult negotiations of the transitional period.

We in Finland greeted the successful transfer of power with particular joy. We were among those who contributed to supporting the peaceful transition and work to promote it was done on a broad front. Hundreds if not thousands of Finns took part in the various stages of the new South Africa's birth process, some of them earlier as peacekeepers in Namibia, others later as election observers here in South Africa. Finland supported the banned opposition's information and educational activities and, as in the other Nordic countries, numerous citizens participated wholeheartedly in the struggle against apartheid. Now that the objective has been reached, our joy is great and sincere.

After the festivities began the long-term, everyday work of developing society within a framework of democratic ground rules. Now, three years later, we are witnessing South Africa's struggle to eliminate poverty and cross the development gulf. Your commitment to democracy and its values has not wavered. On the contrary, political institutions have been brought up to date - even ahead of their time - in a new constitution of which South Africans have every reason to be proud.

Especially here in South Africa this work is an enormous challenge: redressing the developmental differences that apartheid created by increasing overall prosperity seems an almost superhuman task. The great majority of the population harbour high expectations that their standard of living will quickly change and the leaders are under severe pressure to succeed. At the same time, the effectiveness of oven-fresh democratic institutions is being weighed in the balance. In many other societies, democracy has been arrived at only through the pressures that have accompanied growing prosperity. South Africa embarked on the road of social harmony from the very beginning. For that reason, you deserve support other than sympathy from abroad during your period of transition. Finland wants to make her contribution to this work.

In its efforts to increase prosperity, the Government has taken the bull by the horns and embarked on the road of global ground rules. There appears to be growing agreement in South Africa that only by expanding the economy can prosperity be distributed to those who need it most. That is certainly not the easiest alternative, but at least in the light of Finland's experience it is the only one that leads onto the superhighway of development.

South Africa is expected to serve as a locomotive of economic growth, not only regionally but also more broadly in international contexts. Consolidation of political democracy and economic strategy should go hand-in-hand, because what use could democracy be without an equitable sharing of economic prosperity? In this respect the example of South Africa is also a signal of Africa's new coming, a signal that the entire continent's self-confidence and will to develop are on the rise.

The first precondition for success is the creation of a living human rights culture, as has been noted in the South African Government's policy outlines. Enduring democracy and sustainable development combine only through a living human rights culture, which includes political, cultural and social rights on a basis of equity. Perhaps more clearly than elsewhere else, the importance from the perspective of social peace of a human rights culture comprehensively permeating civil society has been understood in South Africa.

One of the most critical projects in the creation of an economic growth culture is a reform of the entire justice system. The goals to which that reform aspires are set forth in your Government's Justice Vision 2000 action programme. With regard also to ensuring the stability and security that are prerequisites for foreign investment, carrying through that programme is certainly a more sustainable alternative than a strategy based solely on increasing police powers.

An important role in the birth of an independent Finland in 1917 was played by the Finns' belief in the importance of implementing justice as a foundation for the life of the community. That faith has wavered only once, and that was as a consequence of our civil war in 1918. The Finns still place their faith in a strong state in which the rule of law prevails, and which guarantees its citizens that justice will be implemented equitably and effectively.

In a multicultural rainbow society it is difficult to underestimate the significance of that same matter. South African experience is also of special value in efforts to achieve global standards of justice. It is natural, therefore, that Finland has announced her willingness to make her contribution to reforming the South African justice system. In collaboration with your Department of Justice, we intend to support development of the judicial database management system, an area in which we have strong expertise. These arrangements will also be of assistance in stepping up the fight against crime. Finland has further offered to share her experience of using information technology in the education sector.

In other aspects of creating a democratic infrastructure, Finland has been involved in Department of Water Affairs and Forestry projects to modernise your legislation on water resources. Those projects have attracted international attention and are anchored in principles that accord to a large degree with the goals to which you aspire in reforming the justice system. In our country of thousands of lakes, there is generally a surplus of water, but here in South Africa, where this resource is much less abundant, ensuring that all of the population has fair access to a supply of it is a critical part of building a human rights culture.

Finland greatly esteems the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to strengthen democracy. As a country that has experienced a civil war, we know how one prefers to forget the dark sides of the past. We also know how long it takes wounds to heal in a society unless active efforts are made to promote national reconciliation.

We admire the courage that the South African civil society has shown in embarking on the difficult and painful, and to a degree also risky process of truth and reconciliation. All of the things that are happening before the Commission, in a public arena: acceptance of responsibility, admitting fundamentally that one has been wrong, asking for forgiveness, forgiving - are deeds that logically continue on from the process of negotiation that led to the constitution along the road towards healing the wounds of apartheid. They are also deeds that demand the same courage and far-sightedness that was needed to cope honourably with the most difficult stages of the earlier process.

Like many other countries, Finland has wanted to support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the part of its term still remaining. But the process will probably still be needed even after that. Finland will then be prepared to cooperate with South Africa in bringing forward the work and principles of the Commission at the UN and elsewhere, if the question of internationalising the project arises. There would certainly be a demand elsewhere in the world for the Commission's experience, for example in Bosnia and Cambodia.

Finland shares with South Africa an appreciation of the importance of implementing good administration. That is especially relevant in local government. In the final analysis, how well democracy functions at the top level depends on the ground rules that apply at the grass roots. We Finns and South Africans have visited each other's countries to see how we conduct elections. Now the intention is to increase our contacts at the local-government level, with the particular aim of strengthening the role of women, in cooperation with the other countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and with the assistance of the European Parliamentarians for Southern Africa (AWEPA).

Through her long cooperation with the SADC, Finland has been involved in supporting promotion of a rational division of labour and production in the region by eliminating frontier barriers. We are prepared to continue this cooperation during South Africa's presidency and to collaborate with the SADC in, for example, producing studies into the consequences of free trade on a broader scale. It is through regional integration that the most solid road to global markets will be opened up. That is the way that we Finns have gone, initially by joining in the European process of integration via the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a grouping of countries that had remained outside the then European Economic Community (EEC).

Your country's recent accession to the Lomé Convention is a welcome step on the road of cooperation between South Africa and the EU. It strengthens trust between the EU and South Africa at the same time as it increases your country's political interaction with the other countries of the region. South Africa's new ties to Asia and Latin America represent East-West cooperation along the same lines that Finland has tried to promote in her own environment. In South Africa's case, this is called South-South cooperation for some reason, but it means the same fresh-minded approach to security policy that we both try to adopt.

A further factor that unites us although our countries are located in opposite hemispheres is our special interest in questions relating to the polar regions, which both of us adjoin. Within her Antarctic research work, Finland is willing to look for suitable models of cooperation with South Africa, which in addition to having a valuable research programme offers good logistics.

In only a short time, South Africa has taken her place among the most influential forces in the Southern Hemisphere as a pioneer in the struggle for peace and democracy. Through peacekeeping cooperation developed together with the other SADC countries, Southern Africa has gone from being a producer of conflicts to a region on the road of stability and economic growth. An important interim achievement on that road is regional integration, which is to create a market of 140 million consumers that will deserve the serious attention of international business. One indication of that is the high-level Finnish business delegation accompanying me on this visit.

I would like to congratulate South Africa on her constructive and decisive role at the UN. That South Africa has changed in only a few years from being the UN's outcast to one of its leading peacemakers, both globally and regionally, is a truly unique achievement. We value the fact that at the UN South Africa has assumed a responsibility for world peace commensurate with her role.

Thank you!