On behalf of the Peruvian people, we warmly congratulate Mr. Csaba Korosi on his election as President of the General Assembly. I am convinced that his broad diplomatic experience and commitment to environmental issues will contribute to the success of our work. I also commend and thank Secretary- General Antonio Guterres for his initiatives to promote more efficient and fairer global governance and for the hard work he is doing in a troubled world that demands strong leadership.
The international situation is complex, difficult and delicate. Strategic balances are shifting, and our peoples are concerned about the worsening context with regard to peace, the environment and the international economic situation. The world is moving dangerously towards situations of confrontation and opposed interests, which are creating serious tensions that are unprecedented in history.
Peru reaffirms its firm position in defence of the principle of non-aggression and respect for the territorial integrity of States. We reiterate that Russian Federation’s intervention in Ukraine is illegitimate, as well as our condemnation of Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories since 1967. The selective application the Charter of the United Nations is not conducive to peace. All armed interventions are in violation of the Charter — there is no such thing as good or bad interventions. Similarly, all sanctions, other than those approved by the Security Council as part of its actions to preserve peace and security, are illegitimate and contrary to international law. I repeat, all other types of unilateral sanctions, including economic sanctions, are illegitimate and contrary to international law.
When a war or aggression breaks out, it is the duty of the international community to work towards a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement of the conflict through diplomatic negotiations. We must not encourage conflict but rather make peace our mission. Peru therefore once again reiterates the need for a ceasefire in Ukraine. We call for enhancing the protection of civil society affected by the conflict and for negotiations to be launched in order to find a peaceful solution that takes the interests of all parties into account. At the same time, we need to ensure that the agreement enabling the export of grain from Ukraine continues and, as the Secretary-General has pointed out, make arrangements to normalize Russian fertilizer exports, the shortage of which is burdening the poorest farmers in the developing world. It is crucial to prevent economic sanctions from affecting food security. Ultimately, it is a matter of ensuring respect for the human right to food.
Regarding the question of Palestine, whose territories witnessed a surge of violence a few months ago, it is also essential for the international community to shoulder its responsibilities once and for all and support peace negotiations geared towards finding a solution based on recognizing both States — an independent and viable Palestine and an Israel with secure borders. That is the only way to secure a lasting peace. The Government of Peru will soon open a diplomatic outpost in Palestine, in full compliance with the principle of universality of diplomatic relations.
Given the context of instability and the fact that we are losing the capacity to use consensus and diplomatic negotiations to transform centres of conflict into peacebuilding situations, it is essential to take a leap forward in strengthening and expanding the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations. At the request of my Government, Peru has nearly doubled its number of military personnel in six peacekeeping missions around the world, especially in the peacemaking and stabilization process in the Central African Republic. We are also committed to making short-term police contributions.
Just a few days ago, in Lima, I opened the first Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Peacekeeping Operations on the theme “Living in Peace”. The convening of the Conference demonstrates a determined push to increase the participation of Latin America and the Caribbean in United Nations peacekeeping operations, in accordance with the principles of consent of the parties, impartiality and the non-use of force, except in legitimate self-defence. More importantly, the Lima Conference made the decision to establish a Latin American and Caribbean network for cooperation in peacekeeping operations. Peru is committed to ensuring the immediate set-up and launch of the network. Latin America, which played a decisive role in establishing the United Nations, must, through solidarity and joint action, step up its contribution to conflict resolution and peace. That is its historical tradition.
In that regard, my Government will be ramping up the consultations to establish South America as a zone of international peace. As indicated in the preamble to the UNESCO constitution, since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defence of peace must be constructed. Building the values of peace in the minds of men means respecting others, protecting human rights and not exploiting the weakest, as well as promoting dialogue and the peaceful settlement of disputes. But above all, it means eradicating — as the United Nations systematically does, with the permanent support of Peru — hateful ideologies, racism, intolerance, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Peace, on the other hand, requires us to acknowledge that humankind has a common destiny.
Acting responsibly to build that common future means respecting the principle of non-intervention and, at the same time, showing solidarity with the poor, the weak, the dispossessed and the vulnerable. Acting responsibly to build that common future means respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms; civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; the collective rights of peoples and the rights
of indigenous peoples. States have a duty not only to guarantee their peoples’ freedom but also to ensure that they can enjoy the social rights that underpin human dignity, including the human rights to education, health, housing, water, food, a living wage and, thanks to the General Assembly, the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Peacebuilding also involves fulfilling the mandate to resolve the still-pending situation of colonial peoples and territories. Peru fought for its independence in the early nineteenth century based on the principle of self- determination of peoples. Peru’s diplomacy since 1947 has therefore firmly supported and continues to support granting independence and self-determination to the territories and peoples that are under the mandate of the United Nations to ensure their independence.
Peru has re-established diplomatic relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and firmly supports its right to self-determination. The actions to be taken by the Special Representative of the Secretary- General to re-establish the ceasefire in the Western Sahara and promote a negotiated and peaceful solution have our widest support. In the same vein, Peru fully recognizes the Argentina’s sovereignty rights of the over the Malvinas Islands and urges the parties to begin consultations and negotiations in order to realize that crucial objective.
The international economic situation is becoming dire. The pandemic’s negative effects on production processes and, especially, the deterioration it has entailed in the living standards of the poor and extremely poor majorities, as well as the problems it has created in the regularization of supply chains, inflation and rising energy prices, are unleashing a major world crisis, which will cause more poverty and exclusion.
Global growth indicators are not encouraging; indeed, global growth is declining. Latin America is suffering the negative effects of inflation and the decline of economic growth. It is also struggling to restore its efforts to combat poverty and extreme poverty to their pre-pandemic levels. The region has increasingly high rates of debt that are difficult to sustain.
In order to address those global and regional trends, which are affecting opportunities for potential growth, Peru has adopted a plan to boost economic growth known as Impulso Peru. Our definitive goal is, in all cases, to grow the economy by 3.3 per cent above the average target for Latin America. We are convinced that our most important objective should be to create more better-quality jobs, and to that end, we are promoting and improving conditions for national and foreign investment. The plan also makes special considerations for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Peru is a country with stable and positive macroeconomic variables, an economy open to private and public investment for the benefit of those who need it most.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has raised the need for a new global social compact. That new commitment needs to be linked to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, which are now seriously compromised. We need to reaffirm our political will to ensure that the United Nations development system, within the framework of all its agencies, prioritizes achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goals in the most critical areas of our times, including the reduction by half the proportion of people living in poverty; eradicating extreme poverty; making zero hunger a reality to provide food security for all families; achieving efficient and universal health coverage for all; ensuring that all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education; ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls worldwide; achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all; and progressively achieving and sustaining income growth for the poorest 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average.
We need to ensure the strength and effectiveness of the new global compact by renewing our commitment to focusing our political will and financial resources on meeting the 2030 Agenda goals. The 2030 Agenda is not only a programme for peace, justice and equality at the global level; it is also on essential part of our national agendas.
This year, extreme heat and flooding have reached record-high levels as a result of climate change. Greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise. Those are Mother Earth’s warning calls for us end our assault on nature. I call especially on the industrialized nations to give a new impetus to curbing global warming. As Heads of State, we must acknowledge that our targets for meeting our commitments to reducing new emissions already need to be seven times higher in order to achieve our goal of keeping the planet’s temperature from rising more than 1.5°C. The United Nations has
reaffirmed its support for protecting the rights and lives of environmental defenders and for ensuring access to information on the environment for citizens and indigenous peoples.
The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as the Escazu Agreement, which Peru has signed, reflects the efforts of the peoples of Latin America to implement the General Assembly’s historic resolution 76/300, on recognizing environmental rights as human rights. The Escazu Agreement is an instrument to affirm our sovereignty over natural resources in the Amazon.
The oceans also require urgent compacts to preserve marine life and ecosystems and their biodiversity. Peru supports negotiations for a treaty to regulate fishing activities and eradicate pollution of the seas beyond 200 miles from their coasts. We firmly reiterate our claim to our maritime zone up to 200 miles, as established in our Constitution.
Latin America has a democratic tradition, yet it also has the highest levels of social inequality. But the Latin American peoples continue to move forward with the historical strength of the justness of their cause in the search for fairer, more egalitarian societies with greater social cohesion, where the common good is for all and there is no exclusion. That is the path we are on in Peru.
Democracy by its very nature involves conflicting political positions. That is what freedom is all about. But democratic governance requires respect for institutions and, above all, for the will of the people. Coups d’etat, regardless of how they are orchestrated or the power of the States promoting them, are illegitimate. They are an attack on the sovereign expression of the will of the people. In the same way we address external crises, any crisis of governance or confrontation involving the powers of the State must be resolved through dialogue, agreement and full respect for the electoral results. The Inter-American Democratic Charter, Peru’s contribution to democracy in the Americas, emphatically establishes that principle.
In a world where both tendencies to conflict and internal political crises are increasing, we need four pillars for defending democratic governance: respect for peoples, willingness to resolve conflicts through negotiation, respect for human rights and respect for the institution of the rule of law.
I am Head of State of a multi-ethnic and multicultural country whose development of high civilizations dates back more than 3,000 years, and which has also faced difficulties in eliminating racism and social inequality. My Government reflects the demands, hopes and dreams of those who have had nothing or very little to help them integrate into civic life as actors in their own destiny. Peru’s social inclusion agenda mirrors the new social compact that the United Nations wants for all the peoples of the world.
It is an agenda that prioritizes the principle of leaving no one behind, as well as inclusion that benefits all people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable — for a world for all.