I come
to speak before the Assembly representing a country
that is celebrating the two-hundredth anniversary of the
endeavour that led to its birth as an independent and
sovereign State, and that has preserved its aspiration to
continue offering the international community its long-
standing tradition of respect for the principles of
international law and its ongoing commitment to the
cause of peace and peaceful coexistence among
nations.
Uruguay takes pride in its calling to serve the
international community in promoting dialogue,
understanding and the tireless search for consensus as
the most appropriate ways for interaction among its
members. It was through the application of those
principles that we recognized and welcomed this year
the 193rd Member of this Organization, the Republic
of South Sudan.
Likewise, in March we recognized the State of
Palestine. We believe that all of the necessary
conditions have been met for this recognition to
become universal and for the realization of a two-State
solution, which Uruguay has supported since 1947, as
well as for a path that reaffirms the right of Israel and
Palestine to coexist in peace, within secure and
recognized borders, in a environment of renewed
cooperation and free from any threats or actions that
could jeopardize peace.
The Palestinian people have a legitimate and full
right to statehood. But the Jewish people also have the
undeniable right to live in peace in a safe country, free
of terrorist attacks — attacks that Uruguay has always
rejected and condemned.
Uruguay is proud to have made a decisive
contribution to the creation of the State of Israel,
whose hard-working people have lived up to the
historic vision of the men and women who made its
creation possible. We are convinced also that the time
has come for the Palestinian people to show the world
their decisive contribution to peace, development and
international cooperation.
Once again, in keeping with our adherence to
international law, we cannot but express our utmost
rejection of coercive measures that violate the
principles of the Charter of the United Nations, such as
the economic, trade and financial blockade imposed by
the United States against Cuba — a unilateral measure
that contravenes not only the Charter but also
international law as well as one of the most important
principles of my country’s foreign policy, namely, the
peaceful settlement of disputes.
We reject all manner of violence and all threat or
use of illegal force, including terrorism — an unjust
and unjustified crime, a cruel scourge that 10 years ago
most painfully affected New York City. We express our
condolences and solidarity to the victims’ families and
the American people, as well as our desire and
commitment to ensure that these kinds of acts never
happen again, here or anywhere else.
While we are guided by the principles of
international law, the promotion and protection of
human rights and international humanitarian law also
figure among the priorities of Uruguayan foreign
policy. This a reflection of the country’s political and
institutional heritage, that of deep-seated democracy
and the solid rule of law.
Allow me to express in that respect my gratitude
in connection with the honour conferred on us when
Uruguay was elected to chair the Human Rights
Council. We will strive to honour this vote of
confidence by working every day to strengthen the
multilateral system for the protection and promotion of
human rights.
Uruguay has an outstanding record in this area,
not only because it is one of the countries that has
signed the widest array of conventions, but also
because it has made specific contributions in diverse
fields, including the defence of the rights of the child;
the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all
United Nations system policies and programmes, as
reflected in the establishment and implementation of
the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women; and the promotion of
fundamental freedoms, including, inter alia, freedom of
expression.
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During the course of its mandate, our country
intends to promote a new culture of dialogue on human
rights — a culture that favours the cooperation of
countries with the system, but also of the system with
those countries that need assistance to improve their
internal human rights situation. We would also like to
enhance the Council’s working methods and promote
the implementation of its instruments in a non-selective
manner, avoiding double standards. We would also like
to strengthen the role of the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as a
key element of promotion and protection mechanisms,
by providing the resources necessary so that it can
effectively discharge the mandates that Member States
are increasingly assigning to it.
Uruguay is not indifferent to situations of armed
conflict. That is why we have made tremendous efforts
in that respect and will continue to do so in order to
maintain and strengthen the applicable norms of
international humanitarian law.
In keeping with this, we believe that we cannot
ignore mass atrocities such as genocide, war crimes,
crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Bearing
in mind at all times the principle of non-intervention in
the internal affairs of other States — a principle that
our country and region holds dear — we recognize the
State’s primary responsibility to protect its population,
as well as the importance of fostering cooperation with
States that might require international assistance to
fulfil that obligation. The aim is not to weaken their
sovereignty but, rather, to strengthen it.
A few months ago, we welcomed the Secretary-
General to our country, and we congratulated him once
again on his re-election, which Uruguay
enthusiastically supported from the outset. Mr. Ban
Ki-moon expressed the recognition of the international
community of one of the most relevant aspects of our
foreign policy over the past several decades: our
unwavering and committed participation in United
Nations peacekeeping operations. With approximately
30 per cent of its operational defence forces devoted to
these operations, Uruguay is the main troop contributor
as a proportion of its population and ranks 10th in
absolute terms. Uruguay thus places at the disposal of
the United Nations valuable human and material
resources in the context of work that is the flagship of
this Organization, deploying in situations and
discharging mandates of increasingly complexity.
Given the complexity of current international
affairs, together we have begun an in-depth discussion
of the United Nations peacekeeping system. We are
convinced that these missions will be sustainable only
if we seriously reconsider the resources needed for
their proper functioning and update the conditions
offered by the system so as to ensure that the United
Nations is supplied with both equipment and human
resources.
Today peacekeeping operations are the most
important and visible aspect of United Nations
missions and the one that most exposes the United
Nations to international scrutiny, often positive but
sometimes negative.
Uruguay reaffirms its commitment to
peacekeeping operations and to the strictest
enforcement of the mandates and standards regulating
the conduct of field personnel. That is why, in cases of
shameful and unacceptable misconduct — such as that
perpetrated by five members of our military deployed
in Haiti, where since the beginning of the United
Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti we have
contributed tens of thousands of men and women, some
of whom have offered their lives to help that brother
country consolidate peace and stability — we have not
hesitated to act with the utmost severity and rigor as
the circumstances demanded. Under my country’s
military justice, those five individuals accused of
military crimes have now been sentenced to prison and
the case has been referred to the civil justice system to
initiate the corresponding criminal case. Thus, within
the framework of respect for due process and in the
utmost transparency and cooperation with the relevant
United Nations entities, we will stop at nothing to
uncover the truth and punish those responsible.
Our commitment to international peace and
security has also driven our country to play an active
role in the field of disarmament. Like many countries,
Uruguay has firmly promoted all initiatives aimed at
eliminating nuclear weapons and other weapons of
mass destruction and at regulating the control and
reduction of conventional weapons, which every year
cause thousands of innocent civilian casualties.
As a signatory of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, by
virtue of which Latin America and the Caribbean
became the first nuclear-weapon-free zone, Uruguay
has decisively contributed to strengthening both the
regional regime and the Treaty on the
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Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which is
considered the cornerstone of the disarmament and
non-proliferation regime. Uruguay has adhered fully to
the five points identified by the Secretary-General. We
believe that the international community must make
the most of progress to date to advance firmly towards
a world free from nuclear weapons.
The topic of this year’s general debate is linked
to the international peace and security agenda. We
therefore welcome the selection of a topic that
underlines the pressing need to strengthen the political
capacities of the United Nations. Professional and
accurate prevention and mediation efforts could save
thousands of human lives and billions of dollars of
material damage, thereby avoiding the loss of
generations, growing resentment and despair, and a
vicious cycle of violence can be broken only by
reconciliation.
That is why we welcome efforts to strengthen the
role of mediation and preventive diplomacy as
mechanisms for dispute settlement. Such efforts can be
carried out at several levels. There can be no doubt that
the United Nations is the natural forum for such
efforts, given its intrinsic legitimacy and impartiality.
However, it cannot be denied that in practice such
efforts must be complemented by the actions of
regional entities and even individual countries, which
can be very effective, as has been shown in several
instances. In addition to the strengthening of the
aforementioned capacities, confronting global issues
requires the development of community spirit that
requires more than combined political will. A systemic
approach is fundamental.
Climate change is probably the most obvious
example of an urgent global challenge. It is essential to
immediately start enforcing adaptation and mitigation
measures against its adverse effects, since a
compromised environment will limit any development
effort. We are aware that necessary measures require
changes in modes of production to avoid seriously
compromising resource distribution within our
countries.
The Uruguayan Government strongly supports
negotiations on climate change under the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). We take this opportunity to call for
accelerated efforts to ensure a second stage of
commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in
the outcome of the next Conference of Parties to the
UNFCCC. Furthermore, it is essential that progress be
made in the negotiations on chemicals, especially in
the context of the current exercise on mercury. The
sensitivity and importance of this matter, which has
greatly potential to harm the environment, requires the
commitment of all countries in order to successfully
conclude the current negotiations.
Another priority of our country is the particular
situation of agriculture as it relates to the climate
change phenomenon. A huge number of developing
countries, including my own, depend on that sector,
which is especially vulnerable to its negative
consequences. That is why agriculture requires a
special chapter in the framework of the UNFCC
negotiations.
A new balance among many centres of power, the
emergence of new States and intra-State conflicts have
called for a reformulation of peace missions. Global
threats include climate change and terrorism, and an
international criminal justice entity has been
established. Profound political changes have taken
place in many countries. We now live in a different
world. But the changes do not affect only political and
security matters. Enormous transformations are taking
place in the global economy and development issues.
Developed countries are facing serious difficulties in
their efforts to recover from a deep economic crisis.
New, so-called emerging economies are playing a
growing role in setting the direction of the world
economy. In recent years, the need to establish new
regulations and global agreements has become ever
more apparent. We are entering a new era in
international economic relations.
In that context, we must remember that peace and
stability will not be achieved without sustainable
development. This year, the United Nations has taken
very significant steps in recognizing the link between
security and development, which is born not from
political declarations, but from empirical evidence, and
is a sine qua non of capacity-building at the national
level.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20) will provide us with a unique
opportunity to renew the will to achieve the goals and
commitments contained in Agenda 21 and the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The quest for
long-term development must be based on a
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comprehensive development concept that takes
economic, social and environmental dimensions into
account. We believe it essential that Rio+20 achieve
tangible results that benefit our citizens. For that to
happen, issues related to technology transfer, technical
training and financing for developing countries must be
taken into account.
Food security is a fundamental component of
Uruguay’s development agenda, as well as one of its
national priorities. We remain convinced that the
current critical situation is caused by structural causes
that must be resolved collectively and urgently. We are
particularly concerned by the paralysis in the
negotiations of the Doha Round of the World Trade
Organization. That ambitious exercise, one of whose
objectives is the reduction or elimination of trade
distortions, could, by strengthening trade, promote the
development of the most disadvantaged countries of
the world.
It is essential to eliminate agricultural subsidies.
Countries that until a few decades ago were self-
sufficient for their food needs now need to import a
large part of what they consume, and they do so from
countries that subsidize their agricultural production.
The artificially low prices of agriculture exports,
sustained for decades by some countries through
subsidies and other trade-distorting measures and
limitations on market access, are mainly responsible of
the food security problems.
Stimulating investment to increase production
and improve productivity, a successful conclusion of
the Doha Round, as well as the transfer of adequate
technology to developing countries, capable of
achieving efficient agricultural economies, are
fundamental to obtaining food security.
As a middle-income country, Uruguay still faces
serious development challenges, particularly in
eradicating poverty, diversifying production,
introducing technological innovation and promoting
renewable energy, to name but a few. The progress
achieved must be consolidated, and to that end it is
vital for us to be able to count on the support of the
international community, and of the United Nations
system in particular. I must reiterate the urgent need to
consider in depth a new cooperation modality or
scheme that takes into account the specific
development needs of middle-income countries like
Uruguay.
Uruguay is committed to the reform process of
the Organization. Through the Global Governance
Group, we have maintained a proactive attitude in
order to promote a strong bond between the United
Nations and informal discussion forums outside the
system. However, it is critical to lead by example. For
that reason, we believe that improving global
governance is first an internal task of the United
Nations system. In this regard, my country is very
satisfied with the results obtained in the pilot
programme of Delivering as One, whose next
intergovernmental conference will be held in
November in Montevideo.
For all these reason, but above all because of its
firm commitment to the cause of peace and
multilateralism, Uruguay is seeking a seat as a
non-permanent member of the Security Council in
2016-2017. That would be our country’s second time in
the past 66 years, after having served in 1965-1966.
In conclusion, consolidating multilateralism is
one of the most challenging international tasks.
Multiple ongoing crises demand immediate response
and action. The rise of new informal forums with a
limited number of members but a growing influence in
international governance requires an additional
collective effort to strengthen the role of the United
Nations as a forum for political discussion in which all
States are able to participate in decision-making.
A permanent effort is required to combine
effectiveness with legitimacy — a challenge that has
become increasingly more significant as globalization
deepens. We need a new United Nations for the twenty-
first century. The first decade of the century has
already run its course. History is harsh with those who
cannot adapt to its challenges, and its consequences are
bitter. At the United Nations, we are responsible for
putting forward appropriate answers to the
international community. There is still time.