On
behalf of the people of Paraguay, Mr. President, I offer
you sincere congratulations on your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth
session. I also thank Mr. Joseph Deiss for his laudable
work as President of the previous session, and
congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his re-appointment
as Secretary-General. Throughout his tenure at the
head of the Organization for the past five years, he has
demonstrated his gift for leadership and his
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unwavering commitment to world peace and
international security.
The people of Paraguay and their President, in
consonance with our extraordinary national history,
believe deeply in the human being as the subject and
end of and reason for every effort designed to benefit
humankind. The centrality of humans in the history of
the universe in all their endeavours, interests and
conquests will be constantly proclaimed in this forum.
In order to begin to discuss the future of
humankind, we must correct mistakes and rethink
paradigms that for decades, sometimes even for
centuries, have demonstrated their utter uselessness in
bringing about change for good. Restoring men and
women to centre stage in the concerns of the universe
is a fundamental step in order merely to begin to trace
a basic outline for a future of certainty that seeks to
replace the frustrations of managing the development
paradigm with the realities of a world in which well-
being is much more tangible.
What good does it do to discuss development
plans if the goal of dignifying the human being is not
the beginning and the end of the process? At this stage
in history, when we are thrilled by the most incredible
technological achievements capable of keeping pace
with our flights of imagination and our dreams, where
does that leave the nightmare of starving children who
fight for a crust of bread, smile if they get it — and
still want to play? What benefit do we derive from the
media hype about these great global and commercial
achievements while in complicit silence the other half
of humanity is holding out its hand, begging for a little
help, for the love of God? What good does it do us to
continue supporting a way of creating happiness in the
world that has been loudly shown to be a failure over
and over again?
Regions that enrich the economy of part of the
world with the natural abundance of their waters, their
oil, the precious stones hidden in the belly of their soil,
continue inexorably to accumulate debt while their
daily offerings increase the wealth of rich societies
every day. The poor neighbour in today’s world
possesses riches — those closer to the simplicity of
well-being and happiness, such as water, food, forests
and renewable energy — that are vital to its rich
neighbours. But unbridled wealth cannot be the basis
for political dominion and certainly not for wars and
military might. We live in societies because our
peoples and other human beings have mutual needs.
Population growth is a serious global issue.
Sometimes it seems as though we live in a world that,
worse than resigning itself to poverty, resigns itself to
inequality, to the pornographic spectacle of scandalous
imbalances which reveal the inner workings of an
ostentatious world celebrating its shame, as described
by Gabriel García Márquez in his tale of Innocent
Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother. As long as
that continues, the dialogue between the rich bank that
sustains and coordinates the world economy and the
poor world that provides the natural resources will
gradually become senseless.
My country’s growth rate in 2010 exceeded
15 per cent; but tensions made efforts to redistribute
that wealth and reduce inequality more difficult than
achieving the growth itself.
I think that this is true all over the world. The
United Nations needs to discuss measures to enable or
assist Member States to work their way through fiscal
policies and international market regulations that
contribute to the stark reality of the huge fortunes that
exist in the hands of just a few in some countries as
compared with the inequalities, droughts, humanitarian
crises in others.
Solidarity is a ten-letter word that is fine-
sounding but sometimes empty: empty of free will,
actions and especially results. Solidarity is no longer
simply a moral imperative; it is a prerequisite for
achieving progress and combating the dark side of
ignoring it: violence and crime.
We live in a world which urgently requires a
paradigm shift. And we must admit that the world is at
a crossroads; because one discourse that has been
going on for five centuries in the name of progress and
another for six decades in the name of development
have only added uncertainty about any improvement in
the future lot of broad regions and thousands of
millions of people.
The unrepentant incapability of the developed
countries to understand a very simple equation in order
to set up local development plans as local plans for
development means that known errors will be repeated
despite the urgent need for profound, convincing and
radical rethinking capable of harnessing the mutual
trust that can promote progress towards the only
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tangible parameter, the only valid outcome, the only
genuine reality, which is a good life for all men and
women.
Achieving the good life for all should be the
paradigm of our time. It clearly entails envisioning a
post-development future in which thoughtfulness,
objectivity and goodwill coexist in harmony and
genuine solidarity reigns without delay between those
in the powerful and wealthy world and those who live
in poverty elsewhere.
This is not just a moral vision. Of fundamental
importance to progress is the sharing of wealth. And
that brings me to the main theme of this forum,
avoiding future conflict and future violence. But the
paradigm of the good life requires plans that focus on
the dignity of human beings and the future rather than
on resource exploitation systems which almost never
benefit the people.
In Latin America — the region to which my
Government is committed — we live the daily paradox
of poverty in the midst of the best basic conditions for
generating wealth. Historically, since colonial times,
our wealth has followed a one-way path to other
regions of the world, without generating any structural
improvements in our economies.
We attend the prestigious world summits of the
developed countries where the lot of poor countries has
been debated for decades, yet we have had no luck.
When will the countries of Latin America realize that
we export nature, we export oxygen, we export fresh
water, we export food, we export renewable energy? It
makes no sense that our countries remain poor, when
we have so many assets and products that enrich the
rest of the world.
Finally, on this subject, a paradigm shift to ensure
that human beings are at the centre of world concerns
requires commitment on the part of those who govern
the most powerful countries. We in turn must commit
to supporting them and not abandoning them if that
paradigm shift takes place. And the most intelligent
form of support is, as we have just mentioned, to
develop an awareness of what we are and the enormous
potential with which our countries are endowed.
Paraguay reaffirms its steadfast commitment to
multilateralism based on a democratic and egalitarian
new world order, an order that will ensure the
comprehensive and effective development of our
countries. Paraguay therefore believes both in a
stronger and more democratic United Nations, as a
truly global organization, and in strengthening progress
in the regional integration of peoples. For example, we
have the Union of South American Nations —
UNASUR — and the future Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States, which provide
common space for nations that share a common history,
common values and common plans for sovereignty and
independence.
Global change is picking up speed. The still
significant primacy of the central Powers in economic
and military terms, and therefore in political and
cultural terms, is facing demands for democratization
of the world order and progress in multilateralism. The
financial, energy, social and environmental crises are
proof of the contradictions and conflicts in the strategic
interests of the great Powers as well as the weaknesses
of the aid-dependent countries and those in the midst of
development. We believe in mediation as a remedy to
overcome social injustice and as a path towards peace.
Among our peoples’ demands for strengthened
democracy, we see the spirit of the words of Nelson
Mandela when, in the past century, he said that there
can be no democracy with poverty and no democracy
with social inequality. That is why the theme of the
sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly, on
strengthening the role of mediation in the settlement of
disputes by peaceful means, conflict prevention and
resolution, has taken on greater relevance.
Article 1 of the United Nations Charter states that
the purpose of our Organization is
“to take effective collective measures for the
prevention and removal of threats to the peace,
and for the suppression of acts of aggression or
other breaches of the peace”.
Thus, in the face of violence and today’s wars, whether
traditional or silent, short or long-term, there is a
demand for mediation as a mechanism for peace, as a
tool to overcome global social injustice and thus a
necessary foundation for achieving international peace
and security.
In that context, we advocate mediation in order to
overcome global social injustice and both traditional
and silent wars. It must be based on the shared but
differentiated responsibilities of all countries,
developing and developed, in order to guarantee the
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conditions necessary for a peaceful world that relies on
the comprehensive and effective development of our
peoples. Lastly, it must avoid ruinous hypotheses at all
costs, such as those that led to “preventive attacks”,
which culminated in the loss of many lives, the
destruction of entire cities and vital elements of
universal culture, and sowed the seeds for the dreadful
mistrust of any subsequent such initiatives.
The self-determination of peoples should not be
shaped by the political or economic interests of those
who oversee global equilibrium with weapons. It is,
and must be, written in stone.
Paraguay plays an active role in United Nations
peacekeeping missions. Beginning this year, after more
than a decade of uninterrupted contributions of military
observers, Paraguay will be contributing a multirole
engineering unit to the United Nations Stabilization
Mission in Haiti, the first to be deployed under our
national flag.
The General Assembly should adopt the
necessary reforms so as to reaffirm its inherent nature
as a universal, democratic and equitable representative
body. In this way, its powers will be recognized and
will take precedence over those of other bodies in the
Organization, such as the Security Council, in order to
underscore the processes that help to overcome
violence and globalized social injustice and build the
multipolar, democratic and egalitarian world that we so
greatly desire.
In the same vein, democratizing the Security
Council is becoming an increasingly urgent task. We
urge the Council to fulfil its primary role of promoting
world peace and avoiding war, which is why it must be
reformed and become more democratic. We must
accord greater legitimacy to the Council by making it
more representative of the new multilateral and
multipolar world order, and by gradually doing away
with veto rights.
We must express our concern, here before the
General Assembly, regarding the actions taken in Libya
under resolution 1973 (2011) of the Security Council
and in the context of the responsibility to protect. We
believe that the use of force must always be a last
resort.
That is why we are concerned about the crisis
affecting the United Nations Security Council, which
can be overcome only through its reform and
democratization. Thus, we insist and urge that efforts
continue to be made to that end so that the Council can
once again fulfil its mission of guaranteeing
international peace and security.
In terms of foreign policy, Paraguay, as one of the
founding Members of the Organization, upholds and
reiterates the constitutional principles governing its
international relations: national independence, self-
determination of peoples, legal equality of States,
solidarity and international cooperation, international
protection of human rights, freedom of navigation in
international rivers, non-intervention, and condemnation of
all forms of dictatorship, colonialism and imperialism.
In the 50 years since the embargo was imposed
on the people of Cuba, Paraguay has repeatedly
expressed its opposition to that economic, commercial
and financial blockade, as have the countries of Latin
America and the Caribbean. Paraguay has stood
together with those countries and called for the
immediate lifting of the embargo. In particular, we
deplore the impact of this unjust blockade on the
Cuban people, which is a consequence of positive laws
that affect free trade and the transparent practice of
international trade.
In that respect, Paraguayan legislation does not
recognize the extraterritorial application of foreign
laws that violate the sovereignty of other States. This
practice also violates the principles of international law
that we, the Members of the United Nations, defend
and strive to uphold.
Paraguay has consistently supported the
resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at
previous sessions which call for the lifting of the
economic, commercial and financial embargo against
Cuba. In full observance of resolution 65/6, entitled
“Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and
financial embargo imposed by the United States of
America against Cuba”, and before this Assembly,
Paraguay once again reiterates its support for the
resolutions adopted in that regard.
Consistent with the stance it has taken in
international forums, in particular the United Nations,
and considering the resolutions that condemn the
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, such as
Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973),
446 (1979) and 478 (1980), Paraguay established
diplomatic relations with Palestine on 25 March 2005
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and recognizes a free and independent Palestinian State
based on the borders of 4 June 1967.
We are gratified that the agenda of the sixty-sixth
session of the General Assembly includes the
recognition of the free, sovereign and independent
State of Palestine. We are convinced that this is a
confirmation of the historic debt of the international
community to recognize the legitimate right of the
Palestinian people to have its own State with well-
defined borders. This will be a significant contribution
to the peace process in the Middle East.
We believe that urgent efforts are needed to
design and build a new international financial
architecture, one that responds to the new era in which
we live and provides measures for avoiding systematic
cyclical crises and for developing regional mechanisms
for economic and financial cooperation. Under this
new framework, nations with common histories and
destinies can create their own spaces for cooperation
and economic partnerships.
The countries of South America have focused the
actions of UNASUR on this goal. We are confident
that, by coordinating and linking our economic
initiatives, we will lay the foundation for integration,
which will not only protect our countries from crises
that are not of our creation, but also guarantee the
comprehensive development of our peoples.
Paraguay is among those nation States which,
over the course of history, have fallen prey to various
vulnerabilities, given their geographic situation and
historical experience. Paraguay has been weakened by
a historic model of socio-economic development based
on the looting of its natural and strategic resources and
administered through relations of structural
dependence.
That is why, in January 2010, Paraguay became
the Chair of the Group of Landlocked Developing
Countries. In that capacity, we urge transit countries
and their main neighbours, as applicable, as well as
international organizations and the most developed
countries, to increase their commitment to implement
the Almaty Programme of Action, addressing the
special needs of landlocked developing countries
within a new global framework for transit transport
cooperation. This will help such countries to overcome
their limitations and will facilitate their overall
development.
As a complement to beginning the preparations
for the Conference of Landlocked and Transit
Developing Countries, which will help us to overcome
the adversities we face, we are promoting the
Multilateral Agreement for the Establishment of an
International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing
Countries, in the conviction that scientific advances in
that area will be of great importance in overcoming the
obstacles that such countries face.
Regarding the Millennium Development Goals,
Paraguay reaffirms its full commitment to achieving
those goals and expresses its concern about the extent
to which they will be met by 2015. This is why we
encourage Governments, civil society organizations
and the private sector to work together to achieve
them.
Given its commitment to the goal of fully
respecting the human rights of our peoples, Paraguay
has decided to present its candidacy for the Human
Rights Council for the term 2014-2017. We hope to
have the support of the international community.
We must express our serious concern for the
environmental crisis, which is worsening on a daily
basis and even generating uncertainty about the
survival of the human race. We fully support
strengthening the only legally binding agreement in
this area, the Kyoto Protocol, and its further extension.
The agreements reached in Cancún are a great support
in improving emissions levels but they are voluntary in
nature, which contradicts the principle of climate
justice that our peoples so favour.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who
helped the Paraguayan initiative for the International
Day of Friendship to come to fruition. The friendship
of individuals, peoples and nations is not exclusively a
question of diplomacy, much less a commercial
enterprise to make money from the inclination of
human beings to join together. Friendship is that bond
which must necessarily be based on solidarity, and, in
Paraguay, we believe that it is high time for the world
to make it happen.
I am pleased that this initiative has become
universal. On behalf of the Paraguayan people, we
greet all the peoples of the world in the hope that we
will find the way to overcome global social injustices
and thus guarantee a world culture of peace and
friendship based on the well-being and genuine
development of all our peoples, without distinction.