We are living in times that will mark future generations. Those of us who are opening this General Assembly today have a mission to fulfil and a responsibility to those future generations. Today’s decisions or omissions will shape the course of humankind for decades to come.
We are in the midst of the most severe pandemic in the past 100 years. In addition, there is a serious climate crisis, a severe social and economic crisis and the undermining of democratic institutions. Added to that is a multilateralism under stress and the urgent need to reform the international architecture.
However, we cannot simply bemoan the situation. On the contrary, the times call for a calm analysis and, above all, the wisdom, will and courage to take the effective and urgent action that we need.
Coronavirus Disease Pandemic: Triumph of science, failure of politics
Mr. President.
Despite repeated scientific warnings that pandemics were potential threats, the international community and States chose to ignore them. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic therefore took us by surprise, with no early warning mechanisms, no information-sharing systems and fragile health systems, even in the most developed nations, which could not always respond to all those who were ill, and, most seriously, without vaccines or drugs to combat COVID-19.
Medical personnel in Chile and around the world worked tirelessly, without hesitation, to deal with the emergency, putting their own lives at risk to protect ours. Today I want to pay a heartfelt tribute to them for their selfless and committed work and for their professionalism, perseverance and resilience.
The pandemic showed us that, when the forces of innovation, technology and creativity are unleashed, we can achieve unimaginable things. In the space of only 10 months, we went from facing a virus about which we had no information to having a range of safe and effective vaccines to combat it. That is an unprecedented achievement in human history. We should remember that the typhoid vaccine took more than 130 years to be approved, the tuberculosis and dengue vaccines came 45 and 110 years after the diseases first appeared. We have indeed witnessed a great triumph of science.
However, that triumph contrasts with a failure of politics, since even today, while some countries have doses to vaccinate their populations several times over, there are countries that do not have the vaccines or equipment to protect their populations.
Science triumphed, but politics failed. In science cooperation prevailed, in politics individualism. In science, information-sharing reigned, in politics secrecy. In science teamwork prevailed, in politics individual effort. We must also draw lessons from that failure.
The first is humility, as the world suddenly found itself on its knees before a microscopic enemy. The second is solidarity to accompany and support the most vulnerable. The third is collaboration, indispensable to solving global problems. And the fourth is the willingness to listen to the voice of science and expert opinion.
In Chile, applying those principles, we built the health protection network, which allowed us to integrate the public and private health systems, triple the number of available intensive care unit beds and look after patients according to their needs, regardless of their social and economic situation.
We also expanded our diagnostic network early on, now bringing it to 180 laboratories with a capacity to process approximately 90,000 polymerase chain reaction tests a day and more than 21 million in total.
An essential pillar of our strategy was the early identification of the most promising international laboratories developing vaccines. On the basis of scientific criteria and without political considerations, together with the firm decision to promptly reach agreements and contracts, we were able to secure the necessary vaccines to protect the lives and the health of our entire population.
Today Chile has almost 90 per cent of its target population fully vaccinated; and we have already started vaccinating children and booster doses for those who are vulnerable.
During the most critical moments of the pandemic and when supplies were scarce, we also collaborated by donating medicines and some of our vaccine stock to facilitate the inoculation of the medical personnel of other Latin American countries. In the same spirit, together with the World Health Organization and more than 50 countries, we are supporting a treaty for pandemic preparedness and response.
No one can guarantee that such pandemics will not happen again, but we must ensure that when they occur, we will be better prepared.
Social And Economic Crisis: Sensitivity to needs and responsibility for decisions
Mr. President.
The pandemic has also brought about an unprecedented social and economic crisis, which has caused a huge loss of income and jobs for families, the bankruptcy of many businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, an increase in poverty and the deprivation of the middle classes.
The crisis has also led to exponential growth in fiscal deficits and public and private indebtedness, which threaten macroeconomic stability. Those misfortunes have hit the most vulnerable countries and sectors hardest, particularly women, widening gender gaps.
Some of the causes of that situation were already present before the pandemic: a trade war between the major Powers, an upsurge in protectionism and a weakening of rules-based free trade.
With that clear diagnosis, it is essential that public policy decisions be based on serious and responsible macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policies and that progress continue to be made in liberalizing trade, incorporating the new technologies of the digital revolution, which will make the difference between those who board the train of progress and those who watch it pass by from the station.
The pandemic and the digital revolution have built on each other. Advances in digital technology have undoubtedly enabled us to better cope with the pandemic. For example, it would be difficult to imagine how we would have dealt with the pandemic without recent advances such as the Digital Hospital, the Virtual Police Station and Chile Serves. At the same time, the pandemic has expedited the introduction of the digital society, which has changed the way in which we work, learn, inform ourselves and interact in society — changes that are here to stay.
Chile is doing its best to board that train. That is why we have free trade agreements with countries that account for more than 90 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). That important integration network, coupled with years of fiscal and monetary responsibility, has allowed us to deliver one of the largest social aid packages in the world during the pandemic, amounting to 20 per cent of our GDP.
The social protection system that we built has channelled more than $35 billion in direct transfers, which have meant help and relief for small and medium-sized enterprises and for some 16 million citizens.
Such measures have allowed us to restore economic activity and investment levels to those prior to the pandemic. After a 5.8-per-cent downturn last year, this year our economy will grow by approximately 10 per cent. We have also managed to recover 1.9 million jobs, equivalent to 80 per cent of the total number of jobs lost.
Environmental Crisis: The environmental crisis has not been under quarantine
Mr. President.
The coronavirus disease pandemic has forced us to limit our freedoms and enact quarantines. But climate change has not been under quarantine. Its advance continues relentlessly, more rapidly and with more severe effects than expected. Most serious, some of its consequences are already irreversible. Indeed, it is no longer a matter of climate change; we are already facing a climate crisis.
Science, through the report of the United Nations panel of experts, has spoken loud and clear. Citizens demand, as a moral imperative, that we change the course of history. And technology gives us the tools to prevent an environmental catastrophe.
The time for analysis has passed. It is time for action, with a strong will and a sense of urgency. We have a historic responsibility to both present and future generations. We are the last generation that can prevent the current climate crisis from becoming an environmental catastrophe.
Chile is a small country, contributing less than 0.25 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions. But we are determined to shoulder our responsibilities and do our part in this war against the climate crisis.
To achieve that, we have accelerated the decarbonization of our energy supply. By 2025, we will have closed two thirds of our coal-fired power plants and by 2040, 100 per cent. In addition, we are working to ensure that by 2030, 70 per cent of our energy supply will be based on clean and renewable energies, a figure that will increase to almost 100 per cent by 2050.
As proof of that commitment, I would like to share with Member States the fact that by 2021, we will have inaugurated more solar and wind energy capacity in Chile than we have ever built in our entire history.
However, it is not enough to reduce our carbon footprint. We must be more ambitious and ensure that our efforts to produce clean and renewable energy go beyond our borders and help other countries to meet their own decarbonization goals. To that end, we are developing green hydrogen, a clean and renewable energy whose production process harnesses the advantage of our geography: the high and consistent solar radiation of our deserts and the strong and constant winds of Patagonia. Nature therefore provides us with the potential to produce more than 70 times the energy that we need today, preventing the release of millions and millions of tons of carbon dioxide a year. Green hydrogen is the energy of tomorrow, which we are producing in Chile today.
In addition to those initiatives are:
First: the electrification of our public transport system. Today, outside China, Santiago is the city with the highest number of electric buses in the world.
Secondly: the protection of the oceans and their biodiversity, including the first marine protected area on the high seas and a marine protected area in the Antarctic.
Thirdly: the protection of forests, including the planting of more than 230,000 hectares of forests in 10 years, prioritizing native species.
And, fourthly: the circular economy, which includes banning the use of bags and other plastics and shifting from a throwaway culture to a recyclable one.
Each generation has its own agenda. Preventing the climate crisis from becoming an environmental catastrophe is our generation’s task. It is a matter of life and death because the survival of the human species on planet Earth is at stake. We cannot forget that 99 out of every 100 species that once existed no longer exist today. We do not want to add the human species to that grim list.
History, our children, our grandchildren and those to follow will judge us not by our good intentions but by our attitudes, actions and outcomes in the face of this challenge.
The Erosion Of Democracy: A new threat
Mr. President. In recent years, democracies have experienced a process of steady and progressive deterioration. All international benchmarks reflect that regrettable situation. The analysis is one and the same but the reasons for it are manifold.
In Latin America, in addition to the usual reasons — low economic growth, widespread poverty, persistent inequality and State corruption and inefficiency — there are the coronavirus disease pandemic and other equally deadly and lethal diseases for democratic and freedom-loving societies, such as the virus of populism, the cancer of polarization and the plague of political fragmentation.
The virus of populism functions by promising manipulative and fanciful solutions that it knows it cannot deliver. And, in exchange for short-lived present satisfaction, it always ends up sacrificing the future by weakening progress, democratic institutions and the rule of law.
There is polarization, which leaves no room for agreements and compromises. That true cancer contaminates the social fabric, infects institutions and feeds intolerance into all areas of societal life.
Finally, there is fragmentation, which is a trend towards the politics of individual or small-group identities and causes, rendering it impossible to coordinate and address different social visions and demands and hindering consensus and governability.
A new form of threat to democracy has also emerged in our region, which is no longer external but comes from within. For many years, the threats were military or subversive actions to wrest power from the legitimate and democratically elected authorities. Today the main threat comes from democratically elected Governments, that is to say, Governments enjoying constitutional legitimacy that manoeuvre to remain in power forever, suppress the independence of the other branches of Government, monopolize the bodies responsible for overseeing electoral processes and crush the opposition, thereby engaging in an openly unlawful exercise of power.
Thirty-two years ago, Chile witnessed an exemplary transition to democracy. During the past three decades, we have achieved high economic growth and human development, with a decrease in poverty and inequality, always respecting the freedoms and human rights of all citizens.
However, Chile has not been immune to such threats. The social unrest of 2019 included legitimate social demands, but also a wave of irrational, unprecedented and unacceptable violence.
Despite the difficulties, in accordance with its long and fine democratic tradition, Chile was able to channel that social unrest and its legitimate demands through a peaceful, lawful and democratic process within our Constitution and the rule of law because we are convinced that the cure for the above-mentioned misfortunes is greater and better democracy.
Today, after a transparent and participatory referendum, we have a democratically elected Constitutional Convention, made up of men and women on an equal basis and with the presence of representatives of our native peoples. The Convention will have to propose a new constitution to the citizens, which will have to be ratified or rejected by the citizens through a referendum.
The majority of Chileans hope that the Convention will propose the text of a new constitution, which, by improving and rectifying everything that needs to be amended, includes greater equity and social justice, protects our freedoms and reflects our national tradition and the values of our society.
International Architecture: The urgent need for reform
Mr. President.
Another challenge is whether the current institutions that make up the international architecture have adjusted to the new global reality and meet the current and future challenges.
Since the establishment of the current international organizations in the middle of the previous century, the world has radically changed. Globalization, the technological and digital revolution and the emergence of the knowledge and information society have drastically changed the way in which we live, work, learn and relate to each other. However, the strength of multilateral organizations has remained stagnant.
Today international institutions require major adjustments and profound restructuring.
International organizations must combine two principles: the broadest possible participation for their legitimacy and a decision-making system that is not distorted by opposition, vetoes, deadlocks or consensus that is very difficult to achieve. We must find new mechanisms to strike the right balance between those two values. Multilateral action is essential to protect democracy and security, to achieve the development and well-being of our peoples, to protect the environment and to deal with pandemics.
At the same time, public knowledge of its procedures, debates and decisions and clarity in the appointment of its officials are necessary for transparent functioning. After all, there is no better policeman than street lighting and no better disinfectant than sunlight.
Women/Afghanistan
I could not end these words without a reflection on what the triumph of the Taliban regime means for the women and girls who will have to live under its yoke.
Mr. President:
Afghan society is facing very difficult times. However, the women of Afghanistan are in a particularly dangerous situation: Today, now, at this very moment, those who in the recent past wanted to forbid them education, impose forced marriages, ensure impunity for those guilty of sexual abuse against them and deny them their freedoms and human rights have returned to power — those who believe that the world of women should be one of submission and resignation.
The aggression against women in Afghanistan is an aggression against all women in the world. Knowing that, we cannot, the United Nations cannot, stand idly by, paralysed by bureaucratic constraints or political divisions in the Security Council.
We must work together to protect them and restore their full freedoms and rights. The cause of the women of Afghanistan is the cause of all humankind.
Final Words: Chile’s contribution to the international community
I would like to end this address by expressing our satisfaction at Chile’s contribution to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the cornerstone of our civilization, and our active promotion of democracy, freedoms and human rights throughout the world. We are also proud of our contribution to the care of Antarctica, the largest freshwater reserve and the last pristine bastion of the planet, to the protection of the oceans and to the fight against climate change.
We are also proud to host more than 70 per cent of the world’s astronomical observation capacity and to be pioneers in the research and development of the potential of green hydrogen, a clean energy that will be essential to combat the climate crisis.
Chile is, and will continue to be, a free and welcoming nation, endowed with a noble and supportive soul, which will overcome difficulties and maintain its identity thanks to the wisdom, moderation, determination and courage of its people.
Chile will continue to honour all its international commitments and contribute to bequeathing a better world to future generations. Chile will also continue to be a good country in which to be born, grow up, raise a family, work and grow old in an environment of freedom, justice and peace.
Many thanks.