We will only be strong and prosperous when the world’s most vulnerable are too. That concept is not a romanticized vision of multilateralism. It is a reality we see, time and again, as we face shared challenges. We are only as safe as the most vulnerable among us. That is the conceptual cornerstone of human security, but we are struggling to comprehend this reality, and above all, take action to safeguard us all. The precept of leaving no one behind — a moral compass for taking action — exists not only in relation to the most vulnerable, but also the interests of all, as we make up a single interconnected and interdependent macrosystem.
The facts speak for themselves. Millions of people — mainly the poorest — throughout the world are waiting for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine. Only two out of 10 people in low- and lower- middle-income countries have received the first dose of the vaccine, whereas in high- and upper-middle-income countries the corresponding statistic is eight out of 10. The level of inequality is abysmal and tragic. The spirit of solidarity embodied by the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility has not met the scale of demand needed, and access to vaccines is absolutely unequal.
Costa Rica advocates access to COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good, for everyone in the world. The COVAX promise must be fulfilled, and the developed countries can make it a reality. The shortfall and the passage of time are spawning increased suffering and death, as well as new variants. Today, it is imperative that, based on effective multilateralism, we turn COVAX into a concrete solution. In that regard, I ask for the support of the Group of 20 (G-20) to make that happen. As long as the maximum rate of global vaccination is not reached, all of us, including countries that have stockpiled a greater number of vaccines, will be vulnerable to the virus’ mutations and the economic ravages of the pandemic.
At the same time, in recent months and weeks we have seen the extent to which extreme natural disasters have swept the world from Germany to Nigeria, from Australia to Haiti, from Kiribati to Central America and from the Philippines to the United States, including floods, hurricanes, melting ice, forest fires, poverty, crop failures and migration.
We take note of the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the worst-case scenario, if action is not taken now and emissions continue to grow at their current rate, by the end of the century the temperature of the planet will increase by 4.4°C and, as a result, so will the force and frequency of extreme weather phenomena. Ironically, the countries that produce the lowest levels of carbon emissions, such as the island States and my own region, Central America, are the areas most affected by the climate emergency. Extreme weather events have led to migration and developing countries to go into debt to deal with adaptation and reconstruction.
The pandemic, the climate crisis, unemployment and limited levels of investment are putting extreme stress on the social and political stability of developing countries, as well as the stability of the entire planet, owing to global interconnectedness. At the same time, global military spending continued to rise in 2020. How will we explain to the next generation that, during the pandemic, as vaccines failed to reach everyone and we faced an unprecedented climate crisis, the world increased its spending on weapons? How can something so absurd be possible? The future is crying out to us for fewer military weapons and more investment in peace.
Ours and the next generation face the unique challenge in human history of preserving life on the planet and its cultures against the threat of destruction. The question is whether we are doing enough and everything possible to that end, and if we are not, what needs to change? The reality that our planet is interconnected compels us to understand that today
the interests of the most disadvantaged people are the interests of all. It means understanding that the best way to be selfish is to be supportive and generous and that hoarding capital, know-how and health assets deprives the entire world of a better future for all humankind.
In order to forge ahead and fight for our own and our youth and children’s future, however, humankind must be determined to embark upon the path of action — not words or appeals, but concrete commitments entailing responsibilities and changes that are quantifiable in terms of their impact and qualitative in terms of their ethics.
The pandemic is also an opportunity to build better and foster an economic and social recovery that will create sustainable, green, inclusive and resilient societies that will be tailored to technological and digital transformations. Costa Rica, together with the World Health Organization and dozens of other countries, launched the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), a repository of technologies and intellectual property, with a view to democratizing innovation and technology, particularly in the area of health care, treatments and medicines, to make them available for all people in all countries — especially for people in vulnerable situations or living in poverty.
In that regard, our will must be actualized. I call on everyone to support with resolve and join that initiative. It is no secret that the pandemic has placed enormous strain on developing economies. Economic decline, unemployment, falling tax revenues and an increase in spending on vaccines, treatments and financial assistance programmes have hit emerging economies. The new allocation of $650 billion in special drawing rights is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough. More than 40 per cent of that amount is intended for cash-rich countries, and only 1 per cent of those resources have been allocated for the people of developing countries.
Priority should be placed on supporting Governments in need of financing and public financing rather than on shoring up the reserves of central banks. In that context, while holding the presidency pro tempore of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Costa Rica has proposed the establishment of the Fund to Alleviate COVID-19 Economics (FACE)— an emergency support fund of more than $500 billion, financed by 0.7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s largest and strongest economies — representing 80 per cent of the world’s GDP — which will be administered by multilateral development banks as concessional loans to developing countries.
The funds are to be lent on a long-term, 40-year basis at fixed low rates to provide countries facing economic constraints with emergency financing, enable them to respond to the crisis and stay on track to meet the 2030 Development Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. The success of ambitious and supportive initiatives like C-TAP and FACE requires the determination of the developed countries.
I dream of a world-serving agreement between countries like the United States and China that would focus not on competition but on cooperation to move the world forward — a world that, to a large extent, depends on the resolve of its leaders, particularly those of the G-20, on whom I call once again to recognize the interdependence between self-interest and solidarity, which are today indissoluble.
Our ambitions must be constructive for the sake of the future of the planet. The three United Nations Conventions — the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biodiversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification — are but reflective of the singular reality of a planet that must stop global warming, safeguard life and ecosystems and protect and restore agricultural areas. We must be ambitious with regard to the goals to be met at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) to be held in 40 days. It will be imperative for the survival of humankind. We cannot let down our guard concerning our climate ambition on the way forward towards COP26, to be held in Glasgow, or our biodiversity ambition on the path towards the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming.
Through its own example, Costa Rica has shown that nature can save us and that sustainability and human development are possible. Accordingly, in 2019 we launched our plan to decarbonize the economy by 2050. Today, however, only 15 per cent of the Earth is protected, and only 7 per cent of the oceans are protected. Scientists agree that more of the planet must be protected and restored to safeguard it from the climate crisis and the accelerated loss of biodiversity.
That is why the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, led by France, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom, as Ocean co-Chair, is a nature-based solution that seeks to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s marine and terrestrial ecosystems by 2030, in order to avoid exceeding global temperatures by 1.5°C and to promote the protection of the ocean. More than 70 countries have joined the initiative, and I invite other States to do so as well. We also call for a halt to oil exploitation and exploration. To that end, together with Denmark, we are launching the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance.
Understanding and living with our interconnectedness and interdependence on the planet can lead us to a new era for humankind. It will mean promoting access for the most vulnerable populations to opportunities leading to their economic well-being, while focusing on indigenous peoples, Afrodescendant populations, migrants, women, children, young people, internally displaced persons and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community. That is how to put the new global contract into practice.
We welcomed the designation of 31 August as the International Day for People of African Descent and the establishment of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. The bicentennial anniversary of Costa Rica’s independence has reminded us of the reality of interdependence — an interdependence that compels us to turn our attention to Haiti in a show of support at this very difficult time for the first country in the Americas to end slavery. The same regard compels us to speak out for the lifting of unilateral measures that run contrary to international law and are having an impact on the Cuban people, and to demand respect for the exercise of the fundamental rights — such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly — of every Cuban citizen.
Interdependence compels us to advocate for peace and reiterate the aspiration of a world free of nuclear weapons. We call on countries to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which to date 55 countries have ratified and 86 have signed. Likewise, we advocate for a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, on which we can together build peace, stability and security. We reiterate our deep concern about the human rights situation in Nicaragua, as did the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, a few days ago. We are concerned about the imprisonment of political opponents, journalists and students, and we call for the unconditional enjoyment of democratic institutions, respect and the promotion of human rights, freedom of expression and freedom of the press in that brotherly country. Peace, respect for institutions and the division of their powers must be sustained in Central America.
We recognize the Malvinas Islands as Argentine territory, and we respectfully call for settling that dispute in a peaceful manner. Costa Rica will not allow itself to waver in its international commitments to the women and girls of Afghanistan. We cannot remain silent when the new regime does not allow girls access to education. Educating girls today is key to empowering the leaders of tomorrow.
It is an honour to serve in this capacity. From this forum, it has allowed me to represent the aspirations and values of the Costa Rican way of life: peace, democracy, environmental sustainability, equality in diversity and the protection of human rights. I say with hope that the new global contract has a name. It sees development as a virtuous cycle and something to share, invest in and finance, not accumulate. The new global contract makes well-being a reciprocal good. The path laid out by humankind to achieve the new global contract is called the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I hope that history will remember this era and its people and leaders, especially the most powerful and, consequently, most accountable, as those who took this path and gave the Earth a fresh start.