I
come before the General Assembly as the first woman
to be elected President of Chile, a country that has
learned from its history.
We Chileans are living through difficult times;
the Assembly knows this. The learning curve was
difficult but productive. From pain hope was born.
Major dissent gave way to major consensus. I come
from a country where today the rule of law prevails,
where the rights of persons are respected and
promoted. It is a democracy that is experiencing
economic growth, which in the past 16 years has
helped millions of Chileans out of poverty. Chile
stands with its region and looks at the world. My
presence here today is a symbol of that Chile, a Chile
that is unafraid to look back at the past and is united in
building its own future. We can say with pride that
today Chile is more free and more fair. As a society we
have granted every citizen the basic dignity and respect
that he or she deserves.
The world looks different from the far distant
south, and that is the viewpoint my country wishes to
bring here, a viewpoint that is optimistic about the
opportunities of globalization but cautious about its
risks. We can and must steer the course of the planet.
Humans cannot and must not avoid being the
instruments of their own advancement.
We wish to reaffirm our commitment to
international law and institutions. Only through them
shall we be able to build the fairer and more integrated
world of which we dream, where large and small
coexist in peace and harmony. The United Nations is a
special instrument in this construction. A year ago we
agreed on a programme for the reform of the
Organization based on development, security and
human rights. This has been called the millennium of
hope. Let us make that hope a reality and do so from
here, from this forum.
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Development is a responsibility shared by all
members of the international community, including the
developed countries. Its attainment requires
imagination and the political will to consolidate the
world alliance endorsed by the Millennium
Declaration. All this presupposes a more open,
transparent and fair commercial and financial system.
To our developed friends I say “Opening your markets
to products from the south is a requirement of justice.”
That will represent a huge step forward towards the
elimination of poverty. Let us therefore redouble our
efforts to bring the Doha Round to a successful
conclusion and make progress in integration processes
at the regional level.
As an early supporter of the idea of President
Lula of Brazil, Chile joined other countries in the
initiative Action against Hunger and Poverty. We have
introduced a solidarity tax of $2 on international airline
tickets, and the funds produced will finance the
International Drug Purchase Facility (UNITAID)
project, which will provide millions of quality drugs to
people in developing countries suffering from malaria,
tuberculosis and AIDS.
The most serious failure of the 2005 Summit was
its silence on the multilateral disarmament agenda.
Chile bases its multilateral foreign policy on the
principle that collective security is indivisible. We all
share a responsibility to preserve peace and
international security. That is why Chile has joined in
efforts to revitalize the disarmament agenda and move
towards prohibition of the use of fissile material for
military purposes.
The security of States is linked to the security of
the human beings that make up those States, because it
allows the exercise of freedom. Terrorism negates these
freedoms and runs counter to the values that we share.
Accordingly, we support the advance of United Nations
reform in the area of counter-terrorism. Terrorism must
be combated within democracy. Whenever we restrict
constitutional guarantees and yield to the temptation to
employ illegal methods to fight terrorism we are
handing a victory to its proponents, because it is only
then that they succeed in threatening the spirit of our
democracy.
In a spirit of solidarity we are participating
actively in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in
Haiti (MINUSTAH). Chile will continue to support the
Haitian people, and I appeal from this rostrum to all
donor countries to provide the economic and financial
assistance already pledged.
The creation of the Peacebuilding Commission
was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding
achievements of the 2005 Summit. Chile has joined
enthusiastically in the work of the Commission and
will endeavour to ensure that its results live up to the
hopes placed in it by nations.
My country deplores the serious crisis affecting
the Middle East and strongly condemns any armed
action targeting innocent civilians. Self-defence may
be exercised only within the framework of
proportionality and containment outlined in
international humanitarian law. The delay in the
Security Council’s call for a ceasefire in Lebanon was
also inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the
Charter. The credibility of the Organization requires
that all stakeholders do their duty without
discrimination and without subordinating collective
security to their individual interests.
Chile supports the deployment of the United
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with its
expanded mandate, and will continue to respond to the
appeal to meet urgent humanitarian needs in Lebanon
and Palestine. We urge full implementation of Security
Council resolution 1701 (2006), which calls on the
international community to cooperate in a full
cessation of hostilities in the Middle East, the
restoration of Lebanon’s sovereignty over its territory
and the guaranteeing of Israel’s security.
The promotion and defence of human rights and
democracy is the cornerstone of Chile’s foreign policy.
As I said at the outset, we have learned a great deal
from our own history. Exactly 30 years ago the General
Assembly received terrible news: Orlando Letelier, the
former Foreign Minister and Defence Minister of
President Allende, had been brutally murdered on the
street in Washington D.C. Representatives were
horrified by that crime and today I remember with
emotion how we felt. I mention that to illustrate how
we have learned the lessons of the past. Nothing
justifies the violation of human rights. Chile rejects
impunity.
I assure all members of our commitment and
enthusiasm to participate in initiatives designed to
promote human rights and democracy. We therefore
welcome the launching of the United Nations
Democracy Fund and the creation of the Human Rights
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Council. We very much value the Council’s adoption of
the International Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
The promotion of human rights does not
contradict the principle of non-intervention in the
internal affairs of States. Chile has been, and will
remain, in the front line in the defence of human rights.
The General Assembly must continue United
Nations reform. It must revitalize itself, reform and
expand the Security Council, reform the Economic and
Social Council and modernize the management of the
Secretariat and the administrative procedures of the
Organization.
Allow me to reaffirm our hope in the United
Nations. As a woman, a doctor and the political leader
of a developing country, today I ask that we choose
life, affirm justice, promote social justice and make
this noble Organization the common and continuing
response to our peoples’ dreams of peace, development
and dignity.