At the outset, allow me to congratulate Mr. Csaba Korosi on his election as President of the General Assembly and to express to him, on behalf of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, our support for his work for the benefit of the international community. May this seventy- seventh session allow us to continue strengthening multilateralism to more effectively confront the new and old threats that beset humankind.
Today, we are facing a multiple and systemic crisis of capitalism that increasingly endangers the life of humankind and the planet. There is no doubt that the challenges we are facing are becoming more complex every day. If we seek a better future for current and future generations, we must not only reflect on the economic, social, food, climate, energy, water and trade crises, but also clearly identify their origins so as to change a system that perpetuates the domination, exploitation and exclusion of the vast majority, generates the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and prioritizes the production and reproduction of capital over the creation and reproduction of life.
At the same time that we face the multiple and systemic crisis of capitalism, we are witnessing the final chapter of the unipolar world. The construction of a new world order, which we hope will be for the benefit of all States and peoples of the world, is inevitable. Convinced that another world is possible, we in the Plurinational State of Bolivia propose the following.
First, we should declare the world a zone of peace. In that connection, we express our dismay at the considerable number of armed conflicts ravaging humankind, many of them promoted by transnational military corporations, as well as by the desire to impose a global political and economic order that benefits the interests of capitalism. Those conflicts have a great human cost and, in many cases, lead to the destruction of our cultural and environmental heritage.
Regardless of the origin, nature or geopolitical reasons for international tensions, the Plurinational State of Bolivia has been and will remain committed to a culture of dialogue among nations, through diplomacy among peoples. Unfortunately, however, we are seeing the growing deterioration of the multilateral system due to the capricious failure of the capitalist Powers to acquiesce to the existence of a multipolar world with a balance of power. Multilateralism is the only mechanism that represents a guarantee of respect among States, regardless of their economic or military power. We therefore believe that any breach of international peace and security is linked to the insufficient application of the mechanisms provided for in the Charter of the United Nations or, failing that, to their flagrant violation.
In 2014, the countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States declared the region a zone of peace. We committed ourselves to settling our disputes peacefully and banishing forever the use of force in the region. Along those lines, we call for the Assembly to be the space for a great historic agreement — an agreement in which dialogue and diplomacy prevail over any dispute — and for the world to also be declared a zone of peace.
To achieve that goal, it is vitally important, among several initiatives, for the United Nations to work tirelessly to achieve a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, for the historic rights of the people and State of Palestine to be respected, and for NATO to stop entertaining its expansionist plans.
Secondly, we should replace the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction with fair compensation to the world’s poor. It is precisely the lack of dialogue and measures of preventive diplomacy that has dragged us into an era of great tensions worldwide and of growing uncertainties and instability in global security. We are living in times in which there is a concentration of a large number of weapons of mass destruction in a small group of countries, which, by refusing to eliminate them and prioritizing their geopolitical interests, are endangering the peace and security of our planet.
Nine countries today have 12,705 nuclear warheads, 9,440 of which are in military stockpiles, ready to be used. Given this frightening reality facing the world, we must raise the banner of replacing military spending on the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction with the fair economic compensation that the main capitalist countries owe, morally and historically, to the countries of the periphery and the world’s poor countries.
Thirdly, we oppose the commodification of health care and favour universal health-care systems. In the past two years, our peoples have had to face not only uncertainty resulting from conflicts, but also a serious health crisis resulting from the coronavirus disease, which exposed the vulnerabilities and inequalities of health-care systems around the world, as well as of the financial system and the global economy.
In the face of health-care systems that benefit only those able to access private insurance, and in opposition to those who have turned health into a commodity, it is imperative to strengthen universal health-care systems in which the State meets its obligation to protect and guarantee collective rights, within the framework of the pre-eminence of economic, social and cultural human rights, thereby reducing the effects of the global economic crisis on the most vulnerable sectors of the population.
Fourthly, we need a global food sovereignty programme that is in harmony with Mother Earth. Another manifestation of the structural and multipronged crisis of capitalism is the food crisis, which is exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, global geopolitical conflicts and the numerous environmental crises facing the planet. This situation has not only affected the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, but also threatens the most basic rights of millions of human beings.
According to the 2022 The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, the number of people suffering from hunger in the world has increased dramatically over the past few years. In 2021 alone, a total of 828 million people, accounting for 9.8 per cent of the world’s population, were the victims of food insecurity. Asia, with 425 million people affected by the food crisis, and Africa, with 278 million affected, remain the regions hardest hit by the crisis. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the food crisis has affected more than 56 million people.
To address the food crisis, we must urgently implement a global food sovereignty programme that ensures better production conditions for small- scale farmers. That means access to seeds, fertilizer, technology, infrastructure, credit and private and community-based access of all kinds to markets. It also means better living conditions in their communities, in full harmony with Mother Earth.
Fifth, we must rebuild the productive and economic capacities of the countries of the periphery hard hit by the unrestrained logic of the concentration of capital. In addition to the impact of the coronavirus disease pandemic, which has degraded our economies and business transactions, today we are on an expansionary path, sustained by inflation, which has become a critical problem. For example, in August, the United States recorded annual inflation of 8.25 per cent, the highest in the past four decades, and there was unprecedented inflation rate of 9.1 per cent in the Eurozone. In addition, the war between Russia and Ukraine has exacerbated pressure on the price of energy, food, fertilizer, commodities and other products. In July this year, interannual inflation with respect to food reached double digits in some countries of Europe and in the United States.
In an interconnected world, it is important to respond to the needs of our peoples in the post-pandemic context by strengthening integration and cooperation, based on the principles of solidarity, complementarity and respect for the self-determination of peoples. In so doing, we can address the multidimensional effect on the economy and our industries, as well as on our productive capacities and self-sufficiency.
To that end, it is essential that we restructure the global financial architecture to ease the external debt burden globally so that developing countries have an opportunity to implement, in a sovereign manner, social policies with a focus on comprehensive and sustainable economic and social development. As always, the countries of the South are calling for balance in trade relations, as current trade relations continue to benefit only countries of the North.
In that regard, I would like to humbly share Bolivia’s experience. Following the restoration of democracy in 2020, thanks to the unity, struggle and conscience of our people, we returned to the path charted by our democratic and cultural revolution, dignity and sovereignty. We resumed the construction
of our plurinational State and the consolidation of our economic, social and community-based production model. It is a sovereign economic model. We have not accepted and will never accept measures that are imposed by the International Monetary Fund.
Our economic model reflects our political, economic, social and cultural reality and is based on the active role of the State in the economy, the nationalization of our strategic natural resources, the development of economic organization of all kinds, increased public investment, import substitution industrialization, the revitalization of the domestic market, product diversification, food security and sovereignty, income redistribution and the fight against poverty and inequality. In other words, we seek economic growth with social justice, inspired by our civilizing political objective to ensure that our people live comfortably, which has its origins in our indigenous roots.
Such responsible and sovereign policies have enabled us to return to the path of stability, economic growth and income redistribution. In the first quarter of 2022, economic activity increased by 4 per cent, fuelled by domestic demand. Our inflation rate stood at 1.6 per cent in August. Our economy has the lowest inflation rate in the region and one of the lowest in the world, compared to the inflation rates of various countries that, over the past 12 months, have exceeded double digits.
With regard to social development, in the second quarter of 2022 Bolivia recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the region — 4.5 per cent. International organizations, such as the Economic Commission for Latin America, have listed us as the country leading in poverty rate reduction in 2022, while poverty rates in other countries will increase. However, as with many other periphery countries, we continue to make herculean efforts to solve issues related to the multidimensional and systemic crisis affecting us, making our recovery increasingly challenging.
We deplore the fact that, while capitalist countries spend copious amounts of money on war, they make miniscule contributions to comprehensive sustainable development, decolonization, elimination of the patriarchy and the eradication of poverty and economic and social inequalities. One example is that in recent months, 20 times more financial resources were earmarked for the conflict in Eastern Europe than were pledged to the Green Climate Fund over the past decade. Peace is achieved not by buying and selling weapons, but rather by working together to build and, if necessary, rebuild the economic and productive capacities of all countries.
Sixth, the climate crisis requires accountability, solidarity and harmony between human beings and nature, not profit-seeking. Another crisis that threatens to destroy humankind and the integrity of our Mother Earth is the climate crisis, which is leading towards environmental collapse. The discouraging rates of emissions reductions that have been observed and estimated to date demonstrate that countries with the means to change their production and consumption patterns do not have the political will to do so. Those that have set ambitious targets for themselves have not received the means for implementation, as promised in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, to achieve those targets.
Furthermore, those that are mainly to blame for greenhouse gas emissions are now asking each country to chase the illusion of decarbonization by 2050, without considering the past responsibilities of developed countries or the capabilities and limitations of developing countries, for whom access to the latest clean technologies is out of reach. Perhaps the historic climate debtors want us all to be concerned only about the future so as to avoid, in the present, talking about the unfulfilled promises that were made to developing countries on funding, technology transfer and capacity-building.
The recent flooding in Pakistan, to whose people we offer our solidarity, serves as the most vivid and tangible example of the high human and material cost of the loss and damage caused by centuries of poor capitalist development. Today, more than ever before, it is clear that we need a specific financial mechanism that is based on solidarity, and not on profit-seeking, to address the losses and damage caused by the climate crisis in countries engaged in intense development of their productive forces.
We firmly believe that a future that is low in emissions and resilient to the climate crisis will not be possible if wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a few. Therefore, to reverse the climate crisis, we must resolve the economic, social and political contradictions that have been created by the capitalist model, as well as those human beings and nature.
Seventh, we must focus on the industrialization of lithium for the benefit of peoples and as a key pillar for the energy transition. I am referring to a strategic natural resource. Our country possesses the largest reserves of lithium in the world. We have managed this resource very responsibly, in particular as we take steps towards its industrialization, while ensuring that it is used to benefit all humankind as a key pillar of a global and just transition to a future that is low in emissions and respectful of Mother Earth.
We do not want our reserves of lithium to follow the path of other natural resources that, under conditions of colonialism and capitalist development, serve only to enrich a few and foment hunger among peoples. Bearing that in mind, we have consolidated our sovereignty over our natural resources, such as lithium. Its industrialization and benefits are for the well-being of peoples, not to enrich transnationals or a small, privileged group. We retain sovereign ownership of the economic surplus, which should be distributed among the lowest-income earners in the population.
We also reject interference or attempts of any kind to destabilize our country’s democracy with the goal of controlling our lithium. According to remarks by the commander of the United States Southern Command just a couple of months ago, the United States has the so-called lithium triangle, located in South America, formed by Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, in its sights. The United Nations must take measures against all those countries that do not respect sovereignty and the principle of non-interference and that challenge peoples to take control of their strategic natural resources. We are not pieces on a chessboard. We are peoples who work, day in and day out, to move ahead, and we have every right to make decisions about our natural resources.
Eighth, we must shift from nationalizing to regionalizing the fight against drug trafficking. We must change our approach to the fight against drug trafficking. We continue to focus only on supply and not on demand and that has served as a pretext for militarization and the waging of a global war on drugs. That has affected the farmers of the global South, while major criminal groups go unpunished, as they have never been publicly identified in the countries where drugs are consumed.
The global war against drugs criminalizes and leads to unilateral sanctions against countries of the South. However, it provides opportunities for asset-laundering, facilitates drug trafficking and other related crimes in the countries of the North. That cannot continue. Having enjoyed positive results in the fight against drug trafficking, Bolivia defends its model. We believe that the time has come to work with Peru, Colombia and other countries affected by the transit of drugs to regionalize the fight against drug trafficking, based on a comprehensive approach that is less militarized and more focused on economic and social issues. Here at the United Nations, we must work on a mechanism to assess results, not only in countries of the South, but also in countries of the North, one of which unilaterally endorses the war on drugs.
Ninth, we must strengthen international mechanisms offering preferential treatment to landlocked countries. Allow me to draw the Assembly’s attention to the law of the sea, which is now a major issue in international legal relations. All landlocked or isolated States have serious challenges in accessing the sea and taking advantage of its resources and marine areas have considerable development potential for countries, in particular developing countries.
All countries have the right of access and use of oceans, seas and marine resources, as stated in the Convention on the Law of the Sea. We must ensure a just distribution of rights and responsibilities with respect to marine resources, which play a decisive role for the future of the peoples of the world. The sea is a right of all peoples, and no one should be prevented from enjoying that right or using it for development purposes.
Therefore, guided by the principles of equality, non-discrimination, international solidarity and social justice to rectify imbalances and global injustice, we believe that it is important to strengthen international mechanisms to provide preferential treatment to States that have no sea coasts and are therefore at a severe geographical disadvantage with regard to taking advantage of marine resources.
It has been proven that landlocked countries are at a double disadvantage. It costs us more to import products and we face major obstacles in our development. In that regard, we must remind the international community that my country, Bolivia, was created with access to the sea, However, it is now a landlocked country, compelled by past circumstances to address various challenges in the areas of transport, communication and trade. We hope that, sooner rather than later, dialogue and diplomacy will triumph to right the injustices of a war imposed by capitalist interests and build a better future for kindred nations.
Tenth, we must enlarge our limited view of human rights and democracy. There is no doubt that democracy and human rights are inseparable. The Plurinational State of Bolivia experienced for itself that, when democracy is undermined, the very foundation for the enjoyment of human rights is also undermined. That is why we are most firmly committed to the decisions and actions taken by the Organization to protect the most vulnerable groups in our society.
Bolivia has decided to rebuild its institutions by incorporating the plurinational nature of our State, which means that our 36 indigenous peoples are an integral part of our State. A nation that is proud of its diverse identity can build a better country, based on its intercultural nature. Bolivian men and women know that. From the historical perspective, this has occurred in very short order and our challenge is to ensure that the transformation continues, with the goal of ensuring that everyone lives comfortably. We must expand our criteria for human rights in relation to democracy. Neither human rights nor democracy can exist if the privileges of the few are preserved at the cost of the economic, social and cultural rights of the majority.
Eleventh, concerning intergenerational solidarity, we firmly believe that the current vibrant and productive generation must show solidarity with those who have laid the foundation of our nations. We cannot ensure equality among generations if we do not consolidate equality among present generations. We are concerned about the overemphasis on future generations in the multilateral sphere without considering all the work done by the older people in our countries. We are concerned about the fact that, to date, there is no universal treaty that protects older people. We hope that in-depth reflection on this issue can take place at the Organization.
Twelfth, we must proclaim a decade of action for depatriarchalization in order to combat all forms of violence against women and girls. In the same vein, I would like to draw attention to a cause for alarm at the global level — the violence that continues against women and girls, particularly indigenous women and girls and those living in poverty. The pandemic and the structural crises of capitalism are degrading living conditions, especially for women in rural and urban areas, who continue to face complex and intersectional forms of violence.
The Gender Snapshot 2022 report issued by UN- Women and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which evaluates the annual progress on the nine targets of Sustainable Development Goal 5, points out that
“Gender discrimination has long relegated women and girls to positions subordinate to men in the workplace, politics and the home [...] and it will take at least another 21 years for laws to address and prevent violence against women to be in place everywhere and 286 years to secure gender equality in legal frameworks based on the current rate of change.”
The report also notes a worrisome setback in progress in poverty reduction and that rising prices are likely to exacerbate the trend. By the end of 2022, some 383 million women and girls will live in extreme poverty. Many other women in most parts of the world will not have an income sufficient to meet basic needs, such as food, clothing and adequate housing.
Mrs. Gonzalez Lopez (El Salvador), Vice-President, took the Chair.
Our Plurinational State of Bolivia has declared 2022 the year of the cultural revolution for depatriarchalization for a life free from violence against women. We are promoting policies aimed not only at strengthening regulatory frameworks, but also at tackling the structural causes of violence through education and strengthening women’s economic independence, as well as through cultural processes, in order to change the unfortunate reality created by the oldest system of oppression, the patriarchy, which sustains itself through colonialism and capitalism.
We call for the General Assembly to proclaim a decade of depatriarchalization. We refer to depatriarchalization because it is a complex process that requires community-wide political, economic, social and cultural change aimed at building reciprocal relationships for a life free from all forms of exclusion, dominance, exploitation, discrimination and violence for all of humankind and our Mother Earth.
Thirteenth, we must reject unilateral sanctions. It is inconceivable that in a world hit by crises and the pandemic that unilateral coercive measures are still being applied with the aim of breaking Governments at the expense of the hunger and suffering of their peoples. In the current global context, no country should be
persecuted, sanctioned or cornered for exercising its right to freely determine its own political, economic and social systems.
Putting Bolivia on a list of major drug transit or illicit drug-producing countries is one example of the unilateral actions that some countries have taken. The Plurinational State of Bolivia has a sovereign policy on combating drug trafficking that has yielded important results, and we reaffirm our Government’s commitment to strengthening the fight against that global scourge. However, it is clear that the war on drugs — primarily the one unleashed by the United States — has failed. That country therefore urgently needs to thoroughly consider changing its policies in view of the fact that it has become one of the major drug-consuming countries. Regrettably, during the previous administration, more than 100,000 people died of overdoses or drug addiction in the United States.
Another clear example of ongoing unilateral sanctions is the inhumane and criminal commercial and financial embargo against Cuba, which threatens the lives of millions of citizens. Maintaining such measures is a crime against humanity — not to mention that the United States designates Cuba as a State sponsor of terrorism. That unfortunate example should also give us pause to reflect on the fact that some countries do not comply with the majority of the decisions taken every year in the Assembly.
Finally, we must ensure the full application of the Charter of the United Nations and the principle of multilateralism. If we, the international community, cannot overcome the major problems we are facing, we will lead our peoples to a mass catastrophe. Fulfilling our responsibility to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Charter, as well as international law and the institutions it governs, is more crucial than ever. The multidirectional crisis the planet is suffering because of capitalist ambition — and we are far from overcoming it — will worsen if we do not take urgent measures. Only by strengthening multilateralism can we achieve greater dialogue and cooperation in seeking solutions to the crisis. Revitalizing multilateralism in earnest will allow us to restore the legitimacy of international law, ensure peace through social justice and reshape the fragile international order to make it pluralistic and solid.
Based on the experience it has accumulated since its democratic and cultural revolution in 2006, the Plurinational State of Bolivia is hopeful that we will overcome the current polarization in the global architecture — as well as the capitalist world order that has left us in a dizzying, dangerous, never-ending race of consumerism that threatens humankind and the planet — and build, in its place, a more just, inclusive and equitable world for all based on the principles of living well and people’s diplomacy.