It is a great honour
and privilege to address the General Assembly as the
King of Spain at the start of my reign.
I appear before the Assembly to share with the
international community my country’s commitment
to the universal principles and values that best define
humanity. Today I have the pleasure to present what
Spain — renewed but remaining true to itself and to
its international commitments — can offer for peace,
liberty, justice and human rights in all nations and for
all persons, along with well-being and prosperity.
As a nation with ancient roots and a clear global
calling, Spain has contributed intensely and decisively
to shaping world history. Let us recall that Spain was
present at the genesis of globalization and of international
law, as well as of medieval parliamentarianism and
contemporary liberal democracy. With that perspective
of centuries, we see clearly that our best contributions
come about when we move forward while opening up
to the world.
Sincerely, despite our problems, I see Spanish
society today as exemplary in its commitment to human
dignity, in solidarity with the most marginalized.
Spaniards harbour a profound sense of equality. They
reject fanaticism, violence and intolerance and love
peace. Spanish society is culturally and linguistically
diverse, capable of overcoming difficulties responsibly
and with integrity while demanding integrity and
excellence as civic values intrinsic to democracy. Spain
is a strong, generous and vigorous country, and I feel
truly proud of it.
Therefore, today we Spaniards look to the future
with a firm will to share and to help to build a better
reality for all peoples. Our foundations are solid, forged
over centuries and strengthened especially in recent
decades. The commitments Spain has made with the
rest of the international community are established on
those foundations.
Democracy is today the essential guide of our
collective coexistence. It will soon be four decades
since the beginning of Spain’s political transition,
which allowed us to move from a dictatorship to a
political system based on freedoms and rights and
marked by a desire for historical reconciliation and a
true spirit of harmony. Allow me, therefore, to lay claim
Spain’s political masterpiece with pride and emotion,
an example for many in the world. We Spaniards have
built a social and democratic order based on the rule
of law that protects all citizens and Spain’s various
territories in their political, geographic, cultural and
linguistic diversity. Thus Spain’s firm commitment
to promoting and defending democratic values in the
world can always be counted on.
Without forgetting the impact of the crisis, Spain’s
economic development, particularly since the second
half of the past century, has placed our economy among
the first in the world and among the most open and
competitive. Today we have achieved global leadership
rankings in various sectors with a high added value
and significant social impact. Bearing that in mind,
Spain strongly supports a global and sustainable way
of economic development that makes possible material
progress and well-being, that generates employment
and protects individuals and their social rights, a
sustainable development model respectful of the
environment, respecting international norms and with
high, ethical economic values.
Spain has always been a major cultural Power.
We understand that in all societies, culture shapes our
identity and is a source of material and non-material
wealth. The strength of Spanish, a universal language
shared by dozens of countries and hundreds of millions
of people on all continents, decisively contributes to
guaranteeing greater cultural and linguistic diversity in
the international arena. That is clearly an objective of
the human community, so widely diverse, represented
here. The Spanish language must therefore fully
assume its formal position as an official language of
the United Nations and as a working language that is
fully used and represented. Given the scope and depth
of our cultural base, we affirm Spain’s commitment
to defending cultural diversity in all of its aspects and
manifestations.
Spain’s history and privileged geographic position
at a crossroads of continents, seas and civilizations
have led it to develop a solid, universal perspective
and a special connection to some regions in the world.
Among them, Europe represents an obvious dimension.
The process of continental integration around the
European Union today is part of the national project of
the Kingdom of Spain. We call for a Europe of greater
unity and cohesiveness that preserves and extends the
democratic and civic values that inspired its creation
and that works to guarantee the prosperity of all of its
citizens. We also defend a Europe that is marked by
strength and solidarity that generously and effectively
contributes to the peaceful progress of all regions of
the world.
Due to its history and culture, the Ibero-American
community of nations is a substantial part of our
collective identity and represents for us a true
brotherhood. That sentiment extends to other areas,
thanks to the cultural, historic and linguistic
connections that we also maintain with other nations
and peoples in the rest of the Americas, in Africa, Asia
and Oceania.
The Mediterranean, with its northern and southern
shores, together with the Middle East and the entire
Arab world, are areas very close to Spain, not only
geographically, but also culturally and emotionally.
That is why we affirm our will and interest in
contributing to the stability of the region, as something
fundamental for achieving peace in the world. It is a
region in which some societies suffer the scourge of an
intolerable barbarism, a criminal and atrocious violence
that threatens all societies of the planet and the very
values of universal human civilization.
Spain’s global vocation and its commitments in
democratic, economic and cultural matters that I have
just mentioned are summarized by its full commitment
to the Charter of the United Nations, on behalf of which
we are convened here. The Charter represents one of
the greatest achievements of humankind; we must
therefore preserve, respect and enforce it. Thus Spain
firmly believes in the United Nations and its multilateral
mechanisms for preserving international peace and
security and for contributing to the development of
societies.
We live in times marked by a proliferation of
conflicts, some of which are especially devastating and
have indiscriminate impacts on civilians. Our primary
objective must be to prevent war, and when we fail, we
must protect and assist the innocent and the injured.
We must never relent in our efforts to resolve conflict
through diplomacy and all of the instruments bestowed
by the Charter of the United Nations. Above all, we
must not lose hope, and we must remember that in spite
of everything, the longing for harmony can and must
prevail over even the most entrenched hatreds.
A tapestry version of Guernica — a work by the
universal Spaniard, Pablo Picasso — hangs outside the
entrance to the Security Council Chamber. The scene
depicted in this art icon still stirs our conscience and
reminds us of the fatal consequences of our inability to
prevent and resolve conflicts that afflict us all. It is a
mistake to think that wars or man-made disasters affect
only one community or one region without any impact
on the others. When barbarism triumphs in one part of
the world, no one is beyond its reach; we are all victims.
But armed conflicts are not the only threats to the
international community. Evil takes many forms and
their victims have many faces: every child caught in
a crisis situation or in violence, every woman who is
molested or whose rights are limited simply because
she is a woman, every patient who dies for lack of
medicine or every abandoned elderly person, every
family without food and without hope because of an
unjust distribution of wealth, every journalist murdered
for doing his or her duty to inform — all of these are
so many appeals to our conscience and to our sense of
duty, and so many calls to action.
The members of the General Assembly can count
on Spain as we confront, together and in the framework
of international law, those who seek to destroy, through
their intolerance, violence or sectarianism, the values
and principles that underlie our United Nations. Spain
has always demonstrated its unconditional support for
the United Nations system and its active responsibility
with regard to the principles that we all recognize in
this Assembly: freedom, justice, equality, national
sovereignty, independence and the integrity of States.
Spain will continue to assume, as it has, its full
responsibilities as a Member of United Nations.
Against this background, Spain is taking another
step forward as a candidate for a non-permanent seat
on the Security Council for the 2015-2016 biennium.
Our candidacy is an integral part of my country’s solid
commitment to serve the international community
more, and to serve it better. That is what we have done
in the Security Council once every decade over the past
40 years, because the Assembly has trusted us. I only
ask that that trust be renewed.
In the past 25 years, 130,000 members of the
Spanish armed forces have participated in peacekeeping
operations and humanitarian aid missions in all regions
of the world. They have been — and, above all, have
felt — part of a great collective effort to which many
of the countries represented here have contributed.
Similarly, in recent decades Spain has consolidated its
status as one of the leading contributors to development
cooperation. There is no lasting peace without lasting
security, without sustainable development. There is
no sustainable development without greater solidarity,
both among and within nations. Furthermore,
development must be accompanied by policies of
inclusion that envisage the full equality of women and
their incorporation in all spheres of political, social and
economic life.
As we can see, Spain has a spirit of solidarity. In
the past 14 years, my compatriots have contributed
$30 billion to global development. Of this contribution,
nearly $1 billion has been earmarked for achieving the
Millennium Development Goals, through a fund set up
by Spain and co-led by the United Nations Development
Programme. That is the largest contribution made by a
single country. Specifically, one of the most important
tasks of the General Assembly at this session will be to
finalize the negotiations for the post-2015 development
agenda and to establish the sustainable development
goals. Here, too, Spain has taken a step forward by
creating the first fund that is already functioning for
these sustainable development goals.
To a large extent, achieving sustainability involves
fighting the harmful effects of climate change. The
Climate Summit held yesterday and the recent Third
International Conference on Small Island Developing
States, held in Samoa — whose organization Spain
contributed to — have raised our awareness even
further on this issue. They also enable us to improve
our response and resilience in the face of restricted
situations, especially as regards the most vulnerable
States whose very survival is at risk.
The sustainable development goals that we have
set for ourselves are within our reach. Again, there
are reasons for hope. I am thinking in particular of the
progress made in Africa, a continent that is so close
to Spain and where new examples of innovation and
creativity are found everywhere. Africa is a continent
of the present and future, where over the past decade we
have seen some of the fastest-growing economies. But
it is crucial to put an end to the conflicts that still afflict
parts of the region and hold back its development. From
the Sahel to the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes
region, Spain contributes to ending these conflicts
by meeting its commitments, which are born out of
solidarity and proximity.
We believe in Africa and we are demonstrating that
belief, for instance when acute crises arise such as the
Ebola epidemic, which is affecting a major and growing
part of the central region. I want to express the Spanish
people’s solidarity with the victims and our support for
those who are doing everything possible to assist them,
sometimes at the cost of their own lives. And I offer my
own heartfelt tribute to the humanitarian aid workers of
the United Nations, whose vocation leads them to leave
everything behind for the most vulnerable, wherever
they may be.
It has been almost 30 years since my father,
King Juan Carlos, addressed this General Assembly for
the first time (see A/41/PV.4). Today, as then, Spain is
open to a new age. Today, as then, we take our place
as active and responsible members of international
community represented here. I can assure those present
here that the international community, represented
today in the General Assembly, can continue to count
on Spain’s support and active participation in the
unwavering protection of the values and interests of
humankind in peace, peace that is ever more prosperous
and just. Spain supports a United Nations that is not
only stronger but, above all, more united — more
united against bigotry, intolerance and barbarism, more
united in fighting poverty, hunger and marginalization,
more united so that education and health can reach all,
and more united in firmly defending the dignity of all
human beings.