People and planet.
They are our alpha and our omega. They are the
foundation and objective of actions by bodies such as
the United Nations.
The Earth is blue like an orange, said the poet
Paul Eluard. That is a logical statement, as our planet
takes its blue colour from the sky and the oceans that
protect us, and the orange colour from the fruit that
nourishes us. The Earth is a sphere that moves and
turns with infinite interdependence. The human
attitude, nature and peoples are bound together to form
a single scheme of debate, impossible to resolve
separately.
Every year in the General Assembly we are
pleased to feel that our work is centred on the ideals of
a better world in the environment of a democratic
structure, dialogue, the brotherhood of cultures and
financial and social interchange, supportive and
prosperous between peoples.
The latest data available to us on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) show a positive trend. We
have made great progress in the reduction of child
mortality and we have applied various measures of
truly surprising simplicity that have demonstrated their
effectiveness in eradicating many illnesses. And yet the
inhabitants of the world — the people, flora and fauna
of the planet — look at our organizations and all of us
somewhat suspiciously. There is much concern. There
is great uncertainty.
With your permission, my words today will not
be of self-complacency either for the results
obtained or for the undeniable improvement in some of
the ailments that undermine our dignity as people.
Congratulations can give way to relaxation and can
have a perversely soothing effect on our consciences.
The development of global societies has become
essential in the light of the positions affecting
economic, social, cultural, military and political
systems on a worldwide scale. There is an urgent need
for conceptualization in the face of the evident poverty
resulting from the sudden and profound
transformations suffered by peoples, regions and
countries. Successive waves of contributions of capital
and human resources combine with pre-existing human
substrata, creating superimposed layers that further
accentuate differences. When those investments cease
to be profitable, resources are redirected. That results
in situations of change or crisis.
The realities on which we have to concentrate are
those of a world in which, according to the latest data
published by UNICEF, 9.7 million children’s lives
were lost in one year; a world in which human life
expectancy can differ by more than 30 years; a world
in which more than 39 million people are infected with
the AIDS virus; and a world in which too many people
are still without access to safe drinking water. That is
not doomsaying on my part; it is a recognition that the
advances made cannot conceal the profound
shortcomings that still exist or hold back the
achievement of results.
Indignation and rejection in the face of every
unacceptable reality have made possible the finest
achievements for the progress of humanity in a
remarkable way at the United Nations and must now
enable us to obtain more resources, to go faster, to have
more ideas and to be even more effective.
Mr. Beck (Palau), Vice-President, took the Chair.
For more than six decades, the United Nations
has sought to be the moral and legal force which
ensures that dialogue, cooperation and solidarity take
the place of oppression, weapons, famine, ignorance,
misery and injustice. However, during the years of
existence of the United Nations, wars, poverty and
intolerance have not stopped. On the contrary, we have
had to add new ills, such as the radicalization of
fundamentalism or the degradation of the environment,
and increasingly frequent natural disasters.
Earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, tornadoes
and floods and the thawing of many of the glaciers at
the two poles are vivid examples of the climatic
disorder that we have to combat. To tell the truth, the
planet is threatened; but I do not think that this is an
accurate assertion. Those really threatened are the most
vulnerable persons and countries. They are the ones
who suffer from war, illness and underdevelopment.
Climate change will affect all of us, but not all of us
equally.
At the same time, trafficking in, and the abuse of,
children and women continue despite the legal
instruments with which we have equipped countries
such as Andorra, where the defence of human rights
and liberties is considered to be a fundamental
inspiring principle.
The world of the twenty-first century views
armed conflicts, terrorism, violations of human rights
and extremely precarious situations in many areas with
something between resignation and impotence. I would
refer, merely as an example, to the extreme situation
that has affected the population of Darfur for many
years.
We should not be surprised that, faced with all
those hard realities, international institutions like ours
are suffering serious crises of discredit and significant
erosion. Nevertheless, if we are here today it is because
we believe that we can improve the world — people
and planet — because we are convinced that together
we are able to react. Hope remains intact. Every
country — whatever its size — and every director and
every organization with the capacity for action has to
fight to make law into the essence of vitality and to
achieve open and sincere dialogue in the international
arena. As Charles de Gaulle said, it takes several to
deliberate, and one to act. As Al Gore told us on
Monday, the world requires a global Marshall Plan,
because our planet is in an emergency situation.
We are delighted with the thrust and
dynamism displayed by the new Secretary-General,
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, since he took office. We praise the
efforts of the General Assembly in setting up a
Working Group on Security Council reform, as well as
the proposals that are being studied. We fully support
the model of society proposed by the United Nations
— rooted in the principles of peace, solidarity, liberty,
cooperation, social development and economic growth.
With regard to goals, I applaud the initiative of
the Millennium Development Goals. At the time of
their introduction, the previous Secretary-General
warned us that we needed to break with routine. He
told us that we could not achieve results in a day
because success would require sustained action over
the 10 years envisaged for implementation. Today,
before the entire Assembly, I add my full support to
those words. I call upon everyone to maintain the pace
and to press the foot down a little harder on the
accelerator.
We all benefit from the progress that we have
made. We know the enduring relationship that exists
between poverty and nearly all the challenges we face:
mortality rates, differences in life expectancy, ill
health, injustice, intolerance, marginalization and
armed conflict. Let us reject before the world and
before all peoples some of the pernicious prejudices
that prevent us from advancing. Permit me to recall
three truths that have been defined a number of times
by Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at
Columbia University.
The first is that the illnesses ravaging poor
countries are perfectly avoidable and can be prevented.
The second is that to avoid all the thoroughly
unnecessary deaths caused by them will not affect the
population explosion. The third is that poor countries,
as has already been shown and in refutation of some
voices deliberately ignorant of their prejudices, are
capable of installing efficient public health
programmes when they receive adequate aid.
As a result of the terror and the material and
moral misery suffered during the Second World War,
countries, peoples and their representatives came to an
agreement, saying “enough” and creating organizations
such as the United Nations to regulate and mediate
conflict. They did this with a sense of generosity, a
breadth of purpose and a boldness that today must
inspire our action even more.
The ideals of the fathers of the Charter of the
United Nations were founded on a respect for
individuals, on liberty and on access to knowledge and
education to achieve welfare and peace around the
world. Only through an energetic renewal of those
ideals can we ensure that the balance on planet Earth
improves perceptibly and continues to do so year by
year. Only with the unity, understanding and
cooperation of all nations can we obtain results.
The small size of Andorra has not prevented us
from maintaining good neighbourly relationships with
France and Spain for more than seven centuries. We are
fully concerned and involved with the objectives of the
United Nations. With our long and, at the same time,
humble experience, we could even become a neutral
area, impartial and isolated from partisan interests, in
the case of any conflict in need of resolution.
We must be realistic, but this must not stop us.
We must advance with modest but continuous reforms,
tangible and firm reforms that lead us to a better future.