I wish to congratulate Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his election
to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
second session.
On behalf of my country, Uruguay, I would like
to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and to all of those
who today are paying their respects and are celebrating
this International Day of Non-Violence.
The Eastern Republic of Uruguay would like to
begin by reiterating its ongoing commitment to the
principles and guidelines which are and will continue
to be at the very core of its international activity: the
sovereign equality of States, the rejection of the use of
force or the threat of the use of force, peaceful
settlement of international disputes, attachment to and
support for institutions of international law, support for
international law itself, non-intervention in the internal
affairs of other States, the self-determination of
peoples, the promotion of human rights, international
cooperation in economic and social matters, and
support for multilateralism and for the quest for
collective answers based on consensus and respect for
law, and within the framework of the principles of the
United Nations Charter which means the rejection
of any attempt to impose the will of one State over that
of others.
Achieving these principles is sometimes impeded
by the attitude of a few dominant States that impose
illegitimate decisions, provoking conflicts that involve
a large part of humankind and affect the weakest
countries. But above all, they weaken the legal and
political authority of the United Nations. It is clear
today that lying behind those attitudes we can discern
hegemonic economic interests.
In accordance with the suggestion of the
President, we will address the proposed agenda,
beginning with climate change.
At the High-level Dialogue here on
24 September, Uruguay expressed its opinions and
referred to various aspects of this problem that lead to
a serious and paradoxical situation for less developed
countries: even though they do not contribute
significantly to global warming, they are the ones that
suffer the most and are the most vulnerable to its
affects.
Regrettably, as we all know, there are highly
industrialized countries responsible for emitting
millions of tons of gas that cause global warming and
climate change, which, however, do not seem ready to
reduce their emissions nor to cooperate with the
international community to compensate for these
effects. We must call upon those countries to sign the
Kyoto Protocol and to contribute, in a way that is
proportionate to their responsibility in generating this
problem, so that this struggle can be carried forward by
all the nations of our planet in solidarity.
For basically agricultural and fishing countries
such as Uruguay and many other undeveloped
countries, climate is a decisive factor for development.
The dramatic climate variations that are increasingly
notorious constitute a serious threat for their
possibilities for progress and the well-being of their
populations. This is why our countries have affirmed
that temporary aid and depending on the goodwill of
rich countries when faced with specific catastrophes
does not accomplish much. Rather, we need effective
measures to be adopted from now on to prevent these
catastrophes and commitments that are to be made now
in order to avoid continuing to create the conditions
that produce these catastrophes.
In considering the topic of financing for
development, we should begin with the following
question. What have been the causes of
underdevelopment, economic and political dependency
and poverty for billions of people, most of whom live
in the southern part of the planet?
Looking for such financing, we tend to
immediately think of financial organizations like the
World Bank, or those which, in order to maintain
budgets that is, economic and social programmes
reflecting fiscal imbalances, have for decades
prescribed economic formulas, such as those applied
by the International Monetary Fund, which instead of
leading to development have destroyed the productive
apparatus of entire regions of the planet, thus
generating unemployment, increasing poverty and
concentrating wealth.
My country, along with other countries of the
South American region, the Cairns Group and the
Group of 22, has been saying for two decades that it is
important to have just standards of trade rather than
preaching about the unconditional opening of markets
on the pretext of free trade while simultaneously
practising the crudest and most ruthless protection of
the world’s predominant systems of production and
stubbornly refusing to comply with part V of the
Agreement on Agriculture, annexed to the Marrakesh
Agreement, whose objectives include the elimination
of subsidies and the opening up of markets.
Unfortunately, we have not managed to convince the
United States and the European Union of this.
To put it briefly and concisely, developing
countries do not need to be “helped”; they need
guarantees of free access to markets and, in particular,
the elimination of domestic production subsidies,
which violate the competitiveness guarantees, which
are so highly touted. It is in agriculture that the
southern countries are highly competitive and produce
consumer goods of high quality, generally free of
genetic modification. Real free trade would not make
them turn to international credit and would enable
them to generate their own resources to finance their
own development, integrate their economies, to expand
their markets, create their own multilateral credit
institutions and diversify their products and, as a result,
their markets.
Uruguay is the Chairman pro tempore of the
Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and we
firmly believe in the regional integration of all of the
countries of South America. That is their strategic
option in foreign policy.
Our South America possesses all of the natural
resources that we find in the world; we have energy
reserves for more than 100 years; we have the potential
to produce food for 4 billion people; we have the
largest global freshwater reserves; we have major
mineral resources. Hence, we can make decisive
economic and social progress, with a view to
eliminating poverty.
But despite all of that, we face an absurd and
criminal situation: out of 400 million people in South
America, 200 million live under the poverty threshold;
there are areas of the continent where there are
extremely high rates of infant mortality. Life
expectancy for part of that population is practically
half of what it is in developed countries.
We cannot forget that in today’s world South
America is a factor of peace and political stability. All
of the current Governments of South America have
been democratically elected. Both in MERCOSUR and
in its associated States, we have adopted the so-called
democratic clause that says that a country can belong
to these integration systems only if it respects
democratic principles.
That is why, after 200 years of non-integration,
we will tenaciously defend that achievement so that
anti-democratic and destabilizing interference will fail
and so that the continent of hope, as we call it, can
have an impact on the world to affirm peace and
respect for international law, democratic stability,
fundamental freedoms and human rights, which with
great sacrifice these people have recovered after
decades of a doctrine focusing on national security.
Uruguay reaffirms its commitment to the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In order to
achieve them, we need greater social justice, a better
distribution of wealth and the gradual establishment of
new criteria that would place the economy at the
service of humankind instead of being a factor of
slavery and poverty for a large part of humankind a
tool that is used for the excessive enrichment of
privileged groups.
Our country knows the difficulties that all
developing nations face in working towards those
objectives. The current Uruguayan Government
inherited a country that had experienced the worst
crisis in its history, with levels of poverty affecting
1 million people out of a population of 3.5 million
people; in tens of thousands of cases poverty reached
the levels of abject poverty. All of this was the result of
the application of a foreign economic model which was
contrary to the interests of the region and its people.
Tackling this reality meant not only medium-term
and long-term productive development measures, but
also emergency social measures. Thus, in 2005 we
implemented an emergency plan which in two years
reduced the number of poor by 120,000, eliminated
abject poverty and helped to socially reintegrate a large
percentage of those who had been affected.
The Government is moving forward with a social
equity plan, which involves the integration of more
than 500,000 people one seventh of the
population into the national health system, which is
also being substantially modified. It also includes
benefits of roughly $40 per month to all children who
go to primary school and roughly $45 per month for
those who attend secondary or technical school. All of
this will help bring about a positive process of social
inclusion.
Likewise, laws are being considered to transform
the entire educational sector and which are also aimed
at achieving the MDGs. At present, school is
mandatory from the age of 4 and special attention is
being paid to dealing with the problem of dropouts.
For Uruguay, no type of terrorism is acceptable or
justifiable: neither State terrorism, which we
experienced during the 1970s and 1980s and which
became a national security doctrine, nor the terrorism
that is practiced by some groups to further their social,
political, religious or other demands, claiming victims
who, in the end, are always innocent people.
In the United Nations context, Uruguay is a party
to all United Nations-system counter-terrorism
conventions. We have submitted the relevant reports to
all United Nations committees in this area.
Uruguay is concerned both by acts of terrorism
and by their underlying causes. These include the
promotion of hate based on cultural, political, racial or
religious differences; the talk of a so-called inevitable
clash of civilizations; military invasions; and the
persistence of difficult conditions for part of
populations living in occupied territories.
Interventionism and non-compliance with United
Nations resolutions to resolve conflicts are causing an
increase in extremism and religious fanaticism among
such peoples and seem to be the factors that have
contributed most to the worsening and proliferation of
terrorist attacks.
Uruguay calls for all cultures and peoples to
come together in a respectful dialogue so that what is
different or foreign will not be a reason for aggression,
discrimination, subjugation or hatred. We fully support
the initiative of Spain and Turkey: the Alliance of
Civilizations.
In the view of Uruguay, peacekeeping in conflict
zones is an essential mission not only of the United
Nations, but also of all countries wishing to cooperate
in building a safer world where peace and cooperation
are the norm. Our country currently takes part in 12 of
the 15 peacekeeping missions of the Organization
deployed in Africa, America, Asia and Europe. Despite
the fact that we have only 3.5 million people, we are
the seventh largest troop contributor to those
operations and we are the greatest per-capita troop
contributor in the world.
Uruguay has acquired experience in matters
linked to peacebuilding and reconstruction in areas
devastated by conflict, and offers electoral assistance
to States as well.
With respect to United Nations reform, Uruguay
believes it is a priority to strengthen mechanisms to
eliminate the resort to preventive wars, interventionism
and unilateral actions that are undertaken without
taking into account the opinion of the international
community. Uruguay also expresses its full support for
the new Human Rights Council, in which we have been
honoured to serve as one of the Vice-Presidents. With
respect to Security Council reform, we hope that in the
current session we will be able to move forward on the
basis of a consensus. Uruguay supports the inclusion of
Brazil as a permanent member, as well as that of India,
Germany and Japan, and an increase in the number of
non-permanent members.
The effectiveness of the United Nations is a topic
that concerns us. Uruguay is one of the countries that
have been chosen for the “One United Nations” pilot
plan, within the framework of the recommendations of
the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence. The
Government of Uruguay has committed itself to
carrying out this pilot project in coordination with the
United Nations agencies in Uruguay, defining three
strategic areas as the basis of that coordination: State
reform, especially in health, education and
development strategies; decentralized development,
with civic participation; and policies to eradicate
poverty and structural inequities.
Lastly, Uruguay believes that all United Nations
Member States must abandon patterns that date back to
the Second World War and develop organizational
standards for the General Assembly, the Security
Council and the other principal organs of the United
Nations. Member States should establish conditions
that would bring the United Nations into the twenty-
first century, thus guaranteeing peace and providing a
forum in which to promote a dignified life for peoples
along the axis of freedom, which is the basis for
justice.