It is a pleasure to begin this address with warm
congratulations to Ambassador John Ashe on his recent
election as President of the General Assembly. We wish
him success in his endeavours and assure him of our
support.
Today is the last time that I will address the
General Assembly as President of Costa Rica. As on
previous occasions, my message is based upon my firm
conviction of the essential nature of the United Nations
to promote peace, security, development, democracy
and human rights. The United Nations brings together,
catalyses and protects the multilateral system and the
international rule of law. Its validity, vigour, legitimacy
and effectiveness are essential to all countries, but most
importantly to the smaller and more vulnerable ones,
especially if, like Costa Rica, they do not have armed
forces. In the course of humankind’s most challenging
times throughout the past 68 years, we have turned to the
Organization to seek guidance and solutions responsive
to the hopes and longings of our peoples. Today, we
are facing one such occasion, amid contradictions.
We are the authors of great achievements, but we are
also overwhelmed by acute tragedies. There remain
serious global challenges for which we have not crafted
responses that are equally global in scope.
On 2 April, we conclusively ratified the Arms Trade
Treaty, a vital step that was proudly led by our country
as one of the seven sponsoring countries, and a great
victory for humankind. I am pleased to announce today
that it has been unanimously ratified by the Legislative
Assembly of Costa Rica, and I pledge our support to
work assidiously for its implementation.
In two days, for the first time in the history of
the Organization, we will hold a high-level debate on
nuclear disarmament. Costa Rica will also lend its
leadership on the issue. In that way, we hope to be able
to move closer towards an ideal aspired to by most
countries and to make progress in new conceptual
frameworks for discussion. The meetings of the Open-
ended Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament, chaired
with effectiveness by our Permanent Representative in
Geneva, Mr. Manuel Dengo Benavides, have opened up
a promising path.
We are working at a good rate to establish a new
global agenda for sustainable development, as well
as institutions to promote it. That is evidenced by
the reform of the Economic and Social Council, the
establishment of the High-level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development and the progress being
made on the Open Working Group on Sustainable
Development Goals.
Increasingly, innovation, technology, education and
culture are recognized as promoters of development,
and there is a growing awareness of the need to actively
incorporate young people in such endeavours. Together
with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
Costa Rica is honoured to have hosted and organized
BYND 2015 Global Youth Summit, an international
conference on youth, development and information and
communication technologies. The conference brought
together young people from various parts of the world
and enjoyed the able leadership from the ITU Secretary
General, Mr. Hamadoun Touré. Today, I symbolically
present to the General Assembly the final declaration of
the conference, adopted in our capital on 11 September
by thousands of young people from every continent.
We trust that it will be a very relevant input for the
discussion of the post-2015 development agenda.
To explore options for the future, in March Costa
Rica also hosted an international conference of
middle-income countries jointly organized with the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
Its results will help to better conceptualize the needs
of nations like ours and the contributions that we can
make in terms of the post-2015 development agenda.
As part of those initiatives, we must not overlook our
duty to strive to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals and the need to accelerate their implementation,
particularly in less developed countries.
The achievements I have mentioned, as well as
others, have taken place under the ominous and tragic
shadow of a world that remains very complicated.
We are still shocked by the brutal terrorist attack
committed a few days ago in Nairobi. Today I express
our deepest solidarity with the people of Kenya and our
strongest condemnation of that attack, and of terrorism
and fanaticism.
For the past two years, we have been struck by the
tragedy in Syria. The incessant count of massacred
and displaced persons has been as unsettling as the
inaction of the international community, particularly
the Security Council, to act in a timely way to contain
the crimes and the violence. After a period of paralysis
and confusion, it seems that at last we are approaching
a solution that will lead to breaking out of that
unacceptable stalemate. We raise our voice to demand
that the Security Council act decisively to eliminate
chemical weapons in Syria, halt the violence, seek a
negotiated and democratic way out of the conflict and
hold accountable those responsible for the horrible
crimes committed in that country.
Costa Rica insists that the Security Council should
refer the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court.
We also call again on the five permanent members
of the Council to henceforth commit themselves to
refraining from exercising the veto in cases of crimes
against humanity.
The Syrian tragedy underscores the need to work
decisively towards the organic application of the
responsibility to protect and to promote the use of
mediation to avoid the emergence or the worsening
of conflicts. As a concrete measure towards such
prevention, we urge all Member States to join the
initiative of Australia, Costa Rica, Denmark and Ghana
and designate national focal points for the prevention
of atrocities and on the responsibility to protect. The
preventive approach is also necessary to manage
universal public goods and, consequently, to exert
global governance.
The prevention and reversal of global warming is
one of the most urgent issues on our crucial agenda. We
cannot remain inactive while global warming increases,
ocean levels rise and the survival of several small
island States is threatened. We commend the Secretary-
General’s plan to convene a summit on climate change
and his promotion of the initiative entitled “The Oceans
Compact: Healthy Oceans for Prosperity”. We believe
that the time has come to negotiate, pursuant to the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Oceans,
an international agreement on that subject.
Besides being an instrument for global governance
and the protection of universal public goods,
international law entails many other dimensions. Those
include respect for the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of States, goodwill in addressing border issues
and observance of all the decisions of the International
Court of Justice. Costa Rica is a firm believer in and
scrupulous observer of international law in all its
aspects. But that attitude contrasts with the absolute
disrespect of the Government of Nicaragua of the most
elementary norms of conduct and coexistence among
States. That disrespect has led to open and unacceptable
aggression against our country and to the flagrant
disobedience of the orders of the Court at The Hague.
In October of 2010, Nicaraguan forces occupied
part of Costa Rica’s territory. Following our complaint,
the International Court of Justice issued provisional
measures that, among other things, prohibit the presence
of Nicaraguan personnel in the zone under dispute.
But Nicaragua has continued sending contingents
of political activists, funded and organized by its
Government. In August 2013, the Court reiterated its
demand for compliance with the provisional measures,
but Nicaragua has again ignored them. Their scorn
demonstrates the urgent need to establish procedures
that guarantee the respect of all decisions emanating
from the Court, including precautionary measures.
Costa Rica commits itself to work towards that goal
and expects an open stance from the international
community.
The Nicaraguan Government, moreover, has
offered blocks of the patrimonial sea of Costa Rica for
exploration and exploitation of oil. It seeks to extend
the limits of its continental shelf by ignoring our rights
and has broken off negotiations to secure maritime
boundaries. It has threatened to claim a province of
Costa Rica as its own and has restarted dredging
works in the zone subject to the provisional measures
of the International Court of Justice. Furthermore, it is
pursuing a policy of increased re-armament.
The Nicaraguan and Costa Rican people wish and
deserve to live in peace, but the Nicaraguan Government
insists on preventing that. By pursuing a course of such
deliberate and repeated misconduct, the Government of
Nicaragua undermines international law and the very
purpose of the United Nations.
Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, Costa
Rica remains peacefully and firmly committed to the
well-being and security of our population. We promote a
model of development based upon harmony with nature,
solidarity and social inclusion, an open economy and
open trade, the development of our human resources,
and innovation. We realize that development is futile
if it is not founded on a profound respect for human
dignity and the rights and well-being of the people.
We firmly believe that respect for and promotion
of human rights in all its dimensions is a national and
international duty. For that reason, among others, we
remain open to all special procedures on human rights,
and we are engaged actively and constructively in the
Human Rights Council.
In facing the challenges of public safety, including
drug trafficking and transnational organized crime,
our country has adopted a balanced strategy whose
positive results are evident in many areas, including the
continued reduction in our homicide rate over the past
three years, one of the lowest in Central America. Given
the gravity for many nations of the challenges of drug
trafficking and transnational organized crime, we join
the call by other States from our region, such as Mexico
and Guatemala, to re-evaluate agreed international
policies and to seek more effective responses against
drug trafficking, from a perspective of health, respect
for human rights and impact reduction. Along the
same lines, it is necessary to increase international
cooperation to reduce the illegal flows of weapons and
money that fuel criminal networks.
The new global strategy on that enormous challenge
should be the product of the open and inclusive debate
during the extraordinary session of the General
Assembly in 2016. We salute the Antigua Declaration of
the General Assembly of the Organization of American
States as a first step to leading us in the right direction
towards that special session.
Against the backdrop of the actions and convictions
I have just outlined, we respond enthusiastically to the
call of the President of the General Assembly to advance
in framing the post-2015 development agenda during
this session. We are encouraged by his emphasis on
more active involvement by civil society in that process,
the importance assigned to human rights and the rule of
law as bases for development, and his openness to new
ideas and institutional modalities, including alliances
among multiple sectors.
Costa Rica looks to the future with confidence. At
the same time, we are aware of the risks and challenges
that we face as a country, as a region and as part of
humankind. In that future, we see the United Nations
as an indispensable institution, a steadfast companion,
a visionary guide and co-guardian of our tranquility
and well-being. I pay tribute to its contributions and
sincerely hope that they may multiply in the years to
come.