Panama

Allow me to convey to you, Mr. President, the warm congratulations of Her Excellency, Mireya Moscoso, President of the Republic of Panama, together with those of her Government and the people of my country, on your election to serve as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session. Your designation to guide the debates in this forum is highly gratifying to the Panamanian delegation, not only because of your own brilliant political record and your well-known devotion to the well-being of the Finnish people, but also because of the noble way in which you here represent the lofty ideals of sovereignty and universal cooperation in pursuit of world peace, sustainable human development, human rights, democracy and justice — traditional mainstays of Finland's foreign policy and of the activities of the United Nations. Panama shares with so many other States Members of the Organization your concern to put these ideals into practice, and that is what I shall be addressing today in my statement. I am also glad to pay tribute to, and express my gratitude for, the activities of the Secretary-General, 7 Mr. Kofi Annan, who has devoted particular effort in the last year to the maintenance of international peace and security, the reform of the Organization, and the promotion of human rights, gender equality and the enjoyment of the rights of the child. Panama shares these and other concerns of the Secretary-General. Indeed, as the other members of the Ibero-American community are aware, upon an initiative of President Mireya Moscoso announced at Havana in November last year, the next Summit of Heads of State and Government of Ibero-America, which will take place shortly in Panama, will be dedicated to discussing the problems facing children and young people in our region. In the preparations for this meeting, which Panama has undertaken with the greatest enthusiasm, the national Government has received the support of organizations devoted to the well-being of the world's children and young people. These include the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) — a United Nations agency which has selected Panama as its new regional headquarters and to whose noteworthy activities, in fulfilment of its mandate, I am glad to pay tribute on this occasion — together with agencies responsible for promoting culture, particularly the culture of peace, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), another United Nations agency which has done extremely valuable work in promoting universal understanding through education, technology and communication. With respect to gender equality, we are glad to be able to state that in recent years our country has made significant progress, particularly with respect to the political participation of women. Indeed, since 1 September last year a woman has guided the destiny of our nation. From January this year our Supreme Court of Justice has been presided over by a woman. During the review conference on women held in the context of the special session of the General Assembly in June 2000, the delegation of Panama signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which makes it possible to have recourse to an international body in case of the denial of such rights. Furthermore, Panama has made significant improvements in access for women to education and health. However, much still remains to be done, particularly with respect to equal access to economic resources. In this area, which is closely bound up with sustainable human development, my country hopes to make significant advances, particularly through international cooperation. On this point, international cooperation, I should like to share some brief thoughts and place them before this distinguished body for consideration. More than 40 years ago one of my predecessors in the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Miguel J. Moreno, addressed this General Assembly on the topic of international cooperation for development. On that occasion Minister Moreno stated: “Economic development, and international cooperation for the attainment of such development, are not only necessary if world peace is to be achieved, but also represent important means of cementing it and making it durable.” (A/PV.749, para. 176) Dr. Moreno added: “Social tranquillity and national political stability depend on economic development and on the benefits which the peoples derive therefrom, as do also a better understanding among the nations and international harmony; all these are indispensable for world peace.” (A/PV.749, para. 178) These wise words are as true today as they were when they were uttered at the thirteenth session of the General Assembly in 1958. It is this wisdom that has guided the renewed emphasis that the United Nations, in the last decade and through its United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has placed on the promotion of sustainable human development. This concept is the axis and basis of our President's governmental plan. Our Government recognizes that without measures to promote human development, economic growth can make no sense and have no meaning. Although it may be boosted by economic growth, human development is much more than economic growth, for human development means enhancing the capacities of human beings as individuals and as members of the community by measures that provide access to emancipating education and to better health and transport services, measures to permit participation in an economy and a culture that respects human dignity, that encourage the prudent use of natural resources, and foster and enlarge the exercise of the 8 fundamental duties and rights of the human individual. Given this multidimensional nature and the Panamanian Government's concern to work towards sustainable human development and to promote human rights, the Panamanian delegation expresses its satisfaction at the contents of the latest UNDP human development report, which considers the link between human rights and human development. The report explains that human freedom is the common purpose and the common motivation of human rights and human development. In the years that have elapsed since our return to constitutional government our country has made significant advances. Under our Government we have begun a process of repealing legislation that restricts freedom of expression and we have invited the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights, a significant regional agency, to assist us in promoting the enjoyment of human rights in Panama. Also recently, through a process of cooperation involving the major political movements in the country, we have adopted by consensus the basic elements of a Panamanian security policy based on the doctrine of human security, an extremely important component of sustainable human development. That doctrine upholds individual and grass-roots communities as constant, clear-cut points of reference for the responsibilities and purposes of the State's security strategy, and is based on taking preventive measures designed to reduce vulnerabilities and minimize the risks threatening the opportunities and rights of individuals and of communities. I am particularly gratified to be able to state that Panama is one of the few countries to have adopted the human security doctrine as a State policy. We hope that this will be a matter for more in-depth discussion and analysis at the next Summit of the Americas to be held in June 2001 in Quebec, Canada. In the context of this and other aspects of sustainable human development and the exercise of human rights, Panama firmly believes in international cooperation and has recourse to it in order to promote the lofty objectives that are the inspiration for States Members of the United Nations. At the recent Millennium Summit, whose purpose was to set a clear course for the United Nations in the twenty-first century, Panama, among other things, called for States Members to return to the pursuit of the original spirit of the Charter of the United Nations. Pursuant to this request, it is our hope that the members of the Security Council will assume the obligation of representing the general interests of the international community instead of acting according to their individual strategic military or political interests. The general interest of the Members of the Organization indicates that the time has come to engage in debate and reach some conclusion as to the way in which we can expand the number of permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council while restricting and regulating the use of the veto. We have expressed our agreement with the need to reform the Charter of the United Nations in order to achieve this objective and others, provided such reform is based on the principles of democracy and equitable geographic participation. Panama wishes here and now to reaffirm its commitment to the principle of self-determination of peoples, articulated in the Charter of the United Nations, and to the use of mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of conflicts. The dangerous disputes which riddle and split our world from the China Sea to the Magreb, and which may degenerate into domestic or transboundary outbreaks of violence, must be addressed with a sense of urgency by the United Nations. This would be possible within a structured, conflict-prevention programme that provided for specialized support to nations to guide them and assist them in a fair and orderly, peaceful negotiation of their interests. Accordingly, we recommend recourse to the moral and technical presence of the United Nations within such processes, engaged in by small States beset by hostile Powers, or by racial or religious intolerances. Likewise, we recommend recourse to the United Nations in support of negotiations on reunification or self-determination that other people may wish to embark upon, with the aim of preserving a prosperous, democratic way of life or of securing for themselves the benefits of development. The Republic of Panama nowadays is a fully sovereign State glad to have recovered the exercise of sovereignty throughout its national territory, and to have proved its resolve and ability to fulfil the commitments stemming from its participation in this great international community. Panama has the will and the capacity not only to administer efficiently and transparently its greatest asset, the Panama Canal, but also to cope successfully with the growing demands for 9 international maritime traffic and to ensure the security of our inter-oceanic waterway. The Canal and the reverted lands will be the driving force behind the development of the Panamanian economy in coming years. Among other large-scale projects, we are now executing the extension of the Culebra Cut, a $1 billion investment that, once completed in the year 2001, will permit simultaneous passage of Panamax vessels through this section of the Canal. Once this work is completed, projects will be begun to expand the Canal's water basin. Moreover, consultations and studies are under way with a view to building the third set of locks, which will make it possible for the inter-oceanic waterway to be used by post-Panamax vessels and will increase the efficiency of the Canal by 25 per cent. All this will benefit world trade. Lastly, in the coming year bidding will be opened for the construction of a second bridge over the Canal in order to help unite our land, which is currently divided by the Canal. In the lands recovered and now devoted to national development, former military installations of all kinds have been expertly retooled for commercial civilian use. Among other things, the former Albrook air base has become a centre for domestic air and land transport; the former School of the Americas has been converted into a hotel of the Meliá international chain, with its own convention centre; the Coco Solo military base, which enjoys a unique location at the Atlantic mouth of the Canal, today houses the international maritime cargo ports of Manzanillo and Coco Solo, which complement the international port of Balboa on the Pacific, all interconnected by a trans-isthmus rail system for container transport; and in the forts of Davis, Corozal and Cocol', processing centres are now being developed for exports, with the backing of international capital. With input from the International Financial Corporation, studies are being undertaken to convert the Howard air base into a multifunctional air and sea cargo centre for the Pacific side of the Canal. The development of the Sherman base, which is a genuine ecological gem, seeks to link the protection of the country's historical patrimony and environment with economic development. Fort Clayton is now the base of an educational and industrial complex known as the City of Knowledge, where the regional office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the hemisphere will be located. The City of Knowledge is also home to regional campuses of Texas A & M and McGill Universities and a continental-level regional centre for human rights. All of this will contribute to the Government's plan to make Panama a centre of international agencies. In order to take full advantage of international cooperation, Panama has adopted a policy of strengthening its links with the various major international organizations, including those that are part of the United Nations system. In this way we are striving to move forward and contribute to worldwide peacemaking by converting former military bases into civilian and commercial areas that will enhance world peace. This is an appropriate occasion to place on record that Panama categorically rejects the actions of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has unilaterally devised taxation standards that its members are trying to impose outside their jurisdiction, in open violation of resolutions of the General Assembly. On this point, Panama is grateful for the support of the majority leader of the United States House of Representatives, who on 7 September wrote to the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Lawrence Summers, strongly condemning this action. There is a need for a careful examination of the flight of billions of dollars in capital from developing countries to the financial institutions of the first world which are trying to tighten the so-called qualifications that are used to exert pressure, with obvious objectives. Panama is committed to the fight against the laundering of money stemming from drug trafficking and other unlawful activities. We believe that all countries should work together to eliminate this scourge. This effort should be carried out through legitimate mechanisms of international institutions that are representative not only of the industrialized North but also of the emerging countries of the South, such as the United Nations and the various regional organizations. In the spirit of international cooperation, to which I previously referred, and in consideration of the most basic concepts of justice, we are today calling for the cooperation of the General Assembly in resolving a dispute between Panama and the United States of America, as a result of the bases operated by the armed forces of that country on our territory throughout the 10 last century. In this forum, in September last year, our President stressed her confidence that the outstanding differences surrounding this issue that still persisted between Panama and the United States would be resolved satisfactorily in a reasonable period of time. Unfortunately, despite the efforts and goodwill displayed by the Panamanian Government these differences have still not been settled. In his powerful report entitled “We the peoples: the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century”, and with respect to certain matters relating to trade, the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, proposes that States Members follow a line of conduct consonant with environmental and human rights standards. He also urges States to fulfil their obligations vis-à-vis universal values and the common standards that have emerged from countless conferences and extensive negotiations and that have taken the form of historic resolutions and conventions under the auspices of the United Nations. By extension, we believe that this appeal to States applies not only to trading matters but also to all the other aspects of relationships among nations. His profound words express the vast ethical foundation of the United Nations. In another part of his report the Secretary-General warns of the risk that environmental degradation, among other factors, may heighten social and political tensions in an unforeseeable and potentially dangerous fashion. We are particularly gratified by this clear vision on an issue whose various facets are already having a serious impact not only on many developing nations but also on the most developed. In view of these very wise appeals and warnings, as well as of the predominant role that the United Nations plays in the maintenance of international peace and defence of the principle of sovereignty, in a formal note, to the Secretary-General I have requested him to bring to the attention of the United Nations the failure of the United States of America to fulfil its obligations so that the Organization can assist in bringing about an early resolution of the dispute arising from the refusal of the United States to fulfil the commitments derived from the unauthorized military use by its army of significant portions of Panama's national territory. I have informed the Secretary-General of the facts and formally requested that my note be circulated as a document of the General Assembly and that it be brought to the attention of the Security Council. I take this opportunity to wish the General Assembly a fruitful year of deliberations under the guidance of its President. I should like to express my sincere hope that this year will be one of significant, meaningful and tangible achievements for the Organization in the treatment of the most important items on its agenda, to the benefit of all mankind.