As I did
four years ago (see A/60/PV.6), I once again extend the
greetings of the people and the Government of the
Eastern Republic of Uruguay to this forum, which is
the most broadly representative body of today’s world.
Those of us here are aware of the contrasting
realities of the present world; we are conscious that
never before has humanity simultaneously been offered
so many possibilities and faced so many threats as is
the case today. We know that we cannot be indifferent
to or be paralysed by those possibilities and threats;
nor are we disposed to be, but what are we doing to
dissipate the threats and take advantage of the
opportunities presented by this reality? Surely not
everything we would like to or that we deem necessary,
and perhaps not all that we are capable of.
Concerning this task, the Eastern Republic of
Uruguay once again reaffirms its unwavering respect
for international law, which is the greatest guarantee
for the sovereignty of peoples and their peaceful
coexistence. We also reiterate, first, our firm rejection
of the threat of the use of force or of its use, of
terrorism, drug trafficking and all types of violence and
discrimination. Secondly, we repeat our determined
support for a peaceful solution to conflicts, to the
sovereign equality of States, to non-intervention in the
internal affairs of States, to the self-determination of
peoples, to international cooperation in economic and
social matters, and to multilateralism that also includes
free trade, because protectionism is to commerce as
authoritarianism is to democracy.
Thirdly, we reiterate our steadfast commitment to
the advancement and protection of human rights,
because they constitute the ethics of liberty and
democracy and are aspects of the dignity that we need,
much as we need the air we breathe almost without
being conscious of it.
Fourthly, we repeat our unwavering responsibility
in the protection of the environment as a human right
and as a fundamental aspect of achieving truly
sustainable development.
As Americans, we feel it is our ethical duty and
political responsibility to reiterate in this global forum
that, first, we reject the institutional rupture in the
fraternal Republic of Honduras, and we demand the
immediate restoration of constitutional order and the
restoring to their posts of the authorities democratically
elected by the Honduran people. Secondly, we will
persevere in the effort to achieve an American
integration without exclusions or exceptions or
embargoes, such the one imposed on Cuba, one without
first, second or third class members. We are all
Americans, and equals.
Without actions following, postulates are sterile.
Uruguay is one of the main troop contributors to
United Nations peacekeeping operations. The
difficulties that this peacekeeping system is going
through are due, among other factors, to the growing
demand for missions, their equally growing complexity
and the effects of the global economic crisis on the
funding for these operations. Far from discouraging us,
they stimulate us to bolster and coordinate efforts with
other Member States and the United Nations
Secretariat to collaborate in stabilizing the areas
affected by conflicts, in the protection of the civilian
population, institutional strengthening and the
promotion of bases for economic and social
development of affected countries. Similarly, our
staunch rejection of terrorism is not incompatible with
cooperation among States in the fight against it while
maintaining absolute respect for international law and
human rights.
Uruguay is among the countries that are
signatories to the widest range of human rights
conventions, and on the occasion of the treaty-signing
ceremony for the present period, Uruguay will sign the
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, becoming one
of the first signatories to that important international
instrument. Uruguay is also party to the main
international conventions in the sphere of the
environment and sustainable development.
As is well known, Uruguay receives significant
investments that contribute to its industrial
development, but it also exercises rigorous control over
their environmental quality, applying its internationally
recognized regulations, demanding the use of the best
39 09-52179
available technologies, and practising effective control
in the field over environmental impacts. Uruguay is
also responsible, transparent and reliable as regards
investment for sustainable development.
In the era of globalization, it is not only the
economy that has to be globalized. Peace, freedom,
democracy, justice, dignity and the welfare of the
people must be globalized as well. The countries
represented here, each according to its respective
identity, are working towards that end, as is Uruguay.
Faced with the impossibility of discussing the vast
system of policies and actions that are involved in that
task, I will mention just two that Uruguayans wish to
share with the international community, because they
concern the needs, hopes, rights and responsibilities of
all humankind.
Our country has taken a firm commitment as
regards tobacco control policies, both at the
international level through its ratification of the World
Health Organization Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control, and at the national level through the
implementation of policies for the improvement of the
well-being of the population. In 2006, Uruguay became
the first smoke-free country in the Americas and the
seventh in the world.
This is no insignificant matter when one takes
into account that, according to the World Health
Organization, smoking is the leading avoidable cause
of death worldwide. It is an epidemic that annually
causes more than 5 million deaths throughout the world
and more than 1 million in the Americas. Five million
deaths a year are far more than those caused by
alcoholism, traffic accidents, AIDS, illegal drugs,
murder, suicide and the H1N1 virus combined. When
we add up all the deaths caused by these pathologies,
we find that the number of tobacco-related deaths is
greater still. If the current trend continues, over the
next 20 years tobacco-related deaths will double in the
world and triple in our region, and in particular in the
poorest countries.
Given that tobacco smoke does not affect
smokers alone, in a study published in 1985 the
English epidemiologist Richard Doll maintained that
being in a room with a smoker for one hour a day is
100 times more likely to cause lung cancer in a
non-smoker than spending 20 years in a building
containing asbestos.
Our delegation at the United Nations sponsored
and promoted resolution 63/8, whose implementation
will allow us to have, at least in this environment, a
smoke-free United Nations. It represents partial but
auspicious progress in the fight against this epidemic.
In May 2007, a year after becoming a smoke-free
country, Uruguay set out on the path to becoming a
country with equal-opportunity access to information
technologies. We are achieving this by means of the
Ceibal project, also known as “one laptop per child”,
which consists, precisely, in providing each student and
teacher of our public primary school system with a free
computer and access to the Internet. By the end of this
year, we will have provided a prototype to each of the
301,143 students and to 12,879 teachers in the
country’s 2,064 public elementary schools. This may
seem like a small number, but it should be recalled that
Uruguay has only some 3 million inhabitants.
The project is open to students with learning,
motor or visual disabilities, who receive computers
especially designed for their needs. Private schools are
not excluded from the programme and can take part by
purchasing the prototype for a modest sum. The Ceibal
project is completely funded by the Uruguayan State,
which allocates funds not only for acquiring and
preparing the prototypes, but also for their maintenance
and the continuity of the programme.
The Ceibal project is much more than simply the
provision of computers and is therefore worth much
more than its price. Its true worth lies in developing
intelligence, introducing deep changes in teaching and
learning, offering equal opportunities in access to
information from childhood on — because equality is
not a right for adults alone — and providing the
information and knowledge indispensable to becoming
a member of society and thus ensuring its proper
functioning.
At the beginning of this address, I stated that if
the United Nations raison d’être is to improve what we
are as human beings, the Organization must be capable
of improving itself as a system. But the United Nations
is those who comprise it — we ourselves. Uruguay
reaffirms its commitment to the United Nations reform
process. The process that began at the 2005 Summit,
which saw the creation of two new structures within
the Organization — the Human Rights Council and the
Peacebuilding Commission — should be completed
with consideration for those issues whose practical
09-52179 40
implementation is pending or behind schedule with
respect to the goals we have set.
Michel de Montaigne taught us that there is no
greater destiny for human beings than seeing to the
business of being human. Almost five centuries later, it
is fitting to remember the teachings of that great
Renaissance humanist. It should not, however, be
remembered solely as something of the past; we should
embrace it as a task of the present and put it into
practice, or at least try. I believe that there is no other
option if we really wish to survive as a species and to
improve as human beings. I also believe that, if we all
make a responsible attempt, we shall achieve it. In that
conviction, intention and confidence, I greet the United
Nations on behalf of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.