I come to this great forum at a unique time for humankind, when we face a triple pandemic with common roots: the pandemic of global inequality, the pandemic of climate change and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
This is not a mere change of direction but a real change in times.
The cry of the injured earth is combined with the cry of entire peoples plunged into vulnerability and backwardness. The pandemic has revealed the globalization of inequality and, at the same time, a vulnerability that transcends borders.
The pandemic has also exposed the risk of greed, waste and slowness in providing supportive responses to global problems.
For that very reason, I would like to emphasize before this Assembly the conviction that the COVID-19 vaccines must be global public goods.
Argentina welcomes the proposals regarding patents under the World Trade Organization in order to help to promote the production, competitiveness and local development of vaccines.
With public policies focused on strong support for research and development, our country managed to join the global production chains for two international vaccines, and we have a production capacity for the entire cycle that allows us to introduce new developments.
Clearly, it is now a matter of addressing not only the pandemic’s impact in terms of health care, but also the recovery of the economic and social situation, which goes hand in hand with caring for our common home — the planet.
We are fully committed to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
With the transition towards renewable energy; the adoption of clean technologies to reduce methane emissions; the elimination of illegal deforestation; and the rehabilitation of our ecosystems.
All those commitments are a further step by our country towards a path consistent with the 1.5°C target and carbon neutrality by 2050.
However, I wish to emphasize that none of that will be possible if we do not address the sword of Damocles of global inequality: the restructuring of the global financial architecture.
As the Secretary-General said, it is frankly distressing that, in 10 years, the commitment to providing $100 billion to developing countries for climate action has failed to be realized.
Climate justice will be a chimera without comprehensive financial and tax equity, which would contribute to real social justice.
All the more so in this post-pandemic context, where the risk of widespread catastrophic external debt in developing countries looms. Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, spend 57 per cent of their exports on external debt servicing.
I mention the issue of external debt with particular regret on the part of Argentina, a country that has been burdened with toxic and irresponsible indebtedness to the International Monetary Fund.
To give the world an idea of the magnitude of that “debticide”, I would like to mention one figure:
The funds for Argentina approved by the International Monetary Fund in relation to that unsustainable debt were $57 billion — the same as the total amount that the organization disbursed to 85 countries in the world in the year of the pandemic.
I repeat: they gave us in just one year practically the same amount as they gave to 85 countries around the world in the year of the pandemic.
There is no technical rationale, ethical logic or political sensitivity that can justify such an anomaly.
What is even more serious is that a large part of the funds provided to Argentina have been drained out of the country by an irresponsible liberalization of the capital account.
From that case of “debticide”, which cries out to the global financial world, I emphasize that it is key to restore the principles of debt sustainability that were discussed and agreed at the United Nations, in resolution 69/319 of 2015.
For that reason, we also support the idea of promoting an inclusive multilateral agreement that can fully address the issues related to sovereign debt restructuring.
We believe that the extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative of the Group of 20 (G-20), while valuable, is an interim and insufficient measure that does not fully address the issue of debt relief and the restructuring of unsustainable debts.
Similarly, the lack of a multilateral framework for debt restructuring for middle-income countries remains a major gap in global financial governance.
We therefore encourage the extension of the new G-20 Common Framework for Debt Relief to vulnerable middle-income countries.
We also propose that the credit risk rating of countries, currently in the hands of a few private agencies, should be part of the reform agenda of the global financial architecture.
Change, while difficult, is not impossible.
We welcome the expansion and distribution of the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights, an initiative that has opened the door to hope. What was unthinkable a year ago is now a reality.
This issue must give rise to a major environmental pact of solidarity that includes low- and middle-income countries with high climate and financial vulnerability.
A pact that allows for the extension of debt repayment terms and the application of lower rates under the current circumstances of financial, health and ecological pressure.
We must promote sustainable financing systems that support payment mechanisms for ecosystem services and the concept of environmental debt.
Debt-for-climate swaps are another positive step.
The capitalization of multilateral development banks, by leveraging funds from country contributions, is also an urgent task.
It is also necessary to deepen the debate on the new global minimum tax.
What has been set out by the Group of Seven and the G20 is a first step, but it is insufficient to benefit emerging economies. It is necessary to work towards a cooperative approach, in which the Sustainable Development Goals can become a reality.
Dear colleagues,
The crisis caused by COVID-19 is also a human rights crisis.
The pandemic has exacerbated violence against women, intensified the stigmatization of migrants, people of African descent, ethnic minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people, the elderly and people with disabilities and had a serious impact on indigenous peoples.
We face the challenge of building a new beginning towards more just, inclusive and democratic societies.
The prevention and early warning of situations that could lead to massive human rights violations, as well as crimes against humanity or genocide, must be one of the main tasks of the United Nations.
Argentina is firmly committed to moving forward towards the universalization of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, a crucial instrument in the fight against impunity.
Together with France, we are currently working on a third campaign for the universalization of the Convention so that more States ratify it, with the aim of reaching 100 ratifications by 2025.
Argentina also takes responsibility for the historical demands of the women’s and diversity movements.
That commitment is reflected at the national level, and its highest expression is the establishment of the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity.
With the adoption of the law to legalize abortion, the Argentine State assumed the responsibility of legislating and protecting through public policies the health and life of women and people of other gender identities capable of bearing children.
At the same time, we adopted the Law on Comprehensive Health Care during Pregnancy and Early Childhood, which expands benefits and rights and guarantees health care for women during pregnancy and for children in the early years of life.
The Argentine Government resolved to strengthen care for women victims of violence, while implementing a gender focus in social and labour policy measures and promoting joint responsibility and a fairer distribution of care tasks.
With regard to the rights of diversities, we have made progress on historic measures to expand and recognize rights, such as the adoption of the transvestite-trans labour quota law, which stipulates that the national Government must ensure that a minimum of 1 per cent of its workforce is made up of transvestites, transsexuals and transgender people, and a decree that provides for the issuance of national identity documents that recognize non-binary identities.
Let me now turn to the scourge of terrorism.
Argentina highlights the efforts of the United Nations Office of Counter- Terrorism to support States in implementing the United Nations Global Counter- Terrorism Strategy, with full respect for international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international refugee law.
Twenty-seven years after the attack on the headquarters of the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina, we continue the ongoing policy initiated in that area in 2003 of requesting the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to cooperate with the Argentine judicial authorities in order to move forward with the investigation of the attack.
We reiterate the request to the international community to comply with the requirements contained in the INTERPOL Red Notices in the event of the possible presence of a suspect on their territories, which Argentina has never ceased to demand.
Colleagues from around the world,
With regard to the Food Systems Summit, an event that I welcome, I would like to say that the topic is, in my opinion, of particular importance not only to Argentina but to all of us given our status as producers and exporters of healthy and nutritious food to the entire world.
We believe that the transition towards sustainability in food production systems must be gradual and in line with the ways and time frames decided by each country based on its productive, economic and social circumstances.
There is no single development model that serves all the nations of the world. An inclusive approach to sustainable food systems is therefore essential, with solutions tailored to the social situation and needs based on solid scientific evidence.
Finally, let me mention an issue of great significance to our nation.
The Argentine Republic reaffirms its legitimate and inalienable rights to sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, which are part of the Argentine national territory. Those territories have been illegally occupied by the United Kingdom for more than 188 years.
Apart from the United Kingdom’s intention to maintain the manifestly illegitimate colonial situation, there is no reason that the bilateral dialogue on the question of the Malvinas should not be resumed now. The request of resolution 2065 (XX), of 1965, has remained in force and has been reiterated on many occasions, most recently with the adoption by consensus of a new resolution on the question by the Special Political and Decolonization Committee on 24 June.
The United Kingdom persists in its attitude of disregarding the call to resume negotiations on the territorial dispute and has exacerbated the dispute by calls for the illegal and unilateral exploitation of renewable and non-renewable natural resources in the area — an action that is contrary to resolution 31/49 of this Assembly.
It also insists on an unjustified and excessive military presence on the islands, which only brings tension to a region characterized as an area of peace and international cooperation.
We have asked the Secretary-General to renew his efforts within the good offices mandate entrusted to him by this Organization.
In short and in conclusion.
Just as we reject all forms of colonialism, we also understand that humankind faces the challenge of combining rapid technological change and fatal environmental degradation with a vision of comprehensive human development and global social justice.
That is not a choice. It is either solidarity or extinction.
We will emerge from the triple pandemic that I mentioned at the beginning only through bold leadership, innovative ideas and schemes that make possible what seems to be a chimera.
The hands of the clock are ticking. There is no time to lose. It is now or never. History will judge us not on our words but on our actions.