First of all, allow me to hail your election, Sir, as President of the General Assembly, and to congratulate the Secretary- General on his reappointment for another term.
We are gathered in the most important forum created by humankind since the Second World War, which was conceived as a space for debate, reflection and the search for effective solutions to the multiple crises facing our planet. The United Nations was conceived based on the principle of the legal equality of States, to which the principle of political equality would be added, in order to prevent the planet from falling back into armed conflicts among States, which jeopardize the world peace we all yearn for.
Those goals have not been fully achieved — we continue to be exposed to ambitions to control access to natural resources and dominate peoples in the form of direct armed invasions, criminal blockades and indirect military, political, economic and media interventions.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has revealed the fragility of our societies and States through its unprecedented negative repercussions for health, the economy, education and other sectors and has jeopardized the timely achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The health crisis has compounded the multidimensional economic, social, environmental, food, energy and inequality crisis of capitalism.
At the same time, the crisis has highlighted the continuing inequality between the countries that are at the hub of capitalism and those on the periphery, which are euphemistically referred to as “developed”
and “developing” countries. The increase in poverty and extreme poverty and the inequitable distribution of vaccines has been condemned by the World Health Organization. According to available data, to date only 30 per cent of the world population requiring vaccination has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and barely 15.5 per cent is fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, only 1.1 per cent of the population in low-income countries has received at least one dose.
Capitalism has commodified all dimensions of social life, and health care has not escaped its reach. Medical science must be at the service of humankind without any kind of geographical, political, social or nationality-based discrimination. Access to vaccines must be considered a human right. We cannot be indifferent, much less profit from providing health care during a pandemic.
We firmly believe that the pandemic can be overcome by the highest level of global vaccination coverage. The World Health Organization has confirmed that, once 70 per cent of that goal is achieved, we will be able to overcome the pandemic. However, access to vaccines, especially for peripheral countries, is limited. In that context, we believe it is important that transnational pharmaceutical manufacturers waive their patents and share their knowledge and technology to produce COVID-19 vaccines, that in working together we guarantee immediate access to everyone in every country in the world and that supranational organizations, such as the United Nations, as well as Governments, work together to prevent the hoarding of vaccines and promote universal, fair, equitable and timely access to vaccines, medicines and medical supplies to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current circumstances caused by the pandemic call for solidarity and international cooperation among brotherly peoples to promote life. In the fight against COVID-19 throughout the world, thousands upon thousands of health workers have fulfilled their roles, and today we pay tribute to them and express our gratitude for their work. In Europe, despite their problems, countries have come together in agreement and have allocated billions of dollars to reactivate their economies. The United States has also reached consensus among its politicians to direct billions of dollars to its economy.
In contrast, in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Africa, States and Governments lack organizations to deal with the struggle to survive. Quite the opposite — organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) divide us, promote coups d’etat and produce destabilization.
The COVID-19 crisis has also exposed the vulnerabilities and inequalities of the financial system and the global economy. In a closely interconnected world, it is important to deepen solidarity and complementarity and respond to the needs of our peoples in the post-pandemic world. To that end, it is imperative to strengthen integration and cooperation so that we can confront the multidimensional impact on the economy and our industries and ability to achieve security with food sovereignty. In that context, we must rebuild our economies with a view towards social protection and health. That means safeguarding and protecting workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, micro-entrepreneurs and small entrepreneurs in the same way that banks, large companies and global corporations are protected.
In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, it is imperative that we confront the threats posed by the pandemic. In that regard, let us examine and propose comprehensive solutions to the vulnerability that debt has led to in periphery countries in relation to central capitalism and financial institutions. Accordingly, it is important to adopt comprehensive measures that the international financial institutions apply with a sustainable vision and that do not entail increased costs or debt levels for beneficiary States.
States must prioritize the eradication of extreme poverty and inequality in all its dimensions and the provision of access to basic services for the population. We must responsibly assume the challenge of building a future based on solidarity, complementarity, sustainability and cooperation among peoples. Little progress will be made, however, in reducing or eliminating those social indicators as long as the current world economic order continues in a way that is unjust by every standard, fosters unfair trade and hinders industrialization.
Moreover, I would be remiss if I did not underscore that, unfortunately, the digital divide persists. The rapid progress in digital technologies and e-commerce has become an instrument that can help in economic recovery. However, the digital divide prevents such benefits from being shared equitably; indeed digital technologies and e-commerce are being converted into instruments to consolidate the unjust world order.
In that regard, the Plurinational State of Bolivia proposes to move forward on agreements with multilateral financial institutions to refinance, or provide relief from, external debt at the global level and support social policies for populations in vulnerable situations, with a comprehensive and sustainable development approach. Similarly, it is important that the various international financial mechanisms grant concessional loans and design and implement medium- and long-term measures to ensure the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Our planet — shared home and Mother Earth — continues to suffer from the serious consequences of consumerism and the excessive greed for natural resources. We once again reaffirm that the capitalist system is one of the main causes of the climate crisis. According to the worldview of indigenous peoples, human beings and nature are interdependent.
Therefore, as a State we advocate a new model of coexistence for our well-being, which our peoples call, “living well”. It promotes a change in the perspective on life by rejecting greed, irrational competition, excessive consumerism and the insatiable quest to accumulate profit to the detriment of Mother Earth and life on our planet. The civilizing perspective of our indigenous peoples is valid for all the peoples of the world because, if capitalism is jeopardizing anything, it is jeopardizing humankind and nature.
Embarking on the path towards living well means that our public policies and way of life must be in harmony and balance with nature. We must restore our relationship with Mother Earth, because our survival as a species is at stake. The growing threat posed by non-economic risks to financial and macroeconomic stability, such as the climate crisis, has highlighted the need to devise policies that help in transitioning to a new economic model. In line with our approach, we have conceptualized the Bolivian vision for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We propose that all States parties to the Convention attend the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the Convention, to be held in Glasgow, at which we will propose the following recommendations.
First, the only concrete solution to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C is through the distribution of the carbon budget among countries, based on climate justice criteria and according to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Secondly, the countries of central capitalism must assume the climate debt and the historical compensation with the rest of the countries of the world through financial cooperation, technology transfer and capacity-building, thereby complying with the relevant agreements established to date.
Thirdly, it is vital that we return to the knowledge, practices and experiences of indigenous nations and peoples in building societies and ecosystems that are resilient to climate change.
Fourthly, there is an urgent need to strengthen and speed up countries’ efforts against the climate crisis, particularly approaches that are not based on carbon markets — efforts that must be effective in reducing domestic greenhouse-gas emissions. We are convinced of the urgent need for a reform of the global architecture that aligns financial, investment, trade, development, environmental and social policies. In the same vein, we welcome the holding of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, as the health and life of humankind itself depend upon them. We must recognize and strengthen the important contribution to the economy and the preservation of nature made by peasant and indigenous producers.
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Assembly on the important decision it took to declare the Decade of Indigenous Languages, which begins next year. Languages transmit culture, knowledge, wisdom and the history of peoples, which is why it is important that, throughout these years and the years to come, States promote actions to recover and revitalize indigenous languages, which are part of the wealth of humankind.
The Charter of the Organization is the ultimate point of reference for safeguarding international law, which governs relations among countries. The United Nations therefore has a preponderant role, especially in safeguarding human rights. It is therefore inconceivable that hegemonic countries promote unilateral actions and measures that generate negative effects against the right to life, health, food and education of millions of people — as has been expressed on repeated occasions here at the General Assembly. Coercive measures are taken following unilateral decisions and applied extraterritorially, which is not only immoral but also
goes against international law and the very Charter of the United Nations.
While weakening multilateralism, such measures are even more reprehensible and condemnable when they intentionally and directly affect the exercise and enjoyment of human rights. Human rights are inherent to human beings; there can be no double standards.
Access to vaccines, medicines, medical supplies and essential goods such as food cannot be subordinated to political interests, and neither should the right to life or health be used as a political pressure mechanism to the detriment of the lives of millions of people who depend upon them, much less so in times of pandemics.
We reject any unilateral measure aimed at preventing countries from exercising their right to freely determine their own political, economic and social systems. A clear example of the application of unilateral measures is the inhumane and criminal commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, which puts the lives of more than 11 million citizens at risk in the midst of a pandemic. It is a crime against humanity, but at the same time a regrettable example of how the decisions of the General Assembly are not complied with by certain countries. It is frustrating to admit that, year after year, despite the virtual unanimity worldwide in condemning the blockade, those responsible for this crime ignore the clamour of humankind.
Before concluding this intervention in the General Assembly, allow me to inform Member States that, after a regrettable coup d’etat that took place in November 2019, the Plurinational State of Bolivia regained its democracy in October 2020, thanks to the unity, struggle and conscience of the Bolivian people, ratified at the ballot box. We are also regaining our intercultural democracy as well as our political, economic and social stability, which we had worked so hard to build.
The rupture of the constitutional order in my country involved the participation of national actors: politicians who did not have the support of the people at the ballot box, bad actors among the police and the armed forces, civic committees, the Catholic hierarchy and the hegemonic media. But it also counted on the participation of the OAS — through its Secretary General, Luis Almagro — as well as other Governments, such as the previous Argentine Government, which sent weapons and ammunition to the coup plotters, and representatives of the European Union and international non-governmental organizations.
The last report presented by an international group of independent experts found that serious human rights violations, massacres and summary executions were committed in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Our commitment to the Bolivian people is that justice be done for the 38 lives lost, for the hundreds of wounded and detained, for the persecuted, the asylum seekers and the exiles and for the serious human rights violations that were committed during a de facto Government. For justice is an essential condition for any democracy and for building genuine social peace.
Unfortunately, the right to the presumption of innocence and due process was systematically violated. The persecution, prosecution and imprisonment of innocent people became a normal daily occurrence. Humiliation, repression, desecration of our patriotic symbols, such as the wiphala, and racist and sexist use of force were directed against the population mobilized for their rights, mostly indigenous people, workers, peasants and farmers.
Strong and dignified nations have always been built on learning the great lessons from the tragedies and misfortunes experienced, collectively building social peace through processes of memory, truth and justice. And that is our commitment to the Bolivian people. My Government, democratically elected, in spite of the multiple difficulties, including the COVID-19 pandemic, is making the greatest of efforts to regain stability and economic growth with social justice. With the confidence of more than 55 per cent of the votes cast by the Bolivian people, we have the responsibility to defend our independence and dignity as a free and sovereign State.
In this global forum, the Plurinational State of Bolivia claims its right to secure free, sovereign and useful access to the Pacific Ocean, through dialogue and agreement with the Republic of Chile, as determined by the International Court of Justice in its judgment of 1 October 2018, which urged Chile and Bolivia to continue working towards a meaningful resolution of the problem.
Bolivia takes paragraph 176 of the judgment as an invocation and a clarification in the sense of
“continuing their dialogue and exchanges, in a spirit of good neighbourliness, to address the issues relating to the landlocked situation of Bolivia, the solution to which they have both recognized to be a matter of mutual interest. With willingness on the
part of the Parties, meaningful negotiations can be undertaken”.
The important integration processes that are taking place throughout the world must be based on and involve an effective solution to the major unresolved issues in Latin America. Like the issue of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, Bolivia’s landlocked situation is still an open wound in our continent. That issue should be resolved with dialogue, diplomacy and understanding among brotherly peoples in this new era.
Here in the Assembly, we reiterate our commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the targets set for the Sustainable Development Goals, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the elimination of all forms of discrimination and racism. Multilateralism is the right tool for ensuring greater dialogue, cooperation and the quest for solutions to issues that affect humankind. It will enable us to re-establish the primacy of international law, preserve social justice and peace and reconfigure a weakened world order.
There is no doubt that the challenges we encounter daily are increasingly complex. If we want a better future for the current and next generations, we must reflect on the path we take to overcome the polarization in the global architecture and, instead, join efforts to promote international cooperation that allows us to stand strong in addressing current issues.
We are at an unprecedented juncture where the future of humankind depends on our decisions. It is our duty to build a more just and more democratic world based on greater solidarity. Let us work to end the climate crisis and build equality so that enjoying life means access to education, health care, food, decent work, comprehensive development and true harmony with Mother Earth. Let us work to ensure the self- determination of peoples and lasting peace.