I wish first of all to congratulate Mr. Ali Abdussalam
Treki on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. Knowing his
broad experience in the United Nations and his
dedication to dialogue and consensus, I assure him that
Peru will constructively support his initiatives.
The global outlook is extremely complex and full
of great contradictions. We face the deepest economic
and financial international crisis that our generation
has experienced and which once again proves that the
borders in a global world are purely cartographic and
that the symbol of our times remains interdependency.
The economic and financial crisis has stymied world
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growth and, above all, exposed the weaknesses that
caused the market to malfunction. As rarely in recent
history, the international community has mobilized
huge resources and political capital to avoid
unprecedented economic collapse. A significant share
of those resources must support the developing
countries, which certainly did not cause the crisis but
are the most affected by it.
It is regrettable that the convergence of wills and
interests with regard to the crisis is, in turn, not
apparent with equal resolve in the endeavour to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and to
firmly address the threats that endanger freedom,
democracy and, ultimately, regional and global
stability.
In that context, allow me to point out that one
crucial problem we face is the huge sums spent on
arms acquisitions. How can we explain to our peoples
that, in the midst of one of the worst global economic
recessions and with more than 1 billion people living in
extreme poverty throughout the world, countries can
commit over $1,464 billion to military expenditure in
2008, and that, while economies contract, arms
purchases grow in real terms every year?
Recently, the President of Peru, Mr. Alan García,
in a communication to South America’s ministers for
foreign affairs and of defence that is being circulated
as a document of this General Assembly (A/64/367),
seriously questioned that state of affairs in the region
and asked why, in the five years since the
establishment of the Union of South American Nations,
our countries have allocated for military spending a
total of $156 billion, but in addition have acquired
approximately $23 billion more in new weapons,
cannons, aircraft and ships. That figure could reach
$38 billion this year. The President appealed for that
absurdity to stop if conditions are created for a
strengthening of security and confidence in the region.
To that end, on this occasion I affirm Peru’s
proposal that a friendship and non-aggression pact be
concluded to guarantee the commitments to
strengthening a zone of peace in South America, and to
achieve the gradual reduction of arms purchases and
the future establishment of a peace and interposition
force to avert any conflict in the region. The final
objective would be to create a regional collective
security system that complements and is upheld by the
Charter of the United Nations, enabling all our
countries to end the arms race in which South America,
a region that is otherwise demonstrating great maturity
and respect for international law in the handling of its
disputes, seems to be engaged for no discernible
reason. Our proposal will certainly require greater
study and consideration in the light of experiences in
other parts of the world.
A second transnational threat that is not receiving
due attention is drug trafficking and its dangerous link
to terrorism and violence in general, the consequences
of which affect not only the security and rights of
millions of people, but also the environment. We are
paying an enormous price through our inaction
concerning a problem that causes millions of deaths a
year and tremendous material losses.
At the global level, the traffic in drugs brings in
around $500 billion a year, equivalent to 8 per cent of
global trade, while, according to data of the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, their use affects
over 200 million people, in particular young people,
throughout the world.
According to the 2008 report of the International
Narcotics Control Board, it is clear that South
America’s narcotics trafficking networks collaborate
with one another in their illicit activities, especially
money-laundering, and recruit specialists at the highest
technical level. It is therefore a matter of urgency that
combating narcotics trafficking once more be given top
priority on the world agenda and in cooperation
between developed countries, pursuant to the principle
of shared responsibility.
We must respond jointly to halt the advance of
narcotics trafficking and related criminal activities,
such as trafficking in arms or people, the destruction of
nature, corruption and terrorism. Legislation concerning
illicit crops and their interdiction and eradication should
be complemented by prevention and rehabilitation
programmes aimed at comprehensive, alternative and
sustainable development. To that end, the concerted
efforts of all international actors are essential under the
principles of cooperation and, above all, shared
responsibility.
In Peru, drug traffickers are working with the
remnants of terrorist groups. This situation
exponentially increases the level of violence among
both criminal groups, and if we do not solve the
problem now, we may find ourselves in a situation of
unprecedented consequences in the future. Illicit coca
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production is a process of utmost destructiveness to the
environment. Three hectares of forest have to be
destroyed to obtain one hectare of coca. This is causing
irreparable damage in the Peruvian Amazon forest; the
logging and burning of trees to clear land for illegal
crops erodes the soil and has resulted in the
deforestation of 2.5 million hectares of Amazon forest,
a leading contribution to global warming.
For all these reasons, the Government of Peru has
devoted special attention to the problem in terms of
financial and human resources. But the results have
often left us feeling that this is a solitary struggle with
a problem for which the international community, and
especially the countries that consume the bulk of
narcotic drugs, do not have adequate or rapid solutions.
Peru, which dedicates more than $600 million a year to
fighting an illicit industry with a turnover of
$22 billion, cannot fight the illicit production of drugs
alone or hope for any long-term success without the
firm, supportive cooperation of the international
community and, particularly, of the consuming
countries, based on the established principle of shared
responsibility.
Real cooperation has diminished alarmingly since
2002. The largest contributor to Peru reduced its
contribution from $140 million to $128 million in 2003
and to $116 million in 2004. This year, the total will be
$70 million and next year, $57 million. Peru therefore
considers it essential for the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime to draft a report providing updated
figures for the global resources that the international
community allocates to combating the illegal narcotics
trade, the donor sources and specific ongoing projects,
as well as identifying key programmes to improve
cooperation with the countries most affected by illegal
drug production. Such precise, reliable and
internationally comparable information would dispel
many myths concerning the efforts and joint action that
we should undertake without delay, and would be a
practical starting point from which to better coordinate
the efforts of contributing States, international
organizations and financial institutions with those
States most affected by illegal narcotics production and
trafficking, in order to strengthen them in this fight. We
hope that this task can be accomplished without delay,
since, I repeat, international action in this area must not
be postponed.
Another sensitive issue that has been the subject
of special debate is that of climate change and the
preservation of the environment in general. Peru is
suffering dramatically from the effects of global
warming, seen in the accelerated retreat of its tropical
glaciers and its ensuing difficulties in adequately
meeting the water needs of its population. Peru
considers it essential to establish concrete goals for
technological cooperation and transfer, as well as the
creation of financial assistance funds for projects
aimed at directly combating the effects of climate
change in the countries most affected by it. Faced with
the urgent need to confront the adverse effects of
climate change, Peru supports the ongoing establishment
of binding international commitments by the countries
that created this problem, and hopes that at the
fifteenth International Conference on Climate Change,
to be held in Copenhagen in December, all States will
be willing to adopt them.
In this regard, Peru reiterates its proposal that a
financial mechanism be established towards the
creation of a global fund to support measures aimed at
mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate
change in developing countries. This would involve a
duty of $0.50 on every barrel of oil, inasmuch as the
fuel bears a responsibility at every stage in its chain of
production, from extraction through refining to its
uses, direct and indirect. Peru also proposes that
comprehensive programmes of adaptation to climate
change be established. Such programmes, which could
be financed by the Global Environment Facility or the
World Bank, would identify a comprehensive approach
to sectoral adaptation and emphasize strategies to
reduce the occurrence of disasters and to protect the
health and food security of affected populations,
economic infrastructure and biodiversity.
Finally, we wish to raise an issue of particular
interest to Peru and developing countries in general —
the situation of migrants. Peru is an active promoter of
the defence of the human rights of migrants and their
families, and of the sharing of responsibility for
addressing this phenomenon by their countries of
origin and host countries. We endorse the principle that
migration is a factor for development and has
undeniably been so throughout human history. It has
enriched the culture and social life of nations, and
allowed us to come into contact with the contributions,
discoveries and developments that have gradually
shaped our modern society.
It is therefore essential that we be aware that
what migrants contribute to their host countries today,
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and what they can contribute in the future, will be in
large measure the backbone of those societies. That is
why xenophobic and discriminatory pressures must be
avoided, since they do nothing but delay the inevitable
integration of the world and the human race.
In Latin America, we are living through a crucial
time in the consolidation of democracy and the
promotion of the social and political rights of our
peoples. Peru therefore expresses its deep concern over
the recent events in the sister country of Honduras,
where the democratic system has been abruptly
interrupted. The actions taken against Brazil’s embassy
in Honduras should be repudiated and should cease
immediately, pursuant to Honduras’s legal traditions as
a country that respects its international obligations,
particularly the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic
Relations.
We call for a dialogue aimed at re-establishing
democracy in Honduras. All Honduran political groups
should take advantage of the return of President
Manuel Zelaya to Tegucigalpa to establish a
Government of unity and national reconciliation as
outlined in the San José agreement, which, through
entirely peaceful means, will allow the country to
move forward with free, democratic and transparent
elections that will guarantee the election of a
Government that respects its Constitution and promotes
national integration and solidarity for each and every
Honduran citizen.
At a time when communications and technology
bring us closer together than ever before, we must also
understand that our problems and responsibilities
should also bring us closer together and that challenges
to one State are challenges to all. This Assembly
therefore remains the most appropriate forum in which
to discuss global and local challenges, which are now
identical and of concern to us all, and should also —
why not? — inspire us all with hope.