The
twenty-first century demands that the world develop a
new vision of the concept of international law and of
relations among peoples and States. A year ago,
Ecuador raised the need to move towards a new world
order built on three bases: the economy, international
law and biology. This need has become urgent. We
summon the planet to establish this new triad, which
must include biology.
Never before has there been so much wealth.
Poverty, however, continues to grow, and hunger and
misery take their toll of human lives each day. Life on
Earth is deteriorating. The harmonious continuity of
humanity is threatened, and the world — including the
developed countries — has not been able to find an
adequate answer. There are still vast areas of
sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia where
millions of human beings are on the brink of
extinction. Vast areas continue to require international
cooperation. While in Japan, Hong Kong and Iceland,
life expectancy at birth exceeds 80 years, in Botswana
and Lesotho it barely reaches 36 years. While in
Sweden, Singapore, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, the
06-52885 20
under-five mortality rate is below 4 per 1,000 live
births, in Sierra Leone, Niger and Liberia it exceeds
235 per 1,000 live births. We must guarantee greater
equity in health expenditure throughout the world in
order to overcome the huge gap between the few
dollars per capita invested in poor countries and the
thousands of dollars per capita that are invested in the
developed world.
Five years have passed since the Millennium
Development Goals were proclaimed, and very little
has been done to achieve them. The limited compliance
among the most highly developed countries to
contribute 0.7 per cent of gross national income to
progress in the poorest areas has had an adverse impact
on this situation.
Underdevelopment is a global problem; just like
the healthy continuity of our species, which is
threatened by economic, political and military
problems. The least developed countries lack resources
to improve education and culture — a requirement for
ensuring collective health. The growing burden of
foreign debt prevents our people from investing in their
development. Underdeveloped countries are still under
the yoke of external debt service, which continues to
absorb domestic savings and limits the possibilities for
social and productive investment.
Far from resolving the problem, successive debt
refinancing creates further links that lengthen the chain
shackling development and economic progress, and it
undermines the ethical foundation and the destiny of
humankind. That is why Ecuador supports the initiative
of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to create a group
of highly indebted lower- and middle-income countries
that together would work to find creative and long-
term solutions.
The neediest countries are marginalized from
investment in scientific research and medical
discoveries.
The phenomenon of migration has taken on
unprecedented dimensions. More than 200 million
people are refugees, living outside their countries of
origin. Migration causes families to break down and
results in cultural deterioration, hampering the
emergence of future healthy generations and adequate
care of the elderly in conditions of dignity.
Countries must assume binding commitments on
the defence of the human rights of migrants. To that
end, we welcome the High-level Dialogue on
International Migration and Development — a
multidimensional event that reflects the political
resolve of sending and receiving countries.
War affects the entire planet. Mortality rates
increase not only because of its direct victims, but also
because of the destruction of infrastructure. Ethnic and
religious problems, or economic aspirations, lead to
genocidal practices. World peace, respect for human
rights and respect among States are the principles that
led to the founding of the United Nations.
Transfixed, the world has witnessed bloodshed
and brutal acts of violence against peoples as a
consequence of the settlement of conflicts through the
use of weapons, and of the limited ability of the
international community within the United Nations to
find solutions within the framework of the law.
We support the resolution adopted by the Security
Council — and the efforts of the Secretary-General —
to ensure a commitment by all parties involved to
comply with the ceasefire and to withdraw their forces
to the borders established before the last confrontation.
The international community and the highest
multilateral bodies have been unable to find diplomatic
means of resolving such conflicts swiftly and
effectively. Thus there needs to be an improvement in
the structure of these bodies, including the United
Nations system itself.
The Security Council is no longer an expression
of a global balance. Today, it represents only itself. For
that reason, it must be reformed and democratized. It is
unacceptable that, at the dawn of the third millennium,
the lives of millions of human beings and of entire
populations hinge on the veto of one State or another
and on a unilateral geopolitical vision.
The concepts of war and peace are once again at
the heart of our reflection on global security and
survival. The security of the planet, of peoples, of
States and of nations will be sustainable only if it is
founded on health, on education, on development and
on peace.
Laying the foundations of genuine peace is the
greatest moral obligation of all of humankind. The
alternative is growing insecurity, fuelled by poverty,
illness, destitution and fear.
21 06-52885
The creation of the Peacebuilding Commission
and the inception of the Human Rights Council, of
which Ecuador is member, and the reforms that are
being launched in the Secretariat and in the
administrative bodies of the United Nations represent
significant steps forward, but they still fall short.
My country, Ecuador, believes that the reform of
the system includes strengthening the World Health
Organization, its leadership and its fight against
poverty and the environmental impact of poverty, in
the promotion of local, national and regional initiatives
aimed at implementing a fully decentralized global
health system. That will make possible enable the
development of health systems and models capable of
ensuring tangible benefits for all inhabitants of the
planet.
Universal health insurance is a valid strategy to
guarantee access to a comprehensive health-care
system among developing nations at the same level as
in developed countries. That would eliminate the
shameful asymmetry that is reflected in the unbalanced
health statistics that differentiate the various segments
of our populations.
In order to implement these and other important
health programmes, considerable financial resources
must be mobilized, which must flow from international
cooperation, but also from developing countries and
the so-called donor countries.
In this century, compliance with the Millennium
Goals is State policy for the Government of Ecuador.
For a multinational, pluricultural and multi-ethnic
country such as Ecuador, ensuring respect for human
rights means, above all, respect for the other; respect
for the development of indigenous peoples, with full
recognition of their diversity and of their need to be
integrated into the process of modernization, while
preserving their identity.
Ecuador welcomes the recent adoption by the
Human Rights Council of the Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples and fully supports its adoption
by the Assembly.
We reaffirm our commitment to fight crimes of
the utmost gravity, such as trafficking in human beings
and the sexual exploitation of boys and girls. This year
we have strengthened our domestic legislation to
punish such crimes. The Government of Ecuador has
undertaken economic policy measures to recover
income from petroleum operations. That will enable us
to engage in sustainable and productive social
investment, thus improving living conditions for
underprivileged Ecuadorians. As a result of those
measures, for the first time in Ecuador, funds are
available for scientific and technological research to
promote knowledge so that we can be masters of our
own destiny.
Ecuador is committed to strengthening South-
South relations. We attach great importance to regional
integration, in particular through the Andean
Community of Nations and the Common Market of the
South, which are key actors in building the South
American Community of Nations to make progress
towards Latin American integration, hemispheric
integration and, ultimately, a globalization that has a
human face and is equitable for all.
Ecuador promotes all the conditions necessary to
reach trade agreements with all countries throughout
the world, based on principles that respect the
preservation of sensitive areas of national production,
ensure food security and protect biological diversity
and genetic data — that is to say, life.
Ecuador has consistently fought narco-trafficking
and related crimes. That is why we believe that we are
fully entitled to ask the United States Senate to renew
the Andean Trade Preference Act to encourage legal
production and exports.
Ecuador endorses the principles that guided the
establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
We hope that the obstacles faced by the Doha round
will be successfully overcome to ensure its full
validity, particularly with respect to the elimination of
export subsidies for agricultural products.
Our relations with Mexico, Central America and
the Caribbean are particularly important. At the same
time, we are seeking dynamic relationships with
countries of the Pacific rim and throughout the world.
Within the framework of the South American
Community of Nations, we are beginning to engage in
regional meetings with Arab and African countries to
strengthen political dialogue, cooperation and mutual
trade. Ecuador was greatly pleased to welcome
ministers for finance and related areas from Arab and
South American countries in order to jointly formulate
a strategy for strengthening our economic, trade and
investment relationships. With regard to African
06-52885 22
nations, my country will participate at the highest level
in the summit to be held in Nigeria this November.
Ecuador also attaches great importance to
political coordination mechanisms such as the Group
of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, whose summit
was held recently.
To conclude, I wish to express my sincere thanks
to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his
outstanding work at the head of the Organization
despite the enormous difficulties he was obliged to
face, including those of a financial nature. The world is
confident that the new Secretary-General will be able
to continue that work and to implement the processes
of United Nations reform, with the commitment of all
its Members, particularly the most highly developed
countries.