Chile, 2005

I am

pleased to commend the President, and the other

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members of the Bureau on their election. We assure

them of our full willingness to cooperate in the tasks

facing us.

We arrived at this session of the General

Assembly with the same conviction and resolve that we

had 60 years ago. We still believe that this is the place

where we can collectively promote human rights,

development, solidarity and peace. The political

agreement reached last week, although it did not meet

all our expectations, enables us to embark on the path

towards comprehensive and balanced renewal of the

United Nations system. We have the necessary

mandates to begin renewal during this session. That

must be possible, because our interest is the interest of

humanity.

We have here an exceptional opportunity to

strengthen multilateralism and to build it within the

genuine framework of international coexistence.

Multilateralism is the very cornerstone of our foreign

policy. In the multilateral system, negotiation and

consensus are the tools to create international regimes

that promote globalization in a legitimate and effective

manner. The United Nations is a unique forum in that

process, and we must strengthen it in order to achieve

those goals. Hence, the urgent need to implement

United Nations reform.

We believe that multilateralism can furnish us

both with more and better instruments to allow every

country, large or small, to participate in the elaboration

of rules and in the allocation of the benefits of

globalization. We are convinced that globalization is

more of an opportunity than a threat. For that reason

we must assure the management of globalization,

which can be achieved only through institutions that

conform to clear, stable and equitable rules of the game

within the context of international law. Economic

forces do not act in a political vacuum, which is why

we need both a new architecture and new working

methods in the United Nations system.

It is in that spirit that Chile has taken an active

part in various meetings concerned with the

revitalization of the United Nations, promoting

comprehensive reform in the major areas of

development, security, democracy and human rights. I

would like to touch briefly on each of those areas.

Protection of human rights is, in our opinion, the

central issue of globalization and a continuing

preoccupation in the recent history of Chile and Latin

America. That history has been written by the citizens

and their struggles to restore respect for the dignity and

rights of the individual.

Indeed, human rights are a legitimate concern of

the international community. Examination of human

rights issues by the United Nations does not constitute

undue interference. On the contrary, it is the exercise

of a shared responsibility, from a standpoint of

cooperation and not of confrontation. When States are

unable or unwilling to act, the Organization cannot

remain indifferent in the face of genocide, ethnic

cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The responsibility to protect is an international moral

obligation that we cannot shirk.

For Chile, the decision to establish the Human

Rights Council is a significant step towards universal

protection of human rights. We hope that before the

end of the session, its characteristics, including its

status as a permanent organ, will have been defined.

The election of its members by a two-thirds majority of

the Assembly, as we propose, will strengthen that

organ’s legitimacy.

Comprehensive reporting by the Office of the

United Nations High Commissioner would also

enhance the credibility of the multilateral human rights

system. In order to avoid the politicization and

selectivity that are harming United Nations human

rights work, a peer review system would promote

greater cooperation, with all countries subject to

objective evaluations — particularly for those that

aspire to seats on the Human Rights Council.

Democratic values are cross-cutting: they apply

to the citizens who participate in the life of a

community, they underlie the organization of

government and public institutions, and they are also

the linchpin of international coexistence. Democratic

values are a priority on the multilateral agenda and

should be reflected in the active commitment of

Member States to promote and defend democracy. It

was that interest that has motivated Chile’s efforts

within the Community of Democracies.

While some peoples and regions are part of

global society and participate in decision-making and

in the distribution of global output, others are

marginalized and lack access to those benefits. That

situation raises important questions about democratic

participation. It is therefore essential, if we wish to

consolidate democracy in the world, to move

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decisively to eliminate inequality and to abolish

exclusion. A better quality of democracy is linked to

social integration and poverty relief.

In that connection, the Millennium Development

Goals represent a global commitment to fundamental

rights, with social underpinnings, that must be

achieved in order to effectively consolidate democracy

and uproot moral indifference towards the unprotected

of the world.

The deepening of democracy must aim at

institutional capacity-building in order to meet the

demands of society in an effective and transparent

manner. We have been working along those lines in the

Organization of American States, in particular through

the Inter-American Democratic Charter, seeking

formulas and instruments to improve democratic

governance. Chile believes that that is an area in which

there should be close cooperation between the United

Nations and regional organizations.

The reaffirmation of democracy as a universal

value by heads of State and Government in the

outcome document represents concrete progress in the

consolidation of a new international regime for the

promotion and protection of democracy and the rule of

law.

The creation of the United Nations Democracy

Fund gives us a new forum for cooperation to help

strengthen and consolidate democracy around the

world. In April, 108 countries from all continents

agreed on the “Santiago commitment: Cooperating for

Democracy”, which contains guidelines for action.

We have fully endorsed the concept of

multidimensional security in order to meet old and new

threats. Indeed, the incorporation of the concept of

human security at the United Nations is an important

contribution to the process of renewal. The definition

to be formulated by the General Assembly should

incorporate the progress achieved by the Human

Security Network, in which Chile has actively

participated from the outset.

We were greatly discouraged that no agreement

was reached to include the topic of disarmament and

non-proliferation in the reform process. That is a topic

that must not be dropped from the United Nations

agenda. We therefore supported the Norwegian

initiative, which succeeded in bridging the gap

between opposing positions. Unfortunately, despite

receiving the support of nearly 80 countries, the

initiative did not find a place in the outcome document.

We will continue to work for its adoption.

In addition, we are convinced that terrorism must

be tackled through a global and sustained strategy, with

the cooperation of all States and international and

regional organizations, in accordance with the Charter

of the United Nations and international law and with

full respect for human rights. We must therefore

channel our strong condemnation of terrorism in all its

forms and manifestations into the political will to

conclude an international convention against terrorism

before the end of the session.

The decision to establish a Peacebuilding

Commission is one of the major successes of the

reform agenda, as it will enable the Organization to

provide an institutional and integrated response in

post-conflict situations. United Nations activities

should not cease as soon as a crisis ends but — to build

a durable peace — should continue until institutions

are rebuilt and peaceful coexistence is restored.

As Latin Americans, and aware of our global

responsibilities, we are actively participating in the

United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. We are

convinced that that joint commitment, which is

strongly regional in nature in Latin America and the

Caribbean, has been helpful in enabling Haiti to

recover its ability to control its own destiny. This will

undoubtedly require the continuing presence of the

international community. The elections are an

important step, which Haiti should take on schedule.

Voting, however, is only the basis for self-

determination: we must continue helping to create the

prerequisites for a worthier future for the Haitian

people. Moreover, Haiti could be the first trial run for

the Peacebuilding Commission.

Overcoming poverty, hunger and social inequality

is the great challenge facing our peoples today.

Economic development with equity is essential in order

to achieve a world truly at peace and to guarantee

individual rights and stable democracies.

A few days ago, heads of State or Government

reviewed the implementation of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs), adopted in 2000. Our

country met over one third of the Goals and hope to

achieve them all by 2015.

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In order to achieve economic development with

equity, each country has a responsibility to be assumed

domestically and tasks to be performed internationally.

In this connection, it is essential to work to implement

the Monterrey Consensus on financing for

development, so that in its domestic efforts each

country can enjoy the benefits of an international

economic environment facilitating poverty relief and

permitting sustained development.

We were among the sponsors of the Action

against Hunger and Poverty, which seeks to devise

innovative financing arrangements to combat this

problem within the framework of the international

community’s endeavours to attain the Millennium

Development Goals. We need responses now, and the

Action is a definite option recognized in the Summit

Outcome.

Chile considers it essential to bolster overall

efforts to liberalize international trade for the exports

of developing countries and to achieve stable financial

flows to their economies. We urge the speedy

conclusion of the Doha round, to which we are

committed, and a remodelling of the international

financial architecture to promote international

conditions favourable to the sustained growth of the

developing countries and to the elimination of poverty.

Development, security and human rights for all are

three interdependent concepts that dominate our

existence as societies and that must be adequately

reflected in a comprehensive reform process. We have

embarked on the decisive stage of the road to renewal;

we are all responsible for reaching the end.

We must make progress towards consensus on

Security Council reform so that that organ can more

democratically represent the new realities of the

twenty-first century.

It is also essential to renew the Secretariat’s

managerial capacity to administer effective and

responsibly the resources that we all contribute in order

to achieve the purposes of the United Nations. Over

and above the legitimate differences that are part of the

richness of our diversity, we must build universal

agreements reflecting common concerns to ensure the

dignity of peoples and the right to live in a more secure

world.

Let me conclude by saying that this session of the

General Assembly is a historic opportunity to promote

change. If we do not implement the agreements

achieved, hiding behind national interests or narrow

cultural visions, we shall be failing to respond to the

feelings and expectations of millions of human beings

who aspire to understanding among civilizations, a

global alliance for development and a reaffirmation of

the underlying values of the United Nations. Let us not

miss this opportunity. If we do not act collectively

today, tomorrow may be too late.