Colombia, 2005

We

congratulate you, Sir, on your election and wish you

every possible success in the ongoing reform process.

The celebration of the sixtieth anniversary is an

ideal moment to reiterate my country’s commitment to

the goals and principles of the United Nations. We

express our support for the task of reforming the

Organization.

Colombia’s adherence to multilateralism is based

on its active participation throughout the United

Nations process, from the signing of the Charter in San

Francisco on the June 26 1945 to today, with many of

its agencies present in my country supporting our

national policies to solve the problems we face.

It is a source of pride that many Colombians have

left their mark on the Organization. It is worth

mentioning, among others, former President Alberto

Lleras Camargo, one of the first and most fierce and

efficient defenders of the principle of legal equality

between States. He was also a champion of common

defence, which compels democratic States to come to

one another’s defence should one of them be the victim

of aggression.

Colombia had the privilege of presiding, through

Eduardo Zuleta, over the opening of the first session of

the General Assembly. His vision of the Organization

is as valid today as it was 60 years ago, as you, Sir,

recently acknowledged in your speech to the Assembly.

The diversity and evolution of thought are human

gifts. To exercise those faculties, it is necessary for

States to guarantee democratic opportunities that allow

each individual to contribute to and compete in the

quest for the collective good. There can be no room for

any form of ideological stasis, which would discourage

emulation, fail to recognize intelligence, and paralyse

creativity in the search for solutions to people’s

problems.

Recognizing diversity and the evolution of

thought is the source of our vocation for pluralism. It

guides the struggle against terrorism that we have

carried out with democratic conviction for three long

years. Now that dictatorships are expressions of the

past and democracy is an indestructible paradigm, it is

time to review certain concepts that are becoming

obsolete and must be replaced with more useful and

contemporary ones.

The mindset that characterizes Governments as

being of the left or of the right is a simplistic view that

produces a polarized political atmosphere. It has

triggered irreconcilable emotions and sensitivities that

are inconsistent with the actions of our Governments

and threaten the unity of our countries.

I dare suggest that, in their place, we use five

parameters to qualify our democracies. They are

security with a democratic scope; the effective

protection of public freedoms; transparency as a factor

of confidence; social cohesion as a principle of

democratic sustainability; and the independence of

institutions. With these parameters, we can define a

democracy as institutional or only skin-deep; as

governed by judicial order or by personal whim; as

progressive or backward, inclusive or exclusive.

Colombia is working on a concept of democratic

security, enshrined in global security. We call it

democratic because it differs from the doctrine of

national security that was applied in the continent and

used to suppress freedoms, punish democracy,

stigmatize the opposition and frustrate dissent. Our

security is aimed at deepening democracy. We have

gone to great lengths to ensure that this process of re-

establishing security is recognized as a democratic

value by all schools of thought. We are determined that

security shall be provided on equal terms, efficiently

and transparently, to those closest to the Government,

as well as to its most hardened opponents.

In Colombia, the security problem has been the

product of the weakness of the State in facing

criminals. We wish to reconfigure the equation and to

finally have a State that is strong enough to guarantee

Colombians the effectiveness of their freedoms and

protect them from all threats. Given a democracy that

is deep-rooted and without ambiguities, no violent

action can enjoy a veneer of legitimacy; on the

contrary, it must be disqualified and branded as

terrorist. We therefore express our solidarity with those

who have suffered from the actions of terror.

For three consecutive years, the number of

homicides, kidnappings and other terrorist crimes has

fallen in Colombia. We have not yet won the struggle

against terrorism, but we are winning it. That victory

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will bring peace and progress to our country and, with

illicit drugs uprooted from our soil, the world will feel

great relief. To that end, we need the participation and

support of the international community.

The opposition in Colombia has always had

safeguards, but today those guarantees are truly

effective thanks to democratic security. Colombia has

always embraced the cause of human rights, but those

are now enjoying more tangible respect thanks to

democratic security.

While strengthening citizen’s confidence in their

institutions, the concept of security that we profess and

practice requires those who opt for violence to cease

hostilities and prepare to negotiate a lasting peace. The

decisive and firm action to thwart those who practice

terror, along with a generous policy for those who

choose to abandon armed intimidation, have allowed

the demobilization and reintegration of 20,000 out of

some 50,000 terrorists. The Government’s door

remains open to negotiation so long as the agreement

on cessation of hostilities remains accepted.

We need the world to support our plans for

reintegration. I ask members to imagine the magnitude

of the challenge. We have 20,000 former

combatants — a number that could double in coming

years — individuals who have hitherto lived by the gun

and are accustomed to killing. What better contribution

could there be to peace than the definitive rejection of

illegality? To that end, we need the world’s help in

providing new opportunities for rehabilitation and

social integration.

We are implementing a law on justice and peace,

which is applicable to all terrorist groups. By

comparison with earlier Colombian laws and those of

other countries, our law raises the bar in terms of

justice and reparations for victims.

We have increased fumigation to rid our country

of the illicit drugs that finance terrorism, and we are

optimistic with regard to manual eradication. By the

end of 2005, some 30,000 hectares of illegal crops

should be destroyed. We require greater support from

the international community in order to provide our

peasants with alternative opportunities.

Democratic security has allowed investors to

regain their confidence, and we have begun to see early

signs of declining unemployment. In that way, we will

find the resources to face yet another challenge — that

of overcoming poverty and building a nation based on

total social cohesion. Our social policy is framed by a

long-term vision and short-term goals under constant

review, in keeping with the Millennium Development

Goals, the fulfilment of which we reaffirmed yesterday

in this Hall.

I wish to cite three of the seven chapters of our

social policy. The educational revolution is an axis of

social cohesion and the road towards equality, the

redistribution of income, and the opening of new

channels for social mobility, without which democracy

will remain incomplete.

Promoting a country of owners emphasizes the

financing of medium, small and micro enterprises in

order to overcome the barrier of access to credit, a

hateful form of discrimination that hinders democracy.

Comprehensive social protection, which in three

years’ time will provide health insurance to all people

living in poverty, has allowed us to register progress in

the provision of child nutrition, to ensure access to

education and to improve the well-being of the elderly.

This year, 500,000 families will be involved in

Colombia’s programme — poor families that receive a

State subsidy to feed and educate their children. In the

near future, that number will rise to 1 million, in

addition to the increase budgetary efforts undertaken

under the aegis of the educational revolution. In 2006,

10 million children will benefit from our nutrition

programmes, and 570,000 elderly citizens will receive

stipends to cover their most pressing needs.

Our social policy also comprises ongoing efforts

to strengthen alternative development programmes in

order to allow us definitively to overcome the problem

of illicit drugs. Through such programmes, the

international community has a unique opportunity to

contribute to and implement the principle of shared

responsibility.

The “forest-keeper families” programme,

involving some 33,000 families committed to

maintaining their areas free from drugs and to

supervising the recovery of the tropical forest, as well

as a programme to provide care to the displaced and

reintegrated, will cost Colombia some $300 million

dollars next year.

We stand firm in the fight against terrorism and in

our conviction that a sustained and permanent victory

depends upon the success of each individual country in

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the struggle for social cohesion. In projecting our

security policy as a mainstay of the State, we believe it

to be intrinsically linked to the ongoing improvement

of the social conditions of our people. The distinction

between authority and social policy is erroneous. Peace

stems from authority, but lasting peace will require us

to weave a social fabric of equity.

Let this be an opportunity to draw attention to the

threat of rising oil prices and the lack of energy

alternatives for poor countries that are net importers.

There are already signs of disturbance that could lead

to grave disruptions of institutional stability. Ignoring

that problem could raise greater obstacles in our fight

against poverty and prevent us from achieving the

Millennium Development Goals. Many countries,

including brotherly countries in Central America and

the Caribbean, require immediate action to help

finance the supply of fuel and the development of new

fuel sources.

I would like to reiterate the gratitude of the

Colombian people for the effective presence and

solidarity of the United Nations in our country.

We hope that the debate on the issue of reform

will further strengthen multilateralism. We also hope

that the Organization will emerge strengthened from

that debate, in order that it may effectively promote

institutional democracy governed by progressive and

inclusive legal processes in every country comprising

the community of nations.

Led by the United Nations, contemporary

diplomacy must become more austere in its spending

and rely more upon the Internet and modern

communications than on travel, in order to avoid

becoming a heavy and debilitating burden upon

countries and to ensure that the resources saved on

organizations, expenditures and contractors can truly

reach communities in need. I wish to reiterate that the

issue of austerity vis-à-vis world diplomacy is absent

in our approach to United Nations reform, and we

should include it.

Every country, as well as the United Nations, as

our universal Organization, can contribute to making

these hopes a reality and to bringing peace, security

and comprehensive development to our peoples,

thereby reaching the goals we set for ourselves for the

early years of this century.

Our warm regards go out to the people of the

United States, which has been battered by Hurricane

Katrina. We wish to express our resolute solidarity

with those who have been its victims. It is our hope

that, in a few days, relief and rescue experts from

Colombia will be on the ground in affected

communities in the United States.

We are all committed to one task, namely,

meeting the social goals of the millennium.