Cape Verde, 2012

I convey my greetings

to the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Vuk

Jeremić, whom I congratulate on his election. I wish him

success during his tenure as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-seventh session. I would also like

to convey my greetings to the former President of the

General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session, Mr. Nassir

Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of the State of Qatar, for the

excellent work he accomplished during his tenure.

Also allow me to express my appreciation to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his competent

management of the Organization. We reaffirm our

trust in his leadership during a particularly difficult

time in our history — during one of the worst financial

crises that the world has ever known that has had

repercussions in the economic, social, political, food,

energy and environmental sectors, to say nothing of the

terrible threats to peace and security emanating from

every corner of the world.

As a small island State, with a shortage of

resources and with only 37 years of independence,

Cape Verde is proud to be a democratic country that

is based on the rule of law, built with the suffering

and the determination of Cape Verdeans inside and

outside our country. Notwithstanding the fact that my country faces enormous difficulties in ensuring its

own existence and that to overcome them will require

international solidarity, I believe that Cape Verde can,

although modestly, contribute towards finding solutions

to important problems that threaten the troubled world

of our time.

Apart from the political stability that has

characterized us as well as the build-up and consolidation

of a democratic system, the Cape Verdean nation that

preceded the creation of the State can be considered

an example of peaceful coexistence among peoples

who originated from different countries, with different

creeds integrated into what had already been a mixed

sculture. Our nation stands open to the world and to the

exchange of values.

Cape Verde has opted for a policy for peace, dialogue

and understanding in the resolution of conflicts. The

expression of those values is part of the Cape Verdean

people’s way of living and being. Ours is a culture of

tolerance that has shaped, in the almost four decades

of its history, the values and principles of the country’s

policies. Besides our modest political contribution to the

resolution of conflicts in Southern Africa, for example,

the end of apartheid in South Africa, the independence

of Namibia and peace in Angola, I would assert that our

biggest contribution has been our way of life as a people

and as a culture. Through our way of life, we have been

able to show that tolerance and the sharing of values

can be part of daily living, even in adverse conditions.

Our way of life has allowed successive Cape Verdean

Governments and heads of State to manage the foreign

policy of our country in a consistent manner, giving

priority to peace, justice and the peaceful coexistence

of people in the formulation of policy. Accordingly, our

foreign policy is the expression or translation of our

culture and our ideology. That is also what guides me

as I strive to broaden Cape Verde’s contribution to our

continent and, hopefully, to the world.

On 25 September, we celebrated the twenty-fifth

anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the

Republic of Cape Verde, which is proof of the stability

we enjoy in our country. It has allowed numerous

presidential, legislative and municipal elections to take

place, and changes in power have occurred with the

highest degree of normality. By happy coincidence, that

critical date for Cape Verde — 25 September — coincides

with the launch of the sixty-seventh session of the

General Assembly, that exponent of democracy

on a global level which is undergoing a process of revitalization. As such, I am very grateful to be able to

share our milestone with General Assembly.

The Magna Law stipulates that our domestic legal

order incorporates the precedents and standards of

international common law and the law of treaties as

lawfully approved and ratified. It is thus clear that

we attach great importance to institutions like the

United Nations and the principles that guide them.

Nevertheless, we are aware that if those principles,

which we have embedded in our Constitution, including

those referring to human rights, do not trickle down

into our day-to-day culture, the Constitution will not

be fulfilled in its entirety. We therefore urge all Cape

Verdeans, be they in the country or outside, to further

internalize the values of our Constitution, which we

consider a critical step in ensuring its vitality and full

realization.

Despite the serious issues arising in the world

and the vulnerabilities of the Cape Verdean economy

and its direct impact on the living conditions of the

majority of its people, I must say without false modesty

that I am proud of the trajectory that my country has

followed since its independence. At independence, our

annual gross domestic product (GDP) was $190 per

capita, whereas today it has grown to $3,295 per capita

per annum. Several social indices have mirrored that

growth, making it possible for us to achieve some of

the Millennium Development Goals. In fact, the human

development, economic and financial results registered

in the biennium 2011-2012 received positive reviews

from the major international financial institutions.

Ours is a service economy — with services

accounting for 80 per cent of GDP in 2010 — with a very

small market and an agricultural sector that is struggling

with desertification and drought. We therefore cannot

ignore our great vulnerabilities or rest on our laurels

for having graduated to a medium-income developed

country. On the contrary, we cannot lose sight of the

fact that our economy is still very dependent, that it

cannot employ a significant portion of its potential

workforce, with all the social consequences that stem

from that. We are therefore obliged to continue to rely

on international solidarity.

We of course will continue to use our meagre

resources in an efficient and rational manner and

develop even more effective efforts to combat poverty,

social exclusion and unemployment, which in 2010

reached an overall rate of 21 per cent, and 50 per cent among youth. Constraints with respect to energy, water

and sanitation continue to garner our full attention so

that, as we build key infrastructure, we can create the

conditions needed to achieve sustainable growth in our

economy.

We also must take into account the fact that the

impact on small island developing States of climate

change and natural disasters is a sword of Damocles

threatening our future. It is imperative that all countries,

acting consistently and with solidarity, implement

environmental defence programmes, develop the green

economy and help build true global resilience.

One of the most remarkable characteristics of

today’s world is the increasing interdependence of

all sectors. We may speak frequently of the economy,

but that is because it conditions all the rest — the

environmental, health, security, political and cultural

sectors, indeed, nearly all areas of human activity. It

is therefore fundamental for us to constantly monitor

all relevant aspects of those complex relationships so

that we can understand the leading trends that have

an impact on our process of development, but also so

that we can contribute even modestly to solving the

problems of people and countries across the globe.

Although social and political stability are essential

aspects of our society, we cannot ignore the fact that

on our continent, Africa, that has not been a basic

characteristic for internal and, to some extent, external

reasons.

I express my deep concern about the economic and

financial global crisis that continues to severely punish

the Governments and defenceless populations of the

African continent. Those people are already suffering

from hunger, the scourge of AIDS, the consequences

of other endemic diseases, the f light of hundreds of

thousands of displaced people and the overwhelming

environmental degradation to which the continent

is victim. Despite the fact that the continent least

contributed to that imbalance, it is Africa that most

suffers from its consequences.

Such crises also affect security not only because

of regional conflicts but also owing to the universal

dimension that terrorism has assumed. In that regard, it

has affected a good part of our continent with its links

to trafficking in drugs and persons, maritime piracy,

religious intolerance and the problems that arise from

the political, social or military instability prevailing

in many of our countries. That is fertile territory for terrorism and its growth. The recent cases of Mali,

Guinea-Bissau and others, such as the Sudan, Somalia,

the Democratic Republic of the Congo and some

countries of the Maghreb, well illustrate the situation.

The international community has every interest in

resolutely focusing on the fight to eradicate such ills.

Despite those constraints, it should be acknowledged

that the new wave of African leaders has been doing a

great deal for the continent’s progress. The international

community must therefore help such countries to find

appropriate solutions to the situations that they face,

without interfering or acting in the interests of others

rather than of our people.

In any case, an organization such as the United

Nations, which is a depository of values that respect

legality and international law, should never, through

its silence, promote, further or support solutions that

merely legitimize unconstitutional actions. It is clear

that much remains to be done.

In our view, as I have said before, in Africa

there has been no lack of mechanisms, declarations,

recommendations, programmes and projects with

assessments and perspectives that disregard the

political, institutional, social and cultural elements and

sometimes resemble a vicious cycle. There is no real

development because there is no peace. Democracy is

not deeply rooted because it conflicts with cultural and

moral traditions. There is no peace on account of the

intolerance and social exclusion that prevent its citizens

from building a free, fair, democratic and pluralistic

society. That, at times, exacerbates armed conflicts and

other social ills.

Africa needs a new train of thought that does not

reject the universal values of democracy but, on the

contrary, uses them to enrich its own development

process with a dialectic between modernity and

tradition, freedom and the tendency for its own

conditioning, the demands of its economic development

and the fight against exclusion and social inequality,

and reality and preconceptions.

Africa needs to regain its self-confidence. Africa

still needs to see stronger links between the United

Nations and the African Union for a true development

partnership.

It is time to take decisions on issues such as

global trade and climate change on the basis of global

negotiations that are grounded in fair, equal and ethical rules and that are in step with the countries of the

South, in general, and of my continent, in particular.

That would give legitimacy to other forums, that is, in

the context of the World Trade Organization, the Food

and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change.

In short, we call for decisions on specific measures

that will result in effective decision-taking within this

Organization on development areas, such as cancelling

the foreign debt of developing countries, in particular

small island developing States. We are certain that that

would be a stimulus for all such countries to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals in 2015.

In 2009, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon affirmed

at Princeton University that the United Nations needed

“a new vision, a new paradigm, a new multilateralism”.

That would help to ensure global economic and financial

stability, combat poverty, re-establish peace, respond to

the effects of climate change, improve global health,

fight against terrorism and ensure disarmament and

non-proliferation.

At the closing ceremony of the United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)

in June, it was stated that Rio+20 had shown that

multilateralism was an irreplaceable instrument for the

global expression of democracy. We reaffirm that that

is the legitimate path for finding solutions to problems

that affect all humankind. I support and welcome such

statements.

In conclusion, the world has developed immensely

since the end of the Cold War. The current multilateral

system must align itself with the new challenges. For

the United Nations to continue to be an efficient and

vital instrument for the international community in this

new era of multilateral relations, it will have to open

up, innovate, listen to other voices and accept the new

political, economic and social realities that have been

created and imposed by the globalization process.

The reform of the Security Council — an organ that

is responding less and less every day to the challenges

of the contemporary world — is a goal that has long

been pursued, without success. Cape Verde supports

the position of the African Union, which recommends

that the Council be reformed so as to correct the

unjust situation with respect to the African continent.

At present Africa does not have the right to even one

permanent seat on the Council, even though it meets all

the requirements.

I conclude, Mr. President, with the conviction that

Africa can also provide a valuable contribution to the

development of a better world, one without war, where

peace is not just a theoretical concept; a world with

more freedom, justice and security — in other words,

a world with more fraternity and prosperity, in which

the well-being of its citizens is effectively provided for.