Cape Verde, 2014

It is with great pleasure, Mr. President, that we participate

in the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly

under your presidency. My delegation joins previous

delegations in congratulating you on your election,

which simultaneously pays tribute to our sister nation of

Uganda and recognizes your personal and professional

qualities as an experienced diplomat. We wish you

success in carrying out your term and assure you, Sir,

of the Cabo Verde delegation’s support and cooperation.

To your predecessor, the President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-eighth session, His Excellency

Ambassador John Ashe, we would like to and express

our recognition of and appreciation for the dedicated,

dynamic and able manner in which he guided the work

of the previous session. We would also like to take

this opportunity, on behalf of the Government of Cabo

Verde, to congratulate and pay tribute to Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon for his efforts in seeking peace

and global solutions for the challenges that currently

confront us and require shared political will in the

pursuit of global solutions.

As a small island State, Cabo Verde is particularly

grateful to the Secretary-General and the international

community for convening, and the success achieved in,

the third United Nations Conference on Small Island

Developing States, held in Samoa. We also congratulate

the Secretary-General for his initiative in convening

the United Nations Climate Summit 2014, as the

issue of climate change is of particular importance to

island States, due to our specific vulnerabilities. For

us, finding solutions to the adverse effects of climate

change is not just an option, but a matter of survival

and territorial integrity, making it essential to mobilize

the political will and international cooperation with

respect to that issue. The strategies recently agreed

upon in Samoa point to paths, modalities of action

and effective implementation that will increase those

States’ resilience and make them better equipped to

deal with the consequences of climate change.

Cabo Verde is pleased with the adoption of

urgent measures to face climate change as one of the

sustainable development goals. The achievement of

that goal requires development strategies and policies

that will help create a more resilient planet Earth and

strengthen the means of their implementation.

The data recently released in the fifth assessment

report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

focus our attention on alarming scenarios resulting

from the persistent increase in global warming, which

will put the more vulnerable countries in situations

that may threaten their development. It should be

noted that, in addition to other consequences, there

will be an increase in tropical cyclones, drought and

desertification, rising sea levels, ocean acidification,

loss of biodiversity, weak agricultural production and

food insecurity. For the Government of Cabo Verde,

it is important to ensure that the negotiations that

will take place next December in Lima translate into

significant progress with respect to the content of the

new agreement to be signed in Paris in December 2015.

Raising awareness regarding the need to reduce

the levels of global warming and to foster low-carbon

economies must also be taken into consideration. We

support reducing global warming to under 1.5°C, which

is both economically feasible and a basic requirement

for sustainable global development. We also hope that,

as we work towards the conversion of our interests, the

foundational principle of common but differentiated

responsibility will be respected. A compensation

mechanism for the effective and full implementation

of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and

Damage should be considered. We are convinced that,

if nothing is done, the consequences resulting from

climate change will affect us all and that we all will

pay for our inaction. As the Secretary-General of the

United Nations likes to say, we are all in the same boat.

International cooperation, both with respect to

climate change and in other areas, is key. In order to be

effective, it must be more consistent and pragmatic in

national systems and international structures alike, and

development financing for countries must be based on

criteria reflecting their real needs and vulnerabilities.

We hope that clear directives and commitments

are agreed upon in the next Conference on Financing

for Development, to be held in Addis Ababa in July

2015, and that they lead the way to achieving the

unfinished business of Millennium Development Goal

8. We hope that they will ensure the redefinition of

the criteria for the allocation of financial resources

for development based on the principles adopted in

Paris and reaffirmed in Busan. For Cabo Verde, a

country that recently graduated into middle-income

status, albeit lower-middle-income, it is important

that innovative mechanisms be designed to provide for

greater consistency in development financing and to

support economic sustainability.

The previous session of the General Assembly was

convened under the theme “The post-2015 development

agenda: setting the stage”. The theme chosen for

this session is “Delivering on and implementing a

transformative post-2015 development agenda”. We

are thus asked to take the next step — that is, to work

on the adoption of a people-centred agenda aiming

to eradicate extreme poverty and reduce inequalities

among nations. That request is made in a complex

and difficult international environment. In our view,

it will be achievable only if there is solidarity and if

the international community joins forces to promote

sustainable development.

The results achieved under the framework of the

Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals,

which conducted its work during the previous session of

General Assembly, point to possible actions and options

for a truly transformative post-2015 agenda. With

respect to Cape Verde, our country is close to achieving

all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For

us, the post-2015 agenda must reflect all lessons and

assessments of the MDGs and other internationally

agreed goals, and the goals for 2030 must provide for

the acceleration of the development process.

We would also like to briefly note that the twenty-

ninth special session of the General Assembly on the

follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International

Conference on Population and Development was held on

22 September. The lesson that we can take away from

that important event is that the post-2015 agenda must

place people at the centre of the objectives and goals to

be agreed upon, which also means rigorous respect for

human rights. On the other hand, the common good,

progress and the well-being of all citizens must be goals

to be pursued by all Governments as we develop and

implement our development policies and programmes.

In addition to being a matter of social justice,

ensuring gender equality and equity also turns out to be

a smart choice, as no country can aspire to develop and

establish social peace and cohesion while excluding

a significant portion of its population — that is, the

female population.

Gender-based violence is an unacceptable

phenomenon in our societies. The Government of

Cabo Verde is committed to changing the reality in our

country in a significant and positive way, even as we

are aware that there still is much to do in that regard.

The issues related to international security and the

threats against peace that they represent are matters

of particular concern. The recent upsurge in acts

of terrorism is a genuinely dangerous threat to the

territorial integrity of States and to the stability of

entire regions. The systematic and massive violation of

human rights and the barbarism that has come with it are

altogether unacceptable. The international community

cannot allow this challenge to the humanistic values of

our civilization, which are also enshrined and promoted

by the United Nations. The Government of Cabo Verde

therefore vigorously condemns all forms of terrorism

and calls on the international community to urgently

take appropriate measures to stop such attempts to

wreak havoc and mete out suffering to innocent people.

We are particularly concerned with recent

developments in the Middle East and Africa. We

believe that States have the moral obligation and

collective duty to fight against the subversion of the

universal principles of peace, tolerance and respect for

differences. We believe that the United Nations has an

important role to play when it comes to respect for the

principles set out in its Charter and in the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights.

Cabo Verde is a peace-loving nation that favours

dialogue and the peaceful resolution of disputes. We

believe in and defend the principles of the Charter, as

well as observance of the standards of international law,

respect for human rights and the promotion of human

dignity. As a result, we understand that no State or

organization can replace the United Nations in playing

its fundamental role of maintaining global peace and

security and that any use of force can be tolerated only

when exercised within the framework of the principles

set forth in the Charter of the United Nations.

Cabo Verde sees urgency in finding a solution

for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and believes that

there is no justification for the deaths of thousands

of innocent people, the unwarranted suffering of an

entire population and the desolation and destruction of

infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. We therefore urge the

parties to begin negotiations that lead to lasting peace

and that allow both States, Israel and Palestine, to live

side by side in security. We also consider it important

to find a negotiated means to end the conflict in Syria

and to open humanitarian aid corridors.

We are concerned with the conflicts that persist

on our continent, such as in Libya, the Central African

Republic and the Great Lakes region, as well as the

actions of terrorist groups in Somalia, Mali and Nigeria.

We support and stand side by side with the African

Union in finding solutions to the problems that affect

peace and security in those sister nations and on the

continent in general.

In the context of Africa, we also wish to commend

the progress achieved in the Republic of Guinea-

Bissau, its return to constitutional order and the

re-establishment of democracy. We wish our sister

nation the greatest success in the pursuit of peace and

development.

In the West African subregion, the issue of security

in general and maritime security in particular is of

particular concern to the authorities of Cabo Verde.

Our country is located at the confluence of routes

connecting the African, European and American

continents, which places us in a vulnerable situation,

as these routes are also used by transnational organized

crime, resulting in a direct threat to the stability of

States and their democracies.

Cabo Verde, in association with other States

and organizations in the United Nations system,

has attempted to combat the illegal activities that

have unfairly punished this part of the West African

subregion, such as the trafficking in drugs, arms and

human beings, maritime piracy, terrorism and illegal

fishing. As those are phenomena of a transnational

nature, we believe that no country in the subregion

is in a position to effectively combat them without

greater international cooperation and the combination

of efforts, means and strategies. Therefore, we would

like to count on more consistent support from the

international community.

The Security Council has rightly determined

that the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa is a

threat to international security. The situation in the

three countries most affected by the epidemic should

prompt the international community to engage in more

organized and coordinated actions to provide aid, more

effectively save lives and prevent the spread of the

disease to neighbouring countries, to the rest of Africa

and to the world.

Cabo Verde welcomes and supports the efforts

made by all nations and organizations involved in

that struggle, particularly the Secretary-General’s

initiatives in that regard. The inclusion of this issue in

the Security Council agenda, the adoption of resolution

2177 (2014) by unanimity, and the debate that followed

(see S/PV.7268) are an unequivocal expression of the

international community’s awareness of the priority

that must be given to the efforts to halt and control the

epidemic, which could have catastrophic consequences

for our affected sister nations, particularly the Republics

of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, to which Cabo

Verde offers its friendship and solidarity.