Costa Rica, 2013

It is a pleasure to begin this address with warm

congratulations to Ambassador John Ashe on his recent

election as President of the General Assembly. We wish

him success in his endeavours and assure him of our

support.

Today is the last time that I will address the

General Assembly as President of Costa Rica. As on

previous occasions, my message is based upon my firm

conviction of the essential nature of the United Nations

to promote peace, security, development, democracy

and human rights. The United Nations brings together,

catalyses and protects the multilateral system and the

international rule of law. Its validity, vigour, legitimacy

and effectiveness are essential to all countries, but most

importantly to the smaller and more vulnerable ones,

especially if, like Costa Rica, they do not have armed

forces. In the course of humankind’s most challenging

times throughout the past 68 years, we have turned to the

Organization to seek guidance and solutions responsive

to the hopes and longings of our peoples. Today, we

are facing one such occasion, amid contradictions.

We are the authors of great achievements, but we are

also overwhelmed by acute tragedies. There remain

serious global challenges for which we have not crafted

responses that are equally global in scope.

On 2 April, we conclusively ratified the Arms Trade

Treaty, a vital step that was proudly led by our country

as one of the seven sponsoring countries, and a great

victory for humankind. I am pleased to announce today

that it has been unanimously ratified by the Legislative

Assembly of Costa Rica, and I pledge our support to

work assidiously for its implementation.

In two days, for the first time in the history of

the Organization, we will hold a high-level debate on

nuclear disarmament. Costa Rica will also lend its

leadership on the issue. In that way, we hope to be able

to move closer towards an ideal aspired to by most

countries and to make progress in new conceptual

frameworks for discussion. The meetings of the Open-

ended Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament, chaired

with effectiveness by our Permanent Representative in

Geneva, Mr. Manuel Dengo Benavides, have opened up

a promising path.

We are working at a good rate to establish a new

global agenda for sustainable development, as well

as institutions to promote it. That is evidenced by

the reform of the Economic and Social Council, the

establishment of the High-level Political Forum on

Sustainable Development and the progress being

made on the Open Working Group on Sustainable

Development Goals.

Increasingly, innovation, technology, education and

culture are recognized as promoters of development,

and there is a growing awareness of the need to actively

incorporate young people in such endeavours. Together

with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),

Costa Rica is honoured to have hosted and organized

BYND 2015 Global Youth Summit, an international

conference on youth, development and information and

communication technologies. The conference brought

together young people from various parts of the world

and enjoyed the able leadership from the ITU Secretary

General, Mr. Hamadoun Touré. Today, I symbolically

present to the General Assembly the final declaration of

the conference, adopted in our capital on 11 September

by thousands of young people from every continent.

We trust that it will be a very relevant input for the

discussion of the post-2015 development agenda.

To explore options for the future, in March Costa

Rica also hosted an international conference of

middle-income countries jointly organized with the

United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Its results will help to better conceptualize the needs

of nations like ours and the contributions that we can

make in terms of the post-2015 development agenda.

As part of those initiatives, we must not overlook our

duty to strive to achieve the Millennium Development

Goals and the need to accelerate their implementation,

particularly in less developed countries.

The achievements I have mentioned, as well as

others, have taken place under the ominous and tragic

shadow of a world that remains very complicated.

We are still shocked by the brutal terrorist attack

committed a few days ago in Nairobi. Today I express

our deepest solidarity with the people of Kenya and our

strongest condemnation of that attack, and of terrorism

and fanaticism.

For the past two years, we have been struck by the

tragedy in Syria. The incessant count of massacred

and displaced persons has been as unsettling as the

inaction of the international community, particularly

the Security Council, to act in a timely way to contain

the crimes and the violence. After a period of paralysis

and confusion, it seems that at last we are approaching

a solution that will lead to breaking out of that

unacceptable stalemate. We raise our voice to demand

that the Security Council act decisively to eliminate

chemical weapons in Syria, halt the violence, seek a

negotiated and democratic way out of the conflict and

hold accountable those responsible for the horrible

crimes committed in that country.

Costa Rica insists that the Security Council should

refer the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court.

We also call again on the five permanent members

of the Council to henceforth commit themselves to

refraining from exercising the veto in cases of crimes

against humanity.

The Syrian tragedy underscores the need to work

decisively towards the organic application of the

responsibility to protect and to promote the use of

mediation to avoid the emergence or the worsening

of conflicts. As a concrete measure towards such

prevention, we urge all Member States to join the

initiative of Australia, Costa Rica, Denmark and Ghana

and designate national focal points for the prevention

of atrocities and on the responsibility to protect. The

preventive approach is also necessary to manage

universal public goods and, consequently, to exert

global governance.

The prevention and reversal of global warming is

one of the most urgent issues on our crucial agenda. We

cannot remain inactive while global warming increases,

ocean levels rise and the survival of several small

island States is threatened. We commend the Secretary-

General’s plan to convene a summit on climate change

and his promotion of the initiative entitled “The Oceans

Compact: Healthy Oceans for Prosperity”. We believe

that the time has come to negotiate, pursuant to the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Oceans,

an international agreement on that subject.

Besides being an instrument for global governance

and the protection of universal public goods,

international law entails many other dimensions. Those

include respect for the sovereignty and territorial

integrity of States, goodwill in addressing border issues

and observance of all the decisions of the International

Court of Justice. Costa Rica is a firm believer in and

scrupulous observer of international law in all its

aspects. But that attitude contrasts with the absolute

disrespect of the Government of Nicaragua of the most

elementary norms of conduct and coexistence among

States. That disrespect has led to open and unacceptable

aggression against our country and to the flagrant

disobedience of the orders of the Court at The Hague.

In October of 2010, Nicaraguan forces occupied

part of Costa Rica’s territory. Following our complaint,

the International Court of Justice issued provisional

measures that, among other things, prohibit the presence

of Nicaraguan personnel in the zone under dispute.

But Nicaragua has continued sending contingents

of political activists, funded and organized by its

Government. In August 2013, the Court reiterated its

demand for compliance with the provisional measures,

but Nicaragua has again ignored them. Their scorn

demonstrates the urgent need to establish procedures

that guarantee the respect of all decisions emanating

from the Court, including precautionary measures.

Costa Rica commits itself to work towards that goal

and expects an open stance from the international

community.

The Nicaraguan Government, moreover, has

offered blocks of the patrimonial sea of Costa Rica for

exploration and exploitation of oil. It seeks to extend

the limits of its continental shelf by ignoring our rights

and has broken off negotiations to secure maritime

boundaries. It has threatened to claim a province of

Costa Rica as its own and has restarted dredging

works in the zone subject to the provisional measures

of the International Court of Justice. Furthermore, it is

pursuing a policy of increased re-armament.

The Nicaraguan and Costa Rican people wish and

deserve to live in peace, but the Nicaraguan Government

insists on preventing that. By pursuing a course of such

deliberate and repeated misconduct, the Government of

Nicaragua undermines international law and the very

purpose of the United Nations.

Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, Costa

Rica remains peacefully and firmly committed to the

well-being and security of our population. We promote a

model of development based upon harmony with nature,

solidarity and social inclusion, an open economy and

open trade, the development of our human resources,

and innovation. We realize that development is futile

if it is not founded on a profound respect for human

dignity and the rights and well-being of the people.

We firmly believe that respect for and promotion

of human rights in all its dimensions is a national and

international duty. For that reason, among others, we

remain open to all special procedures on human rights,

and we are engaged actively and constructively in the

Human Rights Council.

In facing the challenges of public safety, including

drug trafficking and transnational organized crime,

our country has adopted a balanced strategy whose

positive results are evident in many areas, including the

continued reduction in our homicide rate over the past

three years, one of the lowest in Central America. Given

the gravity for many nations of the challenges of drug

trafficking and transnational organized crime, we join

the call by other States from our region, such as Mexico

and Guatemala, to re-evaluate agreed international

policies and to seek more effective responses against

drug trafficking, from a perspective of health, respect

for human rights and impact reduction. Along the

same lines, it is necessary to increase international

cooperation to reduce the illegal flows of weapons and

money that fuel criminal networks.

The new global strategy on that enormous challenge

should be the product of the open and inclusive debate

during the extraordinary session of the General

Assembly in 2016. We salute the Antigua Declaration of

the General Assembly of the Organization of American

States as a first step to leading us in the right direction

towards that special session.

Against the backdrop of the actions and convictions

I have just outlined, we respond enthusiastically to the

call of the President of the General Assembly to advance

in framing the post-2015 development agenda during

this session. We are encouraged by his emphasis on

more active involvement by civil society in that process,

the importance assigned to human rights and the rule of

law as bases for development, and his openness to new

ideas and institutional modalities, including alliances

among multiple sectors.

Costa Rica looks to the future with confidence. At

the same time, we are aware of the risks and challenges

that we face as a country, as a region and as part of

humankind. In that future, we see the United Nations

as an indispensable institution, a steadfast companion,

a visionary guide and co-guardian of our tranquility

and well-being. I pay tribute to its contributions and

sincerely hope that they may multiply in the years to

come.