Honduras, 2002

The recognized leadership of Mr. Jan Kavan

will guarantee the success of our debates. Together

with congratulating him on his election to the

presidency, I should like to assure him that he can

count on my Government's full cooperation in his

work.

I come to this universal forum on behalf of a

people which last November renewed its commitment

to democracy. Representing the constitutional

Government headed by Mr. Ricardo Maduro Joest, who

has made the welfare of his people the essence of his

mandate, I come with a message of peace and

friendship from Honduras addressed to all the nations

gathered here.

My country's Government, born of the will of the

people through a free and transparent election regarded

as a model, has in a few months brought about changes

that have strengthened Honduran democracy. It has

implemented historic institutional reforms, such as the

depoliticization of the Supreme Court of Justice, the

disallowing of participation in the presidential election

from positions of political advantage, the creation of a

higher accounting tribunal to exercise overall monetary

control, and the depoliticization of the national

electoral tribunal. Moreover, it has developed civil

security schemes and measures that are effective and

respectful of human rights, all within a context of

transparency in administrative management and a head-

on campaign against corruption and extreme poverty.

As a Government, we are doing what we

responsibly must do, and in that work we wish to

continue to rely on the friendly and respectful

assistance of the international community, to which we

likewise offer our solidarity and cooperation.

Moreover, I come to the Assembly with the firm

37

resolve to associate my country with the efforts of all

Member States to realize fully the purposes and

principles of the San Francisco Charter. I come to the

Organization also to offer my Government's

cooperation in the building of peace, in the

maintenance of international security and in the forging

of a global alliance for human development.

The day 11 September 2001 is an indelible date in

the history of humanity. The unprecedented terrorist

attacks changed for ever the face of New York, the

iron Babel', which, despite its great sorrow and grief,

continues to offer us its hospitality. Thousands of

families belonging to many peoples of the United

Nations, including mine, were plunged into grief and

pain on that fateful day. Our condolences and solidarity

are with them.

As it did on that tragic occasion, the Government

of Honduras condemns terrorism in all its forms and

manifestations. Accordingly, I take this opportunity to

reaffirm in this world forum our unswerving

commitment to use all our skill and energy to combat

this scourge that threatens civilized coexistence among

nations. With the same conviction, Honduras reaffirms

its resolve to cooperate with other democratic nations

in the common undertaking to eradicate this evil, thus

building a better and less violent world.

Since 11 September 2001, many things have

changed. However, other threats persist and continue to

loom over our peoples, making increasingly imperative

the quest for new consensus and greater commitments.

Following the Millennium Summit, three conferences

at the highest level and of the most far-reaching

importance have been held in recent months. Our heads

of State or Government met first in Monterrey to

consider the issues of financing for development, later

in Rome to address the problem of world hunger and,

most recently, in Johannesburg to debate the great

challenges of sustainable development. From each of

those conferences, we have emerged moderately

satisfied in terms of concrete results. However, we

recognize that the dialogue must continue so that we

can together seek new forms of cooperation to alleviate

the hunger and pain of a large part of humanity, whose

very survival is in danger as a result of the vortex of

economic development taking place at the cost of the

planet's destruction.

All of those commitments demand a United

Nations revitalized in its action and strengthened in its

internal structure. The time has come to reconsider

creatively and with greater determination the

organizational structure of the Security Council, an

organ that cannot continue to turn its back on a reality

is very different from that of 1945. Honduras will not

rest in its insistence on the need to abolish or restrict

the right of veto enjoyed by some Members of the

Organization. Likewise, my country believes that the

States contributing to development should have a seat

and participate in the debate and work of that important

United Nations organ.

The time has come to join in our resolve to seek

mechanisms and decisions that will secure the full

participation of all the peoples and nations of the Earth.

It is time for those who have been Members of the

Organization to return. For that reason, Honduras

believes that we should not continue the practice of

excluding from our debates and our work concrete

realities such as Taiwan, a country whose participation

could offer new opportunities for cooperation for the

benefit of many peoples, and which, in turn could

benefit from our activity and decisions.

In essence, Honduras pleads for a new United

Nations in which all peoples and nations enjoy full

representation and in which there is more just and

balanced representativity in the discussions and in the

resultant resolutions. In this context, Honduras

welcomes the accession of Switzerland and the

incorporation of Timor-Leste into our world

Organization. I take this opportunity to wish them the

warmest of welcomes.

In the broad and comprehensive vision of what, in

my Government's opinion, this Organization should be,

special mention must be made of the International

Court of Justice, since it is the jurisdictional organ of

the United Nations system and all States Members have

committed themselves to complying with its decisions

in the cases to which they are party.

Just as Honduras endorses the principles and

practices of international law that promote human

solidarity, respect for the self-determination of peoples,

non-interference and the safeguarding of universal

peace and democracy, we also proclaim the validity

and compulsory application of international arbitration

and judicial rulings to be irrevocable. Consistent with

this state philosophy, my country is absolutely

convinced that compliance with international rulings

handed down by a competent international court, as

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well as good-faith compliance with the commitments

undertaken by means of treaty, will guarantee peace,

harmony and security among peoples and

Governments.

Honduras feels that the very credibility of a

country is at stake when it complies or fails to comply

with the obligations arising from an international

ruling. As for Honduras, the resolution of a competent

international court has constitutional weight and its

effects require immediate execution, for we believe

that law and legality are unshirkable imperatives of the

new international order. Moreover, in my

Government's opinion, they are the cornerstone of

international society in this century.

Prompted by this conviction, in January my

country turned to the Security Council, in its capacity

as guarantor of the implementation of the rulings of the

International Court of Justice, in seeking the requisite

cooperation to ensure compliance with the ruling that

the Court handed down 10 years ago in the dispute

which, by common agreement with the Republic of El

Salvador, we submitted to it for consideration and

decision. Recent events in our countries have led us to

believe that the implementation of the ruling will begin

very soon as a result of talks between the Presidents of

the two nations. We sincerely hope that this may be the

case, both because we do not wish to distract the

Security Council's attention from this matter, which is

of importance to our peoples and to the validity of

international public law itself, and because we wish to

promote the process of integration to which the whole

of Central America is now committed.

The Central American isthmus is going through a

special moment in its history. There is a resolve among

our Governments to grasp the future together and,

accordingly, we have agreed to promote the creation of

a customs union among the partners of the regional

integration system, which should be established by

December 2003. This renewed integration, as we call

it, offers opportunities both for our collectivity and for

our neighbours and partners in development, as in the

case of Mexico with the Puebla-Panam· plan.

Important challenges are also being met in concert,

such as the negotiation of a free-trade treaty with the

United States of America. We intend later to repeat the

experience with the European Union.

Despite the significant progress that has been

made, and as in other regional systems of States,

practices persist that impede the full development of

our trade relations. Fortunately, we are striving to

overcome these obstacles through dialogue and

solutions appropriate to civilized nations which

understand that, given our common past, we share a

common future.

At the present time, there are grounds for grave

concern in the face of events and realities that threaten

international peace and security. The situation in the

Middle East has been a constant cause of concern to

all. Honduras appeals to the men and women of that

region to repudiate and renounce violence and thus

give peace a chance for the sake of a generation of

children who see and experience nothing but violence

as they grow. This and other bloody conflicts require us

to rethink and reformulate new ideas for prompt action.

We need to globalize solidarity and human

development. The great challenges of this century

require us to increase the worldwide presence of the

United Nations Development Programme, the World

Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization, the United Nations Environment

Programme and other entities and agencies of our

system, whose work effectively contributes to

establishing the conditions to ensure that all boys, girls,

men and women of all ages, regardless of their ethnic

origin, colour or religious creed, may live in an

environment conducive to the full exercise of their

rights.

In this context, the peoples of the world are

calling for concerted action on the part of our

Governments to make the United Nations the world's

most efficient Organization for addressing the

challenges posed by the millions of men, women and

children infected by the HIV virus; by others, suffering

unemployment, who have entered the most destitute

sectors of society; and by the more than 40 million

boys and girls who wander or simply live on the

streets.

Over time, crimes against humanity have

motivated concerted action on the part of all peoples to

develop new and advanced schemes for international

protection. That is the case with the new International

Criminal Court, to which Honduras is honoured to be

party. We applaud this revolutionary effort in the

administration of criminal justice and hope that, sooner

39

rather than later, all the States Members of the United

Nations will join it.

I wish to conclude my statement by emphasizing

that the great challenges we face in today's world

demand concerted and global action. If we truly wish

to see the planet survive and, with it, the human race,

the time has come to work together responsibly to

forge real partnerships for human development and

sustainable development for all the peoples of the

United Nations.