Peru, 2002

Mr. President, may I first of all congratulate you on

your election to an office of high responsibility in the

United Nations. The best wishes of the Peruvian people

and their Government go also to the delegations

gathered here for an event that coincides with our

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commemoration of the sad moments that one year ago

put to the test the feelings and solidarity of humankind.

Human beings cannot and must not, either as

individuals or as a species, cease their efforts to make

history rational. Because it is that effort to give a sense

of freedom and justice to collective living that alone

can humanize life.

As President of Peru I reaffirm from this rostrum

the commitment of the Government and the people of

Peru to the international community to fight resolutely

in favour of democracy and international security,

which my country considers fundamental to human

development.

The world has put an enormous challenge before

us, the challenge of globalizing security. Without that

security our economies cannot grow and our nations

cannot develop socially, for it is clear that global

insecurity conspires against the poor.

For that same reason, and driven by our

democratic convictions, I wish to reaffirm here,

without ambiguity, my firm condemnation of the

insanity of the terrorist attacks perpetrated against the

people of the United States on 11 September 2001, and

to reaffirm the solidarity of the Peruvian people and

Government to our friend the United States of

America. My Government will continue to support the

international community's efforts to confront, always

within the framework of international law, the cruel

and irrational ravages of international terrorism.

In that regard, Peru pledges before this Assembly

to continue to cooperate with the Security Council's

Counter-Terrorism Committee by making available the

experts it needs in order to counter with intelligence

and resolve the threats and acts of international

terrorism, consistent with the principles of the Charter

of the United Nations and Security Council resolutions.

We are convinced that our nations must weave a

vast network of commitments if we are to cooperate

effectively in all fields in order to defeat terrorism.

Peace, democracy and human rights, along with

freedom of expression, are the concepts that must be

given priority in the process of globalization. And to

that end, Peru supports every effort to reach a

consensus in the negotiation of a draft comprehensive

convention against terrorism.

Peru is a party to 12 United Nations conventions

which relate to the fight against terrorism and, in that

regard, we call upon those States that have not yet done

so to sign and ratify these conventions. I refer in

particular to the International Convention for the

Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the

International Convention for the Suppression of

Terrorist Bombings. That would be a decisive step

towards the eradication of this scourge, which threatens

peace, security and democracy, creating instability and

jeopardizing the development of our peoples.

We make this appeal from the perspective of a

country that lived for more than 20 years with the

violence of terrorism, which took more than 20,000

lives and cost billions of dollars in material losses.

Peace is not just a beautiful sentiment; it is the

principal value shared by peoples and a prerequisite for

the development of our nations. On the basis of that

conviction, our Government is promoting, as one of the

main pillars of its foreign policy, a limit on military

expenditure at the regional level, with a view to freeing

up resources for social investment and to combating

want and abject poverty.

My country's commitment goes beyond mere

words. In 2002, consistent with our proposals, we have

taken the decision to reduce our military expenditure

by 20 per cent and to redirect the resources to health,

nutrition and education. I am pleased to be able to say

that we have made progress in this respect, and we are

gratified by our recent achievements in this area with

our fraternal country Chile.

Today more than ever, Peru would like to

reaffirm, before the international community, that is it

committed to the building of a participatory and

efficient system of collective security. To this end, we

are promoting the adoption of the Andean Charter for

Peace and Security, which was approved in June by the

ministers of foreign affairs and defence of the Andean

Community. Its resolute goal is to begin to formulate a

community policy of security and confidence-building,

establish an Andean zone of peace, improve and

expand confidence-building measures and thus reduce

the resources that are currently allocated to defence.

Peru is pleased to announce that, in compliance

with its commitments under the Ottawa Convention, it

has completed the process of destroying its arsenals of

anti-personnel mines. It is currently conducting its

largest demining operation to date, to reduce mines in

border regions, as part of an agreement signed in 1998

with the fraternal country Ecuador.

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In the same context, our Government reaffirms

and renews its commitment to the creation of a South

American peace and cooperation zone, as declared in

Guayaquil, Ecuador, on 27 July, during a meeting of

South American heads of State or Government. We

propose the inclusion in the agenda of the General

Assembly of an item on the South American peace and

cooperation zone and will encourage the adoption of a

draft resolution in that regard.

With regard of the promotion of democracy, Peru

is today endeavouring fully to re-establish the

freedoms of its citizenry, strengthen its democratic

institutions and resolutely fight against corruption. Our

Government has begun this task with full respect for

democratic values, as well as for the independence of

the branches of State power. I would also like to

emphasize the efforts that we have been making to

consolidate our democracy through mechanisms of

coordination and political and social dialogue.

In July, my Government, the political parties, the

business sector, workers, churches and other civil

society organizations signed a national accord that

contains 29 long-term State policies to be implemented

by the current and future Governments over the next 20

years. This accord has characteristics that are unique in

the history of Peru, since for the first time various

political institutions and representatives of civil society

met and together committed themselves to continuity in

State policies in the areas of democracy, equality,

social justice, competitiveness and transparency in

political affairs.

Likewise, I would like to emphasize the signing,

at Peru's initiative, of the Inter-American Democratic

Charter, adopted by the Organization of American

States on 11 September 2001. The Charter is an

effective means of making the principles, norms and

mechanisms of collective action consistent throughout

the region. That system includes sanctions, to be

applied in cases of violations or breaches of democratic

institutions, with a view to promoting, preserving and

defending democracy in the Latin America.

In the framework of the United Nations, we also

encouraged the adoption by the Commission on Human

Rights of a draft resolution entitled “Further measures

to promote and consolidate democracy”, which set out,

for the first time within the United Nations system, a

set of criteria to determine whether or not a regime is

democratic. It includes so-called democratic clauses

and legitimizes collective action for the protection and

defence of democracy.

From another perspective, and bearing in mind

the objective of peace, the Government of Peru

believes that building peace and good governance is a

vital prerequisite for the preservation of liberty and the

attainment of mutual and more equitable development.

In that regard, Peru is aware of the urgent need

for multilateral efforts — particularly by the richest

countries — to strengthen democracy. That is why we

reiterate our proposal to create a mechanism of

financial solidarity for the defence of democracy and

good governance.

The time has come to be creative — to create a

mechanism for the financing of good governance and

democracy among our peoples. We have said that

democracy is costly. But democracy is a value that

transcends the vote, the ballot box and the institutions

of the State. It is founded on the deepest aspirations of

the majority of our peoples, who are seeking their own

development.

For that same reason, emerging democracies,

which are today plagued by instability and uncertainty,

urgently require new resources to facilitate public

investment in the economies of the region aimed at re-

energizing them, generating employment and

protecting them from adverse financial shock. We are

at a crossroads of Wall Street and Main Street, where

we must resolve the problems of our economies and yet

listen to the voices of our peoples demanding that their

just aspirations be met. Our proposal, which we are

taking from door to door, forum to forum, and soul to

soul, is based on the conviction that Peruvian

democracy is not an island in Latin America and the

world, and cannot therefore be evaluated in isolation

from global realities. We must insert Peru and Latin

America in an interconnected world. We state this with

the firm conviction that what is at stake is more than

Peru's democracy but rather the democracy of a system

that has proven to be the best.

My government, as I announced on the day when

I took office, wishes to be remembered in history as

one that, with full respect for democracy and all the

fundamental freedoms of men and women,

strengthened the development of Peru through

productive and dignified work and through the courage

to invest more in better nutrition, health and education.

For this will be the best way to overcome the poverty

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of nations. We are committed to facing the great

problems and challenges of our time by building

democracy in a world that is more just and has greater

solidarity.

Today, at the beginning of the twenty-first

century, international democracy has a name: the

United Nations. If the United Nations is weak, then it

must be strengthened; if it is slow, it must be given the

means to act with greater effectiveness and speed. But

we cannot do without the framework of the United

Nations.

Peru is firmly committed to policies and values

that support sustainable development. I am pleased in

this regard to announce that today I shall be depositing

with the Secretary-General the instrument through

which Peru reaffirms the Kyoto Protocol. I call upon

all other members of the international community that

have not yet done so to ratify that international

instrument in order to stem and reduce gas emissions

that harm our nations. This also relates to the

phenomenon of El Niño, which has been afflicting Peru

and the countries of the Pacific with increasing

frequency and intensity.

I wish to reiterate the firm commitment of Peru,

first of all, to cooperate with all States in the

international fight against terrorism; secondly, to work

for peace and development, maintaining our proposal

to limit military expenditures in South America and

instead to dedicate those resources to the fight against

poverty; and thirdly, to strengthen international support

for democracy and good governance as an important

step in the battle that we are waging against poverty

and extreme poverty in our nations.