Peru, 2006

First, allow me to express to you, Madam President,

our congratulations on your election to the presidency

of the General Assembly at this session. I should also

like to convey to you the best wishes of the people and

Government of Peru for a successful stewardship. We

are ready to work with you for the benefit of the

international community.

When the Government of President Alan García

took office on 28 July it found a particularly serious

social deficit in the country. More than 13 million

Peruvians, half our population, live in poverty;

5 million of them, or 20 per cent of our population, live

in extreme poverty. Peru is therefore experiencing a

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situation of deep inequity for a medium-income

country.

In order to tackle this reality, the new

Government has placed major emphasis on responsible

State action, designing an agenda of social inclusion

based on promoting investment for job creation. That

agenda requires that we learn to act with greater

solidarity, on the basis of civic values, with due

attention given to the most vulnerable groups, so that

they may fully participate in drawing up public

policies. Initial action is aimed at restoring confidence

in our society as a factor crucial for promoting long-

term development and shared growth. In this respect,

my Government is working with the social sectors to

develop a culture of duty as one of the main pillars

supporting Government policies and the relationship

between society and the State.

The Government of Peru has made the fight

against poverty a central priority of its Administration.

It has also set the guidelines for its external action, in

which it aims to join the other nations of the Latin

American region in drawing up a development agenda

to achieve growth with equity and social inclusion. In

this context, we reaffirm our conviction of the need to

promote Latin American integration. For this purpose

we are working on strengthening the Andean

Community and building the South American

Community of Nations.

That is the goal that inspires us, because in order

to express the common interests of our continent in a

world such as today’s we must act together to better

tackle the challenges of globalization. A Latin America

with a united voice will be better placed to tackle its

common problems, such as the marginalization of wide

sectors of the population, internal imbalances and

social divisions. A more united Latin America can also

better project the values of democracy and pluralism

that characterize it today. In this framework, tolerance

and respect for differences will make it possible to

strengthen projects of common interest offering all our

citizens true opportunities for development and well-

being.

One of the challenges that our continent, and in

particular the Andean region, must face decisively is

the fight against drug trafficking. Peru reaffirms its

firm position of combating forcefully and

comprehensively the illicit trafficking of drugs,

emphasizing the principles of multilateralism and

shared responsibility. To that end, we have been

carrying out a careful evaluation of the current state of

cooperation in the fight against illegal drug trafficking.

Following the principle of shared responsibility, Peru

has expressed an interest in holding an anti-drug

summit, so that in the Andean area we can give new

impetus to the dialogue on cooperation and agree with

the United States and the European Union on a single

consensus strategy, which would be mutually

beneficial for the Andean producer countries and the

large consumer markets.

Another universal scourge that the international

community must fight unrelentingly is terrorism. Peru

reiterates that terrorism, whatever its form or

manifestation, or its motivation, is unacceptable and

accordingly must be condemned and fought. States

must show an unequivocal attitude towards terrorism.

Peru therefore supports the efforts being made in the

United Nations to fight terrorism. Among them, we

note the approval of the Global Counter-Terrorism

Strategy. We reaffirm our conviction that this struggle

can and must be carried out with respect for human

rights and fundamental freedoms.

In the Millennium Declaration we set ourselves

the target of attaining by 2015 various goals in the

fight against poverty and in the partnership for

development, goals which summarize the challenges

that countries such as Peru must tackle and overcome

and the cooperation that developed countries must give

in assisting development, trade and financing.

However, at the 2005 World Summit we noted that

progress in compliance with the Millennium

Development Goals is somewhat modest, and some

goals seem unattainable.

In order to comply with the Millennium

Development Goals, the Government of Peru has taken

immediate action, including, first, reform of the State

and the political system to give it more austerity,

through decentralization, administrative simplification

and moral initiatives; secondly, job creation through

investment and the opportunities that the State must

promote; thirdly, restoration of labour and social rights

in order to have a more modern and just society;

fourthly, policies in favour of women, youth and

children; and, fifthly, civic security to give the

population tranquillity and confidence. None of that

will be enough if the markets of developed countries

remain closed to our products through restrictions. In

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this context, we call for the prompt resumption of the

Doha Round talks in a spirit of compromise.

My Government’s social policy initiatives will

make possible a broader exercise of human rights. I

refer in particular to economic, social and cultural

rights, where shortcomings are evident, and to paying

particular attention to the most vulnerable groups.

In this respect, during the current session we will

be called upon to consider and possibly adopt three

important international instruments on promoting and

protecting human rights. The first two are the draft

declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and the

draft international convention on the rights of persons

with disabilities. Peru urges every Member State to

consider adopting these two instruments, which would

give greater protection to millions of people who today

are victims of marginalization. The third instrument is

the draft convention on forced disappearance, which

will make it possible to more effectively combat that

reprehensible practice.

We are aware of the importance of

multilateralism as the ideal context for low- and

medium-income countries to take part in the

international arena, as well as helping to find solutions

to the challenges that the globalized world must face.

These challenges result from the current characteristics

of the international system, in which two opposing

processes coexist. Thus, while the world integrates

globally it is becoming more fragmented because of an

increase in social inequality, the proliferation of civil

conflicts and the disintegration of States, so-called

ethnic cleansing, massive violations of human rights,

the trafficking of people and arms, environmental

degradation, terrorism and international organized

crime.

These contradictory trends between globalization

and fragmentation often call into question both the

ability of States to govern and international stability,

the major challenges that the international community,

and in particular the Security Council, must face.

Therefore, we need a comprehensive and strategic

vision to make it possible to deal with problems

affecting international peace and security. It is not only

military aspects that cause crises. There are also

structural factors, such as poverty, social exclusion and

environmental degradation, which are the triggers of

national and international instability.

If the Council does not take this reality into

account it will be very difficult to prevent or resolve

conflicts in a sustainable way, because it will mean

putting to one side the most important variables. We

therefore acknowledge the need to make the

multilateral system more flexible, comprehensive and

effective, in order to tackle the global challenges and

threats. But, at the same time, the Security Council’s

actions must be based on legitimacy, which accords the

strictest respect for the values, purposes and principles

of the Charter and international law. With this

conviction, Peru is taking part in the Security Council

in a coherent way and with a constructive spirit.

Given this premise, it is crucial to strengthen the

disarmament and non-proliferation regimes and to find

a peaceful solution to disputes. We supported the

peacekeeping interventions authorized by the Security

Council, and we will continue those efforts to ensure a

renewed collective security system supported and

respected by all Member States, in order to tackle

threats to international peace and security. It is in this

context that we see Peru’s participation in

peacekeeping operations in Haiti, Sudan, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia,

Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi and Cyprus. This

involves very sensitive matters and arduous

responsibilities, but we assume them as a natural

corollary to the commitment to international peace and

security that we made when signing the Charter. We

affirm our confidence that the Peacebuilding

Commission will achieve the objective of supporting

the reconstruction of countries emerging from conflict.

At the same time, we believe that we must step

up our prevention efforts at the regional and

subregional levels, which is why Peru promotes

cooperative security through mechanisms to strengthen

peace and security structures, whose development

includes the need to prevent arms races between

neighbouring countries.

Peru supports reform of the Security Council to

make it more effective, transparent and representative.

In this process, we favour increasing the number of

members through dialogue and consensus, as part of a

comprehensive process of United Nations reform, in

which we have already seen some progress. The road

ahead must be tackled with greater responsibility and

in a spirit of dialogue and openness.

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I wanted to share these concerns and ideas in

order to reaffirm that Peru, on the basis of its own

economic and social reality and its regional outreach,

as well as its profound multilateral vocation, wishes to

continue to contribute constructively to security,

development and respect for human rights in the world.

We are convinced that the United Nations system can,

with the help of all, strengthen its central role of

promoting social progress and raising the standard of

living within the broadest concept of freedom, as

stipulated in the Preamble to the Charter.