Uruguay, 2009

As I did

four years ago (see A/60/PV.6), I once again extend the

greetings of the people and the Government of the

Eastern Republic of Uruguay to this forum, which is

the most broadly representative body of today’s world.

Those of us here are aware of the contrasting

realities of the present world; we are conscious that

never before has humanity simultaneously been offered

so many possibilities and faced so many threats as is

the case today. We know that we cannot be indifferent

to or be paralysed by those possibilities and threats;

nor are we disposed to be, but what are we doing to

dissipate the threats and take advantage of the

opportunities presented by this reality? Surely not

everything we would like to or that we deem necessary,

and perhaps not all that we are capable of.

Concerning this task, the Eastern Republic of

Uruguay once again reaffirms its unwavering respect

for international law, which is the greatest guarantee

for the sovereignty of peoples and their peaceful

coexistence. We also reiterate, first, our firm rejection

of the threat of the use of force or of its use, of

terrorism, drug trafficking and all types of violence and

discrimination. Secondly, we repeat our determined

support for a peaceful solution to conflicts, to the

sovereign equality of States, to non-intervention in the

internal affairs of States, to the self-determination of

peoples, to international cooperation in economic and

social matters, and to multilateralism that also includes

free trade, because protectionism is to commerce as

authoritarianism is to democracy.

Thirdly, we reiterate our steadfast commitment to

the advancement and protection of human rights,

because they constitute the ethics of liberty and

democracy and are aspects of the dignity that we need,

much as we need the air we breathe almost without

being conscious of it.

Fourthly, we repeat our unwavering responsibility

in the protection of the environment as a human right

and as a fundamental aspect of achieving truly

sustainable development.

As Americans, we feel it is our ethical duty and

political responsibility to reiterate in this global forum

that, first, we reject the institutional rupture in the

fraternal Republic of Honduras, and we demand the

immediate restoration of constitutional order and the

restoring to their posts of the authorities democratically

elected by the Honduran people. Secondly, we will

persevere in the effort to achieve an American

integration without exclusions or exceptions or

embargoes, such the one imposed on Cuba, one without

first, second or third class members. We are all

Americans, and equals.

Without actions following, postulates are sterile.

Uruguay is one of the main troop contributors to

United Nations peacekeeping operations. The

difficulties that this peacekeeping system is going

through are due, among other factors, to the growing

demand for missions, their equally growing complexity

and the effects of the global economic crisis on the

funding for these operations. Far from discouraging us,

they stimulate us to bolster and coordinate efforts with

other Member States and the United Nations

Secretariat to collaborate in stabilizing the areas

affected by conflicts, in the protection of the civilian

population, institutional strengthening and the

promotion of bases for economic and social

development of affected countries. Similarly, our

staunch rejection of terrorism is not incompatible with

cooperation among States in the fight against it while

maintaining absolute respect for international law and

human rights.

Uruguay is among the countries that are

signatories to the widest range of human rights

conventions, and on the occasion of the treaty-signing

ceremony for the present period, Uruguay will sign the

Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, becoming one

of the first signatories to that important international

instrument. Uruguay is also party to the main

international conventions in the sphere of the

environment and sustainable development.

As is well known, Uruguay receives significant

investments that contribute to its industrial

development, but it also exercises rigorous control over

their environmental quality, applying its internationally

recognized regulations, demanding the use of the best

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available technologies, and practising effective control

in the field over environmental impacts. Uruguay is

also responsible, transparent and reliable as regards

investment for sustainable development.

In the era of globalization, it is not only the

economy that has to be globalized. Peace, freedom,

democracy, justice, dignity and the welfare of the

people must be globalized as well. The countries

represented here, each according to its respective

identity, are working towards that end, as is Uruguay.

Faced with the impossibility of discussing the vast

system of policies and actions that are involved in that

task, I will mention just two that Uruguayans wish to

share with the international community, because they

concern the needs, hopes, rights and responsibilities of

all humankind.

Our country has taken a firm commitment as

regards tobacco control policies, both at the

international level through its ratification of the World

Health Organization Framework Convention on

Tobacco Control, and at the national level through the

implementation of policies for the improvement of the

well-being of the population. In 2006, Uruguay became

the first smoke-free country in the Americas and the

seventh in the world.

This is no insignificant matter when one takes

into account that, according to the World Health

Organization, smoking is the leading avoidable cause

of death worldwide. It is an epidemic that annually

causes more than 5 million deaths throughout the world

and more than 1 million in the Americas. Five million

deaths a year are far more than those caused by

alcoholism, traffic accidents, AIDS, illegal drugs,

murder, suicide and the H1N1 virus combined. When

we add up all the deaths caused by these pathologies,

we find that the number of tobacco-related deaths is

greater still. If the current trend continues, over the

next 20 years tobacco-related deaths will double in the

world and triple in our region, and in particular in the

poorest countries.

Given that tobacco smoke does not affect

smokers alone, in a study published in 1985 the

English epidemiologist Richard Doll maintained that

being in a room with a smoker for one hour a day is

100 times more likely to cause lung cancer in a

non-smoker than spending 20 years in a building

containing asbestos.

Our delegation at the United Nations sponsored

and promoted resolution 63/8, whose implementation

will allow us to have, at least in this environment, a

smoke-free United Nations. It represents partial but

auspicious progress in the fight against this epidemic.

In May 2007, a year after becoming a smoke-free

country, Uruguay set out on the path to becoming a

country with equal-opportunity access to information

technologies. We are achieving this by means of the

Ceibal project, also known as “one laptop per child”,

which consists, precisely, in providing each student and

teacher of our public primary school system with a free

computer and access to the Internet. By the end of this

year, we will have provided a prototype to each of the

301,143 students and to 12,879 teachers in the

country’s 2,064 public elementary schools. This may

seem like a small number, but it should be recalled that

Uruguay has only some 3 million inhabitants.

The project is open to students with learning,

motor or visual disabilities, who receive computers

especially designed for their needs. Private schools are

not excluded from the programme and can take part by

purchasing the prototype for a modest sum. The Ceibal

project is completely funded by the Uruguayan State,

which allocates funds not only for acquiring and

preparing the prototypes, but also for their maintenance

and the continuity of the programme.

The Ceibal project is much more than simply the

provision of computers and is therefore worth much

more than its price. Its true worth lies in developing

intelligence, introducing deep changes in teaching and

learning, offering equal opportunities in access to

information from childhood on — because equality is

not a right for adults alone — and providing the

information and knowledge indispensable to becoming

a member of society and thus ensuring its proper

functioning.

At the beginning of this address, I stated that if

the United Nations raison d’être is to improve what we

are as human beings, the Organization must be capable

of improving itself as a system. But the United Nations

is those who comprise it — we ourselves. Uruguay

reaffirms its commitment to the United Nations reform

process. The process that began at the 2005 Summit,

which saw the creation of two new structures within

the Organization — the Human Rights Council and the

Peacebuilding Commission — should be completed

with consideration for those issues whose practical

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implementation is pending or behind schedule with

respect to the goals we have set.

Michel de Montaigne taught us that there is no

greater destiny for human beings than seeing to the

business of being human. Almost five centuries later, it

is fitting to remember the teachings of that great

Renaissance humanist. It should not, however, be

remembered solely as something of the past; we should

embrace it as a task of the present and put it into

practice, or at least try. I believe that there is no other

option if we really wish to survive as a species and to

improve as human beings. I also believe that, if we all

make a responsible attempt, we shall achieve it. In that

conviction, intention and confidence, I greet the United

Nations on behalf of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.